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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8878-8.txt b/8878-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ffc6b07 --- /dev/null +++ b/8878-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12658 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mischief Maker, by E. Phillips Oppenheim + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mischief Maker + +Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim + +Posting Date: August 29, 2012 [EBook #8878] +Release Date: September, 2005 +First Posted: August 19, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISCHIEF MAKER *** + + + + +Produced by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + +THE MISCHIEF-MAKER + +BY + +E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM + +AUTHOR OF "THE LIGHTED WAY," "THE TEMPTING OF TAVERNAKE," "HAVOC," ETC. + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HANSON BOOTH + +1913 + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + +BOOK ONE + + + +CHAPTER + + + I SYMPATHY AND SELFISHNESS + + II AN INDISCREET LETTER + + III A RUINED CAREER + + IV A BUNCH OF VIOLETS + + V A SENTIMENTAL EPISODE + + VI AT THE CAFÉ L'ATHÉNÉE + + VII COFFEE FOR THREE + + VIII IN PARIS + + IX MADAME CHRISTOPHOR + + X BETTER ACQUAINTANCE + + XI THE TOYMAKER FROM LEIPZIG + + XII AT THE RAT MORT + + XIII POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM + + XIV THE MORNING AFTER + + XV BEHIND CLOSED DOORS + + XVI "HAVE YOU EVER LOVED?" + + XVII KENDRICKS IS HOST + +XVIII A MEETING OF SOCIALISTS + + XIX AN OFFER + + XX FALKENBERG ACTS + + + + +BOOK TWO + + + +CHAPTER + + + + I THE FLIGHT OF LADY ANNE + + II "TO OUR NEW SELVES" + + III WORK FOR JULIEN + + IV A STARTLING DISCLOSURE + + V THE FIRST ARTICLE + + VI FALKENBERG FAILS + + VII LADY ANNE DECLINES + + VIII A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE + + IX FOOLHARDY JULIEN + + X THE SECOND ATTEMPT + + XI BY THE PRINCE'S ORDERS + + XII DISTRESSING NEWS + + XIII ESTERMEN'S DEATH WARRANT + + XIV SANCTUARY + + XV NEARING A CRISIS + + XVI FALKENBERG'S LAST REPORT + + XVII DEFEAT FOR FALKENBERG + +XVIII THE ONE WAY OUT + + XIX ALL ENDS WELL + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +"Really," he said, "I thought better of Herr Freudenberg" + +"At least," she reminded him, "you are going to see Madame +Christophor?" + +"Splendid!" he muttered, rising to his feet. "If only I can do it!" + +"Let me present to you Monsieur Bourgan of the French Detective +Service" + + + + + +BOOK ONE + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +SYMPATHY AND SELFISHNESS + + +The girl who was dying lay in an invalid chair piled up with cushions +in a sheltered corner of the lawn. The woman who had come to visit her +had deliberately turned away her head with a murmured word about the +sunshine and the field of buttercups. Behind them was the little +sanitarium, a gray stone villa built in the style of a château, +overgrown with creepers, and with terraced lawns stretching down to the +sunny corner to which the girl had been carried earlier in the day. +There were flowers everywhere--beds of hyacinths, and borders of purple +and yellow crocuses. A lilac tree was bursting into blossom, the breeze +was soft and full of life. Below, beyond the yellow-starred field of +which the woman had spoken, flowed the Seine, and in the distance one +could see the outskirts of Paris. + +"The doctor says I am better," the girl whispered plaintively. "This +morning he was quite cheerful. I suppose he knows, but it is strange +that I should feel so weak--weaker even day by day. And my cough--it +tears me to pieces all the time." + +The woman who was bending over her gulped something down in her throat +and turned her head. Although older than the invalid whom she had come +to visit, she was young and very beautiful. Her cheeks were a trifle +pale, but even without the tears her eyes were almost the color of +violets. + +"The doctor must know, dear Lucie," she declared. "Our own feelings so +often mean nothing at all." + +The girl moved a little uneasily in her chair. She, also, had once been +pretty. Her hair was still an exquisite shade of red-gold, but her +cheeks were thin and pinched, her complexion had gone, her clothes fell +about her. She seemed somehow shapeless. + +"Yes," she agreed, "the doctor knows--he must know. I see it in his +manner every time he comes to visit me. In his heart," she added, +dropping her voice, "he must know that I am going to die." + +Her eyes seemed to have stiffened in their sockets, to have become +dilated. Her lips trembled, but her eyes remained steadfast. + +"Oh! madame," she sobbed, "is it not cruel that one should die like +this! I am so young. I have seen so little of life. It is not just, +madame--it is not just!" + +The woman who sat by her side was shaking. Her heart was torn with +pity. Everywhere in the soft, sunlit air, wherever she looked, she +seemed to read in letters of fire the history of this girl, the history +of so many others. + +"We will not talk of death, dear," she said. "Doctors are so wonderful, +nowadays. There are so few diseases which they cannot cure. They seem +to snatch one back even from the grave. Besides, you are so young. One +does not die at nineteen. Tell me about this man--Eugène, you called +him. He has never once been to see you--not even when you were in the +hospital?" + +The girl began to tremble. + +"Not once," she murmured. + +"You are sure that he had your letters? He knows that you are out here +and alone?" + +"Yes, he knows!" + +There was a short silence. The woman found it hard to know what to say. +Somewhere down along the white, dusty road a man was grinding the music +of a threadbare waltz from an ancient barrel-organ. The girl closed her +eyes. + +"We used to hear that sometimes," she whispered, "at the cafés. At one +where we went often they used to know that I liked it and they always +played it when we came. It is queer to hear it again--like this.... +Oh, when I close my eyes," she muttered, "I am afraid! It is like +shutting out life for always." + +The woman by her side got up. Lucie caught at her skirt. + +"Madame, you are not going yet?" she pleaded. "Am I selfish? Yet you +have not stayed with me so long as yesterday, and I am so lonely." + +The woman's face had hardened a little. + +"I am going to find that man," she replied. "I have his address. I want +to bring him to you." + +The girl's hold upon her skirt tightened. + +"Sit down," she begged. "Do not leave me. Indeed it is useless. He +knows. He does not choose to come. Men are like that. Oh! madame, I +have learned my lesson. I know now that love is a vain thing. Men do +not often really feel it. They come to us when we please them, but +afterwards that does not count. I suppose we were meant to be +sacrificed. I have given up thinking of Eugène. He is afraid, perhaps, +of the infection. I think that I would sooner go out of life as I lie +here, cold and unloved, than have him come to me unwillingly." + +The woman could not hide her tears any longer. There was something so +exquisitely fragile, so strangely pathetic, in that prostrate figure by +her side. + +"But, my dear," she faltered,-- + +"Madame," the girl interrupted, "hold my hand for a moment. That is the +doctor coming. I hear his footstep. I think that I must sleep." + +Madame Christophor--she had another name, but there were few occasions +on which she cared to use it--was driven back to Paris, in accordance +with her murmured word of instruction, at a pace which took little heed +of police regulations or even of safety. Through the peaceful lanes, +across the hills into the suburbs, and into the city itself she passed, +at a speed which was scarcely slackened even when she turned into the +Boulevard which was her destination. Glancing at the slip of paper +which she held in her hand, she pulled the checkstring before a tall +block of buildings. She hurried inside, ascended two flights of stairs, +and rang the bell of a door immediately opposite her. A very +German-looking manservant opened it after the briefest of delays--a man +with fair moustache, fat, stolid face and inquisitive eyes. + +"Is your master in," she demanded, "Monsieur Estermen?" + +The man stared at her, then bowed. The appearance of Madame Christophor +was, without doubt, impressive. + +"I will inquire, madame," he replied. + +"I am in a hurry," she said curtly. "Be so good as to let your master +know that." + +A moment later she was ushered into a sitting-room--a man's apartment, +untidy, reeking of cigarette smoke and stale air. There were +photographs and souvenirs of women everywhere. The windows were +fast-closed and the curtains half-drawn. The man who stood upon the +hearthrug was of medium height, dark, with close-cropped hair and a +black, drooping moustache. His first glance at his visitor, as the door +opened, was one of impertinent curiosity. + +"Madame?" he inquired. + +"You are Monsieur Estermen?" + +He bowed. He was very much impressed and he endeavored to assume a +manner. + +"That is my name. Pray be seated." + +She waved away the chair he offered. + +"My automobile is in the street below," she said. "I wish you to come +with me at once to see a poor girl who is dying." + +He looked at her in amazement. + +"Are you serious, madame?" + +"I am very serious indeed," she replied. "The girl's name is Lucie +Rénault." + +For the moment he seemed perplexed. Then his eyebrows were slowly +raised. + +"Lucie Rénault," he repeated. "What do you know about her?" + +"Only that she is a poor child who has suffered at your hands and who +is dying in a private hospital," Madame Christophor answered. "She has +been taken there out of charity. She has no friends, she is dying +alone. Come with me. I will take you to her. You shall save her at +least from that terror." + +It was the aim of the man with whom she spoke to be considered modern. +A perfect and invincible selfishness had enabled him to reach the +topmost heights of callousness, and to remain there without +affectation. + +"If the little girl is dying," he said, "I am sorry, for she was pretty +and companionable, although I have lost sight of her lately. But as to +my going out to see her, why, that is absurd. I hate illness of all +sorts." + +The woman looked at him steadfastly, looked at him as though she had +come into contact with some strange creature. + +"Do you understand what it is that I am saying?" she demanded. "This +girl was once your little friend, is it not so? It was for your sake +that she gave up the simple life she was living when you first knew +her, and went upon the stage. The life was too strenuous for her. She +broke down, took no care of herself, developed a cough and alas! +tuberculosis." + +The man sighed. He had adopted an expression of abstract sympathy. + +"A terrible disease," he murmured. + +"A terrible disease indeed," Madame Christophor repeated. "Do you not +understand what I mean when I tell you that she is dying of it? Very +likely she will not live a week--perhaps not a day. She lies there +alone in the garden of the hospital and she is afraid. There are none +who knew her, whom she cares for, to take her into their arms and to +bid her have no fear. Is it not your place to do this? You have held +her in your arms in life. Don't you see that it is your duty to cheer +her a little way on this last dark journey?" + +The man threw away his cigarette and moved to the mantelpiece, where he +helped himself to a fresh one from the box. + +"Madame," he said, "I perceive that you are a sentimentalist." + +She did not speak--she could not. She only looked at him. + +"Death," he continued, lighting his cigarette, "is an ugly thing. If it +came to me I should probably be quite as much afraid--perhaps +more--than any one else. But it has not come to me just yet. It has +come, you tell me, to little Lucie. Well, I am sorry, but there is +nothing I can do about it. I have no intention whatever of making +myself miserable. I do not wish to see her. I do not wish to look upon +death, I simply wish to forget it. If it were not, madame," he added, +with a bow and a meaning glance from his dark eyes, "that you bring +with you something of your own so well worth looking upon, I could +almost find myself regretting your visit." + +She still regarded him fixedly. There was in her face something of that +shrinking curiosity with which one looks upon an unclean and horrible +thing. + +"That is your answer?" she murmured. + +The man had little understanding and he replied boldly. + +"It is my answer, without a doubt. Lucie, if what you tell me is true, +as I do not for a moment doubt, is dying from a disease the ravages of +which are hideous to watch, and which many people believe, too, to be +infectious. Let me advise you, madame, to learn also a little wisdom. +Let me beg of you not to be led away by these efforts of sentiment, +however picturesque and delightful they may seem. The only life that is +worth considering is our own. The only death that we need fear is our +own. We ought to live like that." + +The woman stood quite still. She was tall and she was slim. Her figure +was exquisite. She was famous throughout the city for her beauty. The +man's eyes dwelt upon her and the eternal expression crept slowly into +his face. He seemed to understand nothing of the shivering horror with +which she was regarding him. + +"If it were upon any other errand, madame," he continued, leaning +towards her, "believe, I pray you, that no one would leave this room to +become your escort more willingly than I." + +She turned away. + +"You will not leave me already?" he begged. + +"Monsieur," she declared, as she threw open the door before he could +reach it, "if I thought that there were many men like you in the world, +if I thought--" + +She never finished her sentence. The emotions which had seized her were +entirely inexpressible. He shrugged his shoulders. + +"My dear lady," he said, "let me assure you that there is not a man of +the world in this city who, if he spoke honestly, would not feel +exactly as I do. Allow me at least to see you to your automobile." + +"If you dare to move," she muttered, "if you dare--" + +She swept past him and down the stairs into the street. She threw +herself into the corner of the automobile. The chauffeur looked around. + +"Where to, madame?" he inquired. + +She hesitated for a moment. She had affairs of her own, but the thought +of the child's eyes came up before her. + +"Back to the hospital," she ordered. "Drive quickly." + +They rushed from Paris once more into the country, with its spring +perfumes, its soft breezes, its restful green, but fast though they +drove another messenger had outstripped them. From the little chapel, +as the car rolled up the avenue, came the slow tolling of a bell. +Madame Christophor stood on the corner of the lawn alone. The invalid +chair was empty. The blinds of the villa were being slowly lowered. She +turned around and looked toward the city. It seemed to her that she +could see into the rooms of the man whom she had left a few minutes +ago. A lark was singing over her head. She lifted her eyes and looked +past him up to the blue sky. Her lips moved, but never a sound escaped +her. Yet the man who sat in his rooms at that moment, yawning and +wondering where to spend the evening, and which companion he should +summon by telephone to amuse him, felt a sudden shiver in his veins. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +AN INDISCREET LETTER + + +The library of the house in Grosvenor Square was spacious, handsome and +ornate. Mr. Algernon H. Carraby, M.P., who sat dictating letters to a +secretary in an attitude which his favorite photographer had rendered +exceedingly familiar, at any rate among his constituents, was also, in +his way, handsome and ornate. Mrs. Carraby, who had just entered the +room, fulfilled in an even greater degree these same characteristics. +It was acknowledged to be a very satisfactory household. + +"I should like to speak to you for a moment, Algernon," his wife +announced. + +Mr. Carraby noticed for the first time that she was carrying a letter +in her hand. He turned at once to his secretary. + +"Haskwell," he said, "kindly return in ten minutes." + +The young man quitted the room. Mrs. Carraby advanced a few steps +further towards her husband. She was tall, beautifully dressed in the +latest extreme of fashion. Her movements were quiet, her skin a little +pale, and her eyebrows a little light. Nevertheless, she was quite a +famous beauty. Men all admired her without any reservations. The best +sort of women rather mistrusted her. + +"Is that the letter, Mabel?" her husband asked, with an eagerness which +he seemed to be making some effort to conceal. + +She nodded slowly. He held out his hand, but she did not at once part +with it. + +"Algernon," she said quietly, "you know that I am not very scrupulous. +We both of us want success--a certain sort of success--and we have both +of us been content to pay the price. You have spent a good deal of +money and you have succeeded very well indeed. Somehow or other, I feel +to-day as though I were spending more than money." + +He laughed a little uncomfortably. + +"My dear Mabel!" he protested. "You are not going to back out, are +you?" + +"No," she replied, "I do not think that I shall back out. There is +nothing in the whole world I want so much as to have you a Cabinet +Minister. If there had been any other way--" + +"But there is no other way," her husband interrupted. "So long as +Julien Portel lives, I should never get my chance. He holds the post I +want. Every one knows that he is clever. He has the ear of the Prime +Minister and he hates me. My only chance is his retirement." + +Mrs. Carraby looked at the letter. + +"Well," she said, "I have played your game for you. I have gone even to +the extent of being talked about with Julien Portel." + +Her husband moved uneasily in his chair. + +"That will all blow over directly," he declared. "Besides, if--if +things go our way, we shan't see much more of Portel. Give me the +letter." + +Still she hesitated. It was curious that throughout the slow evolution +of this scheme to break a man's life, for which she was mainly +responsible, she had never hesitated until this moment. Always it had +been fixed in her mind that Algernon was to be a Cabinet Minister; she +was to be the wife of a Cabinet Minister. That there were any other +things greater in life than the gratification of so reasonable an +ambition had never seemed possible. Now she hesitated. She looked at +her husband and she saw him with new eyes. He seemed suddenly a mean +little person. She thought of the other man and there was a strange +quiver in her heart--a very unexpected sensation indeed. There was a +difference in the breed. It came home to her at that moment. She found +herself even wondering, as she swung the letter idly between her thumb +and fore-finger, whether she would have been a different woman if she +had had a different manner of husband. + +"The letter!" he repeated. + +She laid it calmly on the desk before him. + +"Of course," she said coldly, "if you find the contents affectionate +you must remember that I am in no way responsible. This was your +scheme. I have done my best." + +The man's fingers trembled slightly as he broke the seal. + +"Naturally," he agreed, pausing for an instant and looking up at her. +"I knew that I could trust you or I would never have put such an idea +into your head." + +She laughed; a characteristic laugh it was, quite cold, quite +mirthless, apparently quite meaningless. Carraby turned back to the +letter, tore open the envelope and spread it out before them. He read +it out aloud in a sing-song voice. + +_Downing Street. Tuesday_ + +MY DEAREST MABEL, + +I had your sweet little note an hour ago. Of course I was disappointed +about luncheon, as I always am when I cannot see you. Your promise to +repay me, however, almost reconciles me. + +The man looked up at his wife. + +"Promise?" he repeated hoarsely. "What does he mean?" + +"Go on," she said, with unchanged expression. "See if what you want is +there." + +The man continued to read: + +I am going to ask you a very great favor, Mabel. When we are alone +together, I talk to you with absolute freedom. To write you on matters +connected with my office is different. I know very well how deep and +sincere your interest in politics really is, and it has always been one +of my greatest pleasures, when with you, to talk things over and hear +your point of view. Without flattery, dear, I have really more than +once found your advice useful. It is your understanding which makes our +companionship always a pleasure to me, and I rely upon that when I beg +you not to ask me to write you again on matters to which I have really +no right to allude. You do not mind this, dear? And having read you my +little lecture, I will answer your question. Yes, the Cabinet Council +was held exactly as you surmise. With great difficulty I persuaded +B---- to adopt my view of the situation. They are all much too +terrified of this war bogey. For once I had my own way. Our answer to +this latest demand from Berlin was a prompt and decisive negative. +Nothing of this is to be known for at least a week. + +I am sorry your husband is such a bear. Perhaps on Monday we may meet +at Cardington House? + +Please destroy this letter at once. + +Ever affectionately yours, + +JULIEN. + +The man's eyes, as he read, grew brighter. + +"It is enough?" the woman asked. + +"It is more than enough!" + +Slowly he replaced it in its envelope and thrust it into the +breast-pocket of his coat. + +"What are you going to do with it?" she inquired. + +"I have made my plans," he answered. "I know exactly how to make the +best and most dignified use of it." + +He rose to his feet. Something in his wife's expression seemed to +disturb him. He walked a few steps toward the door and came back again. + +"Mabel," he said, "are you glad?" + +"Naturally I am glad," she replied. + +"You have no regrets?" + +Again she laughed. + +"Regrets?" she echoed. "What are they? One doesn't think about such +things, nowadays." + +They stood quite still in the centre of that very handsome apartment. +They were almost alien figures in the world in which they moved, +Carraby, the rankest of newcomers, carried into political life by his +wife's ambitions, his own self-amassed fortune, and a sort of subtle +cunning--a very common substitute for brains; Mrs. Carraby, on whom had +been plastered an expensive and ultra-fashionable education, although +she was able perhaps more effectually to conceal her origin, the +daughter of a rich Yorkshire manufacturer, who had secured a paid +entrance into Society. They were purely artificial figures for the very +reason that they never admitted any one of these facts to themselves, +but talked always the jargon of the world to which they aspired, as +though they were indeed denizens therein by right. At that moment, +though, a single natural feeling shook the man, shook his faith in +himself, in life, in his destiny. There was Jewish blood in his veins +and it made itself felt. + +"Mabel," he began, "this man Portel--you've flirted with him, you say?" + +"I have most certainly flirted with him," she admitted quietly. + +"He hasn't dared--" + +A flash of scorn lit her cold eyes. + +"I think," she said, "that you had better ask me no questions of that +sort." + +Carraby went slowly out. Already the moment was passing. Of course he +could trust his wife! Besides, in his letter was the death warrant of +the man who stood between him and his ambitions. Mrs. Carraby listened +to his footsteps in the hall, heard his suave reply to his secretary, +heard his orders to the footman who let him out. From where she stood +she watched him cross the square. Already he had recovered his alert +bearing. His shoes and his hat were glossy, his coat was of an +excellent fit. The woman watched him without movement or any change of +expression. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +A RUINED CAREER + + +Sir Julien Portel stood in the middle of his bedroom, dressed in shirt +and trousers only. The sofa and chairs around him were littered with +portions of the brilliant uniform which he had torn from his person a +few minutes before with almost feverish haste. His perplexed servant, +who had only just arrived, was doing his best to restore the room to +some appearance of order. + +"You needn't mind those wretched things for the present, Richards," his +master ordered sharply. "Bring the rest of the tweed traveling suit +like the trousers I have on, and then see about packing some clothes." + +The man ceased his task. He looked around, a little bewildered. + +"Do I understand that you are going out of town tonight, Sir Julien?" +he asked. + +"I am going on to the continent by the nine o'clock train," was the +curt reply. + +Richards was a perfectly trained servant, but the situation was too +much for him. + +"You will excuse me, Sir Julien," he said, "but there is Lord +Cardington's dinner tonight, and the reception afterwards at the +Foreign Office. I have your court clothes ready." + +His master laughed shortly. + +"I am not attending the dinner or the reception, Richards. You can put +those things back again and get me the traveling clothes." + +The man seemed a little dazed, but turned automatically towards the +wardrobe. + +"Shall you require me to accompany you, sir?" he inquired. + +"Not at present," Sir Julien replied. "You will have to come on with +the rest of my luggage when I have decided what to do." + +Richards was not more than ordinarily inquisitive, but the +circumstances were certainly unusual. + +"Do you mean, sir, that you will not be returning to London at +present?" he ventured to ask. + +"I shall not be returning to London for some time," Sir Julien answered +sharply. "Get on with the packing as quickly as you can. Put the +whiskey and soda on the table in the sitting-room, and the cigarettes. +Remember, if any one comes I am not at home." + +"Too late, my dear fellow," a voice called out from the adjoining room. +"You see, I have found my way up unannounced--a bad habit, but my +profession excuses everything." + +The man stood on the threshold of the room opening out from the +bedroom--tall, florid, untidily dressed, with clean-shaven, humorous +face, ungloved hands, and a terribly shabby hat. He looked around the +room and shrugged his shoulders. + +"What an infernal mess!" he exclaimed. "Come along out into the +sitting-room, Julien. I want to talk to you." + +"I should like to know how the devil you got in here!" Sir Julien +muttered. "I told the fellow downstairs that no one was to be allowed +up." + +"He did try to make himself disagreeable," the newcomer replied. +"However, here I am--that's enough." + +Sir Julien turned to his servant. + +"Get on with your packing, Richards," he directed, "and let me know +when you have finished." + +Sir Julien followed his visitor into the sitting-room, closing the door +behind him. His manner was not in the least cordial. + +"Look here, Kendricks, old fellow," he said, "I don't want to be rude, +but I am not in the humor to talk to any one. I have had a rotten week +of it and just about as much as I can stand. Help yourself to a whiskey +and soda, say what you have to say and then go." + +The newcomer nodded. He helped himself to the whiskey and soda, but he +seemed in no hurry to speak. On the contrary, he settled himself down +in an easy-chair with the appearance of a man who had come to stay. + +"Julien," he remarked presently, "you are up against it--up against it +rather hard. Don't trouble to interrupt me. I know pretty well all +about it. I said from the first you'd have to resign. There wasn't any +other way out of it." + +"Quite right," Julien agreed. "There wasn't. I've finished up +everything to-day--resigned my office, applied for the Chiltern +Hundreds, and I am going to clear out of the country to-night." + +"And all because you wrote a foolish letter to a woman!" Kendricks +murmured, half to himself. "By the bye, there's no doubt about the +letter, I suppose?" + +"None in the world," Julien replied. + +"There's nothing that the Press can do to set you right?" + +"Great heavens, no!" Julien declared. "No one can help me. I've no one +to blame but myself. I wrote the letter--there the matter ends." + +"And she passed it on to that shocking little bounder of a husband of +hers! What a creature! Did it ever occur to you that it was a plot?" + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"It makes so little difference." + +"You were in Carraby's way," Kendricks continued, producing a pipe from +his pocket and leisurely filling it. "There was no getting past you and +you were a young man. It's a dirty business." + +"If you don't mind," Julien said coldly, "we won't discuss it any +further. So far as I am concerned, the whole matter is at an end. I was +compelled to take part in to-day's mummery. I hated it--that they all +knew. I suppose it's foolish to mind such things, David," he went on +bitterly, taking up a cigarette and throwing himself into a chair, "but +a year ago--it was just after I came back from Berlin and you may +remember it was the fancy of the people to believe that I had saved the +country from war--they cheered me all the way from Whitehall to the +Mansion House. To-day there was only a dull murmur of voices--a sort of +doubting groan. I felt it, Kendricks. It was like Hell, that ride!" + +Kendricks nodded sympathetically. + +"I suppose you know that a version of the letter is in the evening +papers?" he asked. + + +"My resignation will be in the later issues," Julien told him. "It was +pretty well known yesterday afternoon. I leave for the continent +to-night." + +There was a short silence between the two men. In a sense they had been +friends all their lives. Sir Julien Portel had been a successful +politician, the youngest Cabinet Minister for some years. Kendricks had +never aspired to be more than a clever journalist of the vigorous type. +Nevertheless, they had been more than ordinarily intimate. + +"Have you made any plans?" Kendricks inquired presently. "Of course, +you would have to resign office, but don't you think there might be a +chance of living it down?" + +"Not a chance on earth," Julien replied. "As to what I am going to do, +don't ask me. For the immediate present I am going to lose myself in +Normandy or somewhere. Afterwards I think I shall move on to my old +quarters in Paris. There's always a little excitement to be got out of +life there." + +Kendricks looked at his friend through the cloud of tobacco smoke. + +"It's excitement of rather a dangerous order," he remarked slowly. + +"I shall never be likely to forget that I am an Englishman," Julien +said. "Perhaps I may be able to do something to set matters right +again. One can't tell. By the bye, Kendricks," he went on, "do you +remember when we were at college how you hated women? How you used to +try and trace half the things that went wrong in life to their +influence?" + +The journalist nodded. He knocked the ashes from his pipe deliberately. + +"I was a boy in those days," he declared. "I am a man now, getting on +toward middle age, and on that one subject I am as rabid as ever. I +hate their meddling in men's affairs, shoving themselves into politics, +always whispering in a man's ear under pretence of helping him with +their sympathy. They're in evidence wherever you go--women, women, +women! The place reeks with them. You can't go about your work, hour by +hour or day by day, without having them on every side of you. It's like +a poison, this trail of them over every piece of serious work we +attempt, over every place we find our way into. They bang the +typewriters in our offices, they elbow us in the streets, they smile at +us from the next table at our workaday luncheon, they crowd the tubes +and the cars and the cabs in the streets. Why the deuce, Julien, can't +we treat them like those sage Orientals, and dump them all in one place +where they belong till we've finished our work?" + +Julien lifted his tumbler of whiskey and soda to his lips and set it +down empty. + +"In a way, you're right, Kendricks," he agreed. "You go too far, of +course, but I do believe that women hold too big a place in our lives. +I am one of the poor fools who goes to the wall to gratify the vanity +of one of them." + +The journalist muttered a word under his breath which he would have +been very sorry to have seen in the pages of his paper. Julien had +moved to the open window. There had been a little break in his voice. +No one knew better than Kendricks that a very brilliant career was +broken. + +"I think you're wise to go away for a time, Julien," he decided. "Look +here, it's six o'clock now. I have a taxicab waiting downstairs. Come +round to my rotten little restaurant in Soho and dine with me. Your +fellow can meet us at Charing-Cross with your things. You won't see a +soul you know where I'm going to take you." + +Julien turned slowly away from the window. He was looking for the last +time from those rooms at the London which he had loved. The setting sun +had caught the dome of St. Paul's, was flashing from the dark, placid +water of the Thames. The roar of the great city was passing from +eastwards to westwards. + +"You're a good chap, Kendricks," he declared. "I'll come along, with +pleasure. I shall have enough solitude later on. But listen, before we +go--listen, David, to a speech after your own heart." + +Julien stood quite still for a moment. His pale face seemed suddenly +whiter, his eyes were full of fire. + +"David," he said, "if ever the time comes in the future when I find +that a woman is beginning to claim a minute of my thoughts, a single +one of my emotions, to govern the slightest throb of my pulses, I'll +take her by the throat and I'll throw her out of what's left of my life +as I would a rat that had crept into my room. I've done with them. +Curse all women!" + +There was a silence. Kendricks leaned over to the fireplace and knocked +his pipe against the hearth. Then he suddenly paused. + +"What's that?" he asked abruptly. + +There was a soft knocking at the outside door. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +A BUNCH OF VIOLETS + + +Kendricks rose slowly to his feet. Julien was looking toward the door +with a frown upon his face. While they stood there the knocking was +repeated, still soft but a little more insistent. Julien hesitated no +longer. + +"I think," Kendricks said dryly, "that you had better see who is +there." + +The door was already opened. Julien seemed suddenly transformed into a +graven image. He said nothing, merely gazing at the woman who walked +calmly past him into the room. Kendricks, who also recognized her, +withdrew his pipe from his mouth. This was a situation indeed! The +woman, with her hands inside her muff, looked from one to the other of +the two men. + +"Am I interrupting a very important interview?" she asked calmly. "If +not, perhaps you could spare me five minutes of your time, Sir Julien?" + +Kendricks recovered himself at once. + +"I'll wait for you downstairs, Julien," he declared. + +He caught up his hat and departed, closing the door after him. Julien +was still motionless. + +"Well?" she began. + +He drew a little breath. He was beginning to regain his +self-possession. + +"My dear Mrs. Carraby," he said, "with your wonderful knowledge of the +world and its ways, will you permit me to point out that your presence +here is a little embarrassing to me and might, under certain +circumstances, be a good deal more embarrassing to you?" + +Mrs. Carraby smiled. She stood where the sunlight touched her brown +hair and her quiet, pale face. She was one of those women who are never +afraid of the light. Her face was of that strange, self-contained +nature, colorless, apparently, yet capable of strange and rapid +changes. Just now the last glow of sunlight seemed to have found a +skein of gold in her hair, a queer gleam of light in her eyes. She +stood there looking at the man whom she had come to visit. + +"Julien," she said, "I wanted a few words with you." + +It was impossible for him to remain altogether unmoved. Whatever else +might be the truth, she had risked most of the things that were dear to +her in life by this visit. + +"Mrs. Carraby," he declared, "I am entirely at your service. If you +think that any useful purpose can be served by words between you and +me, I would only point out, for your own sake, that your visit is, to +say the least of it, unwise. These are bachelor chambers." + +"You know very well," she replied calmly, "that it was my only chance +of speaking with you. If I had sent for you, you would not have come. +If I had spoken to you in the street, you would have passed me +by--quite rightly. This was my only chance. That is why I have come to +you." + +"If you think it worth the risk," he remarked gravely, "pray continue." + +She shrugged her shoulders very slightly. + +"Who can tell what is worth the risk?" + +"You have at least excited my curiosity," he admitted, leaning a little +towards her. "I cannot conceive what it is that you want to say to me." + +She lifted her eyes to his, and though there was nothing unusual about +them--there were few people, indeed, who could tell you what color they +were--men seldom forgot it when Mrs. Carraby looked at them steadily. + +"I do not know, myself," she said. "I do not know why I have come." + +Julien laughed unnaturally. + +"Pray be seated," he begged. "Would you like to examine my curios or my +photographs? I must apologize for the condition of my room. You see, +you happen to be the first woman who has ever crossed its threshold." + +"That," she remarked, "rather interests me. Still, it is only what I +should have expected. No, I do not think that I will sit down. I am +trying to ask myself exactly why I have come." + + +"If you can answer that question," Julien said grimly, "you will +appease a very natural curiosity on my part. It is not like you." + +"Quite true," she assented. "It is not like me. I have run a great risk +in coming here and it is not my métier to run risks. And now that I am +here I do not know why I have come. This has been an impulse and this +is an hour outside my life. I am trying to understand it. Come here, +Julien." He came unwillingly to her side. She held out her hand, but +he shook his head. + +"Mabel," he said, "you and I do not need to mince words. To-night I am +celebrating the ruin of my career. I am leaving England within a few +hours. I have you to thank for what has happened. Yet you come to me, +you hold out your hand. You must forgive me--I am afraid I am dull." + +"No," she replied, "you are not dull. Your feelings towards me are +obvious and very natural. Mine towards you I am not so sure of. It is +not because I did not understand you that I came here to-night. It is +because I did not understand myself. May I go on?" + +"Why not?" he answered. "I am at your service." + +"From the days of my boarding-school," she continued, "I have known +only one Mabel. In her girlhood she had all that she could get out of +life and turned everything she could to her own ends. A marriage was +arranged for her--you see, I was half a Jewess and my husband was half +a Jew, and things are done like that with us. The marriage opened the +door to a fresh set of ambitions. For the last few years I have trodden +a well-worn path. It was I who advised my husband to refuse a +baronetcy. It was I who won his first election. I see that my +photographs are in all the illustrated papers, that his speeches are +properly recorded, that my visiting list moves within the correct +limits. These things have spelt life. To the fulfillment of my +husband's ambitions there was one obstacle. That obstacle was you. In +life one schemes. It was my husband's wish that I should make myself +agreeable to you, even to the extent of a flirtation." + +She raised her eyes. + +"Your obedience to your husband is most touching," he said. + +"It is true, I suppose," she went on, "that we have flirted. I looked +upon it as the means to an end. The end came. I played my cards quite +ruthlessly, I gathered in the reward. I got your letter, I handed it to +my husband. Your career was finished, my husband's begun." + +"This is most interesting," Julien muttered. + +"Is it?" she answered. "I suppose it should have been an hour of +triumph with me. It simply isn't. I have come to a place in my life +which I don't understand. When I told myself that it was over, that I +had flirted with you, that I had won your friendship and your +confidence, betrayed you, ruined you for a peerage and that my husband +should take office, I should surely have been satisfied! It was for +that I had worked. I gave my husband the letter and I watched him walk +off in triumph. Since then I have not been myself. I have come to you, +Julien, to ask if there is no other end possible to this?" + +Once more she raised her eyes. Julien came a step nearer to her. They +were standing now face to face. + +"All of a sudden," she murmured, "I looked back and I saw the way I +have lived and the way I am living and the life that spreads itself out +before me. I saw myself a peeress, I saw myself receiving my husband's +guests, I saw the gratification of all those ambitions which have +seemed to me so wonderful. And I locked the door and I shrieked and it +seemed to me that there was a new thing and a new thought in my life. I +have done you a hideous wrong, Julien. There is only one way I can set +it right. There is only one moment in which it can be done, and that +moment is now. Tomorrow I shall be back again. For this one hour I see +the truth. I am a very rich woman, Julien. My husband's future, indeed, +is largely bound up with my wealth. Remember that in all I have done I +have been his agent. He hates you, has hated you from the first because +you were a gentleman and he never was. This is my one moment of madness +in a perfectly well-ordered life." + +One of her hands stole from her muff, stole out half-hesitatingly +towards him. Julien took it in his and raised it to his lips. Then he +looked her in the eyes. + +"Dear Mabel," he said, "you are forgiven. I understand perfectly the +reasons for your coming. Go back to your husband, wear your coronet and +receive his guests with a free conscience. I forgive you." + +Her hand slipped back into her muff. She began to tremble a little. + +"As for me," he went on, "I played the fool and I pay willingly. I was +engaged to marry a very charming girl who believed in me and whom I +cared for as much as it was possible for me to care for anything +outside my career. I flirted with you because it was a piquant thing to +do. You were a woman whom other men found difficult, you were the wife +of a man whom I despised and who was trying all the time to undermine +my position. I sacrificed my self-respect every time I crossed your +threshold. To-day I pay. I am willing. As for you, Mabel, your visit +here shall square things between us. I wish you the best of luck. You +must let me ring for my servant. He will find you a taxicab." + +He moved toward the bell. Mrs. Carraby, with her hands inside her muff, +stood exactly as though she were part of the furniture of the room. +With his finger upon the ivory disc, he hesitated. She was not looking +towards him and her eyes were half closed. + + +"Perhaps," he suggested, "you would rather find your way out alone? I +will not offer my escort, for obvious reasons." + +She turned slowly round. + +"Do not ring," she ordered sharply. "Come here." + +He came at once towards her. She took both his hands in hers, she +leaned towards him. She was a tall woman and they were very nearly the +same height. + +"Julien," she whispered, "is this all that you have to say to me?" + +"It is more," Julien replied frankly, "than I expected ever to have to +say to you again in this world. What do you expect? You don't think +that I am the kind of man to--but that is absurd! Come. We'll part +friends, if you like. Here's my hand." + +"We must part, then?" she said. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Unless a walking tour in Normandy for a month appeals to you. You see, +I am going to take a holiday, and I have a fancy that our ideas on the +subject of holidays might not exactly agree." + +"A holiday," she repeated. "I am not sure--do you know, Julien, I +sometimes believe that I have never had a holiday in my life?" + +He looked at her doubtingly. + +"After all," she continued, "can't you see that I have come here to ask +you one question? You are different from the people I have known +intimately and the people with whom I have been brought up, different +from my husband. You know what my life has been. I have told you just +now that the great doubt has come to me within the last few days. Won't +you tell me what I want to know? Is there anything better, anything +greater, anything more wonderful in life than these things which I have +known, these ambitions, this social struggle? Tell me, Julien, is there +anything else? Can you tell me how and where to find it?" + +Once more her fingers had crept out of her muff. + +Her hands were upon his shoulders, she seemed to be drawing him to +her. Julien kissed her lightly on the forehead. + +"For you, my dear Mabel," he decided, "I should say that there was +nothing better. A leopard cannot change its spots. The life into which +you have been brought and for which you have qualified so admirably, is +the only life which would suit you. If you fancy sometimes in your +dreams, or in your waking hours, that you hear cries and calls from +another country, don't listen to them. You would never be happy outside +the world you know of. You see, one who has made such a failure of life +himself is yet well able to advise. Forgive me." + +The telephone on his writing table was ringing. He turned aside to +answer it. It was a question regarding the whereabouts of some papers +at the office and it took him a few minutes to explain. When he set the +receiver back and turned around, he was alone. There was nothing to +remind him of her visit but a bunch of violets which seemed to have +fallen from her muff, and the faint perfume from them. He took them up, +smelt them for a moment, and flung them lightly into the hearth. Then +he touched his bell. + +"My hat, stick and gloves, Richards," he ordered. "Bring my things to +Charing-Cross at half-past eight. Have them registered only to +Boulogne. You understand?" + +"Perfectly, sir," the man replied. + +Julien glanced once more around his sitting-room. The little bunch of +violets was smouldering upon the hearth. In a sense they seemed to him +symbolical. + +"Kendricks is right," he muttered. "It is the women who play the devil +with our lives!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +A SENTIMENTAL EPISODE + + +Kendricks was waiting below in the taxicab, leaning back in the corner +with his feet upon the opposite seat, and smoking his very disreputable +pipe with an air of serene content. + +"Sorry to have turned you out into the street like this," Julien +remarked. + +"Thank you," Kendricks replied, "under the circumstances I preferred +the street." + +Julien hesitated for a moment and glanced at his watch. + +"There is one more call that I must pay, David," he said. "You won't +mind, will you? We've plenty of time." + +"Mind? Of course not," Kendricks answered, stretching himself out in +the cab. "Do what you please with me, only leave an hour or an hour and +a half for dinner. I am the best-tempered person in the world so long +as no one interferes with my regular meal hours." + +"It's just a little farewell call," Julien explained, "that I want to +pay. I've told the man where to go." + +Kendricks nodded silently. He knew all about that little call, but if +he felt any sympathy he was careful not to show it. They drew up in a +few minutes before a large and solemn-looking house at the corner of +Hamilton Place. + +"Don't hurry," Kendricks advised, stretching himself out once more in +the cab. "I'll smoke another pipe and thank heaven we are not in New +York! You wait an hour there and take your choice of paying the fare or +buying the taxicab!" + +Julien ascended the steps and rang the bell at the door of the house. +It was immediately opened by a manservant, who recognized him with a +bow and a smile, for which, somehow or other, he felt thankful. + +"Is Lady Anne in, Robert?" he inquired. + +The man stood on one side. + +"Please to walk in, Sir Julien," he invited. "Lady Anne is with some +young people in the drawing-room. Will you go in there to them, or +would you prefer that I announce you?" + +"Is there any one in the waiting-room?" Julien asked. + +"No one at present, sir." + +"Let me go in there, then. I want to speak to Lady Anne alone for a +moment. You might let her know that I am here." + +"Certainly, sir." + +Julien walked restlessly up and down the small, uncomfortable +apartment, the room which he had always hated. There were illustrated +papers arranged in a row upon a leather-topped table, two stiff +horsehair easychairs, and various views of Clonarty, the country seat +of the Duke of Clonarty, around the walls. Presently he heard the +laughter in the drawing-room cease. There was a short silence, then the +sound of footsteps across the hall and the abrupt opening of the door +of the room in which he was waiting. Julien looked up quickly. It was, +after all, what he had expected! A somewhat vivacious-looking little +lady in a muslin gown and elaborate hat held out both her hands to him. +In the darkened light of the room she might very well have passed for a +younger and less serious edition of her own daughter. + +"My dear Julien!" she exclaimed, in a tone which was manifestly +sympathetic. "This is terrible news we are hearing about you. But what +an odd time you have chosen to come and tell us all about it!" + +"I have not come to tell you all about it, Duchess," Julien assured +her. "The newspapers will tell you everything that is worth knowing. +They are so much better informed." + +"The newspapers sometimes exaggerate," she objected. + +"In my case," he replied, "I do not think that exaggeration is +possible. Everything has happened to me that could possibly happen to +any one in my unfortunate position." + +"You mean that these stories are all true, then?" + +"Every one of them. I really don't suppose that I ought to show my face +here at all. I have simply come to say good-bye. There is just a single +word that I want to say to Anne." + +"Tell me, Julien," she demanded, "you really did write that letter to +Mrs. Carraby?" + +"I did." + +"And she gave it to her husband?" + +"Yes!" + +For once the Duchess was perfectly and delightfully natural. + +"That woman," she declared, "is a detestable cat! Mind, Julien," she +added, "I don't mean by that that you were not hideously and entirely +to blame. I can't feel that you deserve a single grain of sympathy. All +the same, a woman who can do a thing like that should not be +tolerated." + +Julien smiled grimly. He was perfectly well aware that at that moment +Mrs. Carraby was passing from the list of the Duchess's acquaintances. +It was all so inconsequent. + +"Can I have that one word with Anne?" he begged. + +The Duchess looked doubtful. + +"Why?" + +"I am going abroad to-night. I should like to say good-bye to her." + +"Isn't it a little foolish?" she asked. "I don't mean your going +abroad--that, I suppose, is almost necessary--but why do you want to +see Anne? I can give her all the proper messages." + +Julien laughed bitterly. + +"There are some things," he said, "which can scarcely be altogether +ignored. It may have escaped your memory that Anne was to have been my +wife." + +"Not at all," the Duchess replied. "The only thing I do not understand +is why, as any such arrangement is of course now ridiculous, you should +want to see her again. What can you possibly have to say to her?" "An +affair of sentiment," he explained. "I have a fancy to say good-bye." + +The Duchess shook her head. + +"Those sort of things don't belong to us," she declared. "You ought to +know better, my dear Julien. I can see no possible object in it. I will +give her any message you like, and so far as she is concerned I can +assure you that she has not the slightest ill-feeling. She is really +quite angelic about it." + +"Duchess," Julien said steadily, "I came here expecting that these +would be your views. You are Anne's mother and of course you are in +authority, but when two people of our age are engaged to marry one +another, they pass just a little beyond the sphere of their parents' +influence. Anne and I have been in that position. Don't think for a +moment that I wish to dispute your authority when I say that I intend +to see her before I leave." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"Ah! my dear Julien," she murmured, "if you had only been as firm with +that foolish woman. Still, if you have really made up your mind, I am +sure I don't want to be disagreeable. Perhaps it would be just as well +to get the thing over." + +She touched the bell. + +"Ask Lady Anne to step this way," she told the servant. + +The man withdrew and the door was closed again. The Duchess showed no +signs of being about to take her leave. + +"This matter has already, I presume, been fully discussed between you +and Anne?" Julien remarked. "It will not be necessary for you even to +give her a parting word of advice?" + +"You amusing person!" she laughed. "There are no words of advice of +mine needed in a case like this. To tell you the truth, Julien, +although I always liked you, as you know, I hated your engagement to +Anne. You were a very charming young man to have about the house and I +was always pleased to see my girls flirt with you, but as a son-in-law +I ranked you from the first amongst the undesirables. Your income, so +far as I know, is a little less than nothing at all, and politics, as +you are discovering to-day, are a precarious form of livelihood. Anne +hasn't a copper and never will have. She ought to marry a rich man, and +I intend now that she shall. Here she is. Now do get this stupid affair +over quickly." + +The door was opened and Lady Anne came in. She was taller than her +mother, of more serious aspect, and her hair was a shade darker. There +was something of the same expression about the eyes. She came straight +over to Julien and gave him both her hands. