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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41000 ***
+
+Her Majesty's Minister, by William Le Queux.
+
+________________________________________________________________________
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+________________________________________________________________________
+HER MAJESTY'S MINISTER, BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX.
+
+CHAPTER ONE.
+
+HIS EXCELLENCY.
+
+"Then, plainly speaking, the whole thing remains a mystery?"
+
+"Absolutely," I responded.  "All my efforts have unfortunately failed."
+
+"And you entertain no suspicion of anyone?"
+
+"None whatever."
+
+"Not of that woman Yolande--or whatever her name is?"
+
+"Certainly not of her," I answered quickly.  "She would assist us, if
+necessary."
+
+"Why are you so sure of that?  She has only been in Paris a week."
+
+"Because I happen to know her."
+
+"You know her!" exclaimed His Excellency, unclasping his thin white
+hands and leaning across his big writing-table--a habit of his when
+suddenly interested.  "Is she a personal friend of yours?"
+
+I hesitated for a moment; then replied in the affirmative.
+
+"Where did you know her?" he inquired quickly, fixing me with that sharp
+pair of black eyes that shone behind the zone of soft light shed by the
+green-shaded reading-lamp upon the table.  He was sitting in the shadow,
+his thin, refined face ashen grey, his hair almost white.  The one spot
+of colour was the fine star of Knight Grand Cross of the Bath glittering
+on the breast of his braided diplomatic uniform.  Lord Barmouth, British
+Ambassador to the French Republic, had just returned from the
+President's reception at the Elysee, and had summoned me for
+consultation.
+
+"Well," I responded, "I knew her in Rome, among other places."
+
+"H'm, I thought as much," he remarked in a dry, dubious tone.  "I don't
+like her, Ingram--I don't like her;" and I knew by the impatient snap of
+the Ambassador's fingers that something had displeased him.
+
+"You've seen her, then?"
+
+"Yes," he answered in an ambiguous tone, taking up a quill and making
+what appeared to be geometrical designs upon his blotting-pad.  "She's
+good-looking--uncommonly good-looking; but I mistrust her."
+
+"It is part of our creed to mistrust a pretty woman," I remarked with a
+smile; for, as everyone knows, the fair sex plays a prominent part in
+the diplomacy of Europe.  "But what cause have you for suspicion?"
+
+He was silent for a moment; then he said:
+
+"You were not at the ball at the Austrian Embassy the night before last,
+I believe?"
+
+"No, I was not back from London in time," I replied.  "Was she there?"
+
+"Yes.  She was dancing with Hartmann, and they were speaking of you.  I
+was chatting with Olsoufieff, and distinctly overheard your name
+mentioned."
+
+"With Hartmann!"  I repeated.  "That's curious.  He is scarcely a friend
+of ours."
+
+"I consider the circumstance suspicious, judged by the light of recent
+events," he said.  "Remember that the cause of our piece of ill-fortune
+still remains a mystery, and the stroke of diplomacy that we intended to
+effect as a coup against our enemies has, by the dastardly betrayal of
+our secret, placed us in a very unenviable position.  This untoward
+incident has entirely checkmated us."
+
+"I fully realise our critical position," I said seriously, "and I have
+done my utmost to discover the truth.  Kaye has been active night and
+day."
+
+"Nevertheless, I fear that at Downing Street they will say hard things
+of us, Ingram;" and Her Majesty's representative sighed heavily, resting
+his weary head upon his hand.
+
+The Ambassador's office was indeed a very thankless one, while my own
+position as second secretary of the Paris Embassy was a post not to be
+envied, even though it is popularly supposed to be one of the plums of
+the diplomatic service.  With Paris full of spies endeavouring to
+discover our secrets and divine our instructions from Downing Street,
+and the cabinet noir ever at work upon our correspondence, it behoved us
+to be always on the alert, and to have resort to all manner of ingenious
+subterfuges in order to combat our persistent enemies.
+
+The war-cloud hangs over Europe always.  The mine is laid, and the
+slightest spark may fire it.  The duty of the diplomatist is to intrigue
+so as to prevent that spark.  It is the intrigue that is difficult, for
+counter-plots are met with everywhere.  The power of England is feared;
+hence her isolation.
+
+Those who live at home at ease think little of the small band of
+Englishmen in each of the capitals who, living ever upon the edge of a
+volcano, are straining every nerve to preserve the peace of Europe.  How
+often the stability of empires trembles in the balance the British
+public little dreams.  "The European Situation" is a stock heading in
+the London newspapers, but fortunately the journalists never know the
+secrets of our embassies, otherwise the world would very often be
+scared.  Many a time in my own diplomatic career in Rome, in Brussels,
+and in Vienna, had I remained awake at night, fearing on the morrow a
+declaration of war; yet the chiefs under whom I have worked--those
+honest, upright, valiant servants of Queen and country--had skilfully
+evaded the threatened danger, and Europe remained in ignorance of how
+terribly near it had been to the clash of arms.
+
+That night, as I sat with the chief, a trusted servant of Her Majesty,
+in his handsome private room in the Embassy, I knew that war was in the
+air.  The responsibility resting upon him was of a sort to involve the
+prestige of the Queen's Empire and the lives of thousands of her valiant
+sons.  An ill-advised despatch, a hasty word, or an injudicious attitude
+would inevitably mean the disastrous explosion so long feared--the great
+European war that prophets have been predicting ever since the downfall
+of the French Empire.
+
+Paris that July night was stifling.  To us the tension of the day had
+been terrible.  The catastrophe so long feared seemed now upon us.
+There was a breathless calm in the air outside, foreboding a storm.
+
+"Has Kaye absolutely nothing to report?" asked His Excellency, at last
+breaking the silence.
+
+"He returned from Madrid at nine o'clock to-night.  His journey there
+was futile."
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed His Excellency, whose thin lips closed tightly again.
+
+Through the years that I had served under him in Rome and afterwards in
+Paris I had never before seen him outwardly betray the slightest
+apprehension.  So skilled was he as a diplomatist that his sangfroid was
+always perfect.  His motto--one that he had often impressed upon me--was
+that the British lion should always remain fearless of his enemies.  But
+now, for the first time, he was plainly agitated, dreading that war
+might result.
+
+"Get me out the special cipher-book," he said hoarsely at last.  "I must
+telephone to Downing Street."
+
+In obedience I rose, opened with the key upon my chain the big safe, and
+took out the small morocco-bound volume containing the secret cipher by
+means of which His Excellency could communicate with Her Majesty's
+Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs--a book supplied only to
+ambassadors themselves; and, because it is kept locked, its contents are
+never seen even by the staff of an embassy.
+
+His Excellency unlocked it with his own key, took up his quill, and
+after searching here and there through the pages, commenced writing a
+bewildering row of letters and numerals intermingled, while in the
+meantime I had gone to the telephone instrument at the opposite end of
+the room and "rung up" London, until there came an answering voice from
+one of the night staff of the Foreign Office.
+
+"Hulloa!  I'm Ingram, of the Paris Embassy.  Who are you?"  I asked.
+
+In response came a password by which I knew I was actually speaking with
+Downing Street.
+
+"Is the Marquess in London, or at Alderhurst, to-night?"
+
+"Alderhurst.  He left town this afternoon."
+
+"Then put me on there for an important despatch."
+
+"All right," was the response; and some five minutes later the tiny bell
+rang, with an inquiry from the private secretary of the great statesman
+as to what I wanted.
+
+I answered; then, His Excellency having risen and handed me the slip of
+official paper on which he had printed the cipher figures heavily with
+his quill, I prefaced the message by the usual formal announcement:
+
+"From Lord Barmouth, Paris, to the Most Noble the Marquess of Malvern,
+London.  July 12th, 1:30 a.m."
+
+Then in continuation I read slowly and distinctly each letter and
+numeral, the secretary at Alderhurst afterwards repeating the whole
+message, so that there should be no possibility of mistake.
+
+Nearly a quarter of an hour elapsed, during which time His Excellency,
+with his hands behind his back, paced feverishly up and down the room.
+Of the nature of that despatch I was in utter ignorance, but from his
+manner it was evident that the problem was one vital to the interests of
+the British Empire.  By night, as well as by day, those responsible for
+the maintenance of the prestige of England as the first Empire of the
+world are always active.  How little the public knows of the stealthy,
+treacherous ways of modern diplomacy, of the armies of spies seeking
+always to plot and counter-plot, of the base subterfuges employed by
+certain noted foreign diplomatists, or of the steady perseverance of the
+Queen's representatives at the Courts of Europe!  And how little, I
+fear, they care!
+
+To most people the diplomatic career is synonymous with an easy
+occupation in which the wearing of a uniform and the attendance at
+brilliant functions are the greatest inconveniences.  The newspapers
+flippantly criticise our actions in leading articles, and declare that
+our diplomacy is utterly worthless beside that of Germany, Russia, or
+France.  Those who write, as well as those who read, never reflect that
+our chief duty is to foil the provocations offered to us by the Powers
+who are anxious for war.  Every British Ambassador at a foreign Court
+had been told from the lips of his beloved Sovereign--now, alas!
+deceased--that he must prevent war.  That instruction was to him as
+sacred as a religion.
+
+"The President talked for twenty minutes to-night with de Wolkenstein,"
+observed His Excellency, halting suddenly and facing me.  "I wonder if
+they know anything in Vienna?"
+
+"I think not," I replied.  "I met Count Berchtold in the Grand Cafe
+purposely this evening, and he made no mention of anything to lead me to
+believe that the secret was out in that direction."
+
+"If it is out, then it has been circulated by our friends in the Rue de
+Lille," he said, meaning the German Embassy.
+
+"Perhaps," I responded.  "But I hardly think that Count de Hindenburg
+would care to imperil his position by so doing.  He would rather
+endeavour to assist us in this affair, because the interests of England
+and Germany are entirely mutual in this matter."
+
+"I tell you, Ingram," he cried angrily--"I tell you that this dastardly
+piece of trickery is some woman's work!"
+
+As he spoke, the door suddenly opened, and there burst into the room a
+tall girlish figure in a pretty toilette of turquoise chiffon, wearing
+an open cape of handsome brocade about her shoulders.
+
+"O father!" she cried merrily, "we've had such an awfully good time at
+the Baroness's!"  Then, next instant, astonished by his words, she drew
+back in quick surprise.
+
+"What trickery is a woman's work?" she asked, glancing inquiringly at
+me.
+
+"Nothing, my dear," His Excellency hastened to reply, placing his thin
+hand tenderly upon her shoulder--"nothing, at least, that concerns you."
+
+"But you are not well!" she cried in alarm.  Then, turning to me, said:
+"Look, Mr. Ingram, how pale he is!"
+
+"Your father is rather overburdened by important business," I replied.
+
+Her face assumed a puzzled expression.  Sibyl, the pretty, dark-haired
+daughter of Lord Barmouth, was acknowledged on all sides to be more than
+usually beautiful, and was the pet of diplomatic Paris.  With her mother
+she went everywhere in that dazzling vortex of gaiety, in which the
+diplomatist accredited to France is bound to move.  Ah! that glare and
+glitter, that constant whirl, that never-ceasing music!  How weary I was
+of it all, and how it jarred upon me!
+
+And why?  Well, to speak the truth, I myself had an affair of the heart,
+and my thoughts were always far from those brilliant spectacles in which
+I was merely an official in a braided uniform.
+
+"What has occurred, Mr. Ingram?" asked the Ambassador's daughter
+anxiously.  "Father is certainly not himself to-night."
+
+"Another political complication," I responded; "that is all."
+
+"Sibyl, my dear," exclaimed her father, gently taking her hand, "you
+know that I forbid any inquiries to be made into matters which must be
+secret, even from you."
+
+
+"I came to tell you all about the ball," she said, pouting.  "I was
+introduced to a most pleasant man named Wolf, and danced with him
+several times."
+
+"Wolf!"  I cried quickly.  "Rodolphe Wolf?"
+
+"That was his name.  He was dark, about forty, with a small pointed
+black beard.  Do you know him?"
+
+"Wolf!"  I repeated; then, suddenly recovering from the surprise she had
+caused me by uttering that name, I answered carelessly: "Perhaps it may
+be the same man I knew slightly some years ago."
+
+"We had awfully good fun.  He is so amusing, but seems quite a stranger
+in Paris."
+
+I smiled inwardly.  Rodolphe Wolf a stranger in Paris!  The thought was
+amusing.
+
+"And what was your conversation about?"  I inquired of her, smiling
+pleasantly the while.
+
+"You want to know whether he flirted with me, Mr. Ingram?" she laughed
+mischievously.  "I know you of old.  It really isn't fair."
+
+"He said nothing to you about your father, or about the composition of
+his staff?"  I inquired eagerly.
+
+"Nothing."
+
+"And you did not mention my name?"  I asked anxiously.
+
+"No.  Why?  You talk as though you don't want him to know you are in
+Paris."
+
+"You have exactly guessed my desire," I replied.  "If you meet him
+again, kindly oblige me by saying nothing."
+
+"Do not utter a word regarding matters here at the Embassy, Sibyl,"
+added her father seriously.  "You understand?"
+
+"Of course not.  I'm a diplomat's daughter, and can keep a secret when
+necessary.  But tell me, father," she added, "who is the woman of whom
+you were speaking when I came in?"
+
+"It is our affair, my dear--entirely our affair," he said in a hard
+voice.  "It is nothing you need trouble your head over.  I'm glad you've
+enjoyed the ball.  Say good-night, and leave us."
+
+"But you look quite ill," she said with concern in her voice, stroking
+his heated forehead with her hand.  "Cannot I get you something?"
+
+"Nothing, dear."
+
+She was a charming type of English girl, smart, accomplished, and
+utterly devoted to her father.  That she delighted in mild flirtations
+here and there in the cosmopolitan circle in which she moved I was well
+aware, and we were such old friends that I often chaffed her about her
+fickleness.  But that night she had met Rodolphe Wolf, of all men.  The
+fact was strange, to say the least.
+
+"Shall I send Harding to you?" she asked, standing there in the shadow,
+the diamond star in her well-dressed hair alone catching the light and
+gleaming with a thousand fires.  The star was a parting gift to her by
+Queen Margherita of Italy, with whom she had been an especial favourite
+while her father was Ambassador in Rome.
+
+"No," answered His Excellency.  "Please say good-night, dear, and leave
+us."
+
+Then he bent, kissed her tenderly on the brow, and dismissed her.
+
+"Well," she laughed poutingly, "if I am ordered off, I suppose I must
+go.  I'm a striking example of the obedient daughter.  Good-night, Mr.
+Ingram."
+
+And as I held open the door for her to pass out, she added
+mischievously:
+
+"I'll leave you to talk together over the shortcomings of my sex;" and
+laughing gaily she disappeared down the corridor.
+
+CHAPTER TWO.
+
+TWO ENIGMAS.
+
+"Who is this Wolf?" the Ambassador inquired quickly, as soon as I had
+closed the door.  "I don't seem to recollect the name."
+
+"I have a suspicion," I responded.  "When it is established I will
+explain."
+
+"An alias--eh?"
+
+"I think so," I said.  "Your daughter should be warned against him.
+They had better not meet."
+
+"I will see to that," he said, and the next instant the telephone-bell
+rang loudly, announcing the response from Alderhurst.
+
+In a moment we were both at the instrument.  Then with the receiver at
+my car I inquired who was there.
+
+"Durnford, Alderhurst," was the response.  "Are you Ingram?"
+
+I replied in the affirmative, adding the word without the receipt of
+which no cipher despatch is ever sent by telephone, lest some trickery
+should be attempted.
+
+"Take down, then," came the secretary's voice from the other side of the
+Channel.  "From the Marquess of Malvern, to His Excellency, Lord
+Barmouth, Paris.  July 12th, 2:10 a.m.;" and then followed a long row of
+ciphers, each of which I carefully wrote down upon the paper before me,
+reading it through aloud, in order that he might compare it with his
+copy.
+
+Then, when the voice from Alderhurst gave the word "End," I hung up the
+receiver and gave the paper into His Excellency's eager hands.
+
+Those puzzling lines of letters and numerals were secret instructions
+from the ruler of England's destiny, who had been called from his bed to
+decide one of the most critical problems of statesmanship.  Truly the
+position of the British Minister for Foreign Affairs is no enviable one.
+The responsibility is the heaviest weighing upon any one man in the
+whole world.
+
+His Excellency seated himself quickly at his table, and with the aid of
+a second book which I handed him from the safe proceeded to decipher the
+Chief's despatch.  With his pen he placed the equivalent beneath each
+cipher, and as he did so I saw that his countenance fell.  He went pale
+as death.
+
+"Ah!" he gasped, when he had finished the arrangement and had read the
+deciphered message through.  "It is exactly as I feared.  Never in the
+course of my career as Ambassador has such a serious complication
+arisen--_never_!"
+
+I was silent.  What, indeed, could I say?  I well knew that he was not
+the man to betray the slightest emotion without good reason.
+
+For a moment he sat there, resting his brow upon his hand, staring
+blankly at the paper I had given him.  The nature of his secret
+instructions I knew not.  His utter despair was sufficient to convince
+me, however, that a catastrophe was inevitable.  Only the low ticking of
+the clock upon the high mantelshelf broke the painful silence.  The
+representative of Her Majesty--one of England's most skilled and trusted
+diplomats--sighed heavily, for he knew too well how black was the
+outlook at that moment--how, indeed, because of our mysterious betrayal,
+our enemies had triumphed, and how, at the other embassies, that very
+night the downfall of England's power was being discussed.
+
+"All this is a woman's doing, I tell you!" he cried, striking the table
+fiercely, rising and pacing the room.  "We must discover the truth--we
+must, you hear?"
+
+"I am making every possible effort," I answered; adding, "I think I have
+hitherto shown myself worthy of your confidence?"
+
+"Certainly, Ingram," he hastened to assure me.  "Without you here I
+should not dare to act as I have done.  I know that nothing escapes you.
+Your shrewdness is equal to that of old Sterk, the Chief of Police in
+Vienna."
+
+"You are too complimentary," I said; "I have merely done my duty."
+
+"But if we could only get at the truth in this affair!"
+
+"At present it is an absolute mystery.  Only two persons were aware of
+the secret.  You knew it, and I also knew it.  And yet it is out--
+indeed, the very terms of the agreement are known!"
+
+Suddenly halting, he pushed open the window, and looked out upon the
+hot, overcast night.  Paris was still bright with her myriad electric
+lights, and the glaring cafes on the boulevards were still as busy as
+during the hour of the absinthe.  The City of Pleasure never sleeps.
+
+He leaned over the balcony, gasping for air; but in an instant I was
+behind him, saying:
+
+"Someone may be watching outside.  Is it really wise for you to be
+seen?"
+
+"No," he answered.  "You're right, Ingram;" and he turned back and
+closed the long windows opening upon the balcony.  "A bold front must be
+maintained through all."  He walked to his table, took up the despatch,
+and, striking a vesta, ignited it, holding it until it was completely
+consumed.  Then he cast the blackened tinder into the grate, growing in
+a single instant calm again.  "You are right, Ingram," he repeated
+rather hoarsely.  "Our enemies must not obtain any inkling that we know
+the truth, if we are to effect a successful counter-plot.  In this
+affair I detect the hand of a woman.  Is not that your opinion?"
+
+"I must admit that it is," I responded.  "I believe there is a female
+spy somewhere."
+
+"But who is she?" he cried anxiously.
+
+"Ah!"  I said, "we have yet to discover her name."
+
+"It is not Yolande?" he asked dubiously.
+
+"No.  Of that I feel quite certain."
+
+"But you are certain of nothing else?"
+
+"All the rest is, I regret, an absolute mystery."
+
+There was no disguising the fact that the information which by very
+mysterious means had leaked out from the Embassy had created the most
+intense excitement in certain other foreign embassies in Paris.  Kaye,
+the chief of our secret service in the French capital--a shrewd fellow,
+whose capacity for learning which way the diplomatic wind was blowing
+was little short of marvellous--had come to me at midnight to report
+that the Spanish Ambassador was exchanging frequent despatches with
+Madrid.  That statement was sufficient to show the enemy's hand.
+
+For fully six months France had been scheming to obtain a naval station
+in the Mediterranean, and the point she coveted was Ceuta, on the
+Moorish coast, opposite Gibraltar.  Knowledge of this caused us to
+exercise the most delicate diplomacy in order to thwart the conspiracy
+to aim a blow against England's naval power in the Mediterranean.  A
+week ago I had been in London, and the Marquess of Malvern himself had
+given me a crossed despatch to convey to my chief in Paris.  This had
+contained certain instructions in cipher, which, on my return, I had
+helped to translate into English.  Then the despatch was burnt by His
+Excellency, and we alone knew its contents.  From the moment I received
+it in the Marquess's private room at the Foreign Office, until the
+moment when I handed it over to Lord Barmouth in Paris with its five
+great seals intact, it had never left the pouch of chamois-leather
+which, when travelling with despatches, I always wore around my waist,
+next my skin.  For spies to have obtained a copy of it was impossible.
+I had seen it written, and had likewise seen it destroyed.  It was not
+likely either that the British Ambassador had himself exposed his secret
+instructions in a matter of such delicacy, where the greatest finesse
+and the most skilful diplomacy were necessary; and equally certain was
+it that I myself had not uttered a single word.
+
+The secret instructions showed marvellous foresight, as did all the
+actions of the great statesman in whose hands rested the prestige of
+England among the Powers.  They were briefly to show with great delicacy
+to the Spanish Ambassador that his Government, having regard to existing
+relations, had no right to sell Ceuta to any Power, and that if any
+attempt were made by any other Government to establish a naval station
+there, England would oppose it to the utmost, even to the extent of
+hostilities.  Yet somehow, by means that formed a most puzzling enigma,
+these secret instructions had become instantly known to France; and even
+before Lord Barmouth could obtain an interview with the Marquis Leon y
+Castillo, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs had called at the
+Embassy in the Boulevard de Courcelles, and had apparently arranged a
+line of action.  Thus England had been checkmated, and in all
+probability the sale of that most important strategic point in the
+Mediterranean had already been effected.
+
+Kaye had been to Madrid, and his inquiries in the Spanish capital tended
+to confirm this theory.
+
+Truly we were in evil case.  So decisive had been His Excellency's
+instructions that if he did not now vigorously protest and threaten a
+cessation of diplomatic negotiations it would exhibit such weakness as
+the British Government must never show.  That motto of Lord Malvern's,
+"To be strong is to avert war; to be weak is to invite it," is ever
+foremost in the mind of each representative of Her Majesty at a foreign
+Court.  Yet Lord Barmouth's dilemma was, indeed, a serious one.  He had
+declared the exposure of our secret due to some woman's scheming, and
+suspected one person--the pretty Yolande de Foville.  His suspicion of
+her caused me a good deal of reflection; and as I walked along the
+boulevard to my bachelor apartment au troisieme, I pondered seriously.
+What, I wondered, had caused him to think ill of her?  If she had danced
+with Hartmann, this action was surely not enough to condemn her.  Yet
+why, I wondered, had she mentioned myself?  And why, indeed, was
+Rodolphe Wolf, of all men, in Paris?
+
+No, I did not like the aspect of things in the least.  The night was
+absolutely breathless, and the asphalt of the boulevard seemed to
+reflect back into one's face the heat of the sun that had blazed upon it
+during the day.  I removed my hat, and walked with it in my hand, my
+brain awhirl.  The spies of France had effected a coup against us, and
+within twenty-four hours Europe might, I knew, be convulsed by a
+declaration of war.
+
+Here and there the cafes were still open, but few customers were inside.
+A pair of drunken roysterers staggered past me singing that catchy song
+of the less fashionable boulevards:
+
+  "Dansons la ronde
+  Des marmites de Paris,
+  Ohe! les souris!
+  Les rongeuses de monde!
+  Faisons sauter avec nous
+  Nos michets et nos marlous.
+  Dansons la ronde!
+  Paris est a nous!"
+
+With that single exception all was silent.  From half-past three till
+four in the morning is the quietest period that the City of Pleasure
+experiences.  She is dormant only one half-hour in the whole
+twenty-four.
+
+Yolande was suspected of being a spy!  The thought seemed absolutely
+absurd.  She was Belgian, it was true, and there is somehow always a
+prejudice against Belgian women in Paris, due perhaps to the fact that
+although they speak French with an accent, they are often perfect
+linguists.  But for Yolande to be actually a spy--why, the thing was
+ridiculous!
+
+Arrived at my own rooms, I found Mackenzie, my old Scotch manservant,
+awaiting me.
+
+"Mr. Kaye called, sir, half an hour ago," he said.  "He could not wait,
+for he was leaving Paris."
+
+"Leaving Paris?"  I echoed, for the ubiquitous chief of the secret
+service had only come back from Madrid a few hours before.
+
+"Yes, sir.  He left you a note;" and my well-trained man drew a letter
+from his pocket.  He always kept my letters upon his person, in order
+that any callers might not pry into them during my absence.
+
+I tore open the note eagerly, and read the few scribbled lines.  Next
+instant the paper almost fell from my fingers.  I held my breath,
+scarcely believing my own eyes.  Yet the writing was plain enough, and
+was as follows:
+
+"_Within the past hour I have ascertained that your friend Yolande de
+Foville is a secret agent.  Keep strict watch upon her.  I have left
+instructions that if she leaves Paris she is to be followed.  I go to
+Berlin at once to make inquiries, and am leaving by the 4:30 train this
+morning.  I have the address you gave, and the particulars concerning
+her.  Shall return as soon as possible_.
+
+"K."
+
+I crushed the note in my hand, and, walking on into my sitting-room,
+gulped down some brandy.  Everything had conspired against me.  When I
+had given Kaye those details concerning my charming little friend three
+years ago, I had never dreamed that he would register them and
+afterwards use them in an endeavour to fasten upon her a charge of being
+a spy.  Yet he was actually on his way to Berlin, and any attempt upon
+my part to hinder him would only be misconstrued into a treasonable
+endeavour to shield her.
+
+Upon the table before me stood her photograph in a silver frame, looking
+out at me.  I took it up.  Those eyes were so innocent that I could not
+bring myself to believe that any evil lurked in them.  Surely she would
+not attempt to harm me?  Such an action was absolutely contrary to any
+woman's nature.
+
+Yolande!  The sound of that name brought back to me a sweet, tender
+memory of the past.  I sighed as the recollection of that bygone day
+arose within me, and flung myself down into an easy-chair to smoke and
+to think.  In the blue ascending rings from my cigarette her face seemed
+to smile at me with those red parted lips and merry eyes, clear and
+azure as a child's.  How charming and chic she had once appeared to me
+in those days when we had first met--in those days before I had known
+Edith Austin, my absent well-beloved!  Her portrait, too, was there--the
+picture of a woman, sweet, tender, grave-faced, of similar age perhaps,
+but whose peerless beauty was typically English and devoid of any
+artificiality.  I took it up and touched it reverently with my lips.  I
+loved the original of that photograph with all the strength of my being,
+hoping always that some day ere long I might ask her to become my wife.
+
+Some there are who hold the theory that to all diplomatists, ambassadors
+excepted, wives are an unnecessary encumbrance.  I admit that there is
+much to be said in favour of the celibate state as the ideal existence
+for the secretary or attache, who is bound, more or less, to make
+himself agreeable to the many cosmopolitan ladies who make up the
+diplomatic circle, and sometimes even to flirt with them, when occasion
+requires.  Yet after fifteen years or so beneath the shadows of the
+various thrones of Europe, a man tires of the life, and longs for the
+one sweet woman whom he can trust and love.  In this I was no exception.
+I loved Edith Austin with all my heart and all my soul; and she, I felt
+assured, reciprocated my affection.
+
+It is part of the diplomatist's creed to be on good terms with all and
+sundry of the feminine butterflies who hover about the embassies, no
+matter what their age or nationality.  Hence it was that five years ago,
+while stationed at Brussels, I had become attracted by Yolande de
+Foville.  Once, long before I met Edith, I fancied myself in love with
+her.  Her father, Count de Foville, was aide-de-camp to King Leopold,
+and with her mother she moved in the best society in Paris and Brussels.
+On several occasions I had been invited for the boar hunting at the
+great gloomy old chateau at Houffalize, in the Ardennes forest, where
+the powerful de Fovilles had been seigneurs through five centuries.
+
+It was a dull, snowbound, dreary place in winter, bare and chill,
+furnished in ancient style, and situated thirty miles from the nearest
+railway, in the midst of a flat forest country.  It was, therefore, not
+surprising that on the death of the Count, Yolande and her mother should
+prefer to leave Belgium and travel in England and Italy, spending the
+winter at Rome or at Monte Carlo, the spring in Paris, and summer in one
+or other of the fashionable French watering-places.  During three years
+we had been excellent friends, and after I had been promoted from
+Brussels to the Embassy in Rome, she came with her mother and spent the
+spring in the Eternal City, with the result that our firm friendship
+became even firmer.  I am fain to admit that our flirtation was of the
+kind called desperate, and that it had ended in love.
+
+And a week ago she had suddenly arrived in Paris at the smart little
+flat in the Rue de Courcelles, which her mother had possessed for years,
+but now so seldom occupied.  Her arrival was unexpected, and I had only
+known of it from Giraud, the military attache at the Belgian Legation, a
+friend of my Brussels days, whom I met in the Cafe de Paris one evening
+after the opera, and who had said suddenly:
+
+"Do you, my dear Ingram, know that a little friend of yours has arrived
+in Paris?"
+
+"Who?"  I inquired eagerly.
+
+"Yolande," was the response.  "You used to be her cavalier in Brussels
+in the old days.  Have you forgotten her?"
+
+His announcement surprised me.  Since my friendship with Edith had grown
+to be a grand passion, I had exchanged no correspondence with Yolande.
+Indeed, the last I had heard of her was that she and the Countess were
+at Cairo spending the winter.
+
+To tell the truth I was rather glad that she had not sought me out, for
+I had no wish to renew her acquaintance, now that I had found a woman in
+England whom I meant to try to win for my wife.  Yet as I looked back at
+the past through the haze of my cigarette-smoke I was compelled to admit
+that I had spent some charming hours by her side, dancing at those
+brilliant balls in Brussels or driving in that pretty wood so beloved of
+the Bruxellois, the Bois de la Cambre.  Many were the incidents that
+came back to me as I sat there pondering.  Nevertheless, in the
+storehouse of memory I found nothing half sweet enough to tempt me from
+my love for Edith.
+
+The denunciation of the pretty Yolande as a spy staggered belief; yet
+the Chief himself, as well as Kaye, was convinced, and the latter was
+already on his way to the north to prosecute inquiries.
+
+What, I wondered, had really aroused their suspicions?  As His
+Excellency had not seen Kaye since his return from Madrid, they could
+not have exchanged views.  It seemed my duty to call and see her, to
+renew the acquaintance that I so strongly desired to end, and, indeed,
+to continue the flirtation of bygone days with a view to discovering the
+truth.  Was it fair?  Was it just?  I hesitated to call upon her, half
+fearful lest her charm and natural chic should again attract me towards
+her.  Nevertheless, it was my duty, as servant of my Sovereign, to
+attempt to discover England's secret enemies.
+
+CHAPTER THREE.
+
+YOLANDE.
+
+The remainder of that night I spent in restless agitation, and at the
+Embassy early next morning showed His Excellency the note that Kaye had
+left for me.
+
+"You must see her, Ingram," he said briefly.  "You must obtain her
+secret from her."
+
+"But I cannot believe that she is a secret agent!"  I declared.  "We
+were friends, and she surely would not seek to injure me?"
+
+"Trust nobody, my dear Ingram," answered the grave-eyed old man.  "You
+know how unreliable women are where diplomacy is concerned.  Remember
+the incident of the Princess Ghelarducci in Rome."
+
+My lips compressed themselves.  He referred to a matter which, for me,
+was anything but a pleasant recollection.  The Princess, after learning
+our intentions regarding Abyssinia, had openly betrayed us; and I had
+very foolishly thought her my friend.
+
+"I shall call on her this afternoon," I answered briefly.  "The worst of
+it is that my action will lead her to think that I desire to renew the
+acquaintance."
+
+"H'm, I see," observed His Excellency quickly, for his shrewdness had
+detected the truth.  "You were once in love with her--eh?"
+
+
+I nodded.
+
+"Then don't allow her to think that your love has cooled," he urged.
+"Act diplomatically in this matter, and strive to get at the truth."
+
+"And deceive her?"
+
+"Deception is permissible if she is a spy."
+
+"But she is not a spy," I declared quickly.
+
+"That remains to be seen!" he snapped.  He then turned on his heel and
+passed into an adjoining room.
+
+At three o'clock I presented my card at the flat in the Rue de
+Courcelles, and was admitted to a cosy little salon, where the
+persiennes were closed to keep out the blazing July sun, and the subdued
+light was welcome after the glare of the streets.  Scarcely, however,
+had my eyes become accustomed to the semi-darkness, when the door
+suddenly opened, and I found myself face to face with the woman I had
+loved a few years ago.
+
+"Gerald!  You!" she cried in English, with that pretty accent which had
+always struck me as so charming.
+
+Our hands clasped.  I looked into her face and saw that in the two years
+which had elapsed she had grown even more beautiful.  In a cool white
+dress of soft, clinging muslin, which, although simply made, bore the
+unmistakable stamp of a couturiere of the first order, she stood before
+me, my hand in hers, in silence.
+
+"So you have come to me?" she said in a strained voice.  "You have come,
+at last?"
+
+"You did not let me know you were in Paris," I protested.
+
+"Giraud told you four days ago," she responded, "and you could not spare
+a single half-hour for me until to-day!" she added in a tone of
+reproach.  "Besides, I wrote to you from Cairo, and you never replied."
+
+"Forgive me," I urged--"forgive me, Yolande.  It is really my fault."
+
+"Because you have forgotten me," she said huskily.  "Here, in Paris, you
+have so many distractions that memories of our old days in Brussels and
+at Houffalize have all been swept away.  Come, admit that what I say is
+the truth."
+
+"I shall admit nothing of the kind, Yolande," I answered, with
+diplomatic caution.  "I only admit my surprise at finding you here in
+July.  Why, there is nobody here except our unfortunate selves at the
+embassies.  The boulevards are given over to the perspiring British
+tourist in knickerbockers and the usual week-end trippers who `do' the
+city in a char-a-banc."
+
+She laughed for the first time, and seated herself upon a large settee
+covered with yellow silk, motioning me to a chair near her.
+
+"It is true," she said.  "Paris is not at all pleasant just now.  We are
+only here for frocks.  In a week we go to Marienbad.  And you--how are
+you?" and she surveyed me with her head held slightly aside in that
+piquante manner I knew so well.
+
+"The same," I laughed--"ever the same."
+
+"Not the same to me," she hastened to protest.
+
+"I might make a similar charge against yourself," I said.  "Remember,
+you did not tell me you were in Paris."
+
+"Because I thought you would know it quickly enough.  I wanted, if
+possible, to meet you accidentally and surprise you.  I went to the ball
+at the German Embassy, but you were not there."
+
+"I was in London," I explained briefly, my thoughts reverting to the
+allegation against her and the unhesitating action of the wary Kaye in
+travelling direct to Berlin.
+
+If there was any man in Europe who could clear up a mystery it was the
+indefatigable chief of the British secret service.  He lived in Paris
+ostensibly as an English lawyer, with offices in the Boulevard des
+Italiens, next the Cafe Americain.  Hence his sudden journeys hither and
+thither were believed to be undertaken in the interests of various
+clients.  But although he had an Irish solicitor, O'Brien by name, to
+attend to the inquiries of any chance clients, the amount of legal
+business carried on in those offices was really nil.  The place was, in
+fact, the headquarters of the British secret service on the Continent.
+
+"I, too, was in England a year ago," she said.  "We were invited to a
+house-party up in Scotland.  Mother was bored, but I had great fun.  An
+English home seems somehow so much jollier than the houses where one
+visits in any other country.  You know how I love the English!"
+
+"Is that meant as a compliment?"  I laughed.
+
+"Of course," she answered.  "But English diplomatists are just as grave
+as those of any other nation.  Your people are always full of all sorts
+of horrid secrets and things."
+
+She referred to the old days in Brussels, for she knew well the
+difficulties under which our diplomacy had been conducted there, owing
+to the eternal questions involving Egypt and the Congo.
+
+But I laughed lightly.  I did not intend that she should suspect the
+real motive of my call.  Evidently she knew nothing of my love for Edith
+Austin, or she would have referred to it.  Fortunately I had been able
+to keep it a secret from all.
+
+"And you are actually leaving us in a week?"
+
+I observed, for want of something else to say.  "I hear that Marienbad
+is crowded this season."
+
+"We are going to visit my uncle, Prince Stolberg, who has a villa
+there."
+
+Then I asked her of our mutual friends in Brussels, and she in return
+retailed to me all the latest gossip concerning them.  As she sat there
+in the subdued light, her white dress, relieved by a touch of turquoise
+at the wrists and waist, she presented a picture graceful, delicate, and
+altogether charming.  I reasoned with myself as she went on chattering.
+No; it was not surprising that I had once fallen in love with her.  She
+was more French than Belgian, for the days of her girlhood had been
+passed mostly in France; her Christian name was French, and in manner
+she possessed all that smartness and chic peculiar to the Parisienne.
+Mentally I compared her with Edith, but next instant laughed within
+myself.  Such comparison was impossible.  Their styles were as different
+as were their nationalities.  Beside Edith, my well-beloved, the beauty
+of this fair-haired, gesticulating girl paled entirely, and became
+insipid.  The Englishwoman who held me beneath the spell of her soft and
+truthful eyes was without a peer.
+
+
+Still, Yolande amused me with her chatter.  The reader will forgive me
+this admission, for in calling there I was only acting a part.  I was
+endeavouring in the interests of my country to find out whether there
+was any truth in the allegation recently made against her by my friend.
+Of a sudden a thought crossed my mind, and I asked:
+
+"Have you met many acquaintances since you've been in Paris?"
+
+"Only Hartmann and some of the people at the Legation," she responded.
+"We are just going to five o'clock with the Princess Olsoufieff this
+afternoon."
+
+"There is an old friend of yours just arrived," I said.  "Have you met
+him?"
+
+"An old friend?" she echoed in surprise.  "Man or woman?"
+
+"A man," I answered.  "Rodolphe Wolf."
+
+"Rodolphe Wolf!" she gasped, starting up, the colour dying from her lips
+in an instant.  "Rodolphe Wolf in Paris--impossible!"
+
+"He was at the Baroness de Chalencon's last night," I said quite calmly,
+watching her face the while.
+
+Her sudden fear and surprise made plain a fact of which I had not before
+been aware--namely, that there was something more than a casual link
+between them.  Years ago, when in Brussels, I had suspected Wolf of
+being a secret agent, and the fact that she was closely acquainted with
+him appeared to prove that my Chiefs suspicion was not unfounded.
+
+She had risen.  Her hands were trembling, and although she strove
+desperately to betray to me no outward sign of agitation, she was
+compelled to support herself by clutching the small table at her side.
+Her countenance was blanched to the lips.  She presented the appearance
+of one haunted by some terrible dread.
+
+"Wolf!" she gasped again, as though speaking to herself.  Then, turning
+to me, she stretched forth both her hands, and, looking earnestly into
+my eyes, cried in wild desperation: "Gerald, save me!  For the sake of
+our love of the old days, save me!"
+
+"From what?"  I cried, jumping up and catching her by both hands.  "Tell
+me, Yolande.  If I can assist you I certainly will.  Why are you so
+distressed?"
+
+She was silent, with one trembling hand pressed upon her heart, as
+though to stay its wild, tumultuous beating.
+
+"No," she said in a hoarse whisper, "it is useless--all useless."
+
+"But if you are in distress I can surely help you," I said.
+
+"Alas! you cannot," she answered in despair.  "You do not know--you
+cannot understand."
+
+"Why not tell me?  Confide in me," I urged.
+
+"No," she replied.  "I am very foolish--forgive me;" and she tried to
+smile.
+
+"The news that Wolf is here has upset you," I said.  "Why?"
+
+"He has escaped."
+
+"From where?"
+
+"From prison."
+
+I was silent.  I knew not what to say.  This declaration of hers was
+strange.  It was startling news to me that Rodolphe Wolf had been in
+prison.
+
+"You have asked me to save you," I said, reverting to her wild
+supplication.  "I will do so willingly if you only tell me how."
+
+"It is impossible," she said in a broken voice, shaking her head
+mournfully.  "By what you have told me I am forewarned."
+
+A deep sigh escaped her, and I saw that her fingers worked restlessly in
+the palms of her hands.  She was desperate.
+
+"Can I do absolutely nothing?"  I asked in a tone of sympathy, placing
+my hand tenderly upon her shoulder.
+
+"Nothing," she answered in a hoarse whisper.  "I am not fit to talk
+further.  Let us say good-bye."
+
+"Then you prefer that I should leave you?"
+
+"Yes," she said, holding out her hand.  "Forgive me for this, but I want
+to go to my own room to think.  What you have told me has upset me."
+
+"Tell me plainly--you fear that man?"
+
+She nodded in the affirmative.
+
+"And you will not allow me either to advise or to assist you?"
+
+"No," she said hoarsely.  "Go, Gerald.  Leave me!  When we meet again I
+shall be calmer than I am now."
+
+Her face was deathly pale; her eyes had a distinct look of terror in
+them.
+
+"Very well," I answered when again she had urged me to leave her; "if
+you insist, I will go.  But remember that if I can be of service,
+Yolande, I am ready at once to render you assistance.  Good-bye," and I
+pressed her hand in sympathy.
+
+She burst into tears.
+
+"Farewell," she faltered.
+
+Then I turned, and, bowing, went forth into the glaring sunshine of the
+boulevard.
+
+She had virtually admitted a close acquaintance with a man upon whom
+distinct suspicion rested, and her actions had been those of a guilty
+woman.  My thoughts were full of that interview and its painful ending
+as I walked back towards the Embassy.
+
+CHAPTER FOUR.
+
+A CURIOUS STORY.
+
+There was war in the air.  At the Embassy we could not conceal from
+ourselves the seriousness of the situation.  From hour to hour we were
+living in dread lest diplomatic negotiations should be broken off with
+the French Republic.  We had discovered what seemed very much like a
+conspiracy against England, and as an energetic protest it appeared
+quite possible that the Marquess of Malvern might order my Chief to
+leave Paris.  This would mean a rupture of diplomatic relations, and in
+all probability war.
+
+Never in the history of modern Europe had there been a day so critical
+as that blazing, well-remembered one in mid-July.  There were ugly
+rumours of complications in the Transvaal.  The fate of certain nations
+trembled in the balance.  In every capital diplomatists were active,
+some striving to force war, others endeavouring to prevent it.  A
+diplomatist's life is assuredly no sinecure.  The British public, as I
+have said before, little dreams of the constant anxiety and terrible
+tension which are parts of the daily life of its faithful servants
+abroad.
+
+On my return to the Embassy I found that some important despatches had
+been brought from London by Anderson, the foreign service messenger.
+
+He was sitting in my room smoking a cigarette, and awaiting me in order
+to obtain the receipt for his despatch-box.  A tall, round-faced, merry
+man of middle age, he was an especial favourite in all the embassies as
+far as Teheran.  A thorough cosmopolitan and man of the world, he had
+resigned his commission in the Scots Greys to become one of that
+half-dozen of the greyhounds of Europe known as Queen's messengers.
+
+"Well, Anderson," I exclaimed, shaking his hand on entering, "what's the
+news from Downing Street?"
+
+"Oh, nothing very fresh," he laughed, sinking back in his chair again,
+and passing me over the receipt for signature.  "Old Tuite, of the
+Treaty Department, has retired on his pension this week.  That's about
+all that's new.  The Chief, however, seems busy.  I'm loaded with
+despatches."
+
+"Where for?"
+
+"Vienna and Constantinople.  I leave by the Orient express in an hour's
+time," he answered, with a glance at his watch.
+
+"Then you're getting over a little ground just now?"  I laughed.
+
+"A little ground!" he echoed.  "Well, I've been two trips to Petersburg
+this month, twice here to Paris, and once to Vienna.  I've only slept
+one night in London since the 1st."
+
+"You're a bit sick of it, I should think," I observed, looking at the
+round face lit up by its pair of merry grey eyes.  He was an easy-going
+fellow; his good-humour never seemed ruffled.
+
+"Oh, it agrees with me," he laughed lightly.  "I don't care as long as I
+get the monthly run to Teheran now and then.  That's a bit of a change,
+you know, after these everlasting railways, with their stuffy
+sleeping-cars and abominable arrangements for giving a man indigestion."
+
+I examined the box to see that the seals affixed in Downing Street were
+intact, then signed the receipt and handed it back to him.
+
+Of the corps of Queen's messengers--nicknamed "the greyhounds" because
+of the badge which each wears suspended round his neck and concealed
+beneath his cravat, a silver greyhound surmounted by the Royal arms--
+Captain Jack Anderson was the most popular.  A welcome guest at every
+embassy or legation, he was on friendly terms with the whole staff, from
+the Ambassador himself down to the hall-porter, and he carried the
+gossip of the embassies to and fro across Europe.  From him we all
+gathered news of our old colleagues in other capitals--of their joys and
+their sorrows, their difficulties and their junketings.  His baggage
+being by international courtesy free from Customs' examination, he
+oft-times carried with him a new frock for an ambassador's wife or
+daughter--a service which always put him high in the good graces of the
+feminine portion of the diplomatic circle.
+
+"Kaye seems bobbing about pretty much," he observed, handing me his
+cigarette-case.  Anderson's cigarettes were well known for their
+excellence, for he purchased them at a shop in Petersburg, and often
+distributed a box in one or other of the embassies.  "I met him a week
+ago on board the Calais boat, and two days later I came across him in
+the buffet down at Bale.  He was, however, as close as an oyster."
+
+
+"Of course.  It isn't likely that he'd talk very much," I remarked.
+"His profession is to know everything, and at the same time to affect
+ignorance.  He went to Berlin last night."
+
+"We had breakfast together in the early morning at Bale, and he
+questioned me closely about a friend of yours."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"A lady--Mademoiselle de Foville.  You remember her in Brussels, don't
+you?"
+
+"Mademoiselle de Foville!"  I echoed.  The denunciation of her as a
+secret agent instantly flashed through my mind.
+
+"Yes, you were extremely friendly with her in Brussels," he went on.
+"Don't you recollect that you introduced me to her one evening at an
+al-fresco concert in the Vauxhall Gardens, where we sat together for
+quite a long time chatting?"
+
+"I remember distinctly," I responded.  Every detail of that balmy summer
+night in those gaily illuminated gardens came back to me in that moment.
+I loved Yolande in those long-past days.  "And what did Kaye want to
+know regarding her?"
+
+"He asked me whether I had ever met her, and I told him that you had
+once introduced us."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Oh, nothing much else.  He remarked how very charming she was--a
+verdict in which we both agreed.  Have you seen her lately?"
+
+I hesitated for a moment.
+
+"Yes, she's here, in Paris."
+
+He bent forward quickly, regarding me curiously.
+
+"That's strange.  How long has she been here?" he inquired with a rather
+puzzled look.
+
+"Only a few days.  I did not know that she was here till yesterday," I
+replied with affected carelessness.
+
+"Ah, I thought she could not have been here long."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because only a week ago she travelled in the same compartment as myself
+between Berlin and Cologne."
+
+"And did you claim acquaintance with her?"  I inquired quickly.
+
+"No.  She had a companion with her--a pimply-faced, ugly Johnnie, whom I
+took to be a German.  They spoke in German all the time."
+
+Could it be, I wondered, that Yolande and her companion had travelled
+with Anderson with some evil intent?
+
+"Didn't you speak to them?"
+
+"The man tried to open a conversation with me, but I pretended to be
+Italian, without any knowledge of German or English, so he didn't get
+very far.  To affect Italian is generally a sure game, for so few people
+speak it in comparison with those who know other Continental languages."
+
+"You wanted to overhear their conversation--eh?"
+
+"I wanted to ascertain what their game was," answered the Queen's
+messenger.  "They eyed my despatch-box very curiously; and it was to me
+an extremely suspicious circumstance that although they joined the train
+at Berlin they did not enter my compartment until an hour later, when
+the express stopped to change engines."
+
+"You were alone?"
+
+"Yes, and it was at night," he answered, adding: "To me it was also a
+curious circumstance that only three days afterwards Kaye should become
+so deeply interested in her.  I had never seen her from that night in
+Brussels until we had met in the train, but I've a good memory for
+faces.  I can swear I was not mistaken."
+
+"You speak as though you suspected her," I said, looking straight into
+his ruddy countenance, which had grown unusually serious while we had
+been speaking.
+
+"Well, to tell the truth, I did suspect her," he responded.  "I didn't
+half like the look of the man.  He was well-dressed, but as you know
+I've always a sharp eye where my fellow-travellers are concerned, and I
+felt certain that there was something shady about him.  They shifted
+about all night, and were constantly watching to see whether I had gone
+to sleep.  But all their watching was without reward.  Jack Anderson
+never sleeps while he has a crossed despatch upon him;" and he blew a
+cloud of smoke upward from his lips.
+
+"But surely you don't think that their intention was to steal your
+despatches?"  I cried.
+
+"They were welcome to the whole collection in the box," he laughed.
+"They were only consular reports and necessary evils of that sort.  What
+they wanted was the crossed despatch from Berlin that I had in my belt
+next my skin."
+
+"They made no attempt to get at it?"
+
+"Yes, they did.  That's just where my suspicion was proved."
+
+"How?"  I asked breathlessly, bending eagerly towards him.
+
+"Well, as you know, I always carry among my wraps a little cushion
+covered with black satin.  Experience has taught me that that cushion
+has saved me many an aching head and stiff neck when on long journeys.
+So I placed it behind my head, and through the night read a novel by the
+dim, uncertain light.  About two o'clock in the morning we ran into
+Hanover, and I got out to get a drink.  When I returned, however, and
+placed the cushion behind my head, I felt a slight dampness upon it.  In
+an instant suspicion seized me.  Some liquid had been sprinkled upon it
+in my absence.  My two fellow-travellers, wrapped in their rugs, were
+apparently sleeping.  At once I resolved to act with caution, and,
+turning my cheek towards the pillow, smelt it.  There was a curious
+odour, sweet and subtle, like some new perfume.  I had suspected
+chloroform, but it was certainly not that.  Yet almost the instant after
+I had inhaled it a curious and unaccountable drowsiness seized me.  Then
+I knew the truth.  They had plotted to render me insensible and
+afterwards steal the despatch!  I struggled against this feeling of
+weariness, and, rising to my feet, buttoned my overcoat as though I were
+chilly.  This action allowed the cushion to fall away from my head, and,
+again re-seating myself, I made a feint of being interested in my book;
+but in reality my head was awhirl, and in the pocket of my ulster I had
+my hand upon my revolver, ready to use it should that pimply-faced
+ruffian attempt violence.  The pair commenced to shift about uneasily in
+their seats, and I could see that their failure had considerably
+disconcerted them."
+
+"You gave them no idea that you had discovered their intentions?"
+
+"None whatever.  I was anxious to see how they would act after being
+foiled."
+
+"Well, what did they do?"
+
+"They exchanged glances of annoyance, but spoke no word.  They were
+silent for over an hour, during which time it occurred to me to move the
+cushion farther from me, in case the evaporation of the mysterious
+liquid should cause insensibility.  I was determined that your pretty
+little friend's companion should be the first to be thus affected.  The
+feeling of drowsiness, however, wore off, and at Cologne the pair, after
+chatting in German regarding the train to Venlo, bustled about hastily
+and descended.  They had no baggage, and went into the buffet to
+breakfast."
+
+"You, of course, continued your journey?"
+
+"Yes, to Ostend and London."
+
+"It seems as though you had rather a narrow escape," I observed
+thoughtfully.
+
+"It was a daring attempt to get at that despatch," he remarked with some
+warmth.  "Depend upon it, my dear Ingram, that woman is a spy.  I know
+she's a friend of yours, but I can't help saying just what I think."
+
+"But I can't believe it!"  I declared.  "Indeed, I won't believe it!"  I
+added vehemently.
+
+"As you like," he said coldly, with a slight shrug of his broad
+shoulders.  "I've told you the plain truth as to what occurred."
+
+"She's wealthy, and of one of the best families in Belgium.  There is no
+necessity whatever for her to be in the pay of any foreign Government,"
+I protested.
+
+"We have nothing to do with her reasons," he said.  "All we know is that
+she and her companion tried to drug me in order to get at the despatch."
+
+"You have no idea, I suppose, of the contents of the despatch in
+question?"  I inquired.
+
+"None, except that when I gave it into the Chief's own hands in his
+private room at Downing Street, he appeared to be very much surprised by
+its contents, and at once wrote a reply, with which I posted back to
+Berlin by the same night's mail from Charing Cross."
+
+"Then it was upon a matter of importance?"
+
+"I judged it to be of extreme importance.  Yolande de Foville was
+evidently well aware that I had the despatch in my belt."
+
+"You had never before seen this man who accompanied her?"
+
+"Never.  But now he has made one attempt it is quite probable he may
+make another.  I'm on the look-out for him again."
+
+"And the cushion?  Have you discovered what they placed upon it?"
+
+"I left it in London with Dr. Bond, the analyst, at Somerset House.
+He's trying to discover the liquid used.  I hope he will be successful,
+for the stuff was so potent that I have no desire for it again to be
+sprinkled upon my belongings."
+
+"They were at least ingenious," I exclaimed, amazed at this
+extraordinary story, which seemed to prove so conclusively the truth of
+Kaye's denunciation.
+
+Yet I could not believe that Yolande, my charming little friend, in whom
+I had in the old days reposed so many confidences, and by whose side I
+had lingered through many idle hours in the Bois or in that almost
+endless forest around her feudal home, was actually a spy.  The
+suggestion seemed too absurd.  Nevertheless, Kaye was not a man to make
+unfounded charges, nor was Anderson given to relating that which was
+untrue.  Truth to tell, this story of his held me absolutely
+dumbfounded.  I recollected my conversation with her an hour ago, and
+the strange effect my announcement that Wolf was in Paris had made upon
+her.  She had implored me to save her.  Why?
+
+A silence fell between us.  I was preoccupied by my own thoughts.  But a
+few moments later the Queen's messenger again glanced at his watch, and,
+rising, said:
+
+"I must be off, or I shan't catch the Orient.  Any message for them down
+at Constantinople?"
+
+"No," I responded, gripping his strong hand in farewell.  "Take care of
+yourself, and don't let any of those confounded spies get at you again."
+
+"Trust me, my dear fellow," he laughed, and lighting another cigarette
+he went forth on his long journey to the East as airily as though he
+were strolling down to get a cocktail at Henry's.
+
+When he had gone I sat for a long time thinking.  A remembrance of the
+mad love of those days that had gone came back to me, sweet, charming
+memories of that half-forgotten time when Yolande was my ideal, and when
+her lips met mine in tender, passionate caresses.  Ah! how fondly I had
+loved her in those days!  But with an effort I at last arose, and,
+casting all those reflections behind me with a sigh, broke the seals of
+the despatch-box, and, seating myself at the big writing-table,
+commenced to examine them with a view to ascertaining their contents.
+
+There were several important papers, and very soon I became absorbed in
+them.  Nearly an hour later there came a sudden rap at the door, and one
+of the English footmen entered, saying:
+
+
+"There is a man below, sir, who wishes to see you at once on important
+business.  He says he is valet-de-chambre of the Countess de Foville."
+
+"Of the Countess de Foville!"  I echoed, much surprised.
+
+I at once ordered him to be shown upstairs, and a few moments later a
+tall, thin-faced, clean-shaven Frenchman entered.
+
+"M'sieur Ingram?" he inquired breathlessly in French, evidently in a
+state of great agitation.
+
+"Yes," I said.  "What is your message?"
+
+"I have been sent by Madame la Comtesse to ask you to be good enough to
+come to her at once.  A most distressing incident has occurred."
+
+"What has occurred?"  I demanded quickly.
+
+"Ah, m'sieur, it is terrible!" he cried with much Gallic gesticulation.
+"Poor Mademoiselle Yolande!  She is asking to see you.  She says she
+must speak with you, m'sieur."
+
+"With me?"
+
+"Yes, m'sieur.  Do not let us lose a single instant, or it may be too
+late.  Ah! my poor young mistress!  Poor mademoiselle! it is terrible--
+terrible!"
+
+CHAPTER FIVE.
+
+LA COMTESSE.
+
+The Countess, a handsome, well-preserved woman of middle age, slightly
+inclined to embonpoint, met me on the threshold, and in silence grasped
+my hand.  From the window she had apparently watched me alight from the
+fiacre, and had rushed forth to meet me.
+
+That something unusual had occurred was plain from the paleness of her
+countenance and the look of despair in her eyes.  We had been excellent
+friends in Brussels in bygone days, for she had favoured my suit and had
+constantly invited me to her pretty home in the Boulevard de Waterloo or
+to the great old chateau in the Ardennes.  A glance was sufficient to
+show me that she had grown considerably older, and that her face,
+although it still bore distinct traces of a faded beauty, was now worn
+and haggard.  She was essentially a grande dame of the old regime, now
+fast disappearing from our ken, but at no time could she be considered a
+great hostess.  She was somewhat intransigent, a woman of strong
+prejudices, usually well justified, and incapable of pretence or shams.
+But the law of kindliness was ever on her tongue, and she contented
+herself with giving those of whom she disapproved a wide berth.  She was
+dressed plainly in black, with a single wisp of lace at the throat--a
+costume unusual for her.  In Brussels her handsome toilettes, obtained
+from Paris, had always been admired.  Although matronly, like the
+majority of Belgian women, she was extremely chic, with an almost
+girlish waist, and at whatever hour one called one always found her
+dressed with extreme taste and elegance.  I must, however, admit that
+her appearance surprised me.  Her hair had grown greyer, and she seemed
+as though utterly negligent of her personal appearance.
+
+"Madame!"  I exclaimed in alarm as our hands met, "tell me what has
+occurred."
+
+"Ah, m'sieur," she cried in French, "I am in despair, and have sent for
+you!  You can help me--if you will."
+
+"In what manner?"  I inquired breathlessly.
+
+"Yolande!" she gasped, in a choking voice.
+
+"Yolande!"  I echoed.  "What has happened to her?  Your man will tell me
+nothing."
+
+"He has orders to say nothing," she explained, leading the way into the
+elegant salon.  "Now tell me," she said, looking at me very earnestly,
+"I am in sheer desperation, as you may see, or I would not presume to
+question you.  Will you forgive me if I do?"
+
+"Most certainly," I responded.
+
+"Then before we go further I will put my question to you," she said in a
+strange voice.  "Do you love Yolande?"
+
+Such direct inquiry certainly took me by complete surprise.  I stood
+looking at her for a few seconds absolutely open-mouthed.
+
+"Why ask me that?"  I inquired, puzzled.  "Tell me what has happened to
+her."
+
+"I can tell you nothing until you have answered my question," she
+replied quite calmly.  I saw from her countenance that she was
+desperate.
+
+"I think, madame, that when we were together in Brussels my actions must
+have betrayed to you--a woman--the state of my heart towards your
+daughter," I said.  "I do not seek to deny that at that time I loved her
+more fondly than I could ever love again, and--"
+
+"Then you do not love her still?" she cried, interrupting me.
+
+"Allow me to conclude," I went on, speaking quite calmly, for I saw in
+this curious question of hers some mysterious motive.  "I loved her
+while in Brussels, and for two years hoped to make her my wife."
+
+"And then you grew tired of her?" the Countess asked, in a tone that was
+almost a sneer in itself.  "It is always the same with you diplomatists.
+The women of every capital amuse you, but on your promotion you bow
+your adieux and seek fresh fields to conquer."
+
+"I think you misjudge me," I protested, rather annoyed at her words.  "I
+loved Yolande.  When I admit this, I also admit that, like other men
+whose calling it is to lounge in the principal salons of Europe, I had
+not escaped the fascination exercised by other eyes than hers.  But to
+me she was all the world.  Surely, madame, you remember the days at
+Houffalize?  You cannot disguise from yourself that I really loved her
+then?"
+
+"But all that is of the past," she said seriously, her white hands
+clasped before her.  "Briefly, you no longer entertain any love for her.
+Is not that so?"
+
+I hesitated.  My position was a difficult one.  I was a diplomatist, and
+could speak untruths artistically when occasion required, but she had
+cornered me.
+
+"Madame has guessed the truth," I answered at last.
+
+"Ah!" she cried hoarsely, "I thought as much.  You have found some other
+woman whom you prefer?"
+
+I nodded assent.  It was useless to lead her to believe what was not the
+truth.  Yolande was of course charming in many ways; but when I thought
+of Edith I saw that comparison was impossible.
+
+"And you have no further thought of her?" she asked.
+
+"As far as marriage is concerned, no," I responded.  "Nevertheless, I
+still regard her as an intimate friend.  I was here only two or three
+hours ago chatting with her."
+
+"You!" she cried, glaring at me strangely.  "You were here--to-day?"
+
+"Yes," I replied.  "I thought she would certainly tell you of my visit."
+
+"She told me nothing.  I was quite unaware of it.  I was out, and the
+servants told me that a gentlemen had called in my absence."
+
+"I gave a card," I replied.  "It is no doubt in the hall."
+
+"No, it is not.  It has been destroyed."
+
+"Why?"  I asked.
+
+"For some mysterious reason known to Yolande."  Then, turning quickly
+again to me, she placed her hand upon my arm in deep earnestness,
+saying: "Tell me, is your love for her absolutely and entirely dead--so
+dead that you would not care to perform her a service?"
+
+Anderson's strange and startling story flashed through my mind.  I made
+no reply.
+
+"Remember the affection you once bore her," she urged.  "I am a woman,
+m'sieur, and I presume to remind you of it."
+
+I needed no reminder.  The recollection of those sweet idyllic days was
+still fresh as ever in my memory.  Ah! in those brief sunny hours I had
+fondly believed that our love would last always.  It is ever the same.
+Youth is ever foolish.
+
+"I should have loved her now," I answered at last, "were it not for one
+fact."
+
+There was a mystery which had ended our love, and I saw now an
+opportunity of clearing it up.  "To what fact do you refer?"
+
+"To the reason of our parting."
+
+"The reason!" echoed the Countess.  "I have no idea whatever of the
+reason.  What was it?"
+
+I held my breath.  Would it be just to tell her the truth?  I wondered.
+I reflected for a moment, then in a calm voice answered:
+
+"Because I discovered that her heart was not wholly mine."
+
+She regarded me with undisguised amazement.
+
+"Do you mean that Yolande had another lover?"
+
+"No!"  I cried with sudden resolve.  "This conversation is not fair to
+her.  It is all finished.  She has forgotten, and we are both happy."
+
+"Happy!" cried the Countess hoarsely.  "You are, alas! mistaken.  Poor
+Yolande has been the most unhappy girl in all the world.  She has never
+ceased to think of you."
+
+"Then I regret, madame," I responded.
+
+"If you really regret," she answered, "then your love for her is not
+altogether dead."
+
+She spoke the truth.  At this point I may as well confide to you, my
+reader, the fact that I still regarded my charming little friend of
+those careless days of buoyant youth with a feeling very nearly akin to
+love.  I recollected the painful circumstances which led to our parting.
+My memory drifted back to that well-remembered, breathless summer's
+evening when, while walking with her along the white highway near her
+home, I charged her with friendliness towards a man whose reputation in
+Brussels was none of the best; of her tearful protests, of my
+all-consuming jealousy, of her subsequent dignity, and of our parting.
+After that I had applied to the Foreign Office to be transferred, and a
+month later found myself in Rome.
+
+Perhaps, after all, my jealousy might have been utterly unfounded.
+Sometimes I had thought I had treated her harshly, for, truth to tell, I
+had never obtained absolute proof that this man was more than a mere
+acquaintance.  Indeed, I think it was this fact, or just a slight twinge
+of conscience, that caused a suspicion of the old love I once bore her
+to remain within me.  It was not just to Edith--that I knew; yet
+notwithstanding the denunciations of both Kaye and Anderson, I could not
+altogether crush her from my heart.  To wholly forget the woman for whom
+one has entertained the grand passion is often most difficult,
+sometimes, indeed, impossible of accomplishment.  Visions of some sweet
+face with its pouting and ready lips will arise, constantly keeping the
+past ever present, and recalling a day one would fain forget.  Thus it
+was with me--just as it has been with thousands of others.
+
+"No," I admitted truthfully and honestly at last, "my love for Yolande
+is perhaps not altogether dead."
+
+"Then you will render me a service?" she cried quickly.  "Say that you
+will--for her sake!--for the sake of the great love you once bore her!"
+
+"Of what nature is this service you desire?"  I asked, determined to act
+with caution, for the startling stories I had heard had aroused within
+me considerable suspicion.
+
+"I desire your silence regarding an absolute secret," she answered in a
+hoarse half-whisper.
+
+"What secret?"
+
+"A secret concerning Yolande," she responded.  "Will you, for her sake,
+render us assistance, and at the same time preserve absolute secrecy as
+to what you may see or learn here to-day?"
+
+"I will promise if you wish, madame, that no word shall pass my lips," I
+said.  "But as to assistance, I cannot promise until I am aware of the
+nature of the service demanded of me."
+
+"Of course," she exclaimed, with a faint attempt at a smile.  My words
+had apparently reassured her, for she instantly became calmer, as though
+relying upon me for help.  "Then as you give me your promise upon your
+honour to say nothing, you shall know the truth.  Come with me."
+
+She led the way down the long corridor, and turning to the left suddenly
+opened the door of a large and handsome bed-chamber, the wooden
+sun-blinds of which were closed to keep out the crimson glow of the
+sunset.  The room was a fine one with big crystal mirrors and a shining
+toilette-service in silver, but upon the bed with its yellow silk
+hangings lay a female form fully dressed, but white-faced and
+motionless.  In the dim half-light I could just distinguish the features
+as those of Yolande.
+
+"What has occurred?"  I cried in a hoarse whisper, dashing towards the
+bedside and bending down to look upon the face that had once held me in
+fascination.
+
+"We do not know," answered the trembling woman at my side.  "It is all a
+mystery."
+
+I stretched forth my hand and touched her cheek.  It was icy cold.
+
+In those few moments my eyes had become accustomed to the dim light of
+the darkened room, and I detected the change that had taken place in the
+girl's countenance.  Her eyes were closed, her lips blanched, her fair
+hair, escaped from its pins, fell in a sheen of gold upon the lace-edged
+pillow.
+
+I held my breath.  The awful truth was distinctly apparent.  I placed my
+hand upon her heart, the bodice of her dress being already unloosened.
+Then a few seconds later I drew back, standing rigid and aghast.
+
+"Why, she's dead!"  I gasped.
+
+"Yes," the Countess said, covering her face with her hands and bursting
+into tears.  "My poor Yolande! she is dead--_dead_!"
+
+The discovery appalled me.  Only a couple of hours before we had chatted
+together, and she seemed in the best of health and spirits, just as in
+the old days, until I had made the announcement of Wolf's presence in
+Paris.  The effect of that statement upon her had apparently been
+electrical.  Why, I knew not.  Had she not implored me to save her?
+This in itself was sufficient to show that she held him in deadly fear.
+
+Again I bent in order to make further examination, but saw the
+unmistakable mark of death upon her countenance.  The lower jaw had
+dropped, the checks were cold, and the silver hand-mirror which I had
+snatched from the table and held at her mouth was unclouded.  There was
+no movement--no life.  Yolande, my well-beloved of those long-past days,
+was dead.
+
+I stood there at the bedside like a man in a dream.  So swiftly had she
+been struck down that the terrible truth seemed impossible of
+realisation.
+
+The Countess, standing beside me, sobbed bitterly.  Truly the scene in
+that darkened chamber was a strange and impressive one.  Never before in
+my whole life had I been in the presence of the dead.
+
+"Yolande--Yolande!"  I called, touching her cheek in an effort to awaken
+her, for I could not believe that she was actually dead.
+
+But there was no response.  Those blanched lips and the coldness of
+those cheeks told their own tale.  She had passed to that land which
+lies beyond the range of human vision.
+
+How long I stood there I cannot tell.  My thoughts were inexpressibly
+sad ones, and the discovery had utterly upset me, so that I scarcely
+knew what I said or did.  The blow of thus finding her lifeless crushed
+me.  The affair was mysterious, to say the least of it.  Of a sudden,
+however, the sobs of the grief-stricken Countess aroused me to a sense
+of my responsibility, and taking her hand I led her from the bedside
+into an adjoining room.
+
+"How has this terrible catastrophe occurred?"  I demanded of her
+breathlessly.  "Only two hours ago she was well and happy."
+
+"You mean when you saw her?" she said.  "What was the object of your
+call?"
+
+"To see her," I responded.
+
+"And yet you parted ill friends in Brussels?" she observed in a tone of
+distinct suspicion.  "You had some motive in calling.  What was it?"
+
+I hesitated.  I could not tell her that I suspected her daughter to be a
+spy.
+
+"In order to assure her of my continued good friendship."
+
+She smiled, rather superciliously I thought.
+
+"But how did the terrible affair occur?"
+
+"We have no idea," answered the Countess brokenly.  "She was found lying
+upon the floor of the salon within a quarter of an hour of the departure
+of her visitor, who proved to be yourself.  Jean, the valet-de-chambre,
+on entering, discovered her lying there, quite dead."
+
+"Astounding!"  I gasped.  "She was in perfect health when I left her."
+
+She shook her head sorrowfully, and her voice, choking with grief,
+declared:
+
+"My child has been killed--murdered!"
+
+"Murdered!  Impossible!"  I cried.
+
+"But she has," she declared.  "I am absolutely positive of it!"
+
+CHAPTER SIX.
+
+A PIECE OF PLAIN PAPER.
+
+"What medical examination has been made?"  I demanded.
+
+"None," responded the Countess.  "My poor child is dead, and no doctor
+can render her assistance.  Medical aid is unavailing."
+
+"But do you mean to say that on making this discovery you did not think
+it necessary to send for a doctor?"  I cried incredulously.
+
+"I did not send for one--I sent for you," was her response.
+
+"But we must call a doctor at once," I urged.  "If you have suspicion of
+foul play we should surely know if there is any wound, or any injury to
+account for death."
+
+"I did not consider it necessary.  No doctor can return her to me," she
+wailed.  "I sent for you because I believed that you would render me
+assistance in this terrible affair."
+
+"Most certainly I will," I replied.  "But in our own interests we must
+send for a medical man, and if it is found to be actually a case of foul
+play, for the police.  I'll send a line to Doctor Deane, an Englishman
+whom I know, who is generally called in to see anybody at the Embassy
+who chances to be ill.  He is a good fellow, and his discretion may be
+relied upon."
+
+So saying, I scribbled a line on the back of a card, and told the man to
+take a cab down to the Rue du Havre, where the doctor occupied rooms
+over a hosier's shop a stone's throw from the bustling Gare St. Lazare.
+
+A very curious mystery was evidently connected with this startling
+discovery, and I was anxious that my friend, Dick Deane, one of my old
+chums of Rugby days, should assist me in clearing it up.
+
+The Countess de Foville, whose calmness had been so remarkable while
+speaking with me before we entered the death-chamber, had now given way
+to a flood of emotion.  She sank back into her chair, and, burying her
+face in her hands, cried bitterly.
+
+I tried to obtain some further information from her, but all that
+escaped her was:
+
+"My poor Yolande!  My poor daughter!"  Finding that my endeavours to
+console her were futile, I went forth and made inquiries of the three
+frightened maidservants regarding what had occurred.
+
+One of them, a dark-eyed Frenchwoman in frilled cap, whom I had seen on
+my previous visit, said, in answer to my questions:
+
+"Jean discovered the poor mademoiselle in the petit salon about a
+quarter of an hour after m'sieur had left.  She was lying upon her face
+near the window, quite rigid.  He shouted; we all rushed in, and on
+examining her found that she was already dead."
+
+"But was there no sign of a struggle?"  I inquired, leading the way to
+the room indicated.
+
+"The room was just as m'sieur sees it now," she answered, with a wave of
+her hand.
+
+I glanced around, but as far as I could distinguish it was exactly as I
+had left it.
+
+"There was no mark of violence--nothing to show that mademoiselle had
+been the victim of foul play?"
+
+"Nothing, m'sieur."
+
+Could it have been a case of suicide?  I wondered.  Yolande's words
+before I had taken leave of her were desponding, and almost led me to
+believe that she had taken her life rather than face the man Wolf who
+had so suddenly arrived in Paris--the man who exercised upon her some
+mysterious influence, the nature of which I could not guess.
+
+"It was not more than fifteen minutes after I had left, you say?"  I
+inquired.
+
+"No, m'sieur, not more."
+
+"Mademoiselle had no other visitor?"
+
+"No, m'sieur.  Of that we are all certain."
+
+"And the Countess, where was she during the time I was here?"
+
+"She was out driving.  She did not return till about five minutes after
+we had made the terrible discovery."
+
+"And how did madame act?"
+
+"She ordered us to carry poor mademoiselle to her room.  Poor madame!
+She bore the blow with wonderful fortitude."
+
+
+That remark caused me to prick up my ears.
+
+"I don't quite understand," I said.  "Did she not give way to tears?"
+
+"No, m'sieur; she shed no tears, but sat erect, motionless as a statue.
+She appeared unable to realise that poor mademoiselle was actually dead.
+At last she rang, and sent Jean to you."
+
+"You are absolutely certain that mademoiselle had no visit or after I
+left?"
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+"It would, moreover, not be possible for anyone to enter or leave
+without your knowledge?"  I suggested.
+
+"M'sieur understands me perfectly.  Mademoiselle must have fallen to the
+floor lifeless immediately after I had let you out.  She made no sound,
+and had Jean not entered with her letters, which the concierge had
+brought, my poor young mistress might be lying there now."
+
+The average Frenchwoman of the lower class is always dramatic wherever a
+domestic calamity is concerned, and this worthy bonne was no exception.
+She punctuated all her remarks with references to the sacred personages
+of the Roman Catholic religion.
+
+"You haven't searched the room, I suppose?"
+
+"No, m'sieur.  Madame gave orders that nothing was to be touched."
+
+This reply was eminently satisfactory.  I glanced again around the
+place, now dim in the falling twilight, and ordered her to throw back
+the sun-shutters.
+
+The woman went to the window and opened them, admitting a flood of
+mellow light, the last crimson of the glorious afterglow.  Up from the
+boulevard came the dull roar of the traffic, mingling with the sound of
+distant bells ringing the Ave Maria.  The bonne--an Alsatian, from her
+accent--crossed herself from force of habit, and retreated towards the
+door.
+
+"You may go," I said.  "I will remain here until the doctor arrives."
+
+"Bien, m'sieur," answered the woman, disappearing and closing the door
+after her.
+
+My object in dismissing her was to make a thorough search of the
+apartment, in order to discover whether any of Yolande's private
+possessions were there.  She had been denounced by Kaye and Anderson as
+a spy, and it occurred to me that I might possibly discover the truth.
+But she was dead.  The painful fact seemed absolutely incredible.
+
+The room was not a large one, but well furnished, with considerable
+taste and elegance.  There was the broad, silk-covered couch, upon which
+Yolande had sat in the full possession of health and spirits only a
+couple of hours before; the skin rug, upon which her tiny foot had been
+stretched so coquettishly; the small table, by which she had stood
+supporting herself after I had made the fatal announcement that Wolf was
+in Paris.
+
+As I stood there the whole of that strangely dramatic scene occurred to
+me.  Yet she was dead--dead!  She had died with her secret in her heart.
+
+At any moment Dick Deane might arrive, but I desired to be the first to
+make an examination of the room, and with that object crossed to the
+little escritoire of inlaid olive-wood, one of those rather gimcrack
+pieces of furniture manufactured along the Ligurian coast for
+unsuspecting winter visitors.  It was the only piece of incongruous
+furniture in the room, all the rest being genuine Louis Quatorze.
+
+One or two letters bearing conspicuous coats-of-arms were lying there,
+but all were notes of a private nature from one or other of her friends.
+One was an invitation to Vichy from the Baronne Deland, wife of the
+great Paris financier; another, signed "Rose," spoke of the gaiety of
+Cairo and the dances at Shepheard's during the past winter; while a
+third, also in French, and bearing no signature, made an appointment to
+meet her in the English tea-shop in the Rue Royale on the following day
+at five o'clock.
+
+That note, written upon plain paper of business appearance, had
+apparently been left by hand.  Who, I wondered, was the person who had
+made that appointment?  To me the writing seemed disguised, and
+probably, owing to the thickness of the up-strokes, had been penned by a
+male hand.  There was a mistake in the orthography, too, the word
+"plaisir" being written "plasir."  This showed plainly that no Frenchman
+had written it.
+
+I placed the letter in my pocket, and, encouraged by it, continued my
+investigations.
+
+In the tiny letter-rack was a note which the unfortunate girl had
+written immediately before being struck down.  It was addressed to
+"Baronne Maillac, Chateau des Grands Sablons, Seine et Marne."  The
+little escritoire contained four small drawers; the contents of each I
+carefully scrutinised.  They were, however, mostly private letters of a
+social character--some from persons whom I knew well in Society.
+Suddenly, from the bottom of one of the smaller drawers, I drew forth
+several sheets of plain octavo paper of a pale yellow shade.  There
+were, perhaps, half-a-dozen sheets, carefully wrapped in a sheet of
+plain blue foolscap.  I opened them, and, holding one up to the light,
+examined the water-mark.
+
+Next instant the truth was plain.  That paper was the official paper
+used in French Government offices for written reports.  How came it in
+her possession, if the accusation against her were untrue?
+
+I held it in my hand, glaring at it in bewilderment.  Sheet by sheet I
+examined it, but there was no writing upon it.  Apparently it was her
+reserve store of paper, to be used as wanted.  In the French Ministry of
+Foreign Affairs everything is methodical, especially the preparation of
+the dossiers.  A certain dossier had once fallen into Kaye's hands, and
+it contained sheets of exactly similar paper to that which I held in my
+hand.
+
+Eagerly I continued my search, striving to discover some writing which
+might lead me to a knowledge of the truth, but I found nothing.  I had
+completed an examination of the whole of the contents of the drawers,
+when it occurred to me that there might be some other drawer concealed
+there.  Years ago I had been offered an escritoire of this pattern in
+Genoa, and the sun-tanned fellow who endeavoured to induce me to
+purchase it had shown behind the centre drawer in the table a cunningly
+contrived cavity where private correspondence might be concealed.
+
+Therefore I drew out the drawer, sounded the interior at the back, and,
+finding it hollow, searched about for the spring by which it might be
+opened.  At last I found it, and next moment drew forth a bundle of
+letters.  They were bound with a blue ribbon that time had faded.  I
+glanced at the superscription of the uppermost, and a thrill of sympathy
+went through me.
+
+Those carefully preserved letters were my own--letters full of love and
+tenderness, which I had written in the days that were dead.  I stood
+holding them in my hand, my heart full of the past.
+
+In this narrative, my reader, it is my intention to conceal nothing, but
+to relate to you the whole, undisguised truth, even though this chapter
+of England's secret history presents a seemingly improbable combination
+of strange facts and circumstances.  Therefore I will not hide from you
+the truth that in those moments, as I drew forth one of the letters I
+had written long ago and read it through, sweet and tender memories
+crowded upon me, and in my eyes stood blinding tears.  I may be forgiven
+for this, I think, when it is remembered how fondly I had once loved
+Yolande, before that fatal day when jealousy had consumed me, and I had
+turned my back upon her as a woman false and worthless.
+
+Letter after letter I read, each bringing back to me sad memories of
+those days, when in the calm sunset hour we had wandered by the
+riverside hand in hand like children, each supremely content in each
+other's love, fondly believing that our mad passion would last always.
+In all the world she had been, to me, incomparable.  The centre of
+admiration at those brilliant balls at the Royal Palace at Brussels, the
+most admired of all the trim and comely girls who rode at morning in the
+Bois, the merriest of those who picnicked in the forest round about the
+ancient chateau, the sweetest, the most tender, and the most pure of all
+the women I knew--Yolande in those days had been mine.  There, in my
+hand, I held the letter which I had written from Scotland when on leave
+for the shooting, asking if she loved me sufficiently to become my wife.
+To that letter I well remembered her reply--indeed, I knew it verbatim;
+a tender letter, full of honest love and straightforward admission--a
+letter such as only a pure and good woman could have penned.  Yes, she
+wrote that she loved me dearly, and would be my wife.
+
+And yet it was all of the past.  All had ended.
+
+I sighed bitterly--how bitterly, mere words cannot describe.  You,
+reader, be you man or woman, can you fully realise how deeply I felt at
+that moment, how utterly desolate the world then seemed to me?
+
+Those letters I slowly replaced in the cavity and closed it.  Then, as I
+turned away, my eyes fell upon the photographs standing upon a small
+whatnot close by the escritoire.  They were of persons whom I did not
+know--all strangers, save one.  This was a cabinet portrait in a heavy
+silver frame, and as I took it up to scrutinise it more closely a cry
+involuntarily escaped my lips.
+
+The picture was a three-quarter length representation of a
+black-bearded, keen-eyed man, standing with his hands thrust idly in his
+pockets, and smoking a cigarette.  There was no mistaking those
+features.  It was the photograph of the man the discovery of whose
+presence in Paris had produced such an extraordinary effect upon her--
+Rodolphe Wolf.
+
+CHAPTER SEVEN.
+
+BY A THREAD.
+
+I was still standing by the window, holding the photograph in my hand,
+and gazing upon it in wonder, when Dick Deane was shown in.
+
+"What's the matter, old chap?  Are you the man in possession here?" he
+asked breezily, gripping me by the hand.
+
+He was a fair, merry-faced fellow of thirty-five, rather good-looking,
+smartly dressed in black frock-coat of professional cut, and wearing a
+pair of gold-rimmed pince-nez.  He had been born in Paris, and had spent
+the greater part of his life there, except during the years when he was
+at school with me before going to Edinburgh, where he took his degree.
+Then he had returned to Paris, taken his French degree, and had soon
+risen to be one of the fashionable doctors in the French capital.  He
+was an especial favourite in the salons, and, like every good-looking
+doctor, a favourite with the ladies.
+
+"I'm not in possession," I answered.  "A very serious affair has
+happened here, and we want your assistance."
+
+In an instant he became grave, for I suppose my tone showed him that I
+was in no humour for joking.
+
+"What's the nature of the affair?" he asked.
+
+"Death," I replied seriously.  "A lady here--a friend of mine--has died
+mysteriously."
+
+"A mystery--eh?" he exclaimed, instantly interested.  "Tell me about
+it."
+
+"This place," I replied, "belongs to the Countess de Foville, a lady
+whom I knew well when I was at the Brussels Embassy, and it is her
+daughter Yolande who has been found dead in this room this evening."
+
+"Yolande de Foville!" he repeated, with knit brows.  "She was a friend
+of yours once, if I mistake not?" he added, looking me straight in the
+face.
+
+"Yes, Dick, she was," I responded.  "I told you of her long ago."
+
+"You loved her once?"
+
+"Yes," I answered with difficulty, "I loved her once."
+
+"And how did the unfortunate affair occur?" he asked, folding his arms
+and leaning back against a chair.  "Tell me the whole story."
+
+"I called here this afternoon, and spent half an hour or so with her," I
+said.  "Then I left and returned straight to the Embassy--"
+
+"You left her here?" he inquired, interrupting.  "Yes, in this very
+room.  But it seems that a quarter of an hour later one of the servants
+entered and discovered her lying upon the door, dead."
+
+"Curious!" he ejaculated.  "Has a medical man seen her?"
+
+"No.  The Countess sent for me as being one of her daughter's most
+intimate friends, and I, in turn, sent for you."
+
+"Where is the poor young lady?"
+
+"In her room at the end of the corridor," I answered hoarsely.
+
+"Is there any suspicion of murder?"
+
+"Apparently none whatever.  She had no visitor after I left."
+
+"And no suspicion of suicide?" he asked, with a sharp look.  "Did you
+part friends?"
+
+"Perfectly so," I responded.  "As to suicide, she had no reason, as far
+as anyone knows, to make an attempt upon her life."
+
+He gave vent to an expression which sounded to me much like a grunt of
+dissatisfaction.
+
+"Now, be perfectly frank with me, Gerald," he said, suddenly turning to
+me and placing his hand upon my shoulder.  "You loved her very dearly
+once--was that not so?"
+
+I nodded.
+
+"I well remember it," he went on.  "I quite recollect how, on one
+occasion, you came over to London, and while dining together at Jimmy's
+you told me of your infatuation, and showed me her photograph.  Do you
+remember the night when you told me of your engagement to her?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"And as time went on you suddenly dropped her--for what reason I know
+not.  We are pals, but I have never attempted to pry into your affairs.
+If she really loved you, it must have been a hard blow for her when she
+heard that you had forsaken her for Edith Austin."
+
+"You reproach me," I said.  "But you do not know the whole truth, my
+dear fellow.  I discovered that Yolande possessed a second lover."
+
+He nodded slowly, with pursed lips.
+
+"And that was the reason of your parting?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"The sole reason?"
+
+"The sole reason."
+
+"And you have no suspicion that she may have committed suicide because
+of her love for you?  Such things are not uncommon, remember, with girls
+of a certain temperament."
+
+"If she has committed suicide, it is not on my account," I responded in
+a hard voice.
+
+"I did not express that opinion," he hastened to protest.  "Before we
+discuss the matter further it will be best for me to see her.  Death may
+have been due to natural causes, for aught we know."
+
+I stood motionless.  His suggestion that my sweetheart of the old days
+had committed suicide because I had forsaken her was a startling one.
+Surely that could not be so?
+
+"Come," my friend said, "let us lose no time.  Which is the room?"
+
+I led him along the corridor, and opened the door of the chamber in
+which she was lying so cold and still.  The light of the afterglow fell
+full upon her, tipping her auburn hair with crimson and illuminating her
+face with a warm radiance that gave her back the appearance of life.
+But it was only for a few moments.  The slanting ray was lost, and the
+pallor of that beautiful countenance became marked against the gold of
+her wondrous hair.
+
+In silence I stood at the foot of the bed watching my friend, who was
+now busy with his examination.  He opened her eyes and closed them
+again, felt her heart, raised her arms, and examined her mouth, uttering
+no word.  His serious face wore a look as though he were infinitely
+puzzled.
+
+One after the other he examined the palms of her hands long and
+carefully, then, bending until his eyes were close to her face, he
+examined her lips, brow, and the whole surface of her cheeks.  Upon her
+neck, below the left ear, was a mark to which he returned time after
+time, as though not satisfied as to its cause.  Upon her lower lip, too,
+was a slight yellow discoloration, which he examined several times,
+comparing it with the mark upon the neck.  He was unable to account for
+either.
+
+"Curious!" he ejaculated.  "Very curious indeed!"
+
+"What is curious?"  I inquired eagerly.
+
+"Those marks," he answered, indicating them with his finger.  "They are
+very puzzling.  I've never seen such marks before."
+
+"Do they point to foul play?"  I inquired, feeling suspicious that she
+had by some mysterious means fallen the victim of an assassin.
+
+"Well, no," he responded, after some hesitation; "that is not my
+opinion."
+
+"Then what is your opinion?"
+
+"At present I have none.  I can have none until I make a thorough
+examination.  There are certainly no outward marks of violence."
+
+"We need not inform the police, I suppose?"
+
+"Not at present," he replied, his eyes still fixed upon the blanched
+face of the woman who had once been all the world to me.
+
+I raised her dead hand, and upon it imprinted a last fervent kiss.  It
+was cold and clammy to my lips.  In that hour all my old love for her
+had returned, and my heart had become filled with an intense bitterness
+and desolation.  I had thought that all my love for her was dead, and
+that Edith Austin, the calm, sweet woman far away in an English county,
+who wrote to me daily from her quiet home deep in the woodlands, had
+taken her place.  But our meeting and its tragic sequel had, I admit,
+aroused within me a deep sympathy, which had, within an hour, developed
+into that great and tender love of old.  With men this return to the old
+love is of no infrequent occurrence, but with women it seldom happens.
+Perhaps this is because man is more fickle and more easily influenced by
+woman's voice, woman's glances, and woman's tears.
+
+The reader will probably accuse me of injustice and of fickleness of
+heart.  Well, I cannot deny it; indeed, I seek to deny nothing in this
+narrative of strange facts and diplomatic wiles, but would only ask of
+those who read to withhold their verdict until they have ascertained the
+truth yet to be revealed, and have read to the conclusion, this strange
+chapter of the secret history of a nation.
+
+My friend the doctor was holding one hand, while I imprinted a last kiss
+upon the other.  A lump was in my throat, my eyes were filled with
+tears, my thoughts were all of the past, my anguish of heart
+unspeakable.  That small chill hand with the cold, glittering ring--one
+that I had given her in Brussels long ago--seemed to be the only reality
+in all that hideous phantasmagoria of events.
+
+"Do not despair," murmured the kind voice of my old friend, standing
+opposite me on the other side of the bed.  "You loved her once, but it
+is all over--surely it is!"
+
+"No, Dick!"  I answered brokenly.  "I thought I did not love her.  I
+have held her from me these three years--until now."
+
+"Ah!" he sighed, "I understand.  Man always longs for the unattainable."
+
+"Yes, always," I responded.
+
+In that moment the memory of the day when we had parted arose gaunt and
+ghost-like.  I had wronged her; I felt confident that I had.  All came
+back to me now--that cruel, scandalous denunciation I had uttered in the
+heat of my mad jealousy--the false tale which had struck her dumb by its
+circumstantial accuracy.  Ah! how bitter it all was, now that punishment
+was upon me!  I remembered how, in the hour of my worldly triumph and of
+her highest hope--at the very moment when she had spoken words of
+greater affection to me than she had ever used before--I had made the
+charge against her, and she had fallen back with her young heart crushed
+within her.  My ring was there, still glittering mockingly upon her dead
+hand.  By the unfounded charge I had made against her I had sinned.  My
+sin at that moment arose from its grave, and barred the way for ever to
+all hope--to all happiness.
+
+The summer twilight was stealing on apace, and in the silence of the
+room there sounded the roar of life from the boulevard below.  Men were
+crying _Le Soir_ with strident voices, and all Paris was on its way to
+dine, and afterwards to enjoy itself in idleness upon the terraces of
+the cafes or at those al-fresco variety performances in the Avenue des
+Champs Elysees, where the entrance fee includes a consommation.
+
+Deane still held my old love's hand, bending in the dim light until his
+eyes were close to it, watching intently.  But I took no notice, for my
+eyes were fixed upon that face that had held me in such fascination, and
+had been so admired at those brilliant receptions given by King Leopold
+and the Countess of Flanders.  The doctor stretched forth his hand, and
+of a sudden switched on the electric light.  The next instant I was
+startled by his loud ejaculation of surprise.
+
+"Thank God!" he cried.  "She's not dead, after all!"
+
+"Not dead!"  I gasped, unable fully to realise his meaning.
+
+"No," he answered breathlessly.  "But we must not lose a single
+instant."  And I saw that with a lancet he had made an incision in her
+delicate wrist, and there was blood there.  "She is in a state of
+catalepsy, and we must do all in our power to bring her round."
+
+"But do you think you can?"  I cried.
+
+"I hope so."
+
+"Do your best, Dick," I implored.  "Save her, for my sake."
+
+"Rely upon me," he answered calmly, adding: "Run along to Number 18 in
+the boulevard--the corner house on the right--and bring Doctor Trepard
+at once.  He lives au troisieme.  Tell him that I sent you, and that the
+matter is one of life or death."  He scribbled some words on a card,
+and, giving it me, added: "Tell him to bring this.  Meanwhile, I will
+commence artificial respiration.  Go!"
+
+"But do you think she will really recover?"  I demanded.
+
+"I can't tell.  We have already lost so much time.  I had no idea of the
+truth.  It has surprised me just as it has surprised you.  This moment
+is not one for words, but for actions.  Don't lose an instant."
+
+Thus urged, I snatched up my hat and tore along the boulevard like a
+madman.  Without difficulty I found Trepard's appartement, and on being
+admitted found him a grave-faced, rather stout old Frenchman, who, on
+the instant I mentioned Dick's name and gave him the card with the words
+upon it, naming some drugs he required, went into an adjoining room, and
+fetched a phial of tiny red pillules, which he held up to the light.
+Then he put on his hat, and descended with me to the street.  A fiacre
+was passing, which we took, and five minutes later we were standing
+together in the room where Yolande was lying.
+
+"This is a most curious case, my dear Trepard," began Dick, speaking in
+French--"a case of coma, which I have mistaken for death;" and,
+continuing, he briefly explained how the patient had been found in a
+state so closely resembling death that he himself had been deceived.
+
+The old Frenchman placed his hand upon her heart, and, withdrawing it,
+said:
+
+"She's breathing now."
+
+"Breathing!"  I echoed.  "Then she is recovering!"
+
+"Yes, old fellow," Dick replied, "she is recovering--at least we hope we
+shall save her."  Then, turning to his colleague, he raised her hand and
+pointed to the finger-nails, asking: "Do you notice anything there?"
+
+The other, adjusting his pince-nez, bent and examined, them one by one.
+
+"Yes," he answered at last.  "A slight purple discoloration at the base
+of the nails."
+
+"And upon the lower lip does anything strike you as peculiar?"
+
+"A yellow mark," he answered, after carefully inspecting the spot
+indicated.
+
+"And there?"  Deane asked, touching the mark upon the neck.
+
+"Very strange!" ejaculated the elder man.  "It is a most unusual case."
+
+"Yes.  Have you brought the hydrated peroxide of iron?"
+
+For answer the Frenchman produced the tiny tube, saying:
+
+"Then you suspect poison?"
+
+"Most certainly," he replied; and, taking a glass, he placed a single
+pillule in it, dissolving it in water, which he afterwards forced
+between the grey lips of my unconscious love.  Afterwards he glanced at
+his watch, observing: "We must give another in fifteen minutes."
+
+Then, drawing a chair to the bedside, he seated himself, holding her
+wrist and watching her countenance for any change that might take place
+there.
+
+"Have you no idea of the nature of the poison?"  I inquired eagerly.
+
+"None," he responded.  "Ask me no questions now.  When we have brought
+her round will be time enough.  It should be sufficient for you to know
+that she is not dead.  Why not leave us for the present?  Go and break
+the good news to the Countess."
+
+"You wish to be alone?"
+
+"Yes.  This is a serious matter.  Leave us undisturbed, and on no
+pretext allow her mother to enter here."
+
+Thus urged, and feeling reassured by their statement that she still
+lived and that the pulsations of her heart were already quite
+perceptible, I left the room, noiselessly closing the door after me, and
+sought the Countess in the small blue boudoir to which she had returned
+plunged in grief and dark despair.
+
+She was seated in a chair, motionless and statuesque, staring straight
+before her.  The blow had utterly crushed her, for she was entirely
+devoted to her only daughter now that her husband was dead.  I well knew
+how deep was her affection for Yolande, and how tender was her maternal
+love.
+
+The room was in semi-darkness, for she had not risen to turn on the
+light.  As I entered I did so with her permission, saying quietly:
+
+"Madame, I come to you with a message."
+
+"From whom?" she asked in a hard mechanical voice.
+
+"From my friend Deane, the English doctor whom I have summoned.  Yolande
+still lives!"
+
+"She lives!" she cried, springing to her feet in an instant.  "You are
+deceiving me!"
+
+"I am not, madame," I reassured her, smiling.  "Your daughter is still
+breathing, and is increasing in strength perceptibly.  The doctors say
+that she will probably recover."
+
+"Thank God!" she gasped, her thin white hands clasped before her.  "I
+pray that He may give her back to me.  I will go to her."
+
+But I held her back, explaining that both the medical men had expressed
+a wish to remain there alone.
+
+"But what caused that appearance so akin to death?" she asked quickly.
+
+"At present they cannot tell," I responded.  "Some deleterious substance
+is suspected, but until she has returned to consciousness and can give
+us some details of her sudden attack we can determine nothing."
+
+"But she will recover, m'sieur?" the Countess asked.  "Are you certain?"
+
+"The chances are in her favour, the doctors say.  They have given her a
+drug to counteract the effect of the poison."
+
+"Poison!  Was she poisoned?" gasped the Countess.
+
+"Poison is suspected," I answered quietly.  "But calm yourself, madame.
+The truth will be discovered in due course."
+
+"I care nothing so long as Yolande is given back to me!" the distressed
+woman cried.  "Was it your English friend who discovered the truth?"
+
+"Yes," I replied.  "He is one of the cleverest men in Paris."
+
+"And to him my poor Yolande will owe her life?"
+
+"Yes, to him."
+
+"And to you also, m'sieur?  You have done your utmost for us, and I
+thank you warmly for it all."
+
+"Madame," I said earnestly, "I have done only what a man should do.  You
+sought my assistance, and I have given it, because--"
+
+"Because of what?" she inquired sharply the instant I paused.
+
+"Because I once loved her," I responded with perfect frankness.
+
+A sigh escaped her, and her hand sought my arm.
+
+"I was young once, m'sieur," she said in that calm, refined voice which
+had long ago always sounded so much to me like that of my own dead
+mother.  "I understand your feeling--I understand perfectly.  It is only
+my poor daughter who does not understand.  She knows that you have
+forsaken her--that is all."
+
+It was upon my tongue to lay bare to her the secret of my heart's
+longings, yet I hesitated.  I remembered that calm, serious, sweet-faced
+woman on the other side of the English Channel, far from the glare and
+glitter of life as I knew it--the fevered life which the diplomat in
+Paris is forced to lead.  I remembered my troth to Edith, and my
+conscience pricked me.
+
+"Could it be possible," I reflected, "that Yolande was really in the pay
+of a Government hostile to England?"  Kaye was already nearing Berlin
+with the intention of searching out her actions and exposing her as a
+spy, while Anderson had already denounced her as having been a party to
+an attempt to secure the secret which he had carried from Berlin to
+Downing Street.
+
+With a mother's solicitude the Countess could for some time only speak
+of Yolande's mysterious attack; but at last, in order to prosecute my
+inquiries further, I observed, during a lull in the conversation:
+
+"At the Baroness de Chalencon's last night a friend of yours inquired
+about you, madame."
+
+"A friend?  Who?"
+
+"A man named Wolf--Rodolphe Wolf."
+
+The next instant I saw that the mention of that name affected the mother
+no less markedly than it had affected the daughter.  Her face blanched;
+her eyes opened wide in fear, and her glance became in a moment
+suspicious.  With marvellous self-possession she, however, pretended
+ignorance.
+
+"Wolf?" she repeated.  "I do not remember the name.  Possibly he is some
+person we have met while travelling."
+
+"Yolande knew him, I believe, in Brussels," I remarked.  "He appeared to
+be acquainted with you."
+
+"My daughter's friends are not always mine," she remarked coldly, with
+that cleverness which only a woman of the world can possess, and at once
+returned to the discussion of Yolande and the probability of her
+recovery.
+
+This puzzled me.  I felt somehow convinced that she knew the truth.  She
+had some distinct object in endeavouring to seal my lips.  What it was,
+however, I could not determine.
+
+She was expressing a fervent hope that her daughter would recover, and
+pacing the room, impatient to go to her bedside, when, of a sudden, Dick
+opened the door, and, putting his head inside, addressed me, saying:
+
+"Can I speak with you a moment, Ingram?"  She dashed to the door in
+eagerness, but after a word of introduction from myself, he informed her
+that Yolande had not sufficiently recovered to be disturbed.
+
+"Perfect quiet is absolutely necessary, madame," he urged.  "Your
+daughter, I am pleased to tell you, will live; but she must be kept
+absolutely quiet.  I cannot allow you to approach her on any pretext
+whatsoever."
+
+"She will not die, will she?" the woman implored distractedly.
+
+"No," he replied, in a voice somewhat strained, I thought, "she will not
+die.  Of that you may rest assured."
+
+Then turning to me, he beckoned, and I followed him out of the room.
+
+CHAPTER EIGHT.
+
+THE OLD LOVE.
+
+"I don't like that woman, old fellow," were the first words Dick uttered
+when we were alone in the room in which Yolande had been found.
+
+"Why not?"  I asked, rather surprised.  "The Countess de Foville is
+always charming."
+
+He shrugged his shoulders, saying:
+
+"One sometimes has strange and unaccountable prejudices, you know.  This
+is one of mine."
+
+"And Yolande," I asked, "what of her?"
+
+"She's better.  But it was fortunate I made the discovery just when I
+did, or she would no doubt have passed away.  I never saw an appearance
+so closely resembling death in all my experience; in fact, I'd have
+staked my professional reputation that there was no spark of life."
+
+"But what was the cause of it all?"  I demanded.  "You surely know the
+reason?"
+
+"No, we cannot yet tell," he answered.  "The marks puzzle us.  That mark
+on her lower lip is the most peculiar and unaccountable.  At present we
+can say nothing."
+
+"Then why did you call me out?"
+
+"Because I want to consult you," he replied.  "The fact is, that in this
+affair there is a strong element of mystery which I don't like at all.
+And, moreover, the few seconds during which I've seen the Countess have
+plainly impressed upon me the belief that either she has had something
+to do with it, or else that she knows the truth."
+
+I nodded.  This was exactly my own theory.  "Do you think Yolande has
+been the victim of foul play?"  I inquired a moment later.
+
+"That's my suspicion," he responded.  "But only she herself can tell us
+the truth."
+
+"You really think, then, that a dastardly attempt has been made upon her
+life?"  I cried incredulously.
+
+"Personally, I think there can be no doubt."
+
+"But by whom?  No one called here after my departure."
+
+"It is that mystery which we must elucidate," he said.  "All I fear is,
+however, that she may render us no assistance."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because it is a mystery, and in all probability she will endeavour to
+preserve the secret.  She must not see the Countess before we question
+her."
+
+"Is she yet conscious?"  I asked in eagerness.
+
+"Yes; but at present we must put no question to her."
+
+"Thank Heaven!"  I gasped.  Then I added, fervently grasping my friend's
+hand: "You cannot realise, Dick, what great consolation this is to me!"
+
+"I know, my dear fellow--I know," he answered sympathetically.  "But may
+I speak to you as a friend?  You won't be offended at anything I am
+about to say, will you?"
+
+"Offended?--certainly not.  Our friendship is too firm for that, Dick.
+What is it you wish to say?"
+
+I saw that he was uneasy, and was surprised at his sudden gravity.
+
+"Well," he said, after a moment's hesitation, "you'll forgive me for
+saying so, but I don't think that in this affair you've told me exactly
+the truth."
+
+"What do you mean?"  I inquired quickly.
+
+"I mean that when you parted from her this afternoon you were not
+altogether good friends."
+
+"You are mistaken," I assured him.  "We were as good friends as ever
+before."
+
+"No high words passed between you?"
+
+"None."
+
+"And nothing that you told her caused her any sudden grief?  Are you
+quite certain of this?" he asked, looking at me very fixedly through his
+glasses.
+
+"I made one observation which certainly caused her surprise," I
+admitted.  "Nothing else."
+
+"Was it only surprise?" he asked very calmly.
+
+"Surprise mingled with fear."
+
+"Ah!" he ejaculated, as though obtaining some intelligence by this
+admission of mine.  "And may I not know the nature of the information
+you gave her?"
+
+"No, Dick," I responded.  "It is a secret--her secret."
+
+He was silent.
+
+"You refuse to tell me?" he said disappointedly.
+
+"I am unable," I replied.
+
+"And if I judge rightly, it is this secret which has parted you?"
+
+"No, it is not," I answered.  "That's the most curious part of the whole
+affair.  The very existence of the secret has brought us together
+again."
+
+"You mean that you have forsaken Edith and returned to her?" he
+observed, raising his brows slightly in surprise.
+
+"No; don't put it in that way," I implored.  "I have not yet forsaken
+Edith."
+
+He smiled, just a trifle superciliously, I thought.
+
+"And the Countess is also in possession of this mysterious secret--eh?"
+
+"Of that I am not at all certain," I replied.
+
+He sniffed in distinct suspicion that what I had told him was not the
+truth.  At the same instant, however, the Countess entered and demanded
+to know the condition of her child.
+
+"She is much better, madame," he answered.  "Perfect quiet is, however,
+necessary, and constant observation of the temperature.  To-morrow, or
+the day after, you may, I think, see her."
+
+"Not till then!" she cried.  "I cannot wait so long."
+
+"But it is necessary.  Your daughter's life hangs upon a single thread."
+
+She was silenced, for she saw that argument was useless.
+
+A few minutes later Jean entered with a message from Trepard asking Dick
+and myself to consult with him.  We therefore left the Countess again,
+and passed along the corridor to the room in which my love of long ago
+was lying.  As we entered she lifted her hand slowly to me in sign of
+recognition, and in an instant I was at her side.
+
+"Yolande!"  I cried, taking her hand, so different now that death had
+been defeated by life.  "Yolande! my darling," I burst forth
+involuntarily, "you have come back to me!"
+
+A sweet, glad smile spread over her beautiful face, leaving an
+expression of calm and perfect contentment, as in a low, uncertain
+voice, as though of one speaking afar off, she asked:
+
+"Gerald, is it actually you?"
+
+"Yes," I said, "of course it is.  These two gentlemen are doctors," I
+added.  "This is my old friend Deane; and the other is Doctor Trepard,
+of whom I daresay you have heard."
+
+She nodded to them both in acknowledgment of their kind expressions;
+then in a few low words inquired what had happened to her.  She seemed
+in utter ignorance of it all.
+
+"You were found lying on the floor of the little salon soon after I
+left, and they thought you were dead," I explained.  "Cannot you tell us
+how it occurred?"
+
+A puzzled expression settled upon her face, as though she were trying to
+remember.
+
+"I recollect nothing," she declared.
+
+"But you surely remember how you were attacked?"  I urged.
+
+"Attacked!" she echoed in surprise.  "No one attacked me."
+
+"I did not mean that," I answered, rather puzzled at her quick protest.
+"I meant that you were probably aware of the symptoms which preceded
+your unconsciousness."
+
+"I felt a strange dizziness and a curious tightness in the throat and
+chest.  That is all I remember.  All became blank until I opened my eyes
+again and found myself lying here, with these two gentlemen standing at
+my side.  The duration of my unconsciousness did not appear to me longer
+than a few minutes."
+
+"Then mademoiselle has no idea of the cause of her strange illness?"
+inquired Deane in French.  "None whatever, m'sieur."
+
+"Tell us one fact," he urged.  "During the time which elapsed between
+your parting with M'sieur Ingram and your sudden unconsciousness, did
+anyone enter the room?"
+
+"No one; of that I am absolutely certain."
+
+"How were you occupied during that time?"
+
+"I was writing a letter."
+
+"And before you rose did you feel the curious giddiness?"
+
+"No, not until after I stood up.  I tried to shout and attract help, but
+could not.  Then I reached to press the bell, but stumbled forward, and
+the next instant I was lost in what seemed to be a dense fog."
+
+"Curious!" ejaculated Trepard, who stood by with folded arms, eagerly
+listening to every word--"very curious!"
+
+"Did you feel any strange sensation on the left side of your neck
+beneath the ear, or upon your lower lip?" inquired Deane earnestly.
+
+She reflected for a moment, then said:
+
+"Now that I remember, there was a curious numbness of my lip."
+
+"Followed immediately by unconsciousness?"
+
+"Yes, almost immediately."
+
+The doctors exchanged glances, which showed that the mark upon the lip
+was the chief enigma of the situation.
+
+Trepard glanced at his watch, dissolved yet another pillule of hydrated
+peroxide of iron, and handed her the draught to swallow.  The antidote
+had acted almost like magic.
+
+"You are absolutely certain that no person entered the room after Ingram
+had left?" repeated Deane, as though not yet satisfied.
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+Dick Deane turned his eyes full upon me, and I divined his thoughts.  He
+was reflecting upon the conversation held between us before we entered
+that room.  He was endeavouring to worm from her some clue to her
+secret.
+
+"My mother knows that I am recovering?" she went on.  "If she does not,
+please tell her.  She has been so distressed of late that this must have
+been the crowning blow to her."
+
+"I have told madame your mother everything," I said.  "Do not be uneasy
+on her account."
+
+"Ah," she sighed, "how I regret that we came to Paris!  I regret it all,
+Gerald, save that you and I have met again;" and she stretched out her
+hand until it came into contact with my coat-button, with which she
+toyed like a child.
+
+"And this meeting has really given you satisfaction?"  I whispered to
+her, heedless of the presence of the others.
+
+"Not only satisfaction," she answered, so softly that I alone could
+catch her words, and looking into my face with that expression of
+passionate affection which can never be simulated; "it has given back to
+me a desire for happiness, for life, for love."
+
+There were tears in those wonderful blue eyes, and her small hand
+trembled within my grasp.  My heart at that moment was too full for mere
+words.  True, I loved her with a mad fondness that I had never before
+entertained for any woman; yet, nevertheless, a hideous shadow arose
+between us, shutting her off from me for ever--the shadow of her
+secret--the secret that she, my well-beloved, was actually a spy.
+
+CHAPTER NINE.
+
+AT THE ELYSEE.
+
+Having reassured myself of Yolande's recovery, I was compelled to rush
+off, slip into uniform, and attend a dinner at the Elysee.  The function
+was a brilliant affair, as are all the official junketings of the French
+President.  At the right of the head of the Republic, who was
+distinguishable by his crimson sash, sat the Countess Tornelli, with the
+wife of the United States Ambassador on his left.  The President's
+wife--who wore a superb gown of corn-coloured miroir velvet, richly
+embroidered and inlaid with Venetian lace, a veritable triumph of the
+Rue de la Paix--had on her right the Papal Nuncio, Monsignor Lerenzelli,
+the doyen of the Diplomatic Corps, while on her left was my Chief, Lord
+Barmouth.
+
+The seat next me was allotted to his daughter Sibyl, who looked charming
+in rose chiffon.  During dinner she chatted merrily, describing a
+charity bazaar which she had attended that afternoon accompanied by her
+mother.  On the other side of her sat Count Berchtold, the secretary of
+the Austrian Embassy, who was, I shrewdly suspected, one of her most
+devoted admirers.  She was charming--a typical, smart English girl; and
+I think that I was proved to be an exception among men by reason of the
+fact that I did not flirt with her.  Indeed, we were excellent friends,
+and my long acquaintance with her gave me a prescriptive right to a kind
+of brotherly solicitude for her welfare.  Times without number I had
+chaffed her about her little affairs of the heart, and as many times she
+had turned my criticisms against myself by her witty repartee.  She
+could be exceedingly sarcastic when occasion required; but there had
+always been a perfect understanding between us, and no remark was ever
+distorted into an insult.
+
+Dinner was followed by a brilliant reception.  The great Salon des
+Fetes, which only a year before was hung with funeral wreaths, owing to
+the death of the previous President, resounded with that peculiar hum
+made up of all the intonations of conversation and discreet laughter
+rolled together against the sustained buzzing of the orchestra a short
+distance away.  The scene was one of glittering magnificence.  Everyone
+knew everyone else.  Through the crowd of uniforms--which always give an
+official reception at the Elysee the appearance of a bal travesti--I
+passed Monsieur Casimir Perrier, former President of the Republic;
+Monsieur Paul Deschanel, the lion of the hour; Monsieur
+Benjamin-Constant, always a prominent figure; Prince Roland Bonaparte,
+smiling and bowing; the Duchess d'Auerstadt, with her magnificent
+jewels; and Damat, the dapper Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honour.
+All diplomatic Paris was there, chattering, laughing, whispering, and
+plotting.  Around me sounded a veritable babel of tongues, but no part
+of the function interested me.
+
+From time to time I saluted a man I knew, or bent over a woman's hand;
+but my thoughts were of the one woman who had so suddenly and so
+forcibly returned into my life.  The representatives of the Powers of
+Europe were all present, and as they passed me by, each in his bright
+uniform, his orders flashing on his breast and a woman on his arm, I
+asked myself which of them was actually the employer of my well-beloved.
+
+The startling events of the day had upset me.  Had it been possible I
+would have left and returned to my rooms for a quiet smoke and for calm
+reflection.  But my duty required my presence there; hence I remained,
+strolling slowly around the great crowded salon with its myriad lights
+and profuse floral decorations, until I suddenly encountered the
+wizen-faced, toothless old Baronne de Chalencon, whose salon was one of
+the most popular in Paris, and with whom I was on excellent terms.
+
+"Ah! my dear M'sieur Ingram!" she cried, holding forth her thin, bony
+hand laden with jewels.  "You look tired.  Why?  No one here to-night
+who interests you--eh?"
+
+"No one save yourself, Baronne," I responded, bending over her hand.
+
+"Flatterer!" she laughed.  "If I were forty years younger I might accept
+that as a compliment.  But at my age--well, it is really cruel of you."
+
+"Intelligence is more interesting to a diplomat than a pretty face," I
+responded quickly.  "And there is certainly no more intelligent woman in
+all Paris than the Baronne de Chalencon."
+
+She bowed stiffly, and her wrinkled face, which bore visible traces of
+poudre orchidee and touches of the hare's-foot, puckered up into a
+simpering smile.
+
+"Well, and what else?" she asked.  "These speeches you have apparently
+prepared for some pretty woman you expected to meet here to-night, but,
+since she has not kept the appointment, you are practising them upon
+me."
+
+"No," I said, "I really protest against that, Baronne.  A woman is never
+too old for a man to pay her compliments."
+
+We had strolled into a cool ante-room, and were sitting together upon
+one of the many seats placed beneath clumps of palms and flowers, the
+only light being from a hundred tiny electric lamps hung overhead in the
+trees.  The perfect arrangement of those ante-rooms of the Salle des
+Fetes on the nights of the official receptions is always noteworthy, and
+after the heat, music, and babel of tongues in the grand salon it was
+cool, quiet, and refreshing there.
+
+By holding her regular salon, where everybody who was anybody made it a
+point to be seen, the Baronne had acquired in Paris a unique position.
+Her fine house in the Avenue des Champs Elysees was the centre of a
+smart and fashionable set, and she herself made a point of being versed
+in all the latest gossip and scandal of the French capital.  She
+scandalised nobody, nor did she seek to throw mud at her enemies.  She
+merely repeated what was whispered to her; hence a chat with her was
+always interesting to one who, like myself, was paid to keep his ears
+open and report from time to time the direction of the political wind.
+
+Tournier, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, and his wife were her
+most intimate friends; hence she was frequently aware of facts which
+were of considerable importance to us.  Indeed, once or twice her
+friendliness for myself had caused her to drop hints which had been of
+the greatest use to Lord Barmouth in the conduct of his difficult
+diplomacy at that time when the boulevard journals were screaming
+against England and the filthy prints were caricaturing Her Majesty,
+with intent to insult.  Even the _Figaro_--the moderate organ of the
+French Foreign Office--had lost its self-control in the storm of abuse
+following the Fashoda incident, and had libelled and maligned "les
+English."  I therefore seized the opportunity for a chat with the
+wizen-faced old lady, who seemed in a particularly good-humour, and
+deftly turned the conversation into the political channel.
+
+"Now, tell me, Baronne," I said, after we had been chatting some little
+time, and I had learnt more than one important fact regarding the
+intentions of Tournier, "what is your opinion regarding the occupation
+of Ceuta?"
+
+She glanced at me quickly, as though surprised that I should be aware of
+what she had believed to be an entire secret.
+
+"Of Ceuta?" she echoed.  "And what do you at your Embassy know regarding
+it?"
+
+"We've heard a good deal," I laughed.
+
+"No doubt you've heard a good deal that is untrue," the clever old lady
+replied, her powdered face again puckering into a smile.  "Do you want
+to know my honest opinion?" she added.
+
+"Yes, I do."
+
+"Well," she went on, "I attach very little importance to the rumours of
+a projected sale or lease of Ceuta to us.  I might tell you in
+confidence," she went on, dropping her voice, "that from some words I
+overheard at the garden-party at de Wolkenstein's I have come to a firm
+conclusion that, although during the next few years important changes
+will be made upon the map of the world, Ceuta will remain Spanish.  My
+country will never menace yours in the Mediterranean at that point.  A
+Ministry might be found in Madrid to consider the question of its
+disposal, but the Spanish people would rise in revolution before they
+would consent.  Spain is very poor, but very proud.  Having lost so many
+of her foreign possessions, she will hold more strongly than ever to
+Ceuta.  There you have the whole situation in a nutshell."
+
+"Then the report that it is actually sold to France is untrue?"  I asked
+eagerly.
+
+"A mere report I believe it to be."
+
+"But Spain's financial indebtedness to France might prove an element of
+danger when Europe justifies Lord Beaconsfield's prediction and rushes
+into war over Morocco?"
+
+"Ah, my dear M'sieur Ingram, I do not agree with the prediction of your
+great statesman," the old lady said vehemently.  "It is not in that
+direction in which lies the danger of war, but at the other end of the
+Mediterranean."
+
+Somehow I suspected her of a deliberate intention to mislead me in this
+matter.  She was a shrewd woman, who only disclosed her secrets when it
+was to her own interests or the interests of her friends at the Ministry
+of Foreign Affairs to do so.  In Paris there is a vast network of French
+intrigue, and it behoves the diplomatist always to be wary lest he
+should fall into the pitfalls so cunningly prepared for him.  The
+dividing line between truth and untruth is always so very difficult to
+define in modern diplomacy.  It is when the European situation seems
+most secure that the match is sufficiently near to fire the mine.
+Fortunate it is that the public, quick to accept anything that appears
+in the daily journals, can be placed in a sense of false security by
+articles inspired by one or other of the embassies interested.  If it
+were not so, European panics would certainly be of frequent occurrence.
+
+My Chief sauntered by, chatting with his close personal friend, Prince
+Olsoufieff, the Russian Ambassador, who looked a truly striking figure
+in his white uniform, with the Cross of St. Andrew glittering at his
+throat.  The latter, as he passed, exclaimed confidentially in Russian
+to my Chief, who understood that language, having been first Secretary
+of Embassy in Petersburg earlier in his career:
+
+"Da, ya po-ni-mai-u.  Ya sam napishu."  ("Yes, I understand.  I will
+write for you myself.")
+
+Keen antagonists in diplomacy though they very often were, yet in
+private life a firm friendship existed between the pair--a friendship
+dating from the days when the one had been British Attache in Petersburg
+and the other had occupied a position in the Russian Ministry of Foreign
+Affairs--that large grey building facing the Winter Palace.
+
+"The lion and the bear strolling together," laughed the toothless old
+Baronne, after they had passed.  "Olsoufieff is a charming man, but he
+never accepts my invitations.  I cannot tell why.  I don't fancy he
+considers me his friend."
+
+"Sibyl was at your reception the other evening," I remarked suddenly.
+"She told me she met a man who was a stranger in Paris.  His name, I
+think she said, was Wolf--Rodolphe Wolf.  Who is he?"
+
+"He was introduced by de Wolkenstein, the Austrian Ambassador," she
+replied quickly.  "I did not know him."
+
+"Have you never met him before?"  I asked, looking sharply into her
+eyes.
+
+"Once, I think, but I am not certain," she said, with a palpable effort
+to evade my question.
+
+I smiled.
+
+"Come, madame," I said good-humouredly, "you know Rodolphe Wolf quite as
+well as I do.  When you last met, his name was not Wolf.  Is not that
+so?"
+
+"Well," she answered, "now that you put it in that manner I may as well
+admit that your suggestion is correct."
+
+"And what is the object of his sudden visit to Paris?"
+
+"I cannot make out," she replied in a more confidential tone.  "As I
+tell you, de Wolkenstein introduced him, but, as m'sieur knows, I am
+very quick to detect a face that I have once seen, and I recognised him
+in an instant."
+
+"Sibyl told me that he had a long chat with her, and she described him
+as a most charming fellow."
+
+"Ah, no doubt!  I suspected him and watched.  It was evident that he
+came to my salon in order to meet her."
+
+"To meet Sibyl!  Why?"
+
+"That I cannot tell."
+
+"But I think, Baronne, we may be both agreed upon one point."
+
+"And that is?"
+
+"That the man who now calls himself Rodolphe Wolf is here in Paris with
+some secret motive."
+
+"I am entirely in accord, m'sieur--quite.  Some steps must at once be
+taken to ascertain that man's motives."
+
+"It seems curious that he should have been introduced for the purpose of
+meeting Sibyl.  What information did he want from her?"
+
+"How can we tell?  You know better than myself whether she ever knows
+any secrets of the Embassy."
+
+"She knows nothing,--of that I am absolutely convinced," I responded.
+"Her father is devoted to her; but, nevertheless, he is one of those
+strict diplomatists who do not believe in trusting women with secrets."
+
+"Yet Wolf had a distinct object in making a good impression upon her,"
+she said reflectively.
+
+"No doubt.  As soon as she returned she began to talk of him."
+
+And next instant I recollected the strange effect the news of his
+arrival in Paris had had upon Yolande, and the curiously tragic event
+which had subsequently occurred.  All was puzzling--all inscrutable.
+
+A silence fell between us.  I was revolving in my mind whether I should
+ask this wizen-faced old leader of Society a further question.  With
+sudden resolve I turned to her again and asked:
+
+"O Baronne, I had quite forgotten.  Do you chance to know the Countess
+de Foville, of Brussels?  They have a chateau down in the Ardennes, and
+move in the best set in Belgium?"
+
+"De Foville?  De Foville?" she repeated.  "What, do you mean the mother
+of that little witch Yolande?"
+
+"Yes.  But why do you call her a witch?"  I demanded, with feigned
+laughter.
+
+"Why?" cried the old woman, the expression of her face growing dark with
+displeasure.  "Well, I do not know whether she is a friend of yours, but
+all I can tell you is that should she be, the best course for you to
+pursue is to cut her acquaintance."
+
+"What do you mean?"  I gasped.
+
+"I mean exactly what I have said."
+
+"But I don't understand," I cried.  "Be more frank with me," I implored.
+
+"No," she answered in that hard voice, by which I knew that mention of
+Yolande's name had displeased her.  "Remember that we are friends, and
+that sometimes we have interests in common.  Therefore, take this piece
+of advice from an old woman who knows."
+
+"Knows what?"
+
+"Knows that your friendship with the pretty Yolande is dangerous--
+extremely dangerous."
+
+CHAPTER TEN.
+
+CONFESSION.
+
+Next day, when the manservant asked me into the tiny boudoir in the Rue
+de Courcelles, I found Yolande, in a pretty tea-gown of cream silk
+adorned with lace and ribbons, seated in an armchair in an attitude of
+weariness.  The sun-shutters were closed, as on the previous day, for
+the heat in Paris that July was insufferable, and in the dim light her
+wan figure looked very fair and fragile.  The qualities which imparted
+to her a distinct individuality were the beautiful combination of the
+pastoral with the elegant--of simplicity with elevation--of spirit with
+sweetness.
+
+She gave vent to a cry of gladness as I entered, rose, and stretching
+out her hands in welcome, drew a seat for me close to her.  I looked at
+her standing before me in her warm, breathing, human loveliness.
+
+"You are better, Yolande?  Ah! how glad I am!"  I commenced.  "Last
+night I believed that you were dead."
+
+"And if I had died would it really have mattered so very much to you?"
+she asked in a low, intense voice.  "You have forgotten me for three
+whole years until now."
+
+"I know--I know!"  I cried.  "Forgive me."
+
+"I have already forgiven," she said, allowing her hand still to remain
+in mine.  "But I have been thinking to-day--thinking ever so much."
+
+Her voice was weak and faltering, and I saw that she was not herself.
+
+"Thinking of what?"
+
+"Of you.  I have been wondering whether, if I had died, you would have
+sometimes remembered me?"
+
+"Remembered you?"  I said earnestly.  "Why, of course, dearest.  Why do
+you speak in such a melancholy tone?"
+
+"Because--well, because I am unhappy, Gerald!" she cried, bursting into
+sudden tears.  "Ah! you do not know how I suffer--you can never know!"
+
+I bent and stroked her hair, that beautiful red-gold hair that I had so
+often heard admired in the great salons in Brussels.  It had been bound
+but lightly by her maid, and was secured by a blue ribbon.  She had
+apologised for receiving me thus, but declared that her head ached, and
+it was easier so.  Doctor Deane had called twice that morning, and had
+pronounced her entirely out of danger.
+
+"But why are you suffering?"  I asked, caressing her and striving to
+charm away her tears.  "Cannot you confide in me?"
+
+She shook her head in despair, and her body was shaken by a convulsive
+sob.
+
+"Surely there is confidence between us?"  I urged.  "Do you not remember
+that day long ago when we walked one evening in the sunset hand-in-hand,
+as was our wont, along the river-path towards La Roche?  Do you not
+remember how you told me that in future you would have no single secret
+from me?"
+
+"Yes," she answered hoarsely, with an effort, "I recollect."
+
+"Then you intend to break your promise to me?"  I whispered earnestly.
+"Surely you will not do this, Yolande?  You will not hide from me the
+cause of all this bitterness of yours?"  She was silent.  Her breast,
+beneath its lace, rose quickly and fell again.  Her tear-filled eyes
+were fixed upon the carpet.
+
+"I would not break my promise," she said at last, clasping my hand
+convulsively and lifting her eyes to mine; "but, alas! it is now
+imperative."
+
+"Why imperative?"
+
+"I must suffer alone," she responded gloomily, shaking her head.  Her
+countenance was as pale as her gown, and she shivered as though she were
+cold, although the noonday heat was suffocating.
+
+"Because you refuse to tell me anything or allow me to assist you?"  I
+said.  "This is not in accordance with the promise made and sealed by
+your lips on that evening long ago."
+
+"Nor have your actions been in accordance with your own promise," she
+said slowly and distinctly.
+
+"To what do you refer?"
+
+"You told me that you loved me, Gerald," she said in a deep voice,
+suddenly grown calm.  "You swore by all you held most sacred that I was
+all the world to you, and that no one should come between us.  Yet past
+events have shown that you have forgotten those words of yours on the
+day when we idled in the Bois beneath the trees.  You, too, remember
+that day, do you not--the day when our lips met for the first time, and
+we both believed our path would in future be strewn with flowers?  Ah!"
+she sighed, "and what an awakening life has been to me since then!"
+
+"We parted because of your refusal to satisfy me as to the real state of
+your feelings towards the man who was my enemy," I said rather warmly.
+
+"But was it justifiable?" she asked in a tone of deep reproach and
+mingled sweetness.  Her blue eyes looked full upon me--those eyes that
+had held me in such fascination in the golden days of youth.  "Has any
+single fact which you have since discovered verified your suspicions?
+Tell me truthfully;" and she leaned towards me in an attitude of deepest
+earnestness.
+
+"No," I answered honestly, "I cannot say that my suspicions have ever
+been verified."
+
+"And because of that you have returned to me when it is too late."
+
+"Too late!"  I cried.  "What do you mean?"
+
+"Exactly what I have said.  You have come back to me when it is too
+late."
+
+"You speak in enigmas, Yolande.  Why not be more explicit?"
+
+Her pale lips trembled, her eyes were brimming with tears, her chilly
+hand quivered in mine.  She did not speak for some moments, but at last
+said in a low, tremulous voice half choked by emotion:
+
+"Once you loved me, Gerald,--of that I feel confident; and I
+reciprocated your affection, God knows!  Our love was, perhaps, curious,
+inasmuch as you were English and I was of a different creed and held
+different ideas from those which you considered right.  It is always the
+same with a man and woman of different nationality--there must be a
+give-and-take principle between them.  Between us, however, there was
+perfect confidence until, by a strange combination of circumstances--by
+a stroke of the sword of Fate--that incident occurred which led to our
+estrangement."
+
+She paused, her blanched lips shut tight.  "Well?"  I asked, "I am all
+attention.  Why is it too late now for me to make reparation for the
+past?"
+
+I loved her with all my soul.  I was heedless of those words of the old
+Baronne, of Anderson's suspicions, and Kaye's denunciation.  Even if she
+were a spy, I adored her.  The fire of that old love had swept upon me,
+and I could not hold back, even though her touch might be as that of a
+leper and her lips venomous.
+
+"Reparation is impossible," she answered hoarsely.  "Is not that
+sufficient?"
+
+"No, it is not sufficient," I answered clearly.  "I will not be put off
+by such an answer."
+
+"It were better," she cried--"better that I had died yesterday than
+suffer like this.  You rescued me from death only to torture me."
+
+Her words aroused within me a distinct suspicion that her strange
+illness had been brought to pass because, using some mysterious means,
+she had made an attempt against her own life.  I believed that she had
+suffered, and was still suffering, from the effects of some poison, the
+exact nature of which neither Deane nor Trepard could as yet determine.
+
+"I do not seek to torture you, dearest," I protested.  "Far from it.  I
+merely want to know the truth, in order that I may share your
+unhappiness, as your betrothed ought to do."
+
+"But you are not my betrothed."
+
+"I was once."
+
+"But not now.  You taunt me with breaking that promise which I made
+three years ago, yet you yourself it was who played me false--who left
+me for your prim, strait-laced English miss!"
+
+In an instant the truth was plain.  She was aware that I had transferred
+my affections to Edith!  Someone had told her--no doubt with a good many
+embellishments, or perhaps some scandalous story.  In the salons through
+which we of the diplomatic circle are compelled to move, women's tongues
+are ever at work match-making and mischief-making.  On the Continent
+love and politics run always hand-in-hand.  That is the reason why the
+most notorious of the demi-monde in Paris, in Vienna, and in Berlin are
+the secret agents of their respective Governments; and many are the
+honest men innocently denounced through jealousy and kindred causes.  A
+false declaration of one or other of these unscrupulous spies has before
+now caused the downfall of a Ministry or the disgrace of a noble and
+patriotic politician.
+
+"I know to whom you refer," I said, with bowed head, after a moment's
+pause.  "It is currently reported that I love her.  I have loved her.  I
+do not seek to deny it.  When a man sustains such a blow as I sustained
+before we parted, he often rushes to another woman for consolation.  The
+influence of that second woman often prevents him from going to the bad
+altogether.  It has been so in my case."
+
+"And you love her now?" she cried, the fire of fierce jealousy in her
+eyes.  "You cannot deny it!"
+
+"I do deny it," I cried.  "True, until yesterday I held her in esteem,
+even in affection; but it is not so now.  All my love for you, Yolande,
+has returned to me.  Our parting has rendered you dearer and sweeter to
+me than ever."
+
+"I cannot believe it," she exclaimed falteringly.
+
+"I swear that it is so.  In all my life, although am compelled to treat
+women with courtesy and sometimes to affect flirtation, because of my
+profession as a diplomatist, I have loved only one woman--yourself;" and
+I raised her chilly hand to my lips, kissing it fervently.
+
+Mine was no mere caprice at that moment.  With an all-consuming passion
+I loved her, and was prepared on her account to make any sacrifice she
+demanded.  Let the reader remember what had already been told me, and
+reflect that, like many another man, I loved madly, and was heedless of
+any consequences that might follow.  In this particular I was not alone.
+Thousands before me had been allured to their ruin by a woman's eyes,
+just as thousands of brave women's hearts have been broken and their
+lives wrecked by men's false oaths of fidelity.  I have heard wiseacres
+say that the woman only suffers in such cases; the man never.  Whether
+that rule proves always true will be shown in this strange story of my
+own love.
+
+She drew her hand away slowly, but forcibly, saying:
+
+"You cannot love two women.  Already you have shown a preference for a
+wife of your own people."
+
+"It is all over between us," I protested.  "Mine was a mere passing
+fancy, engendered, I think, by the loneliness I suffered when I lost
+you."
+
+"Ah," (she smiled sadly), "that is all very well!  A woman, when once
+played false by the man she loves and trusts, is never the
+same--_never_!"
+
+"Then am I to understand, Yolande, that you refuse to pardon me, or to
+accept my affection?"
+
+"I have already pardoned you," she faltered; "but to accept the love you
+once withdrew from me without just reason is, I regret to say,
+impossible."
+
+"You speak coldly, as though you were refusing a mere invitation to
+dinner, or something of no greater importance," I protested.  "I offer
+you my whole heart, my love--nay, my life;" and I held her hand again,
+looking straight into those wonderful eyes, now so calm, so serious,
+that my gaze wavered before them.
+
+Slowly she shook her head, and her trembling breast rose and fell again.
+
+"Ours was a foolish infatuation," she answered with an effort.  "It is
+best that we should both of us forget."
+
+"Forget!"  I cried.  "But I can never forget you, Yolande.  You are my
+love.  You are all the world to me."
+
+Her eyes were grave, and I saw that tears stood in them.
+
+"No," she protested quietly; "do not say that.  I cannot be any more to
+you than other women whom you meet daily.  Besides, I know well that in
+the diplomatic service marriage is a serious drawback to any save an
+ambassador."
+
+"When a man is in love as I am with you, dearest, he throws all thoughts
+of his career to the winds; personal interests are naught where true
+love is concerned."
+
+"You must not--nay, you shall not--wreck your future on my account," she
+declared in a low, intense voice.  "It is not just either to yourself or
+to the Englishwoman who loves you."
+
+"Why do you taunt me with that, Yolande?"  I asked reproachfully.  "I do
+not love her.  I have never truly loved her.  I was lonely after you had
+gone out of my life, and she was amusing,--that was all."
+
+"And now you find me equally amusing--eh?" she remarked, with just a
+touch of bitter sarcasm.
+
+"Why should you be jealous of her?"  I asked.  "You might just as well
+be jealous of Sibyl, Lord Barmouth's daughter."
+
+"With the latter you are certainly on terms of most intimate
+friendship," she answered with a smile.  "I really wonder that I did not
+object to her in the days long ago."
+
+"Ah!"  I laughed, "you certainly had no cause.  It is true that we have
+been good friends ever since the day when she arrived home from the
+convent-school at Bruges, a prim young miss with her hair tied up with
+ribbon.  Thrown constantly together, as we were, I became her male
+confidant and intimate friend; hence my licence to give her counsel in
+many matters and sometimes to criticise those actions of which I don't
+approve."
+
+"Then if that is so, you care a little for her--just a little?  Now
+admit it."
+
+"I don't admit anything of the kind," I answered frankly.  "For five
+years we have been constantly together; and times without number, at
+Lady Barmouth's request, I have acted as her escort here and there,
+until she looks upon me as a kind of necessary appendage who has a right
+to chaff her about her flirtations and annoy her by judicious sarcasm.
+I don't entertain one single spark of love for her.  In brief, she has
+developed into an essentially smart girl, in the true sense of the word,
+and by reason of our constant companionship knows that to attempt a
+flirtation with me would result in a most dismal failure.  I accused her
+once, not long ago, of having designs upon my heart, whereupon she
+replied that to accomplish such a thing would be about as easy as to win
+the affection of the bronze Neptune in the garden-fountain of the
+Embassy."
+
+
+"You have been seen together a great deal of late?"
+
+"Who told you so?"
+
+"A friend who knows you both."  Then she added: "From my information I
+hear that last season you danced so much with her and were so constantly
+at her side that people were talking of a match between you."
+
+"Ridiculous!"  I exclaimed.  "Of course gossips are always too ready to
+jump to ill-formed conclusions.  As one of the staff of the Embassy, and
+her most intimate male friend, it was only courtesy to take her beneath
+my care.  When she had no other partner and wanted to dance, then she
+sometimes asked me.  I think she did it to annoy me, for she knew that I
+was never fond of dancing."
+
+"Do you remember the Countess of Flanders' balls at Brussels--how we
+danced together?" she remarked.
+
+"Remember them!"  I echoed.  "They were in the golden days when
+everything seemed to our eyes couleur de rose--the days when our love
+was perfect."
+
+She sighed again, but no word escaped her.  She was, I knew, reflecting
+upon those blissful days and nights when we met here and there at all
+hours and at all the best houses in Brussels, dining, lunching, dancing,
+and gossiping--together always.
+
+"Will you not resolve to forget the past, Yolande?"  I asked fervently,
+taking her hand in mine again.  "Come, tell me that you will--that you
+will not hold me aloof like this?  I cannot bear it--indeed I can't, for
+I love you;" and I bent until my lips touched her finger-tips.
+
+"I cannot!" she cried at last, with an effort rising and firmly
+withdrawing her hand from my grasp.
+
+"You cannot?  Why?"  I demanded, taken somewhat aback by her sudden
+attitude of determination.
+
+"I will not allow you to ruin yourself, Gerald, on my account," she
+declared in a very low but calm voice.
+
+"But why should my love for you prove my ruin?"  I cried madly.  "The
+truth is that you do not love me.  Why not admit it at once?"
+
+"You are in error," she hastened to protest.  "I do love you.  I love
+you to-day with the same fond affection as I entertained for you until
+that day--fatal to me--when you turned your back upon me and left me.
+But, alas! we can never now be the same to one another as we were then."
+She paused for a moment to regain breath; then, pale-faced, with eyes
+filled with tears, she gripped my arm frantically, crying: "Gerald, my
+love, hear me!  These are my last words, but I pronounce them--I make
+confession--so that you may understand the barrier that now lies between
+us."
+
+"Well," I said, "speak--tell me!"
+
+"Ah!" she cried hoarsely, covering her face with her hands, "you wring
+this confession from me.  I am the most unhappy girl in all the world.
+Would that I were dead that it was all ended!  If I did not love you,
+Gerald, I should deceive you, and leave you to discover the truth after
+our marriage.  But I cannot--I cannot!  Even though we shall part to-day
+for ever, I have resolved to be frank with you because I still have one
+single spark of honesty left within my heart!"
+
+"I don't understand," I exclaimed.  "Tell me."
+
+"Then listen," she said in a hard, unnatural voice, after a few moments
+of hesitation.  "When we were lovers in the old days I was, as you know,
+a pure, honest, upright woman, with thoughts only for my God and for
+yourself.  But I am that no longer.  I am unworthy your love, Gerald.  I
+am unfit to be your wife, and can never be--never!" and she threw
+herself upon the couch near by and burst into a flood of tears, while I
+stood there rigid as a statue.
+
+CHAPTER ELEVEN.
+
+DEANE SPEAKS HIS MIND.
+
+An hour later I was seated in my room at the Embassy staring blankly at
+the blotting-pad before me, utterly perplexed and bewildered.  I loved
+Yolande--nay, she was my idol; nevertheless she had firmly refused to
+allow me to resume my place at her side.  At one moment it seemed to me
+as though she had actually made a sacrifice for my sake; yet at another
+I could not help regarding both her and her mother with distinct
+suspicion.  My love's strange words were in themselves a sufficient
+self-condemnation.  Her service as a political agent had been secured by
+one or other of the Powers--France, I suspected; and, to put it plainly,
+she was a spy!
+
+This knowledge had come upon me like a thunderbolt.  Of all the women I
+had known and least suspected of endeavouring to learn the secrets of
+our diplomacy, Yolande was certainly the chief.  The events which had
+culminated in her accepting this odious office were veiled in mystery.
+Why had she done this?  Who had tempted her or forced her to it?
+
+Those tears of hers, when she had made confession, were the tears of a
+woman in the depths of despair and degradation, and I, loving her so
+fondly, could not but allow my heart to go forth in sympathy.  There was
+an affinity between us that I knew might some day prove fatal.
+
+But we had parted.  She had announced her intention of leaving Paris,
+accompanied by her mother, on the morrow, and had begged and implored
+that I would never seek her again.
+
+"I shall take care to evade you," she had said.  "To-day we meet for the
+last time.  We must each go our own way and strive our hardest to
+forget."
+
+Ah! to forget would, I knew, be impossible.  When a man has loved as
+ardently and intensely as I loved Yolande, memories cling to him and are
+carried to the grave.  You, reader, have loved in those half-forgotten
+days of long ago, and even now, with age creeping on, and, perchance,
+with grey hairs showing, sometimes give a passing thought to that fair
+one who in youth's golden days was your all in all.  The sound of a
+song, the momentary perfume from a woman's chiffons as she passes, the
+sight of some long-forgotten scene, stirs the memory and recalls those
+hours of love and laziness when the world was so very pleasant and
+seemed to have been made for you alone.  You recollect her sweet smile,
+her calm, womanly influence, her full red lips, and the fervency of her
+kisses.  The tender memory to-day is sweet, even though it be tinged
+with bitterness, for you wonder whom she has married, and how she has
+fared; you wonder, too, if you will ever meet again, or whether she is
+already dead.  The most charming reflection permitted to man is the
+memory of a half-forgotten love.
+
+I had been a fool.  This bitter truth was forced upon me as I sat there
+ruminating.  I had cast aside that patience and discretion which I, as a
+diplomatist, had carefully cultivated, and had actually contemplated
+marriage with a woman who had been denounced by Kaye as a secret agent.
+My own peril had been a grave one indeed, and as I reflected I began to
+wonder how it was that I should have so completely lost my self-control.
+True, indeed, it is that love is blind.
+
+I drew forth a sheet of note-paper and penned her a long, fervent
+letter, expressing a hope that some day we might meet again, and
+declaring that my affection for her would last for ever.  What mad words
+I wrote I almost forget.  All I know is that even then I could not hold
+back, so deep and intense was my love for her, so completely did she
+hold me beneath the spell of her beauty.  I tried to put the letter
+aside for calmer reflection, but could not.  My pen ran on, recording
+the eloquence of my heart.  Then, scaling it, I addressed it, rang for
+the messenger of the Embassy, and gave him instructions to take it to
+her.
+
+"There is no answer, m'sieur?" the man inquired.
+
+"None," I answered.
+
+Then the door closed again, and I was alone.
+
+Yes, I saw now how great and all-consuming was my love for this woman
+who was a spy, and who had actually confessed herself worthless.  Fate
+had indeed played me a sorry trick at this, the greatest crisis of my
+life.
+
+Some ten minutes later Harding entered, saying: "Doctor Deane has
+called, and wishes to see you, sir."
+
+I at once gave orders for his admission, and in a few moments he came
+across the thick pile carpet with hand outstretched.
+
+"Hulloa, Ingram, old chap!" he cried, glancing at me in quick surprise,
+"what's the matter?  You don't look yourself."
+
+"Oh, nothing," I answered with ill-feigned carelessness.  "A bit
+worried, that's all."
+
+"Worried over mademoiselle--eh?" he asked, fixing me with his keen eyes.
+
+I nodded in the affirmative.
+
+"Ah, I guessed as much," he replied, with a sigh, placing his hat on the
+table and flinging himself into a chair.  "Mind if I smoke?  I've been
+busy all day, and am dying for a weed."
+
+"Smoke?  Why, of course," I answered, pushing my cigars and some matches
+before him.
+
+I took one also, thinking that it might soothe my nerves, and when we
+had lit up he leaned back in his chair, and, looking at me curiously
+through the smoke, asked at last:
+
+"What has occurred between you?  Mademoiselle is leaving Paris
+to-morrow."
+
+"How did you know?"
+
+"I called half an hour ago, and found both her and the Countess making
+preparations for a hasty departure.  Have you quarrelled again?"
+
+"No, there is no quarrel between us," I answered gravely.  "On the
+contrary, there is a perfect understanding."
+
+An incredulous smile crossed his features.  "Well," he said, "I don't
+know, after all, what right I have to interfere in your private affairs
+at all, old chap, but if I might be allowed to make an observation I
+should say that there is some very extraordinary mystery surrounding
+both the Countess and her daughter."
+
+"You don't like the Countess?"
+
+"No, I don't.  I conceived a violent prejudice against her on the first
+occasion that I saw her.  That prejudice has already ripened into--well,
+I was about to say hatred."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Well, I called upon them this afternoon with an object, and found the
+Countess determined to place impediments in my way."
+
+"What was your object?"
+
+"I wished to satisfy myself of a certain fact."
+
+"Of what fact?"  I inquired with quick suspicion.  "Of the cause of her
+daughter's sudden attack last night."
+
+"And what did you find?"  I asked eagerly.
+
+"I discovered a rather curious circumstance," he said.  "You will
+remember telling me that when you searched the room you found she had
+written a letter almost immediately before her mysterious attack.  Well,
+when I had a look round that room later I saw the letter sealed in its
+envelope and addressed to the Baroness Maillac, at Grands Sablons, lying
+in the little letter-rack, and took possession of it, in the faint hope
+that it might direct me to some clue as to the cause of her curious
+condition.  You will remember, too, the curious, unaccountable mark upon
+her lip.  I wished to see that mark again.  I examined it, but against
+the wish of the Countess, who appeared to regard me with considerable
+animosity."
+
+"What was in the letter?  You opened it, of course?"
+
+"Yes, I opened it, but the note inside was of no interest whatever.
+Nevertheless, I had my suspicions, and have proved them to be well
+grounded."
+
+"What have you proved?"
+
+"Briefly this: the mark upon mademoiselle's lip caused me to suspect
+poisoning; yet it was apparent that she had not attempted suicide, but
+that the poison, whatever its nature, had entered the tiny crack in the
+lip by accident.  I therefore came to the conclusion that her lip had
+come into contact with some baneful substance immediately prior to her
+attack, and when you mentioned the writing of the letter it appeared to
+me that the gum upon the envelope might be the channel by which the
+poison was conveyed to the mouth.  The greater part of the night I spent
+in dissolving the gum and making experiments with the solutions thus
+obtained."
+
+"And what did you discover?"
+
+"I discovered the presence of a most powerful specific irritant poison.
+I used Mitscherlich's method of detection, and although I cannot yet
+actually determine the poison with which the gum on the envelope had
+been impregnated, I proved its terrible effect by experiments.  A rabbit
+inoculated with a single drop of the solution died, in fourteen seconds,
+of complete paralysis of the muscles, while a drop placed on a piece of
+meat and given to a cat proved fatal within one minute."
+
+
+"Then there was poison on the envelope?"  I gasped, astounded.
+
+"Yes, but only upon that particular envelope.  While left alone in the
+room awaiting mademoiselle, I secured four other of the same envelopes
+from the stationary rack on her escritoire.  These I took home at once,
+made solutions, and tested them upon rabbits without effect.  This
+proved that one envelope alone was poisoned."
+
+"Then she was actually poisoned?"  I said, surprised at his ingenuity
+and careful investigation.
+
+"Undoubtedly so.  The most curious feature is the mysterious character
+of the poison.  At first I suspected strychnia; but as that attacks the
+sensitive portion of the spinal nervous system, and the symptoms were so
+totally different, I was compelled to abandon that theory, as also
+another I formed--namely, that the paralysis of the motor nerves might
+be due to curare.  After some hours of study and experiment, however, I
+found that the poison was one extremely difficult of detection when
+absorbed into the system--that its symptoms were none of those
+ordinarily attributed to irritant poisons by Tanner and the other
+toxicologists--that it was a poison not commonly known, if, indeed,
+known at all."
+
+"Then you think that Yolande was the victim of a deliberate attempt upon
+her life?"
+
+"Of that I am absolutely convinced.  Having taken possession of the
+letter, I could not well mention it or make inquiries regarding it.  I
+thought it would be best to leave such inquiries to you, who are her
+intimate friend.  I went there to-day in order to satisfy myself
+regarding the mark on the lip, and also to secure some of the other
+envelopes.  Both of these objects I fortunately accomplished, and have
+succeeded in establishing the fact that she was poisoned in a most
+ingenious and secret manner by some person who is evidently no novice in
+the use of that most deadly and mysterious substance."
+
+"But whom do you suspect?"
+
+He blew a cloud of smoke from his lips, and, with his eyes fixed upon
+the panelled ceiling, answered:
+
+"Ah! that's the enigma."
+
+"Well," I said, after a pause, "you seem so hostile towards the
+Countess, I'm wondering if you suspect her?"
+
+"I can't very well, even though there are several curious circumstances
+which seem to point in that direction.  The great fact in favour of her
+innocence is that she sent for you.  Therefore I should like to obtain
+more direct evidence before actually condemning her.  Some of the
+circumstances are distinctly suspicious, even damning, yet others go far
+to prove the exact contrary."
+
+"But I can't see what object she could have in getting rid of her
+daughter," I observed, much puzzled by this extraordinary theory.
+
+"Unless she feared some awkward revelations which Yolande might make in
+a moment of desperation.  To me there is still a good deal of mystery
+surrounding both mother and daughter."
+
+"I quite agree, Dick.  But do you think it possible that a mother could
+deliberately attempt to kill her daughter by such dastardly means?  I
+don't."
+
+"Such a thing is not unknown in the annals of crime," he answered,
+knocking the ash slowly from his cigar.  "You see, it is practically
+plain that Yolande is in possession of some secret, and has grown
+nervous and melancholy.  Of the nature of that secret we have no idea.
+If it were disclosed it might seriously affect the Countess; hence it
+would be to the latter's advantage if her daughter's lips were sealed."
+
+"But, my dear fellow, I know the Countess well.  She's one of the most
+charming of women, and utterly devoted to Yolande.  Your suggestion
+seems incredible."
+
+"How incredible it appears to you is of no import, my dear Ingram," he
+answered calmly.  "You asked me to investigate the strange affair for
+you, and I've done so to the best of my ability.  I found that the young
+lady had been poisoned, in a most secret and ingenious manner, by
+someone well acquainted with the use of the unknown drug.  That the
+envelope was carefully prepared is quite plain, but by whom it is
+impossible to say--"
+
+"Not by her mother," I declared, interrupting him.  "I can't believe
+that."
+
+"It is for you to discover that.  You can ask her a little later about
+the letter, without giving her any clue to the fact that I have secured
+it.  She must remain under the impression that the letter was duly
+posted by one of the servants."
+
+"But she is leaving Paris," I said.
+
+"You can see her this evening and make the necessary inquiries, surely?"
+
+"No," I responded.  "I shall not see her again."
+
+"Then it is true, as I've already suggested, that you've quarrelled?"
+
+"No," I declared, "we have agreed to part again--that's all."
+
+He was silent for a moment, contemplating the end of his cigar.  Then he
+observed:
+
+"Well, if I may be permitted to say so, old fellow, I think you've
+chosen a very wise course.  You, in your official position, ought not to
+be mixed up with any mystery of this sort."
+
+"I know, Dick--I know quite well," I responded hastily.  "You, however,
+do not love a woman as I love Yolande."
+
+"Love be hanged!" he cried, laughing.  "Love is like the influenza--
+painful while it lasts, but easily forgotten."
+
+"This matter is too serious for joking," I said, a trifle annoyed by his
+flippancy.
+
+"Ah, I've heard that story once or twice before!  It is astonishing what
+a difference a month makes in the course of the malady.  Take my tip,
+old chap, and think no more of her.  Depend upon it, your charming
+Yolande with the pretty hair, that used to be admired so much in
+Brussels, is not worth the position of wife to a good fellow like you."
+
+"That's all very well," I sighed.  "I know I was a fool to have called
+upon her, but I was compelled."
+
+"What compelled you?"
+
+"A circumstance over which I had no control," I answered, for I did not
+intend to explain to him the accusation made against her by Kaye.
+
+"And you at once fell in love with her again?  Ah! such meetings are
+always extremely dangerous."
+
+"Yes; that is only too true.  I know I have been foolish, and now must
+suffer."
+
+"Rubbish!" he cried.  "Why, my dear fellow, Edith loves you, and is
+perfectly devoted to you.  She is charming, pretty, smart, with all the
+qualities necessary for the wife of a successful diplomatist.  Some day,
+when you get your promotion, you will be gazetted minister to one or
+other of the South American Republics, and with her as your wife you'll
+be perfectly happy."
+
+"You seem to have already carved out my future for me, Dick."
+
+"I've only prophesied the ordinary course of things."
+
+"I shall, I feel certain, never marry Edith," I answered, shaking my
+head.  "It is entirely out of the question."
+
+"Well, we shall see.  A man hardly ever marries his first love, you
+know.  There always seems an evil fortune connected with first loves."
+
+"How coldly philosophical you are, Dick!  Is it because you've never
+been in love?"
+
+"Never been in love?" he echoed.  "Why, my dear old fellow, I've been in
+love a hundred times, but it's never been sufficiently serious to cause
+me to pop the question.  I'm quite catholic in my tastes, you see.  I'm
+fond of women as a sex."
+
+What he said was perfectly true.  He was a popular favourite among the
+English colony in Paris, and was an inveterate diner-out.  Indeed, his
+well-set-up figure was constantly to be seen at all smart gatherings,
+and I had overheard many a dainty Parisienne whisper nice things about
+him behind her fan.
+
+"You'll find a pair of eyes fascinating you one of these days, never
+fear," I said.  "Then it will be my turn to smile."
+
+"Smile away, old chap; you'll never offend me.  We are too old friends
+for that."
+
+CHAPTER TWELVE.
+
+THE ENGLISH TEA-SHOP.
+
+There was a rap at the door, and Harding entered with a telegram
+addressed to me.  I tore open the flimsy blue paper, and saw that it was
+in cipher from Berlin.  The sender, I knew, was Kaye.
+
+"What's up?" my friend asked.  "Some affair of State?"
+
+"Yes," I answered mechanically, as I went across to the safe, and took
+out the decipher-book which gave the key to the cipher used by members
+of the secret service.  By its aid I had quickly transcribed the
+message, which read:
+
+"_Suspicions regarding Yolande de Foville proved beyond doubt.  She is a
+French agent employed indirectly by the Quai d'Orsay.  Am returning
+to-night.  In the meantime instruct Osborne to keep strict observation
+upon her movements_.
+
+"_K_."
+
+"Anything serious?" asked Deane, watching my face.
+
+I held my breath, and managed to recover my self-possession.
+
+"No," I answered, "nothing of any grave importance.  I sit here to deal
+with a strange variety of public business, ranging from despatches from
+home down to vice-consul's worries."
+
+"We are not at war yet," he laughed, "and we trust to you diplomatists
+to keep us out of it."
+
+I smiled, rather sadly I think.  Little did my friend dream how near we
+actually were to hostilities with France.  But in the school of
+diplomacy the first lesson taught is that of absolute secrecy; hence I
+told him nothing.  To be patient, to preserve silence, to be able to
+give to an untruth the exact appearance of the truth, and to act a lie
+so as to deceive those with the most acute intelligence on earth, are
+qualifications absolutely necessary--together, of course, with the
+stipulated private income of four hundred a year--for the success of the
+rising diplomatist.
+
+"We are trying to keep England out of war," I said.  "Indeed, that is
+the principal object of our existence.  Were it not for the efforts of
+Lord Barmouth, we should have been at war with the Republic long ago.
+Why, scarcely a week passes but the political situation changes, and we
+find ourselves, just as the French also find themselves, sitting on the
+edge of the proverbial volcano.  Then, by careful adjustment and
+marvellous tact and finesse, matters are arranged, and once more the
+ships of State sail together again into smooth waters.  Only ourselves,
+in this Embassy, are really alive to the heavy responsibilities resting
+on the shoulders of our trusted Chief.  Many a sleepless night he passes
+in his own room opposite, I can assure you."
+
+"And yet he is always merry and good-humoured, as though he hadn't a
+single care in the world."
+
+"Ah, that is owing to his long training as a diplomatist.  He shows no
+outward sign of anxiety, for that would betray weakness or vacillation
+of policy.  An ambassador's face should never be an index to his
+thoughts."
+
+He tossed his cigar-end away and rose, asking: "Where are you feeding
+to-night?  Can you dine with me at Ledoyen's--or at the Cafe de Paris,
+if you prefer it?"
+
+"Sorry I can't, old chap," I responded.  "The Chief and I have a dinner
+engagement at the Austrian Embassy.  I'd much rather be with you; for,
+as you know, I'm tired to death of official functions."
+
+"You're bound to attend them, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, worse luck," I replied.  "To be a diplomatist one must, like a
+Lord Mayor, possess an ostrich's digestion."
+
+"Well, good-bye, old chap.  Sorry, you can't come," he said, smiling.
+"But do buck up!  I don't want to have you as a patient, you know.  Take
+my advice, and just forget your pretty charmer.  She's leaving
+to-morrow, and there's no reason on earth why you should meet again."
+
+"But about that letter?"  I suggested.  "We surely ought to clear up the
+mystery?"
+
+"Let it pass," he urged.  "Don't call there again, but simply forget
+her.  Remember, you have Edith."
+
+His words recalled to me the fact that I had received a letter from her
+that morning, and that it was still in my pocket unopened.
+
+"Yes, I know," I exclaimed rather impatiently.  "I shall, of course, try
+to forget.  But I fear that I shall never succeed--never!"
+
+"Take my advice and forget it all," he cried cheerfully, clapping me on
+the back.  "Good-bye."
+
+We clasped hands in a firm grip of friendship.  Then he walked out, and
+I was left alone.
+
+I went to the window, and looked down into the roadway.  It was a
+blazing afternoon, and the streets seemed deserted.  All Paris was at
+Trouville, Dieppe, or Arcachon, or drinking the more or less palatable
+waters in Auvergne.  Paris in July is always more empty than is London
+in that month, and it is certainly many degrees hotter, even though the
+plashing fountains of the Place de la Concorde may give one a pleasant
+feeling of refreshment in passing, and the trees of the boulevards shed
+a welcome shade not found in the dusty streets of dear old grimy London.
+
+As I stood gazing aimlessly out of the window, it suddenly occurred to
+me that I had still in my pocket the letter which I had found on
+Yolande's little writing-table--the letter making an appointment for
+five o'clock that day.  I glanced at my watch, and found it was already
+half-past four.
+
+Then, taking out the note, I carefully read it through, and, after a few
+moments' debate within myself, determined to stroll round and ascertain
+who it was who wished so particularly to speak with her.
+
+I do not think, now that I reflect calmly, that this determination was
+prompted by any feeling of jealousy, but rather by a strong desire to
+discover the truth regarding her connection with the Quai d'Orsay.
+Anyhow, I brushed my hair, settled my cravat, replaced the decipher-book
+in the safe, and, taking my hat, strolled out into the blazing
+afternoon.
+
+Would she herself keep the appointment, I wondered?  Surely not!  She
+was too busy making preparations for a hasty departure.  Nevertheless,
+she might have sent a message to her mysterious correspondent regretting
+her inability to be present.  Anyhow, I was determined to watch and
+ascertain for myself.
+
+The English tea-shop in the Rue Royale is known, I daresay, to a good
+many of my lady readers who go shopping in the Madeleine quarter,
+bargain-hunting in the Louvre, or strolling about the grand boulevards
+watching Parisian life in all its many phases.  Tea such as that to
+which English people are accustomed is difficult to obtain in Paris
+hotels.  It usually turns out to be slightly discoloured hot water,
+served in a teapot upon the spout of which hangs a more or less useless
+strainer.  With the addition of sugar and milk, the beverage becomes
+both weak to the eye and nauseous to the palate, while in the bill at a
+first-class hotel the unfortunate visitor finds himself charged two
+francs for "one tea simple."  The English shop in the Rue Royale, known
+to the Englishman in Paris as the "Bun-shop," is like Henry's, or the
+American bar at the Chatham, where presides the ubiquitous Johnnie with
+the small moustache, one of the institutions of the English colony.  It
+is a rendezvous for the ladies, just as the Chatham bar is crowded at
+four o'clock by Englishmen resident in the gay capital, with a
+sprinkling of those misguided and decadent Paris youths who term
+themselves Orleanists and play at political conspiracy.
+
+The "Bun-shop" is generally full from four to five, be it summer or
+winter.  In the season it is patronised largely by chic Parisiennes and
+their male encumbrances, generally laden with small parcels; while in
+summer the British tourists in their blouses and short tailor-made
+skirts, which serve alike for the boulevards and the Alps, seem to scent
+it out and make it their habitual house of call.
+
+When I strolled in, the crowd at the little tables mostly hailed from
+those essentially British hotels in the Rue Caumartin.  Being a
+Britisher, I naturally hesitate to criticise the get-up of the tourist
+to Paris.  But it is always a matter of speculation to those of us who
+live abroad why our compatriot, who would not be seen in a golf-cap in
+the Strand or Piccadilly, invariably sports one when he patronises the
+boulevards, and conducts himself, when in what he calls "gay Paree," in
+a fashion which often makes one think that he has left his manners
+behind in England together with his silk hat.  The fair-faced English
+girl in cotton blouse and straw hat is always a common object in the
+"Bun-shop," and on this afternoon she was predominant, and the chatter
+in English was general.
+
+I found one of the little tables free, and, discovering an illustrated
+paper, sat with it before me, making an examination of each little group
+visible from my seat.  Not a single person, however, excited my
+suspicion.  Apparently no one was waiting, save a girl in black, a
+Parisienne evidently, who, being joined presently by a gentleman,
+finished her tea and went forth.
+
+The clock showed it to be already five, and as I sat sipping my cup and
+feigning to read the _Graphic_, I became more and more convinced that
+Yolande, finding herself unable to keep the appointment, had sent an
+excuse.
+
+About me sounded the gossip which one always hears among the feminine
+tourists in Paris: the criticisms of the Louvre museum, the eulogies of
+the "lovely things" in the Rue de la Paix, and the delight at wonderful
+bargains obtained at the Bon Marche.  It is always the same.  The tide
+of tourists is never-ceasing; and the impression which Paris makes upon
+the Englishman or Englishwoman is always exactly similar.  Those who
+spend a fortnight in the City of Pleasure always believe life there to
+be a round of gaiety punctuated by fetes de nuit with Moulin Rouge
+attractions.  These idolaters should live a year in Paris, when they
+would soon discover that the French capital quickly becomes far more
+monotonous than their own much-abused London.
+
+The hands of the clock moved very slowly, and by degrees I got through
+the whole of the cup-marked illustrated literature of the establishment.
+Many of the merry gossips had risen and departed, and at half-past five
+only two little groups remained.
+
+At length a smart victoria stopped before the door, and a dark, rather
+handsome, middle-aged, elegantly dressed woman descended, and, entering,
+took a seat.  Her style was not English, that was certain; and by the
+fact that she took lemon with her tea I judged her to be Russian,
+although she addressed the waiter with an accent purely Parisian.  Her
+footman stood at the door with the carriage-rug over his arm.  From the
+inquisitive expression of her face I judged it to be the first time she
+had visited the tea-shop.
+
+Could she be waiting for Yolande?  I made a close examination of her
+face, and saw that although she was just a trifle made-up, as are most
+Parisiennes, she was nevertheless good-looking.  She sipped her tea
+leisurely, nibbled a biscuit, and was readjusting her veil by twisting
+it beneath her chin, when suddenly the silhouette of a figure appeared
+in the open doorway.
+
+I glanced up quickly over the top of my piper, and in an instant
+recognised the new-comer, who looked very smart in his well-cut
+frock-coat, silk hat, and light grey suede gloves.  He hesitated for an
+instant on the threshold and glanced swiftly around.  No sooner had his
+eyes fallen upon the woman sitting there than he turned instantly, went
+out, and was next moment lost to sight.
+
+The man who had stood in the doorway during that brief moment, and who
+had apparently retreated owing to the presence of the woman whose
+carriage was awaiting her, was none other than the individual whose
+arrival in Paris was so inexplicable--the man known as Rodolphe Wolf.
+
+CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
+
+THE SPY'S REPORT.
+
+So swiftly did the figure disappear from the doorway of the patisserie
+that I doubt whether the elegant woman there seated had been aware of
+his presence.  She was sitting with her face half turned from the door,
+and, unless by means of the mirror, she could not possibly have
+witnessed his sudden hesitation and disappearance.  That he intended
+entering there, and had been prevented by her presence, was manifest.
+He had no desire to be seen by her, that was quite evident.
+
+Again it seemed as though Yolande's mysterious correspondent was
+actually this man, whose presence in Paris had caused her so much
+anxiety.
+
+A sudden impulse led me to go forth and keep watch upon his movements,
+and as I passed out I took note of the fine equipage, and saw that upon
+the harness was a duke's coronet, beneath which was a cipher so
+intricate that I could not unravel it.  The woman within was evidently
+some notability, but a foreigner; otherwise I should have recognised
+her, knowing as I did, by sight, all smart Paris.  Her attitude, seated
+at that little table sipping her tea and lemon, was so calm that I felt
+assured she was not there for the purpose of meeting Yolande, but only
+for rest and a cup of that refreshing decoction so dear to the feminine
+palate.  Nevertheless, I was puzzled to know who she was, and why her
+presence had had such a terrifying effect upon the man who had come and
+fled like a shadow.
+
+I hurried along in the direction he had taken, down to the Place de la
+Concorde.  Whether he had really detected my presence or not I was
+undecided.  I believed and hoped not.  I had had a paper before my face
+at the moment of his appearance, and it had seemed to me that when his
+eyes fell upon the lady sipping her tea, he did not pause to make
+further investigation.  I was looking for him eagerly among the hurrying
+foot-passengers, when, just as I turned the corner by the grey wall of
+the Ministry of Marine, I saw his thin, tall figure cross the road and
+mount upon the imperiale of one of the omnibuses going towards the
+Bastille.  At the same moment a second omnibus passed, travelling in the
+same direction, down the Rue de Rivoli, and without hesitation I jumped
+upon it, and, also mounting the imperiale, was thus able to follow him
+without much risk of detection.  I kept my eyes upon his glossy silk hat
+some distance ahead as we travelled along the fine, broad thoroughfare,
+past the Continental, the Tuileries Gardens, the Louvre, and the quaint
+old Tour St. Jacques, until both vehicles pulled up at the corner of the
+wide Place de l'Hotel de Ville, where he descended.
+
+I quickly ran down the steps, and, sauntering along with affected
+carelessness, followed him across the Place and along to the Quai des
+Celestins, where he suddenly halted, glanced quickly around as though
+desiring to escape observation, and then entered an uninviting-looking
+door of one of those rickety dwellings which are among the most ancient
+and most unwholesome in Paris.  The door he entered seemed to be the
+private entrance to a dingy little shop that sold fishing-tackle, wicker
+eel-traps, and such-like necessities for the angler.  The manner in
+which he entered was distinctly suspicious, but I congratulated myself
+that, while he had not detected me, I had run him to earth.
+
+He was a smart, rather foppish man of military appearance, though
+somewhat foreign-looking; thin-faced, black-haired, with a small, black,
+pointed beard, and a pair of cold grey eyes, sharp and penetrating; an
+erect, rather imposing, figure, which if once seen impressed itself upon
+one.  Outwardly he bore the stamp of good breeding and superiority, and
+he now called himself Rodolphe Wolf.  It was strange--very strange.
+
+I noted the house he had entered, then, turning, walked slowly along the
+Rue St. Paul, and so regained the upper end of the Rue de Rivoli; and as
+I strolled along my thoughts were indeed complex ones.  Sight of that
+man recalled a chapter of my life which I had hoped was sealed for ever.
+Of all men in the world he was the very last I should have dreamed of
+meeting.  But as he had not detected me, for the present I possessed the
+advantage.
+
+That thin, superior-looking man who had strolled so airily along the
+Quai, smart in his silk hat and pearl-grey gloves, and carrying his cane
+with such a jaunty air, was a man whose name had once been known
+throughout Europe--a man, indeed, of world-wide notoriety.  In those
+days, however, he did not call himself Rodolphe Wolf.  He had changed
+his name, it was true, but he could never succeed in changing his
+personality.  Besides, the name he used had given me, who alone knew his
+secret, a clue to his identity.  When Sibyl had mentioned the name and
+described him as a chance acquaintance at the Baronne's, I felt
+convinced as to the truth.  Yolande, too, seemed aware of his change of
+name, for so sudden had been my announcement that he was in Paris that
+she had been completely taken by surprise, and had made no attempt to
+declare herself ignorant of my meaning.
+
+
+At the corner of the Caserne, in the Rue de Rivoli, I sprang into a
+fiacre, and told the man to drive to the Cafe de la Paix, where, seated
+upon one of the little wicker chairs in the warm sunset, I drank my
+mazagran and allowed my thoughts to run back to the time when this man
+had played so important a part in my life.  All those strange
+circumstances came back to me as vividly as though they had happened but
+yesterday.  He had once been my friend, but now he was my bitterest
+enemy.
+
+Count Rodolphe d'Egloffstein-Wolfsburg, or as he now preferred to be
+called, Rodolphe Wolf, was in Paris.  He had returned as though from the
+grave, and was apparently living in seclusion in an exceedingly
+unfashionable apartment over the fishing-tackle shop beside the Seine.
+It was over two years since report had declared him to be dead, and I
+had congratulated myself upon an escape from what had seemed an
+inevitable disaster; yet that report was false.  He was alive, and I had
+no doubt that he meant mischief.
+
+Yet why did Yolande fear him?  This fact puzzled me.  They had been
+acquainted in the old days, it was true, but what cause she had to hate
+him I could not discern.  Something had passed between them of which I
+had remained in ignorance.  Strange, too, that the Austrian Ambassador
+should introduce him at the Baroness's reception!  With what motive?  I
+wondered.  Surely he must know from the Diplomatic List that I was now
+in Paris, and that at any sign of hostility on his part I should expose
+him and explain the whole truth.  He was playing a dangerous game,
+whatever it was; and I, too, felt myself to be in deadly peril.
+
+I sat there trying to review the situation with calmness, but could see
+no solution of the problem.  The truth was that, believing him to be
+dead, I had given no heed to that sealed chapter of my history, and now
+the ghastly truth had fallen upon me as a thunderbolt.  Sibyl had met
+and liked him.  She had in her ignorance declared
+d'Egloffstein-Wolfsburg to be a charming fellow.  There was a touch of
+grim humour in the situation.
+
+Fate seems sometimes to conspire against us.  At such times it is no use
+kicking against the pricks.  The proper course is to accept misfortune
+with the largest amount of good-humour possible in the circumstances,
+and just to treat one's sorrows lightly until they pass.  This is, I am
+aware, counsel excellent in kind, but extremely difficult to follow.  At
+that moment I felt crushed beneath the weight of sudden misfortune.  All
+my future seemed dark and hopeless, without a single ray of happiness.
+
+The mystery surrounding Yolande's actions, the suspicion resting upon
+the Countess of having made a dastardly attempt upon her daughter's
+life, the manner in which knowledge of our secret despatch had been
+obtained and our diplomatic efforts thereby checkmated, and the reason
+of the sudden appearance in Paris of my most bitter enemy, formed a
+problem which, maddening in its complexity, appeared to admit of no
+solution.
+
+Two men of my acquaintance came up and shook my hand in passing, but
+what words I uttered I have no idea.  My thoughts were, at that hour,
+when the Place de l'Opera was bathed in the crimson afterglow, far away
+from the busy whirl of central Paris, away in that peaceful forest glade
+where took place that incident by which I so narrowly escaped with my
+life.  The whole scene came before me now.  I remembered every detail of
+that night long ago.
+
+Bah!  My cigar tasted bitter, and I flung it across the pavement into
+the gutter.  Would that I could have put from me all recollection as
+easily as I cast that remnant away!  Alas!  I knew that such a course
+was impossible.  The ghost of the past had arisen to overshadow the
+future.
+
+Next day at noon I sat with the Ambassador in his private room
+discussing the political outlook.  He had exchanged telegraphic
+despatches with Downing Street during the morning, and I knew from the
+deciphers which I had made that never in the course of my career as a
+diplomatist had the European situation been so critical.
+
+Try how we would in Madrid, in Berlin, and in Vienna, we could obtain
+absolutely no confirmation of our suspicions that Ceuta had been sold by
+Spain to France.  At the first rumours of the impending sale of this
+strategic point the machinery of our secret service in the various
+capitals had been set to work, and under the ubiquitous Kaye no stone
+had been left unturned in order to get at the real truth of this grave
+menace to England's power in the Mediterranean.
+
+His Excellency, leaning back in his favourite cane chair, was grave and
+thoughtful, for again he had declared:
+
+"All this is owing to those confounded spies!  Here, in Paris, nothing
+can be conducted fairly and above-board.  I really don't know, Ingram,
+what will be the outcome."
+
+"Do you consider the situation so very critical, then?"  I asked.
+
+"Critical?  I certainly do.  It is more than critical.  With this
+scurrilous Press against us, popular feeling so extremely antagonistic
+towards England, and the difficulties in the Transvaal, only a single
+spark is required to produce an explosion.  You know what that would
+mean?"
+
+"The long-predicted European war?"
+
+He nodded, and his grey face grew greyer.  I had never seen him more
+gloomy than at that moment.  While we were talking, Harding rapped at
+the door and asked:
+
+"Will Your Excellency see Mr. Grew?"
+
+The Ambassador turned quickly, exchanged a glance with me, and answered
+at once in the affirmative.  For two persons His Excellency was at all
+times unengaged--for Kaye and for his trusted assistant, Samuel Grew.
+
+A few moments later a rather under-sized, bald-headed, gentlemanly
+little man entered and seated himself, at the Chief's invitation.  He
+was well-dressed, round-faced, with longish grey whiskers, and in his
+manner was the air of a thorough cosmopolitan, with just a trifle of the
+bon viveur.
+
+"Well, Grew," inquired His Excellency, "anything fresh?"
+
+"I have come to report to Your Excellency upon my visit to Ceuta."
+
+"What!" the Ambassador exclaimed in astonishment.  "Have you actually
+been there and returned?"
+
+"Certainly," the other answered, smiling.  "I can move swiftly when
+necessary.  I was in Barcelona when I received my telegraphic
+instructions, and set out at once."
+
+"Well, tell us the result of your observations," urged Lord Barmouth,
+instantly interested.
+
+"I went down to Algeciras, and crossed to the much-discussed penal
+settlement by boat.  Before I could do so, I was compelled to get a
+permit from the commander of the Algeciras garrison, and only then was
+allowed to board the steamship, whose every nut, screw, and chain was
+screaming for a little oil, whose hands stretched themselves on deck in
+the sun and left the work to the captain and his engineer, while they
+sang songs and smoked cigarettes.  There were very few passengers,
+mostly women, who sang until the steamer cut across the Straits in the
+teeth of the wind; then they ceased to sing and commenced to pray.  In
+little more than two hours we were just off Ceuta--a long, straggling
+Spanish town, the convict station high up on the eastern hill, with
+stone-work fortifications, that would hardly endure three hours'
+attention from modern guns, down to the water's edge, and beyond, to the
+west, well-cultivated fields full of young wheat or barley.  Arrived on
+shore, I was summoned to a shed, where a severe official in uniform
+examined my papers, recorded my age and other details in a book,
+returned the passport, and told me that if I wished to leave Ceuta at
+any time I must go to the commandant and get his written permission to
+do so.  Later on, the native who showed me the way to the Governor's
+house made an explanation that was less satisfactory than he intended.
+`You see, senor,' he said, `we have a great many convicts here, and they
+are very like you.  I mean to say,' he went on, feeling that he had not
+expressed himself happily, `that they are often dressed to look like
+gentlemen.'  I then changed the conversation."
+
+"And how about the fortifications?"  His Excellency inquired.
+
+"I have full plans and photographs of them," answered the member of the
+secret service.  "The photographs are on films, as yet undeveloped, and
+I at once posted them to an address in Bale, so as to get rid of them
+from my possession.  The plans, on tissue paper, I have here in my
+walking-stick," he added, smiling grimly and holding up to our view his
+rather battered ebony cane with a silver knob.
+
+"Aren't you afraid of anyone prying into that?"  I asked.
+
+"Not at all.  The knob is removable, as you see," and he unscrewed it,
+revealing a small cavity with a compass set in the top.  "But no one
+ever suspects the ferrule.  There is a hidden spring in it;" and,
+inverting the stick, he opened the ferrule, disclosing a small cavity in
+which reposed some tiny pieces of tissue closely resembling rolled
+cigarette papers.
+
+It is against the British principles of openness and fairness to employ
+secret agents; but in these days, when spies abound everywhere and the
+whole of Europe is a vast network of political intrigue, we cannot
+afford to sit inactive and remain in contented ignorance.
+
+"You will make a full report later, with photographs and plans, I
+presume?"  His Excellency suggested.
+
+"Yes.  But knowing the importance of the matter I came straight to make
+a verbal report to Your Excellency.  I arrived in Paris only an hour
+ago.  At present Ceuta does not impress the eye of the person who knows
+something of England's fortified stations.  Gibraltar stands on guard
+across the water, presenting nothing but a towering, bare rock,
+honeycombed with hidden batteries, to which all Ceuta lies exposed.
+While Gibraltar is of solid rock, the vegetation round and in Ceuta
+hints at a more mixed material, and an immense amount of money would be
+required to make fortifications that would fulfil all modern
+requirements.  The expenditure might work wonders, for the town has the
+sea on all sides, and could be completely isolated by flooding the strip
+of land that fronts the Bay.  The present garrison consists of five
+thousand soldiers, including a regiment of Moors, who in point of
+physique are the best men in the place.  Ceuta itself is rather a pretty
+town, so thoroughly Spanish that the few Moors and Arabs met in the
+streets are objects of interest.  The houses are small, and often built
+round the cool patios dear to southern Spain.  The balconies stretch so
+far across the streets that groups of girls sit all day, except in the
+hours of noon, chatting with their neighbours across the way."
+
+"And what does your visit lead you to conclude?" inquired His
+Excellency, all attention to this statement of the well-trained secret
+agent.
+
+"I am of opinion that the present condition of Ceuta need inspire no
+uneasiness.  Our latest and heaviest guns completely command the town;
+and if, in an hour of universal commotion, the unexpected happened, and
+Spain gave up her possession, very long and expensive work would be
+required to render the position tenable."
+
+"And have you made arrangements for further information?" asked Lord
+Barmouth.
+
+"Yes.  We shall be at once informed of any fortification of Ceuta
+conducted at a cost out of proportion to Spanish resources--say at the
+expense and on behalf of a Power that would hope to acquire it
+suddenly."
+
+"Good," observed the Chief in a tone of approval.  "I congratulate you,
+Mr. Grew, upon your smartness in this affair.  But you have not told me
+whether you discovered any French agents there?"
+
+"None.  I went in the guise of a Frenchman, with a French passport, and
+searched for any compatriots, but found none whom I could suspect."
+
+"Well," responded the Ambassador, rising, as a sign that the audience
+was at an end, "it behoves us to be constantly on the alert in face of
+the network of French intrigue that threatens England in the land of the
+Moors, and consequently at one end of the Mediterranean."
+
+Then the keen, bald-headed, little man, highly pleased by the Chief's
+word of commendation, bowed and withdrew, taking with him the precious
+walking-stick in which were concealed the plans of the Spanish
+fortifications.
+
+His Excellency sighed when the man had gone, and after a pause exclaimed
+seriously:
+
+"I can't help regarding the affair, Ingram, as something more than a
+political ballon d'essai.  The silence of our friends both in the
+Boulevard de Courcelles and the Rue de Lille is very ominous."
+
+CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
+
+SMART PARIS.
+
+On the following afternoon, as Lord Barmouth had some business with the
+Minister of Foreign Affairs over at the Quai d'Orsay, I accompanied Lady
+Barmouth and Sibyl to a rather queer function.  It was a unique
+opportunity offered to visit in detail one of the most attractive
+palaces in La Ville Lumiere; to while away a few hours very agreeably
+with a well-chosen variety entertainment presented by some of the most
+popular artists on the Paris stage; and to aid a philanthropic
+enterprise, L'Oeuvre Sociale, conceived, I suppose, in a compassionate
+love of humanity and carried on in a touching spirit of self-abnegation.
+The palace was that of Prince Roland Bonaparte, in the Avenue d'Jena.
+Through the galleries, salons, and magnificent library the crush was
+enormous.  The afternoon was hot and the atmosphere stifling;
+nevertheless, in the cause of charity we of the diplomatic circle must
+always be en evidence, even though we would rather be away from the
+crowd in the country or by the sea.
+
+It was evident when we arrived that the visit to the hotel was one of
+the great attractions of the fete, for many lady visitors, especially
+the American contingent, examined and admired the handsome staircase,
+with its green marble columns, its vast collection of pictures,
+sculpture, bronzes, tapestries, and curiosities, the salons filled with
+souvenirs of the First Empire and of the Imperial family, and the
+incomparable library--that of Louis XIV--in exquisitely carved wood.
+
+We mounted to the vestibule on the first floor, where a concert-room had
+been fitted up, and there with difficulty found seats among the crowded
+audience.
+
+Aristide Bruant himself was concluding one of his popular songs of the
+street:
+
+  La moral' de c'tte oraison-la,
+  C'est qu' les p'tit's fill's qu'a pas d' papa,
+  Doiv'nt jamais aller a l'ecole,
+  A Batignolles,
+
+and bowed himself off amid thunders of applause.  As a Paris singer has
+not to submit his lines to a paternal County Council, they are
+frequently a trifle more free than those to which English audiences are
+in the habit of listening.  Nevertheless, it must be remembered that
+this charity function was a very smart affair, all the best-known people
+remaining in Paris being present.  After Bruant, an outburst of applause
+greeted the renowned Spanish dancer, La Belle Otero, who danced and
+sang, followed by pastourelles of the eighteenth century, romances by
+Florian and Marie Antoinette, and songs by Paulus.  Lastly, there
+bounded upon the stage Eugenie Buffet, the "chanteuse des rues,"
+together with her troupe.  She sang that weird song of Paris life so
+popular at the cafes, called "A la Villette," commencing:
+
+  Il avait pas encor' vingt ans,
+  I' connaissait pas ses parents,
+  On l'app'lait Toto Laripette,
+  A la Villette.
+  Il etait un peu sans facon,
+  Mais c'etait un joli garcon:
+  C'etait l'pus beau, c'etait l'pus chouette,
+  A la Villette.
+
+The audience had heard much of the song, but few of those present had
+ever ventured into the insignificant cafe where she sang it nightly.
+Consequently there was distinct novelty in it.  She sang it through, to
+the accompaniment of her street musicians, until she came to the final
+verse:
+
+  La dernier' fois que je l'ai vu,
+  Il avait l'torse a moitie nu,
+  Et le cou pris dans la lunette,
+  A la Roquette.
+
+Then, with a sudden outburst of enthusiasm, the whole audience threw
+hundreds of sous and francs to the singer.
+
+Sibyl, seated beside me, her ladyship having found a seat with the
+Baronne de Chalencon some distance away, turned to me, saying:
+
+"The air is simply suffocating here.  Shall we go?"
+
+"Certainly," I answered, glad myself to escape from the
+semi-asphyxiation.  We rose and passed out together.  On the stairs we
+met Prince Roland, delighted with the success of the entertainment,
+ascending, with, as usual, hat on the back of his head and hands in
+pockets.
+
+"Ah, mon cher Ingram!" he cried, greeting us.  "And you are here with
+mademoiselle?"
+
+Sibyl congratulated him upon his great success, whereupon he answered,
+with a broad smile:
+
+"It seems, mademoiselle, that my hotel is not large enough for charity."
+
+And he passed on, leaving us to laugh at his rather witty mot.  In Paris
+everyone knows the Prince, for he is one of the central figures in
+Society.  Below we encountered the Baronne de Nouilles, who with Madame
+Bornier was sharing the feminine literary honours of Paris at the
+moment.  The Baronne's poems were well known, especially "Il n'y a plus
+d'iles bienheureuses."  She greeted us merrily, for Sibyl was her
+especial favourite.  She was still quite young, dark, slim, and
+distinguished-looking.  In addition to much originality and charm in her
+manner of writing, she possessed an insight into, and a power to judge,
+human nature in its many varied aspects which had been pronounced by the
+critics to be remarkable.  She was very graceful, with auburn hair and a
+face such as Burne-Jones loved to paint.  Indeed, she had sat for the
+faces of several of that artist's more recent pictures.
+
+"What!" she cried, "you, too, find the crush too great?  And I also.  I
+am returning home.  Come with me, both of you, and have a quiet cup of
+tea.  I will explain to her ladyship;" and walking quickly across to
+where Sibyl's mother was standing, she uttered a few words to the
+Ambassador's wife.  Then we all three entered her landau and drove to
+her house.
+
+The Baronne was, as all Paris knows, in every way an artist, wealthy,
+chic, and philanthropic to a degree.  Her house was, I found, a dream of
+exquisite taste.
+
+When we entered, Sibyl turned to me, saying:
+
+"These white carpets and delicate hangings make one tremble at the
+thought of dirty feet or smutty fingers!"
+
+And they certainly did.  The effects everywhere were highly artistic--
+more striking, I think, than I had ever seen in any private house.  Her
+refined taste and rare turn of--mind were shown in every corner of that
+delightful house, so delicate and restful in every detail.  The salon in
+which tea was served was all white--soft white velvet hangings, white
+carpet, white wood furniture, and a little gallery also in white.  Along
+the dado-line, in white wood, were painted butterflies in pale opal
+shades, frail symbols of the flitting gaieties of life.
+
+We had been chatting some little time, and the conversation between the
+Ambassador's daughter and the poetess had turned upon frocks, as it so
+often does between women devoted to La mode.  They were discussing the
+toilette of Madame de Yturbe, one of the prettiest women in Paris, and
+the tendency of late towards the Empire and Directoire periods in dress,
+when I asked a question to which I had often failed to get a
+satisfactory answer.
+
+"Who is really the smartest--the Parisienne, or the American woman, in
+Paris?"
+
+"Ah, m'sieur!" cried the merry little Baronne, holding up her hands,
+"the Americans run us so very close in the matter of dress nowadays that
+I really do not know.  Indeed, many Americans are in my opinion more
+chic than the vraie Parisienne."
+
+"Well," observed Sibyl rather philosophically, "there is, I think, more
+independence and individuality in the American woman's manner of putting
+on her clothes.  The French woman--forgive me, Baronne--accepts her
+frock just as it comes from the dressmaker, and looks more or less as
+though she has just stepped out of a bandbox.  But the American knows
+better what suits her in the first place, and in putting on her clothes
+adapts them, by a judicious touch here and there, to her own particular
+style and taste."
+
+"I thoroughly agree," observed the Baronne.  "We have been actually
+beaten on our own ground by the Americans.  It is curious, but
+nevertheless true, that we French women are being left behind in the
+mode, as we have been left behind in the laws.  Here, in France, we are
+twenty years or so behind the age in regard to the laws affecting
+women."
+
+"I don't understand," observed Sibyl.
+
+"Well, in brief, our modern intellectual young man in Paris is all for
+woman's rights.  In England you have long been aware that to educate and
+gradually emancipate the women-folk is one of the most important points
+in modern progress; but though the Feministe movement in France has been
+actively pushed by a small minority during the last few years, we in
+Paris have only just heard of your so-called New Woman."
+
+"And do you believe, Baronne, that the movement will progress?"  I
+inquired.
+
+"Ah! it is difficult to say, m'sieur," she answered, with a slight shrug
+of her well-formed shoulders.  "When the reformers' ideal has once been
+placed in the category of practical politics it will probably be
+accorded a welcome and given a deferential attention which has scarcely
+been vouchsafed to it on your side of the Pas de Calais.  At present, as
+you know, a married woman in France has no right to her own earnings.
+They belong to the husband.  A man can actually imprison his wife for
+two years if discovered with a lover; while a woman who has been wronged
+is not allowed the recherche de la paternite.  In short, you English
+respect your womenkind, and are a free and enlightened people in
+comparison with us.  Here, `Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite,' are words
+which apply solely to the masculine sex."
+
+We both laughed, but the Baronne was quite serious, and from her
+subsequent observations it was patent that I had accidentally touched
+upon one of her pet subjects.  To confess the truth, I became rather
+bored by her violent arguments in favour of the emancipation of women,
+for when a voluble Frenchwoman argues, it is difficult to get in a word
+edgewise.
+
+Presently she exclaimed:
+
+"A couple of days ago I had a visit from an old friend who inquired
+whether I knew you--the Comtesse de Foville.  She has left Paris."
+
+"Yes," I said, "I think she has.  Her visit has been only a brief one.
+They have gone for their cure at Marienbad, I believe."
+
+"Very brief.  She wrote telling me that she and Yolande would remain in
+Paris at least a month, and yet they've not been here a week!"
+
+"Is this the same Yolande whom you knew in Brussels?" asked Sibyl,
+turning to me with a glance of surprise.
+
+"Yes," I answered in a hard voice.  Why, I wondered, had this woman
+brought up a subject so distasteful to me?
+
+"You were her cavalier in Brussels, so I've heard," observed the
+Ambassador's daughter.  "I was still at college in those days, I
+suppose.  But is it really true that your flirtations were something
+dreadful?"
+
+"Who told you so?"  I inquired, in a tone which affected to scout such
+an idea.
+
+"Mother said so the other day.  She told me that everyone in Brussels
+knew you had fallen violently in love with her, and prophesied marriage,
+until one day you suddenly applied for a change of post, and left her.
+They whispered that it was owing to a quarrel."
+
+"Well," I said with a sad smile, "you are really awfully frank."
+
+"Just as you are with me.  You're always chaffing me about my partners
+at dances, and making all sorts of rude remarks.  Now, when I have a
+chance to retaliate, it isn't to be supposed that I shall let it slip."
+
+"Certainly not," I laughed.  "Now describe all my shortcomings, and make
+a long list of them.  It will be entertaining to the Baronne, who dearly
+loves to hear a little private history."
+
+"Now, m'sieur, that is really too bad," the other protested.  "You
+Englishmen are always so very cynical."
+
+"We find it very necessary for our existence, I assure you, madame."
+
+"Just as Yolande was once necessary for your existence--eh?" she added
+mischievously, as they both laughed in chorus at my discomfiture.
+
+"Well, and if I admit it?"
+
+"If you admit it you will perhaps set our minds at rest as to the reason
+of her sudden departure from Paris yesterday," exclaimed the Baronne,
+with a strange expression upon her face, as though she knew more than
+she would admit.
+
+"I have no idea of the reason.  They have gone for their cure at
+Marienbad, I believe."  Madame smiled, pushing a little tendril of her
+auburn hair from off her brow.
+
+"You believe!" she echoed.  "Are you not certain?"
+
+"No, I'm not certain.  They left hurriedly.  That is all I know."
+
+"And all you care?" asked Sibyl, regarding me very gravely.
+
+"And all I care," I added.
+
+"What a courteous cavalier!" exclaimed madame, laughing.  Then she
+added: "I've known Yolande and her mother for quite a number of years.
+Yolande is a most charming girl."
+
+"I've heard that she is now engaged," I observed, resolved upon a ruse.
+"Giraud, of the Belgian Embassy, told me the other day that she was to
+marry some German--I think he is--named Wolf.  Do you know him?"
+
+"Wolf!" ejaculated the Baronne, her fine eyes fixed upon me with a
+strange look, as though in a moment she had become paralysed by some
+sudden fear.  The next instant, however, with a woman's marvellous
+self-possession, she made shift to answer:
+
+"No, the name is quite unfamiliar to me."
+
+"Why," cried Sibyl suddenly, "that was the name of the dark-bearded man
+who was so charming to me at the de Chalencon's the other night.  Is he
+the same?"
+
+"Yes," I said.  "His character, however, is none of the best.  I would
+only warn you to have nothing whatever to do with him--that's all."
+
+"He was awfully kind to me the other evening," she protested.
+
+"Well," I replied earnestly, "but you and I are friends of old standing,
+and I consider that I have a right to give you warning when it seems to
+be necessary."
+
+"And is one actually needed regarding Rodolphe Wolf?" asked the Baronne,
+evidently much puzzled, for she undoubtedly knew him, even though she
+had declared her ignorance of his existence.
+
+"Yes," I said, "he is a person to be avoided.  More, I cannot tell you."
+
+CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
+
+ACROSS THE CHANNEL.
+
+A week went by, but the war-cloud still hung heavily upon the political
+horizon.
+
+At my direction Grew, assisted by other members of the secret service,
+had searched high and low in Paris for Rodolphe Wolf; but in vain.
+After entering that dingy old house on the Quai, he had suddenly and
+unaccountably disappeared.  The fishing-tackle shop was not, as I had
+believed, his headquarters, but he had evidently only made a visit
+there, and had afterwards left Paris suddenly, at almost the same time
+as the Countess de Foville and Yolande.  The ladies had also completely
+eluded us.  They were not in Marienbad, for inquiries had been made in
+that town without result.
+
+I was in daily expectation of Kaye's return to Paris; but he did not
+arrive, and I had heard nothing of his whereabouts.  The astute secret
+agent had a habit of being lost to us for weeks, and of then returning
+with some important piece of information; not infrequently with a copy
+of some diplomatic document by means of which our Chief was able to foil
+the machinations of England's enemies.  Nevertheless, in view of the
+curious events which had occurred, I was anxious to learn what facts he
+might have ascertained in Berlin regarding Yolande.
+
+Lady Barmouth was receiving in the grand salon of the Embassy one
+afternoon, the fine apartment being full to overflowing with the usual
+chattering cosmopolitan men and women who circle about from one embassy
+to another, when I suddenly encountered my friend Captain Giraud, the
+Belgian military attache.  He had been absent on leave for several days,
+and had only just returned to Paris.
+
+"I've been to Brussels," he exclaimed, after we had exchanged greetings.
+"A cousin of mine has been married, and I went to the feasting."
+
+"And now you have the usual attack of liver, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes," he laughed.  "I'm feeling a little bit seedy after all the
+merry-making.  But, by the way, you knew my cousin, Julie Montbazon?
+She was often a guest of the Countess de Foville at the chateau."
+
+"Of course I remember her.  She was tall, fair-haired, and spoke English
+extremely well," I said.
+
+"The same.  Well, she has married the son of Tanchot, the banker, of
+Antwerp--an excellent match."
+
+"And the Countess and Yolande, what news of them?"
+
+"They are in Paris, are they not?"
+
+"No, they left suddenly some days ago."
+
+"Well, they are not to be blamed," he said, smiling.  "No one stays in
+Paris during this heat if they can possibly avoid it.  Yolande told me
+she was going to Marienbad."
+
+"She told me so, too.  But they have altered their plans, it seems."
+
+"Oh!  So you have met again?" he cried, opening his eyes widely.  "I
+thought your friendship had ended long ago?"
+
+"So it had."
+
+"Then it has been resumed?"
+
+"No, it has not," I replied.
+
+"Are you certain?" he inquired, with sudden earnestness.  He had been
+one of my most intimate friends in Brussels in the old days, and knew
+well the secret of our broken engagement.
+
+"Quite certain."
+
+"And they have left for some destination unknown to you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But why did you seek her again, my dear Ingram?  It was scarcely wise,
+was it?"
+
+"Wisdom has to be thrown to the winds in certain circumstances," I
+answered.  "I was in this instance compelled to see her."
+
+"Compelled?" he echoed, puzzled.  "Then you did not call upon her of
+your own free will?"
+
+"No.  I called, but against my own inclination."
+
+"And are you absolutely certain, mon cher Ingram, that all is broken off
+between you--that you have no lingering thought of her?"
+
+"Quite.  Why?"
+
+He paused, as though in doubt as to what reply he should make to my
+question.
+
+"Because," he said slowly, at last--"well, because if my information is
+correct, her character has changed since you parted."
+
+What could he know?  His words implied that he was aware of the truth
+regarding her.
+
+"I don't quite understand you," I said eagerly.  "Be more explicit."
+
+"Unfortunately I cannot," he answered.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I never condemn a woman, either upon hearsay or upon
+suspicion."
+
+A couple of merry fellows, attaches of the Russian Embassy, strolled up,
+and we were therefore compelled to drop the subject.  Their chief, they
+told us, was about to leave Paris for his country house in Brittany--a
+fact interesting to Lord Barmouth, as showing that the political
+atmosphere was clearing.  One ominous sign of the storm had been the
+persistent presence of all the ambassadors in Paris at a time when
+usually they are in the country or by the sea.  The representative of
+the Czar was the first to move, and now without doubt all the other
+representatives of the Powers would be only too glad to follow his
+example, for the month was August, and the heat in Paris was almost
+overpowering enough to be described as tropical.
+
+In the diplomatic circle abroad the most accomplished, the merriest, the
+most courteous, and the best linguists are always the Russians.
+Although we at the British Embassy were sometimes in opposition to their
+policy, nevertheless Count Olsoufieff, the Russian Ambassador, was one
+of Lord Barmouth's most intimate friends, and from the respected chiefs
+downwards there existed the greatest cordiality and good feeling between
+the staff of the two embassies, notwithstanding all that certain
+journalists might write to the contrary.  Volkouski and Korniloff, the
+two attaches, were easy-going cosmopolitans, upon whose shoulders the
+cares of life seemed to sit lightly, and very often we dined and spent
+pleasant evenings together.
+
+We were gossiping together, discussing a titbit of amusing Paris scandal
+which Volkouski had picked up at a dinner on the previous night, and was
+now relating, when suddenly Harding approached me.
+
+"His Excellency would like to see you at once in his private room, sir."
+
+I excused myself, having heard the denouement of the story and laughed
+over it, and then mounted the grand staircase to the room in which my
+own Chief was standing with his hands behind his back, gazing
+thoughtfully out of the window.  As I entered and closed the door, he
+turned to me saying:
+
+"The political wind has changed to-day, Ingram, and although the mystery
+regarding Ceuta remains the same, the outlook is decidedly brighter.  I
+had a chat with de Wolkenstein and Olsoufieff over at the Quai d'Orsay
+an hour ago, and the result makes it plain that the tension is fast
+disappearing."
+
+"Olsoufieff leaves for Brittany to-morrow," I said.
+
+"He told me so," answered the Ambassador.  "Yet with regard to Ceuta I
+have learned a very important fact, which I must send by despatch to the
+Marquess.  Anderson, however, left for Rome to-day, and we have no
+messenger.  You, therefore, must carry it to London by the night service
+this evening.  If you object, Vivian can be sent."
+
+"I'll go with pleasure," I responded, glad of an opportunity of spending
+a day, and perhaps even a couple of days, in town.  We who are condemned
+to exile abroad love our dear old London.
+
+"Then if you will get out the cipher-book I'll write the despatch."
+
+I unlocked the safe, handed him the book, and then stood by, watching as
+he reduced the draft despatch which he had already written to the
+puzzling array of letters and numerals.  The operation of transcribing
+into cipher always occupies considerable time, for perfect accuracy is
+necessary, otherwise disastrous complications might ensue.
+
+At last, however, His Excellency concluded, appended his signature, and
+took from a drawer in his big writing-table a large envelope bearing a
+formidable red cross.  Despatches placed in those envelopes are for the
+eye of the principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs alone, and
+are always carried by the Royal messengers in the chamois-leather belt
+worn next their skin.  They are essentially private communications,
+which British ambassadors are enabled to make with the great statesman
+who, untiring by night and by day, controls England's destinies.  The
+messengers carry the ordinary despatches to and fro across Europe in
+their despatch-boxes, but what is known in the Foreign Office as a
+"crossed despatch" must be carried on the person of the messenger, and
+must be delivered into the actual hand of the person to whom it is
+addressed.
+
+When the communication was placed in its envelope, duly secured by the
+five seals of the Ambassador's private seal--a fine-cut amethyst
+attached to his plain watch-guard of black silk ribbon--he handed it to
+me to lock in the safe until my departure.  This I did, and after
+receiving some further verbal instructions went to my rooms to prepare
+for the journey.  I dined early, called at the Embassy for the despatch,
+which I placed in my waist-belt, and left the Gare du Nord just as the
+summer twilight had deepened into dusk.
+
+I was alone in the compartment on that tedious journey by Amiens to
+Calais.  The night service between Paris and London never holds out a
+very inviting prospect, for there is little comfort for travellers as
+compared with the saloon carriages of the Chemin de Fer du Nord and the
+fine buffet cars of the Wagon Lit Company which run in the day service
+between the two greatest capitals of the world.  The boats by the night
+service, too, are not all that can be desired, especially if a strong
+breeze is blowing.  But on arrival at Calais on the night in question
+all was calm; and although the boat was one of the oldest on the
+service, nevertheless, not the most delicate among the lady passengers
+had occasion to seek the seclusion of a cabin or claim the services of
+the portly, white-capped stewardess.
+
+In the bright moonbeams of that summer's night I sat on deck smoking and
+thinking.  What, I wondered, did Giraud know concerning Yolande?  It was
+evident that as my friend he had my interests at heart, and wished to
+warn me against further association with her, even though he had done it
+clumsily and without the tact one would have expected of a man so well
+schooled in diplomacy.  I remembered how at one time he was frequently a
+guest at the Chateau of Houffalize; indeed, we had been invited there at
+the same time on several occasions for shooting and wild-boar hunting in
+the Ardennes forest.
+
+Yes, it seemed apparent that he knew the truth, that Yolande was
+actually a secret agent.  But she had disappeared.  Perhaps, after all,
+it was as well.  I had no desire that Kaye and his smart detectives
+should hunt her through Europe, unless it could be actually proved that
+through her the secret of our policy towards Spain with regard to Ceuta
+had been betrayed to those Powers which were ever at work to undermine
+British prestige.
+
+But how could she possibly have obtained the secret?  That was the crux
+of the whole situation.  The despatch from the Marquess of Malvern to
+Lord Barmouth had been a crossed one, and it had never left the person
+of the foreign service messenger until placed in my Chief's hands with
+the seals intact.  The mystery was absolutely inscrutable.
+
+The moonbeams, reflected by the dancing waters, and the many lights of
+Dover harbour as we approached it, combined to produce an almost
+fairy-like picture.  Indeed, in all my experience of the Channel I had
+never known a more perfectly calm and brilliant night, for the sea was
+almost like a lake, and on board the passengers were promenading as they
+chatted and laughed, pleasantly surprised to find the passage such an
+enjoyable one.
+
+But as I lolled in my deck-chair, my eyes fixed upon the silver track of
+the moonbeams, a figure suddenly passed along the deck between my vision
+and the sea.  There were a good many passengers, for a P&O steamer had
+come in at Marseilles, and about a couple of hundred travellers from the
+Far East were hurrying homeward.  Every moment they were passing and
+repassing me; therefore I cannot tell what it was that attracted my
+attention to that particular silhouette dark against the silvery sea.
+
+I only saw it during a single second, for next instant it had passed and
+become lost in the crowd of promenaders on deck.  It was that of a woman
+of middle height, wearing a long travelling-cloak heavily lined with fur
+and a small sealskin toque.  The fur collar of her coat was turned up
+around her neck, and thus hid the greater part of her face; indeed, I
+saw little of her countenance, for it was only a grey blotch in the
+shadow; yet her dark eyes had glanced at me inquiringly, as though she
+wished to mark well my appearance.  Her height and gait struck me as
+somewhat unusual.  I had seen some person before closely resembling her,
+but could not remember the occasion.  She had passed me by like a
+shadow, yet somehow a strange conviction had in an instant seized me.
+That woman had followed me from Paris.  She had stood on the platform of
+the Gare du Nord watching me while I had walked up and down awaiting the
+departure of the train.
+
+I rose and searched the deck from end to end, but could not rediscover
+her.  I went below, wandering along the gangway, past the engines, where
+sometimes passengers seek shelter from the chill winds, but she was not
+there.  As far as I dared, I peered into the ladies' cabin, but saw no
+one resembling her.  In every part of the vessel I searched, but she had
+disappeared as though by magic.  Indeed, a quarter of an hour later I
+was questioning myself as to whether I had really seen that figure or
+whether it had been merely a chimera of my excited imagination.
+
+But there was no doubt that a tall, well-dressed woman had passed me and
+had peered into my face; and equally certain was it that, apparently
+fearing detection, she had disappeared and hidden herself somehow.  Upon
+a vessel at night there are many dark corners where one can escape
+observation; besides, the most likely spot for a hiding-place was one or
+other of the private deck-cabins.
+
+Try as I would, I could not rid myself of the recollection of that face.
+Now that I reflected, I remembered that when I saw her on the
+railway-platform I noticed she was dark-eyed, with a thin, elongated,
+rather striking, careworn face; a figure almost tragic in expression,
+yet evidently that of a woman of the world Her nationality was difficult
+to distinguish, but by her tailor-made travelling-dress and her rather
+severe style, I had put her down as English.  Her glance in the
+semi-darkness had, however, been a curious one, and the reason was
+rendered the more puzzling by her sudden disappearance.
+
+As we reached the pier at Dover I stationed myself at the gangway, and
+closely scrutinised every person who went ashore, waiting there until
+the last passenger had left.  But no one resembling her appeared.  She
+seemed to have vanished from the boat like a shadow.
+
+I went ashore, and ran from end to end of both trains, the Chatham and
+Dover and South Eastern, but could not find her.  Then, entering a
+compartment in the latter train, I travelled to Charing Cross, much
+puzzled by the incident.  I could not doubt but that this thin-faced
+woman had followed me for some mysterious purpose.
+
+CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
+
+DAWN.
+
+When in the early morning I drove into Downing Street and entered the
+office of the chief of the night staff, I was informed that the Marquess
+of Malvern was in town; therefore I drove on to Belgrave Square.
+
+The Prime Minister's house was a large, old-fashioned,
+substantial-looking mansion, devoid of any outward show or
+embellishment, and with very little attempt at ornamentation in the
+interior.  Everything was solid and good, but long out of date.  The
+gimcrack painted deal abominations, miscalled art-furniture, had not
+been invented in the day when the town house of the great family had
+been renovated in honour of the marriage of the fourth Marquess, the
+present Prime Minister's grandfather, and very little had been altered
+by the two generations who had succeeded him.  The time-mellowed
+stability of the place was one of its greatest charms.  The footman led
+me upstairs through the great reception-room which every foreign
+diplomatist in London knows so well, where the furniture was at present
+hidden beneath holland shrouds, and down a long corridor, till we found
+the valet, who, in obedience to the strict orders of his master, went
+and awakened him.  The Marquess, attentive to the affairs of State by
+night as well as by day, was always awakened on the arrival of a crossed
+despatch from any of Britain's representatives at the Foreign Courts.
+
+"His lordship will see you in his dressing-room in a few moments, sir,"
+the valet said when he returned, as he ushered me into a small room
+close at hand.
+
+I had sat there before on previous occasions when I had been the bearer
+of secret reports from my Chief.  I had only to wait a few moments, and
+the great statesman--a tall, thin, grave-faced gentleman, wrapped in his
+dressing-gown, opened the door and stood before me.
+
+"Good-morning, Mr. Ingram!" he exclaimed affably; for to all the staff
+of the Foreign Office, from ambassador down to the lower-grade clerk,
+the Marquess was equally courteous, and often gave a word of encouraging
+approval from his own lips.  Many times had he been heard to say, "Each
+of us work for our country's good.  There must be neither jealousy nor
+pride among us."  The esprit de corps in the Foreign Office is well
+known.
+
+I bowed, apologised for disturbing him at that early hour--it was
+half-past five--and handed him the despatch.
+
+"You've been travelling while I've been sleeping," laughed the director
+of England's foreign policy, taking the envelope and examining the seals
+to assure himself they were intact.  Then he scrawled his signature upon
+the receipt which I handed him, tore open the envelope, and glanced at
+the cipher.
+
+"Have you any idea of the contents of this?" he inquired.
+
+"No, it is secret.  Lord Barmouth wrote it himself."
+
+"Then kindly come this way;" and he led me down a long corridor to a
+large room at the end--his library.  From the safe he took his
+decipher-book, and after a few minutes had transcribed the despatch into
+plain English.
+
+I saw from his face that what he read was somewhat displeasing, and also
+that he was considerably surprised by the news it contained.  He re-read
+the lines he had written, twisting his watch-guard nervously within his
+thin white fingers.  Then he said:
+
+"It seems, Ingram, that you have some extremely difficult diplomacy in
+Paris just now--extremely difficult and often annoying?"
+
+"Yes," I said, "there are several problems of late that have required
+great tact and finesse.  But we at the Embassy have the utmost
+confidence in our Chief."
+
+"Lord Barmouth is a man of whom England may justly be proud.  Would that
+there were many more like him in our service!" said the Prime Minister.
+"Kindly ask him to keep me posted constantly regarding the progress of
+the matter he has just reported.  It is serious, and may necessitate
+some drastic change of policy.  It is for that reason that I wish to be
+kept informed."
+
+"Do you require me to return to my post to-day?"
+
+"Certainly not," he replied quickly.  "Now you are in England you may
+remain a couple of days or so, if you wish.  I am well aware how all of
+you long for a day or two at home."
+
+I thanked his lordship; and then, after a short and pleasant chat upon
+the political situation in Paris and the mystery regarding Ceuta, I went
+out, mounted into my cab, and drove down to the St. James' Club, where I
+made myself tidy, and breakfasted.
+
+When I had finished my second cup of tea and glanced through the morning
+paper, eight o'clock was striking.  I rose, went to the window, and
+looked out upon Piccadilly, bright and brilliant in the morning sun.
+With hands in my pockets I stood debating whether I should act upon a
+suggestion that had been constantly in my mind ever since leaving Paris.
+Should I take Edith by surprise, and go down to visit her?
+
+The fact that the Marquess had given me leave so readily showed that the
+outlook had become clearer, notwithstanding the fact that my Chief had
+transmitted, for the eye of the Foreign Minister only, the secret
+despatch of which I had been the bearer.
+
+At that early hour there was no one in the club, yet as I wandered
+through those well-remembered rooms my mind became filled with pleasant
+recollections of merry hours spent there in the days before my duty
+compelled me to become an exile abroad.  I thought of Yolande, and tried
+to decide whether or no I really loved her.  A vision of her face arose
+before my eyes, but with a strenuous effort I succeeded in shutting it
+out.  All was of the past.  Besides, had not Kaye proved her to be a
+secret agent, or, to put it plainly, a spy?  Daily, hourly, I had
+struggled with my conscience.  In the performance of what was plainly my
+duty I had visited her, and had nearly fallen into the trap she had so
+cunningly baited, for she no doubt intended, after all, to become my
+wife; and in this she was acting, I felt confident, in concert with that
+man who was my bitterest enemy--the man who now called himself Rodolphe
+Wolf.  No, I had treated Edith unfairly, and therefore resolved to run
+down to Norfolk and visit her.  With that object, an hour later I left
+London for Great Ryburgh, the small village where she delighted to live
+reposeful days in company with her maiden aunt, Miss Henrietta Foskett.
+In due course I arrived by the express at Fakenham, drove in a fly to
+the quiet little village, and descended before the large, low, roomy old
+house with mullioned windows and tall chimneys, which lay back from the
+village street behind a garden filled with those old-world,
+sweet-smelling flowers so much beloved by our grandmothers.
+
+I walked up the garden-path, knocked, and was admitted by the neat maid,
+Ann, who for fifteen years had been in Miss Foskett's service.
+
+It has always seemed to me that except by their immediate heirs, maiden
+aunts are often nearly forgotten among a bustling younger generation
+always striving and toiling.  They are left to dust their own china and
+sharply to superintend the morals and manners of their general servant,
+save when the holiday-times of the year come round, when their country
+houses are more apt to recur to their relatives' minds; their periodical
+letters, in the delicate pointed Italian hand, essential in the days of
+their youth as the hall-mark of gentility, are then more eagerly replied
+to, for Aunt Jane's or Aunt Maria's proffered hospitality will generally
+furnish an economical change of air.
+
+Edith's case was not an unusual one.  Her father, a wealthy landowner in
+Northumberland, had died in her youth, while five years ago, just before
+she left college at St. Leonard's, her mother, who was constantly
+ailing, also succumbed.  She was left entirely alone; but she had
+succeeded to a handsome income, derived from property in the city of
+Newcastle.  Her Aunt Henrietta, her mother's only surviving sister, had
+constituted herself her guardian.  Miss Foskett had been able through
+stress and change to cling to the old house--the old place, once so
+full, from which so many had gone out to return no more.
+
+I knew that interior well.  There was a haunting sense of pathos in
+those old rooms, and the ancient furniture was arranged in unyielding
+precision.
+
+When Ann ushered me into the musty-smelling drawing-room, I glanced
+round and shuddered.  Aunt Henrietta's rules were the household rules of
+her mother before her, and she severely reprobated the domestic
+slackness and craving for mere comfort and luxury of the present
+generation.  Her lace curtains, carefully dressed, were hung up, and
+fires banished from all her fireplaces, on the first of May.  Untimely
+frost and snow had no power to move the prim old wool-work screen,
+glazed and framed, that hid the steel bars of the grate; the simpering
+ladies, in their faded blue and scarlet dresses, looked
+unsympathetically at the light carpet, the white curtains, the
+anti-macassared armchairs, the round table with books, miniatures, and a
+flowering plant, whatever the state of the thermometer.
+
+Through the windows a pleasant vista was presented across a well-kept
+lawn with broad pasture-lands beyond, and the spire of Testerton church
+rising in the distance behind the belt of trees.  While I sat there
+awaiting Edith, who was no doubt amazed at the announcement of my
+presence, and was now rearranging her hair, as women will, I glanced up
+at the feeble watercolours and chalk drawings traced by the hand of
+"dear Aunt Fanny, who had a wonderful talent for drawing."  It occurred
+to me that Fanny's great-nieces, with perhaps less artistic excuse, now
+studied at the Slade, copied at the National Gallery, and lived in flats
+with some feminine friend on tea and pickles.  Such girls give lunches
+and teas to stray bachelors, and own a latchkey.  But such doings could
+hardly be thought of among Fanny's muddled trees and impossible sunsets,
+with Fanny's pictured eyes smiling sweetly, if a trifle inanely, from
+behind her bunches of fair, hanging curls, at grandmother's mild face
+and folded hands on the opposite wall.
+
+Notwithstanding the inartistic character of the place, there was
+everywhere a tranquillity and an old-world charm.  Through the open
+window came the scent of the flowers, the hum of insects in the noonday
+sun, and the call of the birds.  How different was the life there from
+my own turbulent existence in the glare and glitter of the gayest circle
+in Paris!  I sighed, and longed for quiet and rest at home in dear old
+rural England.
+
+Suddenly the door opened, and Aunt Henrietta, a prim, shrunken,
+thin-faced old lady in stiff black silk, and wearing a cap of cream
+lace, came forward to greet me.
+
+"Why, you have taken us entirely by surprise, Mr. Ingram!" she said in
+her high-pitched voice.  "When Ann told me that it was you, I would
+scarcely believe her.  We thought you were in Paris."
+
+"I had to come to London on business, so I thought I would run down to
+see how you all are," I answered.  "I hope my visit is not
+inconvenient?"
+
+"Oh no," answered the old lady.  "I've told Edith, and she will be down
+in a moment.  She's been worrying for the past week because she has
+received no letter from you."
+
+"Well, I've come personally, Miss Foskett," I laughed.  "I hope my
+presence will partly make up for my failure as a correspondent."
+
+Her grey, wizened face puckered into a smile.  I knew that she had not
+altogether approved of Edith becoming engaged to me.  But her niece was
+of age, mistress of her fortune, and, I shrewdly suspected, contributed
+handsomely towards the expenses of that small, prim household.
+
+
+Although Aunt Hetty was of a somewhat trenchant type, and shook her head
+over the wilful vagaries of a world that had outgrown her philosophy of
+life, yet she still preserved a motherly instinct of patient love for
+all mankind.  She was, in common with most maiden aunts, a great
+church-goer and firm supporter of the parish clergy of Great Ryburgh;
+but in parochial matters I believe she was more dreaded than loved for
+the uncompromising force of her doctrine and demeanour.  She was severe
+on the faults and failings of her inferiors, and apt to discriminate in
+her almsgiving.  Frequent curtseys and a little adroit flattery from
+"the poor" were a surer road to her purse than morose merit, however
+great.
+
+The old lady straightened out an antimacassar that chanced to be a
+trifle awry, then, spreading out her skirts slowly, seated herself, and
+began to relate to me gossip concerning people whom I knew in the
+neighbourhood--the squire, the doctor, the parson, and other local
+worthies, all of whom, taken together, made up her quiet little world.
+
+At last the door opened again, and next instant, as I sprang up, I
+became conscious of a fair vision in a simple white gown standing before
+me.  The touch of her soft, tiny hand, the love-glance of those
+beautiful eyes, the glad smile of welcome, the music of that voice, came
+upon me as a sudden revelation.  Her perfect type of English loveliness
+became disclosed to me for the first time.  She was absolutely
+incomparable, although never before that moment had I realised the
+truth.  But in that instant I became aware that she held me irrevocably
+beneath her spell.
+
+I took her hand, and our eyes met.  My gaze wavered beneath hers, and
+what words I uttered in response to her greeting I cannot tell.  All
+that I knew was that I was unworthy of her love.
+
+CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
+
+EDITH AUSTIN.
+
+For a time our conversation was somewhat stilted.  Then Aunt Hetty rose
+suddenly, with a loud rustling of her stiff silks, made the excuse that
+she had to speak with the servants, and discreetly left the room.
+
+The instant the door had closed, Edith moved towards me, and we became
+locked in one another's arms.  She was full of inexpressible sweetness
+and perfect grace.  The passion that had at once taken possession of her
+soul had the force, the rapidity, the resistless violence of the
+torrent; but she was herself as "moving delicate," as fair, as soft, as
+flexible as the willow that bends over it, whose light leaves tremble
+even with the motion of the current which hurries beneath them.
+
+Love lit within my breast a clear fire that burned to my heart's very
+core.  Edith could scarce speak, so overjoyed was she at my visit; but
+at last, as I pressed her to me, and rained kisses upon her brow, she
+said, looking up at me with a glance of reproach:
+
+"You have not written to me for ten whole days, Gerald!  Why was that?
+Last night I sent you a telegram asking if you were ill."
+
+"Forgive me, dearest," I urged.  "This last week I've been extremely
+busy.  There have been serious political complications, and, in
+addition, I've had a perfect crowd of engagements which duty compelled
+me to attend."
+
+"You go and enjoy yourself at all sorts of gay receptions and great
+dinners, and forget me," she declared, pouting prettily.
+
+"I never forget you, Edith," I answered.  "Don't say that.  You are ever
+in my thoughts, even though sometimes I may be too much occupied to
+write."
+
+"Do you assert then that for the past ten days you have absolutely not
+had five minutes in which to send me news of yourself?" she cried in a
+tone of doubt.
+
+"Well, perhaps I had better admit that I've been neglectful," I said,
+altering my tactics.  "But, you see, I knew that I should come here
+to-day, so I thought to take you by surprise.  Are you pleased to see
+me?"
+
+"Pleased!" she echoed, raising her lips to mine.  "Why, of course I am!
+You seem always so far away, and I always fear--" and she paused without
+concluding her sentence.
+
+"Well, what do you fear?"
+
+"I fear that amid all that whirl of pleasure in Paris, and amid all
+those smart women you must meet daily, you will forget me."
+
+"I shall never do that," I answered reassuringly.
+
+She was silent for a moment.  Her countenance had assumed a very grave
+expression.
+
+"Ah," she said, with a slight sigh, "you do not know how I sometimes
+suffer, Gerald.  I am always fearing that some other woman may rob me of
+you."
+
+"No, no, dearest," I answered, laughing.  "Never contemplate that, for
+such a theft is not possible.  Remember that my duty in a foreign
+capital is to represent my country at the various social functions, and
+to endeavour to promote good feeling wherever I can.  A diplomatist who
+is not popular with the women never rises to the post of ambassador.  To
+be gallant is essential, however one may despise and detest the crowd of
+voluble females upon whom one must dance attendance."
+
+"I often sit here and picture you in your smart diplomatic uniform
+flirting with some pretty foreign woman in a dimly lit arbour or
+conservatory," she observed, still very grave.  "My life is so very
+quiet and uneventful in comparison with yours;" and she sighed.
+
+"The charge against me of flirtation is entirely unfounded," I declared,
+holding her hand and looking earnestly into her clear eyes, now filled
+with tears.  "It is true that sometimes, for purposes connected with our
+diplomacy, I chat merrily with some grande dame in an endeavour to pick
+up information regarding the latest change in the political wind; but
+with me the art of pleasing women is a profession, as it is with every
+man in the Diplomatic Service."
+
+"I know," she said in a strained tone.  "And in those hours of pleasure
+you forget me.  Is not that so?"
+
+"I do not forget a certain summer evening up in Scotland when we walked
+out after dinner and strolled together down by the rippling burn," I
+said in a low voice, pressing her closer to me.  "I do not forget what
+words I uttered then, nor do I forget your response--that you loved me,
+darling."
+
+"But there are others, more attractive than myself, whom you must meet
+constantly at those brilliant receptions of which I read in the
+newspapers," she cried, bursting into tears.
+
+"They are foreign women," I declared, "and I hate them all."
+
+"Ah," she cried in a tremulous voice, "if I could only believe what you
+tell me is the truth!"
+
+"It is the truth, dearest," I said, kissing her tears away.  "We are
+parted; but the quiet, even life you live here is far happier and more
+healthful than one passed in the stifling atmosphere of politics and
+perfume in which I am compelled to exist.  The ladies' newspapers tell
+you of the various entertainments in Paris, and describe the gay
+toilettes and all that kind of thing; but those journals say nothing of
+the unfortunate diplomatists who are compelled to ruin their digestions
+and wreck their constitutions by late hours in the service of their
+country."
+
+She was silent, and I felt her hand trembling in mine.  I looked upon
+her fair face, and lovingly stroked the dark tendrils of hair from her
+brow.  What she had said had aroused within me some qualms of
+conscience; but, loving her, I strove to reassure her of my perfect and
+unwavering fidelity.  Women, however, are difficult to deceive.  They
+possess a marvellous instinct where love is concerned, and are able to
+read their lover's heart at a glance.  No diplomatist, however expert in
+the art of prevarication, can ever hope to mislead a woman who is in
+love.
+
+"I often doubt, Gerald, whether you really love me as truly as you have
+declared," she said in a low tone, at last.  "Perhaps it is because you
+are absent, and I think of you so much and wonder so often what you are
+doing."
+
+"My absence is compulsory," I answered, adding earnestly: "I love you,
+Edith, however much you may doubt my protestations."
+
+"Ah!" she answered, smiling through her tears.  "If I could only believe
+that what you say is true!  But it is said that you people at the
+embassies never speak the truth."
+
+"To you, dearest, I speak the truth when I say that I love no other
+woman save yourself.  You are mine--you are all the world to me."
+
+"And yet you have neglected to write to me for ten whole days!  The man
+who really loves is not so forgetful of the object of his affections."
+She was piqued at my neglect.  Such was the simplicity, the truth, and
+the loveliness of her character that at first I had not been aware of
+its complexity, its depth, and its variety.  The intensity of passion,
+the singleness of purpose, and the sweetly confiding nature presented a
+combination which came near to defying analysis.  I now saw in her
+attitude at this moment the struggle of love against evil destinies and
+a thorny world; the pain, the anguish, the terror, the despair, and the
+pang unutterable of parted affection.  My heart went out to her.
+
+"But I thought you had forgiven," I said seriously.  "I have come myself
+to spend a few hours with you.  I have come here to repeat my love;"
+and, bending, I kissed the slim, delicate little hand I held.
+
+But she withdrew it quickly; for there was a sudden movement outside in
+the hall, and Aunt Hetty entered fussily with the news that luncheon was
+waiting, and that she had ordered an extra cover to be laid for me.
+
+The dining-room was just as antiquated as the musty drawing-room, and
+just as inartistic, save that the oak beams in the low ceiling were
+mellowed by age and the dark panelling presented a more cosy appearance
+than the awful green and red wall-paper of the state apartment.  I knew
+Miss Foskett's cuisine of old, and seated myself at table with some
+misgiving.  True to my expectation, the meal proved a terribly formal
+one, with Aunt Hetty seated at the head of the table directing Ann by
+movements of her eyebrows, talking but little except to intersperse some
+remarks sarcastic or condemnatory; while to us were served several
+extremely indigestible specimens of English culinary art.
+
+Aunt Henrietta, a strict observer of all the conventionalities, was
+never tired of referring to the exemplary youth of her day; but above
+all she had, in the course of her lonely life, developed the keenest and
+most obtrusive nose for a lie.  She was one of those who would,
+uninvited, join in a casual conversation and ask the luckless
+conversationalist to verify his statements with chapter and verse.  She
+would stop in the streets and challenge with soul-searching doubts the
+remark that it was a "Fine day."  Aristophanes invented an adjective to
+describe this ancient and modern product; it is a long word, but it
+describes her: [a Classical Greek phrase], which, being interpreted, is,
+"early-prowling-base-informing-sad-litigious-plaguey."  She was fond of
+picking one up in a quotation if one changed a mere "yet" for a "but";
+and would nag all round until she had silenced the conversation.
+Knowing her peculiarities, I hazarded but few remarks at table, and
+carefully avoided making any distinct statement, lest she should pounce
+upon it.
+
+At last, with a feeling of oppression relieved, we rose, not, however,
+before Aunt Hetty had invited me to remain the night, and I had
+accepted.  I should be compelled, I knew, to leave Charing Cross by the
+night mail on the morrow, much as I desired to remain a few days in that
+rural retreat beside the woman I loved.
+
+For an hour or so we idled together beneath the trees in the quaint old
+garden, where Edith had caused the gardener to swing the hammock I had
+sent her from Paris.  When the sun began to lose its power she put on
+her large flop hat of Leghorn straw trimmed with poppies, and we
+strolled together through the quiet village, between its rows of homely
+cottages, many of them covered with creepers and flowering plants, until
+we came to the winding Wensum river, which we followed by the footpath
+lined with poplars, past the old mill, and away into the country.
+Hand-in-hand we wandered, neither uttering a word for some little time,
+both of us too full of our own thoughts.
+
+Suddenly, in Guist Wood, where the stream with its cooling music wound
+among the polished stems of the beeches, with the sunshine glinting down
+upon them through the veil of leaves, we halted, standing ankle deep in
+soft moss and nodding wild-flowers.  Her beauty and her silence had
+struck a new, intolerable conviction of guilt into my heart.
+
+She turned her flawless face to mine as though with firm resolve, and
+then in a hoarse, strained voice told me plainly that her love for me
+was all a mistake.
+
+"A mistake that you love me, Edith!"  I repeated, holding both her hands
+tightly in mine, and looking straight into her clear, dark, fathomless
+eyes.
+
+"Yes," she insisted.  Her colour went, and her eyes fell away from mine.
+
+"Then why have you so changed?"  I asked quickly.  "I have always, since
+that evening beside the burn, regarded you as my affianced wife."
+
+She closed her lips tightly, and I saw that tears welled in her eyes.
+
+"My happy dream is over," she said bitterly, "and the awakening has
+come."
+
+"No," I cried, "you cannot say that, Edith.  You do not mean it, I'm
+sure!  Remember the early days of our love, and recollect that my
+affection for you is as strong now as then--indeed, stronger to-day than
+it has ever been."
+
+She was silent.  In that moment my new-found happiness of those days in
+Scotland all came back to me.  I remembered that summer-time of long
+lingering beneath the shadowy glades of the glen; of moonlight
+wanderings along the lanes, of love-trysts under the rising sun, by
+rose-garlanded and dew-spangled hedgerows.  Ah! many had been the vows
+we had plighted in the deep heart of Scottish hills during those golden
+summer days, and many were the lovers' kisses taken and given under the
+influences of those long balmy evenings, when merely to idle was to be
+instinct with the soul of passion and of poetry.
+
+"I remember those days," she answered.  "They were the dawning days of
+our love.  No afterglow of passion can ever give back the subtle charm
+of those sweet hours of unspoken joy.  But it is all past, Gerald, and
+there is now a breach between us."
+
+"What do you mean?"  I asked anxiously.  "I do not understand."
+
+"I have already told you," she answered in a hard voice.  "You love
+another woman more than you love me.  Ah, Gerald! you cannot know how I
+have suffered these past months, ever since the truth gradually became
+apparent.  All through these summer days I have wandered about the
+country alone, revisiting our old haunts where we had lingered and
+talked when you were here twelve months ago.  Years seem to have passed
+over my head since that day in June when you last stood here and held my
+hand in yours.  But now you have slipped slowly from me.  I have drunk
+deeply of the cup of knowledge, and life's cruellest teachings have been
+branded upon my heart."
+
+"But why?"  I cried.  "I cannot see that you have any cause whatever for
+sadness.  True, we are compelled to be apart for the present, but it
+will not be so always.  Your life is, I know, a rather monotonous one,
+but soon all will be changed--when you are my wife."
+
+"Ah," she sighed, "I shall never be that--never!"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I see--I see now," she faltered, "that I am not fitted to
+become a diplomatist's wife.  I have no tact, no smartness, no
+experience of the kind that is so absolutely necessary for the wife and
+helpmate of a man who is rising to distinction.  I should only be a
+burden.  You will find some other woman more brilliant, more chic, and
+thoroughly versed in all the ways of Society.  You must marry her;" and
+with a woman's weakness she burst into tears.
+
+"No, no!"  I cried, kissing her upon the brow and drawing her closely to
+me in an effort to comfort her.  "Who has been putting such ideas into
+your mind, darling?  Who has told you that love can be curbed, trained,
+and controlled?  Love does not stop to question right or wrong; it is
+spontaneous, irresponsible, and born of itself in one's heart.  And I
+love you," I whispered into her ear.
+
+She was silenced, as a true woman must always be by her lover's voice,
+no matter how specious may be his protestations; for there is no
+argument that can withstand the magic of the lover's touch or the light
+in the eyes of the man a woman loves, and the glamour of low, caressing
+words that steal their way to her innermost heart.
+
+"Are you sure, quite sure, that you really love me sufficiently to
+sacrifice yourself for my sake?" she faltered through her tears.
+
+"Sacrifice myself!"  I echoed.  "It is no sacrifice, darling.  We love
+each other, and in future the course of our lives must be along the same
+path, no matter what may be the obstacles."
+
+"I wish I could think so," she said; while a faint smile, sweet and
+tender as the sunshine of May, gleamed for a moment about her eyes and
+lips.
+
+The heart of a woman who loves is the most complex and subtle thing on
+earth; and often when most she protests, she most longs to be faithless
+to the spirit of her own protestation.
+
+I looked at her now fully and firmly.  There was, I think, terror in my
+eyes--the terror of losing her, which her last words had suddenly
+conjured up.
+
+"But cannot I convince you?"  I cried.  "Will you not accept what I tell
+you as the truth, darling?  Will you not believe that I love you still?"
+
+I stooped, and taking her fair face in my hands, tenderly kissed her
+brow, just as I had kissed her in the days when our love had dawned.
+
+"I have tried," she answered bitterly, "but cannot.  Alas! it is a
+woman's part to suffer;" and her breast heaved slowly and fell again.
+
+How pathetic were her great dark eyes, how attractive was the delicate
+face with its refined outline, how tenderly seductive those tremulous
+lips which no man had kissed save myself!  That she suffered an agony of
+heart because of the suspicion that I no longer loved her truly was more
+than plain.  It became her creed--the creed of the martyr and the
+enthusiast, which comes to some women by nature with the air they
+breathe, and is an accentuation of one of the finest instincts of human
+nature.
+
+"But you shall not suffer thus, my darling!"  I cried.  "You shall not,
+for I love you truly, honestly, and well.  You shall be my wife.  You
+have already promised, and you shall not draw back, for I love you--I
+love you!"
+
+CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.
+
+BY DAY AND BY NIGHT.
+
+She put up both her small white hands as though to stay the torrent of
+passionate words which I poured forth; but I grasped her wrists and held
+her to me until I had told her all the longings of my soul.
+
+What she had said had caused me a stab of unutterable pain, for my
+conscience was pricked by the knowledge that I had for a brief moment
+forsaken her in favour of Yolande.  But she could not know the real
+truth.  It was only by her woman's natural intuition that she held me in
+suspicion, believing that by my neglect to write I had proved myself
+attracted by some member of that crowd of feminine butterflies who flit
+through the embassies, showing their bright colours and dazzling
+effects.
+
+At last she lifted her face, and in a low, faltering voice said:
+
+"I do not wish that we should part, Gerald.  I have no one but you."
+
+"And God knows--God knows, darling, I have no one but you!"  I cried
+brokenly; and as I uttered these words she cast her arms about my neck,
+clinging to me, sobbing, with her face lying close against my breast.
+
+"My darling--my own darling!" was all I could murmur as I kissed away
+the tears that rained down her checks.  I could say nothing more
+definite than that.
+
+"You will not be false, will you?" she implored at last.  "You will not
+break your promise, will you?"
+
+"I will never do that, dearest," I assured her.  "I love you, upon my
+word of honour as a man.  I have loved you ever since that day when we
+first met at the house-party up in Scotland--the night of my arrival
+when you sat opposite me at dinner.  Do you remember?"
+
+"Yes," she answered, smiling, "I remember.  My love for you, Gerald, has
+never wavered for one single instant."
+
+"Then why should you be unhappy?"  I asked.
+
+"I really cannot tell," she answered.  She turned her face, and I saw
+that there was a shadow across it, as though the sunshine of her life
+had gone behind a bank of cloud.  "All I can compare this strange
+foreboding to is the shadow of an unknown danger which seems of late to
+have arisen, and to stand in a wall of impenetrable blackness between
+us."
+
+"No, no!"  I hastened to urge, "the sweet idyll of our blameless love
+must be preserved.  That fancy of yours is only a vague, unfounded one."
+
+She shook her head dubiously.
+
+"It is always with me.  During my long, solitary wanderings here I think
+of you, and then it arises to overshadow me and crush out all my
+happiness," she said in a tone of sorrow.
+
+"Your life is dismal and lonely here," I said.  "You've become nervous
+and melancholy.  Why not have a change?  Persuade your aunt to bring you
+to Paris, or, if not, to some place near, where we may meet often."
+
+"No," she replied in a harsh tone.  "My presence in Paris is not wanted.
+You are better without me.  You must leave England again to-morrow--and
+you must forget."
+
+"Forget!"  I gasped.  "Why?"
+
+"It is best to do so," she faltered with emotion.  "I am unfitted to
+become your wife."
+
+"But you shall--you must!"  I cried.  "You have already given me your
+promise.  You will not desert me now!"
+
+She made no response.  I pressed her again for an answer, but she
+maintained silence.  Her attitude was one of firm resolve, and gave me
+the distinct impression that she had gained some knowledge of the reason
+of our brief estrangement.
+
+"Tell me the reason of your sudden disbelief in my declarations," I
+urged, looking earnestly into her eyes.  "Surely I have given you no
+cause to regard our love as a mere irresponsible flirtation?"
+
+"I have no reason to disbelieve you, Gerald," she answered seriously;
+"yet I recognise the impossibility of our marriage."
+
+"Why is it impossible?  We are both controllers of our own actions.  You
+will not remain here with your aunt all your days?"
+
+"We may marry, but we should not be happy, I feel certain."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because if I were your wife I could not bear to think you were out each
+night dancing attendance upon a crowd of foreign women at the various
+functions which you are in duty bound to attend."
+
+I smiled at her argument.  Ignorant of the world and its ways, and
+knowing nothing of Society beyond that gossiping little circle of
+tea-drinkers and tennis-players which had its centre in the town of
+Fakenham, and had as leader the portly wife of the estimable incumbent,
+she saw herself neglected among the brilliant crowd in Paris as
+described by the so-called "Society" papers.
+
+I hastened to reassure her, and as we strolled on through the wood and,
+following the meandering of the river, emerged upon the broad
+grass-lands before Sennowe Hall, I used every argument of which I was
+capable in order to dispel her absurd apprehensions.  My protestations
+of love I repeated a hundred times, striving to impress upon her that I
+was actually in earnest; but she repelled me always, until of a sudden I
+halted beneath the willows, and, placing my arm around her slim waist,
+narrowly girdled by its crimson ribbon, I drew her again to me, saying:
+
+"Tell me, Edith, plainly, whether or no you love me.  These cold words
+of yours have struck me to the heart, and I feel somehow that in my
+absence you have found some other man who has your gratitude, your
+respect, and your love."
+
+She raised her hand, as though to stay the flow of my words.
+
+"No, no!"  I went on passionately.  "You must hear me, for you seem to
+be gradually slipping away from me.  You must hear me!  Cast away this
+cold sweetness that is enough to madden any man.  Give me a right to
+your love; give me a right to it!  You cannot be indifferent to such a
+love as mine unless you love someone else."
+
+"Stop!" she cried, moved by a sudden generous impulse.  "I love no one
+else but you."
+
+"And you admit that you still love me?  You will be the same to me as
+before?"  I cried eagerly.
+
+"If you will swear that there is no thought of another woman in your
+heart," she answered seriously.
+
+A pang of conscience smote me; but inwardly I reassured myself that all
+the fascination of Yolande had been dispelled and that my love was free.
+
+"I swear," I said; then slowly I bent until our lips touched.
+
+Hers met mine in a fierce, passionate caress, and by that I knew our
+compact was sealed.
+
+"I admit," she said, "that my instinct, if it were instinct, was wrong.
+You have, after all, proved yourself loyal to me."
+
+"And I shall remain so, darling," I assured her, kissing her again upon
+the brow.  "For the present you must be content to remain with your
+aunt; but nevertheless, try to persuade her to come to Paris.  Then we
+can spend many happy days together."
+
+"She hates the Continent and foreigners," answered my love with a
+brightening smile.  "I fear I can never persuade her to move from here.
+She went to Switzerland twenty years ago, and has never ceased
+condemning foreign travel."
+
+"If she will not come, then why not engage a chaperon?  You surely know
+some pleasant woman who would be pleased to have a holiday jaunt."
+
+"Well," she answered dubiously, "I'll try, but I fear Aunt Hetty will
+never hear of it."
+
+"The life in the profound stillness of that house and the rigid
+seclusion from all worldly enjoyment are producing an ill effect upon
+your health, darling," I said presently.  "You must have a change.  It
+is imperative."
+
+But she only sighed, smiled rather sadly, and answered in a low voice:
+
+"The quietness of life here is nothing to me, as long as I am confident
+that your love for me is just the same as it was when you first told me
+the secret of your heart."
+
+"It is," I assured her--"it is, darling.  I love you--and you alone."
+
+There was an instant's hesitation, and then her arms stole gently to my
+neck, and her lips were pressed to the cheek I bent to them, but only
+for a second; then my lips were upon hers, clinging to them softly,
+passionately; and in those moments of ecstasy I drew my soul's life from
+that sweet mouth.
+
+Heedless of time, we stood there in each other's embrace, repeating our
+vows of love and devotion, until the sun went down behind the low hills
+beyond Raynham, and the broad pastures were flooded by the purple glow
+of the dying day.  Happy and content in each other's affection, we were
+careless of the past, and recked not of the future.  Edith loved me, and
+I wished for naught else in all the world.
+
+Now as I sit committing this strange story of my life--this confidential
+chapter in the modern history of Europe--to paper, I recall every detail
+of those hours we spent down by the riverside, and contrast it with the
+curious events which followed--events which were so strange as to be
+inexplicable until the ghastly truth became revealed.  But I loved, and
+my affection was reciprocated.  That surely was sufficient, for I knew
+that I had gained the purest, most beautiful, and sweetest woman I had
+ever met.
+
+At last the fading sunlight impressed upon us the fact that the
+dinner-hour was approaching; and, knowing Miss Foskett's punctuality at
+meals, we were compelled to strike along the footpath over Dunham Hill,
+and take the shortest cut across the fields through the little hamlet of
+Gateley, and thence by a grass-grown by-road back to Great Ryburgh,
+where we arrived just as the gong sounded.
+
+When we re-entered the dining-room, Aunt Hetty glanced at us keenly, as
+though she wished to make some sarcastic comment upon our long absence;
+but our pleasant demeanour apparently silenced her, and she contented
+herself by taking her seat at table and inquiring of me if I had had a
+pleasant walk, and whether I found the country agreeable after the dusty
+boulevards of Paris.
+
+"Of course," I answered, "I always find England charming, and I'm very
+frequently homesick, living as I do among foreigners always.  But why
+don't you come abroad for a month or so, and bring Edith?"
+
+"Abroad!" screamed the old lady, holding up her hands.  "Never!  I went
+to Lucerne once, and found it horrible."
+
+"But that was some years ago, was it not?  If you went now, you would
+find that travelling has greatly improved, with a through sleeping-car
+from Calais to Basle; hotels excellent, and food quite as good as you
+can obtain in England.  During the past few years hotel-keepers on the
+Continent have awakened to the fact that if they wish to be prosperous
+they must cater for English visitors."
+
+"Oh, do let us go abroad, aunt!" urged Edith.  "I should so much enjoy
+it!"
+
+"Paris in summer is worse than London, I've heard, my dear," answered
+Miss Foskett, in her high-pitched tone.
+
+"But there are many pretty places within easy reach of the capital," I
+remarked.  "Edith speaks French; therefore you need have no hesitation
+on that score."
+
+"No," said the old lady decisively, "we shall not move from Ryburgh this
+summer, but perhaps next winter--"
+
+"Ah!" cried Edith joyously.  "Yes, capital!  Let us go abroad next
+winter, to the Riviera, or somewhere where it's warm.  It would be
+delightful to escape all the rain and cold, and eat one's Christmas
+dinner in the sunshine.  You know the South, Gerald?  What place do you
+recommend?"
+
+"Well," I said, "any place along the Riviera except, perhaps, Monte
+Carlo."
+
+"Monte Carlo!" echoed Aunt Hetty.  "That wicked place!  I hope I shall
+never see it.  Mr. Harbur told us in his sermon the other Sunday about
+the frightful gambling there, and how people hanged themselves on the
+trees in the garden.  Please don't talk of such places, Edith."
+
+"But, aunt, there are many beautiful resorts in the neighbourhood," her
+niece protested.  "All along the coast there are towns where the English
+go to avoid the winter, such as Cannes, Nice, Mentone, and San Remo."
+
+"Well," responded Miss Foskett with some asperity, "we need not discuss
+in August what we shall do in December.  Ryburgh is quite pleasant
+enough for me.  When I was your age I employed my time with embroidery
+and wool-work, and never troubled my head about foreign travel.  But
+nowadays," she added with a sigh, "I really don't know what young people
+are coming to."
+
+"We've advanced with the times, and they've emancipated women in
+England," responded Edith mischievously, glancing merrily across at me.
+
+Miss Foskett drew herself up primly, and declared that she hoped her
+niece would never become one of "those dreadful creatures who ape the
+manners of men;" to which my love replied that liberty of action was the
+source of all happiness.
+
+Fearing that this beginning might end in a heated argument, I managed to
+turn the conversation into a different channel.
+
+"If all we read in the newspapers is true, it would seem," observed Aunt
+Hetty presently, "that you diplomatists have a most difficult task in
+Paris."
+
+"All is not true," I laughed.  "Much of what you read exists only in the
+minds of those imaginative gentlemen called Paris correspondents."
+
+"I suppose," remarked Edith, smiling, "that it is impossible for either
+a diplomatist or a journalist to tell the truth always."
+
+"Truth, no doubt, is all very well in its place, and now and then in
+diplomacy, but only a sparing use should be made of it as a rule," I
+answered.  "But there should be no waste.  Only those should be allowed
+to handle it who can use it with discretion, and who will ladle it out
+with caution."
+
+"Mr. Ingram, I am surprised!" interrupted Miss Foskett, scandalised.
+
+"It is our creed," I went on, "that truth should be always spoken in a
+dead or foreign language, no home-truths being for a moment tolerated.
+Now think what a happy land this England of ours would be if only we
+were not so wedded to the bare, cold truth!  Suppose for its own good
+purposes our Government has thought right to make a hasty dash for the
+back seats in the international scrimmage, and to adhere to them with
+all the tenacity of a limpet, why, for all that, should the Opposition
+journals blurt out the fact for our humiliation, when by a few deft
+scratches of the pen the leader-writer might easily make us believe that
+no back seat had ever in any circumstances been occupied by Britain, and
+that the nose of the lion had never been pulled out of any hole into
+which it had once been inserted?  The itch for truth is, judged from a
+diplomatists point of view, responsible for the ruin of our policy
+towards our enemies."
+
+"Shocking, Mr. Ingram!  I'm surprised to find that you hold such views,"
+said Miss Foskett in a soured tone; while Edith laughed merrily,
+declaring that she fully agreed with my argument, much to her aunt's
+discomfiture.
+
+The old lady loved the harsh truth as propounded by the precisionist.
+
+And so the dinner proceeded, each of us vying with the other to dispel
+Aunt Hetty's deep-seated prejudices and narrow-minded views of the world
+and its ways.
+
+Coffee was served in the drawing-room, where Edith went to the piano and
+sang in her sweet contralto several of my favourite songs, after which,
+at an early hour, as was usual with the household at Ryburgh, we all
+retired.
+
+To sleep so quickly after dinner was to me impossible; therefore, on
+gaining my room, I lit a cigar, and, taking a novel from my bag, sat
+reading.  The book proved interesting; and time had passed unnoticed,
+until of a sudden my attention was attracted by the sound of low voices.
+I listened, glancing at the clock, and noticed that it was nearly two
+in the morning.
+
+A suspicion of burglars at once flashed across my mind.  I blew out my
+candles, so as not to attract attention, noiselessly opened the wooden
+shutters before my window, and cautiously gazed out.  The lawn, garden,
+and wide sweep of country beyond lay bathed in the bright moonlight, and
+at first I distinguished no one.  Peering down, however, until I could
+see the path running in the shadow just below my window, I distinguished
+two figures with hands clasped, as though in parting.  I looked again,
+scarce believing my own eyes.  But I was not mistaken.  One figure was
+that of a woman, her dark cloak open at the throat, revealing her white
+dress beneath; while the other was the tall dark figure of a man in a
+long black overcoat, the collar of which was turned up as though to
+conceal his features.  Even though they stood together in the dark
+shadow, the astounding truth was plain to me.  The woman who had kept
+that midnight assignation was Edith Austin, my well-beloved.
+
+My heart stood still.
+
+CHAPTER NINETEEN.
+
+WHISPERED WORDS.
+
+The revelation held me rigid.  I stood there, peering down, watching
+their movements, and straining my ears to catch the whispered words.  As
+I feared to open the window lest the noise should attract them, I could
+do no more than remain a spectator of Edith's perfidy.  To me it seemed
+as though she had been walking with him, and he had accompanied her back
+to the house.  As he held her hand, he was bending, whispering some
+earnest words into her ear.  She did not attempt to withdraw; indeed, it
+was apparent that she was not unwilling.  The conclusion to be made was
+that they were lovers.
+
+Reader, can you imagine my feelings at this astounding discovery?  Only
+six hours before we had stood beside the river, and she had vowed that
+for no man save myself had she any place in her heart; yet with my own
+eyes I was watching her while she believed me sleeping in calm ignorance
+of her movements.  That she had been walking with him was apparent,
+because of the shawl she wore wrapped about her head; while the fact
+that the stranger carried a stout stick showed that he had walked, or
+was about to walk, a considerable distance.  Because his hat was drawn
+over his brow and his coat collar turned up, I could not see his
+features.  To me, as he stood there, he appeared to be slightly
+round-shouldered, but, nevertheless, a strongly built fellow, seemingly
+rather above the average height.
+
+How long she had been absent from the house I could not tell.  Her light
+step across the lawn had not attracted my attention.  Only his low,
+gruff voice on their return had caused me to listen.  There was a French
+window near where they were standing, and it was evident that by means
+of this she had secretly left the house.
+
+Across the moon there drifted a strip of fleecy cloud, hiding the lawn
+and garden for a few moments; then suddenly all became brilliant again,
+and, looking down, I saw that she had moved, and was unconsciously in
+the full white light.  I caught sight of her countenance, so that her
+identity became undeniable.  He was urging her to speak, but she
+remained silent.  Again and again he whispered into her ear, but she
+shook her head.  At last she spoke.  I heard what she said, for I had
+contrived to raise the sash an inch or two.
+
+"Very well, I promise," she said.  "He leaves to-morrow."
+
+"And you will not fail?" asked the gruff voice of her clandestine
+companion.
+
+"No.  Adieu!"
+
+And as I watched I saw his dark figure striding away in the full
+moonlight across the lawn.  He did not glance back, but went straight
+over to the belt of elms on the left, and a few minutes later was lost
+to view, while the woman I loved had apparently re-entered the house by
+the dining-room window, and was creeping silently to her room.
+
+The one thought that gripped my heart and froze my senses was that Edith
+was false to me.  She had a lover whom she met at dead of night and with
+whom she had a perfect understanding.  She had made him a promise, the
+fulfilment of which was to take place when I had left.  Had such things
+been told to me I would not have believed them, but I had seen with my
+own eyes and heard with my own ears.  The truth was too terribly plain.
+Edith, the one woman in the world whom I had believed to be pure,
+honest, and upright, was false to me.  I saw it all as I reclosed the
+shutters, relit the candles in their old silver sconces, and paced that
+ancient bed-chamber.  The reason of her attempt to evade me and to
+withdraw her promise of marriage was only too apparent.  She, the woman
+whom I loved and in whom I had put all my faith, had a lover.
+
+As I reflected upon our conversation of that afternoon I saw in her
+uneasiness and her responses a self-condemnation.  She dreaded lest I
+should discover the secret within her breast--the secret that, after
+all, she did not love me.  The dark silhouette of that man standing
+forth in the brilliant light of the moon was photographed indelibly upon
+my memory.  His outline struck me as that of a man of shabby attire, and
+I felt certain the hat drawn down upon his face was battered and worn.
+Indeed, I had a distinct conviction that he was some low-born lout from
+the neighbourhood--a conviction aroused, I think, by her announcement
+that I was to leave on the morrow.  She would have freedom of action
+then, I reflected bitterly.  And her promise?  What, I wondered, had she
+promised?  The fellow had evidently been persuading her until she had at
+last given him her pledge.  His gait was that of a man who knew the
+place well, the swinging step of one used to walking easily in rough
+places.  His stick, too, was a rough ash, such as a town-bred lover
+would never carry, while his voice had, I felt certain, just a tinge of
+the Norfolk accent in it.  That they should meet at dead of night in
+that clandestine manner was surely sufficiently suspicious, but those
+words I had overheard sounded ever in my ears as I paced from end to end
+of that old room with its sombre, almost funereal, hangings.
+
+A great bitterness fell upon my heart.  The woman whom I really loved
+had played me false; and yet, when I reflected, I could not help
+admitting that perhaps, after all, I deserved this punishment.  I had
+wavered from her and gone back to my old love, it was true.  But I loved
+Edith well and truly, whatever might have been the fascination of the
+smart, gesticulating, foreign beauty.  She was mine in heart and mine
+alone.
+
+All my belief in woman's affection or devotion had, in that instant,
+been dispelled.  The truth had fallen upon me as a crushing blow, which
+staggered me, wrecking all my hopes and plans for the future.
+
+I tossed my things heedlessly into my bag, in readiness for early
+departure in the morning.  I had been a fool, I knew.  I was ever a fool
+where women were concerned.  In the old days in Brussels my affection
+for Yolande had been strong and impetuous, burning with all the ardour
+of a first love; yet the awakening had come, and I had tardily
+discovered that she had played me false.  And in Edith's case, although
+I entertained towards her such a real and deep affection as a man only
+extends to a woman once in his lifetime, unfaithfulness had once again
+been my reward.
+
+I flung away my cigar.  My agony of heart was too acute to be accurately
+described in words.  You, my reader, who may have experienced the sudden
+breaking of your most cherished idol, can only rightly understand the
+chagrin, the intense bitterness, the spiritual desolation of that night
+watch.
+
+My candles were as nearly as possible burnt out.  At length I took my
+hat, and, creeping noiselessly downstairs, passed through the
+dining-room, and let myself out by the window which Edith had entered.
+The first grey of dawn was spreading, and a sudden desire for fresh air
+had seized me.  I felt stifled in that old room with its gloomy
+furniture and hangings.  With the cool wind of early morning fanning my
+heated temples, I struck straight across the lawn in the direction taken
+by the mysterious lover.  For some distance I traversed the boundary of
+the grounds, until I discovered a break in the oak fence, and, passing
+through it, found myself out upon the broad, undulating meadows which
+stretched away to the Beacon Hill and the tiny hamlet of Toftrees, noted
+for its ancient hall and quaint church steeple.  Heedless of where my
+footsteps led me, I went straight on, my mind full of the discovery I
+had made, my heart overflowing.  Away to my left, from behind the low
+dark hills, the sky became flushed with the crimson light of dawn; but
+all was still save the distant crowing of a cock and the howl of a dog
+in the far distance.  Behind me the bell of Ryburgh church solemnly
+chimed the hour, followed by other bells at greater distances.  Then all
+was quiet again save for the soft rustling of the trees.  The morning
+air was delicious, with a sweet fragrance everywhere.
+
+Suddenly, leaping a fence, I found myself upon the old coach-road that
+ran over the hills to Lynn, and continued along it without thought of
+distance or destination.  I passed a carter with his team, and he wished
+me good-morning.  His words aroused me, and I saw that I was nearing an
+unfamiliar village.
+
+"What place is this?"  I inquired.
+
+"It's Harpley, sir."
+
+I thanked him and went my way.  I had never heard of the place before;
+but as I entered it the first rays of sunlight shot across the hills,
+and it certainly looked picturesque and typically English in the light
+of the dawn.  I must have walked fully eight miles, and, being tired and
+thirsty, I noticed at the entrance of the village a small inn, upon
+which was the sign The Houghton Arms.  The door stood open, and a burly
+man, evidently the landlord, was busy chopping wood in an outhouse at
+the side.
+
+"Nice mornin', sir," he observed, looking up at me, probably astonished
+to see anyone who was not a labourer astir at such an early hour.
+
+I returned his greeting, and inquired whether it was too early for a cup
+of tea and a rest.
+
+"Not at all, sir," he answered, laying down his axe and conducting me
+within.
+
+The place, in common with all village hostelries, smelt strongly of the
+combined fumes of shag and stale beer.  Village innkeepers have a habit
+of polishing their well-seasoned furniture with sour beer; hence the
+odour, which, to the patrons of such places, seems appetising.  The
+perfume is to them as the hors d'oeuvre.
+
+The man, having shown me into a little parlour behind the tap-room,
+called loudly to "Jenny," who turned out to be his wife.  After this I
+had not long to wait before a pot of tea and a couple of poached eggs
+were at my disposal.
+
+They were a homely pair, these two, full of local chatter.  Harpley, the
+man informed me, was nine and a half miles from Great Ryburgh, and I saw
+by his manner that he was much exercised in his mind to know whence I
+had come and the reason for my being about at such an hour.  The rural
+busybody was extremely inquisitive, but I did not permit his bucolic
+diplomacy to triumph.  While I drank the tea and ate the eggs the
+landlord stood leaning against the door-lintel with his arms folded,
+garrulously displaying his Norfolk brogue.  He evidently regarded me as
+one of those summer visitors from London who stay at the farmhouses,
+where hypocrisy terms them "paying guests," and I allowed him to adhere
+to his opinion.  I learned from him that at six o'clock there was a
+train from Massingham station, half a mile away, which would convey me
+direct to Fakenham.  This I resolved to take, for I could then return to
+Miss Foskett's by a quarter to seven.  A map of the county was hanging
+on the wall, and I had risen to look at the spot to which the landlord
+was pointing, when a footstep sounded in the narrow passage, and,
+turning, I caught sight of the dark figure of a man making his way out.
+The hat, the black overcoat, the figure, all were familiar.  His head
+was turned away from me, so that I could not see his features, but in an
+instant I recognised him.
+
+He was Edith's mysterious lover!
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY.
+
+FROM DOWNING STREET TO PARIS.
+
+I sprang quickly to the door, and looked down the passage out into the
+village street; but he had already made his exit.  By the time I had
+reached the porch of the inn he was already striding quickly along the
+dusty highway.  He turned to glance back, and I perceived that he was
+thin-faced, with high cheekbones and a small black beard.  He was
+carrying his thick stick jauntily, and walking smartly, with an easy
+gait which at that moment struck me as being distinctly military.
+
+"Who is that man?"  I inquired eagerly of the landlord, who stood beside
+me, evidently surprised at my sudden rush towards the door.
+
+"A stranger, sir.  I don't know who he is."
+
+"When did he arrive?"
+
+"He came by the last train to Massingham last night, sir, and had a bed
+here.  My missis, however, didn't like the looks of 'im."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Well, I don't exactly know.  There was something about him a bit
+peculiar.  Besides, he went out before one o'clock, and didn't return
+till an hour ago.  Then he went up, washed, had a cup o' tea in his
+room, paid, and now he's gone."
+
+"Rather peculiar behaviour, isn't it?"  I suggested, hoping to find some
+clue to his identity from what this man might tell me.  "Did he have no
+luggage?"
+
+"None.  He seemed a bit down on his luck.  His clothes were very shabby,
+and he evidently hadn't had a clean collar for a week."
+
+Then the opinion I had formed of him--namely, that he was shabby
+genteel--was correct.
+
+"You're certain you've never seen him before?"
+
+"Quite certain," he replied.
+
+At that moment his wife entered, and, addressing her, he said:
+
+"We're talking of that stranger who's just gone, missus.  His movements
+were a bit suspicious, weren't they?"
+
+"Yes.  Why he should want to go out half the night wandering about the
+neighbourhood I can't make out, unless he were a burglar or something o'
+that sort," the woman answered, adding: "I shouldn't be at all surprised
+to hear that one of the houses about here has been broken into.  Anyhow,
+we'd know him again among a thousand."
+
+"What kind of man was he?"
+
+"Tall and dark, with a beard, and a pair of eyes that seemed to look you
+through.  He spoke all right, but I've my doubts as to whether he wasn't
+a foreigner."
+
+"A foreigner!"  I echoed quickly, interested.  "What made you suspect
+that?"
+
+"I really can't tell.  I had a suspicion of it the first moment I saw
+him.  He pronounced his `r's' rather curiously.  His clothes seemed to
+be of foreign cut, and his boots, although worn out, were unusually long
+and narrow.  I brushed 'em this morning, and saw on the tabs a foreign
+name.  I think it was `Firenze,' or something like that."
+
+I reflected for an instant.  The word "Firenze" was Italian for
+Florence, the town where the boots had evidently been made.  Therefore
+the mysterious stranger might be Italian.
+
+"You didn't actually detect anything foreign in his style of speaking?"
+
+"He didn't speak much.  He seemed very glum and thoughtful.  I sent him
+up some toast with his tea, but he hasn't touched it."
+
+"He didn't say where he was going?"
+
+"Not a word.  When he arrived he only explained that he had come by the
+last train from Lynn, and that he wanted a bed--that's all.  I should
+think by the look of him that he's gone on tramp."
+
+My first impulse was to follow him; but on reflection I saw that by
+doing so I should in all probability lose my train, and to dog the
+fellow's footsteps would, after all, be of no benefit now that I knew
+the truth of Edith's perfidy.  So I stood there chatting, discussing the
+stranger, and wondering who he could be.
+
+"He's up to no good, that I feel certain," declared the landlord's wife.
+"There's something about him that aroused my suspicion at once last
+night.  I can't, however, explain what it was.  But a man don't prowl
+about all night to admire the moon."
+
+And thus I waited until it was time to catch the train; then, wishing
+the innkeeper and his wife good-morning, left them and strolled in the
+morning sunlight to the station, arriving at Fakenham shortly before
+seven.  I took the short cut through Starmoor Wood to Ryburgh, and,
+finding Miss Foskett's maid polishing the door-handle, entered and went
+upstairs.
+
+Upon the toilet-table was a telegram, which the maid said had just
+arrived, and on opening it I found a message from the Foreign Office,
+which had been forwarded from the Club, asking me to call at the
+earliest possible moment, and to be prepared to return to my post by the
+afternoon service from Charing Cross.  I knew what that implied.  The
+Marquess desired me to bear a secret despatch to my Chief.
+
+I washed, tidied myself after my dusty walk, strapped my bag, and with a
+feeling of regret that I was compelled to meet my false love again face
+to face before departure, I descended the stairs.
+
+She was awaiting me, looking cool and fresh in her white gown, with a
+bunch of fresh roses she had plucked from the garden in her breast.  She
+smiled gladly, and stretched forth her hand as though I were all the
+world to her.  What admirable actresses some women are!  Her affected
+sweetness that yesterday had so charmed me now sickened me.  The scales
+had fallen from my eyes, and I was angry with myself that I had ever
+allowed myself to lose control of my feelings and love her.  She was
+false--false!  That one thought alone ran in my mind as she laughed
+merrily.
+
+"Why, Gerald, wherever have you been?  A telegram came for you by
+special messenger from Fakenham at half-past six, and when Ann knocked
+at your door she found you were out.  And you went out by the
+dining-room window, too."
+
+"Yes," I said, not without a touch of sarcasm, "I felt that I wanted
+fresh air, so I went for a stroll."
+
+"You are an early bird," she answered.  "Did you go far?"
+
+"No, not very far.  Only down the Lynn road a little way."
+
+"I always thought that you people in Paris never got up till your
+dejeuner at eleven?"
+
+"I'm an exception," I said shortly.  "I prefer the morning air in the
+country to lying in bed."
+
+"And the telegram?  Is it anything particular?"
+
+"Yes," I answered.  "I must leave at once.  I am summoned to Downing
+Street, and must leave London this afternoon."
+
+"What! return to Paris at once?"
+
+"Yes," I replied.  "It is an order from the Chief.  There's a train to
+London at 9:50, I think.  I must not fail to catch that."
+
+I had not kissed her, and I saw that she was somewhat puzzled by my
+coolness.  Did the fact that I had let myself out by the dining-room
+window give her any clue to the reason why I had chosen that mode of
+egress?
+
+"I thought you would remain here with us at least to-day," she pouted.
+"That's the worst of diplomacy.  You never seem to know what you may do
+next."
+
+We were standing alone in the dining-room, where breakfast was already
+laid and the copper kettle was hissing above the spirit-lamp.  As Aunt
+Hetty had not entered, it was upon the tip of my tongue to charge Edith
+with that clandestine meeting; yet if I did so, I reflected, a scene
+would certainly be created.  Aunt Hetty would first be scandalised and
+afterwards wax indignant, while my departure would doubtless be fraught
+with considerable unpleasantness.  Therefore I resolved to keep my anger
+within my heart, and on my return to Paris to write a letter of
+explanation to this smiling, bright-faced woman who had thus played me
+false.
+
+"You cannot tell how wretched I am at the thought of your departure,
+Gerald," she said, her dark eyes suddenly grave and serious.  "Each time
+we part I always fear that we shall not meet again."
+
+I smiled, rather bitterly, I think, and uttered some weak platitude
+without appearing to be much interested.  Then with a quick movement she
+took my hand, but next instant was compelled to drop it, for Miss
+Foskett entered suddenly, and, after an explanation of my unexpected
+call by telegram, we seated ourselves and breakfasted.
+
+As the woman I had so dearly loved sat opposite me I saw that she was
+strangely nervous and agitated, and that she was eager to question me;
+but with feigned indifference I chatted and laughed with the punctilious
+old spinster until the boy brought round the pony-trap and it was time
+for me to depart for Fakenham, where I could join the express for
+London.
+
+Edith drove me to the station, but, the boy being with us, she could say
+nothing confidential until we were walking together upon the platform.
+Then, looking at me in strange eagerness, she suddenly asked:
+
+"Gerald, tell me why you are so cold towards me this morning?  You were
+so different yesterday.  Have I displeased you?"
+
+"Yes," I said in a hard voice, "you have."
+
+"How?" she gasped, laying her gloved hand upon my arm and stopping
+short.
+
+I was silent.  Should I tell her, or should I say nothing about my
+knowledge of her perfidy?
+
+"Why do you not speak?" she urged.  "Surely if I have caused you pain I
+ought to know the reason!"
+
+"You know the reason," I answered in a mechanical voice, regarding her
+coldly.
+
+"No, I do not."
+
+"In this matter it is entirely unnecessary to lie to me, Edith," I said;
+"I am aware of the truth."
+
+"The truth?  What truth?"
+
+"That you do not love me," I said hoarsely.
+
+At that instant the train rushed into the station, and my voice was
+almost drowned by the noise of the escaping steam.  As I thought she
+deserved to suffer, I was not sorry for the interruption.
+
+"Gerald!" she cried, gripping me by the hand, "what are you saying?
+What have I done?"
+
+"It is enough," I answered, my voice broken by emotion, which I could no
+longer suppress, for my heart was at that moment bursting with grief.
+"Good-bye;" and turning, I raised my hat and stepped into the empty
+compartment, in which a porter had placed my bag.
+
+In an instant she was leaning in at the doorway, imploring me to tell
+her the truth.  But I evaded her questions.
+
+The guard came and closed the door.
+
+"Gerald!" she cried, bursting into tears, "tell me why you treat me thus
+when I love you so dearly!  It is cruel!  You cannot guess how deeply I
+have suffered these two hours!  Will you not kiss me once before you
+go?" and she raised her white face to the window with an imploring
+expression.
+
+"No," I said, "I cannot, Edith."
+
+"You refuse to kiss me this once--for the last time?" she wailed.
+
+"Yes," I answered in a strained voice.  "If you desire to know the
+reason of this refusal you will discover it when you reflect upon your
+actions of last night."
+
+"What!" she gasped, pale to the lips.  "_You saw him_!"
+
+"Yes," I answered gravely, "I saw him."
+
+Then the train moved off, leaving her standing there pale and rigid; and
+without further glance at the blanched but beautiful face which only
+twelve hours ago I had believed to be the open countenance of the purest
+and sweetest woman on earth, I flung myself back into the corner,
+plunged in my own bitter reflections.  I had told her the ghastly truth,
+and we had parted.  Edith Austin, whom I had hoped to make my wife, was
+lost to me for ever.
+
+At midday I wearily ascended the great marble staircase at the Foreign
+Office, those stairs which every diplomatist in London climbs, and in
+the corridor met Boyd, one of the Marquess's private secretaries, who
+informed me that a meeting of the Cabinet was being held, and that his
+lordship had left instructions that I was to wait until he returned,
+when he would give me a despatch to carry at once to Paris.
+
+So, accompanied by Boyd and my friend Thorne, of the Treaty Department,
+I strolled along Parliament Street and lunched at the Ship, that old
+coffee-house frequented by Foreign Office and other officials.  In the
+days before I received my appointment abroad I used to lunch there
+regularly, and as I entered I found many of my old colleagues at the
+tables.
+
+After an hour I returned to Downing Street, and went up to the Foreign
+Secretary's private room.  He was seated at his great table at the
+farther end of the sombre, green-painted apartment, the windows of which
+looked down upon the silent courtyard, where the cooing pigeons strut
+undisturbed.  Upon his grey, refined face was an intensely anxious look,
+and by the nervous manner in which he toyed with his quill as he
+acknowledged my salutation I knew that the subject discussed by the
+Cabinet had been a momentous one.  The meeting had been specially and
+unexpectedly convened, and I had heard below that during its sitting
+several despatches had been exchanged over the private wire to Windsor,
+facts which in themselves were sufficient to show that some complication
+had arisen, and that the lines of British policy had been discussed and
+submitted to the Sovereign for approbation.
+
+"You are returning to Paris this afternoon, Mr. Ingram?" said the
+Marquess.  "I am just writing a private despatch to Lord Barmouth, which
+must be placed in his hands at the earliest possible moment.  The
+instructions contained in it are secret--you understand?"
+
+"I shall deliver it, I hope, before eleven o'clock this evening," I
+said.
+
+"Good," he answered approvingly; and while I walked to the window and
+looked out upon the courtyard, the great statesman continued tracing the
+cipher upon the large sheet of blue despatch-paper with his creaking
+quill.  I glanced at a newspaper to while away the time, until presently
+one of the secretaries entered, prepared the taper and wax, and I
+watched the Marquess affix the five seals upon the envelope, impressing
+his own arms with the large old fob seal which he wore upon his
+watch-guard.  He affixed the last seal, held the envelope for a few
+moments in order that the wax should set, then handed it to me, saying:
+
+"Remember, Ingram, none of our friends across the Channel must be
+allowed to get sight of this.  It is entirely confidential.  Please ask
+Lord Barmouth to telephone me to-night an acknowledgment of its safe
+receipt."
+
+"Certainly," I answered, placing it in my pocket.  I then bowed, and
+wished the Minister good-day.
+
+"Good-day," he said, smiling pleasantly, "and a pleasant journey to you,
+Ingram."
+
+Then I withdrew, and drove in a cab to the club.  Arrived there, I
+placed the despatch in my belt next my skin, and, taking my bag, went
+down to Charing Cross and caught the tidal train.
+
+The journey was uneventful, the passage smooth, and about eleven o'clock
+that night I mounted the stairs of the Embassy in Paris, and went to his
+lordship's private room.  He was alone, enjoying a final cigar before
+turning in, and was surprised at my sudden return.  I quickly explained
+the reason, and taking off my belt in his presence handed him the
+despatch.
+
+Having assured himself that the seals were all intact, he broke them,
+and, taking it at once to the bureau, I got for him the key of the
+private cipher used only for the confidential despatches, written by the
+hand of the Prime Minister to the representatives abroad.  Then,
+standing underneath the tall lamp, the Ambassador slowly deciphered it.
+
+What he read caused him serious reflection, judging from the manner in
+which his countenance changed.  Then, taking a match from his pocket, he
+crossed to the grate, lit the paper at the corner, and held it until it
+was all consumed.
+
+The nature of that confidential communication none knew save the Cabinet
+in London and the Ambassador himself.  That it was extremely important
+was certain, and I felt confident that some decision had been arrived at
+which would materially affect the European situation.
+
+After telephoning an acknowledgment of the despatch to Downing Street,
+we returned together to the smoke-room, where I drank a whisky and soda,
+and then, lighting a cigar, left the Embassy and drove to my own rooms,
+wearied out after the journey.
+
+At noon next day, when I went round to the Rue du Faubourg St. Honore,
+Harding, the footman, met me in the hall, saying:
+
+"His Excellency has just telephoned to you.  He wishes to see you
+immediately."
+
+I went straight to his private room, and found him seated with Kaye, the
+lynx-eyed chief of the secret service.
+
+The Ambassador's face was pale as death, and his voice trembled as he
+hoarsely acknowledged my salutation.
+
+"Ingram," he said in a low tone, motioning me to close the door, "we
+have been betrayed!"
+
+"Betrayed?  How?"  I gasped.
+
+"A copy of the despatch you brought me last night reached the Quai
+d'Orsay at two o'clock this morning.  Our secret agent there has handed
+a copy of it to Mr. Kaye.  The wording of the instructions, as sent to
+me by the Marquess, is exact.  Here it is;" and he held towards me a
+sheet of that pale yellow paper used in the French Foreign Office, upon
+which a transcription of the despatch had been hurriedly traced in
+pencil.
+
+I glanced at it, then stood speechless.  The secret despatch had never
+left my possession.  The theft was utterly incredible.
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
+
+THE SISTER ARTS.
+
+"But it is absolutely impossible that the despatch has been copied!"  I
+cried, addressing His Excellency, when at last I found tongue.  "I saw
+it written myself, and it never left my belt until I took it out here in
+your presence!"
+
+"Well," interposed Kaye grimly, turning to Lord Barmouth, "that it has
+really been copied is quite plain, for you have the copy in your hand.
+It was telegraphed to the Quai d'Orsay from Calais at half-past one
+o'clock this morning, and that copy reached my hands at four, half an
+hour after I had returned from Berlin.  Our secret agent in the French
+Foreign Office happily lost no time in making us acquainted with our
+loss."
+
+"Fortunately for us," remarked the Ambassador, pacing the floor from end
+to end.  "Had we remained in ignorance that the secret of our policy was
+out, we might have found ourselves in a very awkward predicament.  But
+how could the despatch possibly have been copied, when no other eyes
+have seen it except those of the Marquess and myself?  The thing is
+incredible!"
+
+"Ah! that's the question," observed Kaye.  "The French system of
+espionage has very nearly approached perfection.  Even though it be
+against our grain, as Englishmen, to employ spies ourselves, yet it is
+daily becoming more necessary.  Every nation in the world has its
+elaborate secret service; therefore, England must not sleep and allow
+other nations to undermine her prestige."
+
+"I cannot imagine how it is possible that our enemies could have
+obtained sight of the despatch, even for an instant," I said.  "The only
+other person in the Chief's room at Downing Street while he was writing
+was Boyd, who helped him seal it.  I then took it, drove in a cab to the
+club, and there placed it in my belt beneath my clothes.  It never left
+my person until, in the smoking-room here, I took it out and handed it
+to His Excellency."
+
+"The telegram was despatched from the maritime station at Calais by some
+person who signed his name as `Gaston.'  He is evidently known to our
+friends at the Quai d'Orsay."
+
+There was a brief and painful pause.  Such a catastrophe staggered
+belief.  Surely the spies of France did not use the Roentgen rays in
+order to read the letters carried on one's person!  It would almost
+appear as though they did.
+
+"Fate seems entirely against us, Ingram," observed Lord Barmouth,
+breaking the silence at last.  "In every effort we are thwarted by these
+scoundrelly spies.  Our most secret instructions leak out in a way that
+is absolutely unaccountable.  Indeed, the position has now become so
+critical that I dread to contemplate the result.  In the matter of Ceuta
+we had an illustration of the marvellous astuteness of our enemies,
+while to-day here is an example much more alarming.  And further, we
+must send home a despatch acknowledging ourselves checkmated.  Our
+position is an ignominious one--most ignominious," he added vehemently.
+
+"If I were at fault I would willingly bear any blame attaching to my
+actions," I said in a tone of protest; "but as far as I am aware I am
+utterly blameless in this matter."
+
+"I do not seek to fix any culpability upon you, Ingram," His Lordship
+hastened to assure me.  "While serving under me you have always done
+your duty with a thoroughness and tact worthy of the British
+diplomatist.  All I can say is that it is excessively unfortunate for us
+all, and for the nation at large.  Those instructions there, as you will
+see, are of the highest importance at this juncture; but we are now
+quite unable to act because our secret intentions have become common
+property.  They will probably be in the _Figaro_ to-morrow."
+
+"The whole affair is at present a complete enigma," observed Kaye, who,
+turning to me, added: "If you cannot give us any clue whatever, I can't
+see what can be done."
+
+"I can give you absolutely no clue," I answered, utterly bewildered by
+this amazing turn of events.  "All I know is what I have just related."
+
+The chief of the secret service turned his eyes full upon me, and asked
+slowly:
+
+"You have, for instance, held no further communication with Mademoiselle
+de Foville?"  Mention of that name caused me to start.  All came back to
+me--how that the Ambassador had suspected her, and Kaye himself had
+declared that she was a spy.
+
+"She left Paris before I went to London.  I have no idea of her
+whereabouts."
+
+"You do not suspect that she was in London at the same time as
+yourself?" he asked.  "I mean, you saw nothing of her?"
+
+"Absolutely nothing."
+
+"And on the several occasions when you called upon her in the Rue de
+Courcelles you gave her no idea of the policy which His Excellency was
+pursuing?  I know you visited her several times, for, suspecting her, I
+had placed a watch upon her movements."
+
+"I told her absolutely nothing," I answered, annoyed that this man
+should think fit to spy upon me.
+
+"Strange," he said thoughtfully.  "Now that is really very strange,
+because her subsequent actions would appear to give colour to the theory
+that she learnt from you some secret which she was strenuously
+endeavouring to obtain."
+
+"I don't quite follow you."
+
+"Well, I have ascertained that the French Ambassador in Berlin has been
+receiving full reports of the progress of our actions regarding Ceuta."
+
+"From her?"  I asked quickly.
+
+"Not exactly from her, but through her."
+
+"Then that woman is actually a spy!" cried His Excellency.
+
+"Without the slightest doubt," responded Kaye.  "My inquiries in Berlin
+and Brussels have substantiated our suspicions.  She is one of the
+smartest secret agents in Europe."
+
+"I know that she is a friend of Wolf's, but what proof have you that she
+has any connection with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?"
+
+"I have obtained proof--absolute proof," he answered.
+
+"In what manner?"
+
+"By inquiries I made in Berlin.  She is well known in the
+Wilhelmstrasse.  She was compelled to fly from Germany because it leaked
+out that she was a French spy."
+
+"Cannot you give me any further explanation?"  I urged.  "I am much
+interested, as she was once my intimate friend."
+
+"Yes," interposed the Ambassador, "unfortunately so.  It was once
+rumoured, Ingram, that you actually intended to marry her."
+
+"Or rather," observed Kaye, "she intended, for her own purposes, to
+marry Mr. Ingram, I think."
+
+I pursed my lips, but made no response.  My reflections at that moment
+were bitter enough without these observations from my friends.
+
+"But do you suspect that she has had a hand in our latest betrayal?"  I
+inquired a few minutes later.  "You have just alleged that she is in the
+French service.  If so, it hardly seems credible that she would give her
+information to the French Ambassador in Berlin."
+
+"On that point I am not yet absolutely certain," Kaye responded.  "I am,
+however, quite convinced that the exposure of our plans regarding Ceuta
+filtered to the French through their Embassy in Berlin."
+
+"Then, contrary to supposition, de Hindenburg, the German Ambassador
+here, may be assisting France against us?"  I said in surprise.
+
+"It seems much like it.  Our inquiries all tend towards that theory.
+The German Ambassador has of late had almost daily interviews with the
+Minister of Foreign Affairs.  These are generally believed to be in
+connection with the Samoan difficulty or the Transvaal; but without
+doubt the chief subject of discussion has been the formation of a plan
+whereby to checkmate our policy towards Spain in the matter of Ceuta."
+
+"Well, up to the present they have done so," the Ambassador admitted,
+turning sharply upon his heel from the window, out of which he had been
+gazing moodily.  "We appear to be arriving at a most critical stage, for
+what with the constant Anglophobe feeling here, the vile attacks of the
+Paris Press, the disgusting caricatures of Her Majesty and her subjects,
+and the army of spies surrounding us on every side, honest,
+straightforward diplomacy--the diplomacy which should preserve the peace
+of Europe--is well-nigh impossible.  In all my career in the service I
+never knew a blacker outlook than at this moment--never, never!"
+
+"The complications that have arisen are due entirely to spies," I
+remarked.
+
+"They are due, it appears, mainly to your friend, Yolande de Foville,"
+he said in a harsh voice.  "We have to thank that interesting young lady
+for rendering all our diplomacy in that direction abortive."
+
+"You had suspicion of her the other day?"  I exclaimed.  "What caused
+you to suspect her?"
+
+"Drummond knew her in Brussels, and mentioned her."
+
+"As a secret agent?"
+
+"Yes, as a secret agent.  He warned me to be wary of her."
+
+"Well," I said, "I, who knew her most intimately years ago, never
+suspected it for one single instant."
+
+"Ah, Ingram," the Ambassador answered, a smile crossing his serious,
+hard-set face, "you were in love with her.  A man in love never believes
+that his idol is of mere clay."
+
+A sigh escaped me.  His words were indeed true.  A thought of Edith
+flashed across my mind.  The face of that woman who was false to me rose
+before my vision, but I swept it aside.  All was over between us.
+Diplomacy and flirtation are sister arts, but diplomacy and love never
+run hand-in-hand.  I had quaffed the cup of life, with all its infinite
+joys and agonies, in one intoxicating draught.
+
+Kaye rose at last and departed, promising to leave no stone unturned in
+his efforts to discover how the contents of the secret despatch had been
+obtained by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and then, at the
+Ambassador's dictation, I wrote a despatch to London explaining to the
+Marquess the reason why his instructions could not be acted upon.  Thus
+were we compelled to acknowledge our defeat.
+
+Below, in the hall, I met Sibyl dressed smartly, ready to go out.
+
+"What!" she exclaimed, laughing, "you are back again!  Why, I thought
+you would be at least a week in London.  Did you bring that lace for
+me?"
+
+"Yes," I answered, "I have it round at my rooms.  I'll send it you this
+afternoon."
+
+"Why are you back so soon?" she inquired, holding out her hand, so that
+I might button her glove.  "Was London too hot?"
+
+"The heat was insufferable.  Besides, we have much to attend to just
+now."
+
+"Poor father!" she exclaimed, looking up at me.  "He seems terribly
+worried.  Tell me, Mr. Ingram, what has happened?  I feel sure that some
+catastrophe has taken place."
+
+"Oh, nothing," I reassured her.  "Your father is a little anxious
+regarding some negotiations, that is all."
+
+"But you will go to the Elysee to-night, won't you?"
+
+"To-night!  What is it to-night?"
+
+"Why, the grand ball," she answered.
+
+"Which means a new frock for you--eh?"  I laughed.
+
+"Of course," she replied.  "You will come, won't you?"
+
+"I fear I'm ever so much too tired for dancing," I responded, feeling in
+no humour for the crowded gaiety of the President's ball.
+
+"But you must," she declared--"to please me.  I want you to dance with
+me."
+
+"Well," I said with reluctance, "I suppose I dare not be so ungallant as
+to refuse you."
+
+"That's good," she laughed.  "Now, as a reward, I'll drive you down to
+the boulevard.  The victoria is outside.  Where will you go?"
+
+I reflected a moment, then told her I was on my way to my chambers.
+
+"Very well," she replied, "I'll drop you there.  I have to go down to
+the Rue de la Paix."
+
+"To the couturiere, of course?"
+
+"Yes," she said, with that merry twinkle in her dark eyes, "you've
+guessed it the first time.  It's a charming gown; but I know father will
+pull a wry face when he finds the bill on his table."
+
+"But you can stand any amount of wry faces as long as you get pretty
+dresses, can't you?"  I laughed, handing her into the carriage and
+taking a seat beside her.
+
+Then she opened her sunshade and lolled back with an air of indolence
+and luxury as we drove along together.
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
+
+PERFUME AND POLITICS.
+
+Upon my table a letter was lying.  The handwriting I recognised
+instantly as Edith's, and not without a feeling of anger and impatience
+I tore it open in expectation.  Long and rambling, it upbraided me for
+leaving her without a single reassuring word, and declared that my
+refusal to kiss her at parting had filled her heart with a bitter and
+uncontrollable grief.  As I read, memories of those midnight hours, of
+my walk to that distant village, and of my meeting with that shabby
+lover crowded upon me, and the impassioned words she had written made no
+impression upon me.  I had steeled my heart against her.  She had played
+me false, and I could never forgive.
+
+"_I know I have been foolish, Gerald_," she wrote, "_but you misjudge me
+because of an indiscretion.  You believe that the man with whom you saw
+me last night was my lover; yet you left me without allowing me to make
+any explanation.  Is this right?  Is it just?  You know how well I love
+you, and that without you my life is but a hopeless blank.  Can you,
+knowing that I love you thus, believe me capable of such duplicity as
+you suspect?  I feel that you cannot.  I feel that when you come to
+consider calmly all the circumstances you will find in your own honest
+heart one grain of pity and sympathy for the one woman who loves you so
+dearly.  Write to me, for I cannot live without a word from you, because
+I love no other man but you_?"
+
+I crushed the letter in my hand, then slowly tore it into fragments.  I
+had no confidence in her protestations--none.  My dream of love was
+over.
+
+We often hear it remarked that those who are themselves perfectly true
+and artless are in this world the more easily and frequently deceived.
+I have always held this to be a commonplace fallacy, for we shall ever
+find that truth is as undeceived as it is undeceiving, and that those
+who are true to themselves and others may now and then be mistaken, or,
+in particular instances, duped by the intervention of some other
+affection or quality of the mind; but that they are generally free from
+illusion, and are seldom imposed upon in the long run by the show of
+things and by the superficies of any character.
+
+There was a curious contradiction in Edith's character, arising from the
+contrast between her natural disposition and the situation in which she
+was placed, which corroborated my doubts.  Her simplicity of language,
+her admission of an "indiscretion," the inflexible resolution with which
+she asserted her right, her soft resignation to unkindness and wrong,
+and her warmth of temper breaking through the meekness of a spirit
+subdued by a deep sense of religion,--all these qualities, opposed yet
+harmonising, helped to increase my distrust of her.  To me that letter
+seemed full of a dexterous sophistry exerted in order to ward off my
+accusations.  Her remorse was without repentance; it arose from the pang
+of a wounded conscience, the recoil of the violated feelings of nature,
+the torture of self-condemnation.
+
+The fragments of the letter I tossed into the waste-paper basket, and,
+putting on my hat, went down to the Grand Cafe to idle away an hour
+among friends accustomed to make the place a rendezvous in the
+afternoon.
+
+On entering, I found Deane sitting at a table alone, his carriage
+awaiting him at the door.  He was having a hasty drink during his round
+of visits, and hailed me lustily.
+
+"Sit down a moment, Ingram," he cried.  "I want to see you."
+
+"What about?"  I inquired, lighting the cigarette he handed me.
+
+"About that curious incident in the Rue de Courcelles--Mademoiselle de
+Foville's strange attack."
+
+"Well, what of it?"  I asked eagerly.
+
+"Strangely enough a man, who proved to be an Englishman giving himself
+the name of Payne, was brought to the Hotel Dieu three nights ago in
+what appeared to be a cataleptic state.  He had, it seemed, been found
+by the police lying on the pavement in the Boulevard St. Germain, and
+was at first believed to be dead.  Some letters in English being found
+upon him, I was called, and upon examination discovered exactly the same
+symptoms as those which mademoiselle your friend had displayed.  I was
+enabled, therefore, to administer an antidote, and within twelve hours
+the man had sufficiently recovered to take his discharge.  The case has
+excited the greatest possible interest at the hospital, for I had
+previously submitted a portion of the solution obtained from the
+envelope which mademoiselle had used to Professor Ferrari, of Florence,
+the greatest authority on toxicology in the world, and he had declared
+it to be an entirely unknown, but most potent, poison."
+
+"Who was the Englishman?  Did he tell you nothing?"
+
+"No.  Unfortunately the hospital authorities allowed him to leave before
+I deemed it wise to question him.  I read the letters found upon him,
+however; but they conveyed nothing, except that he had been recently
+living somewhere in the neighbourhood of Hackney."
+
+"Then you have no idea of the manner in which the poison was
+administered?"  I said, disappointed.
+
+"His right hand was rather swollen, from which I concluded that he had
+accidentally touched some object impregnated with the fatal compound."
+
+"You don't know its composition yet?"
+
+"No.  Ferrari is trying to discover it, but at present has failed.  The
+fact of a second person suffering from it is in itself very mysterious.
+I intended to call upon you this evening and tell you all about it."
+
+"The affair is extraordinary," I admitted.  "I wonder whether the same
+person who made the attempt upon Yolande's life is responsible for the
+attempt upon the Englishman?  What can be the motive?"
+
+"Ah! that's impossible to tell.  All we know is that some unknown person
+in Paris has in his or her possession a deadly compound capable of
+producing catalepsy and subsequent death in a manner most swift and
+secret.  In order to ascertain whether any other person is attacked in
+the same manner, I have sent letters to the Direction of all the
+hospitals in Paris explaining the case, and asking that if any similar
+cases are brought to them for treatment, I may be at once communicated
+with."
+
+"An excellent precaution," I said.  "By that means we shall be able to
+watch the progress of the mysterious criminal."
+
+"You have heard nothing from Mademoiselle Yolande?"
+
+"Nothing," I said.
+
+"Hers was a curious case," he remarked.  "But the man Payne's was
+equally strange.  It appears that he made no statement to either police
+or hospital authorities before he left.  He only said that he was
+walking along the boulevard and suddenly fell to the ground insensible."
+
+"You think he had some motive in preserving silence?"  I inquired
+quickly.
+
+"Yes, I feel sure of it.  I only wish I could rediscover him.  They were
+foolish to allow him to take his discharge before giving me an
+opportunity of concluding my investigations.  It was simply owing to
+professional jealousy.  English medical men are not liked in Paris
+hospitals.  But I must be off," he said, rising.  "Good-bye."
+
+Then he went out, and, entering his carriage, drove away.
+
+Volkouski, the Russian attache, was sitting close by, and I crossed to
+him, greeting him merrily.  He was a good fellow--a thorough
+cosmopolitan, who had been trained in the smartest school of diplomacy--
+namely, the Embassy in London, which is presided over by that prince
+among diplomatists, Monsieur de Staal.  Whatever may be said regarding
+the relations between Russia and England as nations, it cannot be denied
+that in the European capitals the staffs of the embassies of both Powers
+are always on terms of real friendship.  I make no excuse for repeating
+this.  The mutual courtesy of the representatives of the two nations is
+not, as in the case of those of France, Germany, and Austria, mere
+diplomatic manoeuvring, but in most instances a sound understanding and
+a deep personal regard.  England, Russia, and Italy have interests in
+common, hence their representatives fraternise, even though certain
+journals may create all sorts of absurd scares regarding what they are
+pleased to term the "aggressive policy of Russia."  This is a stock
+journalistic expression, as meaningless as it is absurd.  We who are "in
+the know" at the embassies smile when we read those alarmist articles,
+purporting to give all sorts of wild plans, which exist only in the
+imagination of the leader-writer.  There is, indeed, one London journal
+known in the Russian Embassies on the Continent as _The Daily Abuser_,
+because of its intensely Russophobe tone.  Fortunately nobody takes it
+seriously.
+
+I chatted with Volkouski, sipping a mazagran the while.  He was, I
+found, full of projects for his leave.  His chief had already left
+Paris, and he himself was going home to Moscow for a month.  Every
+diplomatist on service abroad gets homesick after a time, and looks
+forward to his leave with the same pleasurable anticipation of the
+schoolboy going for his summer holidays.  To escape from the shadow of a
+throne or the ceaseless chatter of an over-democratic Republic is always
+a happy moment for the wearied attache or worried secretary of embassy.
+One longs for a respite from the glare and glitter of the official world
+of uniforms and Court etiquette, and looks forward to rambles in the
+country in flannels and without a collar, to lazy afternoons upon the
+river, or after-luncheon naps in a hammock beneath a tree.  To the tired
+diplomatist, sick of formalities, and with the stifling dust of the
+ballroom over his heart, the expression "en campagne" conveys so very
+much.
+
+Shortly before midnight I stepped from a fiacre and ascended the broad
+steps of the Elysee.  Tired as I was of the ceaseless whirl of the City
+of Pleasure, it nevertheless amused me to fix the physiognomy of the
+great official fetes.  They are inevitably banales, of course; but there
+is always a piquancy of detail and of contrast that is interesting.
+
+If one wishes to see what a mixed crowd is like, there is no better
+illustration than the flocks of guests at the Elysee balls.  Ah! what a
+crowd it was that night!  What dresses!  What a public!  I know, of
+course, that it can never be otherwise under the present democratic
+regime.  One man, who came on foot and whose boots were muddy, forgot to
+turn down the tucked-up ends of his trousers.  People were walking about
+with their hands in their pockets, jostling each other without a word of
+excuse.  Many were touching the furniture, and feeling the curtains and
+tapestry with that sans-gene which so disgusted Gambetta with his former
+friends.  You could see that they were determined not to appear
+astonished at anything, and that, after all, they were at home in the
+Elysee.  They were of the detestable breed of cafe politicians, of
+loud-voiced orators at party meetings, of successful carpet-baggers, who
+render the ideas of equality and fraternity at times insufferable.
+
+Before the buffet these fellows displayed themselves as goujats--cads--
+plain and simple.  They grabbed for sandwiches, for biscuits, for
+glasses of champagne across the shoulders of ladies in front of them, or
+even elbowed them aside to get to the front row--and stop there.  In the
+smoking-room the boxes of cigars were gone in the twinkling of an eye.
+One man struck his match on the wall.  With these odd guests about it is
+not surprising that the Budget writes off a certain sum every year for
+articles that have disappeared from the buffets.
+
+Whew! the heat there was insufferable!
+
+In my search for Sibyl I passed through the antechamber.  The footmen
+wore new livery.  I saw none of those restaurant waiters who used, in
+the time of ce pauvre Monsieur Faure, to be employed at twenty francs
+the evening, supper included.  Yes, things had slightly improved, but
+the crush was terrific.  I made my way to the Salon des Aides-de-Camp,
+that historic chamber where, in the armchairs still furnishing the room,
+on the night of the coup d'etat, sat, a prey to mortal anxiety, Morny,
+Persigny, Saint Arnaud, Pietri, Rouher, King Jerome, and the Prince
+President.
+
+The Japanese military attache, walking before me, mixed himself up
+somehow with his sabre, and fell.  This contretemps was greeted, as at a
+theatre, with laughter.  Someone cried, "Oh, la la!" as if the stumble
+were a very clever bit of clowning indeed.  The unhappy Japanese looked
+as if he wished the floor would swallow him.
+
+I struggled up and paid my respects to the President, who was standing
+in the centre of the salon.  Smiling, affable, displaying a simplicity
+that was real and unaffected, and yet devoid of mere familiarity, his
+bow and hand-shake were perfect.  He struck the right note.  I was
+impressed, moreover, by his sense of proportion.  A little more
+cordiality, and he would cease to be Chief of the State.  A little more
+solemnity, and he would be stilted.  It is a little hard to convey the
+distinction; but imagine, on the one hand, a host who wants to make you
+forget his official position, and on the other a President of the
+Republic who is determined to be a good host.  For well-bred people
+there is always a well-defined shade of difference between these two;
+and the President was the latter.
+
+While turning away I suddenly came face to face with Monsieur Mollard,
+the chef-adjoint of the Protocol, who greeted me affably and commenced
+to tell me the latest story of General de Galliffet, Minister of War.
+
+"It is amusing," he laughed.  "You must hear it, M'sieur Ingram.  The
+General arrived at his club, the Union, last night, and for some reason
+or another his former friends were more than usually cold in their
+treatment of him.  After saying a bonjour to one and the other of them,
+and receiving a curt reply here and a snub there, the Minister of War
+realised this.  But he took their coolness coolly.  With his back to the
+fireplace he said quietly, by way of bringing home to his friends the
+absurdity of their attitude: `You may come near me.  Je ne sens pas
+mauvais--I don't smell bad.  You see, there was no Cabinet to-day!'  Is
+it not excellent?"
+
+I smiled.  It was a purely French joke.  Mollard was always full of
+droll stories.  Every diplomatist in Paris knew him as the keeper of the
+Elysee traditions, as guardian of its unwritten law by inheritance, his
+father having been, under other presidencies, the official known as
+introducteur des ambassadeurs.  When a question of precedence puzzled
+the plebeian bigwigs at the Quai d'Orsay--the Foreign Office--it was
+Monsieur Mollard who would run to the archives to look it up.  Nature
+had not, however, endowed him with a demeanour befitting his office, for
+he wore his uniform as awkwardly as a middle-aged volunteer officer, and
+looked more like a clerk than a chamberlain.  But when he spoke he
+dragged on the mute syllables as French actors are taught to do in
+delivering Racine.  He put three "l's" in "Excellence" and four "r's" in
+"Protocol."  For the rest, he was a good fellow, much liked in the
+diplomatic circle, although many jokes had from time to time been played
+at his expense.  Presently, after we had been talking for a few moments,
+I inquired whether he had seen Sibyl.
+
+"Ah, no!  I regret, m'sieur," he answered.  "But a lady who is sitting
+over in the Salon Diplomatique has just inquired of me whether you are
+present."
+
+"A lady?  What is her name?"
+
+"I know her by sight, but cannot recall her name," he responded.  "She
+is a grande dame, however."
+
+"Young or old?"
+
+"Young.  You will find her in the salon talking with Count Tornelli, the
+Italian Ambassador.  You will easily recognise her.  She is wearing a
+costume of black, trimmed with silver.  She told me that she desired to
+speak with you particularly, and that I was to tell you of her
+presence."
+
+"But you don't know her?"  I laughed.
+
+"Go and see," he answered.  "You probably know her;" and, smiling, he
+turned away.
+
+My curiosity being aroused, I struggled through the throng until I
+reached the spot indicated.  Only the diplomatic corps and distinguished
+guests were allowed there, and the other guests, huddled together before
+the open door, were pointing out well-known personages.
+
+I looked in, and in a moment saw before me the striking figure in black
+and silver.  No second glance was needed to recognise who she was.  For
+a moment I stood in hesitation; then, with a sudden resolve, entered,
+and, walking straight up, bowed low before her.
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.
+
+PRINCESS LEONIE.
+
+"Princess," I said, "permit me to offer my felicitations on your return
+to Paris.  This is indeed an unexpected pleasure."
+
+"Ah, M'sieur Ingram!" she cried in charming English, holding forth her
+white-gloved hand, "at last!  I have been hunting for you all the
+evening.  All Paris is here, and the crush is terrible.  Yes, you see I
+am back again."
+
+The Italian Ambassador had risen, bowed, and turned to speak to another
+acquaintance; therefore, with her sanction, I dropped into his place.
+
+"And are you pleased to return?"  I inquired, glancing at her beautiful
+and refined face, which seemed to me just a trifle more careworn than
+when I had last met her eighteen months ago.
+
+"Ah!" she answered, "I am always pleased to come back to France.  I went
+to America for a few months, you know; thence to Vienna, and for nearly
+a year have been living at home."
+
+"At Rudolstadt?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Well," I said, "it was really too bad of you to hide your existence
+from your friends in that manner.  Everyone has been wondering for
+months what had become of you.  Surely you found Rudolstadt very dull
+after life here?"
+
+"I did," she sighed, causing the magnificent diamonds at her throat to
+sparkle with a thousand fires.  "But I have departed from my hermitage
+again, you see.  Now, sit here and tell me all that has happened during
+my absence.  Then if you are good, I will, as a reward, give you just
+one waltz."
+
+"Very well," I laughed.  "Remember that I shall hold you to your
+bargain;" and then I commenced to gossip about the movements of people
+she had known when, two years before, she had been the most admired
+woman in Paris.
+
+The Princess Leonie-Rose-Eugenie von Leutenberg was, according to the
+_Almanach de Gotha_--that red, squat little volume so dreaded by the
+ladies--only thirty years of age, and was certainly extremely
+good-looking.  Her pale, half-tragic beauty was sufficient to arrest
+attention anywhere.  Her noble features were well-moulded and regular,
+her eyes of a clear grey, and her hair of flaxen fairness, while her
+bearing was ever that of a daughter of the greatest of the Austrian
+houses.  Her goodness of heart, her gracefulness, her conversational
+esprit, and her genuine Parisian chic had rendered her popular
+everywhere; while, as with the Duchesse de Berri, one strong point of
+her beauty was her charming little foot, which two years ago had been
+declared to be the loveliest foot in France, or, in Paris, simply "Le
+pied de la Princesse."  Her shoes and hosiery were perfect marvels of
+fineness and neatness, and when she walked, or rather glided, along the
+Avenue des Acacias, the other promenaders formed long rows on each side
+to behold and admire le pied de la Princesse.
+
+I had heard it declared, too, with mysterious smiles, how le pied de la
+Princesse had been seen more than once at the masked balls at the Opera,
+and many an amusing little story had gone the round, and many a piquant
+tale had been told of how the Princess had been recognised here and
+there by the extreme smallness of her foot.  One was that for a wager
+she had disguised herself as a work-girl with a bandbox on her arm, and,
+attended by her valet, likewise disguised, appeared before the Hotel de
+Ville awaiting an omnibus.  The vehicle stopped, and the conductor
+exclaimed in an indifferent tone, "Entrez, mademoiselle," without taking
+any further notice.  Then, however, his wandering eye caught sight of a
+pair of tiny feet, and, looking into her face in surprise, he
+enthusiastically exclaimed: "Ah! ah! le pied de la Princesse!" and
+doffed his hat respectfully.  The Princess lost her wager, but was in no
+little measure proud of the conquest which her foot had won over the
+plain omnibus-conductor.
+
+Her life had been a somewhat tragic one.  The only daughter of Prince
+Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau, the Seigneur of Wchinitz, in Bohemia,
+Leonie had, when scarcely out of her teens, been forced to marry the old
+Prince Othon von Leutenberg, a man forty years her senior.  The marriage
+proved an exceedingly unhappy one, for he treated her brutally, and
+after five years of a wretched existence, during which she bore herself
+with great patience and forbearance, the Prince died of alcoholism in
+Berlin, and her release brought her into possession of an enormous
+fortune, together with the mansion of the Leutenbergs in the Frieung at
+Vienna, one of the finest in the Austrian capital, the castle and
+extensive estates in Schwazbourg-Rudolstadt, that had belonged to the
+family from feudal days, as well as the hotel in the Avenue du Bois de
+Boulogne, and the beautiful Chateau de Chantoiseau, deep in the forest
+of Fontainebleau.
+
+She was very charming, and there was an air of sadness in her beauty
+that made her the more interesting.  We were friends of long standing.
+Indeed, I had known her in the days when I was junior attache and
+fancied myself in love with every woman.  I had admired her, and a firm
+friendship existed between us, although I think I can say honestly that
+I had never fallen in love with her.  More than once, when those false
+and scandalous tales had been whispered about her--as they are whispered
+about every pretty woman in Paris--I had constituted myself her
+champion, and challenged her traducers to prove their words.
+
+As we sat there chatting, watching the gaily uniformed corps
+diplomatique, and bowing ever and anon as some man or woman came up to
+congratulate her on her return to Paris, she told me of the dreariness
+of her life in the gloomy, ancestral Castle of Rudolstadt, and how,
+finding it unendurable at last, she had suddenly resolved to spend the
+remainder of the summer at Chantoiseau.
+
+"I have been there already a fortnight, and everything is in order," she
+said.  "I am inviting quite a number of people.  You must come also."
+
+"But I scarcely think it is possible for me to be absent from Paris just
+now," I answered in hesitation.
+
+"I will take no refusal," she said decisively.  "I will talk to Lord
+Barmouth to-night before I leave.  Me never refuses me anything.
+Besides, in two hours you can always be at the Embassy.  You will
+remember, the last time you were my guest, how easy you found the
+journey to and from Paris.  Why, you often used to leave in the morning
+and return at night.  No, you cannot refuse."
+
+"I must consult His Excellency before accepting," I replied.  "In the
+meantime, Princess, I thank you for your kind invitation."
+
+"Princess?" she exclaimed, raising her eyebrows.  "Why not Leonie?  I
+was Leonie to you always in the days gone by.  Is there any reason why
+you should be so distant now?  Unless--" and she paused.
+
+"Unless what?"  I inquired, looking at her swiftly.
+
+"Unless you have a really serious affair of the heart," she said.
+
+"I have none," I answered promptly, suppressing a sigh with difficulty.
+
+"Then do not use my title.  I hate my friends to call me Princess.
+Recollect that to you I am always Leonie."
+
+"Very well," I laughed, for she was full of quaint caprice.
+
+I had pleasant recollections of my last visit to the chateau, and hoped
+that if the theft of the instructions contained in the despatch I had
+brought from London produced no serious international complication, I
+should obtain leave to join her house-party, which was certain to be a
+smart and merry one.
+
+She told me the names of some she had invited.  Among those known to me
+were the Baroness de Chalencon, Count de Hindenburg, the German
+Ambassador, and his wife, and Count de Wolkenstein, Austrian Ambassador,
+as well as several other men and women of the smartest set in Paris.
+
+"You will be a real benefactress," I laughed.  "Everyone here is
+stifled; while Dieppe is too crowded; Aix, with its eternal Villa des
+Fleurs, is insupportable; and both Royat and Vichy are full to
+overflowing."
+
+"Ah, mon cher Gerald!" cried the Princess, lifting her small hands, "it
+is your English tourists who have spoilt all our summer resorts.  If one
+has no place of one's own in which to spend the summer nowadays, one
+must herd with the holders of tourist tickets and hotel coupons."
+
+I admitted that what she said was in a great measure true.  Society, as
+the grande dame knows it, is being expelled by the tourists from the
+places which until a year or two ago were expensive and exclusive.  Even
+the Riviera is fast becoming a cheap winter resort, for Nice now
+deserves to be called the Margate of the Continent.
+
+Having arranged that I should do my best to accept her invitation, our
+conversation drifted to politics, art, and the drama.  She seemed in
+utter ignorance of recent events, except such as she had read about in
+the newspapers.
+
+"I know nothing," she laughed.  "News reaches Rudolstadt tardily, and
+then only by the journals; and you know how unreliable they are.  How
+I've longed time after time to spend an evening in Paris to hear all the
+gossip!  It is charming, I assure you, to be back here again."
+
+"But for what reason did you shut yourself up for so long?"  I asked.
+"It surely is not like you!"
+
+She grew grave in an instant, and appeared to hesitate.  Her lips closed
+tightly, and there was a hard expression at the corners of her
+well-shaped mouth.
+
+"I had my reasons--strong ones."
+
+"What were they?"
+
+"Well, I was tired of it all."
+
+"Leonie," I said, looking at her seriously, "pray forgive me, but you do
+not intend to tell me the truth.  You were tired of it years ago, when
+the Prince was alive."
+
+"That was so," she answered, with a glance of triumph; "and I went home
+to my father and shut myself up at Wchinitz."
+
+"But you must have had some stronger motive in burying yourself again as
+you have recently done.  You did not write to a soul, and no one knew
+where you were.  You simply dropped out; and you had some reason for
+doing so, otherwise you would have told the truth to your most intimate
+friends."
+
+"You are annoyed that I should have left you without a word--eh?" she
+asked.  "Well, I will apologise now."
+
+"No apology is necessary," I answered.  "It is only because we are such
+good friends that I venture to speak thus.  I feel confident that you
+have sustained some great sorrow.  You are, somehow, not the same as you
+were in Paris two years ago; now, tell me--"
+
+"Ah!  Do not talk of it!" she cried huskily, rising to her feet.  "Let
+us drop the subject.  Promise me, Gerald, not to mention it again, for I
+confess to you that it is too painful--much too painful.  I promised you
+a waltz.  Come, let us dance."
+
+Thus bidden, I rose, and she, twisting her skirts deftly in her hand,
+leaned lightly upon my arm as I conducted her to the great ballroom.  A
+very few moments later we glided together into the whirling, dazzling
+crowd.
+
+"You will not speak of that again, Gerald?" she urged in a hoarse
+whisper, looking earnestly up to my face, as her head came near my
+shoulder.  "Promise me."
+
+"If it is your wish, Leonie," I responded, puzzled, "I will ask no
+further question."
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
+
+IN THE FOREST OF FONTAINEBLEAU.
+
+Sixty kilometres from Paris, just off that straight and noble highway
+that runs through the heart of the magnificent forest, and passes
+through the old-world town of Fontainebleau--where Napoleon signed his
+abdication--through the mediaeval, crumbling gates of Moret, and away
+far south to Lyons, rises the fine old Chateau of Chantoiseau.  Half-way
+between the clean little village of By, standing in the midst of its
+well-kept vineyards, and the river-hamlet of Thomery, it occupies a
+commanding position on the summit of a cliff, where far below winds the
+Seine, on past Valvins and Samois, until it becomes lost like a silver
+thread among the dark woodlands in the direction of Paris.
+
+The position of the splendid old place is superb.  From its windows can
+be obtained a view of the great forest stretching away to the horizon on
+the left, while to the right is the valley of the Seine, and across the
+river spread the smiling vineyards with their white walls--the vineyards
+of Champagne.  The house, a long, rambling place with circular towers,
+has been historical for many centuries.  Once the property of Madame La
+Pompadour, in the days when the splendours of the Palace of
+Fontainebleau were world-renowned, a latter-day interest also attaches
+to it, inasmuch as it was the headquarters of the German Crown Prince
+during the advance of the Prussians upon Paris.  Its grounds, sloping
+down, enclose part of the forest itself; therefore, during the blazing
+days of August one lives actually in the woods.  The forest is an
+enormous one, and even to-day there still remain many parts unexplored,
+where the wolf and wild boar retreat in summer, and where even that most
+ubiquitous forester, the viper-hunter--the man whose profession it is to
+kill vipers and sell them at the local mairie--has never penetrated.  In
+the whole of the great forest, however, no spot is more charming or more
+picturesque than that in which the chateau is situated.  It is not a
+show-place, like Barbison or the Gorges de Franchard, but entirely rural
+and secluded--on the one side the open valley, on the other the dark
+forest, where in the tunnel-like alleys the trees meet overhead, and
+where the shady highroads to the painter colony at Marlotte and to
+Bois-le-Roi are perfect paradises for the cyclist.
+
+Chantoiseau itself is not a village, not even a hamlet, only a big
+old-fashioned cottage in which the forest-guards live.  Above it, on the
+high ground beyond, stands the fine old chateau.  Many of those who read
+my story have driven or cycled in the forest, and many have no doubt
+given the great old place a passing glance before plunging deep into
+those leafy glades that lead to Fontainebleau.  If when you have driven
+past you have inquired of your cocher, "Who lives there?" he has
+probably only shrugged his shoulders and replied: "Servants only.
+Madame la Princesse, alas! seldom comes," and you have gone on your way,
+as many others have done, wondering why such a beautiful old place
+should be neglected by its owner.
+
+One hot evening at sundown, about three weeks after the President's
+ball, I strolled slowly beside the Princess down the hill, entering the
+forest by that well-kept cross-road which leads by the Carrefour de la
+Croix de Montmorin straight to the pretty village of Montigny on the
+Loing.
+
+Contrary to expectation, no immediate result had accrued from the
+mysterious theft of the secret instructions to Lord Barmouth; hence I
+had obtained leave and accepted my hostess's invitation, although I was
+compelled to spend two days each week at the Embassy, going up to Paris
+in the morning and returning by the six o'clock express from the Gare de
+Lyon.  That some result of the exposure of our policy must certainly
+make itself felt we knew quite well, but at present the political
+atmosphere seemed clearer, and by the fact that several of the
+ambassadors had left Paris considerable confidence had been established.
+Yet in those sultry August days the war-cloud still hung over Europe
+and the representative of Her Majesty was compelled, as he ever is, to
+exercise the greatest tact and the utmost finesse in order to preserve
+peace with honour.  Truly, the office of British Ambassador in Paris is
+no sinecure, for upon him rests much of the responsibility of England's
+position in Europe and her prestige among nations, while to him is
+entrusted the difficult duty of negotiating amicably with a nation
+openly and avowedly hostile to British interests and British prosperity.
+
+Those summer days, so sunny, happy, and pleasant, in the forest depths
+at Chantoiseau, were, nevertheless, perplexing ones for the rulers of
+Europe.  The stifling air was the oppression before the storm.  I had
+more than once chatted in the billiard-room with my fellow guests, the
+German and Austrian Ambassadors, and both had agreed that the outlook
+was serious, and that the storm-cloud was upon the political horizon.
+
+But life at the chateau was full of enjoyment.  The Princess, a born
+hostess, knew exactly whom to invite, and her house-parties were always
+congenial gatherings.  There was riding, cycling, tennis, boating,
+billiards; indeed, something to suit all tastes, while she contented
+herself with looking on and seeing that all her guests enjoyed
+themselves.
+
+A riding-party had gone over to Montigny, and after tea the Princess had
+suggested that I should accompany her for a stroll down into the forest
+to meet them.  She was dressed simply in a washing-dress of pale blue
+linen, and wore a sailor-hat, so that with her fair hair bound tightly
+she presented quite an English appearance, save perhaps for her figure
+and gait, both of which were eminently foreign.  The feet that all Paris
+had admired two years ago were encased in stout walking-boots, and she
+carried a light cane, walking with all the suppleness of youth.
+
+Soon we left the full glory of the mellow sunset flooding the Seine
+valley, and entered the forest road where the high trees met and
+interlaced above, and where the golden light, filtering through the
+screen of foliage, illuminated here and there the deeper shadows, struck
+straight upon the brilliant green of the bracken, married with the
+greyness on the lichen-covered trunks, and kissed the leaves with golden
+lips.  Birds were twittering farewells to the day, and here and there a
+red-brown squirrel, startled by our presence, darted from bough to bough
+with tail erect, while on each side of the road was a carpet of moss and
+wild-flowers.  The sweet odour of the woods greeted our nostrils, and we
+inhaled it in a deep draught, for that gloomy shade was delightfully
+cool and refreshing after the blazing heat of the stifling day.  As I
+had been compelled to attend to some official correspondence, I had not
+joined the riding-party.  The Princess had given some half-dozen of us
+tea in the hall, and, while the others had gone off to play tennis, she
+and I had been left alone.
+
+Suddenly, as we walked along in the coolness, she turned to me, saying
+in a tone of reproach:
+
+"Gerald, you have hidden from me the true seriousness of the situation
+at your Embassy.  Why?"
+
+"Well," I answered, facing her in surprise, "we do not generally discuss
+our fears, you know.  Others might profit by the knowledge."
+
+"But surely you might have confided in me?" she said gravely.
+
+"Then de Wolkenstein has told you?"
+
+"He has told me nothing," she answered.  "But I am, nevertheless, aware
+of all that has come to pass.  I know, too, that since my absence at
+Rudolstadt you have fallen in love."
+
+"Well?"  I inquired.
+
+She shrugged her well-formed shoulders as if to indicate that such a
+thing was beyond her comprehension.
+
+"Is it a disaster, do you think?"  I asked.
+
+"You yourself should know that," she replied in a strained tone.  "It
+seems, however, that you do not exercise your usual discretion in your
+love-affairs."
+
+"What do you mean, Leonie?"  I demanded quickly, halting and looking at
+her.  Who, I wondered, had told her the truth?  To which of my loves did
+she refer--the spy or the traitress?
+
+"I mean exactly what I have said," she answered quite calmly.  "If you
+had confided in me I might perhaps have used my influence in preventing
+the inevitable."
+
+"The inevitable!"  I echoed.  "What is that?"
+
+"A combination of the Powers against England," she replied quickly.  "As
+you know well enough, Gerald, I have facilities for learning much that
+is hidden from even your accredited representatives.  Therefore, I tell
+you this, that at this moment there is a plan arranged to upset British
+diplomacy in all four capitals and to ruin British prestige.  It is a
+bold plan, and I alone outside the conspirators am aware of it.  If
+carried out, England must either declare war or lose her place as the
+first nation in the world.  Recollect these words of mine, for I am not
+joking at this moment.  To-day is the blackest that Europe has ever
+known."
+
+She had halted in the path, and spoke with an earnestness that held me
+bewildered.
+
+"A conspiracy against us!"  I gasped.  "What is it?  Tell me of it?"
+
+"No," she answered.  "At present I cannot.  Suffice it for you to know
+that I alone am aware of the truth, and that I alone, if I so desire,
+can thwart their plans and turn their own weapons against them."
+
+"You can?"  I cried.  "You will do it!  Tell me the truth--for my sake.
+I have been foolish, I know, Leonie; but tell me.  If it is really
+serious, no time must be lost."
+
+"Serious?" she echoed.  "It is so serious that I doubt whether the
+present month will pass before war is declared."
+
+"By England?"
+
+"Yes.  Your country will be forced into a conflict which must prove
+disastrous.  The plan is the most clever and most dastardly ever
+conceived by your enemies, and this time no diplomatic efforts will
+succeed in staving off the tragedy, depend upon it."
+
+"Are both Wolkenstein and de Hindenburg aware of the plot?"
+
+"I presume so.  I have watched carefully, but have, however, discovered
+nothing to lead me to believe that they understand how near Europe is to
+an armed conflict."
+
+"Then your information is not from Wolkenstein?"
+
+"No, from a higher source."
+
+"From your Emperor?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Then this accounts for your sudden reappearance among us?"  I said.
+
+"You may put my presence down to that, if you wish," she replied.  "But
+promise me, on your word of honour, that you will not breathe a single
+word to a soul--not even to Lord Barmouth."
+
+"If you impose silence upon me, Leonie, it shall be as you wish.  But
+you have just said that you can assist me.  How?"
+
+"I can do so--if I choose," she responded thoughtfully, drawing the
+profile of a man's face in the dust with the ferrule of her
+walking-stick.
+
+"You speak strangely," I said--"almost as though you do not intend to do
+me this service.  Surely you will not withhold from me intelligence
+which might enable me to rescue my country from the machination of its
+enemies?"
+
+"And why, pray, should I betray my own country in order to save yours?"
+she asked in a cold tone.
+
+I was nonplussed.  For a moment I could not reply.  At last, however, I
+answered in a low, earnest tone:
+
+"Because we are friends, Leonie."
+
+"Mere friendship does not warrant one turning traitor," she replied.
+
+"But Austria is not the prime mover of this conspiracy," I said.  "The
+rulers of another nation have formed the plot.  Tell me which of the
+Powers is responsible?"
+
+"No," she answered with a slight hauteur.  "As you have thought fit to
+preserve certain secrets from me, I shall keep this knowledge to
+myself."
+
+"What secrets have I withheld from you?"  I inquired, dismayed.
+
+"Secrets concerning your private affairs."
+
+I knew well that she referred to my passion for Yolande.  For a moment I
+hesitated, until words rose to my lips and I answered:
+
+"Surely my private affairs are of little interest to you!  Why should I
+trouble you with them?"
+
+"Because we are friends, are we not?" she said, looking straight into my
+face with those fine eyes which half Europe had admired when le pied de
+la Princesse had been the catchword of Paris.
+
+"Most certainly, Leonie," I agreed.  "And I hope that our friendship
+will last always."
+
+"It cannot if you refuse to confide in me and sometimes to seek my
+advice."
+
+"But you, in your position, going hither and thither, with hosts of
+friends around you, can feel no real interest in my doings?"  I
+protested.
+
+"Friends!" she echoed in a voice of sarcasm.  "Do you call these people
+friends?  My guests at this moment are not friends.  Because of my
+position--because I am popular, and it is considered chic to stay at
+Chantoiseau--because I have money, and am able to amuse them, they come
+to me, the men to bow over my hand, and the women to call me their `dear
+Princess.'  Bah! they are not friends.  The diplomatic set come because
+it is a pleasant mode of passing a few weeks of summer, while still
+within hail of Paris; and the others--well, they are merely the
+entourage which every fashionable woman unconsciously gathers about
+her."
+
+"Then among them all you have no friend?"  Again she turned her fine
+eyes upon me, and in a low but distinct tone declared:
+
+"Only yourself, Gerald."
+
+"I hope, Leonie, that I shall always prove myself worthy of your
+friendship," I answered, impressed by her sudden seriousness.
+
+Her face had grown pale, and she had uttered those words with all
+possible earnestness.
+
+Then we walked on together in the silence of the darkening gloom of the
+forest.  The ruddy light of the dying day struggled through the foliage,
+the birds had ceased their song, and the stillness of night had already
+fallen.  We were each full of our own thoughts, and neither uttered a
+word.
+
+Suddenly she halted again, and, gripping my arm, looked up into my face.
+I started, for upon her pale countenance I saw a look of desperation
+such as I had never before seen there.
+
+"Gerald!" she cried hoarsely, "why do you treat me like this?  You
+cannot tell how I suffer, or you would have pity upon me!  Surely you
+cannot disguise from yourself the truth, even though your coldness
+forces me to tell you with my own lips.  You know well my position--that
+of a woman drifting here and there, open to the calumnies of my enemies
+and the scandalous tales invented by so-called friends; a woman who has
+borne great trials and who is still, alas! unhappy!  Of my honesty you
+yourself shall judge.  You have heard whispers regarding my doings--
+escapades they have been called--and possibly you have given them
+credence.  If you have, I cannot help it.  There are persons around us
+always who delight in besmirching a woman's reputation, especially if
+she has the misfortune to be born of princely family.  But I tell you
+that all the tales you have heard are false.  I--"
+
+Suddenly she covered her face with her hands; the words seemed to choke
+her, and she burst into tears.
+
+"No, no, Leonie!"  I said with deep sympathy, bending down to whisper in
+her ear and taking her hand in mine.  "No one believes in those foul
+calumnies.  Your honour is too well known."
+
+"You do not believe them--you will never believe them, will you?" she
+asked quickly through her tears.
+
+"Of course not.  I have denied them many times when they have been
+repeated to me."
+
+"Ah!" she cried, "I know you are always generous to a woman, Gerald."
+
+Then again a long silence fell between us.  Presently, with a sudden
+impulse, she raised her tear-stained face to mine, and with a look of
+fierce desperation in her eyes implored:
+
+"Gerald, will you not give me one single word?  Will you still remain
+cold and indifferent?"  As she said this, her breast rose and fell in
+agitation.
+
+I drew back, wondering at her beseeching attitude.
+
+"No, no!" she cried.  "Do not put me from you, Gerald!  I cannot bear
+it--indeed I can't!  You must have recognised the truth long ago--" and
+she paused.  Then, lowering her voice until it was only a hoarse
+whisper, she added, "The truth that I love you!"
+
+I looked at her in blank amazement, scarce knowing what to reply.  I had
+admired her just as half Paris had admired her, but I certainly had
+never felt a spark of deep affection for her.
+
+"Ah!" she went on, reading my heart in an instant, "you despise me for
+this confession.  But I cannot help it.  I love you, Gerald, as I have
+never before loved a man.  In return for your love I can offer you
+nothing--nothing save one thing," she added in a strange, mechanical
+voice, almost as though speaking to herself.  "In return for your love I
+can save your country from the grievous peril in which it is now
+placed."
+
+She offered me her secret in return for my love!  The thing was
+incomprehensible.  I stood there dumbfounded.
+
+"This is a moment of foolishness, Leonie.  We are both at fault," I
+said, as soon as I again found tongue.  "Think of the difference in our
+stations--you a princess, and I a poor diplomatist!  I am your friend,
+and hope to remain so always--but not your lover."
+
+"But I love you!" she cried fiercely, raising her blanched and pitiful
+face until her lips met mine.  The passion of love was in her heart.
+"You may despise me, Gerald; you may cast me from you; you may hate me;
+but in the end you will love me just as intensely as I love you.  To
+endeavour to escape me is useless.  Since the die is cast, let us make
+the compact now, as I have already suggested.  I have confessed to you
+openly.  I am yours, and I implore of you to give me your love in
+return.  You are mine, Gerald--mine only!"
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.
+
+ENGLAND'S ENEMIES.
+
+Late that night, after the Princess and most of her guests had retired,
+I entered the billiard-room to get my cigarette-case, which I had left
+there while playing pool earlier in the evening, and on opening the door
+found the two Ambassadors Wolkenstein and Hindenburg seated together in
+the long lounge-chairs in earnest conversation.  They were speaking in
+German, and as I entered I overheard the words "in such a manner as to
+crush the English power on the sea."  They were uttered by the German
+representative, and were certainly ominous.  It was apparent that both
+men were aware of the gigantic conspiracy of which the Princess had told
+me--the plot which aimed at the downfall of our nation.  I could see,
+too, that my sudden entry had disconcerted them, for they both moved
+uneasily and glanced quickly at each other as though fearing I had
+overheard some part of what had passed between them.  Then Wolkenstein
+with skilful tact cried in French:
+
+"Ah, my dear Ingram! we thought we alone were the late birds to-night.
+Come here and chat;" and at the same time he pulled forward one of the
+long cane chairs, into which, thus bidden, I sank.
+
+What, I wondered, had been the exchange of view's between these two
+noted diplomatists?  The faces of both were sphinx-like.  Our talk at
+first dealt with nothing more important than the journey across the
+forest to Barbison which our hostess had arranged for the morrow.  I
+knew, however, that the conversation held before my entrance had been
+about the European situation.  Those men were England's enemies.  My
+impulse was to rise abruptly and leave them; but it is always the
+diplomatist's duty to remain cool, and watch, even though he may be
+compelled to hobnob with the bitterest opponents of his native land.
+Therefore I remained, and, concealing my antipathy, lit a cigar and lay
+back in my chair, carelessly gossiping about the usual trivialities
+which form the subject of house-party chatter.
+
+"The Princess looked rather pale to-night, I thought," exclaimed Count
+de Hindenburg suddenly.  "She seemed quite worried."
+
+"With a chateau full of guests the life of a hostess is not always
+devoid of care," I remarked, blowing a cloud of smoke toward the
+ceiling.
+
+I alone knew the reason of her paleness and anxiety, and was eager to
+ascertain what deductions these two shrewd men had made.
+
+"To me," observed the representative of the Emperor Francis Joseph, "it
+seemed as though the Princess had been shedding tears.  Didn't you
+notice that her eyes were just a trifle swollen?" and, turning to me, he
+added: "She scarcely spoke to you at dinner.  Are you the culprit,
+Ingram?"
+
+Both men laughed.
+
+"Certainly not," I denied.  "Madame has a touch of nerves, I suppose--
+that's all.  Such a malady is common among women."
+
+"She looked quite worn out by fatigue," declared Wolkenstein.
+
+"Because she is never still a single moment in the day.  Her thoughts
+are always for her guests--how to amuse them and to give them a pleasant
+time.  It was the same two years ago," I said.
+
+"Remarkable woman--quite remarkable!" exclaimed de Hindenburg.  "She had
+sufficient trouble with the rheumatic old Prince to turn any woman's
+hair grey; but, on the contrary, she seems now to become younger every
+day.  She's still one of the prettiest women in Europe."
+
+"Everyone admits that, of course," I said.
+
+They exchanged glances, and I fancied that these looks were unusually
+significant.  A flood of recollections of the sunset hour in the forest
+surged within my mind--how I had striven with firmness to release
+myself, and how I had been forced to turn away and leave the Princess.
+In that deep gloom, when the rosy afterglow was fading and the light
+within the leafy glade so dim that all objects were indistinct, I had
+seen her wild passion in all its magnificence.  Her eyes had burned with
+the fierce, all-consuming fire of love, her cheeks were white and cold,
+and her words as reckless as they were passionate.  She had charged me
+with entertaining affection for some other woman--a woman unworthy of my
+love, she had said with distinct meaning, as though she knew the
+duplicity of Yolande; and she had sworn an oath with clenched hands to
+compel me to reciprocate her passion.
+
+The scene between us was one of unreason and of folly.  She had been
+overwhelmed by the impulse of the moment, and I had bowed and left her,
+my heart full of conflicting emotions, my head reeling.  She had
+suddenly twisted her soft arms about my neck and clung to me, whispering
+her love and declaring that I was cruel, cold, with a heart like
+adamant.  But I had flung her off, and we had not met until two hours
+later, when I sat at her right hand at dinner, during which she had
+scarcely addressed a single word to me.
+
+My companions had, of course, noticed this, and appeared to have
+cleverly guessed my refusal to accept the offer of the Princess.  They
+little knew the terms upon which she had attempted to make a compact
+with me--that she was ready to betray them in return for my love.
+
+I smoked on in silence and in wonder.  The situation certainly presented
+a problem which I was utterly unable to solve.  That the affections of
+such a woman as the Princess von Leutenberg were not to be trifled with
+I knew well, for women of her temperament are capable of anything when
+once they love with a fierce, uncontrollable, reckless passion such as
+she had seen fit to display that evening in the deep silence of the
+forest.  Her proposition had, indeed, been a startling one.  She had
+offered me the secret of the plot in return for my love!
+
+With my two companions I chatted on until nearly two o'clock; then we
+separated, and I passed through the long oak corridors to my room.  Upon
+the dressing-table I found a note lying.  It was sealed with black wax,
+with the Leutenberg arms.  I tore it open.  It gave out an odour of
+fresh violets, and I saw instantly that the handwriting was Leonie's.
+
+"_I have been foolish in my confession to you, Gerald_," she wrote in
+French.  "_But my heart was so full that I could conceal the truth no
+longer.  I saw from your manner at dinner to-night that you despise me,
+and intend to hold me at a distance as an unwelcome woman who has flung
+herself into your arms.  But I cannot help it.  The misfortune--nay, the
+curse upon me--is that I love you.  Would to Heaven that I did not!
+Because of you I have forgotten eatery thing--my duty to myself as a
+woman, my duty to my family as one of a noble house, my duty to my
+country, my duty to my Creator.  When I left Paris long ago, I crossed
+the Atlantic, resolved to forget you; but all was in vain.  I returned
+to Rudolstadt and shut myself up in retirement, striving to wean myself
+from the mad passion which had arisen within me.  All, however, was
+futile, and at last I broke the bonds and returned to Paris.  A month
+has gone by, and now I have told you the truth; I have confessed.
+To-morrow morning at eleven I shall walk alone through the forest, along
+the road that leads to By.  My offer to you--an offer made, I admit, in
+desperation--still stands.  If you accept it you will be enabled to save
+your country from her enemies, and we shall both find peace and
+happiness; if not, then the plot will be carried out, and at least one
+woman's life will be wrecked--the solitary and unhappy woman who writes
+these lines and whose name is Leonie_."
+
+She had written that letter calmly and coolly, for the handwriting
+showed no haste.  Evidently she had penned it in the seclusion of her
+chamber, and Suzanne, her maid, had placed it upon my dressing-table.
+
+I stood with the letter in my hand.  My eyes caught my own reflection in
+the long silver-framed mirror, and I was struck by the haggard, anxious
+expression upon my own countenance.  My personal appearance startled me.
+
+Well I knew the character of this pale and beautiful woman whom all
+Paris had admired.  The impression she gave everyone was that of
+perpetual and irreconcilable contrast.  I had long ago recognised her
+high mental accomplishments, her unequalled grace, her woman's wit and
+woman's wiles, her almost irresistible allurements, her moments of
+classic grandeur, her storms of temper, her vivacity of imagination, her
+petulant caprice, her tenderness and her truth, her childish
+susceptibility to flattery, her magnificent spirit, and her princely
+pride.  She had dazzled my faculties, perplexed my judgment, bewildered
+and bewitched my fancy.  I was conscious of a kind of fascination
+against which my moral sense rebelled.
+
+With all her perverseness, egotism, and caprice, she, nevertheless, I
+knew, mingled a capacity for warm affection and kindly feeling, or,
+rather, what one might call a constitutional good-nature, and was
+lavishly generous to her favourites and dependants.  She was a Princess
+in every sense of the word, her right royal wilfulness and impatience
+often fathering the strangest caprice.  There were actually moments when
+she seemed desirous of picking a quarrel with such immensities as time
+and space, and, with the air of a lioness at bay, regarded those who
+dared to remember what she chose to forget.
+
+She had given me but little time to decide.  To-morrow at eleven she
+would slip away from her guests and await me in that long, tunnel-like
+passage leading through the forest to the ancient town of Moret, at the
+confluence of the willow-lined Loing with the broad Seine.  Its walls
+and gates, dating from the time of Charlemagne, still remain, and right
+in the heart of the little town stands the square old donjon keep, now
+ivy-grown and with its moat full of a profusion of sweet-smelling
+tea-roses.
+
+I could save England if, in return for her secret, I gave her my love.
+Has any man ever found himself in similar perplexity?
+
+Calmly I reasoned with myself, turning again to her letter, and feeling
+convinced that this sudden passion of hers was but a momentary caprice.
+No woman, if she were cool and reasonable, would have acted as she had
+done, for she must have recognised that the difference in our stations
+rendered marriage impossible.
+
+My duty to my country was to learn the truth about this gigantic
+conspiracy; yet, at the same time, my duty towards myself and towards
+the Princess was to leave Chantoiseau at once and forget all that had
+occurred.  Signs had not been wanting in Paris during the past few days
+to corroborate what she had told me regarding the conspiracy of certain
+Powers against the prestige of their hated rival England.  There was a
+lull in diplomatic affairs that was ominous; a distinctly oppressive
+atmosphere which foreboded a storm.
+
+Far into the night I sat thinking, trying to devise some plan by which I
+could obtain knowledge of her secret without committing myself.  But I
+could find none--absolutely none.
+
+At early morning, before the others were astir, I took a stroll down the
+hill to where the clear Seine wound beneath the chalk cliff.  The larks
+were soaring high, filling the air with their song.  The boatmen going
+down-stream shouted wittily to each other between their hands, and the
+bronzed villagers on their way to work in the vineyards chanted merrily
+the latest popular airs.  Life is easy and prosperous among the
+peasantry around the Fontainebleau forest.  In those clean white
+villages of the Department of Seine et Marne there is little, if any,
+poverty.  I wandered through the pretty, flower-embowered village of
+Thomery, and, crossing the river by the long iron bridge, entered the
+smiling little hamlet of Champagne--a quaint and comely group of small
+cottages, where lived the vineyard-workers.  This hamlet is famous for
+miles round because of a particularly venomous breed of vipers which
+infest the sun-kissed lands in its neighbourhood.  Although only six
+o'clock, the prosperous little place was already busy, and as I wandered
+through the village, past the grey old church, and along the wide,
+well-kept road beside the river, I smiled to think that the name of that
+old-world place was known everywhere from Piccadilly to Peru, and was
+synonymous with wealth, luxury, and riotous living.
+
+Heedless as to where I went, so deeply engaged was I in conflicting
+feelings and in trying to determine whether I should keep that
+appointment on the footpath to Moret, at last I found myself in
+Samoreau, where, crossing by the ferry, I returned to the forest, and at
+eight o'clock was back again, idling with several of the guests on the
+lawn in front of the chateau.
+
+After drinking my coffee, I sat in the window of one of the petit salons
+that overlooked the valley and took up a pen, meaning to write to my
+hostess, for I had resolved to send her a note of regret, and return at
+once to Paris.  I could remain there no longer.
+
+Scarcely had I taken the note-paper from the escritoire, when the
+Baroness de Chalencon entered, fussy as usual and full of the excursion
+to Barbison.
+
+"Leonie tells me you are not accompanying us," she cried in French.
+"I've been searching for you everywhere.  Why, my dear Gerald, you must
+come."
+
+"I regret, Baronne, that I can't," I answered.  "I have to go to Paris
+by the midday train."
+
+"How horribly unsociable you are!" she exclaimed.  "Surely you can
+postpone your journey to Paris!  Wolkenstein and the others have
+declared that we can't do without you."
+
+"Express to them my regrets," I said.  "But to-day it is utterly
+impossible.  I must be at the Embassy this afternoon.  I have important
+business there."
+
+"Well, I suppose if you failed to put in an appearance, a crisis in
+Europe would not result, would it?" she observed with a touch of grim
+irony.  "At the Rue de Lille or the Rue de Varenne," she added, meaning
+the German and Austrian Embassies, "they take things far more easily
+than you do.  That's the worst of you English--you are always so very
+enthusiastic and so painfully businesslike."
+
+"I am compelled to do my duty," I answered briefly.
+
+"Most certainly," answered the Baroness.  "But you might surely be
+sociable as well!  This is not like you, M'sieur Ingram."
+
+"I must apologise, Baronne," I said.  "But, believe me, it is impossible
+for me to go to Barbison to-day.  I have urgent correspondence here to
+attend to, and afterwards I must run up to Paris."
+
+When she saw that I was firm, she reluctantly left me, saying as she
+disappeared through the door:
+
+"I really don't know what is coming to you.  You are not at all the
+light and soul of the summer picnics, as you once used to be."
+
+"I'm growing old," I shouted with a laugh.
+
+She halted, turned back, and, putting her head inside the room again,
+retorted in a low, distinct voice:
+
+"Or have fallen in love--which is it?"
+
+I treated her suggestion with ridicule, and in the end she retired,
+laughing merrily, for at heart she was a pleasant woman, with whom I was
+always on excellent terms of friendship.
+
+Then I sat down again to write, hoping to remain undisturbed.  But
+although I held the pen poised in my hand I could think of no excuse.
+Three carriages drew up before the chateau, the coachmen wearing those
+handsome scarlet vests, conical hats, and many gold buttons, which
+together represent the mode in Fontainebleau and at Monte Carlo; and the
+guests, a merry, laughing, chattering crowd, mounted into the vehicles.
+Big picnic baskets, with the gilt tops of champagne bottles peeping out,
+were placed in a light cart to follow the excursionists, and two of the
+guests--men from Vienna--mounted the horses held by the grooms.  Then,
+when all was ready, the whips cracked, there was a loud shouting of
+farewells to the hostess, who stood directing her servants, and the
+whole party moved off and away to the leafy forest lying below.
+
+I looked down from the window, and saw the Princess standing on the
+drive--a sweet, girlish figure in her white dress, her slim waist
+girdled with blue, and her fair hair bound tightly beneath her
+sailor-hat.  She scarcely looked more than nineteen as she stood there
+in the morning sunlight, smiling and waving her little hand to her
+departing guests.
+
+She glanced up suddenly, and I drew back from the window to escape
+observation.  So gentle so tender, so fair was she.  And yet I feared
+her--just as I feared myself.
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.
+
+A WOMAN'S HEART.
+
+Reader, I do not know what influence it was that overcame me in that
+breathless hour of perplexity and indecision: whether it was the
+fascination of her beauty; whether it was owing to the fact that I
+unconsciously entertained some affection for her; or whether it was
+because my sense of duty to my country urged me to endeavour to learn
+the secret of the conspiracy formed against her by the Powers of Europe.
+To-day, as I sit here writing down this strange chapter of secret
+diplomacy, I cannot decide which of these three influences caused me to
+throw my instinctive caution to the winds and keep the appointment in
+the leafy forest glade that led through the beeches to Veneux Nadon and
+on to quiet old Moret.
+
+Instinctively I felt myself in danger--that if I allowed myself to
+become fascinated by this capricious, impulsive woman, it would mean
+ruin to us both.  Yet her beauty was renowned through Europe, and the
+illustrated papers seemed to vie with each other in publishing her new
+portraits.  Her confession to me had been sufficient to turn the head of
+any man.  Nevertheless, with a fixed determination not to allow myself
+to fall beneath the fascination of those wonderful eyes, I strolled down
+the forest-path and awaited her coming.
+
+Soon she approached, walking over the mossy ground noiselessly, save for
+the quick swish of her skirts; and then with a glad cry of welcome, she
+grasped my hand.
+
+"Ah!" she exclaimed, a slight flush mounting to her delicate,
+well-moulded cheeks, "you received my note last night, Gerald?  Can you
+forgive me?  I am a woman, and should not have written so."
+
+"Forgive!"  I repeated.  "Of course I forgive you anything, Leonie."
+
+"You think none the worse of me for it?" she urged, speaking rapidly in
+French.  "Indeed, I allowed my pen to run away, and now I regret it."
+
+I breathed more freely.  Her attitude was that of a woman who, conscious
+of error, now wished it to be forgotten.
+
+"To regret is quite unnecessary," I assured her in a low voice of
+sympathy.  "We are all of us human, and sometimes we err."
+
+Silence fell between us for a few moments.  It struck me that she was
+striving strenuously to preserve her self-restraint.
+
+"You will destroy that letter, promise me," she urged, looking
+piercingly into my face.  "It was foolish--very foolish--of me to write
+it."
+
+"I have done so," I answered, although, truth to tell, it still remained
+in my pocket.
+
+"And you will not despise me because in an hour of foolishness I
+confessed my love for you?"
+
+"I shall never despise you, Leonie," I answered.  "We have always been
+good friends, but never lovers.  The latter we never shall be."
+
+She looked at me quickly, with a strange expression.
+
+"Never?" she asked, in a tone so low that I could scarcely catch the
+word.
+
+"Never," I responded.
+
+Her laces stirred as her breast rose and fell, and I saw that she
+herself was endeavouring to evade my query, although at the same time
+her heart was full of the same impetuous passion which had so much
+amazed me on the previous night.  I had spoken plainly, and my single
+word, uttered firmly, had crushed her.
+
+It occurred to me that I had made a mistake.  I had not acted
+diplomatically.  I knew, alas! that I was, and always had been, a
+terrible blunderer in regard to women's affections.  Some men are
+unlucky in their love-affairs.  I was one of them.
+
+We walked slowly together side by side for some distance, neither
+uttering a word.  At last I halted again, and, taking her hand, bent
+earnestly to her, saying:
+
+"Now, Leonie, let us put aside any sentimentality and talk reasonably."
+
+"Ah!" she said, her eyes flashing quickly, "you do not love me.  Put
+aside sentiment indeed!  How can I put it aside?"
+
+"But a moment ago you suggested that we should forget what passed
+between us yesterday."
+
+"I did so in order to test you--to see whether you had a spark of
+affection for me in your heart.  But the bare, cold truth is now
+exposed.  You have not!"
+
+Her face was ashen, and her magnificent eyes had a strange look in them.
+
+"Could you respect me and count me your friend, Leonie, if I feigned an
+affection which did not really exist within me?"  I asked.  "Reason with
+yourself for a moment.  Had I been unscrupulous towards you I might
+yesterday have told you that I reciprocated your affection, and--"
+
+"And you do not?" she cried.  "Tell me the truth plainly, once and for
+all."
+
+"You offered me in exchange for my love a secret which would enable me
+to defeat the enemies of my country, and probably cause my advancement
+in the diplomatic service.  You offered me the greatest temptation
+possible."
+
+"No;" she said, putting up her hand, "do not use the word temptation."
+
+"I will call it inducement, then.  Well, this inducement was strong
+enough to persuade me to break the bond of friendship between us, and to
+cause me to occupy a false position.  But I have hesitated, because--"
+
+"Because you do not love me," she said quickly, interrupting me.
+
+"No, Leonie," I protested.  "Between us it is hard to define the exact
+line where friendship ends and love begins.  Our own discretion should
+be able to define it.  Tell me, which do you prefer--a firm friend--or a
+false lover?"
+
+"You are too coldly philosophical," she answered.  "I only put it to you
+from a common-sense standpoint."
+
+"And which position is to be preferred?" she asked.  "Your own, as that
+of a diplomatist with a paltry fifty thousand francs or so a year, and
+compelled to worry yourself over every trifling action of those who
+represent the Courts of your enemies; or that of my husband, with an
+income that would place you far above the necessity of allowing your
+brain to be worried by everyday trifles?"
+
+She paused, and her lips trembled.  Then with a sudden desperate passion
+she went on:
+
+"People say that I am good-looking, and my mirror tells me so; yet you,
+the man I love, can see in me no beauty that is attractive.  To you I am
+simply a smart woman who is at the same time a princess--that is all."
+
+"I am no flatterer, Leonie," I cried quickly.  "But as regards personal
+beauty you are superb, incomparable.  Remember what Vian said when he
+painted your portrait for the Salon--that you were the only woman he had
+ever painted whose features together made a perfect type of beauty."
+
+"Ah! you remember that!" she said, smiling with momentary satisfaction.
+"I thought you had forgotten it.  I fear that my beauty is not what it
+was five years ago."
+
+"You are the same to-day as when we first met and were introduced.  It
+was at Longchamps.  Do you remember?"
+
+"Remember?  I recollect every incident of that day," she answered.  "You
+have been ever in my mind since."
+
+"As a friend, I hope."
+
+"No, as a lover."
+
+"Impossible," I declared.  "Do reason for an instant, Leonie.  At this
+moment I am proud to count myself among your most intimate personal
+friends, but love between us would only result in disaster.  If we
+married, the difference in our stations would be as irksome to you as to
+me; and if I did not love you, the link would only cause us both
+unhappiness, and, in a year or two, estrangement."
+
+"Only if you did not love me.  If you loved me it would be different."
+
+"You would still be a princess and I a struggling diplomatist."
+
+"It would make no difference.  Our love would be the same," she answered
+passionately.  "Ah, Gerald, you cannot tell how very lonely my life is
+without a single person to care for me!  I think I am the most
+melancholy woman in all the world.  True, I have wealth, position, and
+good looks, the three things that the world believes necessary for the
+well-being of women; but I lack one--the most necessary of them all--the
+affection of the man I love."
+
+"I can't help it, Leonie!"  I cried.  "Indeed, it is not my fault that
+my friendship does not overstep the bounds.  Some day it may, but I tell
+you frankly and honestly that at present it does not.  I am your friend,
+earnest and devoted to you--a friend such as few women have, perhaps.
+Were I not actually your friend I should now, at this moment, become
+selfish, feign love, and thus become your bitterest enemy."
+
+"You are cold as ice," she answered hoarsely, in a low tone of
+disappointment.
+
+Her countenance fell, as though she were utterly crushed by my
+straightforward declaration.
+
+"No, you misunderstand," I replied, taking her hand tenderly in mine,
+and speaking very earnestly.  "To-day the romance that exists within the
+breast of every woman is stirred within you, and causes you to utter the
+same words as you did at sixteen, when your first love was, in your
+eyes, a veritable god.  You will recall those days--days when youth was
+golden, and when the world seemed a world of unceasing sunshine and of
+roses without thorns.  But you, like myself, have obtained knowledge of
+what life really is, and have become callous to so much that used to
+impress and influence us in those long-past days.  We have surely both
+of us taught ourselves to pause and to reason."
+
+She hung her head in silence, as if she w'ere a scolded child, her looks
+fixed upon the ground.
+
+"My refusal to mislead you into a belief that I love you is as painful
+to me as it is to you, Leonie," I went on, still holding her hand in
+mine.  "I would do anything rather than cause you a moment's trouble and
+unhappiness, but I am determined that I will not play you false.  These
+are plain, hard words, I know; but some day you will thank me for them--
+you will thank me for refusing to entice you into a marriage which could
+only bring unhappiness to both of us."
+
+"I shall never thank you for breaking my heart," she said in a sad
+voice, looking up at me.  "You cannot know how I suffer, or you would
+never treat me thus!"
+
+"The truth is always hardest to speak," I answered, adding, in an
+attempt to console her: "Let us end it all, and return to our old style
+of friendship."
+
+"I cannot!" she said, shaking her head--"I cannot!" and she burst into
+tears.
+
+I stood beside her in the forest-path, helpless and perplexed.  Was it
+possible, I wondered, that the plot of the Powers against England
+existed only in her imagination, and that she had invented it in order
+to use it as a lever to gain my affections?  She was a clever,
+resourceful woman--that I knew; but never during the course of our
+friendship had I found her guilty of double-dealing or of attempting to
+deceive me in any way whatever.  More than once, when she reigned in
+Paris as queen of Society, she had whispered to me secrets that had been
+of the greatest use to us at the Embassy; and once, owing to her, we had
+been forearmed against a dastardly attempt on the part of an enemy to
+assist the Boers to defy us.  A niece of the Emperor of Austria, she was
+received at the various Courts of Europe, and visited several of the
+reigning sovereigns; therefore, she was always full of such
+tittle-tattle as is ever busy among those who live beneath the shadow of
+a throne, and was far better informed as to political affairs than many
+of the ambassadors; yet withal she was eminently cautious and discreet,
+and, if she wished, could be as silent as the grave.  Nevertheless,
+although signs were many that the war-cloud had again arisen and was
+once more hanging heavily over Europe, I could not bring myself to
+believe that the plot now hatched was quite as serious as she made it
+out to be.  The world of diplomacy in Paris is full of mares' nests, and
+alarms are almost of daily occurrence.  When events do not conspire to
+create them, then those ingenious gentlemen, the Paris correspondents of
+the great journals, sit down and invent them.  The centre of diplomatic
+Europe is Paris, which is also the centre of the canards, those
+ingeniously concocted stories which so often throw half Europe into
+alarm, and for which the sensational journalists alone are responsible.
+
+"Come, Leonie," I said tenderly at last, "this is no time for tears.  I
+regret exceedingly that this interview is so painful, but it is my duty
+towards you as a man and as your friend to be firm in preventing you
+from taking a step which after a short time you would bitterly repent."
+
+"If you become my husband I shall never repent!" she cried.  "You are
+the only man I have ever loved.  I did not love the Prince as I love
+you!  I know," she added, panting--"I know how unseemly it is that I, a
+woman, should utter these words; but my heart is full, and my pent-up
+feelings are now revenging themselves for their long imprisonment."
+
+I felt myself wavering.  This woman who had thrown herself into my arms,
+was wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of avarice, world-renowned for her
+beauty and high intellect--a woman altogether worthy and noble.  Each
+moment her powers of fascination grew stronger, and I felt that, after
+all, I was treating her affection with slight regard, for I was now
+convinced that her love was no mere caprice or sudden passion.
+
+Yet, after all, my belief in woman's honesty and purity had been shaken
+by the discovery that Yolande was a spy and that Edith, after all her
+protestations, had a secret lover.  These two facts caused me, I think,
+to regard the Princess with some suspicion, although at the same time I
+could not disguise from myself the truth that her emotion was real and
+her passion genuine.
+
+"Your confession is but the confession of an honest woman, Leonie," I
+said with tenderness.  "But what has passed between us must be
+forgotten.  You tempt me to assume a position that I could not maintain.
+Think for a moment.  Is it right?  Is it just either to yourself or to
+me?"
+
+"Will you not accept the offer I made you yesterday?" she asked in the
+tone of one desperate, her eyes fixed upon mine in fierce earnestness.
+
+"Will you not learn the secret and save your country from ignominy?"
+
+I held my breath, and my eyes fixed themselves on hers.  Her
+tear-stained face was blanched to the lips.
+
+"No, Leonie," I answered.  "Anxious as I am to save England from the net
+which her unscrupulous enemies have spread for her, I refuse to do so at
+the cost of your happiness."
+
+"And that decision is irrevocable?" she asked, with a quick look of
+menace.
+
+"It is irrevocable," I replied.
+
+"Yes, I know," she said in a hoarse whisper--"because another woman
+holds you in her toils!  Well, we shall see!" and she laughed bitterly,
+the swift fire of jealousy flashing for an instant in the brilliant eyes
+that half Europe had delighted to praise.  "I love you," she continued,
+"and some day you will love me.  Meanwhile, my secret is my own."
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.
+
+THE UNEXPECTED.
+
+A fortnight passed uneventfully.  After that morning walk with the
+Princess I left Chantoiseau and returned to Paris.  My presence at the
+chateau after what had passed between us was as dangerous to her as to
+me.  I wrote her a letter of farewell and went back to the capital that
+same afternoon.
+
+In response, she had sent me a wildly worded note by a manservant, in
+which she declared that the reason I cast aside her love was because of
+the attractions of some other woman.  This letter, together with the
+letter she had sent to my room, I kept locked in a drawer in the little
+den which served me as study and smoking-room.  Now that they were safe
+under lock and key, I resolved to forget their curious and romantic
+history.
+
+But the one matter uppermost in my mind was the alleged plot by the
+Powers against England.  As I had given the Princess my word of honour
+not to mention it to a soul, I was unable to consult Lord Barmouth, and
+was compelled to wait and watch for signs that the conspiracy was in
+progress.
+
+Those days were full of fevered anxiety.  His Excellency was absent in
+the country, and the duties of the Embassy devolved upon myself.  The
+facts that the German Ambassador had travelled suddenly to Berlin to
+consult the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and that urgent despatches were
+being exchanged daily between the Austrian Embassy and Vienna, seemed to
+me to establish the truth of Leonie's statement.  I met my friends
+Volkouski and Korniloff, the Russian attaches, in the Grand Cafe one
+evening, and we spent an hour together over our consommation down at the
+Alcazar, in the Champs Elysees; but they apparently knew nothing, or, if
+they did, naturally hesitated to expose their secret.  Hither and
+thither I sought for evidence, and with my suspicions aroused found
+confirmation of the Princess's story in every diplomatic action.  The
+German Emperor made a speech in Berlin in which, with many references to
+his grandfather and the Fatherland, he assured Europe that never in
+recent history had peace been so firmly established among nations; and
+both from Rome and St. Petersburg came news of unusual inactivity.  That
+calm foreboded a storm.
+
+As those hot, anxious days went slowly past I strove to form some theory
+as to the manner in which the conspiracy had been arranged and as to the
+persons chiefly responsible, but could find none.
+
+Had not Leonie plainly told me that this dastardly plot among jealous
+nations aimed directly at the undermining of the British power, the ruin
+of England's prestige, and the destruction of her supremacy on the sea?
+I, as a diplomatist, knew too well the vulnerability of our Empire.  We
+have patriotism, it is true, for the sons of England will ever shed the
+last drop of their blood in the defence of their beloved country; but
+something more than patriotism is now necessary for successful defence.
+In these days, when Europe is daily arming and small republics, backed
+by certain of the Powers, amuse themselves by twisting the Lion's tail,
+an efficient British army is necessary, as well as a navy that must be
+stronger than that of the rest of the world.  We at the embassies know
+how, by descending to methods which we as Englishmen scorn to use, our
+enemies are often able to outwit and checkmate us; and we know also that
+in England foreign spies are allowed to come and go at will, and that
+the interesting gentlemen whom we welcome are gradually elaborating
+their plans for the invasion of our shores.
+
+Many there are who laugh at the idea of an invasion of England, but
+every diplomatist in Europe knows well that the problem is discussed in
+every military centre on the Continent, and that in certain quarters
+strategists have drawn up plans by which the catastrophe can undoubtedly
+be accomplished.  Therefore, in spite of the sneers of those who rest
+upon a false belief in their insular security, we should be in a
+condition not only to defend, but to defy--a condition which, to our
+sorrow, does not at present exist.
+
+The Princess had offered me such information as would enable me to crush
+the conspiracy against us, and I had refused her terms.  Sometimes, as I
+sat alone in my room thinking, I felt that I had made a mistake, and
+that I ought, in the interests of my country, to have accepted.  Then,
+at others, I felt glad that I had had the courage to refuse her
+conditions, and to leave her as I had done.  As she had learned the
+truth from the Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria, the secret must be
+known in the Court circle at Vienna.
+
+Yet unfortunately it was impossible for me to go there, and equally
+impossible, after giving my word of honour to Leonie, to explain my
+fears to Kaye and allow the secret service to make inquiries.  I knew
+from many signs that catastrophe was imminent, but was utterly powerless
+to avert it.
+
+Reader, place yourself for a single moment in my position--your own
+honour at stake on the one hand, and that of your country on the other.
+It seemed base to speak, base to keep silence.
+
+I shall not easily forget what I suffered during this period of anxious
+inactivity.  The weeks went by, Lord Barmouth came back sun-tanned and
+jovial, and all the other representatives of the European Courts
+returned one by one after their summer leave.  Parisians, driven away by
+wet weather, deserted the plages, the chateaux, and the various inland
+watering-places; and from Dieppe and Trouville, Arcachon and Luchon,
+Vichy and Aix, Royat and Contrexeville the crowds of mothers and
+daughters, with a sprinkling of fathers, came gaily back to their
+favourite boulevards, their favourite magasins, and their favourite
+cafes.  Paris was herself again--for the winds were cold, the leaves in
+the boulevards were falling in showers, and the wet pavements were
+rendered disagreeable on account of them.
+
+One afternoon towards the end of November I entered my little flat with
+my latchkey, and walked straight into my sitting-room, when, to my
+surprise, a beautiful girl rose from the chair in which she had been
+sitting, and, without speaking a word, held out her hand.
+
+"You--Edith!"  I gasped, utterly taken aback.
+
+"Yes," she said in a strained voice.  "Will you not welcome me?  Your
+man said he expected you every moment, and asked me to await you.  I
+ought not to have come here, to your chambers, I know, but being in
+Paris I could not resist."
+
+"I never dreamed that you were here.  Is your aunt with you?"
+
+"Yes," she replied.  "I have at last managed to persuade her to winter
+on the Italian Riviera."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"At San Remo.  Our vicar at Ryburgh stayed there for a month last
+winter, and gave us a most glowing account of it.  Judging from the
+photographs, it must be a most delightful place--quite an earthly
+paradise for those wishing to avoid the English frost and fogs.  Do you
+know it?"
+
+"Yes," I answered, seating myself in a chair opposite her.  "I've been
+there once.  It is, as you anticipate, perfectly charming.  You will no
+doubt enjoy yourself immensely."
+
+Her lips compressed, and her eyes were fixed upon mine.
+
+"I shall, I fear, not have much enjoyment," she sighed sadly.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"You know why well enough," she answered in a tone of bitter reproach.
+
+"Because we are parted," I said.  "Well, Edith, I, too, regret it.  But
+need we discuss that incident further?  We are still friends, and I am
+glad that you have not passed through Paris without sparing an hour to
+call upon me."
+
+"But it is to discuss it that I came here," she protested quickly.  Her
+rich fur cape had slipped from her shoulders and lay behind her in my
+big armchair.  In her black tailor-made gown and her elegant hat, which
+bore the unmistakable stamp of having been purchased since her arrival
+in Paris, she looked smart and attractive.  Her pure, open face was
+exquisite to behold, even though a trifle thinner and paler than on that
+summer's day when we had wandered by the river and she had pledged her
+love to me.  But as she sat before me toying with her bracelet, from
+which a dozen little charms were hanging, the remembrance of her base
+deception flashed through my brain.  I held her in suspicion--and
+suspicion of this kind is the seed of hatred.
+
+"I cannot see what there is to discuss," I answered coldly, at the same
+time ringing and ordering tea for her.  "Nor can I see," I added, "what
+good there is in reopening a chapter in our lives which ought to be for
+ever closed."
+
+"No, Gerald," she cried, "don't say that!  Those words break my heart.
+It is not closed.  You do not understand."
+
+"To speak of it only causes pain to both of us," I said.  "Cannot you
+visit me as a friend and resolve not to discuss the unfortunate affair?"
+
+"No," she declared quickly, "I cannot.  I have come to you to-day,
+Gerald, to explain and to ask your forgiveness.  My aunt is confined to
+her room with a headache, and I have managed to slip away from the hotel
+and come to you here."
+
+"Well?"  I asked rather coldly.
+
+I confess that her visit annoyed me, for I saw in her attitude a desire
+to make such explanations as would satisfy me; but, taught by
+experience, I was resolved to accept no word from her as the truth.  She
+had deceived me once; and although she was the only woman I had really
+loved honestly and well, her wiles and fascinations had no longer any
+power over me.
+
+"Gerald," she exclaimed, as she rose suddenly, crossed the space between
+us, and, after placing her arms about my neck, sank upon her knees at my
+side, "I ask your forgiveness."
+
+She spoke in a manner the most intense; and I saw how nervous and
+anxious she was.  Yes, she had altered considerably since that day at
+Ryburgh when we had strolled together in the sunset and I had told her
+of my love, her features were sharper, paler, and more refined.  Grief
+had left its imprint upon that sweet, pure countenance, which had always
+reminded me so vividly of Van Dyck's "Madonna" in the Pitti at Florence.
+Do you know it?  You will find it--a small picture too often unnoticed,
+only a foot square, hung low down in the Saloon of the Painters.  It
+shows a marvellously beautiful face, perfect in its contour, graced by a
+sweet and childlike mouth with the true Cupid's bow, and with eyes dark
+and searching.  This perfect type of beauty so markedly resembled Edith
+that its photograph might almost be accepted as a portrait of her.
+
+There, on her knees, she twice besought my forgiveness.  But I remained
+silent.  To forgive was impossible, I knew; nevertheless, I had no
+desire to cause her pain.  Her face told me that she had already
+suffered sufficiently in the months that had elapsed since I had bidden
+her farewell at the little railway-station in rural England.
+
+"Speak!" she cried.  "Tell me, Gerald, that you love no one else beside
+myself--that--that you will forgive me!"
+
+Turning to her, I grasped her hand, and, looking straight into those
+eyes which I had once believed to be so full of truth, honesty, and
+affection, I answered earnestly:
+
+"I love no woman on earth except yourself, Edith.  But to forgive is
+quite impossible."
+
+"No!" she cried wildly--"no! you cannot be cold and callous if you
+really love me.  See! here at your feet I beseech of you to allow me to
+prove my innocence and show my love for you!"
+
+"I once believed implicitly in you, Edith," I said very gravely, still
+holding her hand; "but the discovery that you met your lover
+clandestinely beneath the very window of my room has so shaken my
+confidence that it is utterly impossible for you ever to re-establish
+it."
+
+"But he is not my lover!" she protested, her blanched face upturned to
+mine.  "I swear he is not; nor has he ever been."
+
+"I have no proof of your declaration," I answered, shaking my head
+dubiously.
+
+"Except my oath," she gasped in desperation.  "Cannot you accept that?
+I swear by all I hold most sacred," she cried, lifting her head and
+raising her face to Heaven--"I swear that I entertain no spark of
+affection for that man, and that he has never been my lover!"
+
+"Then who is he?"  I demanded.  "What is his name?"
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
+
+ON THE CROOKED WAY.
+
+She held her breath.  Her hand trembled within my grasp.  Then, after a
+moment, she faltered:
+
+"He is not my lover.  Is not my declaration sufficient?"
+
+"No, it is not," I responded harshly.  "If he is nothing to you, as you
+allege, then why did you meet him secretly at night, and make an
+appointment to meet again after I had left Ryburgh?"
+
+"Because I was forced to--because--"
+
+"Because you have allowed that shabby adventurer to love you!"  I
+interrupted.  "Because you have played me false!"
+
+"I deny it!" she protested, a gleam of defiance flashing for an instant
+in her eyes.  "I have never played you false, Gerald.  The charge
+against me is utterly false and unfounded."
+
+"Then perhaps you will explain this wandering visitor's business with
+you."
+
+"I would tell you all--all that has passed between us, but I dare not.
+My every action is watched, and if I breathed a single word to you he
+would know; and then--"
+
+"And what would happen then, pray?"  I asked with some surprise, for I
+now saw that she entertained a deadly fear of her midnight visitor; it
+was evident that he held some mysterious power over her.
+
+"The result would be disastrous," she replied in a mechanical tone of
+voice.
+
+"In what way?"
+
+"Not only would it upset all the plans I have formed, but would in all
+probability be the cause of my own ruin--perhaps even of my suicide,"
+she added.
+
+"I don't understand you, Edith," I said, turning again to her, in the
+hope that she would confide in me.  "How would it cause your ruin?  If
+you hesitate to tell me the truth, then it is certain that you fear some
+exposure."
+
+"You are quite right," she answered, meeting my gaze unflinchingly; "I
+do fear exposure."
+
+"Then you admit your guilt?  You admit that what I have alleged is the
+actual truth?"
+
+"I do not, for a single instant.  The charge is false, and without the
+slightest foundation," she asserted.  "You saw me speaking with him, you
+may have overheard our conversation, and you no doubt believe that he is
+my lover.  But I tell you he is not."
+
+"His movements were mysterious," I said dubiously.  "I followed him."
+
+"You followed him!" she gasped, all colour leaving her face in an
+instant.  "You actually followed him!  Where did he go?"
+
+She spoke as though she feared that I had discovered the truth as to his
+identity and calling.
+
+"To a village some little distance away," I replied ambiguously; "and I
+there discovered one or two things which increased my interest in him."
+
+"What did you discover?  Tell me," she urged, grasping my hand
+anxiously.
+
+"What I discovered only led me still further to the belief that he held
+you within his power."
+
+"I have already admitted that," she exclaimed.  "I am perfectly frank in
+that respect."
+
+"And you will not tell me the reason?  If you refuse to be open and
+straightforward with me, there surely can be no love between us.
+Confidence is the first step towards the union of man with woman."
+
+"I will tell you the reason," she replied in a strange voice, almost as
+though she were speaking to herself.  "It is because a secret exists
+between us."
+
+"Ah!"  I cried, "I thought so.  The secret of a love-affair--eh?"
+
+"It concerns a love-affair, it is true, but not our own."
+
+"Oh, now this is interesting!"  I cried with bitter sarcasm.  "You are
+bound to each other because of your common knowledge of the love-affair
+of a third person.  That is curious, to say the least of it.  No," I
+added, "I'm afraid, Edith, I cannot accept such a remarkable
+explanation, notwithstanding the ingenuity displayed in its
+construction."
+
+"In other words, you insinuate that I am lying to you!" she exclaimed,
+her cheeks flushing with indignation.
+
+"I do not use the term `lying,'" I said with a smile; "the word
+`prevarication' is more applicable.  A woman never lies."
+
+"You are not treating me seriously," she complained quickly.  "I have
+come here to tell you all that I can, and--"
+
+"And you have told me practically nothing," I interposed.
+
+"I have told you all that I dare at present," she answered.  "Some day,
+ere long, I hope to be in a position to make full confession to you, and
+then you will fully understand my action and appreciate the extreme
+difficulty and deadly peril in which I find myself at this moment."
+
+"You admit that you have a confession to make?"
+
+"Of course I admit it.  I wronged you when I met that man on the very
+night you were a guest beneath our roof.  It is but just that you should
+know the whole of the ghastly truth."
+
+"That is what I am endeavouring to obtain from you," I said.  "I want to
+know who that shabby fellow was, and why he took such pains to keep his
+presence in Great Ryburgh a secret."
+
+"He had some good reason, I presume," she replied.
+
+"Do you declare that you know absolutely nothing of his movements?"  I
+inquired.
+
+"I know but little of them."
+
+"How long have you been acquainted?"
+
+"Two years--perhaps a little longer."
+
+"And has he visited you often?"
+
+"No, at infrequent intervals."
+
+"Always at night?"
+
+"Always."
+
+"He evidently is a shrewd fellow, who does not wish his presence in that
+chattering little village to be known," I said with a laugh.  Then I
+added: "You went for moonlight rambles with him, I suppose?"
+
+"He wished to talk with me, and on such occasions we took one or other
+of the paths across the fields."
+
+"Very interesting," I said.  "And all this time you were causing me to
+believe that you were mine alone!  Are you surprised at my refusal to
+forgive?"
+
+"I should be if I were guilty of playing you false," she answered with
+slight haughtiness, as though my words wounded her self-respect.
+
+"If you were not guilty you would never endeavour to conceal your
+lover's name, as you are now doing!"  I exclaimed.
+
+"It is because I dare not tell you," she replied, with a look of
+desperation on her face.  "Were I to utter a word in explanation of the
+true state of affairs, all would be over, and both you and I would
+suffer."
+
+"How should I suffer?"  I asked with some interest.
+
+"The affair is much more curious and complicated than you imagine," she
+said.  "Knowledge of the truth could only bring ruin upon you."
+
+"Rubbish!"  I cried roughly, starting up.  "What have I to fear?"
+
+"No, Gerald," she implored, gripping my hand tightly, "do not treat this
+matter with indifference.  It is, I tell you, a grave one for both of
+us."
+
+"In what way?"
+
+"Ah," she sighed, "if only I might tell you!  If only I dared!"
+
+"If you love me as you did on that evening when we wandered beside the
+river, you would brave all these mythical dangers and tell me the truth,
+Edith," I said, bending towards her in a persuasive manner.
+
+"But, as I have explained, I cannot.  I will not--for your sake!"
+
+"How can knowledge of it possibly affect me?"  I cried.
+
+She paused for a moment and then answered: "There are certain hidden
+influences at work, of which you, Gerald, have no suspicion.  I alone am
+aware of the truth.  Cannot you place sufficient confidence in me--in
+the woman who loves you--to leave the matter in my hands?  Surely our
+interests are mutual!"
+
+"I have, I regret, no confidence," I said bluntly.
+
+"Ah! because you are jealous," she replied quite calmly.  "Well, that is
+but natural in the circumstances.  You discovered _him_, and you believe
+him to be my lover.  Nevertheless, your jealousy should not lead you
+into any rash action which might wreck your life."
+
+"You speak as though you are anxious with regard to my personal safety.
+What have I to fear?"
+
+"You have to fear the machinations of unscrupulous enemies," she said
+anxiously.  "You are living in ignorance of the peril that daily
+threatens you, and I--who love you so well--am unable to give you a
+single hint which might warn you of the pitfall so cunningly concealed."
+
+There was an earnestness in her tone which struck me as curious.  What
+could she, a girl living in a quiet country village in England, know
+about "the machinations of unscrupulous enemies?"  She spoke as though
+well versed in the diplomatic plots of Paris, even as though she would
+corroborate what the Princess had alleged.  It was odd, and caused me
+much reflection.  What could she possibly know?
+
+"It is only fair to me that you should warn me of the peril," I said at
+last.
+
+"Hush!" she whispered, looking round the room in fear; "the very walls
+have ears.  If it were believed that I had spoken to you of this, a
+catastrophe, terrible and complete, would ensue."
+
+"Really, Edith," I said, "you speak in enigmas.  I don't know what to
+believe."
+
+"Believe in me," she answered in a deep, earnest voice.  "Believe in my
+truth and purity as you did before, for I protest that never for a
+single instant have I forgotten the vows I made to you."
+
+"Ah," I said very sadly, "if I could only believe that you really love
+me, how happy I should be!  But as it is, I fear this to be quite
+impossible."
+
+"No," she wailed, tears welling in her eyes.  "Surely the sight of that
+man unknown to you has not destroyed all your belief in woman's honesty
+and affection?  You must, deep down in your heart, see that I love you
+firmly and well.  You cannot be so blind, Gerald, as to believe that
+here, to-day, I am playing you false!  Ah! if you only knew!" she
+sighed.  "If you only knew all that I am suffering, you would pity me,
+and you would take me in your embrace as once you used to do, and kiss
+me on the lips as a sign of your forgiveness.  I can suffer," she went
+on brokenly--"I can endure the awful anxiety and tribulation for your
+sake; I can cheerfully bear the jeers of men and the insults of women,
+but I cannot bear your coldness to me, because I love you, and because
+you once declared that you were mine."
+
+"This estrangement has arisen between us through your own fault," I
+answered.
+
+Just at this moment my man rapped smartly at the door, and Edith rose
+quickly from her knees before he entered with the tea.  The little
+silver service was a quaint relic of the Queen Anne period, which had
+long been in my family, and which was always admired by the brilliant
+Parisiennes who often did me the honour of taking a cup of English tea--
+not, of course, because they liked the beverage, but because to drink it
+is nowadays considered chic.  My man told me that a messenger had called
+from the Embassy, and I left the room for a few moments to see him.
+
+But Edith disregarded the fact that tea had been brought.  The instant I
+returned and the door had closed again, she came across to me, saying:
+
+"It was not my fault, Gerald; it was _his_.  He compelled me to meet
+him."
+
+"For what reason?"
+
+"He wished me to render him a service."
+
+"Of what character?"
+
+"That I cannot explain."
+
+"You of course acquiesced?"
+
+"No, I refused."
+
+"And yet the fact that you met him against your will shows in itself
+that you were in his power," I remarked.  "How was it that you could
+refuse?"
+
+She was silent a moment, standing before me wan and pale in her black
+dress, her gloved hands clasped before her.
+
+"I defied him," she answered simply.
+
+"Well?"  I inquired.
+
+"Well, that is the reason why I live in dread of a catastrophe."
+
+"Answer me this question, Yes or No.  Your mysterious visitor was a
+foreigner?"
+
+I recollected what the innkeeper's wife had told me--namely, that the
+word "Firenze" was on the tabs of his boots.
+
+"Yes," she answered in a half-whisper.
+
+"An Italian?"
+
+"How did you know that?" she gasped in quick surprise.
+
+"From my own inquiries," I answered.
+
+"But do take my advice," she cried earnestly, her hand upon my arm.
+"Make no further inquiries regarding him; otherwise I may be suspected
+and all my plans will be frustrated."
+
+"What plans?"
+
+"Plans I have made for our mutual protection," she whispered.  "If you
+knew all the details you would not be surprised at my anxiety that you
+should remain inactive and leave all to me.  I am but a woman;
+nevertheless, I am at least loyal to you, the man I love.  Forgive me,"
+she implored, raising her white, pained face to mine--"forgive me,
+Gerald, I beg and pray of you.  Have confidence in me, and I will some
+day, ere long, prove to you that I am, after all, worthy of your love."
+
+"Forgiveness is easy, but forgetfulness difficult," I said, taking her
+hand and looking straight into the dark splendour of those soft eyes.
+
+After the shrill-tongued, voluble foreign women by whom I was ever
+surrounded, this sweet English girl breathed peace and paradise to my
+wearied heart.
+
+"But you will forgive me?" she implored in deep earnestness.  "Say that
+you will!"
+
+Her attitude impressed upon me forcibly the conviction that, after all,
+she really loved me.  Nevertheless, the whole affair seemed so
+mysterious and perplexing that I found it difficult to regard her
+motives with unquestioning faith.  "Yes," I said at length, "I forgive
+you, Edith.  But until you can explain all the mystery, I tell you
+frankly that I cannot entertain full confidence in you."
+
+"You will, however, leave me to carry out the plan I have formed?" she
+urged anxiously.
+
+"If you wish."
+
+"And if I am denounced by one or other of my enemies, you will not
+believe that denunciation before I am at liberty to expose to you the
+whole truth?  Promise me that--do!"
+
+"Very well," I responded, "it shall be as you wish."
+
+Then as those words left my lips she sprang forward with a loud cry of
+joy, and, throwing her arms about my neck, kissed me wildly in joy,
+saying:
+
+"You shall never regret this decision, Gerald, never--_never_!"
+
+For fully an hour we sat together, our tea untouched, so preoccupied
+were we with the burden of our hearts; then, declaring that Aunt Hetty
+would miss her, she reluctantly rose.  When I had put her cape round her
+shoulders, we went downstairs together, I having promised to accompany
+her in a fiacre as far as the Grand Hotel.
+
+Just as we were about to step into the street, I encountered Kaye, who
+evidently wished to have a word with me.  As he raised his hat, I
+noticed how intently he was examining my companion's face; then he
+passed us and entered the wide hall leading to the stairs.  A moment
+later, however, he turned suddenly, and said:
+
+"Excuse me, Mr. Ingram, might I speak with you for one moment?  I see
+you are going out."
+
+"Certainly," I answered; and after excusing myself to Edith I moved off
+a few paces with him.
+
+The words he uttered were spoken in a whisper.  They startled me:
+
+"Have a care, Mr. Ingram," he said meaningly.  "We know that woman!"
+
+CHAPTER TWENTY NINE.
+
+KAYE IS PUZZLED.
+
+Having seen Edith as far as the Grand Hotel, I re-entered the fiacre and
+at once drove back to my own rooms, where I found the chief of the
+secret service awaiting me.
+
+"What do you mean by saying that you know that lady?"  I inquired
+breathlessly.
+
+"Simply that we know her, that's all," he replied, with an air of
+mystery.
+
+"Look here, Kaye," I said, "just tell me plainly and straightforwardly
+what you know regarding her?"
+
+"She's a person to be avoided, that's all."
+
+"To be avoided!"  I echoed.  "Why, surely she has no connection with the
+persons you are watching?  She lives in Norfolk, in a little country
+village, and scarcely ever comes abroad."
+
+"I know it," he answered with his sphinx-like smile.  "She lives at
+Great Ryburgh, near Fakenham, is in possession of a fair income, and has
+a maiden aunt as companion."
+
+"How did you know that?"  I demanded in surprise.
+
+"It is our duty to know all who are the enemies of England."
+
+"And is she an enemy?"
+
+"Most certainly," he replied.
+
+"I can't believe it, Kaye!"  I cried, aghast.  "I won't believe it!
+First you tell me that Yolande de Foville is a spy, and now you denounce
+Edith Austin."
+
+"I only tell you the truth," he answered, leaning against the table and
+folding his arms.
+
+"Then as you know so much about her, you probably know our
+relationship," I said, rather annoyed that this ubiquitous man, whose
+proclivities for fathoming a secret were prodigious, should have watched
+her.
+
+"I am quite well aware of it, Mr. Ingram," he responded; "and if I might
+be allowed to advise you, I should end it at once.  It is dangerous."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because she is playing you false."
+
+"How do you know that?"
+
+"By the same means that I know she is working against us--and against
+you.  If you knew the facts they would astound you.  Even I, with all my
+experience of the ways of felons and spies, was dumbfounded when I
+learnt the truth."
+
+"But can't you see that it's ridiculous to ask me to cast her aside
+without giving me any plain and ample reason?"
+
+"The reason is certainly sufficient," he replied.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"You visited her at Ryburgh some months ago, and suspected her of having
+a secret lover.  Is not that so?"
+
+"Extraordinary!"  I gasped.  "How did you know that?  You set your spies
+upon me!"  I added angrily.
+
+"No, not upon you," he said.  "She was already under observation."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because of some suspicion that had been aroused regarding the Ceuta
+incident."
+
+"Nonsense!"  I cried, unable to believe his allegation.  "What possible
+connection could she have with that?"
+
+"A rather intimate one, judging from the result of our inquiries."
+
+"In what manner?"
+
+"Well, as a secret agent."
+
+"In the employ of whom?"
+
+"Of France."
+
+"Of France?"  I echoed.  "Impossible!"
+
+"My dear Mr. Ingram," he protested, "I'm not in the habit of misleading
+you or of making statements which I can't substantiate.  I repeat that
+Miss Edith Austin, the lady who has been here with you this afternoon,
+is a French agent."
+
+"I can't believe it!"  I gasped, utterly staggered.  "Why, she's a
+simple, charming English girl, leading a quiet life in that sleepy
+little village, and scarcely seeing anybody for weeks together."
+
+"Exactly.  I don't deny that.  But as her affection for you is prompted
+by ulterior motives--pray pardon me for saying so--you should be
+forewarned; and this is the more desirable in view of the fact which you
+yourself discovered."
+
+"What fact?"
+
+"That she has a secret lover."
+
+"Ah!"  I cried eagerly.  "Tell me, who is he?"
+
+"An Italian named Bertini--Paolo Bertini."
+
+"Bertini," I repeated, the name sounding somewhat familiar.  "Surely
+I've heard that name before!"
+
+"Of course.  You remember, when you were in Brussels, the bold attempt
+he made one afternoon in your room at the Embassy?"
+
+"Ah!  I remember.  Why, of course!  And is he actually the same man?"
+
+In an instant I recalled the face of Edith's midnight visitor, and
+recollected where I had seen it on a previous occasion.
+
+Kaye's words brought back to me in that moment an incident which showed
+plainly the dastardly tricks of the foreign spies who constantly hover
+about every legation or embassy on the Continent.  One afternoon, years
+ago, in Brussels, a well-dressed, gentlemanly man called to see His
+Excellency, and was shown into my room.  Half an hour before, a Foreign
+Office messenger had arrived from London with despatches, and I was
+busily engaged in deciphering them when the servant showed in the
+stranger.  The latter, who introduced himself as a shipowner of Antwerp,
+was seated near my table, and was talking to me about a complaint he had
+recently lodged against one of our consuls, when suddenly he stopped,
+turned pale, and fell back in a faint.  I sprang up, and, rushing out of
+the room, went to get a glass of water.  Fortunately I had on thin
+shoes, and the carpet in the corridor was so thick that my feet fell
+noiselessly.  Judge of my surprise when, on my return, I saw my visitor
+standing in a perfect state of health with one of the deciphered
+despatches pinned against the wall and a camera in his hand!  He had
+actually photographed it during my absence.
+
+Without an instant's hesitation I sprang upon him from behind, wrenched
+the camera from his hand, shouted for help, and held him until some of
+the servants came, when he was taken in charge by the police.  After a
+short trial, during which it was proved that he was one of the cleverest
+spies employed by France, he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment
+for attempted theft, while the camera, together with the photographic
+films, was returned to us.  The latter, on being developed, proved
+extremely interesting and very valuable, for not only did we find the
+photograph of our own despatch, but those of three other secret
+documents taken in the Italian Embassy in Brussels.
+
+And it was this artful adventurer who had become Edith's lover.  She,
+young and inexperienced, had no doubt fallen his victim.  She had become
+enmeshed in the net he had spread for her, and was the subordinate by
+means of whom he intended to operate further against us.
+
+"What you tell me, Kaye, really staggers belief," I said after a pause.
+"That man is absolutely unscrupulous."
+
+"He's one of the most ingenious of all the army of secret agents.
+Indeed, I have a suspicion that he is the chief of the French spies
+operating in England.  His intimate acquaintance with your friend Miss
+Austin shows conclusively that he is contemplating a big coup."
+
+Had this matter, I wondered, any connection with the gigantic conspiracy
+of which the Princess had told me?  My promise of secrecy given to her
+prevented me from mentioning it to Kaye.  Only a few weeks ago the
+_Figaro_ had announced that Her Highness the Princess Leonie von
+Leutenberg had left the Chateau de Chantoiseau, and had returned to her
+mansion in the Frieung, in Vienna.  She had left France without sending
+me a word.
+
+"What connection had this man Bertini with the exposure of the Ceuta
+negotiations?"  I inquired.
+
+"He got to know of them by some means--how, I can't tell.  It is an
+absolute enigma."
+
+"And that despatch I brought from London, the exact contents of which
+were known a few hours after my return here, what of that?"
+
+"Through him, I feel assured," answered the clever man before me.  "I
+only returned from London three days ago.  I went myself to make
+inquiries."
+
+"And what did you find?"
+
+"He carries on the business of a jeweller, and has a small shop half-way
+up the Edgware Road, one of those cheap Brummagem places that sell
+earrings and brooches for servant-girls.  He poses as quite a
+respectable shopkeeper, and employs an Englishman as manager.  The
+signor, it appears, has many friends in London, and when they call to
+see him they are always shown to his private room over the shop.  I also
+learnt that your visitor of to-day has called upon him there."
+
+"Are you sure?"  I cried quickly.  "Are you absolutely certain of that?"
+
+"I gave her description and name to the manager, who said he recollected
+her calling there twice about three weeks ago.  Once his master was not
+in, but on the second occasion she had an interview with him.  It has
+more than once struck me as curious that this fellow Bertini should have
+been near you on the day of the mysterious theft of the contents of that
+despatch.  You don't think that he followed you from Ryburgh to London?"
+
+"I can't tell.  If he did, I had no suspicion of it.  And besides, not a
+soul except the Chief could have possibly obtained sight of that
+despatch.  I saw it written, saw it sealed, and it never left my
+possession for a single instant."
+
+"She did not accompany you to London?" he asked half-suspiciously.
+
+"Certainly not," I said.
+
+Then I told him all that occurred on that well-remembered night, and how
+I had wandered in the early morning over the country-side to the village
+inn where for a moment I saw the Italian.
+
+"Then he evidently saw and recognised you there!"  Kaye exclaimed
+quickly.  "In all probability he followed you to London.  That the copy
+of the despatch was transmitted to Paris by him is certain."
+
+"And with regard to the Ceuta incident?"
+
+"In that, I believe, he made Yolande de Foville his agent.  Undoubtedly
+it was through her ingenuity that Lord Barmouth's instructions leaked
+out."
+
+"But how could she possibly have known them?"  I demanded.  "Remember,
+you have denounced her as a spy, but as yet have given me no proof
+whatever."
+
+"You have sufficient proof in the fact that she fled in alarm from
+Paris, I should think."
+
+"But I understood from you that she was in the German service.  If so,
+she would certainly never ally herself with Bertini!"
+
+"He might, on the other hand, ally himself with her," remarked the
+secret agent shrewdly.  "It would be distinctly to his advantage if he
+could obtain her aid, for by means of her he could ascertain various
+facts which might be considered extremely valuable at the Quai d'Orsay."
+
+"It is all astounding!"  I declared, puzzled.  "Half the women one knows
+here seem to be secret agents.  Paris is just now a veritable hotbed of
+diplomatic intrigue."
+
+"I quite agree; and it all tends to show that never, in the history of
+Europe, has there been a blacker outlook than to-day."
+
+I was silent.  What he said was only too true; and, further, the
+mysterious exposure of the secret instructions contained in the despatch
+I had brought from London had thwarted English diplomacy throughout
+Europe, and tied the hands of all our ambassadors at the various Courts.
+Signs everywhere convinced me that the statement of the Princess was
+actually true, and that we were on the brink of a war in which the whole
+of Europe would be involved.
+
+Russia alone remained inactive.  It is the fashion of journalists who
+know nothing of the inner life of the diplomatic circle, and of alarmist
+writers who build up political theories for themselves, to abuse Russia
+and Russian methods.  We have been told for the past half-century that
+Russia means to seize India, merely because she has taken steps to
+colonise her enormous Asiatic possessions.  Why, a Russian ambassador in
+any one of the capitals may hardly pare his nails without a sensational
+article in the Press appearing next day.  All this is very amusing; for
+the truth is, Russia does not intend to be aggressive, nor does she want
+war.  Peaceful expansion of her commerce and the development of Siberia
+are her aims; and if certain journalists insist on exhibiting to us the
+war bogey, it is because they have never been in Russia, and know
+absolutely nothing of the conduct of Muscovite diplomacy.  This, it must
+be confessed, is, next to that of the Vatican, the second best in the
+world; but it is never aggressive; as every genuine diplomatist will
+hasten to admit.  Indeed, if the truth were told, there have been times
+in recent years when only the firmness of Russia and the peaceful policy
+of the Czar have averted war!
+
+It is the journalist, nearly always the journalist, who creates the
+European scares!  Because of this state of affairs, we at the embassies
+are compelled to be always on our guard against those ubiquitous writers
+who vie with one another in obtaining interviews.
+
+The present situation was, however, no journalistic canard, but a stern
+and perilous reality.  The tension of the acute crisis, which had been
+increasing ever since the Ceuta incident, was terrible.  Everywhere in
+diplomacy there was a spirit of reserve, which showed that the amity of
+nations was strained to its utmost limit.  War might be declared upon
+England at any moment.
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY.
+
+KNIGHTS OF INDUSTRY.
+
+After Kaye had left, I sat for a long time pondering over his words.
+The assertion that Edith was a spy helping Paolo Bertini staggered me.
+At first I could not believe it, but what he had told me left no room
+for doubt.  I recalled the man's face as he had passed down the inn
+passage and out into the village street, and with the clue that Kaye had
+furnished recognised him.  Without doubt all that the chief of the
+secret service had told me was true, for had not Edith herself refused
+to disclose the man's name or the character of their friendship?  Had
+she not at the same time acknowledged that he held power over her,
+invisible but complete, and that the betrayal of her secret would mean
+her ruin--perhaps even her death?
+
+I saw it all now, as I sat deep in doubt and perplexity.  Edith was
+staying at the Grand.  Should I call upon her aunt, and dine with them?
+My first impulse was to do this, for I felt anxious to obtain from her
+some further proof of her actual association with this adventurer; but,
+on reflection, I saw that such a course was not commendable, inasmuch as
+by calling I should perhaps arouse Aunt Hetty's suspicion that her niece
+had visited me.  Therefore, I resolved to send a petit bleu to Miss
+Foskett, stating that I had seen her name in the visitors' list and
+hoped to do myself the pleasure of calling on the following day after
+dejeuner.  This formality, which I at once proceeded to put in
+operation, would, I knew, greatly please the punctilious old spinster.
+
+That evening I dined at the Brasserie Nationale, in the Avenue de
+l'Opera, an establishment German in style, but one widely patronised of
+late.  Among other things, it is famous for its wonderful hors
+d'oeuvres; the wines, too, are always excellent and the cuisine not
+expensive.  Below is a beer-hall, always crowded during afternoon and
+evening; but above, in a salon decorated in the ancient German style,
+one finds a crowd of gaily dressed diners, Parisian in all respects.
+The foreign tourist happily never goes there, for he patronises the
+Gazal, a little farther along the avenue, where the dinner is prix-fixe,
+"two francs fifty, vin compris."
+
+At the tables sat several persons whom I knew, for it chanced to be a
+premiere at the Opera, and all Paris was dining in the vicinity.
+
+Mariani, a well-known journalist on the staff of the _Figaro_, lounged
+in and took a seat with me.  He was a thin-faced, middle-aged man of
+typical Parisian appearance.  He had only that afternoon returned from
+Brussels, and presently, when we began to speak of the political
+situation, he paused with his wine-glass in his hand, saying, in that
+precise manner which was his chief characteristic:
+
+"The _Patrie_, the _Libre Parole_, the _Gaulois_, the _Petit Journal_,
+and the _Autorite_ repeat that war with England is inevitable; that it
+is always there, ready to break out at any hour of any day.  Their
+object is clear: it is revenge for the High Court trials.  They have
+realised that, despite all its efforts, they cannot overthrow the
+Republic in times of peace.  They must, then, have war.  And these
+miserables are preparing it in order to overthrow the Republic!  They
+prepare war with England not only because they hate England, as a free
+country, but because they know that war with England would be a naval
+Sedan.  Unless the Republicans abandon their blindness and their torpor,
+they will let the Republic and France be lost by means of these
+miserables."
+
+I agreed with him, but breathed a trifle more freely, for the _Figaro_
+was the organ of the French Government, and he was always well-informed.
+Nevertheless, it appeared that he had no idea of the exact direction of
+the political wind.
+
+Near midnight, having attended a reception given by a smart
+Englishwoman, the wife of a peer resident in Paris, I was strolling
+along the Avenue de Neuilly on my way home.  The night was cold but
+bright, and there were many people still about.  A garde-de-ville, in
+his short cape, stood like a statue on the kerb at the Porte Maillott;
+the electric globes illuminated the Rond Point brightly, and a couple of
+harmless roysterers of the lower class lurched past me, singing the
+latest patriotic jingle of the cafes, a song inspired by the prevalent
+Anglophobia in Paris.  They were singing the last verse:
+
+  Sous les eclats de la foudre
+  On vit tomber, noir de poudre,
+  Le dernier de ces vaillants,
+  Il cria: Vive la France!
+  Et l'echo repondit: France!...
+  En avant!...  Serrez vos rangs!...
+
+I paused for a moment to glance at them.  Truly the public spirit in
+Paris was everywhere anti-English.  Fashoda had never been forgotten,
+and out of our difficulties with the Transvaal much capital was being
+made by the rabid organs of the Press.
+
+Then I walked on until, at the corner of the Avenue de la Grande Armee
+and the Rue des Acacias, I suddenly became aware of two men walking
+slowly in front of me in earnest conversation.  They were speaking in
+Italian, a language which I knew well, and it was a sentence I overheard
+which attracted my attention and caused me to glance at them.
+
+Both were shabbily attired, and presented the signs of those hungry
+night-birds who creep forth at set of sun and slink about the
+boulevards.  One wore a grey, soft felt hat stuck a trifle askew, as if
+its owner aimed at a rakish appearance, while the other wore a crumpled
+silk hat with a flat brim, the headgear typically Parisian.
+
+Together, walking arm-in-arm, absorbed in their conversation, they
+passed beneath the big electric lamp which lit the street-refuge, and as
+the light fell upon them I drew back quickly in order to escape
+observation.
+
+Those words in Italian had attracted me, and I now saw in front of me
+the two men whom I most desired to meet.  The man who wore the high silk
+hat was none other than Rodolphe Wolf, while the other was that
+ingenious adventurer whom I had discovered at Ryburgh, Paolo Bertini.
+
+They strolled along in a casual manner, as though well aware that out of
+doors they could talk freely.  The fact that they spoke in Italian
+proved their desire to escape eavesdroppers.  At the moment of
+recognition I had drawn back and allowed them to advance some distance
+in front; then, lounging along slowly, I followed them across the Avenue
+des Termes, up the narrow Rue Poncelet, and, traversing the Avenue
+Wagram, passed through a number of small streets until they suddenly
+halted before a small and uninviting-looking little cafe in the Rue
+Legendre, a few doors from the Mairie of Batignolles.
+
+I was surprised to discover that Wolf was actually in Paris, while the
+presence of Bertini seemed to bear out all that Kaye had told me earlier
+in the evening.  During the walk the Italian had pulled from his pocket
+a paper, which he handed to his companion, who stood for a moment
+beneath a street lamp reading it.  Then he laughed lightly, folded it,
+and handed it back with an air of satisfaction.  As neither of the
+interesting pair had once turned back, I had followed them entirely
+unnoticed.
+
+Fortunately for me I was wearing a new overcoat, the astrakhan collar of
+which was turned up, the wind being chilly, so that my features were
+half-concealed.  But the shabby appearance of the pair was in itself
+suspicious.  Wolf had always been something of a fop, and it was
+scarcely possible that if he were a secret agent he could have fallen
+upon evil days.
+
+I glanced at their boots.  Those worn by Bertini were good ones of
+russet leather, while those of his companion were a smart pair of
+"patents."  This fact told me that for some unknown reason they had
+assumed the garb of loungers rapidly, and had not had time to change
+their boots.  They had been, or were going, to some place where to be
+dressed well would arouse undue attention.  That seemed certain.
+
+I was standing back in the shadow of a doorway watching them, when
+suddenly, after some consultation, as it seemed, they entered the little
+cafe.
+
+It was a frowsy, dirty place, at the window of which hung faded red
+blinds, much stained and fly-blown.  From where I stood I could see that
+the ceiling, once white, was brown and discoloured by the gas, and the
+gilt decorations blackened and smoke-begrimed.  It was called the Cafe
+de l'Etoile.
+
+Dare I enter and risk detection?
+
+Now that I had discovered them I intended to watch and find out where
+they were staying, so that Kaye and his staff might keep them under
+observation.  The reason for their presence in Paris was without doubt a
+sinister one.  Of all the men in the whole world who were my enemies the
+man Wolf was the bitterest; and next to him was this dark-faced Italian,
+with whom he had been walking so confidentially arm-in-arm.
+
+As I stood in hesitation, an ill-dressed, unkempt fellow reeled out of
+the cafe, singing in a husky voice a vagabond song.  His hat was askew,
+and he beat time with his finger:
+
+  Qu' ca peut vous faire ou qu' nous allons?
+  Ca vous r'garde pas, que j' suppose.
+  D'abord, j'allons ou qu' nous voulons...
+  ...  Ou qu' vous voulez... c'est la mem' chose.
+  Vous etes d' ceux qu'ont des etats?
+  Ben! que qu' vous voulez qu' ca nous foute?
+  Des etats!... j'en connaissons pas...
+  Nous, not' metier, c'est d'marcher su' la route.
+
+I strolled past the place and peered inside.  A quick scrutiny sufficed
+to show that the two men were not visible; therefore, I concluded that
+they were at a table close behind the door.  Thrice I passed and
+repassed, until I became convinced of the fact.  The red blinds were
+drawn, and, although the door was half open, I could not, from the
+pavement, see who was sitting at the table behind it.  In Paris,
+however, it is often a trick of those who lounge in cafes and desire to
+pass unnoticed to sit close behind the door with their backs to it, thus
+occupying a position which does not in the least expose them to
+passers-by.
+
+Presently, emboldened by the fact that the little place seemed sleepy
+and half-deserted, I lit a cigarette, and, slipping into the doorway,
+stood with my ears open to catch every sound.  Yes, they were there, as
+I had supposed.  I heard words in Italian spoken rather low and
+confidentially.  I distinctly heard my own name mentioned, together with
+that of the Princess von Leutenberg.  Wolf it was who spoke of her
+sneeringly.
+
+"I've seen her of late in Vienna," he laughed.  "Retirement at
+Rudolstadt did not suit her."
+
+"Is there any truth in what is said regarding the reason of her stay at
+Chantoiseau?"
+
+"Certainly," replied Wolf.
+
+"Serious for her--eh?" remarked his companion.
+
+"Very.  She will be taught a lesson," was the response.
+
+"And at the British Embassy, what do they know?" asked Bertini.
+
+"They are, as usual, utterly unsuspecting, and will remain so until the
+mine explodes.  We have laid it cleverly this time, and it cannot fail."
+
+"I wonder whether the Princess told Ingram anything while he was a guest
+at Chantoiseau?" asked Bertini.
+
+"She dare not.  But what of the English girl?  It is said she loves
+him."
+
+"No," replied the Italian quickly, "I have her completely in my power.
+She cannot utter a word."
+
+"She's a useful agent, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, at times.  A girl of her character and appearance is never
+suspected."
+
+"And of Yolande?  She was in London a month ago assisting me.  Where is
+she now?"
+
+"In Rome, I think; but I am not certain," was the response.  "Some
+little time ago I met Lord Barmouth's daughter, with a view to bringing
+them together as friends, for by so doing I saw that we might gain some
+valuable information," Wolf said.  "The project, however, unfortunately
+failed, because of Ingram."
+
+"May an accident occur to him!" exclaimed Bertini, using an Italian
+oath.  "He stands in our way at all times.  I have not forgotten how
+cleverly he tricked me in Brussels and obtained the negatives of half a
+dozen documents from other embassies."
+
+"He is more dangerous to our plans than Kaye and the whole British
+secret service put together," Wolf remarked.  I could hear that, by way
+of emphasis, he struck the table heavily as he spoke these words.  "If
+we could only contrive to suppress him!"
+
+"Ah, but how?"
+
+A silence fell between the pair.
+
+"In some countries," remarked Wolf in a low voice, "he would die
+suddenly.  Here, in Paris, it would be dangerous."
+
+These men were actually plotting to take my life; I stood there
+motionless, my ears strained to catch every word, my feet rooted to the
+spot.  "Why so dangerous?" asked the Italian.
+
+"Because the English girl might betray us, or, failing her, there is the
+Princess."
+
+"The Princess!  Bah!" ejaculated Bertini.
+
+"She would never utter a syllable.  She has too much to gain by
+silence."
+
+"But the girl Austin?  What of her?"
+
+"I admit that she might instantly give us away if one of these days her
+lover was found mysteriously dead.  Nevertheless, if the situation
+becomes acute, well, we must resort to a desperate remedy, that's all."
+
+I smiled within myself.  Happily I had overheard this extremely
+interesting conversation, and should now be on my guard against both
+spies and assassins.  It was lucky for me that they feared Edith;
+otherwise murder would have been a mere nothing to them.  That they were
+not discussing an impossibility I well knew, for during my career as a
+diplomatist I had known of at least half a dozen cases where persons had
+been found dead under mysterious circumstances; and also that the crime
+of murder had actually been brought home to the members of the secret
+service of the various Powers.  They are unscrupulous gentlemen, these
+spies, and hesitate at nothing in their feverish desire to do the
+bidding of their masters and obtain the rewards so temptingly offered to
+them.
+
+The men dropped their voices so low that for a few minutes I could
+distinguish nothing, while another vulgar-looking, ruffianly fellow
+opened the door suddenly and emerged.  As long as I heard their voices
+in consultation I felt secure from discovery.  I determined to remain
+there in the doorway calmly smoking, as though awaiting the arrival of a
+friend.
+
+"And how is everything at Feltham?"  I heard Wolf inquire presently.
+
+"All works splendidly.  Everything is complete."  To what did they
+refer?  I wondered.  Where was Feltham? and what were the arrangements
+which worked so satisfactorily?
+
+Again the Italian spoke, laughing low and contentedly, but I could not
+catch what he said, for my attention at that moment was distracted by
+the approach of a fiacre, which pulled up before the door of the cafe.
+The hood was up, and within the vehicle I saw the figure of a woman, who
+at once descended, and, as I moved into the shadow, walked straight into
+the place with the air of one who had entered there before.  She was
+well-dressed in a dark tailor-made gown, and wore a close-fitting hat
+with a veil.  She passed me by within a few feet, but, standing as I was
+in the deep shadow beyond the lamps of the cab, which, no doubt, dazzled
+her, she did not recognise me.  But no second glance was necessary to
+tell me that the woman who had come there at midnight to meet the two
+spies was their associate and assistant, Edith Austin.
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
+
+THE RED ASS.
+
+When the woman who had declared her love for me had entered the
+uninviting-looking place I slipped back to my old position, but was
+prevented from listening too openly for fear of awakening the curiosity
+of the cocher who was awaiting her.  I heard them greet her in English;
+then both rose, and all three passed through the cafe to a room beyond,
+apparently the apartment of the proprietor.  Hence I was unable to
+discover the reason of her visit there.
+
+As no purpose could be served by remaining longer in the doorway, I lit
+another cigarette with an appearance of carelessness and strolled away
+down the narrow street as far as the Avenue de Clichy, returning
+presently on the opposite side of the roadway, and waiting in patience
+for the conspirators to leave the cafe.
+
+I congratulated myself upon my good-fortune in not being detected, and
+was resolved to watch further the doings of the spies.  I only wished
+that Kaye or Grew were with me, in order to follow up at once the clue I
+had thus obtained.
+
+
+The word "Feltham" was to me extremely puzzling.  That chance remark
+doubtless referred to a matter brimming over with interest.  What were
+the "arrangements" that worked so well and were so complete?
+
+Truly, the conspiracy of the Powers against Great Britain, alleged by
+Leonie, was a gigantic one.  Each hour brought home to me more forcibly
+the terrible truth that we were living upon the very edge of a volcano,
+whose eruption might be expected at any moment.
+
+For fully half an hour I strolled up and down, always keeping a careful
+watch upon the cafe with the faded blinds, until suddenly Edith emerged,
+followed by her two companions.  Bertini handed her into her cab, and I
+heard him order the cocher to drive to the Grand Hotel.  Then, as they
+stood on the kerb, with their hats in their hands, she bowed and was
+driven rapidly off, while they turned and walked together in the
+opposite direction, passing down the avenue to the Boulevard de Clichy,
+and thence along to the Place Blanche, past that paradise of the British
+tourist, the Moulin Rouge.
+
+The four illuminated arms of the Red Windmill were still revolving, and
+the night-birds of Paris in their gay plumage were entering and leaving,
+for the so-called "life" at that haunt of Terpsichore modernised and
+debased does not begin until long after midnight.  I never glance in at
+those open doors without sighing for my compatriots; and usually fall to
+reflecting upon the reason why so many English fathers of families, who
+at home would not dream of going to a music-hall, so frequently drift
+there with their wives, and often with their daughters.  It is a curious
+feature of Paris life, absurdly artificial, and almost entirely
+supported by my unthinking compatriots, who go there because to have
+been there is synonymous with having seen the gay life of the French
+capital.  Alas! that the British tourist is so gullible, for the
+students who dance there in velvet berets and paint-besmirched coats are
+no students at all, while the pretty grisette, his companion, is merely
+a dancing-girl, in a befitting frock, paid by the management to pose as
+a mock Bohemienne.  The Moulin Rouge is no more the centre of gay Paris
+than is Maskelyne's entertainment the centre of gay London.
+
+Presently, having gained the Rue de Maubeuge, the spies entered that
+Bohemian cafe, where a charming air of chez soi and good-fellowship
+always pervades--the Cafe of the Red Ass.  It has a small and unassuming
+front, except that the windows are profusely decorated with painted
+flowers and figures, while a red ass looks down from over the narrow
+door.  It is furnished more like an old curiosity-shop than a cafe, and
+has its particular clientele of Bohemians, who come to puff their long
+pipes, that hang in racks, and recount their hopes, aspirations,
+achievements, and failures, when not shouting some rollicking chorus.
+The place was filled with litterateurs of the Quarter, and a celebration
+was in progress, one of their number having succeeded in finding a
+publisher for a volume of his poetry.
+
+Hence I was enabled to follow the pair unnoticed.  They had, I found,
+seated themselves at a table with two rather small, ferret-eyed men, who
+had apparently been awaiting them.  Then all four entered into an
+earnest discussion over their bocks, while I sat on the opposite side of
+the place, pretending to be interested in the _Soir_, but watching them
+as a cat a mouse.
+
+The nature of their conversation was manifestly secret, for all four
+looked round furtively from time to time, as though suspicious lest
+someone should overhear.  Wolf was relating some fact which apparently
+created a great impression upon the men whom he and Bertini had met.
+Whatever it was he told them, it created evident surprise.
+
+Bertini rolled a cigarette in silence, lit it slowly, and sat back,
+blowing clouds of smoke into the air.  Loud chatter and laughter and the
+rattle of saucers upon the tables sounded everywhere, mingled with the
+constant click of shuffled dominoes and the shouts of the rushing
+waiters calling their orders.  The Red Ass always awakens from its
+lethargy at midnight, just as do the Cafe Americain and the showy
+establishments on the Boulevard des Italiens.
+
+The short, middle-aged Frenchman who had been speaking pulled a blue
+paper from his pocket, and gave it to Wolf for examination.  From its
+folding and size I perceived that it was a telegram.  All this time the
+attitude of the Italian was that of a man who wished to affect an air of
+supreme carelessness.
+
+More bocks were ordered, pen and paper were brought by the waiter, and a
+reply to the telegraphic message was written by the Frenchman, not,
+however, without some discussion, in which Bertini took part.  The
+actions of these men showed that some further conspiracy was in
+progress, but what it was I was naturally unable to guess.  I only knew
+that the two men whom I had followed were the most desperate, ingenious,
+and unscrupulous spies in Europe.
+
+After nearly an hour, during which time I exhausted all the periodical
+literature provided by the management of the establishment, all four
+rose and went out.  The two Frenchmen made their adieux, and the pair
+whose movements had so interested me walked slowly down to the Place de
+l'Opera until they gained the narrow Rue des Petits Champs, a
+thoroughfare that intersects the Rue de la Paix and the Avenue de
+l'Opera.  At the end of this, not far from the Palais Royal, they turned
+suddenly into a dark alley, which led into a large courtyard, in which I
+soon discovered a small, fifth-rate hotel, evidently their temporary
+quarters.
+
+I waited in the vicinity for nearly half an hour, until the concierge
+put out the lights and bolted the door; then I returned to the avenue,
+hailed a fiacre, and drove home just as the clocks were chiming three.
+
+My vigil had been a long and tedious one, and when I entered my rooms I
+sank into a chair utterly worn out.  I had, however, learnt several
+facts of supreme interest, not the least being the discovery of Wolf's
+headquarters.  I got my man to ring up Kaye on the telephone, and
+presently gave him the information, suggesting that he should send one
+of his assistants to the Rue des Petits Champs to keep the spies under
+observation.
+
+My statement filled him with feverish activity, for within half an hour
+he was seated with me in my room, and I was explaining all that had come
+to pass.
+
+"Excellent!" he exclaimed.  "They will not evade us now we know where
+they are.  There is something fresh in the wind, without a doubt.  We
+must discover what it is."
+
+Then he went to the telephone, rang up one of his assistants who lived
+out at Passy, and gave him some instructions, together with the address
+of the obscure hotel to which I had followed the pair of rogues.
+
+Far into the night we sat discussing the situation.  As far as he knew,
+the Ceuta negotiations were at a standstill.  All that was known in
+Madrid was that the Spanish Government had offered to sell that
+strategic position to France, and that the latter had accepted.  Beyond
+this we had no further information, save that a complete tracing of the
+plans for the fortification of the place, which had been prepared in the
+French War Office, had found its way into our Embassy, where, as may be
+imagined, it had a cordial welcome.  It had been purchased by Kaye from
+one of the draughtsmen, and showed plainly with what thoroughness it was
+proposed to fortify the place in opposition to our defences at
+Gibraltar.  With its usual ingenuity the French Government, through its
+mouthpiece, the _Figaro_, had inspired an article alleging that Ceuta
+was about to be bought by Russia, in order, of course, to create alarm
+in England, where the periodical Russian bogey would at once be brought
+forward.  But to us at the Embassy, who knew the truth, the _Figaro_
+article proved farcical reading.
+
+During the past two or three days cipher telegraphie despatches had been
+constantly exchanged between the Quai d'Orsay and the various European
+embassies, and there had been many other signs of unusual diplomatic
+activity on the part of the Republic.
+
+At last the chief of the secret service drained his glass, and, rising,
+left me to snatch a couple of hours' sleep before my next day's duties
+at the Embassy.
+
+When I arose next morning I had occasion to go to the small
+writing-table in my sitting-room to obtain some note-paper, but was
+surprised to find the contents of the drawer in great disorder, as
+though they had been hastily overturned.
+
+I called my man and questioned him, but he declared he knew nothing of
+it and that no one had entered my room.  I frequently left the key in
+the drawer, as I had done when last I unlocked it.  Whoever had searched
+that drawer had evidently looked for some private papers.  I at once
+hastily set to work to rearrange them and find out whether any were
+missing.
+
+Before five minutes had passed the truth became plain.  A sealed
+envelope, in which I had placed the letter the Princess had written me
+offering her secret in exchange for my love, had been stolen.  In an
+instant it flashed upon me that I had spoken of it to her as being
+destroyed.  But it had now passed into the hands of our enemies!
+
+Dark and mysterious are the ways of modern diplomacy as practised in the
+capitals of Europe, but this dastardly theft was not far from being the
+most daring and mysterious of any I had known.
+
+Carefully I examined each of the papers.  As far as I could discover,
+the only one missing was the letter of the Princess.  Who could have
+stolen it?  The only stranger who had entered the room was Edith, and I
+remembered that on the previous afternoon she had waited there alone
+before my arrival.
+
+It was a strange thought, but it impressed itself upon me as a key to
+the truth.  Surely she had not visited me for the sole purpose of
+stealing the letter which Leonie had sent to my room on that
+well-remembered night at Chantoiseau?  I could not believe her capable
+of such duplicity, unless perchance it were prompted by jealousy.  She
+might have heard of our acquaintance through one or other of those
+spies, her associates, and forthwith resolved on revenge.  In any case
+the loss of the letter placed the Princess in an exceedingly serious
+position, and compromised her honour.
+
+When I entered my room at the Embassy I found Lord Barmouth and Sibyl
+together.  She was persuading him to allow her to accept an invitation
+to visit some relatives in the north of England, for she was tired of
+Paris, she declared.  When I entered he dismissed her, saying that he
+wished to talk with me privately.
+
+"Ingram, something extremely serious is in the wind," he said, when the
+door had closed and we were alone.  His face was pale and showed traces
+of sleeplessness.  "I was at de Wolkenstein's reception last night, and
+overheard a conversation between Berchtold and de Hindenburg.  There is
+a conspiracy against us!"
+
+"In what manner?"  I asked, surprised that he should have become aware
+of it.
+
+"The intercepting of those secret instructions which you brought from
+London some months ago is part of it; the Ceuta affair is another
+portion; and it appears, as far as I can gather, that the Powers, with
+the exception of Russia and Italy, have formed a gigantic plot against
+us to provoke war."
+
+"To provoke war!"  I echoed.  "What details do you know?"
+
+"Olsoufieff, who, as you know, is my personal friend, dropped a hint
+which we may take as a warning.  He told me he had reason to believe
+that the secret service of both France and Germany had of late made
+several successful coups against us, and that the interests of those two
+nations had been considerably promoted thereby."
+
+"He told you nothing further?"
+
+"He could not be more explicit," replied His Excellency.  "Russia, who,
+according to the Press, is our hereditary enemy, is in reality our
+friend.  If every monarch loved unity and concord as well as the Czar,
+the peace of Europe would to-morrow be assured.  Yet diplomatic usages
+prevented Olsoufieff from betraying his confreres in their diplomacy,
+even though he is my intimate friend."
+
+"And how are we to act?"  I asked.  "The theft of the contents of that
+despatch was certainly most astonishing.  How it was accomplished is an
+inscrutable mystery."
+
+"Sibyl has been endeavouring to assist us," answered the Ambassador.
+"She, too, was at the reception last night, and kept eyes and ears open.
+She heard that both Wolf and that scoundrel Bertini are in Paris in
+company.  Surely that bodes no good!"
+
+"I was watching the pair until nearly three o'clock this morning," I
+explained.  "At present Kaye has the matter in hand;" and then I
+proceeded to explain all the occurrences of the previous night and those
+that befell in the early hours of the morning.  I told him of Edith, of
+my visit to her at Ryburgh, of her call upon me, and of my subsequent
+discovery of her at that low cafe near the station of Batignolles.
+
+"Extraordinary!" he exclaimed in wonder, when I had finished.  "Then
+this woman who declared that she loved you is, although an English girl
+living in a rural Norfolk village, actually a French spy?  The
+ramifications of the secret service of our enemies are indeed amazing.
+The plot which has for its object the downfall of England is the most
+gigantic and at the same time the most ingenious and carefully planned
+of any known in modern history.  Save for the little rift in the veil of
+secrecy, through which we have fortunately detected the danger, it is
+absolutely perfect."
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.
+
+BETRAYAL.
+
+Winter came, grey, cold, and cheerless, in Paris.  The war that had
+broken out in the Transvaal dragged on, and the European outlook grew
+daily darker and more lowering.
+
+Occasionally I had received letters from Edith in Bordighera, telling me
+how pleasant life was there amid the sunshine and the palms after the
+leafless dreariness of an English winter.  She, however, never once
+mentioned the man Bertini.  Her letters were still affectionate, despite
+the fact that my replies were very cold and distant.
+
+I entertained a distinct suspicion that she it was who had stolen the
+compromising letter of the Princess.  In addition to this, her midnight
+visit to that pair of adventurers in the cafe had incensed me.  For this
+reason her letters to me were unwelcome, and I answered them in quite an
+indifferent spirit.  There was a wound in my heart that never could be
+healed.  Edith Austin, it was proved, was the associate of two of the
+most unscrupulous adventurers in Europe.
+
+In Paris matters were extremely critical.  Lord Barmouth had been to
+Downing Street to have an interview with the Marquess, the latter
+refusing further to trust his secret instructions to any messenger; yet
+though not a word had been written and though the interview had taken
+place in the Foreign Secretary's private room, where the doors are
+double, thus preventing any sound from reaching the corridor, the exact
+nature of His Excellency's instructions was actually known at the Quai
+d'Orsay.  The thing was incomprehensible; it rendered our diplomacy
+utterly powerless, forewarning the French of our policy and giving them
+a weapon to use against us.  The mystery was impenetrable.  Yet the
+truth was only too evident.  Within four days of the interview taking
+place in London, Kaye brought to the Embassy a copy of a cipher telegram
+handed in at the Waterloo Station Telegraph-office, and received by the
+French Foreign Office, giving practically every detail of the verbal
+instructions received by the Ambassador.  The way in which the truth had
+leaked out staggered belief.
+
+The Marquess, on receiving the despatch from our Embassy, was at first
+disinclined to believe that such a thing could be possible, but I myself
+next day carried the copy of the spy's telegram to London and placed it
+in his hands.  It was in mid-February, and the Channel passage had been
+about as bad as it possibly could be.  He read the telegram with its
+decipher, and stood utterly bewildered.
+
+"Absolutely nothing seems safe from the scoundrels!" he cried angrily.
+"How they have obtained this is a complete mystery.  No one was present,
+for I myself took every precaution.  While this goes on we are
+powerless--utterly powerless.  In order to render our diplomacy abortive
+the French are spreading the secret of our policy broadcast in every
+capital.  The thing is monstrous, and can only be done with the object
+of creating war."
+
+"Every negotiation which England has had with the Transvaal since the
+commencement of the war is known at the Quai d'Orsay, as you will have
+noticed from the reports we have sent from the Embassy," I said.
+"Indeed, the news of the declaration of war by President Kruger was
+known to the French Government within half an hour of its receipt by our
+Colonial Office."
+
+"It may have been sent to Paris direct from Pretoria," answered the
+great statesman, frowning in his perplexity.
+
+"But our reply was known in Paris hours before it was officially issued.
+The decision of our Cabinet was known at the Quai d'Orsay before the
+meeting actually broke up," I remarked.
+
+"I know, Ingram--I know," answered the Marquess.  "Unfortunately for us,
+this was indeed the case.  The mystery of how they obtain their
+intelligence is absolutely inscrutable."
+
+We sat together for a long time in deep discussion.  From his agitated
+manner and the unusual greyness of his fine, intelligent face, I knew
+that this man, upon whose shoulders rested the responsibility for
+England's security at the most critical moment when the greater part of
+her Army was in South Africa, was in fear of some terrible disaster.
+That England, with her land forces in the Transvaal, was vulnerable was
+known not only to every diplomatist, but also to the man in the street
+in every foreign capital.  Now that Lord Barmouth had discovered the
+existence of the great plot against us, of which the defiant attitude of
+the Transvaal was part, active inquiries had been made all over the
+Continent to discover its character, and it had been ascertained that it
+was the intention of certain Powers to intervene in favour of the Boers,
+and thus cause a general rupture with Great Britain.
+
+The plans had been carefully laid.  The Boers, backed by France,
+Austria, and Germany, had fought well, but British pertinacity and
+pluck, under Lord Roberts, had won their way to the relief of Ladysmith
+and the occupation of Bloemfontein.  With Joubert dead, with Cronje
+captured at Paardeberg, the Majuba stigma had been wiped out.  Besides,
+Pretoria had been occupied.  Now the Continental Powers, having planned
+to league themselves against us, were awaiting their opportunity to
+intervene, cause a rupture, and declare war against us on the slightest
+pretext.
+
+It was this matter that we were discussing.
+
+"The plan has been fostered for two years past," the Marquess declared.
+"The hostility of the French Press was part of the programme; the
+disgusting caricatures in the _Rire_ inflamed the Anglophobes against
+us, and this--" and he took up a copy of the _Monde Illustre_,
+consisting wholly of a lurid forecast of the "Downfall of England"
+profusely illustrated,--"this, coming at such a moment, is more than
+mischievous.  It will fan the too vigorous flames of French detestation
+of England, and increase the craving in France for war.  I have read it,
+and it is apparently written to show how vulnerable our country is at
+this moment.  I am not one who fears the downfall of our country; but
+should a war unhappily result, it would be a great calamity for Europe,
+and for France and the Republic most of all."
+
+"It is an odd thing," I remarked, "that just as this pleasing brochure
+appears France should decide to mobilise four army corps in the coming
+autumn.  All these corps are to be assembled in the north-west, close to
+the sea, and ready for a move if an opportunity comes.  This is, I
+grant, not the first time that such a step has been taken, but it
+certainly requires to be met by ample precaution."
+
+"Yes," he answered gravely, beating a tattoo upon his writing-pad with
+his quill.  "It is not pleasant to reflect that, owing to the savings on
+the shipbuilding vote during the past three years, our Navy is not in a
+condition to warrant a feeling of security.  Battleships and destroyers
+are hopelessly in arrears.  An addition to our destroyer fleet--the best
+preventive of invasion--should be made without delay, as a simple
+precaution; for the risks are great with our Army absent, as it will
+still be in August, in South Africa."
+
+"In Paris," I said, "we have been asked by the representatives of the
+Powers to believe that we have nothing to fear from a deliberate war
+policy on the part of the Governments of Germany, France, and Austria.
+They are all engaged in enterprises of far-reaching importance, which
+would be injured almost beyond recovery by war.  Germany, de Hindenburg
+has pointed out, has entered with an unparalleled degree of enthusiasm
+into the struggle for industrial supremacy, with America and Great
+Britain as her only dangerous rivals."
+
+"To blind us to the truth," observed the great Minister, smiling.  "The
+_Libre Parole_ inadvertently exposed the French secret when two months
+ago it declared that the bogey of British power had been flaunted in the
+face of the civilised world once too often, and a small but resolute
+nation had accepted the challenge.  England, that outspoken sheet
+declared, has claimed to be predominant everywhere.  The nations are
+tired of her pretensions, it insisted, and as soon as diplomacy has been
+forced to act in accordance with public opinion, there will be an end to
+this tyranny of the seas.  The French forget," he added, "that it is not
+always safe to try to take advantage of a nation hardened by recent
+warfare.  A country is sometimes more remarkable for military power at
+the end than at the beginning of a campaign."
+
+"It appears to me," I remarked, "that Kruger demands peace upon
+impossible conditions, in order to be able to say that England has
+refused to discuss peace, that she is quite intractable, and that she
+is, therefore, responsible for the bloodshed which will continue."
+
+"Most certainly Kruger's peace proposals are part of the Continental
+plot.  He knows well enough how to play upon human simplicity and at the
+same time to assist his friends," observed the great statesman who
+controlled England's destinies.  "But," he urged, "we must do one thing,
+Ingram.  We must stop our policy leaking out as it does.  This has
+already nearly landed us into war over the Ceuta incident, and must be a
+constant menace to us.  Kaye, who was over a few days ago, told me that
+you had discovered certain persons who were evidently spies.  What do
+you know of them?"
+
+I told him all that I had discovered, omitting of course all reference
+to Edith and my love for her, as well as the fact that the Princess had
+offered me details of the plot upon terms which I had been unable to
+accept.
+
+"Strive to keep them well under observation and discover the source of
+their information," he said.  "By doing this you will in a great measure
+frustrate the plans of our enemies, and afterwards our diplomacy can
+checkmate them.  But while all our intentions are known our diplomacy
+must of necessity be rendered futile.  You know these people, Ingram,
+and with you rests a very great responsibility."
+
+"I have all along striven to do my duty," I answered.  "I have made
+effort after effort in order to obtain the truth, but up to the present
+all has been in vain."
+
+"Continue," he urged, looking at me with those grave, serious eyes,
+beneath the calm gaze of which many a foreign diplomatist at the Court
+of St. James had trembled.  "By perseverance and with the help of the
+secret service you may one day be successful.  Then we will unite all
+the peaceful forces of England in order to break up this dastardly
+conspiracy.  It shall be done!" he cried angrily, striking the table
+with his clenched fist.  "My country shall never fall a victim to this
+cunningly devised plot of Messieurs les Anglophobes--never!"
+
+The very thought had set fire to his indignation, he rose, and paced the
+room with a flush upon his ashen checks.
+
+"I trust you, Ingram, just as I have always trusted you in the past," he
+said, turning suddenly on his heel towards me.  "You have a clever and
+trustworthy chief in Lord Barmouth, a man fully fitted to occupy the
+place I hold in the British Government; therefore, strain every nerve to
+thwart the machinations of our enemies.  Otherwise there must be war
+before the year is out--_there must be_!"
+
+"I shall do my utmost, rely upon me," I answered.  "It shall not be
+because of my want of enterprise that this base system of espionage is
+allowed to continue."
+
+"Good," he said, offering me his hand.  "Return to Paris to-night,
+resume your inquiries, and remember that in this affair you may be the
+means of saving your country from a war long and disastrous.  There is a
+conspiracy against our beloved lady the Queen.  That in itself is
+sufficient incentive to arouse to action any man in the Foreign Office.
+Remember it always while working at this inscrutable mystery."
+
+I took his thin, bony hand, and he gripped mine warmly.  The secret of
+the great statesman's popularity with all his staff, from ambassador
+down to fourth-grade clerk, was his personal contact with them, his
+readiness to consult and advise, and his unfailing friendship and
+courtesy.
+
+I promised him that I would continue to do my utmost to discover the
+truth.  Then, taking my leave, I went out and down the great staircase
+into Downing Street, where the dark afternoon was rendered the more
+cheerless by the rain falling heavily; and the solitary policeman in his
+dripping cape touched his hat respectfully as I passed.  The outlook in
+every way was certainly a most dismal and oppressive one.
+
+In obedience to the Marquess' command, I returned to Paris by the night
+mail from Charing Cross.  During that journey I reflected deeply upon
+the best course to pursue in solving the problem.  But the enigma was
+difficult, and its solution beyond the efforts even of the ubiquitous
+Kaye and his associates.  If I obtained leave of absence, and went down
+to the Riviera, was it at all probable that I could learn some clue from
+Edith?  I was doubtful.
+
+Ever since that night, three months ago, when I had followed the spies
+to that obscure hotel in the Rue des Petits Champs, they had been
+shadowed, and their doings reported.  Wolf had been to Brussels and to
+Berlin, while Bertini had returned to London; but their actions,
+although sometimes suspicious, had never supplied us with the clue we
+wanted.
+
+Bertini was at that moment, according to the reports of the special
+section at Scotland Yard, whose speciality it is to watch suspected
+secret agents in England, living in comfort at the Midland Hotel at St.
+Pancras Station.  He usually passed his evenings with a few of his
+compatriots, playing dominoes at the Cafe Royal or the Cafe Monaco.
+Wolf, on the other hand, was travelling hither and thither visiting
+various people, all of whom were noted in the elaborate system of
+espionage which was now being exercised upon them.
+
+After a week in Paris I consulted Lord Barmouth, and he agreed that it
+would be wise for me to travel to Bordighera and make a final attempt to
+obtain some fact from the woman whom I had once hoped to make my wife.
+Truth to tell, I made up my mind to travel South with great reluctance,
+for so false and untrue had she been that I had long ago resolved within
+myself never again to see her.  But it was a matter of necessity that we
+should no longer remain in ignorance of the source of the information
+which constantly leaked out to our enemies; hence, one evening I busied
+myself in assisting Mackenzie to pack my bag.  While doing so the
+electric bell rang suddenly, and when my servant returned from answering
+the summons, he announced a visitor, saying:
+
+"A lady has called to see you, sir--the Princess von Leutenberg."
+
+"The Princess!"  I gasped in surprise.
+
+Then, wondering what could be the nature of her business with me at that
+hour, I smoothed down my hair before the glass, drew a long breath (for
+I expected a scene), and entered the room into which she had been shown.
+
+"Leonie--you!"  I cried in surprise.
+
+Her rich sables were unclasped at the throat, and when she rose quickly
+they fell from her, displaying her finely moulded white neck and arms,
+shining like alabaster in contrast to her low-cut corsage of black
+chiffon.
+
+Her face was blanched to the lips, the slim, gloved hand she gave me
+trembled, and her beautiful eyes, usually so brilliant and sparkling,
+had a look of haunting fear in them.
+
+"Gerald!" she whispered hoarsely, as if fearful lest she might be
+overheard, "my secret is out!  I am ruined--_ruined_!  And through you!
+You have betrayed me to my enemies--you, the man I love!"
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.
+
+WHICH CONTAINS A SURPRISE.
+
+"Betrayed you, Leonie!"  I echoed.  "I have not betrayed you!"
+
+"But you have!" she declared angrily, her eyes flashing upon me.  "You
+have broken your oath to me."
+
+"I have broken no oath," I answered calmly; adding, "Let us sit down and
+talk quietly."
+
+"Talk quietly!" she cried, speaking rapidly in French.  "Do you think I
+can talk quietly with ruin staring me in the face?"
+
+"In what manner does ruin threaten you?"  I inquired, placing my hand
+upon her arm in an effort to calm her.
+
+She was terribly agitated, I could see, and her anger knew no bounds,
+although she was striving strenuously to suppress it.
+
+"You have betrayed my secret--the secret of my love for you!" she cried.
+"That letter which you promised me to destroy is in the hands of my
+bitterest enemy."
+
+"Forgive me, Leonie," I cried quickly.  "The letter was mysteriously
+stolen from that writing-table there.  How, I know not."
+
+"Cannot you even guess who is the thief?"
+
+I hesitated.  The only person I suspected was Edith, who had been the
+solitary occupant of that room while she waited for me.  It was after
+her departure that I found the drawer in confusion and the letter
+missing.
+
+"I have suspicion," I replied with some hesitation, "yet I feel assured
+it is unfounded."
+
+"Of whom?"
+
+"Of a friend."
+
+"A friend of yours?" she exclaimed quickly.  "Therefore, an enemy of
+mine.  It is a woman.  Come, admit it."
+
+"I admit nothing," I answered with a forced smile, my diplomatic
+instinct instantly asserting itself.
+
+"Is it a woman, or is it not?" she demanded.
+
+"I am not compelled to answer that question, Leonie," I remarked in a
+quiet voice.
+
+"But having betrayed me--or rather having allowed me to be betrayed--it
+is surely only manly of you to endeavour to make amends!" she cried
+reproachfully.  "Even if you do not love me sufficiently to make me your
+wife, that is hardly a reason why you should expose me to my enemies."
+
+"I have not done so wilfully," I declared.  "As the letter has been
+stolen by an enemy, I feel sure that the suspicion resting upon my
+friend is unfounded."
+
+"But if the thief is a woman and she loves you, she would naturally be
+my enemy, and seek to overthrow me," argued the Princess logically.
+
+"It is my fault," I said.  "I regret the incident, and seek your
+forgiveness, Leonie.  I had no idea that spies and thieves surrounded
+me, as apparently they do, or I would have destroyed it instead of
+keeping it as a cherished relic of one of the few romantic incidents of
+my life."
+
+"You w'ere very foolish to keep it, just as it was foolish of me to have
+written it," she observed.  "Cannot you see how compromised I am by it?
+I have offered to betray to you a secret of State, a secret known only
+to kings, emperors, and their immediate advisers, in return for your
+love.  I am self-condemned," she added wildly.
+
+"But into whose hands has the letter passed?"  I inquired, now quite
+convinced of the extreme gravity of the situation.
+
+"Into the possession of a man who is my most bitter enemy in all the
+world.  Ah, you don't know, Gerald, how I am suffering!"
+
+She placed her hand upon her brow, and stood rigid and motionless.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because this man, with the evidence of my treason in his possession, is
+endeavouring to force me into a hateful bondage.  To save myself," she
+added hoarsely, "I must obey, or else--"
+
+"Or else what?"  I inquired, looking at her in astonishment.
+
+"Or else escape exposure and ruin by another method, more swift and more
+to be trusted."
+
+"I don't understand you.  What do you mean?"
+
+"Suicide," she answered in a low, hard voice, regarding me coldly, with
+a truly desperate look in her eyes.
+
+"Come, come, Leonie," I said quickly, "to talk like that is absurd."
+
+"No, it is not in the least absurd," she protested, a heavy, serious
+look upon her face.  "Like yourself, I am the victim of a vile
+conspiracy.  This man has long sought to entrap me, and has, alas! now
+succeeded."
+
+"For what reason?"
+
+She remained silent, as though doubting whether to tell me the whole
+truth.  In a few moments, however, she made a sudden resolve.
+
+"Because he wishes to marry me," she answered briefly.
+
+"And by holding this letter as a menace he now seeks to force you into a
+marriage that is distasteful?"
+
+"Distasteful!" she echoed.  "I hate and detest him!  Rather than marry
+him I would prefer suicide."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because if I do not accept his conditions for the return of that letter
+he will expose me," she answered in despair.
+
+"Has he threatened this?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And what is your response?"
+
+"I have refused, Gerald.  Even though he were not so hateful I could not
+marry him, because I love you."
+
+She was trembling with agitation, and tears stood in her fine eyes.
+
+"Love for me is out of the question, Leonie," I answered kindly, yet
+firmly.  "Now that you find yourself in this critical situation it is
+for us both to strive to frustrate this enemy of yours.  It is my duty
+to assist you."
+
+"Ah, you cannot!" she said in a tone of utter despair.  "The power he
+holds over me by possessing the written evidence of my treason--my offer
+to betray to you the secret of my Emperor--is complete, and he is well
+aware of it.  He demands marriage with me, or he will ruin me, and brand
+me as a traitress to my country and my Emperor."
+
+"This man is, of course, now aware of what passed between us during my
+visit at Chantoiseau?"  I said.
+
+"He knows everything," she answered.  "I was living quietly at
+Rudolstadt, and endeavouring to forget you, when of a sudden, a
+fortnight ago, there came to the castle a stranger, who sent in his card
+sealed in an envelope.  My servants regarded him with some suspicion,
+and well they might, for when I opened the envelope and took out the
+card I knew that at last the blow had fallen.  He had dared to come and
+seek me there."
+
+"You saw him?"
+
+"Yes, he demanded an interview.  We had not met for nearly two years,
+yet he approached me with a declaration of love upon his lips.  I
+laughed at him, but presently he held me dumb by producing from his
+pocket the compromising letter.  He began by pointing out how easily he
+could ruin me socially, and prove me to be a traitress.  He made an end
+by offering to place the letter unreservedly in my hands on the day I
+became his wife."
+
+"He had declared his love to you before?"
+
+"Yes, two years ago.  But I knew him too well, and hated him too
+thoroughly, to take a favourable view of his ridiculous declaration."
+
+"And this man?"  I asked.  "Who is he?"
+
+"He was once in the employ of my father, Prince Kinsky von Wchinitz, and
+was administrator of the estates at Wchinitz and Tettau, in Bohemia.
+Immediately my husband died and the feudal estates of Schwazbourg passed
+into my possession, as well as those of my late father, this man pressed
+his claim.  He first endeavoured to pay court to me; then, on finding I
+was cold to his attentions, he became threatening, and I was compelled
+to discharge him.  Afterwards he drifted away, became a chevalier
+d'industrie, and at last, because of my refusal to hear his repeated
+declarations of affection, he made a dastardly attempt upon my life."
+
+"He tried to kill you?"  I exclaimed incredulously.
+
+"Yes," she responded.  "Had it not been for the timely intervention of a
+stranger--a person whom I did not see--he would have murdered me."
+
+"Through jealousy?"
+
+"Yes, through jealousy."
+
+"And this fellow's name?"  I asked, my anger rising at the thought of a
+discharged employe thus holding Leonie in his power, and, despite the
+fact that he had made an attempt upon her life, badgering her to marry
+him.  "Is there any reason why I should not know it?"
+
+There was a brief silence.  She hesitated to tell me, and not until I
+had pressed her several times to disclose to me his name would she
+answer.
+
+"The man who is seeking to drive me to destruction and to suicide is,"
+she replied reluctantly, "an adventurer of the worst type--a man who is
+seeking to make a wealthy marriage at the expense of a woman whom he
+holds in his power, and whom he can ruin at any moment if he chooses."
+
+"His name?  Tell me."
+
+"His name is Count Rodolphe d'Egloffstein-Wolfsburg."
+
+I held my breath, utterly amazed by this disclosure.
+
+"The man known as Rodolphe Wolf?"  I cried--"the adventurer who fell
+into the hands of the police at St. Petersburg, and served nine months'
+imprisonment as a rogue and vagabond?"
+
+"What! you know him?" she demanded in surprise.  "Is he a friend of
+yours?"
+
+"A friend!"  I echoed.  "No, not a friend by any means.  An enemy, and a
+bitter one."
+
+"Then he is mutually our enemy?" she declared.
+
+"Most certainly," I answered, adding, "What you have just told me,
+Leonie, reveals to me the truth regarding several incidents which have
+been hitherto unaccountable.  Was Wolf actually in your father's
+employ?"
+
+"Yes, for years.  He was the younger son of old Count Leopold
+d'Egloffstein-Wolfsburg, whose small estate joined that of Tettau, and,
+after a wild career in Vienna and Paris, returned home a ne'er-do-well.
+My father, in order to give him another chance in life, gave him control
+of a portion of the estates, and, finding him shrewd and clever at
+management, ultimately made him administrator of the whole, which
+position he filled up to the time when, after my husband's death, I
+discharged him on account of dishonesty and of the constant annoyance to
+which I was subjected by him.  When he left me he vowed that one day I
+should become his wife, and it seems that in order to gain that end he
+has been scheming ever since."
+
+"He is a spy in the French secret service," I observed thoughtfully, for
+strange reflections were running through my mind at that instant.
+
+"I have heard so," she answered.  "But that is not actually proved, is
+it?"
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+"Is it possible that he himself stole the letter from your desk there?
+Has he ever been here?"
+
+"Never, to my knowledge.  He would never dare to enter here," I replied.
+"No, that letter was stolen by one of his accomplices."
+
+"A woman?"
+
+"Yes, I think it was a woman."
+
+"A woman whom you love, or have loved, Gerald?  Come now, be perfectly
+frank with me."
+
+"You guess aright," I answered, remembering that as far as I was aware
+she knew nothing of the existence of Edith Austin.
+
+A dark look crossed her features.
+
+"Then if that woman knew the contents of the letter she had a motive of
+jealousy," argued the Princess.
+
+"She may have had.  At any rate I have suspicion that, acting under
+Wolf's instructions, she abstracted the letter and handed it to him
+without previous knowledge of what it contained."
+
+"No, I scarcely think that.  Wolf would tell her that I loved you and
+was her rival in your affections, in order to incense her against me.
+What is her name?"
+
+I kept silence for a moment, reflecting upon the wisdom of telling her
+the truth at that juncture.  At last I resolved that, as our interests
+were mutual, there should be no secrets between us.
+
+"She is English, and her name is Austin--Edith Austin."
+
+"Edith Austin!" she cried in dismay.  "And you love her?--you love _that
+woman_?"
+
+"Why do you speak of her in that manner?"  I demanded.
+
+"Austin--Austin?" she repeated.  "It is certainly not the first time I
+have heard that name.  Certainly her reputation is not above suspicion.
+And you actually love her, Gerald?" she added in a blank tone of
+reproach.  "Is it really possible that you love her?"
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because Bertini--who was once in the Austrian service, and is now a
+secret agent of the French--told me in Vienna not long ago that one of
+the most successful French agents in England was a young girl named
+Edith Austin.  She must be the same.  I know Bertini well, although he
+is not at all a desirable acquaintance.  And you love this girl--you, in
+your responsible position at the Embassy?  Is it not extremely
+dangerous?"
+
+I admitted that it was, but expressed disinclination to discuss the
+matter further, feeling that the more we talked of it the deeper would
+be the pain I caused to the handsome and desperate woman before me.
+
+"You told me just now that Wolf once made an attempt upon your life," I
+said presently.  "These words of yours have given me a clue to an
+incident which has to me long been a mystery."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Listen, and I'll tell you.  One day in late autumn two years ago I
+alighted at the little station of Montigny, on the line to Montargis, in
+order to ride through the forest of Fontainebleau to Bois-le-Roi, and
+return thence to Paris by rail.  I am fond of the forest, and when I can
+snatch a day, sometimes go for a healthy spin through it, either riding,
+cycling, or on foot.  Having lunched at the little inn at Marlotte,
+where my mare was stabled, I started off on the road which, as you know
+well, leads through the wild rocks of the Gorge aux Loups to the
+Carrefour de la Croix du Grand Maitre in the heart of the forest, and
+thence away to the town of Fontainebleau.  The afternoon was gloomy and
+lowering, and darkness crept on much more quickly than I had
+anticipated.  It had rained earlier in the day, and the roads were wet
+and muddy, while the wind that had sprung up moaned dismally through the
+half-bare trees, rendering the ride anything but a cheerful one.
+
+"By six o'clock it was already quite dark, and I was still in the centre
+of the forest, galloping along a narrow by-way which I knew would bring
+me out upon the main road to Paris.  The mare's hoofs were falling
+softly upon the carpet of rain-sodden leaves when of a sudden I heard a
+woman's cry of distress in the darkness close to me.  A man's voice
+sounded, speaking in German, and next instant there was the flash of a
+revolver and a loud report.  The light gave me a clue, and, pulling up,
+I swung myself from my saddle and without hesitation rushed to the
+woman's assistance.  I slipped my own revolver from my pocket and sprang
+upon the man who had fired, while at the same instant the woman wrested
+herself from the assassin's grasp.  By means of the white shawl she wore
+about her head I saw her disappearing quickly through the undergrowth.
+With a fierce oath the man turned upon me, and, as we struggled,
+endeavoured to get the muzzle of his weapon beneath my chin.  I felt the
+cold steel against my jaw, and next instant he pulled the trigger.  My
+face was scorched by the flash, but happily the bullet went harmlessly
+past my cheek.  I had dropped my own weapon early in the encounter, and
+now saw that the only way in which I could save my life was to beat the
+fellow's head against a tree until he became insensible.  This I
+succeeded in doing, tripping him suddenly, forcing him down, and beating
+his skull against a tree-stump until he lay there motionless as a log.
+Then I took his weapon from him, and, striking a match, bent down to see
+his face.  To my astonishment I found that he was a man I had known
+slightly several years before--the man who holds you within his power--
+Rodolphe Wolf."
+
+"And the woman who so narrowly escaped death--indeed, whose life was
+saved by your timely aid--is the woman who loves you--myself!" she
+cried.
+
+"I never dreamed, until your words just now gave me a clue to the truth,
+that you were actually the unknown woman who escaped from the hands of
+the assassin," I said.
+
+For answer she grasped my hand warmly and looked straight into my eyes,
+though she did not utter a single word.
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.
+
+AT BORDIGHERA.
+
+Bordighera, that charming, well-sheltered little town which, lying well
+back in its picturesque bay on the Italian Riviera, has during the past
+year or so come quickly into fashionable prominence, is at its best
+towards the end of February.  It is not by any means a large place.  The
+quaint old town is perched upon a conical hill with queer ladder-like
+streets, so narrow that no vehicles can pass up them.  There are strong
+stone arches to support the houses against possible earthquakes.  The
+streets are dark, sometimes mere tunnels, as is so frequent in those
+neighbouring rock villages, Sasso, Dolceacqua, Apricale, and the rest,
+the reason being that they were built in the days when the Moorish
+pirates made constant raids along that coast, and the houses were
+clustered together for mutual protection against those dreaded raiders.
+
+But below the ancient town, Bordighera has spread along the seashore and
+into the olive-woods.  In February, when in England all is bare and
+cheerless, the gardens of the handsome hotels and the big white villas
+on the hillsides are ablaze with flowers, the air is heavy with the
+perfume of the heliotrope, growing in great bushes, and the sweet scent
+of the carnations, grown in fields for Covent Garden and the
+flower-market outside the Madeleine.
+
+The tourist in knickerbockers, with his camera over his shoulder, never
+goes to Bordighera, for to the uninitiated it is far too dull.  There is
+no casino, as at Nice, no jetty, no cafes with al-fresco music, no
+tables out upon the pavement; and, truth to tell, such attractions are
+not required.  The people who winter at Bordighera represent the most
+distinguished coterie in Europe.  They are not of the snobbish crowd who
+frequent San Remo, and they do their best to avoid attracting into their
+midst the undesirable crowd from Monte Carlo, or the Cookites from Nice.
+Life in Bordighera from November until the end of April is essentially
+charming.  The people who winter there regularly--English, Germans,
+Russians, Belgians, and Italians--all know each other, and nearly every
+evening there are brilliant entertainments, at which princes, dukes,
+marquesses, and counts attend as thickly as blackberries grace the
+hedgeside in autumn.  The big hotels give dances weekly, to which
+everyone in Society is welcome.  In fact, life in Bordighera is very
+similar to that in a pleasant country town in England, but with the
+difference that it is purely cosmopolitan, without any distinction of
+caste.  Emperors, kings, grand-dukes, and reigning princes are all
+patrons of the place, and it certainly stands unique in the whole world
+both for its natural beauties and for its unpretentiousness.  There is
+no artificial charm, as at Nice, San Remo, Monte Carlo, or Cannes.  The
+easy-going people of Bordighera are well aware that the charm of their
+clean, white little town lies in its natural beauty and quaint old-world
+picturesqueness; hence, although the health and comfort of their foreign
+visitors are studied, no attempt is made to give it a false air of
+garishness and gaiety.
+
+When at noon, two days after the Princess's visit to me, I stepped from
+the sleeping-car that had brought me down from Paris, and, entering a
+fiacre, drove up to the Hotel Angst, I turned back and saw before me a
+sunny panorama of turquoise sea and purple mountains, which compelled me
+to pause in rapt admiration.  The grey-green of the olives, the brighter
+foliage of the oranges with the yellow fruit gleaming in the green, the
+high feathery palms waving in the zephyr, the flowers of every hue, the
+dazzlingly white town, and its background of grey inaccessible crags,
+snow-tipped here and there, behind Apricale, combined to make up a
+picture unique and superb.
+
+I had been in Bordighera once before, but this second impression in no
+way destroyed the former.  On several previous occasions I had spent a
+month or so in the South at Monte Carlo, Mentone, and Nice, but I must
+admit that I preferred King's Road at Brighton to the Promenade des
+Anglais at Nice.  Mentone I disliked because of its bath-chair invalids,
+San Remo because of its snobbery; and Monte Carlo, with all its jargon
+of the play, the eternal Casino, the band outside the Cafe de Paris, the
+clatter at Ciro's, and the various pasteboard attractions, was to me
+only tolerable for a week.  Bordighera, with better climate and a native
+population exceedingly well-disposed towards the English, possesses
+distinct advantages over them all, although it never advertises itself
+on railway-station hoardings, like Nice or San Remo, by means of posters
+in which the sea is the colour of washing-blue.
+
+As I had not advised Edith of my coming, it being my intention to
+surprise her, it was not until after the dressing-bell had rung for
+dinner that evening that I went below.  I watched her descend the
+staircase, a neat figure in cream, with corsage slightly decollete, and
+with pink carnations in her hair.  Then I approached her in the great
+hall and held out my hand.
+
+She drew back in amazement.  The next moment she welcomed me warmly,
+evidently under the impression that I had come there in order to
+forgive.
+
+Aunt Hetty, looking quite spruce in black satin, and wearing a gay cap
+and an emerald brooch, came downstairs a few minutes later, and, after a
+brief explanation, we followed the others in to the table-d'hote.  As
+early arrivals, they had places near the head of the table, while mine
+was far down, near the end.  Therefore, not until the meal was over, and
+we sat in rocking-chairs in the hall listening to the music, was I able
+to chat to her, and then nothing confidential could pass between us
+because of the other guests seated around, the men smoking and
+gossiping, and the women enjoying the lazy post-prandial hour before the
+arrival of the English mail with the two-days-old letters and
+newspapers.
+
+After a long talk with her, mostly upon trivialities, I retired that
+night with a distinct impression that somehow my presence there was
+unwelcome.  She had told me that they did not intend to remain much
+longer in Bordighera, and that they would either go on to Rome or back
+to England.  I felt convinced that this decision had been suddenly
+arrived at since my advent.
+
+On the following morning, after my coffee, I went forth for a stroll
+into the long high-street of the town, where, in the window of the
+British Vice-Consulate, was placed a board bearing a number of
+telegrams.  I paused, finding that they gave the latest news of the war
+in the Transvaal, which was telegraphed from London twice daily.  As I
+did so, another passer-by paused and eagerly peered into the window
+beside me.
+
+He was a shabbily dressed Italian, smoking a long, rank Toscano, and as
+I turned away from the board my eyes fell suddenly upon his face.
+
+It was Paolo Bertini.
+
+Our recognition was mutual, and I saw in an instant that he became
+confused.  He moved away, but I walked beside him.
+
+"Why are you here?"  I inquired in French with some warmth.
+
+"I may put to you the same question," he answered defiantly, his dark
+eyes flashing upon me with an evil gleam.
+
+"Remember," I said, "you have been already condemned as a French spy,
+although you are an Italian.  They are not fond of French spies here, on
+the frontier."
+
+"What do you mean?" he cried, turning upon me quickly.  "Is that a
+threat?"
+
+"It is," I answered boldly.  "We have met now, and you must answer to me
+for several things."
+
+"For what?"
+
+"For your recent actions as a spy."
+
+"You are extremely polite--like all the English," he said sneeringly.
+
+We had turned back and were walking in the direction of the hotel again.
+
+"In this matter politeness is not necessary--only plain speaking," I
+said.  "First, I may tell you, for your own information, that I know
+well your methods and all about your assistance to your accomplice Wolf.
+Every action of yours during these past three months has been watched,
+and the truth is now known."
+
+His face went pale, but his nerve never deserted him.  Even though I
+myself had once given him into the hands of the police, he was still the
+same scheming, desperate spy as he had ever been.
+
+"Well," he laughed, "if you know the truth I hope it interests you.  You
+had best go back to Paris and not seek to interfere with me."
+
+"I came here for a purpose," I told him plainly, "and that purpose was
+to find you and hand you over to the police as a French secret agent.
+In France you are secure, but here you will discover that your
+countrymen are not so well-disposed towards a traitor."
+
+"I have no fear of arrest," he replied.  "Do your worst, caro mio.  You
+cannot harm me."
+
+"Very well," I answered, "we shall see."
+
+He glanced at me quickly with an evil look.  If he had dared he would
+have struck me down with the poignard which he kept always concealed in
+his belt.  But he was a coward, I knew; therefore, I felt safe while
+among the crowd of gaily dressed promenaders who were enjoying the
+morning sunshine.  If he made an attempt upon me, it would be in secret,
+not in the open.
+
+"Shall I tell you why you are here?" he asked.  "You have come to
+Bordighera to follow Edith Austin--just as I did."
+
+"And if so, what then?"
+
+"Return to Paris.  She is mine."
+
+"She shall never be!"  I cried furiously.  "You, a spy, a coward, and a
+traitor, hold her within your power, and are forcing her to become your
+catspaw.  I know it all.  I saw you that night at Ryburgh.  I followed
+you.  I made inquiries of her, and learned the truth."
+
+"What!" he cried, "she told you--she has dared to give me away?"
+
+"I know all," I answered firmly, "and your doom is imprisonment on the
+Island of Gorgona for the remainder of your life."
+
+"You exposed me once!" he cried in anger.  "I have not forgotten it.  We
+shall be quits one day."
+
+"We shall be quits this very day," I asserted hotly.
+
+"Ah!" he laughed defiantly, "that remains to be seen.  You are jealous
+of Edith Austin," he added with a supercilious sneer.
+
+"She is your victim!"  I cried, "and I have resolved to rescue her."
+
+"Because you think she is pure and honest, and that she loves you?  But
+very soon you will discover your mistake."
+
+"Do you make an imputation against her honour?"  I demanded fiercely.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders meaningly, his face broadening into an evil
+grin.
+
+"You are a coward in addition to being a spy and a traitor!"  I
+declared.  "You would even endeavour to besmirch a woman's fair name."
+
+"Fair name!" he laughed insultingly.  "Love like yours, amico mio, is
+always blind.  You English are always so amusingly simple."
+
+"Come," I said, halting suddenly when we had arrived at the small garden
+in the centre of which the band-stand is placed.  As we were some
+distance away from the promenaders, we could not be overheard.  "Enough
+has passed between us.  I tell you plainly that it is my intention to
+end all this and to apply for your arrest as a spy."
+
+"And supposing I do not allow myself to be arrested?  Suppose I cross
+the frontier at once?"
+
+"A telegram to the police at Ventimiglia will prevent you," I answered
+quite calmly.  "You see that city guard yonder?"  I said, pointing to a
+man in uniform standing not far off upon the kerb.  "I have only now to
+demand your arrest, and you will never again enjoy freedom your whole
+life long."
+
+"But you don't think I should be such a fool as to allow myself to be
+taken, do you?" he said, his air of defiance still perfect.
+
+He went on chewing the end of his Virginia.  "Your description is too
+well known.  You will not be at liberty a single hour after I make my
+statement to the Prefect."  Then I paused, and, looking straight into
+his evil face, added, "There is, however, yet another way."
+
+"How?"
+
+"A way in which you may avoid arrest--the only way."
+
+"Explain," he said.  "This is very interesting."
+
+"By being perfectly frank with me," I replied, "and by making
+explanation of your work of espionage in London."
+
+"You will never know that," he replied quickly.  "Cause my arrest if you
+wish, but upon the incidents of the past year my lips are sealed,
+because I know that you can never secure my conviction in Italy."
+
+"Then you still defy me, and refuse to explain anything?"
+
+It was my endeavour to obtain from him the secret of how despatches had
+so frequently been stolen.
+
+"I will explain nothing," he declared firmly.
+
+"You have no evidence upon which to convict me."
+
+"Very well," I answered slowly and distinctly, "we shall see.  You
+apparently forget that within your photographic camera, which so
+fortunately fell into my hands, was an undeveloped negative of an
+important diplomatic document having reference to Italy's position in
+regard to the Triple Alliance, which you photographed in the Italian
+Embassy in Brussels and intended to hand to your employers in Paris?  I
+have a print of it here, in my pocket-book, and I think it will be of
+considerable interest both to the Italian police and the Italian
+Government."
+
+His jaw dropped, and the light went out of his dark, sallow countenance.
+I saw that if ever the spirit of murder was in this scoundrel's heart
+it was there at that moment.
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
+
+IN WHICH EDITH SPEAKS PLAINLY.
+
+After luncheon, when Miss Foskett, as was usual, ascended to her room to
+take her afternoon nap, Edith managed to escape and accompany me for a
+walk.  The hotel was crowded with visitors, mostly English, who had come
+South in search of sunshine.  The Battle of Flowers was to be fought
+that day.  The little place was gay with flags, the pavements covered
+with confetti, and there was everywhere that air of gaiety and
+irresponsibility that Carnival lends to every Italian town.  In Carnival
+Bordighera is at her best, and the fun of the festa is fast and furious,
+without the rough horseplay and pellets of lime indulged in at Nice.
+
+Edith had, however, seen the Battle of Flowers at Nice in the previous
+week, having gone over there for the day.  As this was so, we resolved
+to climb the hill behind the town and wander through the grey
+olive-woods, away from the boisterous merrymakers.  Up a steep road on
+the outskirts of the town in the direction of sunny Ospedaletti we
+climbed, and thence by a mule-track we ascended zig-zag until we entered
+the beautiful olive-groves.  Seen through the grey-green trees with
+their twisted trunks, the panorama spread before us was truly wonderful,
+the whole line of rugged coast being in view for miles on either hand,
+the brown, bare rocks standing out in sharp contrast to the deep
+sapphire of the glassy sea.  Although February, it was like a May day in
+England, the air flower-scented and balmy, the sun so warm that to walk
+in overcoats or wraps was impossible.
+
+"Well," I said at length, when we had halted a second time to turn back
+and admire the view, "you are displeased with me, Edith?  Why am I so
+unwelcome?"
+
+"You are not unwelcome," she declared quickly.  "I am certainly not
+displeased."
+
+"I begin to think that during the months you've been here you have
+forgotten those words you uttered to me in Paris, just as you forgot
+your vow made to me beneath the willows at Ryburgh."
+
+"I have forgotten nothing," she protested.  "This is cruel of you,
+Gerald, to reproach me thus."
+
+"You told me then that you reciprocated my affection, yet you allow this
+man Bertini to follow you everywhere.  He is here."
+
+"Here?" she gasped in alarm, her face pale in an instant.  "Are you
+certain?"
+
+"I have seen and spoken with him this morning."
+
+I did not tell her the nature of our conversation, or how I had given
+him twelve hours in which to decide whether he preferred to reveal the
+truth or take the consequences of arrest; neither did I tell her that I
+had called at the police-office and that the spy was already under close
+observation, the police believing him to be an undesirable visitor from
+Monte Carlo.
+
+"You've spoken with him?  What did he tell you?"
+
+"Very little of consequence.  I know that you are his victim, and I am
+seeking to release you from the thraldom," I answered gravely.
+
+"Ah!" she cried wistfully, "if you only could!  If you only could, then
+I should commence a new life and be happy!  The awful suspense is
+killing me."
+
+"Suspense of what?"
+
+She was silent for a moment.
+
+"I fear his threats," she faltered.  "I know he would have no
+compunction whatever in causing my ruin when I am no longer of further
+use to him."
+
+"Now, tell me plainly and honestly, Edith," I asked, looking straight
+into her white, anxious face.  "Do you love him?"
+
+"Love him!" she echoed wildly.  "Why, I hate him!  Have I not already
+told you so?"
+
+"But he loves you."
+
+"Of that I am not certain.  If he does, it is through no fault whatever
+of mine.  I detest and hate him!"
+
+"Will you not tell me how he managed to obtain this irresistible power
+over you?  Can you not help me in my search for the truth?"
+
+"I must not speak; I dare not, Gerald," she answered in a hoarse
+whisper, as though the very thought of exposure filled her with alarm.
+
+"You fear his revenge?"
+
+She nodded, adding in a low tone, "He knows my secret."
+
+"And I, your lover, do not," I observed reproachfully.  "Well," I
+continued, "answer me truly one question.  Tell me whether, when you
+called upon me on the last occasion in Paris, you stole a letter from my
+desk--a letter from the Princess von Leutenberg?"
+
+"From the woman who loves you?" she cried huskily.  "Yes, I did."
+
+"And you stole it at Bertini's instigation?  He told you where it would
+be found, the colour of the envelope, and the coronet and cipher upon
+it, did he not?"
+
+She nodded in the affirmative.
+
+"And that same night you met him in a small cafe at Batignolles, and
+handed him the letter?  He was with his accomplice, Rodolphe Wolf."
+
+"It is just as you say," she answered.  "But how did you know this?"
+
+"Because I myself watched you," I answered.  "That letter was stolen to
+be used against the Princess."
+
+"And if it is, what then?  That woman who offered to betray her country
+in return for your love is my rival!" she cried fiercely.
+
+"The theft of that letter was committed with quite another motive," I
+replied.  "That adventurer Wolf desires to marry the Princess, and with
+his accomplice has made you his catspaw to obtain the letter, and thus
+compel her to marry him.  If she refuses, he threatens to denounce her."
+
+"Has he actually threatened this?" she cried in surprise.  "I never
+dreamt that such was his motive."
+
+"She is in Paris, suffering from this scoundrel's tyranny.  As the man
+is an adventurer and spy, marriage between them is out of the question."
+She turned to me, and, looking into my eyes, earnestly demanded:
+
+"Tell me, Gerald, do you love her, as they told me that you do?  You
+visited her at Chantoiseau, and it is said that you often went long
+walks in the forest together.  Besides, in Paris you met often at
+various receptions and dances."
+
+"True," I admitted.  "We met often, and I have more than once been her
+guest at the chateau; but as to loving her, such an idea has never
+entered my head.  She is a smart and attractive woman, like many others
+in the circle in which I am compelled to move; but I swear to you, by
+all I hold most sacred, that I never loved her in the past, and that
+to-day is as yesterday."
+
+"She loves you.  That letter is sufficient proof of it."
+
+"It was written in a moment of madness," I assured her.  "She regretted
+it a few hours afterwards, and asked me to destroy it.  The fault is
+entirely my own, for I neglected to carry out her wish.  By my own
+culpable negligence she is placed in this position."
+
+"Yes," she replied.  "Forgive me, Gerald; I acted under compulsion, as I
+have always been compelled to act."
+
+"Certainly I forgive," I answered.  "But will it not be humane conduct
+on your part to rescue the Princess from this terrible doom?  Wolf
+wishes to marry her for her money alone, and will force this step upon
+her if we can find no means to save her."
+
+She paused.  Hitherto she had been jealous of Leonie, but now, upon my
+assurance that I had no love for her, I saw that she inclined towards
+mercy.
+
+"If I could," she said at last, "I would assist her.  But I cannot see
+that it is possible."
+
+"You can do so by explaining your own position to me," I said.
+"Despicable though it may seem, the ghastly truth is, that you are
+actually a spy in the service of France.  If you do not seek to clear
+yourself now, you may be condemned with your accomplices Wolf, Bertini,
+and Yolande de Foville."
+
+"That woman!" she cried quickly.  "It was she who plotted against you."
+
+"Then you have met her!"  I exclaimed, surprised at this revelation.
+
+I had never believed that they had met.
+
+"Yes," Edith replied, "I met her in London; and while dining one night
+at the Carlton with Wolf and Bertini she told me how she had misled you
+into the belief that she loved you passionately, in order to obtain from
+you certain official information which had been of the greatest use to
+them at the Quai d'Orsay.  She little dreamed that I knew you and loved
+you, and the three of them laughed heartily over what they called your
+gullibility."
+
+I pursed my lips, for I now saw that woman's motive in responding to my
+declaration of love long ago.  At the time I would not believe the
+whispered condemnation of the Countess and her daughter as secret
+agents, but of late the truth had been shown me all too plainly.
+
+"And did she mention an incident last year in Paris as the result of
+which she nearly lost her life?"  I inquired.
+
+"Yes; she told us a long story of how a mysterious attempt had been made
+to poison her in her own apartment in Paris by some subtle poison being
+placed upon the gum of the envelopes in her escritoire.  She wrote a
+letter, and licked the envelope in order to seal it, when she was seized
+suddenly by excruciating pains, followed by coma and a state so nearly
+resembling death that even the doctors were at first deceived.  Only by
+an antidote administered by an English doctor--a friend of yours, I
+believe--was her life saved.  Because of your efforts she had, she said,
+been seized by remorse, and ceased to mislead you further, because of
+the debt of gratitude she owed you."
+
+"Very kind indeed of her," I laughed.
+
+A silence fell between us.  We were both looking seaward, far away over
+the great expanse of clear bright blue, to where a distant steamer was
+leaving a trail of smoke upon the horizon.  Down in the
+carnation-gardens some girls were singing an old Italian folk-song while
+they cut and packed the flowers for the London market; at our feet were
+violets everywhere.
+
+"Can you tell me absolutely nothing, in order to lead me to a knowledge
+of the truth, Edith?"  I asked again.  "Remember that our love and our
+future depend upon you alone.  At present you are a spy, liable to
+arrest as a traitress."
+
+"I know--I know!" she cried, bursting into a flood of tears.  "It was
+not my fault.  I could not help it.  I was compelled--compelled!"
+
+"You are aware of the channels through which knowledge of our diplomatic
+secrets have been obtained by our enemies.  Will you not make amends by
+telling me the truth?"  I asked in a low, persuasive, earnest tone, my
+arm about her slim waist.
+
+"I dare not!" she sobbed--"I dare not!  They would kill me, as they have
+sworn to do if I betrayed them!"
+
+During the hour that followed, as we wandered together among the olives,
+I ascertained a few unimportant facts from her--facts which threw
+considerable light upon the ingenuity of the spies with whom she had
+been compelled to ally herself.  But upon the secret of how their great
+coups had been accomplished her lips were sealed.
+
+I gave her to understand that Bertini was now within an ace of arrest,
+and that in less than an hour he would, if I willed it, be inside the
+Prefecture, charged with treason against his own Government; but in such
+terror did she hold him that even my assertion that his power over her
+had ended did not induce her to disclose anything.
+
+At first it had seemed to me almost impossible that she, living in the
+country with the strictly prim and proper Miss Foskett, could at the
+same time be a member of the secret service of our enemies.  But I had
+witnessed her midnight meeting with Bertini, and that had convinced me.
+
+"And if you cause his arrest," she exclaimed reflectively, as we
+descended the mule-path on our return, "what will be the result?"
+
+"The only result will be, as far as I can tell at present, that his evil
+influence over you will be ended, and you will be free."
+
+"No," she responded, sighing, "there are the others.  His arrest would
+only bring their wrath upon me, for they would believe that I had
+betrayed them."
+
+"They are spies and enemies of our country and our Queen, Edith," I
+urged.  "To betray them is your duty as an Englishwoman."
+
+"To disclose their secret would mean to me a swift and terrible death,"
+she answered.
+
+I saw that all my efforts at persuasion were unavailing.  As we retraced
+our steps the silence between us was a sad and painful one.
+
+"You do not love me sufficiently to sacrifice all for my sake, Edith," I
+said at last gravely; "otherwise you would help me to unravel the
+mystery."  We were just descending a narrow winding path to the high
+road as I spoke, and she halted suddenly in indecision.
+
+"I do love you, Gerald," she cried with sudden resolution.  She flung
+her arms about my neck; she buried her face upon my shoulder; she burst
+again into tears.  "I love you--I have never loved any man except
+yourself!" she declared passionately, lifting her face to me until our
+lips met.
+
+"Then will you not make this sacrifice, if you really love me so well?"
+I asked.  "Will you not tell me the truth, and allow me to be your
+champion?"
+
+She hesitated, and I saw the terrible struggle going on within her.
+
+"Yes," she cried hoarsely at last, "I will--I will! and if they kill me,
+you will at least know that I loved you, Gerald--that I loved you deeply
+and dearly!"
+
+"I am convinced of that, darling," I said.  "But in this affair your
+interests are my own.  Tell me the truth, and give me freedom of action.
+If you will, we may yet overthrow our enemies."
+
+For a few moments she did not speak, but sobbed convulsively upon my
+breast.  Then, suddenly holding her breath, she raised her tear-stained
+face to mine.  At last, her love for me conquering all else, she said in
+a low whisper, as though fearful lest someone should overhear:
+
+"Go to the little village of Feltham, near London, the next station to
+Twickenham, and find Cypress Cottage.  You will discover the secret
+there."
+
+Feltham!  It was the place mentioned by Wolf when I had listened to that
+conversation in the dingy little cafe at Batignolles.
+
+
+"What is there?"  I inquired quickly.  "What secret does the cottage
+contain?"
+
+"Have a care in approaching the place.  Obtain the assistance of the
+police--surround it--search it--and see."
+
+"Is there sufficient evidence there to justify the spy's arrest?"
+
+"Certainly.  Go and ascertain for yourself.  I have betrayed their
+secret--that is enough.  If their revenge falls upon me, then I am
+content to bear it, Gerald, for your sake.  Tell me, however, that you
+have forgiven me all the past; that you will believe no word of any vile
+scandal that may be uttered against me by that pair of adventurers.
+Promise me," she cried in deep earnestness.
+
+"I will believe nothing without proof," I answered, kissing her fondly.
+"I love you to-day, darling, just as passionately as I did when first we
+met long ago.  I start for London by the Calais express at six to-night,
+and will at once follow your directions."
+
+"And Bertini, what of him?" she asked in alarm.  "He is here, in
+Bordighera, for an evil purpose, without a doubt.  If he knows, I shall
+be in deadly peril."
+
+"Have no fear," I assured her.  "Before I leave he will be in the hands
+of the police.  My plans are already matured."  We walked back through
+the orange-grove down to the hotel hand-in-hand, both resolved to act
+firmly and fearlessly.  As we walked along we seldom spoke with our
+lips; but our hearts discovered a beautiful language in the silence; and
+used it.
+
+I loved her and she had proved her affection for me.  The betrayal of
+their secret made it plain that after all she was really mine; for she
+had now defied her enemies and had placed her life in deadly jeopardy
+for my sake.
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.
+
+THE SECRET.
+
+The village of Feltham is a sleepy little place standing in the centre
+of a bare, flat country half-way between Twickenham and Staines.  It is
+still quite a rural spot, even though only a league outside the
+twelve-mile radius.
+
+When I alighted from the train which had brought me down from Waterloo
+on the third day after leaving the sunshine of the Mediterranean, a cold
+cast wind was blowing, and the platform was covered with finely powdered
+snow.  I had as companions three plain-clothes officers from Scotland
+Yard, one of whom was Inspector Chick of the special political branch of
+the Criminal Investigation Department.  Application for assistance to
+the Commissioner had quickly been responded to, and outside the station
+we were met by the local plain-clothes constable of the T Division, who
+had been informed by telegraph of our advent.  On my arrival in London
+that morning I had received a telegram from the police at Bordighera
+stating that Paolo Bertini was already under arrest.
+
+We at once inquired the whereabouts of Cypress Cottage, and the local
+officer explained that it was a lonely house, situated nearly three
+miles away across the plain beyond Ashford, towards the valley of the
+Thames.  We therefore obtained a wagonette at the station inn, and were
+very soon driving in company over the snow-covered road towards the spot
+indicated.
+
+About a mile beyond Ashford village Chick, who directed the operations,
+ordered the coachman to stop, and he and I descended.  In the distance
+we could see outlined against the gloomy, snow-laden sky a small,
+whitewashed cottage, standing where the road we were traversing made a
+junction with the high road between Staines and Kingston.  This the
+local constable pointed out as our goal.  It was a truly lonely place of
+residence, for there seemed no other house within a radius of several
+miles.
+
+Chick, nimble of wit and resourceful, decided that we both should
+approach the place on foot, investigate, and endeavour to enter upon
+some pretext, while our three companions, at the moment of our entry,
+should drive up, leave the wagonette, and surround the place.
+
+As soon as we had arranged our plan of operations, I buttoned my coat
+and strode on beside the inspector, who now took from his hip pocket a
+police-revolver and placed it in readiness in the outside pocket of his
+overcoat.  With what resistance we might meet, or what was to be the
+nature of our discovery, we knew not.  The revelation made by Edith was,
+to say the least of it, one of the strangest in my experience.
+
+At last, after trudging through the snow, which lay thickly upon that
+road, we reached the cottage, a rather ill-kept place of about six
+rooms, and walked up the pathway to the door.  That it was inhabited was
+shown by the smoke ascending from one of the chimneys and the stunted
+geraniums which screened the windows on the inside.
+
+Chick knocked at the door, but for some anxious moments no response was
+made to his summons.  Both of us listened attentively, and distinctly
+heard the shuffling of feet within, accompanied by an ominous whispering
+and the low growl of a dog, which was apparently being ordered to remain
+quiet.
+
+"I hope these good people are not out," Chick exclaimed in a loud voice,
+with a meaning look.  "It's evident we've lost our way."
+
+His words were heard by those within, and apparently at once disarmed
+suspicion, for in a few seconds the door was thrown open, and a tall,
+bony-faced woman of middle age confronted us with a look of inquiry.
+She was grey-haired, with a face which bore evident signs of the burdens
+of life.
+
+"I'm very sorry to trouble you," explained the inspector.  "But we have
+unfortunately lost our way.  We are strangers here.  Could you direct us
+to the road to Littleton?"
+
+"Certainly, gentlemen," she answered.  "Take the road along here to the
+left, and the Littleton road is the first on the left again.  You can't
+mistake it.  There's a sign-post up."
+
+Scarcely had the woman finished her sentence, however, before Chick
+pushed her aside and entered the place, I following close behind.  The
+height of the woman was uncommon, and it occurred to me that she was the
+mysterious female who had watched me on the Calais boat some months
+before.
+
+She gave a warning shout, and an ugly bulldog, released from the room
+beyond, came bounding fiercely upon us.  Quick as thought Chick drew his
+revolver and shot the brute dead.  The woman screamed "Murder!"  So
+well-timed was our raid that at this very moment we heard outside the
+shouts of our companions, telling us that they had surrounded the place.
+
+Those moments were full of wild excitement.  From one room to another we
+dashed quickly, but discovered absolutely nothing to arouse any
+suspicions until we started to ascend the narrow flight of stairs, when,
+on doing so, we were suddenly confronted by the dark figure of a man
+standing at the head, with a revolver pointed straight at us.  He spoke
+no word, but I was amazed to recognise him as the man who had once
+before made a dastardly attempt upon my life--Rodolphe Wolf!  Then I
+knew that that cottage, as Edith had declared, contained the key to the
+mystery.
+
+"If you attempt to come up here, I shall shoot!" cried the spy in
+English.
+
+"I call upon you, in the name of the law, to surrender as my prisoner,"
+responded Chick firmly in his loud, ringing voice.  "I don't know your
+name, but I arrest you all the same."
+
+"His name is Wolf," I explained breathlessly.  "He is Rodolphe Wolf, the
+French spy!"
+
+It seemed that then for the first time did the fellow recognise me, for,
+peering down, he cried: "It is you--you!  Gerald Ingram!"
+
+"Yes," I answered.  "Your secret is out!  We know the truth!
+Surrender!"
+
+"Never!" he shouted, standing at bay.  "Advance a step, and I'll shoot
+you both dead."
+
+"The place is surrounded.  You cannot escape," Chick replied.  "I am an
+officer of Metropolitan Police, and command you to lay down your
+weapon."
+
+But he refused, and we both saw that to ascend that narrow staircase in
+face of his revolver was a very risky proceeding.  A dozen times Chick
+repeated the demand, but the adventurer was nothing daunted.  The
+secret, if anywhere, was in that room, and he was evidently determined
+to guard it with his life.
+
+Of a sudden the inspector, handing me the revolver, whispered to me to
+remain there, covering Wolf so as to prevent his escape, and assured me
+that he would return instantly.  He rushed outside, but returned to my
+side in a few moments.
+
+The vituperation which Rodolphe Wolf heaped upon me I need not repeat.
+Suffice it to say that during the few minutes which elapsed while we
+faced one another in that narrow way, each unable to move, he invoked
+upon my head all the curses of the evil one, vowing a revenge swift and
+terrible, not only upon myself, but also upon Leonie and Edith.
+
+With a suddenness that startled all of us, however, there was a loud
+crashing of glass in the room behind him, and, thus taken by surprise,
+he turned to see how it had been caused.
+
+In an instant Chick had sprung up the stairs, and we were both upon him.
+The spy fired his revolver, but at random, and the bullet pierced the
+ceiling.  The inspector closed with him in deadly embrace, and a second
+later was assisted by one of the detectives, who had broken the window
+and entered the room by a ladder.
+
+The fellow still held his weapon in a desperate grasp, and, having
+succeeded in pinning Chick against the wall, raised the revolver to his
+face.  At that instant the other officer threw himself upon the pair.
+Wolf's revolver exploded, but the bullet, instead of entering Chick's
+head, penetrated the spy's own neck, close behind the ear.
+
+"Dieu!" he shrieked, "I'm shot!  I've shot myself!" and as his grip
+relaxed, the two detectives allowed him to stagger and fall back upon
+the ground.
+
+In endeavouring to murder the inspector he had inflicted a fatal wound
+upon himself.
+
+Chick, who had had such a narrow escape from death, only brushed his
+clothes here and there, and remarked with a smile:
+
+"That was pretty tough, sir, wasn't it?"
+
+Then, ordering his assistant to look after the wounded prisoner, we both
+searched the room.  At first we saw nothing to account for Wolf
+resisting our progress so desperately.  It was a bare place, with a
+couple of tables, a chair or two, and a few papers that had been strewn
+about in the struggle.  I picked up some.  They were copies of the
+_Figaro_, the _Libre Parole_, and the _Petit Journal_.
+
+But in a corner by the fireplace, I saw a twisted heap of pale-green
+paper, like ribbon, and a moment later found beneath the table a broken
+telegraph-receiver.  On taking it up I saw upon the small brass plate
+the words "General Post Office," while near it lay the other portions of
+the apparatus, which was one of those which print upon the paper ribbon,
+and are worked by clockwork.
+
+"Hulloa!" cried Chick, crossing the room and bending over the
+instrument, "what's that?"
+
+"A telegraph-receiver," I replied, at the same moment examining the
+ceiling of the room and at once discovering two loose ends of wires
+suspended from a corner.
+
+The instrument had evidently been torn hurriedly from the wires, and an
+unsuccessful effort made to destroy it and remove all traces of its
+existence.  Wolf, however, had not had time to accomplish his object.
+
+While the wounded man lay groaning, we all proceeded to make further
+search, and the result of our investigations proved startling indeed.
+We found that from the room there ran two wires outside, which, after
+being buried in the garden and along a field on the left, emerged beside
+one of the telegraph-posts on the main road, and joined one of the lines
+running to London.
+
+At first we did not realise the extreme importance of our discovery, but
+from the telegraph-tape found in the room and the deciphers of official
+despatches which we discovered locked in a cupboard, the amazing truth
+was disclosed.
+
+The wire so ingeniously tapped was the Queen's private wire, which ran
+from Windsor Castle, along the road through Staines and Kingston, to the
+Foreign Office, and over which Her Majesty constantly exchanged views
+and gave instructions to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and
+others of her Ministers.
+
+In that comfortless room we found transcripts of all kinds of official
+despatches and confidential messages, which, although sent in cipher
+over the wire, had been deciphered by the spies, who had unfortunately
+also obtained a copy of the secret code in use.  The interchanges of
+views included much that concerned England's attitude in the Boer war,
+then still in progress, and had without doubt been communicated to the
+Boers through their Continental agents.  Not a single secret of State
+was safe from those emissaries of our enemies.  Thus it was that before
+the suggestions or instructions of our Sovereign reached Downing Street,
+they were in the possession of those who aimed at our downfall, for
+every message transmitted between Windsor and Downing Street, every
+decision of the Sovereign or of the Cabinet, passed through that
+inoffensive-looking little instrument, and was registered upon the
+pale-green snake-like tape before it reached its destination.
+
+A thorough search of the place revealed a perfect system of receiving
+and deciphering the despatches, all of which had been carefully
+registered by number in a book and the copies sent to the Quai d'Orsay.
+Hence it was, of course, that the knowledge of England's decision
+regarding the attitude to be adopted towards the Transvaal and of our
+policy in reference to Ceuta, had been obtained before the Marquess had
+even written his despatch; while the secret instructions which I myself
+had carried from Downing Street to Paris had actually been known to the
+spies before the Chief had put his pen to paper.  They did not seek to
+secure the despatches, because they were always in possession of the
+decisions and line of our diplomacy beforehand.
+
+Having taken possession of the whole of the papers, some of which I was
+amazed to discover were in Edith's handwriting, we removed the whole
+into the wagonette, placed a constable in charge of the cottage, and
+ordered the wounded man's removal to the Cottage Hospital at Staines, as
+being the nearest institution where he could be treated.
+
+That same evening I had a long interview with the Marquess at his
+private house, and, assisted by Chick, showed him the papers secured as
+the result of our investigations.  Afterwards, when he had gone through
+them, I related to him the whole story, concealing nothing.  While I sat
+recounting the incidents a telegram arrived for the inspector, to whom
+it had been forwarded from Scotland Yard.  It was an official police
+message stating that the prisoner Wolf had died in the hospital at
+half-past six, having made no statement.
+
+Her Majesty's Minister heard me through, listening with breathless
+interest, and when I had concluded bestowed upon both of us many
+complimentary words.
+
+"Both your Queen and your country owe a debt of gratitude to you,
+Ingram; for by dint of care and perseverance you have rescued us from
+our secret enemies," he said.  "Rest assured that your claim to
+distinction as an Englishman will not be forgotten."
+
+That night I sent a telegram from Charing Cross announcing to Leonie the
+death of the spy, which to her meant freedom.  The same wire also
+carried a second message of comfort to Edith, with the promise that I
+would leave London for Bordighera on the following morning.  Then,
+entering the telephone-box, I had a long conversation with Lord
+Barmouth, explaining to him the truth, and receiving his heartiest
+congratulations and best wishes for my happiness on my marriage with
+Edith Austin, who, he declared, had saved England's prestige.
+
+CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+Two days later I was again seated with Edith under the olives on the
+sunny hillside behind Bordighera.
+
+I had told her all that had happened, explained what we had discovered
+in that upper room at Cypress Cottage, and demanded to know the reason
+why some of the copies of those messages were in her own handwriting.
+Our hands were clasped in fervent affection, and now, fearing not the
+revenge of either Wolf or Bertini, she revealed to me the plain and
+ghastly truth in regard to her connection with that band of unscrupulous
+spies who had sought to bring about England's downfall.
+
+"I first knew Paolo Bertini when I was at school at St. Leonards, six
+years ago.  He was then our Italian master, and we girls admired him,
+and were one and all enamoured of our teacher, as school-girls so often
+are.  He and I became good friends, and one day he urged me to steal
+from another girl's locker a letter addressed to her by her father, a
+high official at the War Office.  He wished to see it, and I gave it to
+him in ignorance that the real reason was that he desired the signature
+for purposes of forgery.  I knew it afterwards, but he threatened if I
+exposed him that he would denounce me as a thief.  From that moment he
+held me in his power, gradually drawing me into the net he so carefully
+spread in order to secure my assistance in his nefarious schemes of
+espionage in conjunction with Rodolphe Wolf.  Although she knew that
+upon leaving school I should be comparatively wealthy, my aunt, who, as
+you know, is eccentric, insisted that I should be taught some means of
+earning my own livelihood.  At Bertini's demand I chose telegraphy, and
+when I became proficient the wires from Windsor were tapped, and I was
+compelled to act as telegraphist in that lonely, unsuspicious-looking
+cottage, which became the headquarters of French spies in England.  My
+many compulsory visits to London often aroused my aunt's suspicion, but
+I always managed to receive convenient invitations from relatives or old
+schoolfellows, until at last I succeeded in convincing her that all was
+well.  Ah!" she added, her bright, honest eyes turned away over the
+broad Mediterranean, where the sun was going down in golden glory behind
+the dark purple rock of Ventimiglia, "I have suffered, Gerald, quite as
+bitterly as yourself.  I was held in that man's power irrevocably,
+unable to extricate myself from the bond, unable to give you the least
+intimation of the evil influences always working against you, unable to
+accept your love.  From the moment when, as a school-girl, I stole that
+letter, until to-day, my enemies implicated me more and more deeply,
+until to draw back became utterly impossible.  I was their catspaw--held
+to them by fear of exposure and imprisonment, or even of death, if I
+disclosed their secret."
+
+"I understand it all now, darling.  All is plain, and our estrangement
+has only rendered our love the more perfect."
+
+"You are generous to forgive, Gerald," she answered in a low, faltering
+tone.  "But I swear it was not my fault.  In my ignorance of the world
+and its ways I took one false step long ago while still at school, and
+then could not draw back.  I became a traitress and a spy!"
+
+"And what of Yolande de Foville?"  I inquired.  "She was one of us, and
+in the service of France," my love replied.  "Like myself, she also was
+held in bondage.  She wished to marry the young Count de Hochberg, an
+aide-de-camp of the Emperor William; but Bertini, who was in love with
+her, refused to allow her.  It was because of jealousy that he made the
+ingenious attempt upon her life by the same means that he did later upon
+an Englishman in Paris, named Payne, who recognised him and suspected
+him of espionage.  He is in possession of the knowledge of some subtle
+alkaloid poison, which he once boasted in my hearing to be even more
+deadly than the Indian Bikh poison, and unknown in the science of
+toxicology."
+
+"And where is Yolande now?"
+
+"In Rome.  Having obtained some secret of Bertini's past, and a
+knowledge of his attempt upon her life, she defied him, and, freeing
+herself from the secret service, married de Hochberg only a fortnight
+ago.  She is spending her honeymoon in southern Italy."
+
+"She is married!"  I exclaimed, surprised.
+
+"Yes.  Her declarations of love for you were all false, made at the
+instigation of those schemers, Wolf and Bertini, who intended that she
+should worm from you certain diplomatic secrets.  She hated her
+position, but, like myself, was powerless and compelled to submit."
+
+"To you alone, my love, is due the breaking-up of this ingenious band of
+spies, and the frustrating of the great conspiracy against England,
+which has, it seems, been fostered and aided by certain of the Powers."
+
+"And have you really perfect confidence in my honour and purity,
+Gerald?" she asked again, looking at me dubiously.
+
+"I love you, darling," I answered, bending down once more to kiss her
+beautiful mouth; "and that my confidence in you remains unshaken and is
+the same to-day as it was long ago in Scotland when I first declared my
+love, will be shown by our marriage, which nothing can now prevent.  We
+are about to come into our kingdom."
+
+"But that letter," she faltered, still dubious--"that letter of the
+Princess!"
+
+"I do not love her, dearest.  I have never loved her," I declared
+earnestly.  "I am yours, and yours alone."
+
+She turned quickly, kissing me fondly, and shedding tears of joy.  We
+were both free at last, and that peaceful hour of our new-found
+happiness was full of that ecstasy which comes to man and woman only
+once in a lifetime, at the moment when two hearts first beat in unison.
+
+But why need I dwell upon the supreme happiness of that calm and
+glorious evening high up above the tideless sea, except to say that it
+was then each read the other's heart openly and truly; then that we
+discovered how best to interchange a perfect and fadeless affection.
+
+And you ask how this strange romance of an Englishman in his Sovereign's
+service ended?  Well, Edith became my own queen within two months.  We
+were married in London, and since my promotion and transfer to the
+Embassy at St. Petersburg our lives have been idyllic in their
+happiness.  Edith likes the Russian capital, where everyone is so
+hospitable and the fetes are never-ending.  I also prefer it to the
+artificiality and glare of Paris which is to me a city of bitter
+memories.
+
+As for the Princess, she is one of Edith's warmest friends.  She was
+married four months ago to Prince Stroganoff, a charming Russian whom
+everyone knows in Moscow and the capital, and who lives at the great
+Stroganoff Palace in St. Petersburg, where we are frequent visitors Lord
+Barmouth's failing health compelled him to retire from the Diplomatic
+Service after the lamented death of Her Majesty, and he is now living in
+London once more, after so many years of compulsory exile; while the
+_World_, a few weeks ago, announced Sibyl's engagement to the Hon.  Jack
+Willoughby, who is well known as a rising politician and Member for one
+of the Metropolitan Boroughs.  Her ladyship has written to me, declaring
+it to be a most excellent match.
+
+Bertini, the spy and traitor, having been condemned by the military
+court in Milan to imprisonment for life, is at this moment languishing
+in the convict prison at Orbetello.  Assuredly Europe is well rid of
+such an ingenious and unscrupulous scoundrel.
+
+Nothing appeared in the English newspapers regarding Wolf's death,
+beyond the statement that he had committed suicide rather than suffer
+arrest.  For what reason the police raided Cypress Cottage never leaked
+out.  It was kept a close secret, in order that the discovery of the
+headquarters of the French spies should not create undue public alarm.
+Hence all of the foregoing incidents long remained a secret chapter of
+England's history; and the gigantic conspiracy on the part of our
+nation's enemies is here related for the first time by one who was
+himself a principal actor in the stirring drama of diplomacy, and who
+has been fortunate enough to secure peace, happiness, and the love of a
+gentle and happy woman.
+
+The End.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Her Majesty's Minister, by William Le Queux
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41000 ***