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "this is shocking! Run away, if you +please, mother. I must see Julien for a moment alone." + +The Duchess left the room. They both waited until the door was closed. +Then she turned and faced him. + +"I suppose it's all true?" she asked. + +"Every word of it, Anne," he answered. "Please don't misunderstand the +reason of my coming. I am absolutely a ruined man and I absolutely +deserve everything that has come to me. But there was one thing I +wanted to say to you before I went." + +"There was also one thing," she remarked, looking at him intently, +"which I intended to ask you, provided you gave me the opportunity." + +"It is about Mrs. Carraby," he said firmly. + +"So was my question," she murmured. + +"The friendship between Mrs. Carraby and myself," Julien continued, +"has been patent to every one for a great many years. I knew her long +before I did you. It began, in fact, when we were little more than +children. It finished--to-day. There is only one thing I want to say to +you about it, and that is this. Our friendship was of that sort which +is fairly well recognized and even approved of by the world in which we +live. It contained, of course, certain elements of flirtation--I am not +denying that. There was never at any time, however, anything in that +friendship which made it an error even of taste on my part to ask you +to become my wife." + +She took his face between her hands and deliberately kissed him. + +"That's just what I wanted to know, Julien," she declared. "Now shake +hands, be off, and do the best you can for yourself. I wish you the +best of luck, the very best. That's all we can say to one another, +isn't it?" + +"Quite all," he admitted. + +"You are a dear, good fellow," she went on, "and I have been quite fond +of you, although I think that I bored you now and then. I should have +made you an excellent wife, perhaps a better one than I shall the next +man who comes along. Don't stay any longer, there's a dear, because +although I never pretended to have much heart, this sort of thing does +upset one, you know, and I want to look my best to-night. Write me +sometimes, if you will. I'd love to hear that you'd found some interest +in life to help you gather up the threads. And here--this is for luck." + +She took a little turquoise pin from her waistband and stuck it in his +black tie. Then, before he could stop her, she touched the bell with +one hand and gave him the other. + +"Please kiss my fingers, Julien, and tell me I've behaved nicely." + + +He looked steadily into her eyes and then away out of the window, +across the square. It was such a natural ending, this. It was foolish +that his heart should shake, even for a second. And yet there had been +one occasion--at Clonarty--when she had lain very close to him in his +arms, and the moonlight had been falling through the pine trees in +little dappled places around them, and the wind had been making faint +music among the swinging boughs--for these few moments, at any rate, +the other things had shone in her face. Were they illusions really, +those moments of agitation, he wondered--simply one long, sensuous +period passing like breath from a looking-glass and leaving nothing +behind? He looked into her face. There was no sign there. Then he +dropped the fingers which he had been holding. Women were wonderful! + +"Do write," she begged, as she walked into the hall with him. "Dear me, +what a strange-looking person you have with you in the taxicab!" + +"He is a friend," Julien said quietly, "a journalist. I might say the +same of the young man who is watching us from the drawing-room, Anne! +Who is he?" + +She made a little face at him and whispered in his ear. + +"Semitic, as you see, and positively appalling. He is entirely mother's +choice. He arrived ten minutes after the evening papers were out, but +somehow or other I don't fancy that we shall make anything of him. It's +young Harbord, you know." + +Julien made his effort. He touched her fingers once more in +conventional fashion. He leaned towards her earnestly. + +"My dear Anne," he said, "that young man has an income of at least a +hundred thousand a year. Have you ever considered what a wonderful +thing it is to possess an income like that? You could surround yourself +with it like a halo. You could eat it, wear it, and breathe it every +second of your life. You could even use it as a means of escaping as +often as possible from the somewhat inevitable but highly objectionable +adjunct who seems now to be peering at us through the door. Be a wise +girl, Anne. An income like that doesn't depend upon discretions or +indiscretions. Besides, as a matter of fact, I really do not think that +that young man knows what it is to be indiscreet. Remember, I am quite +serious. A hundred thousand a year should lift any man beyond the pale +of criticism." + +"Yes!" the girl replied, looking at him as he walked down the steps. "I +shall remember. Good-bye!" + +"We are getting on," Julien declared lightly, as he took his place in +the taxicab. "Really, it is astonishing how much a man can get through +in a day if he sets his mind to it. Is there any place where we could +get a drink, do you think, Kendricks? I have just passed through a +trying and affecting interview. I have said farewell to the lady who +was to have been my wife. That sort of thing upsets one." + +"You are behaving, my dear Julien," Kendricks admitted, "like a man of +sense. In a moment or two we shall pass Véry's, on our way to the +restaurant where I am going to entertain you at dinner. It will +probably be such a dinner as you have never eaten before in your life! +You will not need an _apéritif_. I am not sure, indeed, that it is not +tempting providence and inviting indigestion to offer you a mixed +vermouth here. However, come along. One experience more or less in such +a day will not disturb you." + +They entered the café and sat down at a small, marble-topped table. +Julien lit a cigarette and Kendricks affected not to notice that the +hand which held the match was shaking. A crowd of people, mostly +foreigners, were sitting about the place. Julien, as he sipped his +vermouth, noticed a familiar face nearly opposite him--a young, +somewhat sandy-complexioned man, quietly dressed, insignificant, and +yet with some sort of personality. + +"I wonder who that fellow is?" he remarked. "I seem to know his face." + +Kendricks looked incuriously across the room. + +"One knows every one by sight in London," he said. "The fellow is +probably a clerk in some office where you have been, or a salesman +behind the counter at one of the shops you patronize. It's odd +sometimes how a face will pursue you like that. That's a pretty little +girl with whom he's shaking hands." + +Julien watched the two idly for a moment. The man had risen to greet +his newly-arrived companion, who was chattering to him in fluent +French. All the time Julien was aware that now and then the former's +eyes strayed over towards him. It was odd that, notwithstanding his +somewhat disturbed state of mind, he was conscious of a distinct +curiosity as to this young man's identity. + +"Come along," Kendricks suggested. "We shan't get a table at all at the +place where I am going to take you to dine, unless we are punctual." + +They finished their vermouth and left the café. Kendricks knocked out +the ashes from his pipe and leaned a little forward in the taxicab. + +"We go now," he continued, "into a foreign land--foreign, at least, to +you, my young Exquisite--the land of journalists, of foreigners, of +hairdressers and anarchists, and cutthroats of every description. +Nevertheless, we shall dine well, and if you will only drink enough of +the chianti which I shall order, I can promise you a nap on your way to +Dover. You look as though you could do with it." + +Julien suddenly remembered that his eyes were hot, and almost +simultaneously he felt the weight that was dragging down his heart. He +laughed desperately. + +"I'll eat your dinner, David," he promised, "and I'll do justice to +your chianti. From what you tell me about our expedition, I should +imagine that we are going into the land to which I shall soon belong." + +"It's a wonderful country," Kendricks muttered, looking out of the +window. "It may not be flowing exactly with milk and honey, but its +sinews are supple and its blood is red. For absolute vitality, I'd back +the Café l'Athénée against the Carlton any day. Here we are." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +AT THE CAFÉ L'ATHÉNÉE + + +The Café L'Athénée was in a narrow back street and consisted of a +ground floor apartment of moderate size, and a number of small rooms, +most of which were already crowded with diners. There were no +smooth-faced _maîtres d'hôtel_ to conduct new arrivals to a table, no +lift to the upper rooms, no palm-lined stairways, or any of the modern +appurtenances of restaurant life. Kendricks, taking the lead as an +habitué, pushed his way up to the first floor, pushed his way past the +hurrying and perspiring waiters, who did not even stop to answer +questions, and finally pounced upon a table which was just being +vacated by three other people. The two men sat down before the débris +and waited patiently for its removal. + +"Don't turn your nose up yet," Kendricks begged. "Wait till you've +tasted the spaghetti. And don't look at the tablecloth as though it +would bite you. They'll put a clean napkin over it directly and you'll +forget all about those stains. This is where one takes off the kid +gloves and deals with the realities of eating and drinking. I am +inclined to think sometimes, Julien, as a humble admirer from a long +way off, that you've worn those kid gloves a little too long." + +Julien looked across at his friend. Kendricks was still smoking his +pipe and he was evidently in earnest. It was obvious, too, that he had +more to say. + +"You know," he continued, loudly summoning a waiter and pointing to the +table before them, "you know, Julien, I have always had this feeling +about you. I think that life has been made a trifle too easy for you. +You have slipped with so little effort into the polished places. You +never had to take your coat and waistcoat off and try a +rough-and-tumble struggle with life. No man is the worse for it. +Prosperity and smooth-traveling along the easy ways, even though they +come to one as the reward of brainwork, lead to a certain flabbiness in +life, lead to many moments when you have to stop and ask whether things +are worth while, lead sometimes, I think, to that curious neuroticism +from which clever, successful people suffer as well as the butterflies +of fashion. You are up against it now, Julien, real and hard. You don't +feel that you've got a day to live that you care a snap of the fingers +about. You look at what you think are the pieces of your life and you +imagine yourself a gaunt spectator of what has been, gazing down at +them, and you've quite made up your mind that it isn't a bit of good +trying to collect the fragments. Such d----d nonsense, Julien! You may +have made a jolly hash of things as a Cabinet Minister, but that isn't +any reason why you shouldn't make a success of life as a man. Look +here, Carlo," he added, addressing the waiter, "the table d'hôte +dinner--everything, and serve it hot. Bring us fresh butter with our +spaghetti, and a flask of chianti." + +"Si, signor!" the man replied, gazing for a moment in wonder at this +shock-headed individual who spoke his own language so perfectly. + +Kendricks laid down the menu and glanced across the table at Julien's +face with its slightly weary smile. + +"Of course, I know how you're feeling now," he went on,--"rotten!--so +would any one. Try and forget it, try and forget yourself. Look about +you. What do these people do for a living, do you think? They weren't +born with a title. There's no one in this room who went to Eton and +Oxford, played cricket for their university, and lolled their way into +life as you did. Look at them all. The thin chap in the corner is a +barber, got a small shop of his own now. I go there sometimes for a +shave. He lived on thirteen shillings a week for six years, while he +saved the money to start for himself. It was touch and go with him +afterwards. In three months he'd nearly lost the lot. He'd married a +little wife who stood behind the counter and had worked almost as hard +as he, but somehow or other the customers wouldn't come. Then she had a +baby, was laid up for a time, he had to engage some one to take her +place, and at that time he had about fifteen shillings left in the +world. I used to be shaved there every day then. I knew all about it. I +used to hear him, when he thought no one was listening, go and call a +cheerful word up the stairs--'Shop full of customers!' 'Sold another +bottle of hair restorer!' or something of that sort. Then some one lent +him a fiver, and, by Jove, he turned the corner! He's doing well now. +That's his wife--the plump little woman who's straightening his tie. +They come here every Wednesday night and they can afford it. Yet he was +up against it badly once, Julien. That's right, look at him, be +interested. He's a common-looking little beast, isn't he?--but he's got +a stout heart." + +"I think," Julien said, "that I could guess the name of the man who +lent him the fiver." + +"You'd be a mug if you couldn't," Kendricks retorted. "It's doing that +sort of thing that helps you to smile sometimes when the knocks come. I +tell you, Julien, some of the people--these small shopkeepers, +especially--do have the devil of a fight to get their ounce of pleasure +out of life. Nothing's made easy for them. They don't know anything +about that big west-end world, with pleasures tuned up to the latest +pitch, where you do even your work with every luxury at hand to make it +easy. There's a little chap there--an Italian. See him? He's sitting by +the side of the old man with the gray beard. That man's his father. +They both landed over here with scarcely a copper. The young fellow +worked like a slave--sixteen shillings a week I think he was getting, +and he kept the old man on it. Then he lost his job, couldn't get +another. The old man had to go to the workhouse, the young man slept on +the Embankment, ate free soup, picked up scraps, lived on the garbage +heap of life. He pulled himself together, though, got another job, +improved it, saved a few shillings, drove up in a cab and took the old +man out. Look at them now. He's got a little tailor's shop not a +hundred yards from here, and somehow or other one or two people on the +stage--they're a good-hearted lot--have taken him up He gets lots of +work and brings the old man here now and then for a treat. How are you, +Pietro?" he called across the room. "When are you going to send me that +coat along?" + +The young man grinned. + +"Too many orders to make you that coat, sir," he declared. + +Kendricks smiled. + +"No one can deny that I need a new coat," he said. "I told Pietro when +things were slack that he could make me one, but he gets lots of orders +now. See the little girl in the corner? She's going out--no, she's +going to stay here; they've found her room at that table. I suppose +you'd turn your nose up at her because she has a lot too much powder on +her cheeks, and you don't like that lace collar around her neck. It +isn't clean, I know, and the make-up on her face is clumsy. Must be +uncomfortable, too, but she's done her best. She's been dancing at the +_Hippodrome_ this afternoon, probably rehearsing afterwards. She's got +an hour now before she goes back to the evening performance. She's +taking the eighteenpenny dinner, you see. She'll get a glass of chianti +free with it. I am in luck to-night. I can tell you about nearly all +these people. Her name is Bessie Hazell--Sarah Ann Jinks, very likely, +but that's what she calls herself, anyway. She married an acrobat two +years ago and they started doing quite well. Then he got a cough, had +to give up work, the doctors all shook their heads at him, wanted to +tell him it was consumption. Bless you, she wouldn't listen to it! She +got him down to Bournemouth somehow and they patched him up. He came +back and started again, caught cold, and had another bad spell. Still, +she wouldn't have it that there was anything serious the matter with +him! He'd be all right, she said, if it weren't for the climate, and +every night she danced, mind--danced twice a day. She's quite clever, +they say--might have done well if she'd only herself to think of and +could spare a little of her money for lessons. Not she! She sent him to +Davos, paid for it somehow. He's back again now. He can't go on the +stage, but he's got a light job somewhere. I don't know that he's +earning anything particular. They've got a baby to keep, but they do it +all right between them. She isn't pleasant to look at, is she? What's +that matter? She's a bit of real life, anyhow." + +"Why didn't you bring me here before, Kendricks?" Julien asked. + +The man leaned back and laughed. + +"Ask yourself that question, not me," he replied. "You--Sir Julien +Portel, caricatured as the best-dressed man in the House of Commons, +member of the most fashionable clubs, brilliant debater, successful +politician, future Prime Minister, and all that sort of twaddle. You +were living too far up in the clouds, my friend, to come down here. You +see, I am not offering you much sympathy, Julien. I don't think you +need it. You were soaring up to the skies just because of your gifts +and your position and your opportunities. You are down now. Well, +you're thundering sorry for yourself. I don't know that I'm sorry for +you. I'll tell you in ten years' time. By Jove, here's your +sandy-headed little friend!" + +The man, with the girl upon his arm, had entered the room and had taken +seats at a table in the corner, for which, apparently, they had been +waiting. Julien looked at them curiously. + +"Why," he exclaimed suddenly, leaning across the table, "I remember him +now! He's at the shop--I mean he's an Intelligence man." + +Kendricks nodded. + +"Just the sort of inconspicuous-looking person who could go anywhere +without being noticed." + +"I recollect him quite well," Julien continued. "It's not in my +department, of course, but I remember being told he was a very useful +little beggar." + +"I should say, without a doubt," Kendricks declared, "that he was at +present working hard for the safety and welfare of the British Empire. +If you've suddenly recognized the man, I'll tell you who the girl is. +She's a manicurist at the Milan." + +Julien looked round and watched them for a moment curiously. Again he +noticed that his interest in the young man was at least reciprocated. + +"The fellow has recognized me, of course," he said. "You know, +Kendricks, I remember two or three years ago a most amazing item of +news was brought to us--one that made a real difference, too--through a +manicurist." + +"Shouldn't be a bit surprised," Kendricks replied. + +"Things drop out in the most unexpected places, as you'd find out if +you'd been a journalist." + +"She was sent for into the room of some princess--at Claridge's, I +think it was, or one of the west-end hotels--and while she was there a +man came from one of the inner rooms and said a few words in Russian. +The girl had been in St. Petersburg and understood. It made quite a +difference. I remember the story." + +"Might have been the same man and the same manicurist," Kendricks +remarked. + +Julien shook his head. + +"There was trouble about the manicurist," he said, "and she had to +leave the country. She's in South Africa now." + +"I can't say that I like the appearance of the fellow," Kendricks +declared. "Don't funk the soup, Julien--it's better than it looks. He's +a slimy-looking sort of chap. I have a theory that the modern sort of +Secret Service agent ought to be a person like myself--breezy and +obvious. Julien, if that girl doesn't stop gazing at you sideways, +you'll be in trouble with your late employee." + +Julien looked across at the opposite table. The girl, as he had noticed +before, was stealing frequent glances at him. For some reason or other, +she seemed anxious to attract his attention. + +"Quite a conquest!" Kendricks murmured. "Drink some more of that +chianti, man, and bring some color to your cheeks. There's a charming +little manicurist wants to flirt with you. What teeth and what a +smile!" + +"Considering that she has been listening to my history for the last +quarter of an hour, I imagine that her interest is of a less +sentimental nature," Julien said. "I have probably been pointed out to +her as the biggest fool in Christendom." + +"Not you," Kendricks declared. "I assure you that I am a critic in such +matters. She looks when the young man who is with her is engaged upon +his dinner, or speaking to the waiter. I am not positive, even, that +she wants to flirt, Julien. I think she wants to say something to you." + +Julien laughed. + +"What shall I do? Present myself? Bah!" he added, almost fiercely. "I +wish the girl would keep her black eyes to herself. I want to tell you +this, Kendricks. You've talked some splendid common sense to me without +going out of your way to do it. I am not going to whine, now or at any +other time, but as long as I live I never want anything more to do with +a woman. That sounds about the most futile and empty-headed thing a man +can say--I know that. But there it is. I tell you the very thought of +them makes me shudder. They're like pampered, highly-groomed animals, +with their mouths open for the tit-bits of life. They have to be fed +with whatever food it may be they crave for, and that's the end of it." + +Kendricks motioned with his head across the room to where the little +woman with the blackened eyebrows was eating her dinner. + +"What about that?" he asked. + +"I don't know anything about that sort," Julien admitted. "What you +told me sounded like one of the things you read of in newspapers and +never believe. I don't believe it. Mind you, I don't say it's false, +but I don't believe it because I have never spoken to the woman whom I +could imagine capable of such unselfishness. If I patch up the pieces +again, Kendricks," he added, and his face was suddenly very dark and +very set--the face of an older man, "whatever cement I use, it won't be +the cement of love or any sentiment whatsoever connected with women." + +Kendricks nodded. + +"It's my belief," he began, then he stopped short. "Julien," he +continued kindly, "you're nothing but a big baby. You think you've +moved in the big places. So you have, in a way. But there was a hideous +mistake about your life. You've never had to build. No one can climb +who doesn't build first. These ready-made ladders don't count. Now," he +added, dropping his voice and glancing quickly across the room, "you +will have an opportunity to put into force your new and magnificent +principles of misogyny. Our little sandy-headed friend has been +summoned from the room. I saw the _commissionaire_ come up and whisper +in his ear. Mademoiselle is writing a note. A hundred to one it is to +you!" + +Julien frowned. He, too, turned his head, and he met the girl's eyes. +She was looking at him curiously. It was not the look of the woman who +invites so much as the look of the woman who appeals for an +understanding, who has something to say. She smiled ever so faintly and +touched with her finger the scrap of paper which she thrust into the +waiter's hand. Then she bent once more over her plate. The man came +across to Julien. + +"For you, monsieur," he announced, and laid it by the side of Julien's +plate. + +"Read it," Kendricks whispered across the table, for he had been quick +to see his companion's first impulse. + +"Why should I?" Julien said coldly. "I have no desire to have anything +to do with that young person. What can she have to say to me?" + +"Nevertheless, read it," Kendricks repeated. + +Julien unrolled the scrap of paper with reluctant fingers. There were +only a few words written there in hasty pencil: + +Monsieur, there is a friend of mine whom you must see. Call at number +17, Avenue de St. Paul and ask for Madame Christophor. Do not attempt +to speak to me. This is for your good. + +Julien's fingers were upon the note to destroy it, but again Kendricks +stopped him. + +"Julien," he insisted, "don't be an idiot. The little girl knows who +you are. She can't imagine that you are in the humor just now for +flirtations. Put the note in your pocket and call. One can't tell. Your +life has been so artificial that you've probably left off believing in +any adventures outside story-books. My life leads me into different +places and I never neglect an opportunity like that." + +"A sister manicurist, I expect," Julien replied scornfully; "a palmist, +or some creature of that sort." + +Kendricks hammered upon the table for the waiter. + +"One takes one's chances," he agreed, "but I do not think that the +little girl over there would send you upon a fool's errand. There are +other things in life, you know, Julien. You carry in your head +political secrets which would be worth a great deal. There may be +danger in that call." + +Julien looked at him with faintly curling lip. + +"Tell me exactly what you mean?" he asked. + +Kendricks shrugged his shoulders. The waiter had arrived and he gave +him a vociferous order. + +"Listen," he said, "I could hand you out a hundred surmises and each +one of them ought to be sufficient to induce you to keep that +appointment. You leave here--shall we say under a cloud?--presumably +disgusted with life, with the Government which gives you no second +chance, with your country which discards you. And you have been +Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Can't you conceive that +this woman on whom you are to call might make suggestions to you which +would at least be amusing? Don't look so incredulous, Julien. Remember +you've lived in the stilted places. I haven't. I believe in the +underground world. You must know for yourself that a great deal of the +truth leaks up through the gratings." + +"That is true enough," Julien admitted, "but somehow or other--" + +"Let it go at that," Kendricks interrupted. "Promise me that you will +call at that address." + +Julien laughed. + +"Yes, I'll call!" he promised. + +"Then look across at the little girl and nod," Kendricks suggested. +"She's watching you all the time anxiously. The man hasn't come back +yet." + +Julien turned his head half unwillingly. The girl was leaning across +the table, her eyes fixed steadfastly upon his. Her lips were parted, +her eyebrows were slightly raised, as though in question. She had been +holding a menu before her face to shield her from the casual observer, +but the moment Julien turned his head she lowered it. He inclined his +head slowly. A curious expression of relief took the place of that +appearance of strained anxiety. Her face became natural once more. She +laid down the menu and took a sip of wine from her glass. Kendricks +looked across at Julien and raised his glass to his lips. + +"We will drink, my dear Julien," he said, "to your visit to Madame +Christophor, and what may come of it!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +COFFEE FOR THREE + + +"Admit," Kendricks insisted, "that you have dined well?" + +"I have dined amply," Julien replied. + +Kendricks frowned. + +"I am not satisfied," he declared. + +"The _entrecôte_ was wonderful, also the omelette," Julien admitted. "I +will supplement 'amply' with 'well,' if you wish, but the insistent +note about this dinner is certainly its amplitude. I have not eaten so +much for ages." + +Kendricks was filling his pipe. + +"Cigars or cigarettes you must order for yourself," he said. "I know +nothing of them. The coffee is before you. I will be frank with you--it +is not good. The brandy, however, is harmless." + +Julien lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair. Just then the +sandy young man re-entered the room. He hastened to his place, but +instead of resuming it stood by the side of the girl, talking. He +seemed to be suggesting some course of which she disapproved, pointing +to her unfinished dinner. Kendricks nodded his head slowly. + +"The young man has to leave," he remarked. "He wishes mademoiselle to +accompany him. She declines. He is annoyed. Behold, a lover's tiff! He +has placed the money for the dinner upon the table. He shakes her hand +very politely. Behold, he goes! Mademoiselle shrugs her shoulders. She +orders from the menu. She remains alone. My dear Julien, if you will +you can prosecute your conquest. The young man has departed." + +Julien glanced across the room. He met the girl's eyes and once again +he saw in them that curious, almost impersonal invitation. + +"She wants something," Kendricks declared. "I am going over to see what +it can be. Carlo!" + +He summoned the waiter and asked him a question quickly in Italian. + +"The man says that her companion is not returning," he remarked, +rising. "I am going to interview the young lady." + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"As you will." + +Kendricks crossed the room, his pipe still in his hand. The girl +watched him come, for a moment, and then looked down upon the +tablecloth. She was at the end of a table laid for four or five people, +but only two men were left at the extreme end. + +"Mademoiselle," Kendricks said, "my friend thanks you for your message. +His curiosity, however, is piqued. Is there not an opportunity now for +explaining further?" + +She regarded her questioner a little doubtfully. + +"Who are you?" she asked. + +Kendricks sighed. + +"My dear young lady," he answered, "I flattered myself that I possessed +a personality which no one could mistake. Furthermore, I am a constant +patron here." + +"I have never been here in my life before," the girl told him. + +"Then your ignorance shall be pardoned," Kendricks declared. "My name +is David Kendricks. I am a journalist. I ought to be an editor, but the +fact remains that I am a mere collector of news, a bringer together of +those trifles which go to make such prints as these," he added, +touching her evening paper, "interesting." + +"A journalist," she repeated, glancing up at him. "Yes! I might have +guessed that. Are you a friend of Sir Julien Portel?" + +"I think I may call myself a friend," Kendricks admitted. "We were at +college together." + +She rose composedly to her feet. + +"Then I will take my coffee at your table," she decided. "You may +present me. I am Mademoiselle Senn." + +Kendricks hesitated. + +"You may not find my friend in the most amiable of moods," he began. + + +The girl waved her hand. + +"It is to be explained," she declared. "To tell you the truth, I was +surprised to see him even in so out of the way a restaurant as this." + +"He leaves to-night for the Continent," Kendricks told her. + +"So I heard," the girl replied. "Come." + +Sir Julien watched their approach and the frown upon his aristocratic +forehead, though thin, was distinct. Kendricks, however, took no notice +of it, and the girl pretended that she had not seen. + +"Julien," the former announced, holding a chair for mademoiselle, "I am +permitted the pleasure of presenting you to Mademoiselle Senn, who +already knows your name. Mademoiselle sent you a message a few minutes +ago. If she is good-natured, she may choose to explain it. If not, what +does it matter? Mademoiselle will take her coffee with us." + +Julien rose to his feet and bowed very slightly. + +"We have only a moment or two to spare," he said, "as I am leaving +London to-night." + +She looked at him and smiled oddly. She was a very typical young +Frenchwoman of her class--round-faced, with trim little figure, black +eyes, and smart but simple hat; not really good-looking except for the +depth of her clear eyes, and yet with a command of her person and +movements which was not without its charm. + +"Monsieur is not too gallant," she murmured, "but one is inclined to +forgive him. If I may take my coffee, I will go. Monsieur has promised +me that he will call and see Madame?" + +"Your friend in Paris?" Julien remarked, a little doubtfully. + +"Ah! I dare not call her that," the girl continued. "Madame is +different. But I know that it is her wish that you call, and I know +that it would be for your welfare." + +"Is it necessary," Julien asked coldly, "that you should be so +mysterious? After all, you know, the thing, on the face of it, is +impossible. Madame probably does not know of my existence, and why +should you take it for granted that I am going abroad?" + +"Oh, la, la!" the girl interrupted. "But you amuse one! Madame knows +everything which she desires to know. As to your going to France, +monsieur over there," she added, moving her head backwards, "told me so +some minutes ago." + +"And how the dickens did he know, and what right had he to talk about +my affairs?" Julien demanded, with all an Englishman's indignation at +his movements having been discussed by strangers. + +"I suppose that it is his business to know those things," she replied, +sipping her coffee. "He is a very mysterious young man. He takes a room +sometimes at the Milan Hotel and he sends for me to manicure his hands. +Then he asks me very clever questions and I look down and I give +him--very clever answers. Then he thinks, perhaps, that his methods are +not quite the best, and he sends me a great box of chocolates, some +stalls for the theatre, some flowers--why not? Then he comes again to +be manicured and he asks more questions, but I know so little. Then +sometimes, not very often, he brings me out to dine. Imagine for +yourself, monsieur," she went on, with a wave of the hand, "the +excitement, the wonder of all this to a poor French girl! And again he +asks questions, but again I know so little. And then, in the midst of +our dinner, his employer has sent for him. He has to go on a journey. +It is sad, is it not? He would like me to go with him to the station, +to see him off, but I--" she shrugged her shoulders. "Why should I +leave before I have finished my dinner? In truth, he wearies me, that +young man. I do not think, Sir Julien Portel, that Englishmen are very +clever." + +"As a race," Julien declared grimly, "I agree with you. I think that +most men are unutterable fools. But this young admirer of yours--what +are these questions which he asks you so often, and what business is he +in that he should be compelled to leave you to hurry away?" + +"Ah, monsieur!" she answered, "it is you now who ask questions. Why +should I tell you, indeed, more than I tell him?" + +Julien smiled. + +"Perhaps because it was a matter of moment to him whether you replied +or not, whereas, frankly, I only ask you these questions out of the +idlest curiosity." + +"Also a little," she remarked, "to make conversation, is it not so? +Very well, then, Sir Julien Portel, let me tell you this. If you do not +know who that young man is, I do not wonder that you find it necessary +to catch the nine o'clock train to the Continent to-night and to give +up that delightful work of yours, where you try to keep the peace +between all these wicked nations, and to get the lion's share of +everything for your great, greedy country. If you do not know who that +young man is, you have not the head for detail, the memory, which goes +to the making of politicians." + +Julien leaned back in his chair and laughed, softly but genuinely. Even +Kendricks seemed a little taken aback. + +"Upon my word!" the latter exclaimed. "This is an interesting young +person! Mademoiselle, I congratulate you. You have the gifts." + +"Interesting, indeed!" Julien agreed, sitting up in his place. +"Mademoiselle, to save my reputation with you I must confess. I do know +who the young man is. He is in the Intelligence Branch of the Secret +Service of the British Foreign Office--Number 3 Department." + +The girl nodded several times. + +"What you call it I do not know," she said. "He is just one of those +ordinary people who go about to collect little items of information for +your Government. That is why I have received from him four pounds of +chocolate, at least a sovereign's worth of roses, four stalls for the +theatre--which I do believe that he had given to him because they were +for plays that no one goes to see, and to-night a dinner--such a +dinner, messieurs, with chianti that burned my tongue!" + +"This," Kendricks declared, "is quite a bright young lady! +Mademoiselle, I trust that we shall become better acquainted." + +"And in the meantime," Julien inquired, "what are these wonderful items +of information which you carry with you, and which this unfortunate +young man fails so utterly to elicit?" + +"Ah! well," she sighed, "I am by profession a manicurist, but some +freak of nature gave me the power of keeping my mouth closed, of +looking as though I knew a good deal, but of saying so little. Now, +messieurs, what could a poor girl know in the way of secrets for which +that young man would get credit if he had succeeded in eliciting them? +What could I know, indeed? I sit on my little stool and sometimes there +are great people who give me their hands, and they are thoughtful. And +sometimes I ask questions and they answer me absently, because, after +all, what does it matter?--a manicurist from the shop downstairs, +earning her thirty shillings a week, and anxious to be agreeable for +the sake of her tip! And then sometimes while I am there they dictate +letters, or a caller comes, or the telephone rings. One does not think +of the manicure girl at such a time. Fortunately, there are some like +me who know so well how to keep silent, to say nothing, to be dumb." + +"The methods of that young man," Kendricks asserted, "were crude. Now, +young lady, consider my position. I represent a power greater than the +power of Governments. I represent a Press which is greedy for personal +news. Have you trimmed lately the nails of a duchess? If so, tell me +what she wore, her favorite oath, any trifling expression likely to be +of interest to the British public! And instead of roses I will send +you carnations; instead of dead-head tickets I will take you myself to +the _Gaiety_; instead of a dinner at the Café l'Athénée, I will take +you to supper at the Milan." + +"Your friend," mademoiselle declared, smiling at Julien, "is quite an +intelligent person. I like him very much. But I wish he would not smoke +that pipe and I should like to buy him a necktie." + +"Julien," Kendricks sighed, "the Bohemian has no chance against such a +model as you." + +"I do not think," she remarked, looking Julien in the eyes, "that Sir +Julien Portel cares very much for women--just now, at any rate." + +Julien frowned. He absolutely declined to answer the challenge in her +dark eyes. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "when I present myself to this Madame +Christophor, do I deliver any message from you? Do I explain my visit?" + +The girl shook her head slowly. + +"It will not be necessary," she told him. "Madame Christophor will know +all about you. She will be expecting you." + +He smiled scornfully. + +"It would be a pity to disappoint a lady with such a remarkable knack +of foretelling things. Supposing, however, I change my mind and visit +St. Petersburg instead?" + +She raised her hands--an expressive gesture. + +"There is no Madame Christophor in St. Petersburg. I think that you +will be very ill-advised if you go there. Many of the elements which go +to the making of life wait for you in Paris. In St. Petersburg you +would be a stranger. The life is not there." + +She rose to her feet briskly. + +"Good night, Monsieur le Bohemian!" she said. "Remember that you have +only to accept my little gift of a necktie, to let me take you to a +coiffeur whom I know of, and I will dine with you when you choose. Good +night, Sir Julien! I think I envy you." + +Julien laughed. The idea seemed odd to him. + +"I fancy you would be in a minority, mademoiselle," he declared. + +"At least," she reminded him, "you are going to see Madame +Christophor!" + +She nodded and left them a little abruptly. Kendricks paid their bill +and they descended into the street a few minutes later. The +_commissionaire_ called a taxi for them and they drove toward +Charing-Cross. + +"My friend," Kendricks said, "if I had you here for another week, cut +off from your old life, I'd show you some things that would astonish +you. It's good fortune and these well-ordered ways that keep a man a +prig, even after he's finished with Oxford. The man who lives in the +clouds of Mayfair knows nothing of the real life of this city." + +"Some day I'll come back and be your pupil," Julien promised. "You're a +good fellow, David. You've given me something to think about, at any +rate, something to think about besides my own misfortunes." + +"That's just what I set out to do," Kendricks declared. "There are +plenty of bigger tragedies than yours loose in the world. Watch the +people, Julien--the people whom such men as you glance over or through +as of no account, the common people, the units of life. Strip them bare +and they aren't so very different, you know. Try and feel for a moment +what they feel. Look at the little dressmaker there, going over to +Paris to buy models, hanging on to her husband's arm. She's probably +got a shop in the suburbs and this trip is a daring experiment. See how +earnestly they are talking about it. I don't think that they have too +easy a time to make ends meet. Do you see that old lady there, clinging +to her daughter? How she hates to part with her! She is going to a +situation, without a doubt, and Paris isn't too easy a place for a girl +with hair and eyes like hers. In her heart I think that the old lady is +remembering that. Then look at that little old man with the tired eyes, +carrying his two valises himself to save the hire of a porter. Can't +you tell by the air of him that he has had an unsuccessful business +journey? Poor fellow! It's a hard struggle for life, Julien, if you get +in the wrong row. You've no one dependent upon you, you don't know the +worst agony that can wring a man's heart.... Got your ticket and +everything, eh? And that looks like your servant. Are you taking him +with you?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"I shall have to do without a manservant. I never had much money, you +know, David." + +"So much the better," Kendricks declared heartily. "It gives you a +final chance. The gutters of the world are full of good fellows who +have been ruined through stepping into a sufficient income." + +They found a carriage and arranged Julien's few belongings. Presently +mademoiselle's companion came hurrying up the platform, followed by a +porter carrying his dressing-case. A short distance behind, +mademoiselle, too, was walking, humming to herself. + +"Company to Boulogne for you, Julien," Kendricks pointed out. "Your +little man from Number 3 Branch is on your track." + +Julien smiled. The young man never glanced towards their carriage as he +passed, but mademoiselle, who was still a few steps behind, made a wry +face at Kendricks. + +"I believe she knew that he was going across," the latter declared. + +"I wonder if he, too," Julien murmured, "has to call on Madame +Christophor?" + +The whistle sounded. Kendricks put out his great hands. + +"Good luck to you, Julien, old fellow!" he said. "Stand up to life like +a man and look it in the face. I tell you I haven't been gassing +to-night. I'd hate to pose as a moralist, but I do believe that +misfortunes are often blessings in disguise. And I tell you I've a sort +of faith in that little French girl. She gives one to think, as she +herself remarked. Look up Madame Christophor. Don't be surprised to see +me at any moment. I generally turn up in Paris every few weeks or so. +Good luck to you!" + +Julien leaned out of the window and waved his hand to Kendricks as the +train moved slowly around the curve. The last face he saw upon the +platform, however, was the face of mademoiselle. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +IN PARIS + + +For exactly a month Julien disappeared. At the end of that time, +looking very brown, a shade thinner, and possessed of a knowledge of +the older towns of Normandy which would not have disgraced a guidebook, +he arrived one cold, gray morning at the Gare du Nord. During all this +time he had scarcely seen one familiar face. It was an unpleasant shock +for him, as he waited for his baggage in the Customs House, to realize +that he was being watched from behind a pile of trunks by the little +man who had shown so much interest in him at the Café l'Athénée on the +night he had left England. The sight somehow annoyed him. He crossed +the room and accosted his late subordinate. + +"What is your name?" he asked coldly. "You are in the Intelligence +Department, I believe?" + +"My name is Foster, Sir Julien," the young man replied, after a +moment's hesitation. + +"What are you doing over here?" + +The young man hesitated. + +"You will excuse me, Sir Julien," he said slowly, "but I am responsible +only to the permanent officials in control of my office. Besides,--" + +"You can tell me at least how long you have been in Paris?" Julien +interrupted. + +"Since the night, Sir Julien, when you came as far as Boulogne." + +"May I ask," Julien demanded, "whether I am going to be subject to your +espionage?" + +The young man whose name was Foster looked blandly at a pile of luggage +which was just arriving. + +"I am not at liberty, Sir Julien," he said, "to explain my +instructions." + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"Do as you like, of course. At the same time, let me tell you that you +irritate me. Keep out of my sight as much as possible. It will be +better for you." + +Julien turned and left him there, declared his luggage, and was driven +to a quiet hotel in the Rue de Rivoli. There he had a bath, changed his +clothes, and strolled up the Champs Élysées towards the Bois. The sun +had come out and the avenue was crowded with automobiles and carriages. +He walked steadily on until he reached the first of the cafés in the +Bois. He took a chair and watched the crowd. A peculiar sensation of +loneliness oppressed him, a loneliness of which he had been scarcely +conscious during this last month's wanderings among the quiet places. +Paris had seemed so different to him on his last visit. He was +surrounded by friends and people who were anxious to become his +friends. He was in charge of a difficult mission which he was conscious +of conducting with skill. Everywhere he was meeting English people of +his own order, all delighted to see him, all pleased with his notice. +His few days in Paris were merely a change in the kaleidoscope from +London. The life--everything else--was the same. This time he was like +a man cast upon a desert island. He sat at his little table, sipping a +glass of vermouth, and conscious that no man in Paris had fewer +friends. The clubs were closed to him, there were no official visits to +pay, no calls to make, no familiar faces to look for. He was a man who +had had his day, a man disgraced, a man in whom the people had lost +faith, who was dead politically and socially. He thought his position +over carefully from every point of view. It was ruin, utter and +complete. He had disclosed a valuable political secret to a woman who +had not hesitated to make use of it. Nothing could be more ignoble. He +tried to fancy for himself some new life under altered conditions, but +everywhere he seemed to run up against some possibility, some +combination of circumstances which included a share in things which +were absolutely finished. His brain refused to fashion for him the +thought of any life which could leave outside everything which had been +of account to him up till now. Even in London, among the working +classes, it might have been easier. He remembered those few vivid +speeches of Kendricks'. What a gift the man had! Always he seemed to +see big things in life smouldering underneath the lives of these +ordinary people--big things unsuspected, invisible. There was nothing +of the sort to be found here. The only Paris Julien had ever known was +closed to him. Paris the vicious repelled him instinctively. He was +here, he had even looked forward to coming, but now that he had arrived +there was nothing for him to do. After all, he had better have found +some far distant corner in Switzerland or Italy. There was no club for +him to go to, no interest in perusing the newspapers, no visits from +ambassadors to think about. The puzzles of his daily life were ended. +There was nothing for him to do where he was but to eat and to drink +and to sleep! + +He lunched at a restaurant of which he had never heard before, and +there, to his anger, almost at the next table, he found Foster. With a +trace of his former imperiousness of manner, he summoned him. The young +man rose, after a moment's hesitation, and obeyed the mandate. + +"What are you doing here?" Julien demanded. + +"Lunching, sir," the young man replied. "The place has been recommended +to me. I do not know Paris well." + +"You lie," Julien declared. "Unless you knew Paris well, you wouldn't +be here for Number 3 Branch. Tell me, are you still watching me?" + +"That is a question, Sir Julien, which, as I said before, I am not at +liberty to answer." + +Julien drew a little breath between his teeth. + +"Look here," he continued, "I want to warn you that I am a bad-tempered +man. You can write home if you like and tell them that you met me +coming out of the German Embassy and the Russian Embassy and the +Italian Embassy, with a list of prices in my hands for different pieces +of information. Is that what you're afraid of, eh?" + +"Sir Julien," the young man answered, "I have to make reports only. It +is not my business to question the necessity for them." + +Julien laughed. After all, the little man was right. + +"Well, perhaps I do need looking after. Is there any particular place +where you would like me to dine? I don't want to bring you out into the +byways if I can help it." + +The young man excused himself politely. Julien finished his luncheon +and then took a carriage back to his hotel. He found half-a-dozen +visiting cards in his box and glanced at them eagerly. Every one of +them was from the representative of a newspaper. He tore them into +pieces, left a curt message for their bearers, and went up to his room. +A telegram was lying upon his bureau. He tore it open and read: + +Call on Madame Christophor this afternoon. + +He frowned and threw the unsigned telegram into a wastepaper-basket. + +"That decides it," he muttered to himself. "I will not call upon Madame +Christophor." + +Nevertheless, he changed into calling attire and presently strolled out +once more into the sunshine. From habit he turned into the Champs +Élysées. The sight of a group of acquaintances drove him into a side +street. He walked for a short distance and then paused to see his +whereabouts. He was in the Avenue de St. Paul. He studied the numbers. +Exactly opposite was Number 17. He stood there, gazing at the house, +and at that moment a large automobile glided up to the front door. The +footman sprang down and a lady descended, passing within a few feet of +him. She was tall, very elegant, and her eyes, gaining, perhaps, a +little color from the pallor of her cheeks, were the most beautiful +shade of violet-blue which he had ever seen. She was a woman whom it +was impossible not to notice. Julien stood quite still, watching her. +The footman who had stepped down in advance had rung the bell, and the +postern door already stood open. The lady did not at once enter. She +was looking at Julien. This, then, was Madame Christophor! He was aware +at that moment of two distinct impressions--one was that she knew +perfectly well who he was; the other that at any cost, however _gauche_ +it might seem, it was better for him to ignore the faint gleam of +recognition which already lent the dawn of a gracious smile to her +lips. + +The woman was certainly expecting him to speak. Every second her +hesitation seemed more purposeful. Julien, however, with an effort +which was almost savage, set his teeth and walked on. She looked after +him for a moment and began to laugh softly to herself. Julien walked +steadily on till he had reached the corner of the street. Then he +turned away abruptly and without glancing around. He was angry with +himself, angry at the sound of that faint, musical laugh. He had quite +made up his mind not to call upon Madame Christophor. It would, in +fact, now be impossible. He would never be able to explain his +avoidance of her. + +He was in a part of Paris of which he knew nothing, but he walked on +aimlessly, anxious only to escape the vicinity of the clubs and of the +fashionable thoroughfares. Suddenly he was conscious that an automobile +had drawn up close to the curbstone by his side. The footman sprang +lightly down and accosted him. + +"Monsieur," he announced, "Madame Christophor has sent her automobile. +She would be happy to receive you at once." + +Julien glanced inside the automobile. It was daintily upholstered in +white. A pile of cushions lay on the seat, there was a glove upon the +floor, the faint fragrance of roses seemed to steal out. Almost he +fancied that the woman's face was there, leaning a little towards him, +with the curious smile about the lips, the wonderful eyes glowing into +his. Then he set his teeth. + +"You had better inform your mistress," he said, "that there is some +mistake. I have not the honor of the acquaintance of Madame +Christophor. You have followed the wrong person." + +The man hesitated. He seemed perplexed. + +"But, monsieur," he persisted, "madame pointed you out herself. It was +only because of a block in the roadway that we were not able to catch +you up before. We have, indeed, never lost sight of you." + +Julien shook his head. "Pray assure madame," he said, "of my most +respectful regrets. I have not the honor of her acquaintance." + +He walked on. The two men sat for a moment on the box of the car, +watching him. Then they turned around and the car disappeared. Julien +jumped into a little carriage and drove back to his hotel. As he passed +through into the office, the clerk leaned forward. + +"Monsieur is desired upon the telephone," he announced. + +Julien frowned. + +"Who is it?" + +The man shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the booth. Julien +hesitated. Then he stepped inside and held the receiver to his ear. + +"Who is this?" he asked. + +A very slow, musical voice answered him. He never for a moment had a +doubt as to whose it might be. + +"Is this Sir Julien Portel?" + +"This is Julien Portel," he answered. "Who is it speaking?" + +"I am Henriette Christophor," the voice replied. "I had word from +England, Sir Julien Portel, that you were coming to see me." + +"I shall do myself that honor," Julien assured her, "before I leave +Paris." + +"You were not polite," the voice continued, "that you did not come this +afternoon." + +"Madame," Julien said, "I am not here to make acquaintances. It is true +that I promised to call upon you; I do not know why, I do not know whom +I promised, I do not know for what reason I was asked to come. Since I +have promised, however, and you are kind enough to desire it, I will +come." + +"And why not now?" the voice persisted. "You are alone in Paris, are +you not? I have something to say to you, something which is best said +quickly." + +Julien hesitated. + +"You will come?" the voice begged. "My automobile will be at your hotel +in ten minutes. You shall come, and if you dislike, after all, to make +that call, you shall drive with me, if you prefer it. Monsieur, if you +please!" + +"I will be ready," Julien answered. + +He hung up the receiver and walked out into the hall. He was angry with +himself because only an hour ago he had told himself that he would not +make that call. He was angry, too, because the fact of his making it or +not making it had assumed a ridiculous importance in his eyes. + +He walked to the bar and filled his case with cigarettes. Then he took +up a monthly magazine and read. His own official resignation was dealt +with in a political article of some significance. It interested him +curiously. One sentence in particular he read several times: + +It is not our desire to play the alarmist, but we would point out to +Great Britain that she may at any time within the next few weeks be +called upon to face a situation of great gravity, and we cannot help +expressing our regret that when that time comes the country should be +deprived of the advice, sound judgment and experience of a man who, +notwithstanding his youth, has already made his mark in European +politics. + +Julien flung the paper down. What that situation might be he knew, +perhaps, better than any man! + +The porter hurried up to him. + +"There is a lady outside who inquires for monsieur," he announced. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +MADAME CHRISTOPHOR + + +She held out an ungloved hand to him as he stepped up to the +automobile. Having gained her ends, she was disposed to be merciful. + +"This is very kind of you, Sir Julien," she murmured. "I really was +most anxious to have you visit me. Will you step in, please, and drive +with me a little way? One converses so easily and it would perhaps +amuse you more than to sit in my rooms." + +"You are very thoughtful," Julien replied. "I will come, with pleasure, +if I may." + +He seated himself by her side. + +"You must put your stick and gloves in the rack there," she continued, +"and make yourself quite comfortable. We drive a short distance into +the country, if you do not mind." + +"I am entirely at your service," he answered. + +He was firmly determined to remain wholly unimpressed by whatever she +said or did, yet, even in those first few moments, the sweetness of her +voice and the delicate correctness of her English sounded like music to +him. There was a suspicion of accent, too, which puzzled him. + +"We are not altogether strangers, you know," she went on. "I have seen +you before several times. I think the last time that you were in Paris +you sat in a box at Auteuil with some friends of mine." + +Somehow or other, he was conscious of a certain embarrassment. He was +not at his best with this woman, and he found it hard, almost +impossible, to escape from commonplaces. + +"It was my misfortune that I did not see you," he remarked. "My visit +was rather a momentous one. I dare say I paid less attention than usual +to my surroundings." + +"Tell me," she asked, "it was my little friend Emilie, was it not, who +persuaded you to come and see me?" + +"It was a little girl with whose name, even, I was unacquainted," +Julien replied. "I must admit that I scarcely took her request +seriously. I could not conceive anything which you might have to say +which could justify the intrusion of a perfect stranger." + +"But you," she reminded him, "are not a perfect stranger. You have been +a public man. You see, I am not afraid of hurting you because I think +that you will soon get over that little sensitiveness. I know all about +you--everything. You trusted a woman. Ah! monsieur, it is dangerous, +that." + +"Madame," he said, looking into her wonderful eyes, "one makes that +mistake once, perhaps, in a lifetime--never again." + +"The woman who deceives," she sighed, "makes it so difficult for all +those who come after! I suppose already in your mind I figure as a sort +of adventuress, is it not so?" + +"Certainly, madame," he answered calmly. "It never occurred to me to +doubt but that you were something of the sort." + +She half closed her eyes and laughed softly to herself, moving her head +like a child, as though from sheer pleasure. + +"It is delicious, this frankness!" she exclaimed. "Ah! what a pity that +you did not come before that other woman had destroyed all your faith! +We might, perhaps, have been friends. Who can tell?" + +"It is possible," he assented. + +"So you believe that I am an adventuress," she continued. "You think +that I sent for you probably to try and steal one by one all those +wonderful secrets which I suppose you have stored up at the back of +your head. One cannot be Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs +without knowing things. Keep them to yourself, Sir Julien. I ask you no +questions." + +"Then why," he demanded, "did you insist upon this visit from me, and +why did the little manicurist, who is a perfect stranger to me, insist +also that I should come to you?" + +She smiled, and looked down at her hands for a moment. + +"Now if I answer all your questions, Sir Julien," she said, "you will +have no more curiosity left, and when your curiosity is gone, perhaps +some measure of your interest may go, too. Can you not bring yourself +to believe that I may have had personal reasons for desiring your +acquaintance?" + +"Madame," he answered, "no! I cannot bring myself to believe that." + +Again she laughed. + +"I think," she declared, "that it is your candor which makes you +Englishmen so attractive. Do you believe that I am a dangerous person, +Sir Julien?" + +He looked at her coldly and dispassionately. + +"I think," he decided, "that you might be very dangerous indeed to a +susceptible person." + +"But not to you?" + +"Certainly not to me," he admitted. "As you have already told me, it is +within your knowledge that I am paying the price for having trusted a +woman." + +She nodded. + +"It is a fine sort of ruin, after all. Not to trust is generally proof +of a mean and doubting disposition." + +"You are probably right, madame," he agreed. "Is it permitted to remind +you that we have been together for some time and you have not yet +enlightened me as to your reasons for seeking my acquaintance?" + +"Can't you believe that it was a whim?" she asked. + +"No!" + +"Remember that I saw you when you were here before," she persisted. + +"I have no recollection of having met you." + +"Yet I can tell you nearly all that you did on that last visit of +yours. You dined one night at the Embassy, one night at the Travelers' +Club with a party of four, one night with the Minister--Courcelles. You +were two hours with him on the afternoon of the day you dined with him. +You managed to snatch an hour at the races and to lunch at the Pré +Catelan on your way. You lunched, I believe, with Monsieur le Duc de +St. Simon and his friends." + +"Your knowledge of my movements," he declared, "is very flattering. It +suggests an interest in me, I admit, but I have yet to be convinced +that that interest is in any way personal." + +She looked at him from under the lids of her eyes. + +"What is it, Sir Julien, that you possess, then, which you fear that I +might steal?" + +He returned her gaze boldly. "I am a discarded Minister," he said. "I +might reasonably be supposed to be suffering from a sense of wrong. Why +should it not occur to a clever woman like you that it might be a +favorable moment to obtain a little information concerning one or two +political problems of some importance? Are you interested in such +matters, madame?" + +She leaned back in her seat and laughed. He sat and watched her. +Distinctly she was, in certain ways, the most beautiful woman he had +ever seen. It was true that she was pale and that her neck was a trifle +thin, but her face was so aristocratic and yet so piquant, the color of +her eyes so delightful, her mouth so soft and yet so humorous. She laid +her hand upon his arm. + +"Oh! my dear, dear Englishman," she exclaimed, "Heaven indeed has sent +you to me that I should not die of ennui! You do not know who I am--I, +Madame Christophor?" + +"I have no idea who you are," he assured her. "I have never seen you +before. I know of no other name than the one by which I was told to ask +for you." + +She leaned a little closer to him. + +"Come," she said, "you see me for what I am. I shall not rob you, I +shall not drug you, I shall not try to tear secrets out of your throat +by any medieval methods. We are neither of us of the order of those who +seek adventures in vulgar fashion and expect always a vulgar +termination. Can't we be friends for a time--companions? Paris is an +empty city for me just now. And for you--you must avoid those whom you +know. It follows that you must be lonely. Let me show you my Paris." + +Julien looked steadfastly out at the country, at the flying hedges, the +tall avenues of poplar trees in the distance, the clumsy farm wagon +coming across the hayfield, the blue-petticoated women who marched by +its side--anywhere to escape for a moment or two from her eyes. It was +absurd that he should feel even this faint interest in her proposition! +It was only a month since the blow had fallen, only a month since the +girl to whom he had been engaged had sent him away with a sigh and a +little handshake. It was only a month since life lay in splinters +around him. It was much too soon to feel the slightest interest in the +things which she was proposing! + +"Madame Christophor," he said, "you are very kind, but I tell you +frankly that I should accept your proposition with more pleasure if you +had been of my own sex." + +"You have become a woman-hater?" + +"I cannot trust a woman," he answered coldly. "All the time I have the +feeling of insecurity. I fear that it must sound ungallant if I tell +you what is the sober truth--that your sex for the present has lost all +charm for me." + +She closed her eyes. Perhaps from behind the mask of her still face she +was laughing at him! + +"Do you think I don't understand that a little?" she murmured. "Never +mind, for to-night, at least, I will be sexless. You can believe that I +am a man. I think you will find that I can talk to you about most of +the things that men know of. Politics we will leave alone. You would +mistrust me at once. Art--I can tell you of our modern French painters; +I can tell you about these two wonderful Russians who are painting in +their studio here; I can tell you what to look for at the new +exhibitions, what studios to visit--I can take you to them, if you +will. Or old Paris--does that interest you? Have you ever seen it +properly? I know my old Paris very well indeed. Or would you rather +talk of books? There have been many years when I have done little else +but read. Tell me that we may be companions for a time. You have +nothing to lose, indeed, and I have so much to gain." + +"Madame," Julien replied, "I do not trust you. You are doubtless an +agreeable companion, and as such I am willing to spend a short time +with you. This is an ungracious acceptance of your suggestion, but it +is the best I am capable of." + +She clapped her hands. + +"It is something, after all," she declared, "and let me tell you this, +my friend," she added, leaning over. "You have been frank with me. You +have told me that you hated my sex, that you distrusted us all. Very +well, I will share your frankness. I will tell you this. Neither am I +any friend of your sex. I, too, have my grievance. I, too, have +something in my heart of which I cannot speak, which, when I think of +it, makes me hate every male creature that walks the earth. Perhaps +with that in my heart and what you have in yours, we may meet and pass +and meet again and pass, and do one another no harm. Is that finished?" + +"By all means," he agreed. + +Her expression changed. + +"Come," she said, "now you shall see that I have begun my plots. I have +brought you away from Paris into the country places. For what, I +wonder? Are you terrified?" + +"Not in the least," he assured her. + + +"Brave fellow! Perhaps when you know the truth, your heart will shake +with fear. You are going to dine in a country restaurant." + +"That does not terrify me in the least," he replied, smiling. "I think +that it will be charming." + +"It is a tiny place," she told him, "not very well known as yet; soon, +I fear, likely to become fashionable. One sits at little tables on a +lawn of the darkest green. If the sun shines, an umbrella of pink and +white holland shades us. Quite close is the river and a field of +buttercups. There are flowers in the garden, and so many shrubs that +one can be almost alone. And behind, an old inn. They cook simply, but +the trout comes from the river, and it is cool." + +"It sounds delightful," Julien admitted; "but, madame, indeed it is I +who must be host." + +She shook her head. + +"On the contrary, it is by subtlety that I have brought you here and +that I claim to be the giver of the feast. You see, you dine with me +to-night. You must ask me back again. It is the custom of your country, +is it not?" + +He smiled. The automobile had turned in now up a short drive, and +stopped before a long, low building. Down in the gardens they could see +fairylights swinging in the faint breeze. A short man, with +close-cropped hair and a fierce black moustache and imperial, came +hastening out to greet them. When he recognized Madame Christophor, he +bowed low. + +"Monsieur Léon," she said, "I bring an Englishman to try your river +trout. You must give me a table near that great tree of lilac that +smells so sweetly. I order nothing--you understand? But you must +remember that monsieur is English. He will want his champagne dry and +his brandy very old. Is it not so, my friend? Now I will give you into +charge of _monsieur le propriétaire_ here. He shall show you where you +can drink a little _apéritif_, if you will. He shall show you, too, +where to find me presently." + +A trim maid came hurrying up and took possession of Madame Christophor. +Julien followed his guide into a small reception room, all pink and +white. + +"If monsieur desires to wash," the proprietor explained, "he passes +beyond there. And for an _apéritif?_" + +"I will take anything you send me," Julien declared. "What is the name +of this place, monsieur?" + +"They call it the Maison Léon d'Or, monsieur," the man replied. "It is +my own idea--a country house I purchased once for myself, but found it +too far, alas! from Paris. In the fine weather we could, if we chose, +have half Paris here. When the cold days come, there is nobody. +Monsieur permits?" + +He departed and Julien strolled to the window. In the portion of the +gardens over which he looked were smaller tables, set out simply for +those who desired to take their coffee and liqueurs or _apéritif_ out +of doors. Julien glanced out idly enough at the little group of people +dotted about here and there. Then his face suddenly darkened. At a +table within a few yards of where he stood were seated Foster and a man +whose back was turned towards him. + +Julien's first impulse was to retire out of sight, for the window was +open and he himself imperfectly concealed by the muslin blind. Then, as +he was on the point of retiring, he distinctly heard the sound of his +own name. The two men were speaking in a low tone, but a slight breeze +was blowing into the room. Julien stood still and listened. The man who +was a stranger to him was speaking to Foster. + +"The woman is first, it is true," he muttered. "She will pump him dry, +no doubt. But what matter? She may even put him on his guard, but I say +again, what matter? There is a price for everything, a price or--" + +The man's voice died away and Julien heard nothing for some time. Then +he saw Foster shake his head. + +"Our service," Foster declared, "does not protect us in such a +position. It does not allow us to go to extremes. I am supposed to be +here to watch him, but I am really powerless. He might become your man +or hers or any one else's. I could do nothing but report." + +His companion leaned across the table. + +"What you call your Secret Service," Julien heard him say, "is a farce. +You have no authority, no scope. You are too proud to ferret about as +the others do. You sit in dignified ease and wait for information to be +brought to you. My good Foster, you must learn to be a man. We must +teach you." + +Again their voices became inaudible. Julien drew back into the room. +His heart was beating faster, his brain was full of new thoughts. From +a place where he was absolutely secure he sat and gazed at Foster and +his companion. Presently the waiter entered with the _apéritif_. Julien +gave him five francs. + +"Listen," he said, "you see those two gentlemen sitting there?" + +"_Parfaitement_, monsieur," the man replied. + +"Have you ever seen the elder one before--the dark one with the +glasses?" + +The waiter hesitated. + +"Monsieur," he said, looking at the five francs in his hand, "_monsieur +le propriétaire_ here has strange notions. He objects that we mention +ever the name of any of his clients." + +"Why is that?" Julien asked. + +"How should one know, monsieur?" the waiter answered. "Only it seems +that this place is a little distance from Paris, it is retired, one +finds seclusion here. People meet, I think, in these gardens who do not +care to be seen in Paris. There are some come here who whisper at the +door to _monsieur le propriétaire_ that their names must never be +mentioned." + +"One can understand that, perhaps," Julien agreed, "but these are +surely affairs of gallantry? It is when the gentlemen bring ladies, +perhaps?" + +The man shook his head and gesticulated an emphatic negative. + +"Monsieur," he declared, "there are other things. There are other +things, indeed. This place is well-known because there meet here often +men who are interested in discussing serious matters. I can tell +monsieur, alas! the name of no one among the guests here. If I +attempted it, it would mean my dismissal, and there is no place in +Paris, monsieur, where the salaries are so good as here." Julien +hesitated. Then he drew a louis from his pocket. + +"Listen," he said, "you may rely upon my word. No mention of it shall +go outside this room. Take this louis for just the name of that +gentleman with his back to you." + +The waiter took the louis. + +"His name, monsieur, I cannot tell you, but I will tell you what +perhaps will do for monsieur as well. The German Ambassador comes +sometimes here with a party of friends; somewhere in the distance you +will find the gentleman about whom you ask. The German Ambassador rides +through the streets when Paris is troubled; somewhere close at hand you +will find monsieur there. The German Ambassador he attends the races; +feeling, perhaps, is running a little high. Somewhere amongst the crowd +who watch the races, and very close to _Monsieur l'Ambassadeur_, you +will find monsieur there with the shoulders." + +Julien drank his _apéritif_ thoughtfully. + +"Thank you," he said to the waiter. "You have earned your money. You +need have no fear." + +There was a knock at the door. _Monsieur le propriétaire_ presented +himself. + +"Monsieur," he announced, "it is my honor to conduct you to the table +reserved for madame and yourself. Madame awaits you." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +BETTER ACQUAINTANCE + + +The gardens of the Maison Léon d'Or were, in their way, unique. There +was no extent of open space, but the walks threaded everywhere a large +shrubbery, and in all sorts of corners and quiet places little dining +tables had been placed. Scarcely any one was in sight of any other +person, although they were so close together that all the time there +was a hum of voices. In the distance, down by the river, a large +gondola was passing slowly backwards and forwards, on which an +orchestra played soft music. Julien and Madame Christophor crossed the +narrow strip of lawn together and followed Monsieur Léon into the +graveled path bordered with fairy lamps. + +"I have arranged for madame and monsieur," he announced, looking +backwards, "a table near the lilac tree of which madame is so fond. The +perfume, indeed, is exquisite. If madame pleases!" + +They turned from the path on to another strip of lawn, which they +gained by rounding a large lilac bush. Here a small table was laid with +the whitest of cloths and the most dazzling of silver. An attentive +waiter was already arranging an ice-pail in a convenient spot. From +here the gardens sloped gently to the river, which was barely forty +yards distant. Although it was scarcely twilight, the men on the +gondola were lighting the lamps. + +"Madame and monsieur will find this table removed from all chance +visitors," the proprietor declared. "If the dinner is not perfect, +permit that I wait upon you again. A word to the waiter and I arrive. +Madame! Monsieur!" + +He retreated, with a bow to each. Julien, with a little laugh, took his +place at the table. + +"Madame," he said, "your entertainment is charming." + +"The entertainment is nothing," Madame replied, "but here at least is +one advantage--we are really alone. I do not know how you feel, but the +greatest rest in life to me is sometimes the solitude. There is no one +overlooking us, there is no one likely to pass whom we know. We are +virtually cut off from all those who know us or whom we know. My +friend, I would like you to remember this our first evening. Talk, if +you will, or be silent. For me it is equal. I, too, have thoughts which +I can summon at any time to bear me company. And there is the river. Do +you hear the soft flow of it, and the rustle of the breeze in the +shrubs, the perfumes, and--listen--the music? Ah! Sir Julien, I think +that we give you over here some things which you do not easily find in +your own country." + +"You are right," he agreed slowly. "You give us a better climate, more +sympathetic companionship, a tenderer chicken, a more artistic salad." + +"At heart you are a materialist, I perceive," she declared. + +"We all are," he admitted. "Everything depends upon our power of +concealment." + +The service of dinner commenced almost at once. There was something +excessively peaceful in the scene. The tables were so arranged that one +heard nothing of the clatter of crockery. The murmur of voices came +like a pleasant undernote. They talked lightly for some time of the +English theatres, of the stage generally, some recent memoirs--anything +that came into their heads. Then Julien was silent for several minutes. +He leaned slightly across the table. Their own lamp was lit now and +through the velvety dusk her eyes seemed to glow with a new beauty. + +"Tell me," he begged, "you spoke of yourself a little time ago as +though you might have a personality at which I ought to have guessed. +Are you a woman of Society, or an artist, or merely an idler?" + +"I have known something of Society," she replied. "I believe I may say +that I am something of an artist. It is very certain that I am not an +idler. Why ask me these questions? Let us forget to be serious tonight. +Let us remember only that we are companions, and that the hours, as +they pass, are pleasant." + +"It is a philosophy," he murmured, "which brings its own retribution." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"All happiness is lost," she declared, "the moment you begin to try and +define it. It is a sensation, not a state of being. Let us drift. The +waters are not dangerous for you or for me." + +Her words chilled him with a sudden memory. Then, in the act of helping +himself to wine, he paused. Some one had taken the table nearest to +them, dimly visible through the laurel bushes. He heard the voice of +the man who had been with Foster, giving the orders. + +"Listen!" + +There was no need for him to have spoken. Curiously enough, Madame + + +Christophor seemed also to have recognized the voice. Her hand fell +upon Julien's. He looked at her in surprise. Her cheeks were blanched, +her eyes blazing. + +"You hear that voice?" she whispered. + +Julien nodded. + +"It is the voice of the only person in the world," she continued, "whom +I absolutely hate." + +"You know whose it is, then?" + +"Of course!" she replied. + +"So do I," he muttered. "I have never seen the man's face, but I know a +little about him." + +She shivered. + +"Come," she said, "let us have our coffee later. We have finished +dinner and the moon is coming up. If we walk to the bottom there, we +shall see it from the bend of the river, and we shall escape from those +men." + +He rose hastily to his feet. She led the way down the path. Here and +there they caught a glimpse of other tables as they passed--little +parties of two or four, all very gay. Madame breathed more freely as +they progressed. Presently they passed through an iron gate into a +field, already half-mown. The perfume of the fresh-cut grass came to +them with an almost overpowering sweetness. Her hand fell upon his arm. + +"Forgive me," she begged, "I am not really a weak woman. I do not think +that there is any other sound in life which I hate so much as the sound +of that voice." + +They walked in silence along the narrow path. Soon they reached the +edge of the river. A few steps further on was a seat, of which they +took possession. In the distance the gondola, on fire now with lamps, +was playing a waltz. A bat flew for a moment about their heads. +Somewhere in the woods a long way down the river a nightingale was +singing. + +"I am not often so foolish," she murmured. "Once--let me tell you +this--once I had a dear little friend. She was very sweet, but a little +too trusting, too simple for the life here. She found a lover. She +thought she had found the happiness of her life. Poor child! For a +month, perhaps, she was happy. Then he forced her to give up her little +home and her savings and go upon the stage. He preferred a mistress +from the theatres. She worked hard, but, sweetly pretty though she was, +she was not very successful. Then she caught cold. She began to lose +her health--and she lost her lover." + +"Brute!" + +"The child got worse," madame went on. "Presently they told her that it +was consumption. She went to a hospital and she wrote a pathetic little +note to the man. He tore it up. There had been an article in the papers +a few weeks before proving that consumption was among the diseases +which were more or less infectious. He sent her a few brutal lines and +a trifle of money, with a warning that there was to be no more. He +never went to see her. The child grew worse. I used to sit with her +sometimes. I saw her look down upon the river, almost as we are looking +now, and her eyes would grow soft and wet with tears, and she would +tell me in whispers of the evenings she had spent with him, when the +love had first come, and how sweet and tender he was. There must be +something wrong, she was sure. He did not understand, he could not know +how ill she really was. She prayed for the sight of him. I put her off +with one excuse after another, but one day the fear of death was in her +eyes, the terror came to her, she was afraid. She was afraid of dying +alone, of going into a strange country, no one to hold her. I went to +the man, I begged him to come and see her. He scoffed at me. If she had +consumption, she was better dead. He would have flirted with me if I +had let him. I can hear his voice now--brutal, jeering, hideous! It was +the voice, Sir Julien, which we heard ten minutes ago at the next +table. Do you wonder that I hate it?" + +"And the little girl?" he asked. + +"When I returned without him," she answered, "the little girl was +dead." + +They were both silent, listening to the splash of the water and to the +distant music. + +"Life is like that," she went on. "We pass through it lightly enough, +but Heaven only knows the number of little tragedies against which our +skirts must brush. Sometimes they leave impressions, sometimes we grow +callous, but the horror of that man's voice will stay with me +always.... Shall we go back now? You would like your coffee." + +"Sit here for five minutes more," he begged. "Tell me, did you know +that the man was a spy?" + +She looked at him curiously. + +"How is it that you know so much about him?" + +"He is sitting there with an Englishman who comes from our Intelligence +Department," Julien explained. "They were speaking together of some +one--I believe it was myself--speaking in none too friendly terms. +There was a woman, too, whose name they coupled with mine, but I could +not hear that. I made some inquiries about the man. I was told that he +was in the suite of the German Ambassador." + +She nodded. + +"Whoever or whatever he is," she said, "he is something to be abhorred. +Hush! There is some one coming down the footpath." + +They sat quite silent. Some instinct seemed to tell them who it was. +Suddenly they heard the voice--rasping, unpleasant. + +"You have bungled the affair, Foster. It is not well-managed; it is not +clever. You were to have brought him to me, to have let me know the +instant he reached Paris. I would have seen him. Just as he was, I +should have succeeded. Now it may be that this woman has warned him +already. She is very clever. If she has him, he will not escape." + +Foster's voice was inaudible, but whatever he said seemed to anger his +companion. + +"Thunder and lightning!" they heard the man exclaim. "Am I a fool that +you talk to me like this? Yes, I go to him--I go to him to-night, but I +tell you that it is too late! If it is too late, there is but one thing +to be done. You are a coward, Foster!" + +They came out into the open, on the path which fringed the river, and +they were immediately silent. They came strolling along and noticed for +the first time the two figures upon the seat. Instantly they began to +talk upon some local subject. No escape was possible. In a few minutes +they were opposite the bench. Foster started a little. The other man's +face darkened. He ventured upon a bow. Madame Christophor looked at him +as one might look upon some strange animal. Foster hesitated for a +moment, but his companion pushed him along. + +"I think," she whispered, "that that man would like to do me an +injury." + +Julien was watching their retreating forms. + +"I don't understand what Foster is doing there, or what the dickens +they were talking about," he said thoughtfully. "I think if you don't +mind," he added, "we will return." + +"Why are you so suddenly uneasy?" she asked. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Apparently," he answered, "you know who I am and everything about me. +I, on the other hand, am ignorant almost of your very name. There are +certain circumstances connected with my late career which make it +inadvisable--" + +"Oh, I know all that you are going to say!" she interrupted. "But ask +yourself. Have I made any attempt whatever to ask you a single +unbecoming question?" + +"You certainly have not," he confessed. + +"Your little friend returns," she whispered. "See!" + +Foster came back to them, slowly, with reluctant footsteps. He had the +appearance of a man bent upon a mission which he dislikes. + +"Sir Julien," he said, as he drew near, "would you grant me a moment's +interview?" + +Julien looked at him. + +"You probably know my address," he replied coldly. "You can call there +and see me. At present I am engaged." + +"Sir Julien, the matter is of some importance," Foster persisted. "I +have a friend who is anxious to meet you. It would be an affair of a +few words only, and perhaps an appointment afterwards." + +"Is the friend to whom you refer the person with whom you were walking +just now?" Julien inquired. + +"Yes!" Foster admitted. "If you can spare me a moment I can explain--" + +"You need explain nothing," Julien interrupted. "Understand, please, +that I decline absolutely to make that person's acquaintance." + +Foster looked away from Sir Julien to the woman who stood by his side. + +"Am I to take this as final?" he asked. + +Julien turned on his heel. + +"Absolutely," he said. "The little I know of the person with whom you +seem to be spending the evening makes me feel more inclined to pitch +him into the river than to make his acquaintance. As a matter of fact, +Foster, I don't know, of course, under what instructions you are acting +over here, but I should not have considered him exactly a companion for +you." + + +Foster started. A new fear had suddenly broken in upon him. + +"I am doing my best to carry out instructions, sir," he declared. "I do +not understand why you should take so prejudiced a view of my friend." + +"It is, perhaps," Julien replied, "because I know more about him than +you seem to. Good night!" + +They walked slowly back to the gardens. The woman was thoughtful. + +"I am sorry," she said, "that those people came along to spoil our +first evening together. I am glad, though, that you refused to meet the +German. All that he would have done would have been to try and fill +your mind with suspicions of me. Haven't you found me harmless?" + +"I am not sure," he answered. + +She laughed softly. + +"Ah, me!" she exclaimed, "I gave you an opening, didn't I, and one must +remember that of late years the men of your nation have established a +reputation over here for gallantry. Harmless, at least, so far as +regards tearing political secrets from your bosom?" + +"As a matter of fact," Julien remarked, "there are not so many secrets +between France and England, are there?" + +"Thanks in some measure to you," she reminded him. "You take it for +granted, I notice, that I am a Frenchwoman." + +He looked at her in great surprise. + +"Why, indeed, yes! Is there any doubt about it?" + +"My mother was an American," she told him. + +"Tell me your real name?" he asked suddenly. + +"On the contrary, I am going to beg you not to try and discover it. Let +us remain as we are for a little time. You are lonely here and you need +companionship, and I am very much in the same position. You are a hater +of women and I have sworn eternal enmity against all men. We are so +safe, and solitude is bad for us." + +He smiled. + +"You are very kind," he said, "but as for me, I am only starting my +wanderings. I want to go on through Algiers to Morocco, to Egypt, and +later to the east. I never meant to stay long in Paris." + +"I do not blame you," she declared. "Sooner or later you must find your +way where the battle is. Paris is not a city for men. One loiters here +for a time, but one passes on always. Never mind, while you stay here I +shall claim you." + +They drove back to Paris through the perfumed stillness of the long +spring night. Madame had instructed her chauffeur to drive slowly, and +more than one automobile rushed past them, with flaring lights and +sounding horn. In one they caught a glimpse of Foster and his +companion, whispering together as they raced by. Madame half closed her +eyes with a little shiver. + +"Those men again!" she exclaimed, "They say that Estermen never +abandons a chase. You may still find him waiting for you in your +hotel!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +THE TOYMAKER FROM LEIPZIG + + +In the front row of balcony tables at the Café des Ambassadeurs was one +which had been transformed into a veritable bower of pink roses. The +florists had been at work upon it since early in the afternoon, and +their labors were only just concluded as the guests of the restaurant +were beginning to arrive. Henri, the chief _maître d'hôtel_, had +personally superintended its construction. He stood looking at the +result of their labors now with a well-satisfied aspect. + +"But it is perfect," he declared. "The orders of Monsieur Freudenberg +have indeed been delightfully carried out. You will present the account +as usual, mademoiselle," he directed the florist, who in her black +frock, a little hot and flushed with her labors, was standing by his +side. "Remember monsieur is well able to pay." + +"It is, perhaps, a prince who dines in such state?" the girl inquired. + +The _maître d'hôtel_ smiled. + +"It is, on the contrary," he told her, "a maker of toys from Germany." + +She made a little grimace. + +"And to think that my back aches, that I have pricked myself so," she +exclaimed, showing the scarred tips of her fingers, "for the sake of a +toymaker from Germany! But it is not like you, Henri, to disturb +yourself so for anything less than a prince." + +Henri, who was a sleek and handsome man, with black moustache and +imperial, shook his head sadly. + +"Ah! mademoiselle," he said, "when you have lived as long as I, you +will know that the times indeed have changed. It is no longer the +princes of the world to whom one gives one's best service. It is those +who carry the heaviest money bags who command it." + +"Well, well," she replied, "that is perhaps true. Yet in our little +shop in the Rue de la Paix we do not always find that it is those with +the heaviest money bags who pay us most generously for our flowers. I +would sooner serve a bankrupt aristocrat than a wealthy shopkeeper. If +they pay at all, these aristocrats, they pay well." + +Henri stretched out his hands. + +"Mademoiselle, there are shopkeepers who are also princes. My client of +this evening is one of those. Behold, he comes! Pardon!" + +The man for whom these great preparations had been made stood in the +entrance of the restaurant, waiting for the woman who was giving her +cloak to the _vestiaire_. He was tall and thin, dressed rather +severely, with a black tie and short coat, a monocle which hung from +his neck with a black ribbon. His face was unusually long, his eyes +deep-set, his mouth set firm on a somewhat protuberant jaw, with lines +at the corners which somehow suggested humor. When he saw Henri he +nodded. + +"Once more, Henri," he remarked, with a little smile, "once more in my +beloved Paris!" + +"Monsieur is always welcome," Henri declared, bowing to the ground. +"Paris is the gayer for his coming." + +"You are indeed a nation of courtiers!" Herr Carl Freudenberg +exclaimed. "What German _Oberkellner_ would have thought of a speech +like that to a Frenchman finding himself in Berlin! Ah! Henri, you try, +all of you, to spoil me here. Is it not so, mademoiselle?" he added, +turning with a bow and a smile to the girl who stood now by his side. +"Henri here speaks honied words to me always. The wonder to me is that +I am ever able to tear myself away from this city of fascination." + +"If we could keep monsieur," the girl murmured, smiling at Henri, "I +think that we should all be very well content." + +Herr Freudenberg made a little grimace. + +"But my toys!" he cried. "Who is there in Germany could make such toys +as I and my factory people? The world would be sad indeed--the world of +children, I mean--if my factory were to close down or my designers +should lose their cunning." + +"Is it the greatest ambition of monsieur," the girl asked, "to amuse +and make happy the world of children? Have not the world of grown +people some claims?" + +"Monsieur will, I trust, and madame," Henri declared, as they moved +slowly forward, "find much to admire in the table which has been +prepared for them this evening. It is by the orders of monsieur so +enclosed that here one may talk without fear of observation. And the +perfume of these roses, every one of which has been selected, is a +wonderful thing. It is indeed a work of art." + +Herr Freudenberg turned deliberately on one side where the little +flower girl was still lingering. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "something tells me that it is you whom we +have to thank for this adorable creation. It is indeed a work of +supreme art. If mademoiselle would permit!" + +He slipped a crumpled note into her fingers, so quietly and +unostentatiously that it was there and in her pocket before any one had +time to notice it. She went out murmuring to herself. + +"He is a prince, this monsieur--a veritable prince!" + +"For your dinner," Henri announced, as they seated themselves in their +places, "I have no word to tell you. I spare you, as you see, the +barbarity of a menu. What will come to you, monsieur and madame, is at +least of our best. I can promise that. And the wine is such as I myself +have selected, knowing well the taste of monsieur." + +"And of madame also, I trust?" Herr Freudenberg remarked. + +"Ah! monsieur," Henri continued, "when monsieur is not in Paris, madame +is invisible. Not once since I last had this pleasure of waiting upon +you, have I had the joy of seeing her." + +Herr Freudenberg looked across the table at his companion with +twinkling eyes. + +"This is a city of conspirators," he declared. "You make a man vain and +happy and joyous at the same time. Let your dinner be served, then, +Henri. Since I was in Paris last I have eaten many times, but I have +not dined." + +The _maître d'hôtel_ departed, but for the next hour or so his eyes +were seldom far away from the table where sat his most esteemed client. +Once or twice, others of the diners sent for him. + +"Henri," one asked, and then another, "tell us, who is it that dines +like a prince under the canopy of pink roses?" + +Henri smiled. + +"Monsieur," he replied, "it is Herr Carl Freudenberg of Leipzig." + +"Herr Carl Freudenberg of Leipzig--but who is he?" + +"He is a great manufacturer of toys, monsieur." + +"A German!" one muttered. + +"It is they who are spoiling Paris," another grumbled. + +"They have at least the money!" + +One woman alone shook her head. + +"It is not money only," she murmured, "which buys these things here +from Henri."... + +The companion of Herr Carl Freudenberg was, without doubt, as charming +as she appeared, for Herr Freudenberg certainly enjoyed his dinner as a +man should. Nor were those lines of humor engraven about his mouth for +nothing, to judge by the frequent peals of laughter from mademoiselle. +Towards the close of dinner, Henri himself carried to them a superb +violet ice, with real flowers around the dish and an electric light +burning in the middle. + +"For two days, madame," he announced, "our chef has dreamed of this. It +is a creation." + +"It is exquisite!" mademoiselle cried, with a gesture of delight. +"Never in my life have I seen anything so wonderful." + +"Henri," Herr Freudenberg said in an aside, "you will present my +compliments to the chef. You will shake him by the hand from me. You +will double the little affair which passes between us. Tell him that it +comes from one who appreciates the work of a great artist, even though +his French thickens a little in his throat." + +Henri bowed low. + +"If monsieur's body is German," he declared, "his soul at least belongs +to the land of romance." + +They were alone again and the girl leaned across the table. + +"Monsieur," she murmured, "it is cruel of you to come so seldom. You +see what you do? You spoil the keepers of our restaurants, you steal +away the hearts of your poor little companions, and then--one night or +two, perhaps, and it is over. Monsieur Freudenberg has gone. The earth +swallows him." + +"Back to my toys, mademoiselle," he whispered. "One has one's work." + +She looked at him long and tenderly. + +"Monsieur," she said, "it is two months, a week and three days since +you were in Paris. Since then I have sung and danced, night by night, +but my heart has never been gay. Come oftener, monsieur, or may one not +sometimes cross the frontier and learn a little of your barbarous +country?" + +For the first time the faintest shadow of gravity crossed his face. + +"Mademoiselle," he replied, "alas! The world is full of hard places. +Behold me! When I am here, I am your devoted and admiring slave, but +believe me that when I leave Paris and set my face eastwards, I do not +exist. Dear Marguerite, it hurts me to repeat this--I do not exist." + +She looked down into her plate. + +"I understand," she murmured. "You said it to me once before. Have I +not always been discreet? Have I ever with the slightest word disobeyed +you?" + +"Nor will you ever, dear Marguerite," he declared confidently, "for if +you did it would be the end. In the city where I make my toys, life as +we live it here is not known. It is not recognized. And there is one's +work in the world." + +She looked up from her plate. Her expression had changed. + +"It was foolish of me," she whispered. "To-night is one of those nights +in Heaven for which I spend all my days longing. I think no more of the +future. You are here. Tell me, from here--where?" + +"To the Opera. I have engaged the box that you prefer. We arrive for +the last act of 'Samson et Dalila' and for the ballet." + +"And afterwards?" + +"To the Abbaye. After that, there is the Rat Mort--Albert must not be +disappointed--and a new place, they tell me. One must see all these new +places." + +"And we leave here soon?" + +"You are impatient!" + +"Only to be alone with you," she answered. "Even those few moments in +the automobile are precious." + +He smiled at her across the table. She was very pretty with her fair +hair and dark eyes, very Parisian, and yet with a shade of graceful +seriousness about her eyes and mouth. + +"Dear Marguerite," he said, "I wait only for one of my agents who comes +to speak to me on a matter of business. He is due almost at this +moment. After he has been here, then we go. Cannot you believe," he +whispered, dropping his voice a little and leaning slightly across the +table, "that I, too, will love to feel your dear fingers in mine, your +lips, perhaps, for a moment, as we pass to the Opera?" + +"It is a joy one must snatch," she murmured. + +"There is no joy in life," he replied, "which is not the sweeter for +being snatched, and snatched quickly." + +"And you a German!" she sighed. + +Henri appeared once more, and after him Estermen. Herr Freudenberg, +with a word of excuse to his companion, turned to greet the newcomer. + +"Well?" + +Estermen stood quite close to the table. He was distinctly ill at ease. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he said, "I have done my best. It was impossible +for me to obtain an introduction to this customer." + +"Impossible?" Herr Freudenberg repeated, his face suddenly becoming +stony. + +"Let me explain," Estermen continued hastily. "This customer arrived in +Paris last night or early this morning. He was called upon at once by a +lady who lives in the Avenue de St. Paul. She has told him a little +story about me--I am sure of it. He has refused to make my +acquaintance." + +"And you were content?" + +Estermen spread out his pudgy hands. + +"What can one do?" he muttered. "The man is quick-tempered. He dined +tonight in the country at the Maison Léon d'Or with madame. It was +there that I sought an introduction with him. It was impossible for me +to force myself." + +"You know where to find him, I suppose?" + +"I know the hotel at which he is staying." + +"Make it your business to find him," Herr Freudenberg ordered. "Bring +him with you, if before one o'clock to the Abbaye Thelème; if +afterwards, to the Rat Mort." + +Estermen looked stolidly puzzled. + +"Am I to mention the subject of the toys of Herr Freudenberg's +manufacture?" + +Herr Freudenberg tore a corner from the programme which lay on the +table between them, and wrote a single word upon it. + +"Study that at your leisure, my friend," he said. "Pay attention to the +task I impose upon you. Nothing is more important in my visit to Paris +than that I should make the acquaintance of this person. Much depends +upon it. I rely upon you, Estermen." + +Estermen thrust the morsel of paper into his waist-coat pocket. Then he +leaned a little closer to this man who seemed to be his master. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he began, "I spoke of a lady in the Avenue de St. +Paul, the companion to-night of the person whose acquaintance you are +anxious to make." + +"What of her?" Herr Freudenberg asked calmly. "There are many ladies, +without a doubt, who live in the Avenue de St. Paul." + +"The name of this one," Estermen continued slowly, "is Madame +Christophor." + +Herr Freudenberg sat quite still in his place. His eyes seemed fixed +upon a cluster of the roses which hung down from the other side of the +sweet-smelling barrier by which they were surrounded. Yet something had +gone out of his face, something fresh had arrived. The half +contemptuous curl of the lips was finished. His mouth now was straight +and hard, his eyes set, the deep lines upon his forehead and around his +mouth were suddenly insistent. He sat so motionless that his face for a +moment seemed as though it were fashioned in wax. Then his lips moved, +he spoke in a whisper which was almost inaudible. + +"Henriette!" + +From across the table his companion watched him. At first she was +puzzled. When she heard the woman's name which came so softly from his +lips, she turned pale. Herr Freudenberg recovered from his fit of +abstraction almost as quickly as he had lapsed into it. + +"I thank you, Estermen," he declared. "It is a coincidence, this. I am +obliged for your forethought in mentioning it. Until later, then." + +The man made a somewhat clumsy bow, glanced admiringly at Herr +Freudenberg's companion, and departed. Herr Freudenberg was shaking his +head slowly. + +"I fear," he said softly to himself, "sometimes I fear that I am not so +well served as might be in Paris. However, we shall see. For the moment +let us banish these dull cares. If you are ready, Marguerite, I think I +might suggest that the nearer way to the Opera is by the Champs +Élysées." + +She rose to her feet and gave him her hand for a moment as she passed. + +"If one could only find as easily the way to your heart, dear maker of +toys!" she murmured. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +AT THE RAT MORT + + +Julien had been back in the hotel about half an hour and in his room +barely ten minutes when he was disturbed by a knock at the door. +Immediately afterwards, to his amazement, Estermen entered. + +"What the devil are you doing up here?" Julien asked angrily. "How dare +you follow me about!" + +"Sir Julien," his visitor answered, "I beg that you will not make a +commotion. It was perfectly easy for me to gain admission here. It will +be perfectly easy for me, if it becomes necessary, to leave without +trouble. I ask you to be reasonable. I am here. Listen to what I have +to say. You are prejudiced against me. It is not fair. You have spoken +with a woman who is my enemy. Give me leave, at least, to address a few +words to you. You will not be the loser." + +Julien was angry, but underneath it all he was also curious. + +"Well, go on, then." + +"You are reasonable," said Estermen, laying his hat and stick upon the +bed. "Listen. Your story is known at Berlin as well as in Paris. There +is only one opinion concerning it and that is that you have been +shamefully treated." + +"I am not asking for sympathy, sir," Julien answered coldly. + +"Nor am I offering it," the other returned. "I am stating facts. There +are many who do not hesitate to say that you have been made the victim +of a political plot, conceived among the members of your own party; +that you are suffering at the present moment from your masterly efforts +on behalf of peace." + +"Pray go on," Julien invited. "I consider all this grossly impertinent, +but I am willing to listen to what you have to say." + +"The greatest man in Germany," Estermen continued, "when he heard of +your misfortune, declared at once that the peace of Europe was no +longer assured. I am here to-night, Sir Julien, without credentials, it +is true, but I am the spokesman of a very great person indeed. He is +anxious to know your plans." + +"I have no plans." + +"Your political future, then--" + +"I have no political future," Julien interrupted. "That is finished for +me." + +"But the thing is absurd!" protested Estermen. "There is no other man +but you capable of dealing tactfully and diplomatically with my +country. Your blundering predecessors brought us twice within an ace of +war. If the man takes your place to whom rumor has already given it, I +give Europe six weeks' peace--no more. We are a sensitive nation, as +you know. You learned how to humor us. No one before you tried. You +kept your alliance with France, but you were not afraid to show us the +open hand. There are those in Berlin, Sir Julien, who consider you the +greatest statesman England ever possessed." + +"I listen," Julien said. "Pray proceed." + +"It cannot be," Estermen went on, "that you mean to accept the +situation?" + +"I have no alternative," Julien answered. + +"It is not, then, a question of money?" Estermen ventured slowly. "The +Press tell us that you are poor." + +"Money, in this case, would scarcely help," Julien remarked. + +"There is no man in the world who can afford to despise the power of +money," Estermen said quietly. + +"Are you here to offer me any?" + +"I am not. Have you anything to give in exchange for it?" + +Julien laughed a little shortly. + +"I imagined," he declared, "that with your first remarks you had +climbed to the dizziest heights of impertinence. I perceive that I was +mistaken. I am a discarded minister,"--dryly. "I may be supposed to +have in my possession secrets for which your country would pay. Is it +not to those facts that I am indebted for the honor of this visit?" + +"Not in the least," answered Estermen. "Our own Secret Service keeps us +supplied with such information as we desire. My object in seeking you +is this. The Prince von Falkenberg is in Paris for a few hours only. He +wants to meet you. I have been ordered to arrange this meeting, if +possible." + +Julien did not attempt to conceal his interest. + +"Why on earth didn't you say so at once?" he exclaimed. "What does he +want of me?" + +Estermen shrugged his shoulders. + +"Who knows? Who knows what Falkenberg ever wants? He is here, there and +everywhere--today in Paris, tomorrow in Berlin, next week in Moscow. +Yet it is he, as you know well, who shapes the whole destinies of my +country. It is he alone in whom the Emperor has blind and absolute +confidence. If he holds up his hand, it is war. If he holds it down, it +is peace." + +"What does he do in Paris?" Julien inquired. + +Estermen shook his head. + +"He arrived this morning and disappeared. Tonight he sent me orders +that I was to search for you." + +"Where is he now?" Julien asked. + +"At eight o'clock tonight," Estermen said, "he declared himself to be +Herr Carl Freudenberg, dealer in German toys. He dressed, dined at the +Ambassadeurs with Mademoiselle Ixe from the Opera, sent for me, learned +that I was at the Maison Léon d'Or, telephoned there, and all for this +one thing--that I should bring you to him without a moment's delay." + +"But where is he now?" Julien asked again. + +Estermen glanced at the clock and at a piece of paper which he took +from his pocket. + +"It is one o'clock within a few minutes," he remarked. "Herr +Freudenberg is either at the Abbaye Thelème or the Rat Mort." + +Julien scarcely hesitated. + +"When you first came in," he admitted, "I felt like throwing you out. +How you got here I don't know. I suppose it is no use complaining to +the hotel people. But there is no man on the face of this earth in whom +I am more interested than Falkenberg. I shall change my clothes, and in +a quarter of an hour I am at your service. Wait for me downstairs." + +Estermen drew a little sigh of relief. "I shall await you, Sir +Julien," he declared. + +All Paris seemed to be seeking distraction as they drove in the +automobile along the Boulevard des Italiens. Julien sat with folded +arms in the corner of the automobile. He had no fancy for his +companion. He was anxious so far as possible to avoid speech with him. +Estermen, on the contrary, seemed only too desirous of removing the +impression of dislike of which he was acutely conscious. He talked the +whole of the time of the cafés and the women, of everything he thought +might be interesting to his companion. Julien listened in grim silence. +Only once he interrupted. + +"What brings Herr Freudenberg to Paris?" he inquired once more. + +Estermen was suddenly reticent. + +"He has affairs here," he said. "He is also like us others--a man who +loves his pleasure. You will find him tonight with a most charming +companion--Mademoiselle Ixe of the Opera. Before the coming of Herr +Freudenberg, I remember her well--the companion at times of many. +To-day she is changed, _triste_ when he is not here, faithful in a most +un-Parisianlike manner." + +They swung round to the left. + +"Herr Freudenberg," Estermen continued, "is a great lover of the night +life of Paris. He goes from one café to the other. He is untired, +sleepless. He seems to find inspiration where others find fatigue." + +Julien raised his eyebrows, but he said nothing. These were not his +impressions of the man whom they were seeking! + +They drew up presently at the doors of the Abbaye Thelème. There were +crowds of people trying to gain admission. Estermen elbowed his way +through. + +"Herr Freudenberg?" he asked of the man who stood at the door. + +The man's forbidding face changed like magic. + +"Herr Freudenberg left but ten minutes ago for the Rat Mort. Those who +inquired for him were to follow." + +Estermen nodded and touched Julien on the arm. + +"We will walk," he said. "It is at the corner there." + +They presented themselves at the doors of a smaller and dingier café. +Estermen elbowed the way up the narrow stairs. They emerged in a small +room, brilliantly lit and filled with people. The usual little band was +playing gay music. A corpulent _maître d'hôtel_ bowed as they appeared. + +"Herr Freudenberg," Estermen began. + +The waiter's bow by this time was a different affair. + +"Monsieur will follow me," he invited. + +At the corner table at the far end of the room--the most desired of +any--sat Herr Freudenberg with Mademoiselle Ixe by his side. They met +the flower girl coming away with empty arms. The table of Herr +Freudenberg was smothered with roses. There was a shade more color in +the cheeks of Mademoiselle Ixe, in her eyes a light as soft as any +which the eyes of a woman who loved could know. Herr Freudenberg, +unruffled, had still the air of a man who finds life pleasant. As the +two men came up the room, he rose and held out both his hands. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, "it is indeed my friend of Berlin! Welcome, dear +Sir Julien! We meet on neutral ground, is it not so? We meet now in the +city of pleasures. Let us sit for a little time and talk, and forget +that you and I once wrote a chapter together in the history--of +toymaking. But first," he added, turning to Mademoiselle Ixe, +"mademoiselle permits me to introduce a very dear and cherished +acquaintance to an equally dear and cherished friend. This gentleman, +dear Marguerite, and I make toys in different countries, and there was +a time when it was necessary for us to consult together. So he came to +Berlin and I have never forgotten his visit. For the present, join us, +dear Julien. You permit that I call you by your first name? It is after +midnight, and after midnight in Paris one permits everything. Now we +drink together, we three, for Estermen must leave us, I know. We drink +together to the making of toys, the building of toy palaces, and the +love of one another. Come, Monsieur Albert, see that your _sommelier_ +opens that bottle that you have chosen for us so carefully," he +continued, turning to the manager who was hovering close at hand. "This +is a meeting and we need the best wine that ever came from the +vineyards of France. A dear friend, Albert. Bow low to him, indeed, for +he is worthy of it. Afterwards we will perhaps eat something. Send your +waiter. But above all, monsieur, see to it that mademoiselle with the +fair curls dances once more. My friend, I think, would like to see her. +And we must have music. Let the band never cease playing. Ah! it is +here, dear Albert, that one learns to forget how strenuous life really +is. It is here that one may unbend. The wine!" + +While Herr Freudenberg talked the _sommelier_ had gravely served the +champagne in some tall and wonderful glasses brought from a private +cabinet by Monsieur Albert himself to honor his most treasured +visitors. Herr Freudenberg raised his glass, clinked it against the +glass of mademoiselle, clinked it against Julien's glass. + +"Come," he cried, "to our better acquaintance, to our better +understanding! Mademoiselle," he added, lowering his tone, "to the +eternal continuance of those things which lie between you and me!" + +Estermen had departed and Julien breathed the freer for it. +Mademoiselle Ixe chattered to him for a few moments, and Herr +Freudenberg whispered in the ears of Albert, who withdrew at once. + +"One must eat," Herr Freudenberg declared. "Albert has some peaches, +wonderful peaches from the gardens where the sun always shines. Peaches +and macaroons--afterwards coffee. Ah! my friend, you remember those +somber banquets when we all hated one another because we all fancied +that the other wanted what we had a right to? Ugh! When I think of +Berlin in those days, when no one smiled, when one's sense of humor was +there only to be kept down with an iron hand, why, it gives one to +weep! Mademoiselle, I have a prayer to make." + +"It is granted," she assured him softly. + +"Presently the orchestra shall play the music of Faust. You will sing +to us? Tonight is one of my nights, never really perfect unless some +minutes of it move to the music of your voice." + +She laughed softly. + +"Yes, monsieur, I will sing," she answered, "but not the Jewel Song +tonight. Send the _chef d'orchestre_ to me." + +At the merest signal he was there with his violin under his arm. +Mademoiselle whispered a word in his ear and he departed, all smiles. +The selection which they were playing suddenly ceased. _Monsieur le +chef_ alone played some Italian air, which no one wholly recognized but +every one found familiar. Slowly he walked around the tables, playing +still, always with his eyes upon Mademoiselle Ixe, and when at last he +stood before her, she threw her head back and sang. + +The clatter of crockery diminished, the waiters paused in their tasks +or crept on tiptoe about the place. Men and women stood up at their +tables that they might see the singer better; conversation ceased. And +all the time the _chef d'orchestre_ drew music from his violin, and +mademoiselle, with half-closed eyes, her head thrown back, filled the +whole room with melody. Even she herself knew that she was singing as +she never sang at the Opera, as she had never sung when a great +impressario had come to try her voice, as one sings only when the heart +is shaking a little, and as she finished, the fingers of her left hand +slowly crept across the table into the hand of Herr Freudenberg, the +toymaker, and her last notes were sung almost in a whisper into his +ears. The room rose up to applaud. The _chef d'orchestre_ went back to +his place, bowing right and left. Herr Freudenberg raised the fingers +that lay between his hand to his lips. + +"Ah, mademoiselle," he murmured, "I have no longer words!" + +Albert came back. Scarcely more than a look passed between him and Herr +Freudenberg. Then the latter rose to his feet. + +"Come," he said, "a little surprise for you. You, too, dear Julien. I +insist. This way." + +They passed from the room. As mademoiselle rose to her feet, people +began once more to applaud. + +"Mademoiselle will sing again presently, perhaps," Herr Freudenberg +answered a man who leaned forward. "We do not depart." + +He led the way to the head of the staircase and they passed into the +back regions of the place--dim, ill-lit, mysterious. Albert, who had +preceded them, threw open the door of a room. There was a small supper +table laid for three, more flowers, more wine. + +"It is that one may talk for five minutes," Herr Freudenberg explained. +"Mademoiselle!" + +But mademoiselle had already flitted away. The door somehow was closed, +the two men were alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM + + +Herr Freudenberg shrugged his shoulders and glanced at the +softly-closed door. + +"Mademoiselle is a paragon," he declared. "Always she understands. Sir +Julien, will you not sit down for a moment? Let me confess that this +little supper-party is a pretense. For five minutes I wish to talk to +you." + +Julien seated himself without hesitation. + +"My dear host," he said, "I left Berlin a year ago with only one +hope--or rather two. The first was that I might never have to visit +Berlin again! The second was that I might have the pleasure of meeting +you as speedily and as often as possible." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled--a quiet, reminiscent smile. + +"Even now," he remarked, "when I would speak to you for a moment on +more serious subjects, the strange humor of that round-table conference +comes home to me. There were you and I and our big friend from Austria, +and that awful dull man from here, and the Russian. Shall you ever +forget that speechless Russian, who never opened his lips except to +disagree? Sometimes I caught your eye across the table. And, Sir +Julien, you know, I presume, whose was the triumph of those days?" + +Julien smiled doubtfully. + +"Yours, of course," Herr Freudenberg continued. "The Press even +ventured to find fault with me. England, as usual, they declared, had +gained all she desired and had given the very minimum. However, we will +not waste time in reminiscences. To-day the only pleasure I have in +thinking of that conference is the fact that you and I came together. +When you left Berlin--I saw you off, you remember--I told those who +stood around that there went the future Prime Minister of England. I +believed it, and I am seldom mistaken. Tell me, what piece of +transcendental ill-fortune is this which brings you here an exile?" + +"I committed an act of transcendental folly," Julien replied. "I have +no one to blame but myself. I not only wrote an indiscreet letter, but +I put my name to it. I was deceived, too, in the character of the woman +to whom it was sent." + +"It is so trifling an error," Herr Freudenberg said thoughtfully, "made +by many a man without evil results. One learns experience as one passes +on in life. It is a hard price that you are paying for yours. Come, +that is finished. Now answer me. What are you going to do?" + +Julien laughed, a little bitterly. + +"My friend," he answered, stretching out his hand and taking a +cigarette from the open box upon the table, "you ask rather a hard +question. My resignation was accepted, was even required of me. +Politics and diplomacy are alike barred to me. There is no return. What +is there left? I may write a book. So far as my means permit, I may +travel. I may play games, take a walk in the morning, play bridge in +the afternoon, eat heavily and sleep early. What is there left, Herr +Freudenberg--tell me of your wisdom--for a man about whose ears has +come crashing the scaffolding of his life?" + +Herr Freudenberg looked across at his companion, and in that dimly-lit +room his eyes were bright and his lips firm. + +"To rebuild, my friend," he declared. "Choose another foundation and +rebuild." + +"You recognize, I presume," Julien said, "that I require a few more +details if your advice is to be of value?" + +"The details are here in this room," Herr Freudenberg replied firmly. +"Be my man. I cannot offer you fame, because fame comes only, nowadays, +to the man who serves his own country. You see, I make no pretense at +deceiving you, but I offer you a life of action, I offer you such +wealth as your imagination can have conceived, and I offer you +revenge." + +"Revenge," Julien repeated, a little vaguely. + +"Upon the political party by whose scheming that letter was first of +all elicited from you and then made public," Herr Freudenberg said +slowly. "Do you imagine that it was a thoughtless act of that woman's? +Do you know that her reward is to be a peerage for her husband?" + +"You, too, believe that it was a trap, then?" Julien remarked. + +"Of course. Don't you know yourself that you were a thorn in the flesh +to your own party? They hated you because you were not afraid to preach +war when war might have saved your country from what is to come. They +hated you because you were a strong man in a strong place, and because +the people believed in you. They hated you because the policy which +would have been yours in the four or five years to come, would have +been the policy which would have brought the country around you, which +alone would have kept your party in power. You were the only figure in +politics which the imperialist party in England had to fear. Mrs. +Carraby--I believe that was the lady's name--is ill-paid enough with +that peerage. Leave out the personal element--or leave it in, if you +will, for when I speak of my country I know no friendships--but, my +dear friend, let me tell you that I myself would have given more than a +peerage--I would have given a principality--to the person who threw you +out of English politics." + +Julien's eyes were bright. Somehow or other, his old dreams, his old +faith in himself had returned for a moment. And then the bitterness all +swept in upon him. + +"I think, Herr Freudenberg," he said, "that you are talking a little in +the skies. At any rate, it makes no difference. Those things have +passed." + +"Those things have passed," Herr Freudenberg assented. "There is no +future for you in England. That is why I wish to rescue you from the +ignominy of which you yourself have spoken. I repeat my offer. Be my +man. You shall taste life and taste it in such gulps as you wish." + +Julien shook his head slowly. + +"My friend," he said, "it is the cruel part of our profession that one +man's life can be given to one country alone." + +"Wrong!" Herr Freudenberg declared briskly. "I am not going to decry +patriotism. The welfare of my country is the religion which guides my +life. But you--you have no country. There is no England left for you. +She has thrown you out. You are a wanderer, a man without ties or home. +That is why I claim you as my man. I want to show you the way to +revenge." + +"You puzzle me," Julien admitted. "You talk about revenge. I know you +far too well to believe that you would propose to me any scheme which +would involve the raising even of my little finger against the country +which has turned me out." + +"Naturally," Herr Freudenberg agreed. "You do me no less than justice, +my dear Sir Julien. What I do hope that you have firmly fixed in your +mind is that I, despite your halfpenny papers, your novelists seeking +for a new sensation, and your weird middle class, I, Carl Freudenberg, +maker of toys, am the honest and sincere friend of England. The work +which I ask you to do for me would be as much in the interests of your +country as of my own, only when I say your country, I mean your country +governed by the political party in which I have faith and confidence. I +tell you frankly that an England governed as she is at present is a +country I loathe. If I raise my hand against her--not in war, mind, but +in diplomacy--if I strive to humble her to-day, it is because I would +cover if I could the political party who are in power at this moment +with disrepute and discredit. Why should you yourself shrink from +aiding me in this task? They are the party in whose ranks--high in +whose ranks, I might say--are those who stooped with baseness, with +deceit unmentionable, to rid themselves of you. Therefore, I say +strike. Come with me and you shall help. And when the time comes, I +think I can promise you that I can show you a way back, a way which you +have never guessed." + +Julien looked across the table long and earnestly. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he said, "if I answer you in the negative, it is +because of your own words. The love of your country, you told me not +long ago, is your religion. For her good you would make use even of +those you call your friends. Now I am sincere with you. I do not know +whether to trust you or not. For that reason I cannot attempt to +discuss this matter with you. I do not ask even that you explain +yourself." + +"You mean that at any rate you cannot trust me entirely?" Herr +Freudenberg replied. "Well, if you had, I should have been disappointed +in you. Still, I have said things that were in my heart to say to you. +We send now for Mademoiselle Ixe. Before very long we talk together +again." + +Herr Freudenberg touched the bell. A waiter appeared almost +immediately. + +"Find mademoiselle," he ordered. "Tell her that we wait impatiently." + +Mademoiselle was not far away. Herr Freudenberg passed his arm through +hers. + +"We return, I think," he said. "This little room has served its +purpose." + +Julien on the landing tried to make his adieux, but his host only +laughed at him. Mademoiselle Ixe held out her hand and led him into the +room by her side. + +"He wishes it," she murmured softly. "He has so few nights here, one +must do as he desires." + +The little party returned to their table in the corner. Somehow or +other, their coming seemed to enliven the room. There was more spirit +in the music, more animation in the conversation. Albert walked with a +sprightlier step. Then Julien, in his passage down the room, received a +distinct shock. He stopped short. + +"Kendricks, by Jove!" he exclaimed. + +Kendricks, sitting alone at a small table, with a bottle of champagne +in front of him and a huge cigar in his mouth, waved his hand joyfully. +Then he glanced at his friend's companions, frowned for a moment, and +gazed fixedly at Herr Freudenberg. + +"Julien, by all that's lucky!" he called out. "And I haven't been in +Paris four hours! I called at your hotel and they told me you were out. +Sit down." + +"I am not alone," Julien began to explain,-- + +Herr Freudenberg turned round. + +"You must present your friend," he declared. "He must join us." + +Julien hesitated for a moment. + +"Kendricks," he said, "this is my friend, Herr Freudenberg." + +The two men shook hands. Kendricks as yet had scarcely taken his eyes +off Herr Freudenberg's face. + +"I am glad to meet you, sir," he remarked. "It is odd, but your face +seems familiar to me." + +Herr Freudenberg leaned over the table. + +"My friend, Mr. Kendricks," he said, "you are, I believe, a newspaper +man, and you should know the world. When you see a face that is +familiar to you in Paris, and in this Paris, it goes well that you +forget that familiarity, eh?" + +Kendricks nodded. + +"It is sound," he agreed. "I will join you, with pleasure." + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg continued, "permit me to introduce my +new friend, Mr. Kendricks. Mr. Kendricks--Mademoiselle Ixe. We will now +begin, if it is your pleasure, to spend the evening. There is room in +our corner, Mr. Kendricks. Come there, and presently Mademoiselle Ixe +will sing to us, mademoiselle with the yellow hair there will dance, +the orchestra shall play their maddest music. This is Paris and we are +young. Ah, my friends, it comes to us but seldom to live like this!" + +They all sat down together. Herr Freudenberg gave reckless orders for +more wine. The _chef d'orchestre_ was at his elbow, Albert hovered +in the background. Kendricks leaned over and whispered in his friend's +ear. + +"Julien, who is our friend?" + +"A manufacturer of toys from Leipzig," Julien answered grimly. + +"The toys that giants play with!" Kendricks muttered. "I have never +forgotten a face in my life." + +"Then forget this one for a moment," Julien advised him quickly. "This +is not a night for memories. I have lived with the ghosts of them long +enough." + +Their party became larger. The little dancing girl came to drink wine +with them and remained to listen to Herr Freudenberg. A friend of +Mademoiselle Ixe--a tall, fair girl in a blue satin gown--detached +herself from her friends and joined them. Herr Freudenberg, with his +arm resting lightly around Mademoiselle Ixe's waist, talked joyously +and incessantly. It was not until some one lifted the blind and +discovered that the sun was shining that they spoke of a move. Then, as +the _vestiaire_ came hurrying up with their coats and wraps, Herr +Freudenberg lifted his glass. + +"One last toast!" he cried. "Dear Marguerite, my friends, all of +you--to the sun which calls us to work, to the moon which calls us to +pleasure, to the love that crowds our hearts!" + +He raised his companion's hand to his lips and drew her arm through +his. + +"Come," he cried, "to the streets! We will take our coffee from the +stall of Madame Huber." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +THE MORNING AFTER + + +Kendricks and Julien drove down from the hill in a small open +victoria. The sun had risen, but here and there were traces of a fading +twilight. A faint mauve glow hung over the sleeping streets. The +sunlight as yet was faint and the morning breeze chilly. As they passed +down the long hill, tired-looking waiters were closing up the night +cafés. Bedraggled revelers crept along the pavements with weary +footsteps. + +With every yard of their progression, the meeting between the two +extremes of life seemed to become more apparent. The children of the +night--the weary, unwholesome products of dissipation, rubbed shoulders +with the children of the morning--girls, hatless, in simple clothes, +walking with brisk footsteps to their work; market women, brown-cheeked +and hearty, setting out their wares upon the stalls; the youth of +Paris, blithe and strenuous, walking light-footed to the region of +warehouses and factories. Julien and Kendricks looked out upon the +little scene with interest. Both had been sleepy when they had left the +café, but there was something stimulating in the sight of this thin but +constant stream of people. Kendricks sat up and began to talk. + +"Julien," he declared, "this Paris never alters. It's a queer little +world and a rotten one. We are here just at the ebbing of the tide. +Don't you feel the hatefulness of it--the thin-blooded scream for +pleasure which needs the lash of these painted women, these gaudy +cafés, this yellow wine all the time? My God! and they call it +pleasure! Look at these people going to their work, Julien. There's +where the red blood flows. They're the people with the taste of life +between their teeth. Can't you see them at their pleasures--see them +sitting in a beer-garden with a girl and a band, their week's money in +their pocket, and the knowledge that they've earned it? Perhaps +sometimes they look up the hill and wonder at the craze for it all. Did +you see the stream coming up to-night--automobiles, victorias, +carriages of every sort; pale-faced men who had lunched too well, dined +too well, flogging their tired systems in the craze for more +excitement, more pleasure; eating at an unwholesome hour, smoking +sickly cigarettes, kissing rouged lips, listening to the false music of +that hard laughter? Look at those girls arm in arm, off to their little +milliner's shop. Hear them laugh! You don't hear anything like that, +Julien, on the top of the hill." + +"Of course," Julien remarked, stifling a yawn, "if you've come to Paris +to be moral--" + +"Not I!" Kendricks broke in roughly. "Bless you, I'm one of the worst. +A wild night in Paris calls me even now from any part of the world. But +Lord, what fools we are! And, Julien, we get worse. It's the old people +who keep these places going." + +"The older we get," Julien replied, "the harder we have to struggle for +our joys." + +Kendricks wheeled suddenly in his place. + +"Tell me how long you have known Herr Freudenberg?" he insisted. "How +many times have you been seen with him? Is it the truth that you met +him to-night for the first time?" + +Julien laughed. + +"My dear David!" he protested,-- + +"To tell you the truth, Julien," Kendricks interrupted, "there's some +hidden trouble, some mysterious influence at work which seems to be +upsetting the relations just now between France and England. To be +frank with you, I know that Carraby, at a Cabinet meeting yesterday, +suggested that you were at the bottom of it." + +Julien's eyes suddenly flashed fire. + +"D--n that fellow!" he muttered. "Does anybody believe it?" + +Kendricks shrugged his shoulders. + +"Scarcely. And yet, Julien, it pays to be careful. You can't afford to +be seen in public places with the enemies of your country." + +"Is Carl Freudenberg an enemy of my country?" + +Kendricks leaned back in his seat and laughed scornfully. + +"Julien," he exclaimed, "there are times when you are very simple! Do +you indeed mean that you would try to deceive even me? You would +pretend that I, David Kendricks, of the _Post_, don't know that +Herr Freudenberg and the Prince von Falkenberg, ruler of Germany, are +one and the same person? Maker of toys, he calls himself! Maker of +fools' palaces, if you like, builder of prison houses, if you will. No +man was ever born with less of a conscience, more solely and wholly +ambitious both for his country and for himself, than the man with whom +you talked to-night. You knew him?" + +"Naturally," Julien answered. "We met at Berlin." + +"The man is a great genius," Kendricks continued. "No one will deny him +that. They speak of his weaknesses. They talk of his drinking bouts, of +his plunges into French dissipation. The man hasn't a single dissipated +thought in his mind. He moves through this world--this little Paris +world--with one idea only. He gets behind the scenes. He comes here +secretly, drops hints here and there as a private person, lets himself +be considered a Parisian of Parisians. All the time he listens and he +drops his cunning words of poison and he works. What are his ambitions? +Do you know, Julien?" + +"Do you?" Julien asked. + +"It seems to me that I have some idea," Kendricks answered. "This is +your hotel, isn't it?" + +Julien nodded. + +"Are you going to stay here?" + +Kendricks shook his head. + +"I stay at a little hotel in the Rue Taitbout. I stay there because it +is full of the weirdest set of foreigners you ever knew. This morning +we breakfast together?" + +"Come and see me when you will," Julien invited, "or I will come to +you; not to breakfast, though--I am engaged." + +"To Herr Freudenberg?" Kendricks asked quickly. + +"To the lady whom your little friend, the manicurist, sent me to +visit," Julien replied. "Perhaps now you will tell me that she is an +ambassadress in disguise?" + +"I'll tell you nothing about her this morning," Kendricks said. "I'll +tell you nothing which you ought not to find out for yourself." + +"Do you think I may breakfast with her safely?" Julien inquired. + +"Heaven knows--I don't!" Kendricks replied. "No man is safe with such a +woman as Madame Christophor. But let it go. We dine together to-night. +I'll tell you some news then. I'm going to unroll a plan of campaign. +There's work for you, if you like it;--nothing formulated as yet, but +it's coming--perhaps hope--who knows?" + +The sun rose higher in the heavens, the mauve light faded from the sky. +Morning had arrived in earnest and Paris settled herself down to the +commencement of another day. Julien, for the first time since he had +left England, was asleep five minutes after his head had touched the +pillow. Herr Freudenberg, on the contrary, made no attempt at all to +retire. In the sitting-room of his apartments in the Boulevard +Maupassant he sat in his dressing-gown, carefully studying some letters +which had arrived by the night mail. Opposite to him was a secretary; +by his side Estermen, who appeared to be there for the purpose of +making a report. + +"Not a document," Estermen was saying, "not a line of writing of any +sort in his trunk, his bureau, or anywhere about his room." + +Herr Freudenberg nodded thoughtfully. + +"But these Englishmen are the devil to deal with!" he said. "The +luncheon is ordered to-day in the private room at the Armenonville?" + +"Everything has been attended to," Estermen replied. + +Herr Freudenberg was thoughtful for several moments. Then with a wave +of his hand he dismissed Estermen. + +"You, too, can go, Fritz," he said to his secretary. "You have had a +long night's work." + +"You yourself, Excellency, should sleep for a while," his secretary +advised. + +Herr Freudenberg shook his head. + +"Sleep," he declared, "is a waste of time. I need no sleep. As you go, +you can tell my servant to prepare a warm bath. I will rest then for an +hour and walk in the Champs Elysées." + +The secretary withdrew and Herr Freudenberg was alone. He picked up a +crumpled rose that lay upon the table and twirled it for a moment or +two in his fingers. The action seemed to be wholly unconscious. His +eyes were set in a fixed stare, his thoughts were busy weaving out his +plans for the day. It was not until he was summoned to his bath that he +rose and glanced at the withered flower. Then he smiled. + +"Poor little Marguerite!" he murmured. "What a pity!" + +He touched the rose with his lips, abandoned his first intention, which +seemed to have been to throw it into the fireplace, and put it back +carefully upon the table, side by side with an odd white glove. + +"Queer little record of the froth of life," he said softly to himself. +"One soiled evening glove, a faded rose, a woman's tears,--they pass. +What can one do--we poor others who have to drive the wheels of life?" + +He sighed, shrugged his high shoulders, and passed out. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +BEHIND CLOSED DOORS + + +Very soon after mid-day on the same morning, Herr Carl Freudenberg was +the host at a small luncheon party given in a private room of the most +famous restaurant in the Bois. His morning attire was a model of +correctness, his eyes were clear, his manner blithe, almost joyous. +There was no possible indication in his appearance of his misspent +hours. He was at once a genial and courteous host. Monsieur Décheles +sat at his right hand; Monsieur Felix Brant on his left; Monsieur +Pelleman opposite to him. The three men had arrived in an automobile +together and had entered the restaurant by the private way, but that +they were guests of some distinction was obvious from their reception +by the manager himself. + +The luncheon was worthy of the great reputation of the place. It was +swiftly and well served. With the coffee and liqueurs the waiters +withdrew. Herr Freudenberg, with a smile, rose up and tried the door. +Then he returned to his place, lit a cigarette, and leaned back in his +chair. + +"My dear friends," he announced, "now we can talk." + +Monsieur Pelleman smiled. + +"Yes," he admitted, "we can talk. In this excellent brandy, Monsieur +Carl Freudenberg, I drink your very good health. Long may these little +visits of yours continue." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled his thanks. + +"Monsieur Pelleman," he said, "and you, too, my dear friends, let me +assure you that there is nothing in the world which I enjoy so much as +these brief visits of mine to your delightful capital. No more I think +of the pressures and cares of office. I let myself go, and on these +occasions, as you know, I speak to you not in the language of +diplomacy, but as good friends who meet together to enjoy an hour or +two of one another's company, and who, because there is no harm to be +done by it, but much good, open their hearts and speak true words with +one another." + +Monsieur Décheles smiled. + +"It is a pleasure which we all share," he declared. "It is more +agreeable, without a doubt, to take lunch with Monsieur Carl +Freudenberg, and to speak openly, than to exchange long-winded +interviews, the true meaning of which is too much concealed by +diplomatic verbiage, with the excellent gentleman to whose good offices +are intrusted the destinies of Herr Freudenberg's great nation." + +"Monsieur," Herr Freudenberg said, "to-day shall be no exception. +To-day I speak to you, perhaps, more openly than ever before. To-day I +perhaps risk much--yet why not speak the things which are in my heart?" + +Monsieur Felix Brant took a cigarette from the box by his elbow, but he +felt for it only. His eyes never left the face of his host. Of the +three men, he seemed the one least in sympathy with the state of +affairs to which Herr Freudenberg had alluded so cheerfully. He watched +the man at the head of the table all the time as though every energy of +which he was possessed was devoted to the task of reading underneath +that suave but impenetrable face. + +"Gentlemen," Herr Freudenberg continued, "there have been many +misapprehensions between your country and mine. Ten years ago we seemed +indeed on the highroad to friendship. It was then--I speak frankly, +mind--that your country made the one fatal mistake of recent years. +Great Britain, isolated, left behind in the race for power, a weakened +and decaying nation, having searched the world over for allies, held +out the timorous hand of friendship to you. What evil genius was with +your statesmen that day! When the history of these times comes to be +written, it is my firm belief that it will be then acknowledged that +the genius of the man who reigned over Great Britain at that time was +alone responsible for the commencement of what has become a veritable +alliance." + +Herr Freudenberg paused. + +"There is no doubt," Monsieur Décheles asserted calmly, "that the +influence of the late king was immense among the people of France. He +appealed somehow to their imaginations, a great monarch who was also a +_bon viveur_, who had lived his days in Paris as the others." + +Herr Freudenberg nodded thoughtfully. + +"He is dead," he said, "and history will write him down as a great +king. Do you know that it is one of my theories that morals have +nothing to do with government? I doubt whether a more sagacious monarch +has ever reigned over that unfortunate country than the one we speak +of. So sagacious was he that he even saw the beginning of the end, he +saw the things that must come when he looked across the North Sea; and +notwithstanding his descent, notwithstanding all the ties which should +have allied him with Germany, he hated our people and he hated our +country with a prophetic hatred. But we gossip a little, gentlemen. Let +me proceed. I want you to realize that the policy of Germany for the +last five years has been wholly directed towards securing the +friendship of your country. I want you to realize that but for the +continual interference of Great Britain you would even now be in a far +more favorable position with us than you are to-day. Germany wants +nothing in Morocco. Germany's first and greatest wish is for a rich and +prosperous France. On the other hand, Germany is loyal to her +friendships, and fervent in her hatreds. The country whose humiliation +is a solemn charge upon my people is Great Britain and not France." + +Monsieur Décheles leaned back in his chair. Monsieur Felix Brant never +moved. + +"I want," Herr Freudenberg continued, "to have you think and consider +and weigh this matter. Why do you, a great and prosperous country, link +yourselves with a decaying power, against whom, before very long, +Germany is pledged to strike? These are the plainest words that have +ever been spoken by a citizen of one country to three citizens of +another. Herr Freudenberg, the maker of toys, speaks to his three +French friends as a thoughtful merchant of his country who has had +unusual facilities for imbibing the spirit of her politicians. +Gentlemen, you do not misunderstand me?" + +"It is impossible, Herr Freudenberg," Monsieur Décheles said, "to +misunderstand you for a single moment. Your hand is too clear and your +methods too sagacious." + +"Then let me repeat," Herr Freudenberg declared, "that before many +years are passed--perhaps, indeed, before many months--it is the +intention of my country either to inflict a scathing diplomatic +humiliation upon Great Britain, or to engage in this war the fear of +which has kept her in a state of panic for the last ten years. Keep +that in your minds, my friends. Friendship is a great thing, honor is a +great thing, generosity is a great thing, but I would speak to you +three citizens of France to-day as I would speak to her rulers had I +access to them, and I would say, 'Do you dare, for the sake of an +alliance out of which you have procured no single benefit, do you dare +to drag your country into unnecessary, fruitless and bloody war?' You +have nothing to gain by it, you have everything to lose. Let Germany +deal with her traditional enemy in her own way. And as for France, let +France believe what is, without doubt, the truth--that she has nothing +whatever to fear from Germany. I will not speak of the past, but the +greatest thinkers in Germany to-day regret nothing so much in the +history of her splendid rise as that unfortunate campaign of +Bismarck's. It is the one blot upon her magnificent history. Let that +go--let that go and be buried. I bring you timely warning. I come to +the city I love, for her own sake, for the sake of her people whom I +also love. I beg you to listen to these words of mine, to adjust your +policy so that little by little you weaken the joints which bind you to +England, so that when the time comes you yourself may not be dragged +into a hopeless and pitiless struggle." + +There was a moment's silence. Then Monsieur Décheles spoke. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he began, "what you have said we have been in some +measure prepared for. The more amicable tone of all the correspondence +between our two countries has been marked of late. Yet there have been +times, and not long ago, when your country has shown wonderful +readiness to treat with a rough hand the claims of France in many +quarters of the world. The more powerful your country, the greater she +is to be feared. Supposing France stood on one side while Great Britain +fell before your arms, what then would be the relations between France +and Germany?" + +Monsieur Brant spoke for the first time. + +"Herr Freudenberg, you remind me of the fable of the Persian who had +two men to fight, both as strong as himself. To the one he sent +ambassadors, with the key of his favorite gardens; the other he fought. +It is a great policy to deal with your enemies one at a time." + +Herr Freudenberg stretched out his arms across the table. + +"My friend," he pronounced, "without faith there is no genius. Without +genius there is no government. I only ask you to believe this one +thing. Germany is not and never has been the traditional enemy of +France. I ask you to study the whole question for but one single +half-hour, I ask you to read the commercial records of these days. Help +yourself to all the statistics that throw light upon this question, and +I swear that you will find that whereas Great Britain and Germany stand +opposed to one another under every condition and in every quarter of +the world, there is no single bone of contention anywhere between +France and Germany. Their aims are different, their destinies are +written. I ask you to apply only a reasonable measure of philosophy and +common sense, a reasonable measure of faith, to the things I say." + +There was a cautious tap at the door, a whispered message. Monsieur +Pelleman rose. + +"It is my secretary," he announced. "I fear, gentlemen, that we are due +elsewhere." + +"Herr Freudenberg, your luncheon has been delightful," Monsieur +Décheles declared, holding out his hand. "You have given us, as usual, +something to think of. These informal meetings between citizens of two +great countries will do, I am sure, more than anything else in the +world, to ripen our budding friendship." + +"Your words," Herr Freudenberg replied, grasping the hand which had +been offered to him, "are a happy augury. When we meet again, I shall +be able to prove the coming of the things of which I have spoken." + +They left him on the threshold of the room. The giver of the feast was +alone. Very slowly he retraced his steps and stood for a moment with +folded arms, looking down on the table at which they had lunched. His +natural urbanity, the smile half persuasive, half humorous, which had +parted his lips, had gone. His face seemed to have resolved itself into +lines of iron. As he stood there, one seemed suddenly to realize the +presence of a great man--a greater, even, than Carl Freudenberg, maker +of toys! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +"HAVE YOU EVER LOVED?" + + +Nothing which he had heard or imagined of Madame Christophor had +prepared Julien for the subdued yet manifest magnificence of her +dwelling. He passed through that small postern gate beneath the watch +of a butler who relieved him of his stick and gloves and handed him +over to a sort of major-domo. Afterwards he was conducted across a +beautiful round hall, lit with quaint fragments of stained-glass +window, through a picture gallery which almost took Julien's breath +away, and into a small room, very daintily furnished, entirely and +characteristically French of the Louis Seize period. A round table was +laid for two in front of an open window, which looked out upon a lawn +smooth and velvety, with here and there little flower-beds, and in the +middle a gray stone fountain. Madame Christophor came in almost at the +same moment from the garden. She was wearing a long lace coat over the +thinnest of muslin skirts, and a hat with some violets in it which +seemed to match exactly the color of her eyes. + +"So you have come, my friend of a few hours," she said, smiling at him. +"The fear has not seized you yet? You are not afraid that over my +simple luncheon table I shall ask you compromising questions?" + +"I am neither afraid of your asking questions, madame," he assured her, +"nor of my being tempted to reply to them." + +"That," she murmured, "is ungallant. Meanwhile, we lunch." + +Such a meal as he might have expected from such surroundings was +swiftly and daintily served. There was cantaloup, cut in halves, with +the faintest suspicion of liqueur, and a great globule of ice; an +omelette, even for Paris a wonderful omelette,--a _mousse_ of +chicken, some asparagus, a bowl of peaches, and coffee. After the +latter had been served, madame, with a little wave of her hand, +dismissed the servants from the room. + +"Sir Julien," she said, "I am not pleased with you." + +He sighed. + +"I regret your displeasure the more," he declared, "because I find +myself indebted to you for a new gastronomic ideal." + +"You are really beginning to wake up," she laughed. "When you first +arrived here, less than twenty-four hours ago, you thought yourself a +broken-spirited and broken-hearted man. You were very dull. Soon you +will begin to realize that life is a matter of epochs, that no blow is +severe enough to kill life itself. It is only the end of an epoch. But +I am displeased with you, as I said, because you have told me nothing. +This morning I have letters from London. I learn that through a single +indiscretion not only were you forced to relinquish a great political +career, but that you were forced also to give up the lady for whom you +cared." + +"You have ingenious correspondents," he remarked. + +"Truthful ones, are they not?" + +"I was engaged to marry Lady Anne Clonarty," he admitted. "It was, if I +may venture to say so, an alliance." + +Madame Christophor's eyes twinkled. + +"Once," she declared, "I met the Duke of Clonarty. I also met the +Duchess, I also saw Lady Anne. They were traveling in great state +through Italy. It was in Rome that I came across them. The Duchess was +very affable to me. I think you have rightly expressed your affair of +the heart, my friend. It was to have been an alliance!" + +Julien was thoughtful. Madame Christophor in a moment continued. + +"You know, my friend," she said, tapping the ash from her cigarette +into her saucer, "your misfortune came just in time to save you from +becoming what in English you call a great, a colossal prig." + +His eyebrows went up. Suddenly he smiled. + +"Perhaps," he admitted. "To be a successful politician one must of +necessity be a prig." + +"Not in the least," she reminded him swiftly. "There is the Prince von +Falkenberg." + +"The maker of toys," he murmured. + +"The maker, alas! of toys which the world were better without," she +replied. "But never mind that. For the sake of your ambitions you were +content, were you not, to marry a young woman with whom you had not the +slightest sympathy, in order that she might receive your guests, might +add the lustre of her name to the expansion of her husband's genius?" + +"Madame," he said, "we live a very short time. We live only one life. +Only certain things are possible to us. The man who tries to crowd +everything into that life fails. He is a dilettante. He may find +pleasure but he reaches no end. He strikes no long sustained note. In +the eyes of those who come after him, he is a failure." + +"This," she murmured, "is interesting. Please go on." + +"The man who means to succeed," he continued, "to succeed in any one +position, must sacrifice everything else--temperament, if necessary +character--for that one thing. When I left college, the study of +politics was almost chosen for me. It became a part of my life. As my +interest developed, it is true that my outlook upon life was narrowed. +I was content to forget, perhaps, that I was a man, I strove fervently +and desperately to develop into the perfect political machine. From +that point of view, nobody in England would have made me a better wife +than Lady Anne Clonarty." + +She nodded. + +"What a blessing that you wrote that letter!" + +"I don't know," he replied. "I still think it was a great misfortune. +Frankly, I have no idea what to make of my life. I don't know how to +start again, to deal with the pieces in any intelligent fashion. Now +that I am outside the thing, I see the narrowness of it all, I see that +I was giving up many things which are interesting and beautiful, many +friendships that might have been delightful, but on the other hand +there was always the pressing on, the big, vital side, the great throb +of life. I miss it. I feel to myself as a great factory sounds on +Sundays and holidays, when the engine that drives all the machinery of +the place is silent. I wander among the empty, quiet places, and I am +lonely." + +"Have you ever loved a woman?" she asked. + +Her voice had suddenly dropped. He looked across the table. Her lips +were slightly parted, her eyes fixed upon his. There was something +shining out of them which he did not wholly understand. He only knew +that the question seemed to have stirred him in some new way. An +intense sense of pleasurable content, a feeling as though he were +listening to music, stole through his senses. This was a new thing. He +was bewildered. He leaned a little further across the table. He found +himself watching the faint blue veins of her delicate fingers, noticing +the curious perfume of roses that seemed to come to him from the +flutter of the lace around her neck. + +"You are a man, Sir Julien. You must be thirty-five--perhaps older. Yet +somehow you have the look to me of one who has never cared at all." + +"It is true," he admitted. + +"Life," she declared, "is a strange place. A few months ago your whole +career was one of ambition. Misfortune came, or what you counted a +misfortune. You reckoned yourself ruined. It is simply a change of +poise. You turn now naturally to the other things in life. Do you know +that you will find them greater?" + +He shook his head. + +"It is too early for me to believe that," he said. "I will admit that +now and then in my forced solitude I have sometimes realized that one +may become too engrossed in a career of ambition. One may shut out many +things in life that are sweet and wholesome. But it is too early yet +for me to look back upon what has happened with equanimity and say that +I am glad to be a wanderer on the face of the earth, a homeless man, a +waif." + + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"You know that people are talking about you in London?" she asked +abruptly. + +He looked a little startled. + +"I know nothing of the sort," he replied. "I have scarcely looked at a +newspaper for weeks. Kendricks is over here with some story--" + +"Who is Kendricks?" she interrupted. + +"A journalist, an old friend of mine. What he told me, though, I looked +upon as simply a little more malice from my friend Carraby." + +"Tell me exactly his news?" + +"He told me," Julien continued, "that there is a good deal of unrest +over in London concerning our relations with France. The absolute +candor and completely good understanding which existed a short time ago +seems to have become clouded. Carraby is trying to suggest in English +circles that I have been using my influence over here against the +present government. The absurd part of it is that although I have been +in France for a month, I arrived in Paris only yesterday." + +"I was not alluding to that at all," she said. "It is in the country +places, at the by-elections, and twice in the House itself lately, that +things have been said which point to a certain impatience at your +having been dropped so completely. You know Brentwood?" + +"A strong, firm man," Julien replied, "but scarcely a friend of mine." + +"Well, in your House of Parliament, the night before last," she +continued, "he said that your country needed men at the Foreign Office +who, however great might be their love of peace, still were not afraid +of war, and your name was mentioned." + +Julien smiled. + +"They used to call me the fire-brand. I suppose I am in a great +minority. I have never been able to see that a wholesome war, in +defense of one's territory and one's honor, is an unmixed curse. It is +the natural blood-letting of a strong country." + +"No wonder you are unpopular in radical circles," she remarked, raising +her eyebrows; "but anyhow, what I really want to say to you is this. +Don't do anything rash. You have made the acquaintance of the most +dangerous man in Europe. Don't let him control your actions, don't let +him influence you. I want you always, whatever you do, to leave the way +open for your return." + +He shook his head. + +"I do not think that my return is ever possible." + +"Have you talked with your friend Kendricks?" she asked. + +"Not yet," he replied. + +"Hear what he has to say," she continued. "Bring him to see me if you +will." + +"I will try," he promised. + +They were silent for a moment, listening to the splashing of the +fountain outside and the distant hum of the city. + +"Do you know that you are very kind to me?" he said. + +"You were very much afraid of me yesterday," she reminded him. + +"Had I any cause?" + +She smiled. + +"I shall not tell you my secrets. You must find them out. I have +dabbled in politics, I have dabbled in diplomacy. I have not as a rule +very much sympathy with your sex, as I think you know. It has never +interested me before even to give good advice to a man. If I were you, +Sir Julien, beyond a certain point I would not trust Madame +Christophor, for when the time comes I have always the feeling that if +a man's career lay within my power, I would sooner wreck it than help +him." + +"Of course you are talking nonsense," he declared. + +"Am I?" she replied. "Well, I don't know. I can look back now to a +half-hour of my life when I loathed every creature that could call +itself a man." + +"But it was a single person," he reminded her, "who sinned." + +"His crime was too great to be the crime of a single man," she +asserted, with a quiver of passion in her tone. "It was the culmination +of the whole abominable selfishness of his sex. One man's life is too +light a price to pay for the tragedy of that half-hour. I have never +spared one of your sex since. I never shall." + +"So far you have been kind to me," he persisted. + +"Up to a certain point. Beyond that, I warn you, I should have no pity. +If you were a wise man, I think even now that you would thank me for my +luncheon and take my hand and bid me farewell." + +"Instead of which," he answered, smiling, "I am waiting only to know +when you will do me the honor to come and dine with me?" + +She shook her head. + +"I will make no appointment," she said. "Send me your telephone number +directly you move into your rooms. If I am weary of myself I may call +for you, but I tell you frankly that you must not expect it. If I see a +way of making use of you, that will be different." + +"May I come and see you again?" he begged. "You are dismissing me +rather abruptly." + +She shrugged her shoulders. She was looking weary, as though the heat +of the day had tried her. + +"I care very little, after all," she answered, "whether I ever see you +again. I wish I could care, although if I did the result would be the +same." + +"You asked me a question a short time ago," he remarked. "Let me ask +you the same. Have you never cared for any one?" + +"I cared once for my husband." + +"You have been married?" + +"Most certainly. I lived with my husband for two years." + +"And now?" he persisted. + +"We are separated. You really do not know my other name?" + +"I have never heard you called anything but Madame Christophor." + +"Well, you will hear it in time," she assured him. "You will probably +think you have made a great discovery. In the meantime, farewell." + +She gave him her hands. He held them in his perhaps a little longer +than was necessary. She raised her eyes questioningly. He drew them a +little closer. Very quietly she removed the right one and touched a +bell by her side. + +"If my automobile is of any service to you, Sir Julien," she said, +"pray use it. It waits outside and I shall not be ready to go out for +an hour at least." + +"Thank you," he replied. "Your automobile, empty, has no attractions." + +The butler was already in the room. + +"See that Sir Julien makes use of my automobile if he cares to," she +ordered. "This has been a very pleasant visit. I hope we may soon meet +again." + +She avoided his eyes. He had an instinctive feeling that she was either +displeased or disappointed with him. He followed the butler out into +the hall filled with a vague sense of self-dissatisfaction. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +KENDRICKS IS HOST + + +"You are going to spend," Kendricks declared, "a democratic evening. +You are going to mix with common folk. To-night we shall drink no +champagne at forty francs the bottle. On the other hand, we shall +probably drink a great deal more beer than is good for us. How do you +find the atmosphere here?" + +"Filthy!" + +"I was afraid you might notice it," Kendricks remarked. "Never mind, +presently you will forget it. You have never been here before, I +presume?" + +"I have not," Julien agreed. "I daresay I shall find it interesting. +You wouldn't describe it as quiet, would you?" + +"One does not eat quietly here," Kendricks replied. "Four hundred +people, mostly Germans, when they eat are never silent. The service of +four hundred dinners continues at the same time. Listen to them. Close +your eyes and you will appreciate the true music of crockery." + +"If that infernal little band would keep quiet," Julien grumbled, "one +might hear oneself talk!" + +"Let us have no more criticisms," Kendricks begged. "To-night you are +of the working class. You may perhaps be a small manufacturer, the +agent of a manufacturing firm in the country, a clerk with a moderate +salary, or a mechanic in his best clothes. Remember that and do not +complain of the music. You do not hear it every day. Let us hear no +more blasé speeches, if you please.... Good! The dinner arrives. We +dine here, my friend, for two francs. You will probably require another +meal before the evening is concluded. On the other hand, you may feel +that you never require another meal as long as you live. That is a +matter of luck. In any case, you had better squeeze a little further +up. Madame and her two daughters are going to sit next to you, and +opposite there will be monsieur, and I judge the fiancé of one of the +young ladies. It will be a family party. If there is anything in that +dish of _hors d'oeuvres_ which you fancy particularly, help +yourself quickly. In a moment or two there will be no opportunity." + +The two men were seated opposite one another at a long table in a huge +popular restaurant in the heart of the city. It was Kendricks' +plan--Kendricks, in fact, had insisted upon it. + +"You know, my dear Julien," he continued, "a certain education is +necessary for you. If only I had a little more time I should be +invaluable. You have taken all your life too narrow a view. That +wretched Eton training! You would have been better off at a +board-school. We all should." + +"You were at Winchester yourself," Julien reminded him, trying some of +the bread and approving of it. + +"For a short time only," Kendricks admitted, "and then you forget the +years after which I spent in the byways. Oh, I know my people! I know +the common people of America and England and France and Germany. I know +them and love them. I love the middle classes, too, the honestly +vulgar, honestly snobbish, foolishly ambitious, yet over-cautious +middle class. The extreme types of every nation lose their racial +individuality. You find the true thing only among the bourgeoisie. Oh, +if I only knew whether these people," he added, "understood English!" + +"You must not risk it," Julien warned him. "Madame has already her eye +upon you." + +"As a possible suitor for that unmated daughter on her right, I +suspect," Kendricks declared. "The young lady has looked at me twice +and down at her plate. Julien, you must change places." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort," Julien retorted. + +"If I ingratiate myself with this family and trouble comes of it," +Kendricks continued, "the fault will be yours. Madame," he added, +standing up and bowing, "will you permit me?" + +Madame had been looking at the bread. Kendricks gallantly offered it. +Madame's bows and smiles were a thing delightful to behold. +Mademoiselle, too, would take bread, if monsieur was so kind. When +Kendricks sat down again, the way was paved for general conversation. +Julien, however, practically buttonholed his friend. + +"Kendricks," he said, "you have told me nothing about England." + +"There is little to tell," Kendricks replied. "The little there is will +filter from me during the evening. We are spending a long evening +together, you know, Julien." + +"Heavens alive!" Julien groaned. "I am not sure that I am strong +enough." + +"Eat that soup," Kendricks advised him. "That, at least, is sustaining. +Never mind stirring it up to see what vegetables are at the bottom. +Take my word for it, it is good. And leave the pepper-pot alone. How +the people crowd in! You perceive the commercial traveler with a +customer? How they talk about that last order! The fat man facing you +puzzles me. I wish I could know the occupation of our neighbors. I am +curious." + +"I should ask them," Julien suggested dryly. + +"An idea!" Kendricks assented approvingly. "Let us wait until they have +drunk the free wine. You understand, my dear Julien, that you pay +nothing for that flask which stands by your side? It comes with the +dinner. It is free." + +Julien helped himself, and sipped it thoughtfully. + +"At least," he murmured, as he set his glass down, "one is thankful +that we do not pay for it!" + +"There are some," Kendricks remarked, "who prefer beer. Personally, I +like to preserve my local color. _Vin ordinaire_ in Paris, beer in +Germany. Madame!" + +Kendricks had caught madame's eye with the glass at his lips. He rose +at once and bowed. Madame acknowledged his graciousness with a huge +smile, which spread even to her double chin. Monsieur leaned forward +and joined in the ceremony. Mademoiselle, after a timid glance at her +mother, also responded. Kendricks' character as an Englishman of +gallantry was thoroughly established. + +"I am doing our national character good," he declared to Julien, as he +set down his glass empty. "As to my own constitution--but let that +pass. We will drown this stuff in honest beer, later on. How are you +getting on with the fish?" + +"It is excellent--really excellent," Julien proclaimed. "Do you mean to +say seriously that you are going to pay only two francs each for this +repast?" + +"Not a centime more," Kendricks assured him. "Do you know why I brought +you here?" + +"Part of my education, I suppose," Julien replied resignedly. + +"Quite true. Further than that, I am here on business for my paper. I +am here to study the effect of the German invasion of Paris. This place +is being spoken of as being the haunt of Germans. It still seems to me +that I find plenty of the real French people." + +"Do we pursue your investigations elsewhere during the course of the +evening?" Julien inquired. + +"The whole of our evening," Kendricks told him, "is devoted to that +purpose, and incidentally," he added, "to your education. We are going +for red-blooded pleasure to-night, for the real thing,--for the hearty +laughs, for the wholesome appetites; no caviare sandwiches, over-dry +champagne, rouged lips and Rue de la Paix hats for us. If we make love, +we make love honestly. Mademoiselle may permit a clasp of her hand--no +more." + +"So far," Julien remarked, "mademoiselle--" + +"That is for later," Kendricks interrupted briskly. "We shall go to a +singing-hall--a German singing-hall. The mademoiselles whom we meet +will probably have their own sweethearts. Somehow, to-night I fancy +that we shall be lookers-on. What does it matter? We shall at least see +life. We shall catch the shadows of other people's happinesses. It is, +I believe, the sincerest form. The chicken, dear Julien,--what of the +chicken?" + +Julien hesitated. + +"There is little to be said against it," he confessed. "The only +trouble is that it fails to arrive." + +Kendricks summoned a waiter, a task of no inconsiderable difficulty, +for the service was automatic--the dishes were set upon the table and +the waiter disappeared for the next lot. Anything intervening was +almost impossible. Monsieur, Kendricks declared, pointing indignantly +across the table, had not been served with chicken! The waiter shook +his head. It was unheard of! Monsieur had probably had his chicken and +forgotten it. The chicken had been brought, two portions. There was no +doubt about it. But where then had the chicken been hidden? Kendricks +became fluent. He looked under the table. He pointed to his friend's +empty plate. The waiter, only half convinced, departed with a vague +promise. Kendricks sipped his wine. + +"It is a regrettable incident," he declared, "but in the excitement of +conversation, Julien, I ate both portions of chicken." + +He had lapsed into French, the language in which he had argued with the +waiter. Madame was overcome with the humor of the affair. Mademoiselle +tittered as she leaned across and told her fiancé. The unattached +mademoiselle looked her sympathy with Julien. Monsieur saw the joke and +laughed heartily. They looked reproachfully at Kendricks. To them it +was indeed a tragedy! + +"Madame," Kendricks explained, "it is not my custom to be so greedy. +The waiter set both portions before me, meaning, without doubt, that I +should pass one to my friend. Alas! in the pleasure of conversation in +these delightful surroundings,"--he bowed low to mademoiselle--"something, +I don't know what it was, carried me away, and I ate and ate until both +portions were vanished. Ah!" he exclaimed. "Triumph! The waiter returns. +He brings chicken, too, for my friend. Garçon, you have done well. You +shall be rewarded. It is excellent." + +The waiter, still with a protesting air, passed up the chicken. The +little party was convulsed with merriment. They all watched Julien eat +his tardy course. Kendricks, with an air of recklessness, sipped more +wine. + +"I flatter myself," he said, "that before very long I shall have taught +you to forget that you were ever a Cabinet Minister, that you were ever +at Eton, that you were ever at Oxford. One does not live in those +places, you know, Julien. One shrivels instead of expands.... My +friend, we have dined." + +"Is there nothing more?" Julien asked. + +"There is fruit," Kendricks admitted. "It was in my mind to spare you +the fruit. I see it to right and left of us being handed around--nuts, +a banana, apples whose exterior I trust is misleading. Never mind, you +have desired fruit and you shall have it. Waiter, monsieur desires his +fruit." + +The waiter disappeared and in a moment or two Julien was served. + +"Coffee, if you will?" + +"No coffee, thanks," Julien decided. "If we are really going to spend +the evening visiting places of entertainment of a similar class, let us +reserve our coffee. A large cigar, I think." + +Kendricks sighed. + +"I hate to go. Mademoiselle opposite is pleased with me. I have made a +good impression upon madame. Monsieur is ready to extend to me the +right hand of fellowship. One of those pleasing little romances one +dreams about might here find a commencement. In a week's time I might +be accepted as a son-in-law of the house. I see all the signs of assent +already beaming in madame's eye. Perhaps we had better go, Julien!" + +They took their leave, not without the exchange of many smiles and bows +with the little family party they left behind. They walked slowly down +the room, arm in arm. + +"We were fortunate, you see, in our neighbors," Kendricks declared. +"There are Germans everywhere here. One is curious about these people. +One wonders how far they have imbibed the manners and customs of the +people among whom they live. Are they still absolutely and entirely +Teutons, do you suppose? Do they intermarry here, make friends, or do +they remain an alien element?" + +"To judge by appearances," Julien remarked, "they remain an alien +element. It is astonishing how seldom you see mixed parties of French +people and Germans here." + +"It is exactly to make observations upon that point that I am in +Paris," Kendricks asserted. "My people are curious. They want me to +watch and write about it. Do you know that there is a feeling in +London, Julien, that we are reaching the climax?" + +Julien nodded. + +"I can quite believe it," he replied. "Falkenberg seems to show every +desire to force our hand." + +"May the Lord deliver us from a Germanized Paris!" Kendricks prayed. +"They may have the Ritz, if they will, and the Elysées Palace. They may +have all the halls of fashion and gilt and wealth. They may swamp the +Pré Catelan and the Armenonville, so long as they leave us the real +Paris. Come, we take our coffee here. This is a German café, if you +like. Never mind, let us see if by chance any French people have +wandered in." + +They drank coffee at a little table in a huge building, hung with +tobacco smoke, with the inevitable band at one end, and crowded with +people. Kendricks smiled as the waiter brought them sugared cakes with +their coffee. + +"It is Germany," he declared. "Look! An odd Frenchman or two, perhaps; +no French women. Look at the hats, the women's faces. The hats looked +well enough in the shop-windows here. What an ignoble end for them! +From an aesthetic point of view, Julien, nothing is more terrible than +the domesticity of the German. If only he could be persuaded to leave +his wife at home! Think how much more attractive it would make these +places. He would have more money to spend upon himself, upon his own +beer and his own pretzels, and in time, no doubt, a lonely feeling, a +feeling of sentiment, would overpower him, and the vacant chair would +be filled by one of these vivacious little women who might teach him in +time that blood was meant to flow, not to ooze like mud." + +"I shall begin to think," Julien remarked, "that you don't like +Germans." + +"There you are wrong," Kendricks replied. "In their own country I like +them. They have all the good qualities. Germany for the Germans, I +should say always, and me for any other country. We have drunk our +coffee. Let us go." + +They passed on to a music-hall, where they listened to a mixed +performance and drank beer out of long glasses, served to them by a +distinctly Teutonic waiter. Greatly to Kendricks' annoyance, however, +they were surrounded by English and Americans, and were too tightly +packed in to change their seats. On the way out, however, he suddenly +beamed. + +"Behold!" he exclaimed. + +He swept his hat from his head. It was their companions at the dinner +table. Madame was pleased to remember him, also mademoiselle. + +"I shall invite them to supper," Kendricks declared. + +"If you do," Julien retorted, "I shall go home." + +Kendricks heaved a long sigh as he regretfully let them pass by. + +"It's just a touch of Oxford left in you," he complained. "For myself, +I know that madame would be excellent company, and I am perfectly +certain that mademoiselle would let me whisper--discreetly--in her ear. +Alas! it is a lost opportunity, and from here we go--to who knows +what?" + +He was suddenly serious. Julien looked at him in surprise. They were +standing on the pavement outside. Kendricks consulted his watch. + +"You have courage, I know, my friend," he said. "That is one reason why +I choose you for my companion to-night. I have two tickets for a German +socialist gathering here. The tickets were obtained with extraordinary +difficulty. I know that your German is pure and I can trust to my own. +From this minute, not a word in any other language, if you please." + +"I am really not sure," Julien objected, "that I want to go to a German +socialist meeting. In any case, I am hungry." + +"Hungry!" Kendricks exclaimed. "Hungry! What ingratitude! But be calm, +my friend," he added, taking Julien's arm, "there will be sausages and +beer where we are going." + +"In that case," Julien agreed, "I am with you. Which way?" + +"Almost opposite us," Kendricks declared. "Come along." + +They paused outside a brilliantly lit café with a German name. Julien +looked at it doubtfully. + +"Surely they don't hold meetings in a place like this?" he muttered. + +Kendricks lowered his voice. + +"We go into the café first," he said. "The meeting is in a private +room. Come." + +They pushed open the swinging doors and entered the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +A MEETING OF SOCIALISTS + + +The _brasserie_ into which the two men pushed their way was +smaller and less ornate than the one which they had last visited. Many +of the tables, too, were laid for supper. The tone of the place was +still entirely Teutonic. Kendricks and his companion seated themselves +at a table. + +"You will eat sausage?" Kendricks asked. + +"I will eat anything," Julien replied. + +"It is better," Kendricks remarked. "Here from the first we may be +watched. We are certainly observed. Be sure that you do not let fall a +single word of English. It might be awkward afterwards." + +"It's a beastly language," Julien declared, "but the beer and sausages +help. How many of the people here will be at the meeting?" + +"Not a hundredth part of them," Kendricks answered. "It was a terrible +job to get these tickets and I wouldn't like to guarantee now that we +have them that we get there. Remember, if any questions are asked, +you're an American, the editor or envoy of _The Coming Age._" + +"The dickens I am!" Julien exclaimed. "Where am I published?" + +"In New York; you're a new issue." + +Julien ate sausages and bread and butter steadily for several minutes. + +"To me," he announced, "there is something more satisfying about a meal +of this description than that two-franc dinner where you stole my +chicken." + +"You have Teutonic instincts, without a doubt," Kendricks declared, +"but after all, why not a light dinner and an appetite for supper? +Better for the digestion, better for the pocket, better for passing the +time. What are you staring at?" + +Julien was looking across the room with fixed eyes. + +"I was watching a man who has been sitting at a small table over +there," he remarked. "He has just gone out through that inner door. For +a moment I could have sworn that it was Carl Freudenberg." + +Kendricks shook his head. + +"Mr. Carl Freudenberg takes many risks, but I do not think he would +care to show himself here." + +"It is no crime that he is in Paris," Julien objected. + +"In a sense it is," Kendricks said. "These incognito visits of his must +soon cease if they were talked too much about. Then there is another +thing. This café is the headquarters of German socialism in Paris, and +Herr Freudenberg is the sworn enemy of socialists. He fights them with +an iron hand, wherever he comes into contact with them. This is a +law-abiding place, without a doubt, and the Germans as a rule are a +law-abiding people, but I would not feel quite sure that he would leave +unmolested if he were recognized here at this minute." + +"You think he knows that?" Julien asked. + +"Knows it!" Kendricks replied scornfully. "There is nothing goes on in +Paris that he does not know. He peers into every nook and corner of the +city. He knows the feelings of the aristocrats, of the bourgeoisie, of +the official classes. Not only that, he knows their feelings towards +England, towards the Triple Alliance, towards Russia. He never seems to +ask questions, he never forgets an answer. He is a wonderful man, in +short; but I do not think that you will see him here to-night." + +The long hand of the clock pointed toward midnight. Kendricks called +for the bill and paid it. + +"We go this way," he announced, "through the billiard rooms." + +They left the café by the swing-door to which Julien had pointed, +passed through a crowded billiard room, every table of which was in +use, down a narrow corridor till they came face to face with a closed +door, on which was inscribed "Number 12." Kendricks knocked softly and +it was at once opened. There was another door a few yards further on, +and between the two a very tall doorkeeper and a small man in +spectacles. + +"Who are you?" the doorkeeper demanded gruffly. + +Kendricks produced his tickets. The tall man, however, did not move. He +scrutinized them, word for word. Then he scrutinized the faces of the +two men. Kendricks he seemed inclined to pass, but he looked at Julien +for long, and in a puzzled manner. + +"Of what nationality is your friend?" he asked Kendricks. + +"I am an American," Julien replied. + +"And your profession?" + +"A newspaper editor. I edit _The Coming Age_." + +"This is not altogether in order," the tall man declared. "The meeting +which we are holding to-night is not one in which the Press is +interested. We are here to discuss one man, and one man only. I do not +think that you would hear anything you could print, and as you do not +belong to our direct association here I think it would be better if you +did not enter." + +Kendricks stood his ground, however. + +"I must appeal," he said, "to your secretary." + +The little man in spectacles came forward. Kendricks stated his case +with much indignation. + +"Here am I," he announced, "editor of the only socialist paper in +London worthy of the title. I come over because I hear of this meeting. +I bring with me my American friend, the editor of _The Coming +Age_. For no other reason have we visited Paris than for this. If +you refuse us admission to this meeting, the whole of the English +branch will consider it an insult." + +"And the American," Julien put in firmly. + +The two men whispered together. The taller one, still grumbling, stood +on one side. + +"Pass in," he directed. "It is not strictly in order, but our secretary +permits." + +The two men passed on. The room in which they found themselves was a +small one and there were not more than fifty people present. It was +very dimly lit and they could barely make out the forms of the row of +men who were sitting upon chairs upon the platform. They contented +themselves with seats quite close to the door. No drinks were being +served here. Although one or two men were smoking, the general aspect +seemed to be one of stern and serious intensity. A man upon the +platform was just finishing speaking as they entered, and he apparently +called upon some one else. A large and heavy German stood up on the +centre of the slightly raised stage. He wore shapeless clothes and +horn-rimmed spectacles. His face was benevolent. He had a double chin +and a soft voice. + +"My brothers," he said, "at these our meetings we have many things to +discuss. We have little time to waste. Why beat about the bush? I am +here to speak to you of the greatest enemy our cause has in the +world--Prince Adolf Rudolf von Falkenberg." + +He paused. There was an ugly little murmur through the room. It was +very easy indeed to understand that the man whose name had been +mentioned was unpopular. + +"The cause of socialism," the speaker continued, "is the one cause we +all have at heart. In our Fatherland it flourishes, but it flourishes +slowly. The reason that we are denied our just and legitimate triumphs +is simply owing to the vigorous opposition, the brutal enmity, of +Prince Adolf Rudolf von Falkenberg. My brothers, this man has been +warned. His only answer has been a fresh and more diabolical measure. +He fights us everywhere with the fierceness of a man who hates his +enemy. It is our duty, brethren, that we do not see our cause retarded +by the enmity of any one man. Therefore, it is my business to say to +you to-night that that man should be removed." + +There was a murmur of voices, one clearer than the others. + +"But how?" + +The man on the platform adjusted his spectacles. + +"My brother asks how? I will tell him. Falkenberg loves war. We others +hate it. We work always to infuse throughout the army our own +principles and theories. Falkenberg falls upon them with all his might +and main. There are orders posted in every barracks in Germany. Our +literature is confiscated. Any man preaching our doctrines is drummed +out upon the streets. I say that these things cannot last. I say that +Falkenberg must go. A friend in the audience has asked how. I will +answer you. There is a body of men whose beliefs are somewhat similar +to ours, but who go further. It is possible they see the truth. But for +us at present it is not possible to accept their general principles. +This case is an exception. The anarchists of Berlin, one of whom, Franz +Kuzman, is here to-night, will dispose of Falkenberg for us if we +provide sufficient funds to make an escape possible, and an annuity for +the executioner should he live, or for his wife should he die." + +There was a slow, ominous murmur of voices. The fat man on the platform +beamed at everybody. + +"Kuzman is here upon the platform," he announced. "Does any one wish to +hear him?" + +Kuzman stood up--an awkward, rawboned, dark-featured man. In a coat +that was too short for him, he stood rather like a puppet upon the +platform. + +"If you delegates of the socialist societies decide that it is just," +he said, in a hoarse, unpleasant tone, "I am willing to see that +Falkenberg meets his reward. I can say no more. I do not fail. I move +against no one save those who deserve death and against whom the death +sentence has been pronounced. But when I do move, that man dies." + +He resumed his seat. The fat man went on. + +"Is it your wish," he asked, "that Kuzman be authorized by you to +arrange this affair?" + +The murmur of voices was scarcely intelligible. + +"Into the hands of every one of you," the fat man continued, "will be +placed a strip of paper. You will write upon it 'Yes' or 'No.' Kuzman +will be instructed according to your verdict." + +Some one on the platform bustled around. Kendricks and Julien were both +supplied with the long strips. In a few minutes these were collected. +The man upon the platform turned up the lights a little higher. He drew +a small table towards him and began sorting out the papers into two +heaps. One was obviously much larger than the other. Towards the end he +came across a slip, however, at which he paused. He read it with +knitted brows, half rose to his feet and stopped. Then he went on with +his counting. Presently he got up. + +"My brothers," he said, "there are forty-two papers here. Of these, +thirty-five agree to the appointment of Kuzman for the purpose we have +spoken of. Six are against it. One paper I will read to you. The writer +has not troubled to put 'Yes' or 'No.' This is what I find: + +"Falkenberg has served his Emperor and his country to the whole extent +of his will and his capacity. He has given his life to make his country +great. If he has been stern upon the cause of socialism, it is because +he does not believe that socialism, as it is at present preached, is +good for Germany. I vote, therefore, that Falkenberg live. + +"We desire to know," the speaker continued, "who wrote those words. +They do not sound like the words of one of our delegates. Johann and +Hesler, stand by the door. Turn up the lights. Let us see exactly who +there is here to-night, unknown to us." + +There was a little murmur. A man who sat only three or four places off +from Kendricks and Julien rose silently to his feet and moved towards +the door. It was as yet locked, however. From the other end of the room +the lights were suddenly heightened. The faces of the men were now +distinctly visible. A light in the body of the hall flared up. A man +was discovered with his hand upon the door handle. There was a hoarse +murmur of voices. + +"Who is he? Hold fast of the door! Let no one pass out!" + +The man turned quickly round. The light flashed upon his face. Julien +was the first to recognize him and he gripped Kendricks by the arm. + +"My God!" he muttered, "it's Falkenberg himself! Who is the man with +the key?" + +Kendricks pointed to him. They crept closer. Then that hoarse murmur of +voices turned suddenly into a low, passionate cry. + +"Falkenberg! Falkenberg himself!" + +The toymaker made no further attempt at concealment. He drew himself up +and faced them. They were creeping towards him now from all corners of +the room--an ugly-looking set of men, men with an ugly purpose in their +faces. + +"Yes, I am Falkenberg!" he cried. "I am here to spy upon you, if you +will. Why not? Kill me, if you choose, but I warn you that if you do +the whole of Germany will rise against you and your cause." + +"Don't let him escape!" some one shouted from the platform. + +"Gag him!" + +"It is fate!" + +"He is ours!" + +"A rope!" + +There was no mistaking the feeling of the men. Julien whispered swiftly +in Kendricks' ear. Simultaneously his right arm shot out. The man who +guarded the door felt his neck suddenly twisted back. Kendricks +snatched the key from his hand and thrust it in the lock. Some one +struck him a violent blow on the head. He reeled, but was still able to +turn the key. They came then with a howl from all parts of the room. +Julien felt a storm of blows. Falkenberg, with one swoop of his long +arm, disposed of their nearest assailant. + +"Get off, man," Kendricks ordered. "You first!" + +The door was wide open now. They half stumbled, half fell into the +outer café. The orchestra stopped playing, people rose to their feet. +Before they well knew what was happening, Falkenberg had slipped +through their midst and passed out of the door. One of the pursuers, +with a howl of rage, sprang after him, but he tripped against an +abutting marble table and fell. Kendricks and Julien stepped quietly to +one side, threading their way among the throng of customers in the +cafe. Loud voices shouted for an explanation. + +"It was a pickpocket," some one called out from among those who came +streaming from the room,--"a tall man with a wound on the forehead. Did +no one see him?" + +They all looked towards the door. + +"He passed out so swiftly," they murmured. + +Several of them had already reached the door of the café and were +rushing down the street in the direction which Falkenberg had taken. + +"There were two others," a grim voice shouted from behind. + +A waiter, who had seen the two men sit down, looked doubtfully towards +them. Kendricks pushed a note into his hand. + +"Serve us with something quickly," he begged. + +The man pocketed the note and set before them the beer which he was +carrying. Kendricks, whose knuckles were bleeding, laid his hand under +the table. Julien took a long drink of the beer and began to recover +his breath. + +"So far," he declared, "I have found your evening with the masses a +little boisterous." + +Kendricks laughed. + +"Wait till my hand has stopped bleeding," he said, "and we will slip +out. That was a narrow escape for Falkenberg. What a pluck the fellow +must have!" + +"It seems almost like a foolhardy risk," Julien muttered. "If those +fellows could have got at him, they'd have killed him. Have they gone +back to their room, I wonder? Let us hear what the people say about the +affair." + +"What was the disturbance?" he asked. + +The man shrugged his shoulders. + +"It was a meeting in one of the private rooms of the café," he +declared, "a meeting of some society. They were taking a vote when they +discovered a pickpocket. He bolted out of the room. They say that he +has got away." + +"Did he steal much?" Julien inquired. + +The man shook his head. + +"A watch and chain, or something of the sort," he told them. "The +excitement is all over now. The gentlemen have gone back to their +meeting." + +Julien smiled and finished his beer. + +"Is our evening at an end, Kendricks?" he asked. + +Kendricks shook his head. + +"Not quite," he replied, binding his handkerchief around his knuckles. +"If you are ready, there is just one other call we might make." + +"More German _brasseries_?" + +Kendricks smiled grimly. + +"Not to-night. We climb once more the hill. We pay our respects to +Monsieur Albert." + +"The Rat Mort?" + +"Exactly!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +AN OFFER + + +Kendricks, as they entered the café, recognized his friends with joy +openly expressed. + +"It is fate!" he exclaimed, striking a dramatic attitude. + +"It is the gentleman who ate both portions of chicken!" mademoiselle +cried. + +"It is the gallant Englishman of the Café Helder," madame laughed, her +double chin becoming more and more evident. + +"And yonder, in the corner, sits Mademoiselle Ixe," Kendricks whispered +to Julien. "For whom does she wait, I wonder?". + +"For Herr Freudenberg?" suggested Julien. + +"For Herr Freudenberg, let us pray," Kendricks replied. + +The husband of madame, the father of mademoiselle, the rightly +conceived future papa-in-law-to-be of the attendant young man, rose to +his feet in response to a kick from his wife. + +"If monsieur is looking for a table," he suggested, "there is room here +adjoining ours. It will incommode us not in the slightest." + +"Of all places in the room," Kendricks declared, with a bow, "the most +desirable, the most charming. Madame indeed permits--and mademoiselle?" + +There were more bows, more pleasant speeches. A small additional table +was quickly brought. Kendricks ignored the more comfortable seat by +Julien's side and took a chair with his back to the room. From here he +leaned over and conversed with his new friends. He started flirting +with mademoiselle, he paid compliments to madame, he suddenly plunged +into politics with monsieur. Julien listened, half in amusement, half +in admiration. For Kendricks was not talking idly. + +"A man of affairs, monsieur," Kendricks proclaimed himself to be. "My +interest in both countries, madame," he continued, knowing well that +she, too, loved to talk of the affairs, "is great. I am one of those, +indeed, who have benefited largely by this delightful alliance." + +Alliance! Monsieur smiled at the word. Kendricks protested. + +"But what else shall we call it, dear friends?" he argued. "Are we not +allied against a common foe? The exact terms of the _entente_, +what does it matter? Is it credible that England would remain idle +while the legions of Germany overran this country?" + +Monsieur was becoming interested. So was madame. It was madame who +spoke--one gathered that it was usual! + +"What, then," she demanded, "would England do?" + +"She would come to the aid of your charming country, madame." + +"But how?" madame persisted pertinently. + +Kendricks was immediately fluent. He talked in ornate phrases of the +resources of the British Empire, the perfection of her fleet, the +wonder of her new guns. Julien, who knew him well, was amazed not only +at his apparent earnestness, but at his insincerity. He was speaking +well and with a wealth of detail which was impressive enough. His +little company of new friends were listening to him with marked +attention; Julien alone seemed conscious that they were listening to a +man who was speaking against his own convictions. + +"Monsieur! Monsieur Julien!" + +It was the voice of Mademoiselle Ixe. She was leaning slightly forward +in her place. Julien turned quickly around and she motioned him to a +seat by her side. He rose at once and accepted her invitation. + +"I do not disturb you?" she asked. "It seemed to me that your friend +was talking with those strange people there and that you were not very +much interested. It is dull when one sits here alone." + +"Naturally," Julien agreed. "My friend talks politics, and for my part +it is very certain that I would sooner talk of other things with +mademoiselle." + +She was a born flirt--a matter of nationality as well as temperament, +and not to be escaped--and her eyes flashed the correct reply. But a +moment later she was gazing wistfully at the door. + +"You expect Herr Freudenberg?" Julien inquired. + +"I cannot tell," she replied. "I must not say that I am expecting him +because he did not ask me to meet him here. But I thought, perhaps, +that he might come--so I risked it. I was restless to-night. I do not +sing this week because Herr Freudenberg is in Paris, and without any +occupation it is hard to control the thoughts. I sat at home until I +could bear it no longer. _Eh bien!_ I sent for a little carriage +and I ventured here. There is a chance that he may come." + +"Mademoiselle permits that I offer her some supper?" Julien suggested. + +She hesitated and glanced at the clock. + +"You are very kind, Sir Julien," she answered. "I have waited because I +have thought that there was a chance that he might come, and to sup +alone is a drear thing. If monsieur really--Ah! Behold! After all, it +is he! It is he who comes. What happiness!" + +It was indeed Herr Freudenberg who had mounted the stairs and was +yielding now his coat to the attentive _vestiaire_--Herr +Freudenberg, unruffled and precisely attired in evening clothes. He +showed not the slightest signs of his recent adventure. He chatted +gayly to Albert and waved his hand to mademoiselle. He came towards +them with a smile upon his face, walking lightly and with the footsteps +of a young man. Yet mademoiselle shivered, her lip drooped. + +"He is not pleased," she murmured. "I have done wrong." + +There was nothing apparent to others in Herr Freudenberg's manner to +justify her conviction. He raised her fingers to his lips with charming +gayety. + +"Dear Marguerite," he exclaimed, "this is indeed a delightful surprise! +And Sir Julien, too! I am enchanted. Once more let us celebrate. Let us +sup. I am in time, eh?" + +"With me, if you please," Julien insisted, taking up the menu. + +Herr Freudenberg smiled genially. + +"Host or guest, who cares so long as we are joyous?" he cried, sitting +on mademoiselle's other side. "Although to-night," he added, with a +humorous glance at Julien, "it should surely be I who entertains! Dear +Marguerite!" + +He patted her hand. She looked at him pathetically and he smiled back +again. + +"Be happy, my child," he begged. "It is gone, that little twinge. It +was perhaps jealousy," he whispered in her ear. "Sir Julien has +captured many hearts." + +She drew a sigh of content. She raised his hand to her lips. Then she +dabbed at her eyes with the few inches of perfumed lace which she +called a handkerchief. It was passing, that evil moment. + +"There is no man in the world," she told him softly, "who should be +able to make you jealous. In your heart you know." + +He laughed lightly. + +"You will make me vain, dear one. Give me your little fingers to hold +for a moment. There--it is finished." + +He looked around the room with the light yet cheerful curiosity of the +pleasure-seeker. Then he leaned over towards Julien. + +"What does our shock-headed friend the journalist do in that company?" +he asked, with a backward motion of his head. + +Julien smiled. + +"He is devoted to madame with the double chin. He is apparently also +devoted to mademoiselle, the daughter of madame with the double chin. +He is contemplating, I believe, an alliance with the bourgeoisie." + +Herr Freudenberg watched the group for a moment with a slight frown. + +"They are types," he said under his breath, "absolute types. Kendricks +is studying them, without a doubt." + +He continued his scrutiny of the room. Then he leaned towards +mademoiselle. + +"Dear Marguerite!" + +"Yes?" + +"There is Mademoiselle Soupelles there," he pointed out, "sitting with +an untidy-looking man in a morning coat and a red tie. You see them?" + +"But certainly," mademoiselle agreed. "They are together always. It is +an alliance, that." + +"It would please me," Herr Freudenberg continued, still speaking almost +under his breath, "to converse with the companion of Mademoiselle +Soupelles. From you, dear Marguerite, I conceal nothing. I made no +appointment with you to-night because it was my intention to speak with +that person, and I could not tell where he would be. All has happened +fortunately. We spend our evening together, after all. See what you can +do to help me. Go and talk to your friend, Mademoiselle Soupelles. +Bring them here if you can. Sir Julien thinks he is ordering the +supper, but he is too late; I ordered it from Albert as I entered." + +Mademoiselle rose at once and shook out her skirts. She kissed her hand +across the room to her friend. + +"I go to speak to her," she promised. "What I can do I will. You know +that, dear one. But he is a strange-looking man, this companion of +hers. You know who he is? His name is Jesen. If I were Susanne, I would +see to it that he was more _comme-il-faut_." + +Herr Freudenberg laughed. + +"Never mind his appearance," he said. "He can drive the truth into the +hearts of this people as swiftly and as surely as any man who ever took +up a pen. Bring him here, little sweetheart, and to-morrow we visit +Cartier together." + +She glanced at him almost reproachfully. + +"As if that mattered!" she murmured, as she glided away. + +Julien turned discontentedly to his companion. + +"This fellow will take no order from me," he objected. "Do you own this +place, Herr Freudenberg, that you must always be obeyed here?" + +"By no means," Herr Freudenberg replied. "To-night is an exception. I +ordered supper as I entered. You see, there are others whom I may ask +to join. You shall have your turn when you will and I will be a very +submissive guest, but to-night--well, I have even at this moment +charged mademoiselle with a message to her friend and her friend's +companion. I have begged them to join us. On these nights I like +company--plenty of company!" + +"In that case, perhaps," Julien suggested, "I may be _de trop_." + +Freudenberg laid his hand upon his companion's shoulder. + +"My friend," he said earnestly, "it is not for you to talk like that, +to-night of all nights. If I say little, it is because we are both men +of few words, and I think that we understand. You know very well what +you and your shock-headed friend have done for me. Not that I believe," +he went on, "that it would ever come to me to be hounded to death by +such a gang. I am too fervent a believer in my own star for that. But +one never knows. It is well, anyhow, to escape with a sound skin." + +"Why did you run such a risk?" Julien asked him. + +"Partly," Freudenberg answered, "because I was really curious to know +what those fellows were driving at; and partly," he added, "because, +alas! I am possessed of that restless spirit, that everlasting craving +for adventures, which drives one on into any place where life stirs. I +knew that these people were plotting something against me. I wanted to +hear it with my own ears, to understand exactly what it was against +which I must be prepared. But now, Sir Julien, I question you. As for +me, my presence there was reasonable enough; but what were you doing in +such a place? What interests have you in German socialism?" + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"I cannot say that I have any," he admitted. "It was Kendricks who took +me. He is showing me Paris--Paris from his own point of view. He took me +first to a restaurant, where we dined for two francs and sat at the +same table with those people to whom he is now making himself so +agreeable. Kendricks has democratic instincts. His latest fad is to try +and instil them into me." + +Herr Freudenberg looked thoughtfully across at the journalist, still +deep in argument with his friends. + +"I am not sure that I understand that man," he declared. "In a sense he +impresses me. I should have put him down as one of those who do nothing +without a set and fixed purpose. But enough of other people. Listen. I +wish to speak with you--of yourself. I am glad that we have met +to-night. I have another and altogether a different proposition to make +to you." + +Julien remained silent for several moments. Herr Freudenberg watched +him. + +"A proposition to make to me," Julien repeated at last. "Well, let me +hear it?" + +Herr Freudenberg leaned towards him. + +"Sir Julien," he said, "there has happened to you, as to many of us, a +little slip in your life. It is a wise thing if for a few months you +pass off the stage of European affairs. You are of an adventurous +spirit. Will you undertake a commission for me? Listen. I will +guarantee that it is something which does not, and could not ever, by +any chance, affect in the slightest degree the interests of your +country. It is a commission which will take you a year to execute, and +it will lead you into a new land. It will require tact, diplomacy and +some courage. If you succeed, your reward will be an income for life. +If you fail, the worst that can happen to you is that you will have +passed a year of your life without effective result. Still, you will at +least have traveled, you will at least have seen new phases of life." + +Julien was puzzled. + +"You cannot seriously propose to me," he protested, "to undertake a +diplomatic errand for a country which has absolutely no claims upon +me--to which I am not even attracted?" he added. + +Herr Freudenberg tapped with his forefinger upon the table. Upon his +lips was a genial and tolerant smile. He had the air of a preceptor +devoting special pains upon the most backward member of his +kindergarten class. + +"My friend," he said, "there is no political question involved +whatever. The mission which I ask you to undertake would lead you into +a remote part of Africa, where neither your country nor mine has at +present any interests. More than this I cannot tell you unless you show +signs of accepting my invitation. The negotiations which you would have +to conduct are simply these. Four years ago a distinguished German +scientist who was in command of a somewhat rash expedition, was +captured by the ruler of the country to which I wish you to travel. For +some time the question of a mission to ascertain his fate has been upon +the carpet. It is true that we have received letters from him. He +professes to be happy and contented, to have been kindly treated, and +to have accepted a post in the army of his captor. We wish to know +whether these letters are genuine or not. If they are genuine, all is +well, but a suspicion still remains among some of us that the person in +question is being held in torture as an example to other white men who +might penetrate so far. This is the first object in the journey which I +propose to you. There is nothing political about it at all, as you +perceive. It is purely a matter of humanity.... Ah! I see that our +party is to be increased. Here are some new friends who arrive." + +Mademoiselle Ixe had succeeded. She returned now to her place, followed +by the girl with the chestnut-colored hair and her companion. At close +quarters the latter, at any rate, was scarcely prepossessing. He was a +man of middle age, untidily dressed, whose clothes were covered with +cigar ash and recent wine stains, whose linen was none of the cleanest, +and whose eyes behind his pince-nez were already bloodshot. Herr +Freudenberg, however, seemed to notice none of these unpleasant +defects. He grasped him vigorously by the hand. + +"It is Monsieur Jesen!" he exclaimed. "Often you have been pointed out +to me, and I have long wished to have the pleasure of making your +acquaintance. Sit down and join us, monsieur. Your little friend, +too,--ah, mademoiselle!" + +He bent low over the girl's hand and placed a seat for her. The party +was now arranged. Their host beamed upon them all. + +"Come," he continued, "this is perhaps my last night in Paris for some +time! We have had adventures, too, within these few hours. You find us +celebrating. My English friend here is one of us. I will not introduce +him by name. Why should we trouble about names? We are all friends, all +good fellows, here to pass the time agreeably, to drink good wine, to +look into beautiful eyes, mademoiselle, to amuse ourselves. It is the +science of life, that. Monsieur Jesen, mademoiselle, dear Marguerite, +my English friend here, let me be sure that your glasses are filled. To +the very brim, garçon--to the very brim! Let us drink together to the +joyous evenings of the past, to the joyous evenings of the future, to +these few present hours that lie before us when we shall sit here and +taste further this very admirable vintage. To the wine we drink, to the +lips we love, to this hour of life!" + +For the moment there was no more serious conversation. Herr Freudenberg +had started a vein of frivolity to which every one there was quick to +respond. Only every now and then he himself, the giver of the feast, +had suddenly the look of a different man as he sat and whispered in the +ear of Monsieur Jesen. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +FALKENBERG ACTS + + +At two o'clock, with obvious reluctance, Kendricks' new friends +departed. Their leave-taking was long and ceremonious. Kendricks, +indeed, insisted upon escorting mademoiselle to the door. Madame left +the place with the assured conviction that a prospective son-in-law was +soon to present himself--it could be for no other reason that the +English gentleman had so sedulously attached himself to their party. +Monsieur, having less sentiment, was not so sure. Mademoiselle had both +hopes and fears. They discussed the matter fully on their homeward +drive. + +Kendricks strolled over to the table where Julien was and touched him +on the shoulder. + +"Is this to be another all-night sitting?" he asked. + +Herr Freudenberg was deep in conversation with Monsieur Jesen--the +friend of mademoiselle's friend. He glanced up, but his greeting was +almost perfunctory. Kendricks looked keenly at the man who was leaning +back in his padded seat. The eyes of Monsieur Jesen were a little more +bloodshot now. He had spilt wine down the front of his waistcoat, cigar +ash upon his coat-sleeve. He was by no means an inviting person to look +at. Yet about his forehead and mouth there was an expression of power. +Herr Freudenberg, with obvious regret, abandoned his conversation for a +moment. + +"You are taking your friend away?" he remarked suavely. "We shall part +from him with regret. Sir Julien," he added, whispering in his ear, "I +must have your answer to my proposition. I will put it into absolutely +definite shape, if you like, within the next few days." + +"I move into my old rooms--number 17, Rue de Montpelier--to-morrow +morning, or rather this morning," Julien replied. "You might telephone +or call there at any time." + +"Tell me, is what I have proposed in any way attractive to you?" Herr +Freudenberg asked, still speaking in an undertone. + +"In a sense it is," Julien answered. "It needs further consideration, +of course. I must also consult my friend." + +Herr Freudenberg glanced at Kendricks and shrugged his shoulders. He +had the air of one slightly annoyed. Kendricks was bending over +Mademoiselle Ixe. Herr Freudenberg whispered in Julien's ear. + +"You take too much advice from your boisterous friend, dear Sir +Julien," he asserted. "Mark my words, he will try to keep you here, +cooling your heels upon the mat. He will prevent you from raising your +hand to knock upon the door of destiny. These men who write are like +that. They do not understand action." + +Kendricks turned from mademoiselle. + +"You are ready, Julien?" he asked. + +"Quite," Julien answered. + +They made their adieux. Herr Freudenberg watched them leave the room. +The man by his side--Monsieur Jesen--also watched a little curiously. + +"An English journalist," Herr Freudenberg remarked, "some say a man of +ability. I find him a trifle boisterous and uncouth. Monsieur Jesen, +our conversation interests me immensely. I feel sure--" + +Jesen looked suspiciously around. + +"We have talked enough of business," he declared. "It is an idea, this +of yours. For the rest, I cannot tell. A wonderful idea!" he continued. +"And as for me, am I not the man to embrace it?" + +"You have but to say a single word," Herr Freudenberg reminded him +softly, "and all is arranged." + +Monsieur Jesen puffed furiously at a cigarette. The fingers which had +held the match to it were shaking. The man himself seemed unsteady on +his seat. Yet it was obvious that his brain was working. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he said, "there is but one weak point in all your +chain of arguments. To do as you ask, it will be necessary that I--I, +Paul Jesen, so well-known, whose opinions are followed by millions of +my country people--it would be necessary for me to abandon my +convictions, to turn a right-about-face. Ask yourself, is it not like +selling one's honor when one writes the things one does not believe?" + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. + +"My friend, you ask me a question the reply to which is already spoken. +I tell you that behind, at the back of your brain, you know and realize +the truth of all these things. Think, man! Call to mind the arguments I +have used. Remember, I have lifted the curtain, I have shown you the +things that arrive, the things that are inevitable." + +Mademoiselle, the companion of Monsieur Jesen, had had enough of this. +It was her weekly holiday. She yawned and tapped her friend upon the +arm. + +"My dear Paul," she protested, "while you and Herr Freudenberg talk as +two men who have immense affairs, Marguerite and I we weary ourselves. +If I am to be alone like this, very good. I speak to my friends. There +is Monsieur de Chaussin there. He throws me a kiss. Do you wish that I +sit with him? He looks, indeed, as though he had plenty to say! Or +there is the melancholy Italian gentleman, who raises his glass always +when I look. And the two Americans--" + +"You have reason, little one," Monsieur Jesen interrupted. "Herr +Freudenberg, this is no place for such a discussion." + +"Agreed!" Herr Freudenberg exclaimed. "We owe our apologies to +mademoiselle, your charming friend, and mademoiselle, my adored +companion," he added, turning to Marguerite. "Come, let us drink more +wine. Let us talk together. What is your pleasure, mademoiselle, the +friend of my good friend, Monsieur Jesen? Will you have them dance to +us? Is there music to which you would listen? Or shall we pray +Marguerite here that she sings? Let us, at any rate, be gay. And for +the rest, Monsieur Jesen, time has no count for us who live our lives. +When we leave here, you and I will talk more." + +It was daylight before they left. The whole party got into Herr +Freudenberg's motor. + +"I drive you first to your rooms, Monsieur Jesen," he said. "I take +then the liberty of entering with you. The little conversation which we +have begun is best concluded within the shelter of four walls." + +Monsieur Jesen was excited yet nervous. + +"It is too late," he muttered, "to talk business." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. + +"Ah!" he cried, "you jest, my friend. Look out of that window. You see +the sunshine in the streets, you breathe the fresh, clear air? Too +late, indeed! It is morning, and the brain is keenest then. Don't you +feel the fumes of the hot room, of the wine, of the tobacco smoke, all +pass away with the touch of that soft wind?" + +Monsieur Jesen stared. He was conscious of a very bad headache, an +uncomfortable sense that he had, as usual on his weekly holiday, eaten +and drunk and smoked a great deal more than was good for him. He gazed +with wonder at this tall, spare-looking man, who had drunk as much and +smoked as much and eaten as much as any one else, and yet appeared +exactly as he had done four hours ago. Even his linen was still +spotless. His eyes were bright, his manner buoyant. + +"Monsieur," he murmured, "you are marvelous. I have never before met a +German merchant like you." + +Herr Freudenberg sat quite still for a moment. He looked at +mademoiselle, the friend of Monsieur Jesen, and he realized that theirs +was no casual acquaintance. In both he recognized the characteristics +of fidelity. As he had always the genius to do, he took his risks. + +"Monsieur Jesen," he announced, "I am no German maker of toys. Let me +ascend with you to your room and you shall hear who I am and why I have +said these things to you." + +Monsieur Jesen held his hand to his head. Something in the manner of +this new friend of his was, in a sense, mesmeric. + +"You shall ascend, monsieur," he said. "I do not know who you are, but +you are evidently a very wonderful person. We will ascend and you shall +wait while I place my head in cold water and Susanne mixes me some +absinthe. Then I will listen." + +The automobile came to a standstill about halfway down a shabby street +in a somewhat shabby neighborhood. Herr Freudenberg noticed this fact +without change of countenance, but with secret pleasure. He turned to +Marguerite. + +"Dear Marguerite," he whispered, "for an hour or so I must leave you. +You will permit that my man takes you to your apartments and returns +for me here?" + +"May I not wait for you here in the automobile?" she asked timidly. + +Herr Freudenberg shook his head kindly. + +"Dear little one," he murmured, "not this morning. Indeed, I have +important affairs on hand. As soon as I am free, I will telephone. +Sleep well, little girl." + +He stepped out on to the pavement. The postern door in front of them +was opened, in response to Monsieur Jesen's vigorous knocking, from +some invisible place by a string. The three of them climbed four +flights of rickety stairs. They reached at last a stone landing. +Monsieur Jesen threw open a door and led the way into an untidy-looking +salon. + +"Monsieur will forgive the fact," he begged, "that I am not better +housed. If it were not for little Susanne here," he added, patting her +upon the shoulder, "I doubt whether I should keep a roof above my head +at all." + +"It is not like this," Herr Freudenberg declared, "that genius should +be treated." + +"Indeed," Mademoiselle Susanne intervened, "it is what I tell him +always. Monsieur, they pay him but a beggarly three hundred francs a +month--he, who writes all the editorials; he, who is the spirit of the +papers! It is not fair. I tell dear Paul that it is wicked, and, as he +says, the money, if it were not for me, he would squander it in a +minute. I have even to go with him to the office, for there are many +who know when Paul draws his little cheque." + +Herr Freudenberg set down his hat upon the table. He looked around at +all the evidences of unclean and sordid life. Then he looked at the +man. It was a queer housing, this, for genius! His face remained +expressionless. Of the disgust he felt he showed no sign. In the +building of houses one must use many tools! + +"Monsieur Jesen," he said, "and mademoiselle--I speak to you both, for +I recognize that between you there is indeed a union of sympathy and +souls. Mademoiselle, then, I address myself to you. On certain terms I +have offered to purchase for Monsieur Paul here a two-thirds share of +the newspaper upon which he works, that two-thirds share which he and I +both know is in the market at this moment. I am willing at mid-day +to-morrow, or rather to-day, to place within his hands the sum +required. I am willing to send my notary with him to the office, and +the affair could be arranged at half-past twelve. From then he +practically owns _Le Jour_. Its politics are his to control. I +make him this offer, mademoiselle, and it is a greater one than it +sounds, for the money which I place in his hands to make this +purchase--five hundred thousand francs--is his completely and +absolutely. You move at once into apartments befitting your new +position. Monsieur Paul Jesen is no longer a struggling and ill-paid +journalist. He is the proprietor of an important journal, through whose +columns he shall help to guide the policy of your nation." + +Monsieur Jesen sat down. His fingers were clutching one another. +Mademoiselle stared at Herr Freudenberg. Her color was coming and +going. + +"Monsieur, I do not understand!" she cried. "Are you a prince in +disguise? Why do you do this?" + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg replied, "your question is the +question of an intelligent woman. Why do I do this? Not for nothing, I +assure you. It is my custom to make bargains, indeed, but I make them +so that those with whom I deal shall never regret the day they met Herr +Freudenberg. I offer you this splendid future, you and Monsieur Jesen +there, on one condition, and it is a small one, for already the truth +has found its way a little into his brain. _Le Jour_ has supported +always, wholly and entirely, the _entente_ between Great Britain +and your country. I have tried to point out to Paul Jesen here what all +far-seeing people must soon appreciate--that the _entente_ is +doomed." + +The girl glanced at Jesen. Jesen was looking away out of the dusty +window. + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg continued, "I will not weary you at +this hour in the morning with politics. I have talked long with +Monsieur Jesen and I think that I have shown him something of the +truth. You came to the rescue of Great Britain when she lay friendless +and powerless. You saved her prestige; you saved her, without doubt, +from invasion. What have you gained? Nothing! What can you ever gain? +Nothing! Her army of toy soldiers would be of less use to you than a +single corps from across the Elbe. Her fleet--you have no possessions +to guard. It is for herself only that she maintains it. I ask you to +think quietly for yourself and ask yourself on whose side is the +balance of advantage. You can reply to that question in one way, and +one way only. France has been carried away on a wave of enthusiasm, a +wave of sentiment--call it what you will. But France is a far-seeing +people. The moment is ripe. I propose to Paul Jesen that his should be +the hand and _Le Jour_ the vehicle which shall bring the French +people to a proper understanding of the political situation." + +"Who, then, are you?" Mademoiselle Susanne persisted. + +Herr Freudenberg barely hesitated. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "we speak of great things, we three, in this +little chamber of yours. I, who have often talked of great things +before, have learned in life one lesson at least, and that is when one +may trust. It is not my desire that many people should know who I am. +It suits my purpose better to move in Paris as a private citizen, but +to you two let me tell the truth. I am Prince Falkenberg." + +There was a silence. The man looked at him, sober enough now, in +amazement. The girl's hands were clasped together. She was watching the +man--her man. She crept to his side, her arm was around his neck. + +"Dear Paul," she whispered, "think! Think how sweet life might be. +There is so much truth in all this. I know little of politics, but +think of the hard times we have lived through. Think how glorious to +have you ride in your automobile to the offices of your newspaper, to +see you pass into the editor's sanctum instead of waiting outside, to +have me call for you, perhaps, and take you out to lunch--no, never at +Drevel's any more--at the Café de Paris, or Henry's, or Paillard's, or +out in the Bois! And the excursions, dear Paul. Think of them! The +country--how we both love the country! You remember when we first went +out together to the little town on the river, where no one ever seemed +to have come from Paris before? How sleepy and quiet the long +afternoon, when we lay in the grass and heard the birds sing, and the +murmur of the river, and we had only a few francs for our dinner, and +we had to leave the train and walk that last four miles because you had +drunk one more _bock_. Dear Paul, think what life might be if one +were really rich!" + +The man's eyes flashed. + +"It is true," he muttered. "All my life I have been a straggler." + +"You have done your genius an ill turn, my friend," Herr Freudenberg +said slowly. "No man can be at his best who knows care. I, Prince +Falkenberg, I promise you that it is the truth which I have spoken, the +truth which I shall show you. You lose no shadow of honor or +self-respect. There will come a day when the millions of readers whom +you shall influence will say to themselves--'Paul Jesen, he is the man +who saw the truth. It is he who has saved France.' You accept?" + +"Monsieur le Prince," Susanne cried, "he accepts!" + +Jesen rose to his feet. He had become a little unsteady again. He +struck the table with his fist. + +"I accept!" he declared. + + + + + + +BOOK TWO + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +THE FLIGHT OF LADY ANNE + + +It was exactly nine forty-five in the evening, about three weeks +later, when the two-twenty from London steamed into the Gare du Nord. +Julien, from his place among the little crowd wedged in behind the +gates, gazed with blank amazement at the girl who, among the first to +leave the train, was presenting her ticket to the collector. At that +moment she recognized him. With a purely mechanical effort he raised +his hat and held out his hand. + +"Lady Anne!" he exclaimed. "Why--I had no idea you were coming to +Paris," he added weakly. + +She laughed--the same frank, good-humored laugh, except that she seemed +to lack just a little of her usual self-possession. + +"Neither did I," she confessed, "until this morning." + +He looked at her blankly. She was carrying her own jewel-case. He could +see no signs of a maid or any party. + +"But tell me," he asked, "where are the rest of your people?" + +She shook her head. + +"Nowhere. I am quite alone." + +Julien was speechless. + +"You must really forgive me," he continued, after a moment's pause, "if +I seem stupid. It is scarcely a month ago since I read of your +engagement to Harbord. The papers all said that you were to be married +at once." + +She nodded. + +"That's exactly it," she said. "That's why I am here." + +"What, you mean that you are going to be married here?" asked Julien. + +"I am not going to be married at all," she replied cheerfully. "Between +ourselves, Julien," she added, "I found I couldn't go through with it." + +"Couldn't go through with it!" he repeated feebly. + +Lady Anne was beginning to recover herself. + +"Don't be stupid," she begged. "You used to be quick enough. Can't you +see what has happened? I became engaged to the little beast. I stood it +for three weeks. I didn't mind him at the other end of the room, but +when he began to talk about privileges and attempt to take liberties, I +found I couldn't bear the creature anywhere near me. Then all of a +sudden I woke up this morning and remembered that we were to be married +in a week. That was quite enough for me. I slipped out after lunch, +caught the two-twenty train, and here I am." + +"Exactly," Julien agreed. "Here you are." + +"With my luggage," she continued, swinging the jewel-case in her hand +and laughing in his face. + +"With your luggage," Julien echoed. "Seriously, is that all that you +have brought?" + +"Every bit," she answered. "You know mother?" + +"Yes, I know your mother!" he admitted. + +"Well, I didn't exactly feel like taking her into my confidence," Lady +Anne explained, smiling. "Under those circumstances, I thought it just +as well to make my departure as quietly as possible." + +"Then they don't know where you are?" + +"Really," she assured him, "you are becoming quite intelligent. They do +not." + +"In other words, you've run away?" + +"Marvelous!" she murmured. "I suppose it's the air over here." + +A sudden idea swept into Julien's mind. Of course, it was ridiculous, +yet for a moment his heart gave a little jump. Perhaps she divined his +thought, for her next words disposed of it effectually. + +"Of course, I knew that you were in Paris, but I had no idea that we +should meet, certainly not like this. I have a dear friend to whose +apartments I shall go at once. She is a milliner." + +"She is a what?" Julien asked blankly. + +A smile played about Lady Anne's lips. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "you know, you never did understand +me! I repeat that she is a milliner and that she is a dear friend of +mine, and I am going just as I am to tell her that I have come to spend +the night. She will have to find me rooms, she will have to help me +find employment." + +Kendricks, who had come by the same train, and whom Julien was there to +meet, was hovering in the background. Julien, seeing him, could do no +more than nod vaguely. + +"Lady Anne," he began,-- + +"You needn't bother about that," she interrupted. "We were always good +friends, weren't we?" she added carelessly. "Besides, to call me 'Lady' +anything would be rather ridiculous under the present circumstances." + +"Well, Anne, then," he said, "please let me get my bearings. I +understand that you were engaged to Harbord--you weren't forced into +it, I suppose?" + +"Not at all. I tried to run along the usual groove, but I came up +against something too big for me. I don't know how other girls do it. I +simply found I couldn't. Samuel Harbord is rather by way of being +something outrageous, you know." + +"Of course he is," Julien agreed, with sudden appreciation of the fact. + +"You needn't be so vigorous about it. I remember your almost forcing +him on to me the day you called to say good-bye." + +"I was talking rubbish," Julien asserted. "You see, I was in rather an +unfortunate position myself that day, wasn't I? No one likes to feel +like a discarded lover. I can understand your chucking Harbord all +right, but I can't quite see why it was necessary for you to run away +from home to come and stay with a little milliner." + +She laughed. + +"My dear Julien, you don't know those Harbords! There are hordes of +them, countless hordes--mothers and sisters and cousins and aunts. +They've besieged the place ever since our engagement was announced. If +the merest whisper were to get about among them that I was thinking of +backing out, there's nothing they wouldn't do. They'd make the whole +place intolerable for me--follow me about in the street, weep in my +bedroom, hang around the place morning, noon and night. Besides, mother +would be on their side and the whole thing would be impossible." + +"I have no doubt," Julien admitted, "that the situation would be a +trifle difficult, but to talk about earning your own living--you, Lady +Anne--" + +"Lady fiddlesticks!" she interrupted. "What a stupid old thing you are, +Julien! You never found out, I suppose, that at heart I am a Bohemian?" + +"No, I never did!" he assented vigorously. + +"Ah, well," she remarked, "you were too busy flirting with that Carraby +woman to discover all my excellent qualities. We mustn't stay here, +must we? Are you very busy, or do you want to drive me to my friend's +house? Of course, meeting you here will be the end of me if any one +sees us. Still, I don't suppose you object to a little scandal, and the +more I get the happier I shall be." + +"I'll take you anywhere," Julien promised. "You don't mind waiting +while I speak to the man whom I have come to meet?" + +"Not at all," she replied. "You are sure he won't object?" + +"Of course not," Julien assured her. "Kendricks is an awfully good +sort." + +The two men gripped hands. Kendricks was carrying his own bag and +smoking his accustomed pipe. He had apparently been asleep in the +carriage and was looking a little more untidy than usual. + +"I got your wire all right," Julien said, "and I am thundering glad to +see you. Are you just in search of the ordinary sort of copy, or is +there anything special doing?" + +"Something special," Kendricks answered, "and you're in it. When can we +talk? No hurry, as long as I see you some time to-night." + +"I am entirely at your service," Julien declared. "I have been bored to +death for the last few weeks and I am only too anxious to have a talk. +You don't mind if I see this young lady to her friend's house first? I +don't know exactly where it is, but it won't take very long. She is all +alone, and as long as we have met I feel that I ought to look after +her." + +"Naturally," Kendricks agreed. "I can go to my hotel and meet you +anywhere you say for supper." + +Julien glanced at his watch. + +"It is ten o'clock within a minute or two," he announced. "Supposing we +make it half-past eleven at the Abbaye?" + +Kendricks nodded. + +"That'll suit me. So long!" + +He strode away in search of a cab. Julien returned to Lady Anne and +took the jewel-case from her fingers. + +"It's all arranged," he said. "You are quite sure that you have no more +luggage?" + +She laughed. + +"Not a scrap! Have you ever traveled without luggage, Julien? It makes +you feel that you are really in for adventures." + +"Does it!" he replied a little weakly. Somehow or other, he had never +associated a love for adventures with Lady Anne. + +"Isn't it fun to be in Paris once more?" she continued. "I want a real +rickety little _voiture_ and I want the man to have a white hat, +if possible, and I want to drive down into Paris over those cobbles." + +"Any particular address?" + +She handed him a card. He called an open victoria and directed the man. +Together they drove out of the station yard. Lady Anne leaned forward, +looking around her with keen pleasure. + +"Julien," she cried, "this is delightful, meeting you! I hope I shan't +be a bother to you, but really it is rather nice to feel that I have +one friend here." + +"You couldn't possibly be a bother to me," he declared. "I'm rather a +waif here myself, you know, and I am honestly glad to see you." + +She looked at him quickly and breathed a little sigh of relief. + +"Now that's sweet of you," she said. "Of course, I don't see why you +shouldn't be. We were always good friends, weren't we? and it makes me +feel so much more comfortable to remember that we never went in for the +other sort of thing." + +"There was just one moment," he murmured ruminatingly,-- + +She turned her head. + +"Stop at once," she begged. "That moment passed, as you know. If it +hadn't, things might have been different. If it hadn't, I should feel +differently about being with you now. We are forgetting that moment, if +you please, Julien. Do, there's a good fellow. If you wanted to be +good-natured, you could be so nice to me until I get used to being +alone." + +"Forgotten it shall be, by all means," he promised cheerfully. "Do you +know that the address you gave me is only a few yards away?" + +"Oh, bother!" she exclaimed. "I knew that it was somewhere up by the +Gare du Nord." + +They turned off from the Rue Lafayette and pulled up opposite a +milliner's shop. + +"Mademoiselle Rignaut lives up above," Lady Anne said, alighting. "It's +sweet of you to have brought me, Julien." + +"I am going to wait and see that you are all right," he replied, +ringing the bell. + +There was a short delay, then the door was opened. A young woman peered +out. + +"Who is it?" she asked quickly. + +A little of Lady Anne's confidence for the moment had almost deserted +her. The girl's face was invisible and the interior of the passage +looked cheerless. Nevertheless, she answered briskly. + +"Don't you remember me, Mademoiselle Janette? I am Lady Anne--Lady Anne +Clonarty, you know." + +There was a wondering scream, an exclamation of delight, and Julien +stood on the pavement for fully five minutes. Then Lady Anne +reappeared, followed by her friend. + +"Sir Julien," she said, "this is Mademoiselle Rignaut. I am awfully +lucky. Mademoiselle Rignaut has a room she can let me have and we are +going to raid her shop and get everything I want. She has costumes as +well as hats." + +Julien shook hands with the little Frenchwoman, who had not yet +recovered from her amazement. + +"But this is wonderful, monsieur, is it not," she cried, "to see dear +Lady Anne like this? Such a surprise! Such a delight! But, miladi," she +added suddenly, "you must be hungry--starving!" + +"I am," Lady Anne admitted frankly. + +The little woman's face fell. + +"But only this afternoon," she explained, "my servant was taken away to +the hospital! What can we--" + +"What you will both do," Julien interrupted, "is to come and have +supper with me." + +"Do you really mean it?" Lady Anne asked doubtfully. "What about your +friend?" + +"He won't mind," Julien assured her. "You shall take your first step +into Bohemia, my dear Anne. We had arranged to sup in the Montmartre. +You and Mademoiselle Rignaut must come. I can give you half an hour to +get ready--more, if you want it." + +"What larks!" Lady Anne exclaimed. "Can I come in a traveling dress?" + +"You can come just as you are," Julien replied. "One visits these +places just as one feels disposed. I'll be off and get a taximeter +automobile instead of this thing, and come back for you whenever you +say." + +"You are a brick," Lady Anne declared. "I shall love to go." + +"Monsieur is too kind," Mademoiselle Rignaut agreed, "but as for me, it +is not fitting--" + +"Rubbish!" Lady Anne interrupted briskly. "You've got to get all that +sort of stuff out of your head, Janette, and to start with you must +come to supper with us. Bless you, I couldn't go alone with Sir Julien! +I was engaged to be married to him three months ago." + +Mademoiselle shook her head feebly. + +"But indeed, Miladi Anne," she protested, "you are a strange people, +you English! I do not understand." + +Lady Anne took her by the arm and turned towards the open door. + +"Don't bother about that. We'll be ready in half an hour, Julien." + +Julien returned to the Gare du Nord and treated himself to a whiskey +and soda. He was surprised at the pleasurable sense of excitement which +this meeting had given him. During the last few weeks in Paris he had +found little to interest or amuse him. He had been, in fact, very +distinctly bored. The newspapers and illustrated journals, although +they were always full of interest to him, had day by day brought their +own particular sting. Although his affection for Lady Anne had been of +a distinctly modified character, yet he had found it curiously +unpleasant to read everywhere of her engagement, of her plans for the +future, and to look at the photographs of her and her intended +bridegroom which seemed to stare at him from every page. Somehow or +other, although he told himself that personally it was of no +consequence to him, he yet found the present situation of affairs far +more to his liking. + +He lounged about the Gare du Nord, smoking a cigarette and thinking +over what she had told him. There was a good deal in the present +situation to appeal to his sense of humor. He thought of the Duke and +the Duchess when they discovered the flight of their daughter,--their +efforts to keep all details from the papers; of Harbord and his horde +of relations--Harbord, who had neither the dignity nor the breeding to +accept such a reverse in silence. He could imagine the gossip at the +clubs and among their friends. He himself was immensely surprised. He +had considered himself something of a judge of character, and yet he +had looked upon Lady Anne as a good-natured young person, brimful of +common sense, without an ounce of sentiment--a perfectly well-ordered +piece of the machinery of her sex. The whole affair was astonishing. +Perhaps to him the most astonishing part was that he found himself +continually looking at the clock, counting almost the minutes until it +was possible for him to start on this little expedition! + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +"TO OUR NEW SELVES" + + +Julien found a taximeter automobile and, punctually at the time +appointed, drove to the little milliner's shop in the Rue St. Antoine. +Lady Anne and her companion were waiting for him and they drove off +together in high good humor. The manager at the Abbaye bowed before +them with special deference. He recognized Julien as an occasional +customer, and Lady Anne, even in her traveling gown, was a person to +inspire attention. + +They chose a table and ordered supper for four. Kendricks had not yet +arrived, but it was barely half-past eleven and the place was almost +empty. Lady Anne was in high spirits and chattering all the time. +Julien looked at her occasionally in amazement. They had seldom been +alone together in London, but on those few occasions when the +conventions had demanded it, he had been inclined to find her rather +stupid. She was certainly nothing of the sort this evening! + +"I suppose I am a baby," she exclaimed, laughing, "but to-night I feel +as though I were beginning a new life! Tell me, mademoiselle, have you +a place for me as a seamstress? Or will you have me for a model? My +figure is good enough, isn't it?" + +"Miladi," Mademoiselle Rignaut declared deprecatingly, "there is no +girl in my shop with a figure like yours, but it is not well for you to +talk so, indeed. It is shocking." + +Lady Anne laughed gayly. + +"Now, my little friend," she said, "let us understand one another. +There is no more 'miladi.' I am Anne--Anne to you and Anne to Julien +here. I've finished with the 'miladi' affair. I dare say I shouldn't +care about being a model, but all the same I am going to earn my own +living." + +"Earn your own living!" Mademoiselle Rignaut echoed, in something like +horror. + +She had met the Duke and the Duchess--she had traveled even to London +and had passed the night beneath the ducal roof. Lady Anne's mother had +very sound ideas of economy, and Mademoiselle Rignaut was cheap and yet +undoubtedly French. + +"Earn my own living, without a doubt," Lady Anne repeated, helping +herself to a roll. "You don't mind my eating some bread and butter, do +you, Julien? I couldn't lunch--I was much too excited, and the tea on +the train was filthy. Why, of course I am going to earn my own living," +she continued. "I've only got a few thousand francs with me, and some +jewelry. I believe I have got a small income, but Heaven knows whether +they will let me have it!" + +Julien's eyes were suddenly lit with humor. + +"Why, the Duke will be here for you to-morrow," he exclaimed, "to take +you back!" + +She leaned back in her seat with an air of deliberation. + +"I'm free," she insisted. "I'm twenty-six years old, thank Heaven! +Twenty-six years I've had of it--enough to crush any one. No more! You +know, I like this sense of freedom," she went on. "It's perfectly +amazing how young I feel. Julien, do you remember when mother wouldn't +let us lunch together at the Ritz without a chaperon?" + +"I do," he assented. "I'm sure we didn't need one, either." + +She smiled reminiscently. + +"What sticks we were! What a silly life! I really have the most +delightful feeling, as though I were starting things all over again, as +though there were all sorts of wonderful adventures before me." + +Julien looked at her quickly. There was no woman in the place half so +good-looking or with any pretensions to such style. He was conscious of +an odd twinge of jealousy. + +"You'll have no trouble in finding adventures," he remarked a little +grimly. + +Her eyes flashed back an answer to his thought. + +"Bless you, I don't want anything to do with men! Fancy having been +engaged to you and to Samuel Harbord! What further thrills could +possibly be in store for me?" + +"Well, I don't know," Julien retorted. "I suppose if I was a stick, +there must have been something about you which induced me to be one." + +"Not a bit of it," she objected. "You were a solemn, studious, +gentlemanly, well-behaved, well-conducted prig--very much a male +edition of what I was myself. What a life we should have lived +together!... Here's your friend. You know, I rather like the look of +him. He's so delightfully untidy. I should think he belongs round about +the new world, doesn't he?" + +"He's a working journalist," Julien answered, "a very clever fellow and +a good friend of mine." + +"Then I shall adore him," Lady Anne decided,--"not because he is a good +friend of yours, but because he is a working journalist. Why, I saw him +sitting waiting for you the day you came and wished me that touching +good-bye," she added. "I liked him even then. It seemed so sweet of him +to come and help you through that terrible ordeal." + +She held out her hand to Kendricks very charmingly when he was +presented. + +"Don't be terrified at finding us here, please," she begged. "I know +you have some business to talk over with Julien, but you see we were +starving, and Julien had to be polite to me because we were once +engaged to be married. I promise you that when we have eaten we will go +home." + +Kendricks looked at her for a moment and smiled. + +"You know," he said, "I believe you've run away." + +She laughed. + +"I felt sure that I was going to like your friend, Julien!" she +exclaimed. "He understands things so quickly." + +"I am a newspaper man, you see," he told her. "Just as I left, I was +reading all sorts of things about your wedding, and the presents, and +the rest of it. I saw you in the train and recognized you." + +"Don't think I've come over after Julien," she continued cheerfully. "I +never dreamed of seeing him--not just yet, at any rate. I had no idea +where to run to, but Paris seemed to me so easy and so natural, and +somehow or other it must be more difficult to worry any one into going +back from a foreign country. Not that I've any idea of going back," she +broke off. "I think I'm going to enjoy life hugely out here." + +"But it is most astonishing!" Mademoiselle Rignaut declared with a +gasp. + +"My little friend here," Lady Anne went on, "hasn't got over it all +yet. She doesn't understand the sheer barbarity of being a duke's +daughter. The worst of it is she'll never have an opportunity of trying +it for herself. Heaven save the others! Julien, I hope we are going to +have some champagne. Mother never liked me to drink champagne at a +restaurant. You see," she explained, "we weren't rich enough to be in +really the smart set, or else I should have been allowed to do any +mortal thing, and if you aren't in the very smart set, it is best to +turn up your nose at them and to ape propriety. That's what we did. It +suited father because it was cheap, and mother because she said it went +with my style." + +"Champagne, by all means," Julien agreed. "I ordered it some time ago. +And here comes the lobster." + +"Julien, tell him to give me some wine," Lady Anne begged. "I am +thirsty." + +Julien gave the order to the _sommelier_. She raised the glass to +her lips and looked at him. + +"To our new selves," she exclaimed, laughing, "and to the broken +bonds!" + +Julien raised his glass at once. + +"To our new selves!" he echoed. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +WORK FOR JULIEN + + +The new Anne had not forgotten her natural stubbornness. At half-past +twelve she rose from the supper table and declined absolutely to allow +Julien to escort her home. + +"My dear Julien," she declared, "the thing is ridiculous. We have +finished with all that. I am a Bohemian. I expect to walk about these +streets when and where and at what hour I choose. You have business +with Mr. Kendricks and I am glad of it. You certainly shall not waste +your time gallivanting around with me. Janette and I together could +defy any sort of danger." + +"But, my dear Anne," Julien protested, "you cannot make these changes +so suddenly. To drive you home would take, at the most, half an hour." + +"I shall enjoy the drive immensely," Lady Anne answered coolly, "but we +shall take it alone. Don't be foolish, Julien. Come and find us a +little carriage and say good night nicely." + +He was forced to obey. He found a carriage and helped her in. She even +stopped him when he would have paid for it. + +"For the present," she said, "I prefer to arrange these matters for +myself. Thanks ever so much for the supper," she added, "and come and +see me in a day or two, won't you?" + +She gave him her hand and smiled her farewells at him. The lamplight +flashed upon her as she leaned forward to say good-bye, and Julien for +the first time realized that her hair was a beautiful shade of brown, +and that there was a quiet but very effective beauty about her face +which he had never appreciated. She waved her hand and laughed at him +in frank good-fellowship which he somehow felt vaguely annoying. The +carriage rolled away and he went back to Kendricks. + +"My friend," the latter exclaimed, "pay your bill and let us depart! I +am in no humor for the cafés to-night. Let us go to your rooms and sit +quietly, or drive--whichever you choose." + +"You have news?" Julien remarked. + +"I have news and a proposition for you," Kendricks replied. "I am not +sure that we do ourselves much good by being seen about Paris together +just now. I am not sure, even, whether it is safe." + +Julien stared at him. + +"You are making fun of me!" + +"Not I," Kendricks assured him. "We are both being drawn into a queer +little cycle of events, events which perhaps we may influence. When we +get back to your rooms, I will tell you about it. Until then, not a +word." + +They drove down the hill, talking of Lady Anne. + +"Somehow," Kendricks remarked, "she doesn't fit in, in the least, with +your description of her. I imagined a cold, rather stupid young woman, +of very moderate intelligence, and certainly no sense of humor. Do you +know that your Lady Anne is really a very charming person?" + +"She puzzles me a little," Julien confessed. "Something has changed +her." + +Kendricks nodded. + +"Whatever has done it has done a good thing. She gave you your congé +quite calmly, didn't she?" + +"Absolutely," Julien admitted. "She brushed me away as though I had +been a misbehaving fly." + +"After all," Kendricks said, "you were of the same kidney--a prig of +the first water, you know, Julien. I am never tired of telling you so, +am I? Never mind, it's good for you. Have you seen Herr Freudenberg +this week?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"Not since we were all at the Rat Mort together nearly a month ago. Did +I tell you that he made me an offer then?" + +"No, you told me nothing about it," Kendricks replied, leaning forward +with interest. "What sort of an offer? Go on, tell me about it?" + +"He wanted me," Julien continued, "to undertake the command of an +expedition to some place which he did not specify, to discover whether +a German who was living there was being held a prisoner--" + +"Oh, là, là!" Kendricks interrupted. "Tell me what your reply was?" + +"I told him that I must consult you first. As a matter of fact, I never +thought seriously about it at all. The whole affair seemed to me so +vague, and it didn't attract me in the least. I don't know whether you +can understand what I mean, but to me it appeared to be an entirely +artificial suggestion. If such a thing had been reasonable at all, I +should have said that it was an offer invented on the spur of the +moment by Herr Freudenberg, to get me out of Paris." + +"Really, Julien," declared Kendricks, "I am beginning to have hopes of +you. There are times when you are almost bright." + +"What are you here for?" Julien asked. "Is there anything wrong in +London?" + +"Anything wrong!" Kendricks growled. "You and your foolish letters, +Julien! You left the way open for that little bounder Carraby and he'll +do for us. Lord, how they love him in Berlin!" + +"They are not exactly appreciating him over here, are they?" Julien +remarked. "I don't understand the tone of the Press at all. There's +something at the back of it all." + +"There is," Kendricks agreed grimly. "Sit tight, wait till we are in +your rooms. I'll tell you some news." + +"We are there now," Julien replied, as the little carriage pulled up. +"Follow me, Kendricks, and take care of the stairs. I hope you like the +smell of new bread? You see, the ground floor is occupied by a +confectioner's shop. It keeps me hungry half the time." + +"Delicious!" Kendricks murmured. "Are these your rooms?" + +Julien nodded and turned on the electric light. + +"Not palatial, as you see, but comfortable and, I flatter myself, +typically French. Don't you love the red plush and the gilt mirror? Of +course, one doesn't sit upon the chairs or look into the mirror, but +they at least remind you of the country you're in." + +Kendricks threw open the window. The hum of the city came floating into +the room. They drew up easy-chairs. + +"Whiskey and soda at your side," Julien pointed out. "You can smoke +your filthy pipe to your heart's content. I won't even insult you by +offering you a cigar. Now go ahead." + +Kendricks lit his pipe and smoked solemnly. + +"Your remarks," he declared, "are actuated by jealousy. You haven't the +stomach for a man's smoke. Now listen. There's the very devil of a +mischief abroad and Falkenberg's at the bottom of it. Do you know what +he's doing?" + +"I know nothing." + +"You remember the night that we were up at the Rat Mort? He was talking +with a dirty-looking man in a red tie and pince-nez." + +"I remember it quite well," Julien admitted. + +"Well, he was the leader writer in _Le Jour_,--Jesen--a brilliant +man, an absolutely wonderful writer, but shiftless. Do you know what +Falkenberg has done? The paper was in the market, the controlling share +of it, and he bought it, or rather he put the money into Jesen's hands +to buy it with. The whole tone of the paper with regard to foreign +affairs has turned completely round. Every other day there is a +scathing article in it attacking the _entente_ with England. +You've read them, of course?" + +"So has every one," Julien replied gravely. "The people here talk of +little else." + +"It is known," Kendricks continued, "that Falkenberg has made every use +of his frequent visits to this city to ingratiate himself with certain +members of the French Cabinet, and to impress them with his views. To +some extent there is no doubt that he has succeeded. The German +Press--the inspired portion of it, at any rate--is backing all this up +by articles extremely friendly towards France and deriding her +friendship with England." + +"This, too, I have noticed," Julien admitted. + +"Carraby is in hot water already," Kendricks went on. "He had a chance +on Monday in the House, when he was asked a question about the German +gunboat which is reported to have gone to Agdar. The fool muddled it. +He gave the sort of suave, methodist reply one expected, and the German +Press jeered at him openly. Julien, it's serious. The French people are +honest enough, but they are impressionable. A Liberal Government was +never popular with them. You were the only Liberal Foreign Minister in +whom they believed. This man Carraby they despise. Besides, he has +Jewish blood in his veins and you know what that means over here. +Jesen's articles come thundering out and already other papers are +beginning to follow suit. The poison has been at work for months. You +remember monsieur and madame and mademoiselle, with whom I talked so +earnestly? Well, they were but types. I talked to them because I wanted +to find out their point of view. There are many others like them. They +look upon the _entente_ with good-natured tolerance. They doubt +the real ability of Britain to afford practical aid to France, should +she be attacked. This good-natured tolerance is being changed into +irritation. Falkenberg's efforts are ceaseless. The moment he has the +two countries really estranged, he will strike." + +"Against which?" Julien asked quickly. + +"Heaven only knows!" Kendricks answered. "For my part, I have always +believed that it would be against England. There is no strategic reason +for a war between France and Germany. Germany needs more than France +can give her. She does not need money, she needs territory. Falkenberg +is a rabid imperialist, a dreamer of splendid dreams, a real genius. He +is fighting to-day with the subtlest weapons the mind of man ever +conceived. Now, Julien, listen. I am here with a direct proposition to +you." + +"But what can I do?" Julien exclaimed. + +"This," Kendricks replied. "It is my idea. I saw Lord Southwold this +morning and he agreed. We want you to write for our paper a series of +articles, dated from Paris and signed in your own name, and we want you +to attack Falkenberg and the game he is playing. We will arrange for +them to appear simultaneously in one of the leading journals here. We +want you to write openly of these German spies who infest Paris. We +want you first to hint and then to speak openly of the purchase of +_Le Jour_ by means of German gold. We want you to combat the +popular opinion here that our army is a wooden box affair, and that we +as a nation are too crassly selfish to risk our fleet for the benefit +of France. We want you to strike a great note and tell the truth. +Julien, those articles signed by you and dated from Paris may do a +magnificent work." + +Julien's eyes were already agleam. + +"Splendid!" he muttered, rising to his feet. "If only I can do it!" + +"Of course you can do it," Kendricks insisted firmly. "Before you spoke +so often you used to write for the _Nineteenth Century_ every +month. You haven't forgotten the trick. Some of your sentences I +remember even now. I tell you, Julien, they helped me to appreciate +you. I liked you better when you took up the pen sometimes than I liked +you in those perfect clothes and perfect manner in your office at +Downing Street. Your tongue had the politician's trick of gliding over +the surface of things. Your pen scratched and spluttered its way into +the heart of affairs. Get back to it, Julien. I want your first article +before I leave Paris to-night." + +"I'll do my best," Julien promised. "It's a great scheme. I'm going to +commence now." + +"I hoped you would," Kendricks replied. "You've got the atmosphere +here. You're sitting in the heart of the France that belongs to the +French. It isn't for nothing that I've taken you round a little with me +since we were here. Chance was kind, too, when it brought us up against +Freudenberg. Remember, Julien, journalism isn't the gentlemanly art it +was ten or twenty years ago. You can take up your pen and stab. That's +what we want." + +"It's fine," Julien declared. "It is war!" + +Kendricks rose to his feet. + +"I'm going to bed," he announced. "The last month has been exciting and +there's plenty more to come. I need sleep. Julien, just a word of +caution." + +"Fire away," Julien sighed. He was already gazing steadfastly out of +the window, already the sentences were framing themselves in his mind. + +"The day upon which your first article appears," Kendricks said, +"Freudenberg will strike. Your life here will never be wholly safe. You +will be encompassed with spies and enemies. Why, this wild-cat scheme +of his of sending you off on some expedition was solely because you are +the one man of whom he is afraid. He feared lest Carraby might make +some hideous blunder in a crisis and that the country might demand you +back. That is why he wanted you out of the way." + +"You may be right," Julien admitted. "What's that striking--one +o'clock? Till to-night, David!" + +Kendricks nodded and left the room. Julien sat for a moment before the +open window. It was rather an impressive view of the city with its +millions of lights, the fine buildings of the Place de la Concorde in +clear relief against the deep sky, the Eiffel Tower glittering in the +distance, the subtle perfume of pleasure in the air. Julien stood there +and raised his eyes to the skies. Already his brain was moving to the +grim music of his thoughts. He looked away from the city to the fertile +country. Some faint memory of those once blackened fields and desolate +villages stole into his mind. He turned to his desk, drew the paper +towards him and wrote. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +A STARTLING DISCLOSURE + + +Julien was driving, a few afternoons later, with Madame Christophor. +She had picked him up in the Bois, where he had gone for a solitary +walk. In her luxurious automobile they passed smoothly beyond the +confines of the Park and out into the country. After her brief summons +and the few words of invitation, they relapsed into a somewhat curious +silence. + +"My friend," Madame Christophor remarked at length, glancing +thoughtfully towards him, "I find a change in you. You are pale and +tired and silent. It is your duty to amuse me, but you make no effort +to do so. Yet you have lost that look of complete dejection. You have, +indeed, the appearance of a man who has accomplished something, who has +found a new purpose in life." + +Julien to some extent recovered himself. + +"Dear Madame Christophor," he exclaimed, "it is true! My manners are +shocking. Yet, in a way, I have an excuse. I have been hard at work for +the last few days. I was writing all night until quite late this +morning. It was because I could not sleep that I came out to sit under +the trees--where you found me, in fact." + +"Writing," she repeated. "So you are changing your weapons, are you? +You are going to make a new bid for power?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"It is not that," he answered. "I have no personal ambitions connected +with my present work. It was an idea--a great idea--but it was not my +own. Yet the work has been an immense relief." + +She looked away, relapsing once more into silence. He glanced towards +her. The weariness of her expression was more than ever evident to-day, +the weariness that was not fretful, that seemed, indeed, to give an +added sweetness to her face. Yet its pathos was always there. Her eyes, +which looked steadily down the road in front of them, were full of the +fatigue of unwelcome days. + +"You men so easily escape," she murmured. "We women never." + +Julien was conscious of a certain selfishness in all his thoughts +connected with his companion. He had been so ready always to accept her +society, to accept and profit by the stimulus of her intellect. Yet he +himself had given so little, had shown so little interest in her or her +personal affairs. He sat a trifle more upright in his place. + +"Dear Madame Christophor," he said earnestly, "you have been so kind to +me, you have shown so much interest always in my doings and my +troubles. Why not tell me something of your own life? I have felt so +much the benefit of your sympathy. Is there nothing in the world I +could do for you?" + +She sighed. + +"No person in the world," she declared, "could help me; certainly not +one of your sex. I start with an instinctive and unchanging hatred +towards every one of them." + +"But, madame," Julien protested, "is that reasonable?" + +"It is the truth," she replied. "I do my best when we are together to +forget it so far as you are concerned. I succeed because you do not use +with me any of the miserable devices of your sex to provoke an interest +whether they really desire it or not. You treat me, Sir Julien, as it +pleases me to be treated. It is for that reason, I am sure--it must be +for that reason--that I find some pleasure in being with you, whereas +the society of any other man is a constant irritation to me." + +Julien hesitated. + +"You know," he began, "I am not naturally a curious person. I have +never asked a question of you or about you from the few people with +whom I have come in contact over here. At the same time,--" + +"Do you mean," she interrupted, "do you seriously mean that you are +ignorant as to who I really am, as to any part of my history?" + +"Entirely," Julien assured her. + +She was thoughtful for several moments. + +"Well, that is strange," she declared. "You are upsetting one of my pet +theories. All the men whom I have ever known have been more curious +than women. Are you interested in me, by any chance, Sir Julien?" + +"Immensely," he replied. + +"I am glad to hear it. Do you know, that is a great concession for me +to make, but it is the truth? I like you to be interested in me. Yet I +must confess that your ignorance as to who I really am astonishes me. +Perhaps," she added gravely, "if you knew, you would not be sitting by +my side at the present moment." + +"I cannot believe," he said, smiling, "that you are such a very +terrible person." + +"Terrible? Perhaps that is not the word," she admitted. + +"There is one thing," he went on, "concerning which I have always been +curious." + +"And that?" + +"The little manicure girl whom I met in the Soho restaurant," he +replied promptly, "what on earth was her reason for wishing me to come +and see you? Why did you want me to come?" + +"I thought," she murmured, "that we had agreed not to speak of those +matters for the present." + +"That was some time ago. Things are changing around us every day. It is +possible that within a very short time I may find myself in such a +position here that I am forced to know exactly who are my friends and +who my enemies." + +"Can you believe," she asked, "that you would ever find me among the +latter?" + +Julien thought for several moments. + +"I shall not ask you," he proceeded, "not to be offended with me for +what I am going to say. It was a chance remark I heard--no more. It +certainly, however, did suggest some association. There is a man who +comes often to Paris, who calls himself a maker of toys. He says that +he comes from Leipzig and that his name is Herr Freudenberg." + +She sat as still as a statue. Not a line of her features was changed. +Julien turned a little in his seat. As he watched, he saw that her +bosom underneath the lace scarf which she wore was rising and falling +quickly. Her teeth came suddenly together. He saw the lids droop over +her eyes as though she were in pain. + +"Herr Freudenberg," she repeated, "what of him?" + +"I knew him in the days when I counted for something in the world," +Julien explained. "Don't you remember that on the night when we dined +together at the Maison Léon d'Or he sent one of his emissaries for me? +He was a man in whom I had always felt the greatest, the most complete +interest. I went to him gladly. Since then, as you will know if you +read the papers, events have moved rapidly. I am beginning to realize +now how completely and absolutely that man is the enemy of my country." + +"It is true, that," she murmured. + +"For some reason," Julien continued, "he seemed anxious to remove me +from Paris. He made me a somewhat singular offer. He wanted me to go to +some distant country on a mission--not political and yet for Germany." + +"And do you go?" + +"No," he replied, "I have found other work. I don't think that I +seriously considered it at any time, yet I have always been curious as +to why he should have made such an offer to me." + +She had the air now of a woman who had completely recovered control of +herself. + +"Sir Julien," she asked, "I beg of you to tell me this. If you do not +know who I am, why have you mentioned Herr Freudenberg's name to me?" + +"Madame," Julien answered, "because the man who brought me the message +from Herr Freudenberg, the man who conducted me to him, the man +concerning whom you told me that strange, pathetic little story--he let +fall one word. I asked him no question. I wished for no information +except from you. Yet I am only human. I have had impulses of +curiosity." + +"Herr Freudenberg is my husband," Madame Christophor declared. + +Julien looked at her in amazement. For the moment he was speechless. + +"I say what is perhaps literally but not actually true," she went on. +"He was my husband. We are separated. We are not divorced because we +were married as Roman Catholics. We are separated. There will never be +anything else between us." + +Julien remained silent. It was so hard to say anything. The woman's +tone told him that around her speech hovered a tragedy. + +"Now you know that Herr Freudenberg is my husband," she asked, "are you +not a little afraid to be sitting here by my side?" + +"Why should I be?" + +"Don't you know," she continued, "that he is your enemy?" + +Julien looked grave. + +"No, I have scarcely realized that," he answered. "I think, perhaps, +when he reads yesterday's papers he may be feeling like that. At +present, so far as he knows, what have I done?" + +"You," she said, "were the only man who ever stood up to him, who ever +dealt a blow at his political supremacy. At the Conference of Berlin +you triumphed. German papers politely, and in a very veiled manner, +reminded him of his defeat. It was not a great matter, it is true, but +none the less the Conference of Berlin was the first diplomatic failure +in which he had ever been concerned, and you were responsible for it." + +"You think, then," Julien remarked, "that he still harbors a grudge +against me for that?" + +"Without a doubt. Now tell me what you mean when you speak of +yesterday's papers?" + +"I am writing a series of articles," Julien told her. "They commenced +yesterday. They will appear in a French paper--_Le Grand +Journal_--and in the English _Post_. They are written with the +sole idea of attacking Herr Freudenberg. When he reads the first, he +will understand--he will be my enemy." + +She held out her hand. + +"Then say good-bye to me now, my friend," she murmured, "for you will +die." + +Julien laughed scornfully. + +"We do not live in those days," he reminded her. "We fight with the +pen, with diplomacy, with all the weapons of statecraft and intrigue, +if you will. But this is not now the Paris of Dumas. One does not +assassinate." + +"My friend," she said earnestly, "you do not know Herr Freudenberg. If +indeed you have become during these last few days his enemy, by this +time next week you will surely have passed into some other sphere of +activity. There are no methods too primitive for him, no methods too +subtle or too cruel. He can be the most charming, the most winning, the +most generous, the most romantic person who ever breathed; or he can be +a Nero, a cruel and brutal butcher, a murderer either of reputations or +bodies--he cares little which." + +"Presently," Julien declared, "I shall begin to feel uncomfortable." + +"Oh! you have courage, of course," she admitted, with a scornful little +shrug of the shoulders. "No one has ever denied that to your race. But +you have also the unconquerable stupidity which makes heroes and +victims of your soldiers." + +Julien smiled. + +"Well, I am at least warned, and for that I thank you. Now let me ask +you another question. You have told me this very strange thing about +yourself and Herr Freudenberg. You have told me of your feelings +concerning him. Yet you have not really told me exactly on what terms +you are with him at present? Forgive me if I find this important." + +"I do not receive him," she replied. "I have no interest in his comings +or his goings. I have a solemn promise, a promise to which he has +subscribed upon his honor, that he shall not seek to cross the +threshold of my house. He sent me an ambassador once quite lately to +make me a certain proposition connected with you." + +"With me?" Julien repeated. + +She nodded. + +"He has great faith in my powers," she went on, looking him full in the +face, "also, apparently, some belief in your susceptibility. Is that +unkind of me? Never mind, it is the truth. He imagined, perhaps, that I +might help him to rid Paris of your presence. There was just one thing +he could offer me which I desired. He came to offer it." + +"You refused?" Julien exclaimed. + +Her eyes rested upon his. Her expression was faintly provocative. + +"How could I accept an offer," she asked, "to deal with a thing which +did not belong to me? You have shown no signs at present, Sir Julien, +of becoming my abject slave." + +The car rushed through a straggling village. All the time she was +watching him. Then she threw herself back among the cushions with a +little laugh. + +"A week or so ago," she murmured, "I had a fancy that if I had +tried--well, that perhaps you were not so different from other men. I +should have loathed my conquest, I should probably have loathed you, +but I think that I should have expected it. At the present moment," she +went on, glancing into a little gold mirror which she had picked up +from a heap of trifles lying on the table before her, "at the present +moment I am disillusioned. My vanity is wounded though my relief is +great. Nevertheless, Sir Julien, tell me what has happened to you +during the last few days?" + +"Work," Julien replied, "the sort of work I was craving for." + +"Not only that," she insisted, setting down the mirror with a sigh. +"There is something else." + +"If there is," Julien assured her, "I am not yet conscious of it." + +They had emerged from the country lane along which they had been +traveling and were returning now to Paris along the broad highroad. +They were going at a fair speed when suddenly a huge racing car came +flashing by them, covered with dust, and with all the indications of +having come a great distance. Madame Christophor leaned forward in her +seat and clutched her companion's arm. Her eyes were fixed upon the +figure of the man leaning back by the side of the driver. + +"You see?" she muttered. + +"Herr Freudenberg!" Julien gasped. + +She nodded. Already the car had vanished in a cloud of dust. + +"He is just from Germany or from the frontier. He very seldom comes all +the way by rail. The car is always waiting." + +"I shall see him, then, to-night," Julien declared. "Already, without a +doubt, he knows. Already he is my enemy. What about you, Madame +Christophor?" + +"My friend," she promised, "you will have nothing to fear from me. So +long as I can forget your sex, I rather like you." + +"Are you going to answer my question about the little girl who sent me +to you?" he asked. + +"I will tell you, if you like," she said. "Mademoiselle Senn was once +in my service. She occasionally executes commissions for me in London. +She knows everybody. It was in obedience to my wishes that she gave you +that message." + +"But why?" Julien demanded. "What interest had you in me?" + +"None," she answered a little coldly,--"no personal interest. I sent +that message because I discovered that the individual who has just +passed us in the automobile was framing certain schemes in connection +with you if you should come to Paris. Politically as well as personally +he and I are enemies. He hates America and the whole Anglo-Saxon race. +It has amused me more than once to thwart his schemes. I intended to +set you upon your guard. You see, it is very simple. Mademoiselle Senn +wrote me at first that she did not know you and that she feared you +were inaccessible. Then she wired me of an accidental meeting and that +she had delivered my message. The whole affair is simpler than it +seemed, is it not so?... Now listen. I have satisfied your curiosity. +You now shall answer a question. Who is Miss Clonarty?" + +Julien gazed at her in astonishment. + +"Miss Clonarty?" he repeated. + +Madame Christophor nodded. + +"The name seems to surprise you. A young English woman called on me +to-day in answer to my advertisement for a secretary who could write +and speak English. She said that her name was Miss Anne Clonarty and +she referred me to you." + +"If she is the lady whom I suppose she is," Julien replied, "you will +be perfectly safe in engaging her." + +Madame Christophor looked at him from underneath the lids of her eyes. + +"Do you think that I do not know?" she asked, with a shade of contempt +in her tone,--"that I do not sometimes read the papers? Do you think +that I have not seen that Lady Anne Clonarty, the girl whom you were +engaged to marry, disappeared from her home the other day, on the eve +of her marriage to another man? It is this girl who comes to me for my +situation, is it not so?" + +Julien was silent. + +"I knew nothing of her coming. I did not even know that you wanted a +secretary." + +"I wonder why she came to Paris," Madame Christophor remarked. "Is she +in love with you?" + +"There was never any question of anything of the sort," Julien declared +fervently. + +"You have seen her since she arrived in Paris?" + +"Entirely by accident. I saw her alight from the train. I was at the +Gare du Nord to meet Kendricks." + +Madame Christophor leaned back in her seat. + +"Is it your wish that I engage her?" + +"Certainly," Julien replied. "I am sure that you will find her +competent. At the same time, I don't know how long she will keep this +thing up." + +"As a rule I do not care for handsome women around me," Madame +Christophor said composedly. "Lady Anne is much too good-looking to +please me. She has all the freshness and vitality," she added, dropping +her voice a little, "which seem to have left me forever." + +"You have experience," Julien reminded her. "Experience in itself is +wonderful, even though one has to pay for it." + +They were in the streets of Paris now. Madame Christophor shrugged her +shoulders and sat up. + +"It is one of the misfortunes of my sex," she said, a little bitterly, +"that without experience we lack charm--in the eyes of you men, that is +to say. It is your own folly.... Are you coming home with me, my +friend, or shall I set you down somewhere?" + +"As near the Gare du Nord as possible, if you please," Julien begged. +"I have wearied you enough for one afternoon." + +Madame Christophor looked at him thoughtfully. There was a slight frown +upon her forehead. + +"Somewhere near the Gare du Nord!" she repeated. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +THE FIRST ARTICLE + + +Julien found Lady Anne in a small, stuffy apartment on the third floor +of the house in the Rue St. Antoine. Before her was a sewing-machine, +and the floor of the room was littered with oddments of black calico. +She herself was seated apparently deep in thought before an untrimmed +hat. + +"What on earth, my dear Anne," he exclaimed, "are you doing?" + +She merely glanced up at his entrance. Her eyes were still far away. + +"Don't interrupt," she begged. "I am seeking for an inspiration. In my +younger days I used to trim hats. I don't suppose anything I could do +would be of any use here, but one must try everything." + +"But I thought," he protested, "that you were going to be a lady's +secretary, or something of that sort?" + +"I have applied for a situation," she admitted. "I am not engaged yet. +By the bye, I gave your name as a reference. I wonder if there is any +chance for me." + +"As a matter of fact," he told her, "I have just left the lady whose +advertisement you answered." + +"Madame Christophor?" + +"Madame Christophor. If you are really anxious for that post, I can +assure you that it is yours." + +She flung the hat to the other end of the room. + +"Good!" she exclaimed. "I don't think this sort of thing is in my line +at all. Tell me, is Madame Christophor half as charming as she looks?" + +"I have known her only a short time," Julien replied, "but she is +certainly a very wonderful woman." + +"What does she do," Lady Anne asked, "to require a secretary?" + +"She is a woman of immense wealth, I believe," Julien answered, "and +she has many charities. She is married, but separated from her husband. +I think, on the whole, that she must have led a rather unhappy life." + +"I think it is very extraordinary," Lady Anne remarked, "that she +should be willing to take a secretary who knows nothing of typewriting +or shorthand. I told her how ignorant I was, but she didn't seem to +mind much." + +Julien sat down by the side of the sewing-machine. + +"Anne," he began, "do you really think you're going to care for this +sort of thing?" + +"What sort of thing?" she demanded. + +"Why, life on your own. You have been so independent always and a +person of consequence. You know what it means to be a servant?" + +"Not yet," Lady Anne admitted. "I think, though, that it is quite time +I did. I am rather looking forward to it." + +Julien was a little staggered. She looked over at him and laughed +scornfully. + +"After all," she said, "I am not sure, Julien, whether you are a person +of much understanding. You proposed to me because I happened to be the +sort of girl you were looking for. My connections were excellent and my +appearance, I suppose, satisfactory. You never thought of me myself, me +as an independent person, in all your life. Do you believe that I am +simply Lady Anne Clonarty, a reasonable puppet, a walking doll to +receive some one's guests and further his social ambitions? Don't you +think that I have the slightest idea of being a woman of my own? What's +wrong with me, I wonder, Julien, that you should take me for something +automatic?" + +"You acted the part," he reminded her. + +"With you, yes!" she replied scornfully. "I should like to know how +much you encouraged me to be anything different. A sawdust man I used +to think you. Oh, we matched all right! I am not denying that. I was +what I had to be. I sometimes wonder if misfortune will not do you +good." + +"Misfortune is lending you a tongue, at any rate," he retorted. + +"As yet," she objected, "I know nothing of misfortune. The impulse +which led me to chuck things was just the most wonderful thing that +ever came to me in life. I awoke this morning feeling like a freed +woman. I sang while I got up. It seemed to me that I had never seen +anything so beautiful as the view of Paris from my poky window. And I +got up without a maid, too, Julien. I had no perfectly equipped +bathroom to wander into. Not much luxury about these rooms of +Janette's." + +He glanced at her admiringly. + +"You certainly look as though the life agreed with you," he answered. +"Put on your hat and come out to dinner." + +She rose to her feet at once. + +"I have been praying for that," she confessed. "You know, Julien, I +should starve badly. The one thing I can't get rid of is my appetite. +You don't expect me to make a toilette, because I can't?" + +"Nothing of the sort," he assured her. "Come as you are." + +She kept him waiting barely five minutes. She was still wearing her +smart traveling suit and the little toque which she had worn when she +left home. She walked down the street with him, humming gayly. + +"Have you read the English papers this morning, Julien?" she asked. + +"Not thoroughly," he admitted. + +"Columns about me," she declared blithely. "The general idea is that I +am suffering from a lapse of memory. They have found traces of me in +every part of England. Not a word about Paris, thank goodness!" + +"But do you mean to say that no one has an idea of where you are? Won't +your mother be anxious?" + +"Not a bit of it," Lady Anne laughed. "I left a note for her, just to +say that she wasn't to worry. She knows I'll take care of myself all +right. Julien, don't you love these streets and their crowds of people? +Every one looks as though they were on a holiday." + +"So they are," Julien replied. "Life is only a holiday over here. In +England we go about with our eyes fixed upon the deadliest thing in +life we can imagine. Over here, depression is a crime. They call into +their minds the most joyous thing they can think of. It becomes a +habit. They think only of the pleasantness of life. They keep their +troubles buried underneath." + +"It is the way to live," she murmured. + +"This, at any rate," he answered, leading the way into Henry's "is the +place at which to dine. Just fancy, we were engaged for three months +and not once did I dine with you alone! Now we are not engaged and we +think nothing of it." + +"Less than nothing," she agreed, "except that I am frightfully hungry." + +They found a comfortable table. Julien took up the menu and wrote out +the dinner carefully. + +"In this country," he said, leaning back, "we are spared the barbarity +of table d'hôte dinners. Therefore we must wait, but what does it +matter? There is always something to talk about." + +"I am glad to hear that you feel like that, Julien. I remember +sometimes when we were alone together in England, we seemed to find it +a trifle difficult." + +"Since then," he replied, "we have both burst the bonds--I of +necessity, you of choice." + +"I don't believe," she declared, helping herself to _hors +d'oeuvres_, "that we are either of us going to be sorry for it." + +"One can never tell. So far as you are concerned, I haven't got over +the wonder of it yet. You never showed me so much of the woman +throughout our engagement as you have shown me during the last few +days." + +"My dear Julien," she protested, "you didn't know where to look for it. +Why does this funny little man with the mutton-chop whiskers hover +around our table all the time?" + +"He is distressed," Julien explained, "to see you eating so much bread +and butter. He fears that you will not have an appetite for the very +excellent dinner which I have ordered." + +"He is right," she decided. "Never mind, I will leave the rolls alone. +I am still, I can assure you, ravenous." + +She leaned back and, looking out into the room, began to laugh. People +who passed never failed to notice her. She was certainly a +striking-looking girl and she had, above all, the air. + +"Julien," she cried, "this is really too amusing! Did you see who went +by just then? It was Lord Athlington--my venerable uncle--with the lady +with the yellow hair. He saw you here with me--saw us sitting together +alone, having dinner--me unchaperoned, a runaway! Isn't it delicious?" + +Julien looked after his companion's elderly relative with a smile. + +"I wonder," he remarked, "whether your uncle's magnificent +unconsciousness is due to defective eyesight or nerve?" + +"Nerve, without a doubt," she insisted. "We all have it. Besides, don't +you see he's changed their table so as to be out of sight? I wonder +what he really thinks of me! If we'd belonged even to the really smart +set in town, it wouldn't have been half so funny. They do so many +things that seem wrong that people forget to be shocked." + +"I can conceive," he murmured, "that your mother's ambitions would +scarcely lead her in that direction." + +Lady Anne shrugged her shoulders. + +"I don't think she could get in if she tried. The really disreputable +people in Society are so exclusive. I wonder, Julien, if I shall be +allowed to come out and dine with you when I am Madame Christophor's +secretary?" + +"Once a week, perhaps," he suggested,--"scarcely oftener, I am afraid." + +"Ah! well," she declared, "I shall like work, I am convinced. Julien, +you are spoiling me. I am sure this is a _cuisine de luxe_. I told +you to take me to a cheap restaurant." + +"We will try them all in time," he answered. "I had to start by taking +you to my favorite place." + +"You really mean, then," she asked, "that you are going on being nice +to me? Of course, I haven't the slightest claim on you. I suppose, as a +matter of fact, I treated you rather badly, didn't I?" + +"Not a bit of it," he assured her. "I was a failure, that was all. But +of course I am going on being nice to you. There aren't too many people +over here whom one cares to be with. There aren't very many just now," +he continued, "who care to be with me." + +"Idiotic!" she replied. "Tell me about this work of yours?" + +He explained Kendricks' idea. Her eyes glistened. + +"It's really splendid," she declared. "How I should love to have seen +your first article!" + +"You shall read it afterwards," he told her. "I have a copy of _Le +Grand Journal_ in my overcoat pocket." + +She beckoned to the _vestiaire_. + +"I will not wait a moment," she insisted. "I shall read it while dinner +is being served. It's a glorious idea, this, to fight your way back +with your pen. There are those nowadays who tell us, you know, Julien, +that there is more to be done through the Press than in Parliament. +Your spoken words can influence only a small number of people. What you +write the world reads." + +She explained what she desired to the _vestiaire_. He reappeared a +minute or two later with the newspaper. She spread it out before her. +Julien read it over her shoulder. He himself had seen it before, but +his own eyes were the brighter as he reread it. When she had finished +she said very little. They ate the first course of their dinner almost +in silence. Then she laid her hand suddenly upon his. + +"Julien, dear," she said, "I have done you a wrong. I am sorry." + +"A wrong?" he repeated. + +She looked at him almost humbly. There was something new in her eyes, +something new in her expression. + +"I am afraid," she continued, "that I never looked upon you as anything +more than the ordinary stereotyped politician, a skilful debater, of +course, and with the chessboard brains of diplomacy. This,"--she +touched the newspaper with her forefinger--"this is something very +different." + +"Do you like it, then?" + +"Like it!" she repeated scornfully. "Can't you feel yourself how +different it is from those precise, cynical little speeches of yours? +It is as though a smouldering bonfire had leapt suddenly into flame. +There is genius in every line. Go on writing like that, Julien, and you +will soon be more powerful than ever you were in the House of Commons." + +He laughed. It was absurd to admit it, but nothing had pleased him so +much since the coming of his misfortune! She was thoughtful for some +time, every now and then glancing back at the newspaper. Over their +coffee she broke into a little reminiscent laugh. + +"Did I tell you about Mrs. Carraby?" she asked. "Mother and I met her +at Wumbledon House, two or three days after her husband's appointment +had been confirmed. I can see her now coming towards us. There were so +many people around that she had to risk everything. Oh, it was a great +moment for mother! She never troubled even to raise her lorgnettes. She +never attempted any of that glaring-through-you sort of business. She +just looked up at Mrs. Carraby's hand and looked up at her eyes and +walked by without changing a muscle. Of course I did the same--very +nearly as well, too, I believe. Cat!" + +Julien frowned slightly. + +"You can imagine," he said, "that I am not very keen about discussing +Mrs. Carraby. Yet, after all, her husband and his career were, I +suppose, the most important things in life to her." + +"Then she's going to have a pretty rocky time," Lady Anne decided. "I +don't understand much about politics, but I know it's no use putting a +tradesman into the Foreign Office. He's wobbly already, and as for Mrs. +Carraby--well, I don't know if she ever went on with you like it, +Julien, but you remember Bob Sutherland--the one in the Guards, I +mean?--well, she's going an awful pace with him." + +"I think," he declared, "that Mrs. Carraby can take care of herself." + +"Perhaps," Lady Anne replied, looking thoughtfully at her cigarette. +"You see, the woman knows in her heart that she's impossible. She +copies all our bad tricks. She sees that we all flirt as a matter of +course, and she tries to outdo us. It's the old story. What one person +can do with impunity, another makes an awful hash of. We can go to the +very gates because when we get there we know how to shrug our shoulders +and turn away. I am not sure that Mrs. Carraby has breeding enough for +that. She'll go through, if Bob has his way." + +"You are becoming rather an advanced young person," Julien remarked, as +he paid the bill. + +"My dear Julien," she said, "I've told you before that you never knew +me. If you had appreciated me as I deserved, when you came that cropper +you wouldn't have called on me to say good-bye. You'd have left that +red-headed friend of yours at home and told me that the empty place in +the taxicab was mine." + +He laughed and then suddenly became grave. + +"Supposing I had?" he whispered. + +She looked at him, startled. In that moment he seemed to see a new +thing in her face, a new and marvelous softness. It passed like a +flash--so swiftly that it left him wondering whether it was not indeed +a trick of his imagination. + +"Absurd!" she murmured. "Tell me, what is there we can do now? Must I +go home?" + +"On the contrary," he declared, "you are engaged to me for the evening. +Only I must call at my rooms. Do you mind?" + +"I mind nothing," she assured him. "Let us take a carriage and drive +about the streets. Julien, what a yellow moon!" + +They clambered into a little _voiture_, and with a hoarse shout +and a crack of the whip from the _cocher_, they started off. Lady +Anne leaned back with an exclamation of content. + +"If only it weren't so theatrical!" she sighed. "The streets seem so +clean and the buildings so white and the sky so blue and the people so +gay. Yet I suppose the bitterness of life is here as in the other +places. Why do you want to call at your rooms, Julien?" + +"There is just a chance," he explained, "that there may be a telegram +from Kendricks. I want to know what they think of my article." + +She laughed scornfully. + +"I can tell you that. There is only one thing they can think. How these +people will hate you who are trying to make mischief between France and +England!" + +Julien smiled grimly. + +"I shouldn't be surprised," he admitted. "It may come to a tussle +between us yet." + +They pulled up before the door of his rooms. She, too, alighted. + +"I want to see what your quarters are like," she said calmly. "I may +come up, mayn't I?" + +"By all means," he assented. + +She followed him up the dark stairs and into his room. He turned on the +lights. She looked around at his little salon, with its French +furniture, its open windows with the lime trees only a few feet away, +and threw herself into an easy-chair with a sigh of content. + +"Julien, how delightful!" she exclaimed. "Is there anything for you?" + +He walked to the mantelpiece. There was a telegram and a note for him. +The former he tore open and his eyes sparkled as he read it aloud. + +Magnificent. Be careful. Am coming over at once. + +KENDRICKS. + +He passed it on to her. Then he opened the note. + +I am coming to your rooms for my answer to-night. + +CARL FREUDENBERG. + +Even as he read it there was a knocking at the door. She looked up +doubtfully. + +"Who is that?" + +"It may be the man who writes me here," he told her. + +She rose softly to her feet and pointed to the door which divided the +apartments. He nodded and she passed through into the inner room. +Julien went to the outside door and threw it open. It was indeed Herr +Freudenberg who stood there. + +"Come in," he invited. + +Herr Freudenberg removed his hat and entered. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +FALKENBERG FAILS + + +Herr Freudenberg was dressed for the evening with his usual fastidious +neatness. He had the air of a man who had been engaged for many nights +in some arduous occupation. There were dark rims under his eyes, the +lines upon his forehead were deeper. Nevertheless, he smiled with +something of his old gayety as he accepted the chair which Julien +placed for him. + +"My dear Sir Julien," he said, "I have come a good many hundred miles +at a most inconvenient moment for the sake of a brief conversation with +you." + +Julien raised his eyebrows. + +"You surprise me!" he exclaimed. "I had no idea that the mission you +spoke of was so urgent." + +"Nor is it," Herr Freudenberg replied. "As a matter of fact, it +scarcely exists at all, or if it did exist, it was created simply as a +means of removing you from within the reach of practical politics for +some months. I have foresight, you see, Sir Julien. I saw what was +coming. Permit me to tell you that I do not like your letter in _Le +Grand Journal_ yesterday, a letter which I understand appeared also +in the London _Post_." + +"I am sorry," Julien said calmly. "Still, to be perfectly frank, it +wasn't written with a view of pleasing or displeasing you. It was +written in a strenuous attempt to preserve the friendship between +France and England." + +"It is to be followed, I presume, by others?" Herr Freudenberg asked. + +"It is the first of a series," Julien admitted. + +"You know," Herr Freudenberg remarked, glancing at his finger-nails for +a moment, "that it is most diabolically clever?" + +"You flatter me," Julien murmured. + +"Not at all. I have spoken the truth. I am here to know what price you +will take to suppress the remainder of the series." + +Julien considered. + +"I will take," he replied, "the exact amount of the last war indemnity +which was paid to you by France." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. + +"A mere trifle to the war indemnity we shall be asking from England +before very long." + +"I am not avaricious," Julien declared. "Those are my terms." + +Herr Freudenberg sighed. + +"My friend," he said, "it would be better if you talked of this matter +reasonably. There are other ways of securing the non-continuance of +those letters than by purchase." + +"Precisely," Julien answered, "but Paris, in its beaten thoroughfares, +at any rate, is a law-abiding city. I don't fancy that I shall come to +much grief here." + +"A brave man," Herr Freudenberg remarked, "seldom believes that he will +come to grief." + +"If the blow falls, nevertheless, it is at least considerate of you +that you bring me warning!" + +"Rubbish!" Herr Freudenberg interposed. "Listen, Sir Julien, I ask you +to consider this matter as a reasonable person. We don't want war. We +don't mean to have war. But the desire of my Ministers--my own +desire--really is to inflict a crushing diplomatic humiliation upon the +present Government of Great Britain. It is composed of incompetent and +objectionable persons. We desire to humiliate them. Yet who is it that +we find taking up the cudgels on their behalf? You--the man whom they +drove out, the man whom from sheer jealousy they ousted from their +ranks. Why, you should be with us, not against us." + +"I have no grudge whatever against my party," Julien said. "You seem to +have been misinformed upon that subject. Besides, I am an Englishman +and a patriot. The whole series of my articles will be written, and I +shall do my best to point out exactly the means by which this present +coolness between our two countries has been engineered." + +"I will give you," Herr Freudenberg offered, "a million francs not to +write those articles." + +Julien pointed to the door. + +"You are becoming offensive!" + +Herr Freudenberg rose slowly to his feet. There was a little glitter in +his eyes. + +"I have gone out of my way," he declared, "to be friendly with you, +most obstinate of Englishmen. That now is finished. You shall not write +those articles." + +"You threaten me?" + +"I do!" + +"There are times," Julien remarked quietly, "when I scarcely know +whether to take you seriously. There is surely a little of the +burlesque about such a statement?" + +Herr Freudenberg shrugged his shoulders slightly. + +"You think so? Nevertheless, no man whom I have ever threatened has +done the thing against which I have warned him." + +Julien turned towards the door to open it. Herr Freudenberg, with +footsteps like a cat, came up behind him. Suddenly he threw his long, +sinewy arm around the other's neck. Taken utterly unprepared, Julien +was powerless. Herr Freudenberg swung him round upon his back and knelt +upon his chest. + +"This," he said calmly, "distresses me extremely. Yet what am I to do?" + +He whistled softly. The door was opened. Estermen came in with +suspicious alacrity. There was scarcely any need of words. In a moment +Julien's legs and arms were bound and a gag thrust between his teeth. +Herr Freudenberg moved before the door and listened. + +"Estermen has reported to me," he remarked, "that you keep no +manservant. Any intrusion here, therefore, is scarcely to be feared. +You will permit me?" + +He took one of the tumblers from the tray, rinsed it out with +soda-water, and poured the contents of a small phial into it. Then he +came and stood over Julien. + +"My obstinate Englishman," he proceeded, "this tumbler contains the +waters of forgetfulness. Let me assure you upon my honor that the +liquid is harmless. Its one effect is to reduce those who take it to +such a state that for the space of a week or two their mental faculties +are impaired. You will drink this in a few minutes. You will awake +feeling weak, languid, indisposed for exercise, incapable of mental +effort. The doctor will prescribe a tonic, you will go away, but it +will be months before you are able to set yourself to any task +requiring the full use of your faculties. At the end of that time, I +trust that you will have found wisdom. Will you swallow the draught?" + +Julien shook his head violently. Herr Freudenberg sighed. + +"I was hoping," he continued, "that you would not force me to mention +the alternative. I should dislike exceedingly having to inflict any +more lasting injury upon you, but you stand in my path and I permit no +one to do that. Drink, and in a month or two all will be as it is now. +Refuse, and I shall leave Estermen to deal with you, and let me warn +you that his methods are not so gentle as mine. More men than one who +have been foolish have disappeared in Paris." + +"If you move a step this way," a calm voice said from the other end of +the room, "I shall shoot." + +Herr Freudenberg turned his head. Estermen, whose nerves were less +under control, gave a little cry. Lady Anne was standing upon the +threshold of the doorway between the two rooms, and in her very steady +hand was grasped a small revolver. The two men were speechless. + +"It has taken me some time to find this," Lady Anne went on, "and +longer still to find the cartridges. I do not understand in the least +what has happened, but I am perfectly serious when I tell you that I +shall shoot either of you two if you move a step towards me." + +Herr Freudenberg looked into the revolver, looked at Lady Anne and made +her a little bow. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "who you may be I do not, alas! know. Sir +Julien, however, is indeed to be congratulated that he possesses +already so charming and courageous a friend with the entrée to his +bedroom." + +Lady Anne lifted the revolver a few inches and fired. The bullet struck +the wall barely a foot over Herr Freudenberg's head. A faint puff of +blue smoke floated up towards the ceiling. + +"I do not like impertinence," she remarked. "If you have any more such +speeches to make--" + +"Mademoiselle, I have none," Herr Freudenberg interrupted, bowing. +"Allow me, on the contrary, to offer you my apologies and to express my +admiration for your bearing. I must, alas! acknowledge myself, for the +moment, vanquished. I shall leave you to release our dear friend, Sir +Julien. But, if you are wise, mademoiselle, if you are really his +friend, you will advise him to obey the injunction which I have sought +to lay upon him to-day. A little affair like this which goes wrong, is +nothing. I have a dozen means of enforcing my words, not one of which +has ever failed." + +"I do not know who you are," Lady Anne said calmly, "or what it is +against which you are warning Sir Julien, but I am perfectly certain of +one thing. He will do what is right and what he conceives to be his +duty, without fear of threats from you or any one." + +Herr Freudenberg bowed low. Estermen, who had been glancing more than +once uneasily towards the revolver, was already at the door. + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg declared, "bravery is a splendid gift, +discretion a finer. Sir Julien knows who I am and he knows that I have +yet to admit myself vanquished in any scheme in which I engage. He will +use his judgment. Meanwhile, mademoiselle!" + +He bowed low, turned and left the room. Lady Anne listened to his +retreating footsteps. Then she crossed the room quickly and bent over +Julien. + +"Are you hurt?" she asked breathlessly. + +He shook his head. She fumbled for a few minutes with the gag and +removed it. + +"Not a bit," he assured her. "Don't put the revolver down yet, but +fetch me a knife. You'll find one on the mantelpiece in the bedroom." + +She did as he told her. In a few minutes he was free. He stood up, +gasping. + +"The fellow came up behind me," he explained, "while I was walking to +the door. Anne, what a brick you are!" + +He held out his hand. She took it, laughing frankly. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "what else could any one do? I heard +the row and,--shall I admit it?--peeped through the keyhole. I couldn't +see anything, so I opened the door softly and heard something of what +was going on. This old revolver was lying on your dressing-table, but I +had an awful hunt for the cartridges. Whoever were those men?" + +Julien smiled. + +"When I tell you," he said, "you will think that I am mad. Yet this is +the truth. The man with whom you talked was Prince von Falkenberg." + +"What, the German Minister?" + +Julien nodded. + +"It seems incredible, doesn't it? Falkenberg is a man possessed of one +idea--to upset the relations between France and England. For that +purpose he has been paying secret visits to Paris for the last year. He +has corrupted the Press here. He has wormed his way into the confidence +of one or two of the Ministers. The thing is a perfect mania with him. +He has taken it into his head that the articles which Kendricks has +made me promise to write, and the first one of which appeared in _Le +Grand Journal_ yesterday--the one you read at dinner-time--are going +to be exploited as an exposure of his methods. For that reason he came +ostensibly to confirm an offer which he made me some time ago. When I +refused, he offered me a large sum of money--anything to get rid of me +and to stop my writing these articles. Of course I declined, and there +you are." + +Lady Anne began to laugh once more. + +"Well," she said, "I suppose I'm not dreaming. It sounds like a page +out of an opera-bouffe. That man who was here, whom I threatened to +shoot, was really Prince Falkenberg?" + +"There's no doubt whatever about it," Julien assured her. "The very +first night I was in Paris he sent for me. Anne," he went on, turning +once more towards her, "I haven't thanked you half enough. What a nerve +you have! You were splendid!" + +"Don't talk rubbish, Julien," she protested. "The stroke of luck was +that I happened to be there. It must have been quite a surprise for him +to see an apparently respectable young woman step out of your bedroom. +I am inclined to fear, Julien, that I am compromised. Anyhow, mother +would say so!" + +"Between ourselves," Julien remarked, "I don't think that Falkenberg +will mention the occurrence. Just wait while I put on another collar +and we'll go to that music-hall." + +She glanced at the clock. + +"I think you shall take me home instead." + +He looked at her quickly. + +"This affair has upset you!" + +"My dear Julien," she said dryly, "what an absurd idea! Of course I am +quite used to these little affairs, to seeing you lie bound and gagged, +and pointing a revolver at that unpleasant-looking Prince, with a +horrible fear inside me all the time that if I did aim at anything I +shouldn't hit it! Nevertheless, I think I'll go home, if you don't +mind." + +They descended the stairs and he called a little _voiture_. + +"I suppose it would sound silly," he ventured, after a time, "if I said +anything more about thanking you?" + +"Ridiculous!" she replied. "But what are you going to do? Are you going +to the police?" + +He shook his head. + +"I think that Herr Freudenberg, as he calls himself, would be too +clever for me if I tried anything of that sort. You see, I have put +this revolver into my pocket. I am going to avoid the lonely places, +and have Kendricks with me as much as possible." + +She nodded. + +"Take care of yourself," she advised, in a matter-of-fact tone, as they +turned into the street where Mademoiselle Rignaut lived. "I don't want +to hear of any tragedies." + +"When shall I see you again?" Julien asked. + +"It depends upon what reply I get from Madame Christophor," she +answered. "She may want me at once, and I don't know yet whether I'll +get an evening out or not! I shall have to leave you to discover that. +Good night!" + +She vanished within the dark doorway. Julien stepped back into the +carriage more than a little puzzled. To him Anne had always seemed the +prototype of all that was serene and matter-of-fact. To-night he had +found her unrecognizable. There was something, too, in her face as she +had turned away, a slight tremble in her voice, that bewildered him. As +he drove back to his rooms through the lighted streets, it was strange +that, notwithstanding the exciting adventure through which he had +passed, his thoughts were chiefly concerned with the problem of this +unfamiliar Lady Anne! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +LADY ANNE DECLINES + + +"My dear Julien!" + +The Duchess was very impressive indeed. From the depths of an +easy-chair in her sitting-room at the Ritz Hotel she held out both her +hands, and in her eyes was that peculiar strained look which Julien had +only been privileged to observe once or twice in his life. It +indicated, or rather it was the Duchess's substitute for, emotion. +Julien at once perceived, therefore, that this was an occasion. + +"First of all," she went on, motioning him to a chair, "first of all, +before I say a single word about this strange thing which has brought +me to Paris, let me congratulate you. I always knew, dear Julien, that +you would do something, that you would not allow yourself to be +altogether crushed by the machinations of that hateful woman." + +"Really," Julien began, "I am not quite sure--" + +"I mean your letters, of course," she interrupted. "The Duke, when he +finished the first one, said only one thing--'Wonderful!' That is just +how we all feel about them, Julien. I met Lord Cardington only a few +hours before I left London, and he was absolutely enthusiastic. 'If one +thing,' he said, 'will save the country, it is this splendid attack +upon the new diplomacy!'--as you so cleverly called it. The Duke tells +me that that first article of yours is to be printed as a leaflet and +distributed throughout the country." + +"I am very glad," Julien said, "to hear all this. Tell me, what brings +you to Paris? Is the Duke with you?" + +The Duchess smiled at him reproachfully. + +"You ask me what brings me to Paris, Julien? Come, come! You and I +mustn't begin like that. I want you to tell me at once where she is." + +"Where who is?" + +"Anne, of course! Please don't play with me. Consider what a terrible +time we have all been through." + +Julien did not at once reply. His very hesitation seemed to afford the +Duchess a lively satisfaction. + +"There!" she declared. "You are not going to pretend, then, that you +don't know? That is excellent. Julien, tell me at once where to find +her. Take me to her." + +"I am afraid I can't do that," Julien objected. + +"My dear--my dear Julien!" the Duchess protested. "This is all so +foolish. Why should there be any mystery about Anne's whereabouts? I am +not angry. I ought to be, perhaps, but you see I have guessed my dear +girl's secret. I've felt for her terribly during the last few weeks, +but it was so hard to know what to do. It seemed shocking at the time, +but perhaps, after all, the course which she adopted was the wisest." + +"I am very glad to hear that you are taking it like that," Julien +remarked, "and I am sure Anne will be. I think the best thing I can do +is to go and see her and tell her that you are here--" + +"She does not know, then?" the Duchess interrupted. + +"Why, of course not," Julien replied. "I received your note early this +morning--before I was up, in fact--and you begged me so earnestly to +come round at once that I came straight here without calling anywhere." + +The Duchess coughed. + +"Very well, Julien, I will leave you to go and fetch Anne whenever you +like. I shall await you here impatiently. Tell me how it was that you +both managed to deceive us so completely?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"I haven't the slightest notion what you mean." + +The Duchess shrugged her shoulders. + +"For my part," she said, "I always looked upon dear Anne as the most +unemotional, unsentimental person. Naturally I thought that she was a +little attracted towards you, but on the other hand I had no idea that +she looked upon marriage as anything but a reasonable and necessary +part of life. I had no idea, even, that she had any real affection for +you." + +"Affection for me!" + +Julien looked up. The Duchess was regarding him as a mother might look +at a naughty child whom she intended to pardon. + +"I did notice," she continued, "that Anne seemed very silent for some +time after your departure, and there was a curious lack of enthusiasm +about her preparations for the wedding with Mr. Samuel Harbord. She +scarcely looked, even, at the pearls he gave her. You know that I found +them on the floor of her bedroom after she had gone away? Well, well, +never mind that," the Duchess went on. "When I got her hurried note and +understood the whole affair, I must say that on the whole it was a +relief to me. Dear Anne--she is only like what I was at her age, before +I married the Duke. You ought to be very proud and happy, Julien." + +"I should be very happy," Julien declared, "to understand in the least +what you are talking about." + +The Duchess stared at him. + +"My good man," she cried, "my own daughter runs away on the eve of her +marriage, throws all Society into a commotion, comes to Paris to join +the man whom she cares for--you--you, Julien--and then you affect to +misunderstand!" + +Julien was speechless for several moments. He was conscious of a little +wave of strange emotion. The walls of the hotel sitting-room fell away. +He was standing on the edge of the wood behind the shrubbery of +laurels. The smell of the country gardens, the distant music, the +delicious stillness, the queer, troubled look in Anne's eyes, her +suddenly quickened breath, that moment which had passed so soon! It +came back to him with a peculiar insistence during those few seconds! + +Then he brushed it away. + +"My dear Duchess," he said slowly, "you are laboring under some +extraordinary mistake. Anne and I were very good friends and I think +that we should have made a reasonably contented couple. That, however, +was naturally broken off at once owing to my misfortune. Anne's visit +to Paris, her sudden flight from London, had nothing whatever to do +with me. I met her here entirely by accident. No word has passed +between us which would suggest for a single moment that she looked upon +this matter any differently!" + +The Duchess listened to him steadily. At first there were signs of a +coming storm. Like a skilful general, however, she abandoned her +position and changed her tactics. She got up and walked to the window, +produced a handkerchief from her pocket, and stood dabbing her eyes. +She looked out over the Place Vendôme. Julien, who had not the least +idea what to say, kept silent. + +"Julien," she said at last, turning around, "this--this is a blow to +me. If what you say is true, and of course it is, dear Anne's life is +ruined. At present every one sympathizes with her. You know, Samuel +Harbord, notwithstanding his enormous wealth--you have no idea, Julien, +how horrid he was about the settlements--is very unpopular. There wasn't +a soul except his own people who didn't thoroughly enjoy his position. +Anne had run away to Paris, they all said, because she declined to give +up her old sweetheart. You know what they will all say now? She came +and you would have none of her! I ask you, Julien, as a man of the +world, isn't that the view people are bound to take?" + +"It is a very stupid view," Julien declared. "Anne cares no more for me +than for any other man. She isn't that sort. Even if I were in a +position to marry any one, I am quite sure that she would refuse me." + +The Duchess began to see her way. She tried, however, to banish the +look of relief from her face. + +"My dear Julien," she said very gently, "you men, however well you +mean, sometimes make such mistakes. I want to show you what I am sure +you will see to be your duty. Things, of course, can never be as we had +once hoped. On the other hand, I am a mother, Julien, and I want to see +my daughters happy. We are very, very poor, but a little privation is +good for all of us. The Duke will settle two thousand a year upon Anne, +and I am quite sure that you can earn money with that wonderful pen of +yours, and then, of course, there is your own small income." + +"Anne doesn't want to marry me, and," he added, after a moment's +hesitation, "I don't want to marry Anne. You forget that I am an +outcast from life. I have to start things all over again. What should I +do with a wife who has been used to the sort of life Anne has always +led?" + +"Dear Julien," the Duchess repeated, "I want to show you your duty. If +you do not marry Anne, every one in London will say that she came to +you and you refused her. It is your duty at least to give her the +opportunity. It is unfortunate that she came here, perhaps, but we have +finished with all that. She is here, every one knows that she is here, +and you have been seen together." + +Julien rose from his chair and walked up and down the room. + +"I haven't talked very much with Anne," he said, pausing after a while, +"but it seems to me that she is making a bid for liberty. She is an +independent sort of girl, you know, after all, although she was very +well content, up to a certain point, to take things as they came. I +don't believe for a moment that she would marry me." + +"At least," the Duchess persisted, "do your duty and ask her. If +necessary, even let people know that you have asked her. It is your +duty, Julien." + +Julien hesitated no longer. + +"Very well," he decided, "since you put it like that I will ask Anne, +but I warn you, I think she will refuse me." + +"She will do nothing of the sort," the Duchess declared; "but oh! +Julien, it would make me so happy if you would take me to her, if I +could have just a few minutes' talk with her first, before you said +anything serious." + +Julien smiled. + +"Dear Duchess, I think not. I will go to see Anne alone. I will ask her +to marry me in my own way. I will tell her that you are here, and +whether she consents to marry me or not, I will bring her to see you. +But my offer shall be made before you and she meet." + +"You are a little hard, dear Julien," the Duchess murmured, "but let it +be so. Only remember that the poor dear child may be feeling very +sensitive--she must know that she has placed herself so completely in +your power. Be nice to her, Julien." + +The Duchess offered him a tentative but somewhat artificial embrace, +which Julien with great skill evaded. + +"We shall see," he remarked, "what happens. I shall find you here, I +suppose?" + +The Duchess nodded. + +"I have traveled all night," she said, half closing her eyes. "Directly +I saw that it was my duty, I came here without waiting a single second. +I shall lie down and rest and hope, Julien, until I see you both. I +shall hope and pray that you will bring Anne here to luncheon with me +and that we shall have a little family gathering." + +Anne was seated before the wide-open window in the little back room +leading from Mademoiselle Rignaut's workshop. A sewing-machine was on +the table in the middle of the apartment, the floor was strewn with +fragments of material. Anne, in a perfectly plain black gown, similar +to those worn by the other young ladies of the establishment, was +making bows. She looked at Julien, as he entered, in blank amazement. +Then a shadow of annoyance crossed her face. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "fancy letting you climb these four +flights of stairs! Besides, these are my working hours. I am not +receiving visitors." + +"Rubbish!" Julien interposed. "There's surely no need for you to pose +as a seamstress?" + +She laughed. + +"Don't be foolish! Why not a seamstress? I am absolutely determined to +do work of some sort. I am tired of living on other people and other +people's efforts. Until I hear from Madame Christophor, or find another +post, I am doing what I am fit for here. Don't make me any more annoyed +than I am at present. I am cross enough with Janette because she will +make me sit in here instead of with the other girls." + +He came across the room and stood by her side before the window. The +slight haze of the midsummer morning rested over the city with its +tangled mass of roofs and chimneys, its tall white buildings with funny +little verandas, the sweep of boulevards and statelier buildings in the +distance. She looked up and followed his eyes. + +"Don't you like my view?" she asked. "One misses the roar of London. Do +you notice how much shriller and less persistent all the noises are? +Yet it has its own inspiration, hasn't it?" + +"Without a doubt," Julien answered. "Of course, you can guess what I +came for?" + +"If it were to ask me to lunch," she said, composedly threading her +needle, "I am sorry, but I can't come. I have to make twenty-five of +these bows and I am rather slow at it." + +"Luncheon might have followed as an after-thought," he replied. "My +real mission was to suggest that you should marry me." + +Lady Anne's fingers paused for a moment in the air. She sat quite +still. Her eyes were half closed. There was a curious little quiver at +her heart, a little throb in her ears. On the whole, however, she kept +her self-control marvelously. + +"Whatever put that into your head?" she inquired, going on with her +work. + +He hesitated. It was in his mind to tell her of that evening at +Clonarty, to speak of it, to recall that one wave of emotion on which, +indeed, they might have floated into a completer understanding. He +looked at her steadfastly. She was very graceful, very good to look +upon. She sat upright in her poor cane chair, bending over her foolish +little task. But he missed any inspiration which might have guided his +tongue. She looked so thoroughly self-possessed, so splendidly superior +to circumstances. + +"Isn't it natural?" he asked. "You and I were always good friends. We +have come together here and we are both a little lonely. I have never +known any one else in the world, Anne," he continued, "with whom I have +been able to think of marriage with more--more content. One might live +quite a pleasant life here. We should not be paupers. At any rate, +there would be no reason for you to sit in this stuffy room making +bows, or to go and write Madame Christophor's letters." + +"Is that all?" + +Again he was tempted. For a single moment she had raised her eyes and +he had fancied that in that swift upward glance he had seen the light +of an almost eager questioning, an almost pathetic search. He bent +towards her, but she refused obstinately to look at him again. + +"Dear Anne," he said, "I have always been fond of you." + +Again her fingers were idle. An idea seemed to have occurred to her. +She asked him a question. + +"How long is it since you have seen my mother?" + +He did not at once reply. She raised her head and looked at him. Then +she knew the truth. She set her teeth and fought. A little sob was +strangled in her throat. + +"I left your mother a few minutes ago," he told her. "She arrived in +Paris this morning and sent for me." + +Lady Anne worked for a time in silence. Then she laid the bow, which +she had finished, upon the table, and leaned back in her chair, +clasping her right knee with her hands. + +"You really are the queerest person, Julien," she declared. "How you +were ever a success as a diplomatist I can't imagine! You came in with +the air of one charged with a high and holy mission. It was so obvious +and yet for a moment it puzzled me. How I would love to have been with +you this morning--with you and my mother, I mean--somewhere behind a +curtain! Never mind, you've done the really right and honorable +thing--you have given me my chance. I am very grateful, Julien." + +She looked frankly enough into his face now and laughed. Julien +remained silent. + +"Can't you see, both of you," Anne went on, "you silly people, that +something quite alien to us and our set has found its way into my +life--a sort of middle-class complaint--Heaven knows what you would call +it!--but it came just in time to place me in a most awkward position. I +still haven't any doubt that marriage is a very respectable and +desirable institution, but to me the idea of it as a matter of +convenience has suddenly become--well, a little worse than the thing +which we all shudder at so righteously when we pass along the streets +of Paris. Of course, I know," she added, "that's a shocking point of +view. My mother would hold, and you, too, that a legalized sale is no +sale at all, that matrimony is a perfectly hallowed institution, a +perfectly moral state, and all the rest of it. You see, I very nearly +admitted it myself--I very nearly sold myself!" + +She shuddered. Then she rose to her feet, straight and splendid, with +all the grace of her beautiful young womanhood. + +"Men don't think just as we do about this," she continued. "You are all +much too Oriental. But a woman has at least a right to keep what she +doesn't choose to sell, even if in the end she chooses to give it." + +Julien moved a step nearer to her. + +"Anne," he said, "supposing one cared?" + +Every fibre of her body was set in an effort of resistance. The mocking +laugh rose readily enough to her lips, the words were crushed back in +her throat. Only the faintest shadow shone for a moment in her eyes. + +"Ah, Julien," she murmured lightly, "if one cared! But does that really +come, I wonder? Not to such men as you. Not often, I am afraid, to such +women as I." + +The door was suddenly opened. Little Mademoiselle Rignaut was covered +with confusion. + +"But, miladi," she exclaimed, "a thousand pardons--" + +"Janette," Anne interrupted, "if I hear that once more I leave--I seek +another situation." + +"But, mademoiselle, then," Mademoiselle Rignaut corrected, "a thousand +pardons indeed! I had no idea--" + +"My dear Janette," Lady Anne protested, "why do you apologize for +entering your own workshop? It is foolish, this. I go now, dear Julien, +to put on my hat. You shall drive me to where my mother is staying--the +Ritz, I suppose? Afterwards you shall leave us. Wait in the street +below. I shall be less than two minutes." + +Mademoiselle Rignaut was still apologetic as she conducted Julien down +the narrow stairs. + +"But indeed," she declared, "there never was a young lady so strange, +with such charming manners, so sweet, as dear Miladi Anne. All the time +she smiles, inconveniences are nothing, one would imagine that she were +happy. And yet at night--" + +"At night what?" Julien asked. + +Mademoiselle shook her head. + +"Miladi Anne is not quite so cheerful as she seems. At night I fancy +that she does not sleep too well. One hears her, and, alas! Monsieur +Sir Julien, last night I heard her sobbing quietly." + +"Lady Anne sobbing?" Julien exclaimed. "It seems impossible." + +"Indeed, but women are strange!" Mademoiselle Rignaut sighed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE + + +Lady Anne came gayly down to the street a few minutes later. She was +still wearing the plain black gown and the simplest of hats. +Nevertheless, she looked charming. Her fresh complexion with its slight +touch of sunburn, her wealth of brown hair, and the distinction of her +carriage, made her everywhere an object of admiration in a city where +the prevailing type of beauty was so different. + +"Poor mother!" she exclaimed, as they crossed the Place de l'Opéra. +"Tell me, was she very theatrical this morning, Julien?" + +Julien smiled. + +"I am afraid I must admit that she was," he declared. "I found her very +interesting." + +"I hate to talk about her," Anne continued, "it makes one feel so +unfilial, but really she is the most wonderful marionette that ever +lived the perfect life. You see, I have been behind the scenes so long. +Every now and then a little of the woman's nature crops up. Her cut to +Mrs. Carraby, for instance, was quite one of the events of the season. +It was so perfectly administered, so utterly scathing. I hear that the +poor creature went to bed for a fortnight afterwards. Gracious, I hope +I am not distressing you, Julien!" she added hastily. + +"Not in the least," Julien assured her grimly. "I have no interest in +Mrs. Carraby." + +Lady Anne sighed. + +"That's how you men talk when your little feeling has evaporated. +Julien, you're a selfish crowd! You make the world a very difficult +place for a woman." + +"I think," he said, "that your sex avenges itself.' + +"I am not sure," she replied. "Men so often place the burden of their +own follies upon a woman's shoulders." + +"You rebuke me rightly," Julien declared bitterly. + +"I was not thinking of you," she told him reproachfully. "I am sorry, +Julien. I should not have said that." + +"It was the truth," he confessed, "absolutely the truth. Still, I have +never blamed Mrs. Carraby for my disasters. It was my own asinine +simplicity. Tell me, when shall I see you again? I think I ought to +leave you here." + +She laughed. + +"You want to know about my interview with mother? Well, you shall know +all about that, I promise you, because I have changed my mind. I intend +to make you an auditor. Don't desert me, Julien, please. Remember, this +is really a trying moment for me. I have to face an irate and obstinate +parent. If friendship is worth anything, come and help me." + +"I can't help thinking," he objected, "that your mother would rather +talk to you alone." + +"Then you will please to consider me and not my mother," Anne insisted, +as they drew up before the door of the hotel. "I wish you to remain." + +The Duchess received them perfectly. She did not attempt anything +emotional. She simply held out both her hands a little apart. + +"You dear, sensible people!" she cried. "Anne, how dared you give us +such a shock!" + +Anne leaned over and kissed her mother. + +"Mother," she announced, "I am not going to marry Julien." + +The Duchess started. The expression which flashed from her eyes was +unmistakably genuine. + +"Don't talk nonsense, Anne!" she exclaimed sharply. + +"No nonsense about it," Anne retorted. "I can't bear to talk when any +one is standing up. Sit down, and in a few sentences I'll let you know +how hopeless it all is." + +There was real fear in the Duchess's eyes. + +"Anne," she gasped, "is there a man, then?" + +"You idiotic person, of course there isn't!" Anne replied. "Why on +earth you should all talk about a man directly a girl breaks away for a +time, I can't imagine. Now sit down there and listen. I brought Julien +along because if you bully me too much I shall make him take me away. +We are excellent friends, Julien and I, and he has been very kind to me +since I came here; but I met him entirely by accident, and if I hadn't +I am quite sure that we might have lived here for years and never come +across one another." + +"But I have told every one in London!" the Duchess protested. "I have +explained everything! I have told them how you always loved Julien, +what a terrible blow his troubles were, and how you suddenly found that +it was impossible for you to marry any other man, and like a dear, +romantic child that you are you ran away to him." + +"Yes," Lady Anne said dryly, "that's a very pretty story! That's just +what I imagined you would tell everybody when you knew that I'd come +here. That is just," she continued slowly, "what you have been rubbing +into poor Julien this morning before he came to see me. Very well, +mother, up to a certain point it came off, you see. Julien called most +dutifully, found me sitting in an attic--'attic' is the correct word, +isn't it?--and made his declaration. No, I don't think he declared +anything, on second thoughts! He effectually concealed any feelings he +might have had. It was a suggestion which he made." + +"My manner of expressing myself," Julien began a little stiffly-- + +"Your manner of expressing yourself was perfect," Anne interrupted. "It +was a great deal too perfect, my _preux chevalier_. Only you see, +Julien, only you see, mother, Julien offered me exactly what I left +home to escape from. I have come to the conclusion," she went on, +smoothing her skirt about her knees, "that it is most indecent and +wholly improper even to think of marrying a man who does not love you +and whom you do not love." + +The Duchess closed her eyes. + +"Anne, what have you been reading?" she murmured. + +"Not a thing," Anne went on. "I never did read half enough. I'm simply +acting by instinct. Julien and I were engaged for three months and at +the end of that time we were complete strangers. The idea of marrying a +stranger was not attractive to me. Let that go. Julien went. Along came +Samuel--" + +"We will not talk about Mr. Harbord," the Duchess interposed hastily. + +"Oh, yes, we will! Now so far as Julien was concerned," Anne continued, +"I dare say I should have smothered my feelings because there is +nothing revolting about him. He is quite an attractive person, and +physically everything to be desired. But when it came to a man who was +not a gentleman, whose manners were odious, who offended my taste every +time he opened his mouth--why, you see, the thing couldn't be thought +of! Day by day it got worse. Towards the end he began to try and put +his hands on me. That made me think. That's why I came to Paris." + +"Anne," the Duchess declared severely, "you are indecent!" + +"On the contrary," Anne insisted, "I think it was the most decent thing +I ever did. Now please listen. I will not come back to England, I will +not marry Julien, I will not think of or discuss the subject of +marriage with any one. I am a free person and I haven't the least +intention of spending my life moping. I am going to have a pleasant +time and I am going to have it in my own way. You have two other +daughters, mother--Violet and Lucy. Unless they change, they are +exactly what you would have them. Be satisfied. Devote your energies to +them and count me a black sheep. You can make me a little allowance, if +you like--a hundred a year or so--but whether I have it or not, I am +either going to make bows in Mademoiselle Rignaut's workshop, or I am +going to be secretary to a very delightful lady--a Mrs. Christophor, or +something of the sort." + +The Duchess rose--she had an idea that she was more dignified standing. + +"Anne," she said, "I am your mother. Not only that, but I ask you to +remember who you are. The women of England look for an example to us. +They look to us to live regular and law-abiding lives, to be dutiful +wives and mothers. You are behaving like a creature from an altogether +different world. You speak openly of things I have never permitted +mentioned. I ask you to reflect. Do you owe nothing to me? Do you owe +nothing to your father, to our position?" + +"A great deal, mother," Anne replied, "but I owe more to myself than to +any one else in the world." + +The Duchess felt hopeless. She looked toward Julien. + +"There is so much of this foolish sort of talk about," she complained. +"It all comes of making friends with socialists and labor people, and +having such terrible nonsense printed in the reviews. What are we to +do, Julien? Can't you persuade Anne? I am sure that she is really fond +of you." + +"I wouldn't attempt to influence her for a single moment," Julien +declared. "I won't say whether I think she is right or wrong. On the +whole, I am inclined to think that she is right." + +"You, too, desert me!" the Duchess exclaimed. + +"Well, it all depends upon one's conception of happiness, of course," +Julien replied, "but so far as I am concerned, let me tell you that the +idea of a girl like Anne married to an insufferable bounder like +Harbord, just because he's got millions of money, simply made me boil." + +Anne, for some reason or other, was looking quite pleased. + +"I am so glad to know you felt like that, Julien. It's really the +nicest thing you've said to me all the morning. Well, that's over now. +Mother, why don't you give us some lunch and take the four o'clock +train back? It's the Calais train, which I know you always prefer." + +The Duchess reflected for a moment. There were advantages in lunching +at the Ritz with Julien on one side of her and Anne on the other. She +gave a little sigh and consented. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +FOOLHARDY JULIEN + + +The luncheon in the beautiful restaurant of the Ritz was a meal after +the Duchess's own heart. She was at home here and received the proper +amount of attention. Not only that, but many acquaintances--mostly +foreign, but a few English--paused at her table to pay their respects. +To every one of these she carefully introduced her daughter and Sir +Julien. The situation was not without its embarrassments. Lady Anne, +however, dissipated them by an unaffected fit of laughter. + +"Mother thinks she is putting everything quite right by lending us the +sanctity of her presence," she declared. "We have been seen lunching at +the Ritz. After this, who shall say that I ran away from home to meet a +riding master in Paris, or some other disreputable person? I may +perhaps be pitied as the victim of a hopeless infatuation for you, +Julien, but for the rest, if we only sit here long enough I shall be +whitewashed." + +The Duchess was a little uneasy. + +"I must say, Anne," she protested, "that you seem to have developed a +great deal of levity during the last few days. It's not a subject to be +alluded to so lightly. Ah! now let me tell you who this is. A +wonderfully interesting person, I can assure you. She was born in Paris +of American parents, very wealthy indeed, married when quite young to +Prince Falkenberg, and separated from him within two years. They say +that she lives a queer, half Bohemian sort of life now, but she is +still a great person when she chooses. My dear Princess!" + +Madame Christophor, who had entered the room on her way to a luncheon +party, paused for a moment and shook hands. Then she recognized Julien. + +"Really," she murmured, "this is most unexpected. My dear Duchess, you +have quite deserted Paris. Is this your daughter--Lady Anne? I scarcely +remember her. And yet--" + +"We met yesterday," Lady Anne interrupted promptly. "You know, I want +to be your secretary, Madame Christophor, if you will let me. My mother +has entirely cast me off, so it doesn't matter." + +The Duchess made a most piquant gesture. It was really an insufferable +position, but she was determined to remain graceful. + +"My dear Madame Christophor," she said, "you have no grown-up children, +of course, so I cannot ask for your sympathy. But I have a daughter +here who is giving me a great deal of trouble. I flatter myself that I +have modern views of life, but Anne--well, I won't discuss her." + +Madame Christophor smiled. + +"Young people are different nowadays, Duchess," she remarked. "If Lady +Anne really wants to come into life on her own, why not? She can be my +secretary if she chooses. I shall pay her just as much as I should any +one else, and I shall send her away if she is not satisfactory. There +are a great many young people nowadays, Duchess," she continued, "in +very much your daughter's position, who do these odd things. I always +think that it is better not to stand in their way. Sir Julien, I want +to speak to you before you leave this restaurant. I have something +important to say." + +The Duchess was a little taken aback. To her it seemed a social +cataclysm, something unheard of, that her daughter should propose to be +any one's secretary. Yet this woman, who was certainly of her own +order, had accepted the thing as entirely natural--had dismissed it, +even, with a few casual remarks. Julien, who since Madame Christophor's +arrival had been standing in his place, was somewhat perplexed. + +"You are lunching here?" he asked. + +"With the Servian Minister's wife. I shall excuse myself early. It is a +vital necessity that we talk for a few minutes before you leave here. +Five minutes ago I sent a note to your rooms." + +"I shall be at your service," Julien replied slowly. + +"I shall expect you in the morning," Madame Christophor said, smiling +at Lady Anne. "Don't be later than ten o'clock. I am always at home +after four, Duchess, if you are spending any time in Paris," she added. + +They watched her as she passed to the little group who were awaiting +her arrival. She was certainly one of the most elegant women in the +room. Lady Anne looked after her with a faint frown. + +"I wonder," she murmured, "if I shall like Madame Christophor?" + +"I had no idea, Julien," the Duchess remarked, "that you were friendly +with her." + +Julien evaded the question. + +"At any rate," he said, turning to Anne, "this will be better for you +than making bows." + +"I suppose so," she assented. "All the same, I am very much my own +mistress in that dusty little workshop. If Madame Christophor--isn't +that the name she chooses to be called by?--becomes exacting, I am not +even sure that I shan't regret my bow-making." + +"Tell me exactly how long you have known her, Julien!" the Duchess +persisted. + +"Since my arrival in Paris this time," Julien answered. "I had--well, a +sort of introduction to her." + +"She is received everywhere," the Duchess continued, "because I know +she visits at the house of the Comtesse Deschelles, who is one of the +few women in Paris of the old faction who are entirely exclusive. At +the same time, I am told that she leads a very retired life now, and is +more seen in Bohemia than anywhere. I am not at all sure that it is a +desirable association for Anne." + +"Well, you can leave off troubling about that," Anne said. "Remember, +however much we make believe, I have really shaken the dust of +respectability off my feet. Hamilton Place knows me no longer. I am a +dweller in the byways. Even if I come back, it will be as a stranger. +People will be interested in me, perhaps, as some one outside their +lives. 'That strange daughter of the poor dear Duchess, you know,' they +will say, 'who ran away to Paris! Some terrible affair. No one knows +the rights of it.' Can't you hear it all? They will be kind to me, of +course, but I shan't belong. Alas!" + +The Duchess was studying her bill and wondering how much to tip the +waiter. She only answered absently. + +"My dear Anne, you are talking quite foolishly. I wish I knew," she +added plaintively, a few minutes later, "what you have been reading or +whom you have been meeting lately." + +"Don't bother about me," Anne begged. "What you want to do now is to +tell Parkins to pack up your things and I'll come and see you off by +the four o'clock train. Julien must wait outside for my future +employer. What I really think is going to happen is that she's going to +ask for my character. Julien, be merciful to me! Remember that above +all things I have always been respectable. Remind her that if I were +too intelligent I should probably rob her of her secrets or money or +something. I am really a most machine-like person. Nature meant me to +be secretary to a clever woman, and my handwriting--don't forget my +handwriting. Nothing so clear or so rapid has ever been seen." + +The Duchess signed her bill, slightly undertipped the waiter and +accepted his subdued thanks with a gracious smile. + +"I can see," she said, as they left the room, "that I shall have to +wash my hands of you. Nevertheless, I shall not lose hope." + +She shook hands solemnly with Julien, and he performed a like ceremony +with Lady Anne. + +"When shall I see you again?" he asked the latter. + +"You had better question Madame Christophor concerning my evenings +out," she replied. "It is not a matter I know much about. I am sure you +are quite welcome to any of them." + +Julien found a seat in the broad passageway. Several acquaintances +passed to and fro whom so far as possible he avoided. Madame +Christophor came at last. She was the centre of the little party who +were on their way into the lounge. When she neared Julien, however, she +paused and made her adieux. He rose and waited for her expectantly. + +"We are to talk here?" he asked. + +She nodded. + +"In that corner." + +She pointed to a more retired spot. He followed her there. + +"Order some coffee," she directed. + +He obeyed her and they were promptly served. She waited, chatting idly +of their luncheon party, of the coincidence of meeting with the +Duchess, until they were entirely freed from observation. Then she +leaned towards him. + +"Sir Julien," she said, "I have read your articles, the first and the +second. You are a brave man." + +He smiled. + +"Are you going to warn me once more against Herr Freudenberg?" he +asked. + +She shook her head. + +"If you do not know your danger," she continued, "you would be too +great a fool to be worth warning. Remember that Freudenberg came from +Berlin as fast as express trains and his racing-car could bring him, +the moment he read the first." + +"I have already had a brief but somewhat unpleasant interview with +him," Julien remarked. + +"I congratulate you," she went on. "Unpleasant interviews with Herr +Freudenberg generally end differently. Now listen to me. I have a +proposition to make. There is one house in Paris where you will be +safe--mine. I offer you its shelter. Come there and finish your work." + +Julien made no reply. He sipped his coffee for a moment. Then he turned +slowly round. + +"Madame Christophor," he said, "once you told me that you disliked and +distrusted all men. Why, then, should I trust you?" + +She winced a little, but her tone when she answered him was free of +offense. + +"Why should you, indeed?" she replied. "Yet you should remember that +the man against whose cherished schemes your articles are directed is +the man whom I have more cause to hate than any other in the world." + +"Herr Freudenberg," he murmured. + +"Prince Adolf Rudolf von Falkenberg," she corrected him. "Do you know +the story of my married life?" + +"I have never heard it," he told her. + +"I will spare you the details," she continued. "My husband married me +with the sole idea of using my house, my friends, my social position +here for the furtherance of his schemes. Under my roof I discovered +meetings of spies, spies paid to suborn the different services in this +country--the navy, the army, the railway works. When I protested, he +laughed at me. He made no secret of his ambitions. He is the sworn and +inveterate enemy of your country. His feeling against France is a +slight thing in comparison with his hatred of England. For the last ten +years he has done nothing but scheme to humiliate her. When I +discovered to what purpose my house was being put, I bade him leave it. +I bade him choose another hotel, and when he saw that I was in earnest, +he obeyed. It is one of the conditions of our separation that he does +not cross my threshold. That is why I say, Sir Julien, that you have +nothing to fear in accepting the shelter of my roof." + +"Madame Christophor," Julien said earnestly, "I am most grateful for +your offer. At the same time, I honestly do not believe that I have +anything to fear anywhere. Herr Freudenberg has made one attempt upon +me and has failed. I do not think that he is likely to risk everything +by any open assaults. In these civilized days of the police, the +telephone and the law courts, one is not so much at the mercy of a +strong man as in the old days. I do not fear Herr Freudenberg." + +Madame Christophor shrugged her shoulders. + +"My friend," she admitted, "I admire your courage, but listen. You say +that one attempt has already been made to silence you. For every letter +you write, there will be another made. At each fresh one, these +creatures of Herr Freudenberg's will have learned more cunning. In the +end they are bound to succeed. Why risk your life? I offer my house as +a sanctuary. There is no need for you to pass outside it. You could +take the exercise you require in my garden, which is bounded by four of +the highest walls in Paris. You can sit in a room apart from the rest +of the house, with three locked doors between you and the others. You +may write there freely and without fear." + +Julien smiled. + +"I am afraid it is my stupidity," he said, "but I cannot possibly bring +myself to believe in the existence of any danger. I will promise you +this, if I may. If any further attempt should be made upon me, any +attempt which came in the least near being successful, I will remember +your offer. For the present my mind is made up. I shall remain where I +am." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"Ingrate!" + +"Not that, by any means," he assured her heartily. "You know that I am +grateful. You know that if I refuse for the moment your offer it is not +because I mistrust you. I simply feel that I should be taking elaborate +precautions which are quite unnecessary." + +"I might even spare you," she remarked, smiling, "Lady Anne for your +secretary." + +"Even that inducement," he answered steadily, "does not move me." + +She sighed. + +"You will have your own way," she said, "and yet there is something +rather sad about it. I know so much more of this Paris than you. I know +so much more of Herr Freudenberg. Remember that there are a quarter of +a million Germans in this city, and of that quarter of a million at +least twenty thousand belong to one or the other of the secret +societies with which the city abounds. All of them are different in +tone, but they all have at the end of their programme the cause of the +Fatherland. By this time you will have been named to them as its enemy. +Twenty thousand of them, my friend, and not a scruple amongst the lot!" + +He moved in his place a little restlessly. + +"One does not fight in these ways nowadays," he protested. + +"Pig-headed Englishman!" she murmured. "You to say that, too!" + +His thoughts flashed back to those few moments of vivid life in his own +rooms. He thought of Freudenberg's calm perseverance. An uncomfortable +feeling seized him. + +"I do not know," she went on, leaning a little towards him, "why I +should interest myself in you at all." + +"Why do you, then?" he asked, looking at her suddenly. + +She played with the trifles that hung from her chatelaine. He watched +for the raising of her eyes, but he watched in vain. She did not return +his inquiring look. + +"Never mind," she said, "I have warned you. It is for you to act as you +think best. If you change your mind, come to me. I will give you +sanctuary at any time. Take me to my automobile, please." + +He obeyed her and watched her drive off. Then he went slowly and +unmolested back to his rooms. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE SECOND ATTEMPT + + +The concierge of Julien's apartments issued with a somewhat mysterious +air from his little lodge as his tenant passed through the door. He was +a short man with a fierce, bristling moustache. He wore a semi-military +coat, always too short for him, and he was so stout that he was seldom +able to fasten more than two of the buttons of his waistcoat. + +"Monsieur!" + +"What is it, Pierre?" Julien asked. "Any callers for me?" + +"There have been callers, indeed, monsieur," Pierre replied, "callers +whose errand I do not quite understand. They asked many questions +concerning monsieur. When they had finished, the man--bah! he was a +German!--he thrust into my hand a hundred franc note. He said, 'No word +of this to Monsieur Sir Julien!' I put the note into the bottom of my +trousers pocket, but I made no response. I am not dishonorable. I keep +the note because these men should think me craven enough to give them +information, to hear their questions, and to say nothing to monsieur, +one of my own lodgers! It was an insult, that. Therefore I keep the +hundred franc note. Therefore I tell monsieur all that these two men +did ask." + +"You showed," Julien declared, "a rare and excellent discretion. +Proceed." + +"They asked questions, monsieur, on every conceivable subject," Pierre +continued. "Their interest in your doings was amazing. They asked what +meals you took in the house, at what hour you went out and at what hour +you returned. Then the shorter of the two wished to take the room above +yours. I asked him more than double the price, but he would have +engaged it. Then I told him that I was not sure. There was a gentleman +to whom it was offered. They come back this afternoon to know the +result." + +"If they find a lodging in this house," Julien said, "I fear that I +must leave." + +"It shall be," Pierre decided, "as monsieur wishes. I am not to be +tempted with money when it comes to a question of retaining an old +tenant. The room is let to another. It is finished." + +Julien climbed the stairs thoughtfully to his apartments, locked +himself in and sat down before his desk. For an hour or more he worked. +Then there came a timid knock at the door. He looked around, frowning. +After a moment's hesitation he affected not to notice the summons, and +continued his work. The knocking came again, however, low but +persistent. Julien rose to his feet, turned the key and opened the +door. + +"Mademoiselle!" he exclaimed, genuinely surprised. + +It was Mademoiselle Ixe who glided past him into the room. She signed +to him to close the door. He did so, and turning slowly faced her. She +was standing a few yards away, her lips a little parted, pale +notwithstanding the delicately artistic touch of coloring upon her +cheeks. Her hands were crossed upon the jade top of her lace parasol. +In her muslin gown and large hat she formed a very effective picture as +she stood there with her eyes now fixed upon Julien. + +"Mademoiselle," he began, "I do not quite understand." + +"Look outside," she begged. "See that there is no one there. I am so +afraid that I might have been followed." + +Julien stepped out onto the landing and returned. + +"There is no one about at all," he assured her. + +She drew a little sigh. + +"But it is rash, this! Monsieur Sir Julien, you are glad--you are +pleased to see me? Make me one of your pretty speeches at once or I +shall go." + +"But, mademoiselle," Julien said, wheeling a chair towards her, "who +indeed could be anything but glad to see you at any time? Yet forgive +me if I am stupid. Tell me why you have come to see me this afternoon +and why you are afraid that you are followed?" + +"Why?" she murmured, looking up into his eyes. "Ah, Monsieur Sir +Julien, it is hard indeed to tell you that!" + +Mademoiselle Ixe was without doubt an extraordinarily pretty young +woman. She was famous even in Paris for her figure, her looks, the +perfection of her clothes, the daintiness and distinction of those +small adjuncts to her toilette so dear to the heart of a Parisienne. +Julien looked at her and sighed. + +"Perhaps, mademoiselle," he said, "you will find it hard also to tell +me whether you come of your own accord or at the instigation of Herr +Freudenberg?" + +She looked genuinely hurt. Julien, however, was merciless. + +"It is, perhaps, because Herr Freudenberg has told you that I once lost +great things through trusting a woman that you think to find me an easy +victim?" he went on. "Come, am I to give you those sheets over there," +he added, pointing to his writing-table, "and promise for your sake +never to write another line, or have you more serious designs?" + +"Monsieur Julien," she faltered,-- + +He suddenly changed his tone. + +"Am I cruel?" he asked. "Forgive me, mademoiselle--forgive me, +Marguerite." + +She held out her delicately gloved hand towards him; her face she +turned a little away and one gathered that there were tears in her eyes +which she did not wish him to see. + +"Take off my glove, please," she whispered. "I did not think you would +be so cruel even for a moment." + +He took her fingers in his, fingers which promptly returned his +pressure. His right arm stole around her. + +"Monsieur Sir Julien," she continued very softly, "please promise that +you will speak to me no more now of Herr Freudenberg. Tell me that you +are glad I have come. Say some more of those pretty things that you +whispered to me in the Rat Mort." + +His arm tightened about her. She was powerless. + +"Julien!" she murmured. + +He laughed quietly. Suddenly she struggled to escape from him. + +"Let me go!" she cried. "Sir Julien, but you are rough. Monsieur!" + +He flung her from him back into the chair. In his left hand he held the +pistol he had taken from the bosom of her gown--a dainty little affair +of ivory and silver. He turned it over curiously. She lay back in the +chair where he had thrown her, gripping its sides with tremulous +fingers, her eyes deep-set, distended, staring at him. He thrust the +weapon into his pocket. + +"Really," he said, "I thought better of Herr Freudenberg. Why doesn't +he come himself?" + +"Oh, he will come!" she answered. + +"Will he?" Julien replied. "I should have thought better of him if he +had come first, instead of sending a woman to do his work." + +She sat up in the chair. Julien had known well how to rouse her. + +"You do not think that he is afraid?" she cried. "Afraid of you? Bah! +For the rest, it was I who insisted on coming. He was troubled. I knew +why. I said to myself, 'It is a risk I will take. I will go to Sir +Julien's rooms. I will shoot him. I will pretend that it was a love +affair. I will go into court all with tears, I will wear my prettiest +clothes, nothing indeed will happen. An affair of jealousy--a moment of +madness. One takes account of these things. Then Herr Freudenberg +himself has great friends here, friends in high places. He will see +that nothing happens.'" + +"A very pretty scheme," Julien remarked sarcastically. "Supposing, +however, I turn the tables upon you, mademoiselle. You are here and I +have taken away this little plaything. Would Herr Freudenberg be +jealous if he knew, I wonder?" + +She glanced at the door. + +"Locked," Julien continued grimly. "Do you still wish me to come and +make pretty speeches to you?" he added. "You are certainly looking +very charming, mademoiselle. Your gown is exquisite. What can I do more +than echo what all Paris has said--that there is no one of her +daughters more bewitching? Can you wonder if I lose my head a little +when I find you here with me in my rooms--a visit, too, of pure +affection?" + +She rose to her feet. The patch of color upon her cheeks had become +more vivid. + +"You will let me go?" she faltered. + +Julien unlocked the door. + +"Mademoiselle," he answered, "I shall most certainly let you go. Permit +me to thank you for the pleasure which your brief visit has afforded +me." + +The door was opened before her. Julien stood on one side. The smile +with which he dismissed her was half contemptuous, half kindly. Upon +the threshold she hesitated. + +"Sir Julien!" + +"Mademoiselle Ixe?" + +"If there were no Herr Freudenberg," she whispered, "if it were not my +evil fortune, Monsieur Sir Julien, to love him so foolishly, so +absolutely, so that every moment of separation is full of pain, every +other man like a figure in a dream--if it were not for this, Monsieur +Sir Julien, I do not think that I should like to leave you so easily!" + +Julien made no reply. She passed out with a little sigh. He heard the +flutter of her laces and draperies as she crossed the passage and +commenced the descent of the stairs. Julien was closing the door when +he heard a familiar voice and a heavy footstep. Kendricks, with a +Gladstone bag in his hand, came bustling up. + +"Julien, you dog," he exclaimed savagely, "you're at it again! Why the +devil can't you keep these women at arm's length? What has that pretty +little creature of Herr Freudenberg's been doing here?" + +Julien laughed as he closed the door. + +"Don't be a fool, David! She wasn't here at my invitation." + +"Tears in her eyes!" Kendricks muttered. "Sobbing to herself as she +went down the steps! Crocodile's tears, I know. These d--d women, +Julien! Out with it. What did she come for?" + +Julien produced the pistol from his pocket. + +"It was," he explained, "her amiable intention to please her lord and +master at the slight expense of my life. Fortunately, the game was a +new one to her and she kept on feeling the bosom of her gown to see +whether the pistol was there still." + +"What did you do?" Kendricks demanded. + +"What was there for me to do?" Julien replied. "I took her little toy +away and told her to run off. This is the second time, David. Estermen +and Freudenberg have had a shy at me here themselves, and they'd have +gotten me all right but for an accident. I won't tell you what the +accident was, for the moment, owing to your peculiar prejudices. How +are things in London?" + +Kendricks threw himself into an easy-chair and began to fill his pipe. + +"Julien," he declared, "you've done the trick! I'm proud of my advice, +proud of the result. There isn't a club or an omnibus or a tube or a +public-house where that letter of yours isn't being talked about. They +tell me it's the same here. Have you seen the German papers?" + +"Not one." + +"Never was such a thunderbolt launched," Kendricks continued. "They are +all either stupefied or hysterical. Freudenberg left Berlin an hour +after he saw the article. You tell me you've met him already?" + +"Yes, he's been here," Julien replied. "He offered to make me a Croesus +if I'd stop the letters. When I refused, well, we had a scuffle, and by +Jove, they nearly got me! He means to wipe me out." + +"We'll see about that!" Kendricks muttered. "I'm not going to leave +your side till we're through with this little job." + +"Madame Christophor suggested that I should go there and finish," +Julien said. "What do you think of that?" + +"Madame Fiddlesticks!" Kendricks retorted angrily. "The wife of +Falkenberg! Do you want to walk into the lion's jaws?" + +"She is separated from her husband," Julien reminded him. "My own +impression is that she hates him." + +"I'd never believe it," Kendricks insisted. "The fellow has the devil's +own way with these women. Look at that little wretch I met on the +stairs. A harmless, flirting little opera singer a year ago. Now she'd +come here and murder a man against whom she hasn't the slightest +grudge, for his sake. I tell you the fellow's got an unwholesome +influence over every one with whom he comes in contact." + +"Have you read to-day's letter?" Julien asked abruptly. + +"Read it! Man alive, it made the heart jump inside me! I tell you it's +set the war music dancing wherever a dozen men have come together. I +always thought you had a pretty gift as a maker of phrases, Julien, but +I never knew you dipped your pen in the ink of the immortals. I tell +you no one doubts anything you have written. That's the genius of it. +No one denies it, no one attempts arguments, every one in England and +France whose feelings have been ruffled is already wanting to shake +hands all over again. One sees that giant figure, the world's +mischief-maker, suddenly caught at his job. It's gorgeous! How about +number four?" + +"Half written," Julien declared, pointing to his table. + +Kendricks went to the door and locked it, went to the cupboard and +brought out the whiskey and soda, undid his Gladstone bag, buttoned a +life preserver on his left wrist, and laid a Mauser pistol on the table +by the side of him. + +"Julien," he said, "I feel like the biggest ass unhung, but I am here +with my playthings to be watchdog. Get to your desk and write, man. One +drink first. Come." + +They raised their glasses. + +"What have you called number three?" Kendricks asked. + +"'A Maker of Toys!'" Julien replied. + +"Here's damnation to him!" Kendricks said, raising the glass to his +lips. "Now get to work, Julien." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +BY THE PRINCE'S ORDERS + + +Once more mademoiselle sat beneath a canopy of pink roses, surrounded +by obsequious waiters, with the murmur of music in her ears, opposite +the man she adored. Yet without a doubt mademoiselle was disturbed. Her +fixed eyes were riveted upon the newspaper which Herr Freudenberg had +passed into her hand. She was suddenly very pale. + +"Send some of these people away," she begged. "I am frightened." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. With a wave of his hand they were alone. + +"Dear Marguerite," he said quietly, "compose yourself. All those who +stand in my way and the way of my country must be swept aside, but +remember this. They have all received their warning. I lift my hand +against no one who has not first received a chance of escape." + +"He was a man so gallant," she faltered, "so _comme il faut_. +Listen to me, please." + +She laid the newspaper upon the table and kept the flat of her hand +still upon it. Then she leaned towards him. + +"You will not be angry with me?" she implored. "Indeed I did it to +please you, to win, if I could, a little more of your love. I knew that +this man Sir Julien stood in your path and that you found it difficult +to remove him. An impulse came to me. We had talked together gayly as a +man of gallantry may talk to a woman like myself. It might easily pass +for flirting, those things that he has said. Although you, dear one," +she added, looking across the table, "know how it is with me when such +words are spoken. Well, I bought cartridges for my little pistol that +you gave me, I thrust it into the bosom of my gown, I wore my prettiest +clothes, and yesterday I went to his rooms." + +Herr Freudenberg's cold eyes were suddenly fixed upon her face. His +fingers stopped their drumming upon the tablecloth. + +"Proceed!" + +"I meant to shoot him," she confessed. "I thought that if I could not +escape afterwards it was so easy for people to believe that he was my +lover, that it was a crime of jealousy, a moment's passion. I said to +myself, too, that you would help so that after all my punishment would +be a very small affair. In no other way it seemed to me could he have +been disposed of so easily." + +"Sweet little fool!" Herr Freudenberg murmured. "Did it never enter +into your little brain that you are known as my companion?" + +She shook her head. + +"That would have counted for nothing. People would not have believed +that I had any other motive. I should have declared that it was a love +affair." + +"What happened?" + +"He was too quick for me," mademoiselle admitted. "He saw me feel the +spot where the pistol lay concealed. He--he snatched it away." + +"And afterwards?" Herr Freudenberg inquired, with the ghost of a smile +upon his lips. + +She raised her eyes. + +"He let me go," she replied. "He threw open the door and he laughed at +me. Forgive me, please, if I am sad, if indeed I weep. He was a gallant +gentleman." + +Herr Freudenberg sighed. Slowly he raised his glass to his lips and +drank. + +"It is an amiable epitaph," he declared. "Many a man has gone up to +Heaven with a worse. Cheer up, my little Marguerite. A year or two more +or less in a man's life is no great matter, and after all it was not +one warning which this rash man received. You have not yet read the +account of the affair." + +Mademoiselle slowly withdrew the palm of her hand from the paper. The +paragraph was headed: + +SHOCKING EXPLOSION IN THE RUE DE MONTPELIER. + +She looked up. + +"I cannot read it," she murmured. "Tell me." + +"It is simple," he replied. "This afternoon an unfortunate explosion +occurred in the house in the Rue de Montpelier where Sir Julien had his +apartments. The whole of the front of the premises was blown away. It +is regrettable," he added, with a little shrug of the shoulders, "that +in all seven people perished, including the concierge. Mr. Kendricks, +an English journalist, was taken away alive, but terribly injured, to +the hospital. His companion, who seems to have been within a few feet +of him when the explosion occurred, was unfortunately blown to pieces. +The details as to his fate might perhaps interfere with your appetite, +but let me at least assure you, my dear Marguerite," Herr Freudenberg +continued, "that such a death is entirely painless. I regret the +necessity for such means, but the man had his chance. I regret, also, +the fate of the other poor people who lost their lives. Unfortunately, +it was necessary to remove Sir Julien in such a way that no suspicion +should be cast upon any one person. The death of the concierge, for +instance, was absolutely essential. He was suspicious about some of my +men who had been making inquiries." + +"But it is horrible!" she gasped. + +"Little one," he went on, "life is like that. To succeed one has to +cultivate indifference. Sir Julien Portel had many warnings. He knew +very well that if he persisted in writing those articles, he was +braving my defiance. Already he has done mischief enough. The whole +series would have undone the work of the last two years. To-night," +Herr Freudenberg continued, with a sigh of relief, "we may open the +Journal without apprehensions. There are no more secrets disclosed, no +more of these marvelously written appeals to--" + +Herr Freudenberg stopped short. His eyebrows had drawn closer together. +He was gazing at the sheet which he held in his hand with more +expression in his face than mademoiselle had ever seen there before. + +"My God!" he muttered. + +She, too, bent forward. She, too, saw the article with its heading: "A +Maker of Toys!" + +Herr Freudenberg waved her back. Line by line he read the article. When +he had finished, his face was almost ghastly. He drained his glass and +called for the _sommelier_. + +"Serve more wine," he ordered briefly. + +"What is it that you have seen?" she asked. + +"I was a fool not to have been prepared," he answered. "There is +another article in to-night's paper, but of course he would have sent +it off before--before the explosion happened. It is worse than the +others!" he went on hoarsely. "Thank Heaven, that man is out of the +way! I would give a million marks to be able to destroy every copy of +this paper that was ever issued. It is not fair fighting!... It is +barbarous! No longer can I hope for any privacy in this country. You +see--you see, Marguerite? He has written of me openly. 'The Toymaker +from Leipzig!'--that is what he has called me! These two, Kendricks and +he, they saw through me from the first. They knew what it was that I +desired. Damn them!" + +Mademoiselle crossed herself instinctively. Once she had been +religious. + +"Poor Sir Julien!" + +Herr Freudenberg sighed. + +"To-morrow night, at any rate," he said, "there will be no article. We +have made sure of that. I pray to Heaven that it may not be too late!" + +She shuddered. The service of dinner was resumed. + +"Put the paper away," she begged. "Don't let us think of it any more. +After all, as you say, he was warned. Nothing that one feels now can do +any good. Give me some wine. Talk to me of other things." + +Estermen came in to them presently. Herr Freudenberg insisted upon his +taking a chair. Once more he dismissed the waiters. + +"All goes well," Estermen announced. "There is not an idea at +headquarters as to the source of the explosion. I have been round with +the newspaper men." + +"How is Kendricks?" Herr Freudenberg asked. + +"Alive, but barely conscious." + +"It is a pity," Herr Freudenberg said coldly. "Kendricks is responsible +for a good deal of the trouble. Did you see that to-night's article is +here?" + +Estermen nodded. + +"He must have been a day ahead," he explained. "It was probably a later +one of the series upon which he was engaged when the thing occurred." + +"This one will do sufficient harm," Herr Freudenberg remarked grimly. + +Estermen shrugged his shoulders. + +"It is true, and yet we have a great start. Public opinion is +thoroughly unsettled. Even those who accepted the _entente_ as the +most brilliant piece of diplomacy of the generation, are beginning to +wonder what really has been gained by it. If I were at Berlin," +Estermen continued, with a covert glance up at his master, "now is the +time I should choose. To-morrow _Le Grand Journal_ will be silent. +To-morrow I should send a polite notification to the English Government +that owing to the unsettled condition of the country, and the +nervousness of certain German residents, His Imperial Majesty has +thought it wise to send a warship to Agdar." + +"The German subjects are a trifle hypothetical," Herr Freudenberg +muttered. "We had the utmost difficulty in persuading an ex-convict to +go out there." + +"What does it matter?" Estermen asked. "He is there. He represents the +glorious liberties of the Fatherland. Millions have been spent before +now for the blood of one man." + +Marguerite sighed. She was leaning back in her place, watching the +boughs of the lime trees swinging gently back and forth in the night +breeze, the cool moonlight outside, refreshing in its contrast to the +over-lit and overheated auditorium of the music-hall. On the stage a +Revue was in full swing. Mademoiselle Ixe glanced at it but seldom. Her +eyes seemed to be always outside. + +"Tell me," she demanded almost passionately, "why cannot one leave the +world alone? It is great enough and beautiful enough. Will Germany be +really the happier, do you think, if she triumphs against England? It +doesn't seem worth while. Life is so short, the joy of living is so +hard to grasp. Don't you think," she added, leaning towards her +companion, her beautiful eyes full of entreaty, "that for one night at +least, all thoughts of your country and of her destinies might pass +away? Let us live in the world that amuses itself, that takes the +pleasures that grow ready to its hand, whose arms are not rapacious, +and whose sword lies idle. Forget for a little time, dear friend. Let +us both forget!" + +Herr Freudenberg smiled as he finished his wine. + +"Ah! dear Marguerite," he said, "you preach the great philosophy. We +will try humbly to follow in your footsteps. Lead on and we will +follow--up to the Montmartre, if you will, or down to the Rue Royale. +What does it matter, sweetheart, so long as we are together?" + +She shivered a little as his fingers touched hers, although her eyes +still besought him. The _vestiaire_ was standing by with her lace +coat. She rose slowly to her feet. + +"To the Rue Royale," she decided. "To-night I have no fancy for the +Montmartre." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +DISTRESSING NEWS + + +Mrs. Carraby advanced into the library of the great house in Grosvenor +Square. Her husband had risen from his desk and was standing with his +hands in his pockets upon the hearth-rug. His dress was as neat and +correct as ever, his hair as accurately parted, his small moustache as +effectually twirled. Yet there was a frown upon his face, an expression +of gloomy peevishness about his expression. His wife stood and looked +at him, looked at him and thought. + +"You are back early," he said. "What is the matter? You don't look +radiantly happy. I thought you were looking forward so much to this +bazaar." + +"I was," she replied. "I am disappointed." + +He saw then that her silence was not a matter of indifference but of +anger. + +"What's wrong?" he asked quickly. + +Her lips parted for a moment. One saw that her teeth were firmly +clenched. There was a wicked light in her strange-colored eyes. + +"It was that woman again," she muttered,--"the Duchess!" + +"What about her?" Carraby demanded. "She's bound to be civil to you +now, anyway." + +"Is she?" Mrs. Carraby replied. "Is she, indeed! Well, her civility +this afternoon has been such that I shall have to give up my stall. I +can't stay there." + +"What do you mean?" he demanded. + +"Nothing except that before everybody she once more cut me dead, cut me +wickedly," Mrs. Carraby declared. "You don't understand the tragedy of +this to a woman. You are not likely to. She did it in such a way this +time that there isn't a person worth knowing in London who isn't +laughing about it at the present moment." + +"Beast of a woman!" he muttered. + +Mrs. Carraby came a little further into the room. She sank into an +easy-chair and sat there. Her hands were tightly clenched, her face was +hard and cold, her tone icy. Yet one felt that underneath a tempest was +raging. + +"You know, Algernon," she went on, "we had some hard times when you +first began to make your way a little. When we first took this house, +even, things weren't altogether easy. Americans can come from nowhere, +do the most outrageous things in the world, and take London by storm. +London, on the other hand, is cruel to English people who have only +their money. She was cruel to us, Algernon, but with all the snubs and +all the difficulties I ever had, nothing has ever happened to me like +to-day." + +"You'll get over it." + +"Get over it!" she repeated. "Yes, but I thought that that sort of +thing was at an end. I thought that when you were a Cabinet Minister no +one would dare to treat me as though I were a social nobody." + +"You must remember that the Duchess has a special reason," he reminded +her. "I suppose it's that Portel affair." + +"Yes," Mrs. Carraby agreed, "it is the Portel affair." + +They were both silent. There wasn't much to be said, for the moment. + +"Have you heard," he inquired presently, "whether Lady Anne is with him +in Paris?" + +"No," she replied. "Somehow or other, people don't seem to talk scandal +about Lady Anne. They say that she is staying for a time with an old +friend there. Algernon!" + +"Yes?" + +"Is it true that you are doing so badly at the Foreign Office?" she +asked bluntly. + +A little flush mounted almost to his forehead. + +"I have had the devil's own luck," he muttered. + +"I can't take up a newspaper," she continued bitterly, "without finding +it full of abuse of you. They say that during six weeks the _entente +cordiale_ has vanished. They say that you have lost the friendship +of France, that she trusts us no longer, and that Germany's tone +becomes more threatening and more bullying every day, solely on account +of your weakness." + +"We can't afford to risk a war," Carraby explained. "I am a Radical +Minister. I have represented a Radical constituency ever since I came +into Parliament. What the devil should I have to say to my people if +within a couple of months of taking office we were plunged into war?" + +"I do not pretend," Mrs. Carraby remarked, "to be an active politician, +but I have heard it said that the best way to avoid war is to show that +you are not afraid of it. They say that that is where Sir Julien Portel +was so splendid. Do you know that the leading article of one of your +own papers this morning declares that Germany would never have dared to +have said so much to us if she had not known that she had only a puppet +to deal with in the Cabinet? You know what all the other papers are +hinting at? Is it true, Algernon, that you gave two hundred thousand +pounds to the party?" + +"Whether it is true or not," Carraby retorted, "it makes no difference. +I wanted this post, wanted it for your sake as much as my own, and I +wish to Heaven that it was at the bottom of the sea! I'd resign +to-morrow if I could do so with dignity. I can't now, of course. Every +one would say I was chucked. To make things worse," he went on +savagely, "there come these infernal letters of Portel's!" + +Mrs. Carraby raised her eyebrows. + +"Why, I've heard it said that those letters are the one hope this +country has! I have heard it said that but for those letters France and +England would be as far apart to-day as they ever were. I heard it said +only this afternoon that those letters were our only hope of peace. +They were compared with the letters of Junius, whoever he was. Lord +Cardington told me himself that they were the most splendid political +prose he had ever read in his life." + +"That may be true enough," Carraby growled, "but they make it all the +harder for me. No doubt Portel was a good Minister. No doubt he was +doing very well in his post. Now he writes these letters every one +remembers it, every one is asking for him back again. It's hell, Mabel! +I wish to God we'd let the man alone!" Mrs. Carraby looked at her +husband steadfastly. She was a little taller than he. She looked at +him, from his well-brushed hair to the trim patent boots which adorned +his small feet. She looked at him and in those strange-colored eyes of +hers were unmentionable things. She turned away and walked to the +window. In imagination she was back again in Julien's rooms. She lived +again through those few minutes. If he had answered differently! + +Outside in the square the newsboys were shouting. She had stood before +the window for some time when a familiar name fell upon her ears. She +turned around and touched the bell. + +"What is it that you want?" her husband asked. + +"A paper," she replied. + +A very correct butler brought her the _Pall Mall Gazette_ a moment +or two later. She scanned it eagerly. Then it slipped from her +shuddering fingers. She turned upon her husband. + +"He is dead!" she cried. "Can't you read it? 'Death of an Englishman in +an explosion in Paris. Mr. Kendricks, a journalist, seriously injured; +Sir Julien Portel, the ex-Cabinet Minister,--dead!'" + +She stood as though turned to stone. Then something in her husband's +face seemed to bring her back to the present. She turned upon him. Her +face was suddenly lit with some strange, quivering fire. It was one of +the moments of her life. + +"You miserable worm!" she shrieked. "You dare to stand there and smile +because a man is dead! You!" + +He tried to draw himself up, tried to rebuke her. He might as well have +tried to stem a torrent. + +"I've done my best to share your rotten, scheming life," she cried, "to +help you in your dirty ways, and to crawl up into the places we +coveted! Once I saw the truth. Once a real man was kind to me and I saw +the difference. I've felt it in my heart ever since. For your sake and +my own, for the sake of our rotten, miserable ambitions, I ruined him +and sent him to his death. He is dead, do you hear? You and I did it! +We are murderers! And to think that I did it for you! That you--such a +creature as you--might take his place!" + +She threw up her hands high above her head. There had been people who +had doubted her good looks. No one at that instant would have denied +her beauty. Carraby's eyes were fixed upon her and he was afraid. Even +when she had cast herself face downward upon the couch, and lay with +her head buried in her hands, he dared not go near. He stood there +gazing at her across the room. Perhaps he, too, though his +understanding was less, tasted a little of the poison! + +In the splendid library of his palace in Berlin, the maker of toys +leaned back in his chair after a long and successful day's work. There +lingered upon his lips still the remnants of a grim smile, which the +dictation of a dispatch to London had just evoked. His secretary +gathered up his papers. His master was disposed to be genial. + +"My young friend," he remarked, "those letters from Paris--they were +stopped just in time, eh?" + +"Just in time, indeed, Highness," the young man replied. "I have +friends who write me from there. They assure me that their effect was +tremendous. The cessation of them was indeed an act of Providence." + +Prince Falkenberg's lips relaxed. There were hard lines at the corners +of his mouth. Yet if this were indeed a smile, it was no pleasant thing +to look upon! + +"An act of Providence, without a doubt!" he exclaimed,--"Providence +which watches always over the destinies of our dear Fatherland!" + +"I shall bring you now, Highness, the foreign papers?" the young man +suggested. + +"If you please," his master replied. "I read them now, thank Heaven, +with an easier feeling." + +The young man retreated and reappeared in a few minutes with a pile of +newspapers. Prince Falkenberg rose and stretched himself, lit a long +black cigar and threw himself into a comfortable chair before the high +window. + +"Your Highness will take some coffee, perhaps?" the young man asked. + +"Presently." + +The great Minister unfolded his newspapers. A reference in the English +_Times_ perplexed him. He turned to the journal which only a few +days ago he had opened with almost a shudder. He undid the wrapper, +shook it open and looked at it. Then suddenly he sat like a man turned +to stone. The cigar burnt out between his teeth, his eyes were riveted +upon that page, the black letters seemed to have become lurid. The +sentences stabbed, he was face to face with the impossible. The paper +which he read was dated on the preceding day. Before him was a fourth +article, dated from Paris, dated less than forty-eight hours ago, +signed "Julien Portel." The title of the article was "The World's Great +Mischief-Maker!" He read on, read from that first sentence to the last, +read the naked truth about himself, saw his motives exposed, his +secret visits to Paris derided, his foibles photographed. He saw +himself the laughing stock of Europe. Then he leaned over and rang the +bell. + +"Neudheim," he said, "let it be given out that I leave to-night for +Falkenberg as usual. Let the automobile be prepared for a long journey. +I leave in half an hour." + +The young man stared. He had fancied that those flying visits of his +master's for a time were to be discontinued. + +"Your Highness goes south?" he asked. + +"I drive all night," Prince Falkenberg replied. "See that the Count +Rudolf is prepared to accompany me. Quick! Give the orders." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +ESTERMEN'S DEATH-WARRANT + + +In the untidy salon of his bachelor apartments in the Boulevard +Maupassant Estermen awaited the coming of his master in veritable fear +and trembling. In all his experience he had never been compelled to +face a crisis such as this. There had been small failures, punished, +perhaps, by a sarcastic word or biting sentence. There had been no +failure to compare with this one! Herr Freudenberg deliberately, and of +his own free choice, was accustomed to take huge risks. When they came +he accepted them, but when they were not inevitable he as sedulously +avoided them. The wrecking of Julien's apartments in the Rue de +Montpelier was by far the most hazardous enterprise which had been +attempted since the days of the toymaker's first secret visits to +Paris. Half a dozen human beings had been done to death in a manner +which invited and even challenged the attentions of the French police. +A terrible risk had been run and run in vain. The blow had been struck +at the very moment when its object was unattainable! Estermen shivered +as he tried to imagine for himself the coming interview. Gone, he +feared, was his life of pleasant luxury among the flesh-pots and easy +ways of Paris; his bachelor apartments, occupied in name by him but of +which the real tenant was his dreaded master. And behind all this +apprehension lurked another grisly and terrible fear! For the twentieth +time during the last few minutes he peered through the closely drawn +Venetian-blind, and his blood ran cold. On the pavement opposite, +before the small table of a café, a man was sitting--the same man! For +two days he had been there--a gaunt and silent person with a wonderful +trick of gazing away into space from the columns of his newspaper. But +Estermen knew all about that! He knew, even, the man's name! He knew +that he was one of the most persistent and successful of French +detectives. His name was Jean Charles and he had never known failure. +Estermen looked at him through the blind and his pale face was ugly +with fear. + +The moment arrived. The long, gray traveling car, covered with dust, +swung around the corner and stopped below. Herr Freudenberg was +travel-stained and almost unrecognizable in his motor clothes as he +stepped out and passed into the block of apartments. Contrary to his +usual custom, he did not at once present himself before the man who +awaited him in fear and trembling. Estermen heard him enter his own +suite of rooms on the other side of the stairway and give a few brief +orders. Then there was a peremptory knock at the door. Herr Freudenberg +was announced and entered. + +To the man who had been waiting for his sentence there was something +terrible in the grim impassivity of Prince Falkenberg's features. His +face was set and white and sphinx-like. Only his eyes shone with a +fierce, unusual fire. + +"What have you to say, Estermen?" he demanded. + +"It was a miracle," Estermen faltered. "Sir Julien descended the stairs +with the copy in his hand to speak to a caller. For seventeen hours he +had been in his rooms, for the following seventeen hours he would +probably have been there, too. For the intervening thirty seconds he +happened to be upon the pavement. It was a miracle!" + +This was the end of all the specious story which Estermen had gone over +so often to himself! Yet he had done his cause no harm, for the few +sentences he spoke were the truth. + +"You have discovered his present whereabouts?" his master demanded. + +Estermen hesitated. He feared that this was another blow which he was +about to deal. + +"He is at the house of Madame Christophor in the Rue de St. Paul," he +faltered. + +His news, however, did not discompose Prince Falkenberg. On the +contrary, he seemed, if anything, to find the intelligence agreeable. + +"Have you made any inquiries as to his condition?" + +Estermen shrugged his shoulders. + +"The household of Madame Christophor," he replied, "is, as you know, +outside my sphere of influence. It is, besides, incorruptible. I myself +am personally obnoxious to Madame. I could do nothing but wait for your +coming." + +Prince Falkenberg stood with his hands behind him, thinking. He had +relapsed into his former grim and impenetrable silence. And while he +waited the sweat stood out in beads upon Estermen's forehead. Greatly +he feared that the worst was to come! + +"Have you anything else to say to me?" his master asked. + +"Nothing!" Estermen replied, with faltering lips. + +Prince Falkenberg's eyes were fierce orbs of light and his servant +quailed before him. + +"Have you any reason to believe that the origin of the crime is +suspected?" + +It was the question which above all others he had dreaded! Estermen was +a coward and a fluent liar. The latter gift, however, availed him +nothing. He felt as though the nerves of his tongue were being +controlled by some other agency. Against his will he told the truth. + +"Jean Charles is watching these apartments!" + +"Ah!" + +Prince Falkenberg's single exclamation was the death sentence of his +agent. Estermen knew it and his knees knocked one against the other. + +"For six years," Prince Falkenberg said, after a moment's pause, "you +have lived an easy and a comfortable life, Estermen,--a life, I dare +say, spent among the gutter vices which would naturally appeal to a +person of your temperament; a life, apart from the small services which +I have required of you, directed altogether by your own inclinations. +Be thankful for those six years. As you well know, but for me they +would have been spent either in prison or in the problematical future +world--a matter entirely at the discretion of the judge who tried you. +It pleased me to rescue you for my own purpose. You were possessed of a +certain amount of low cunning and a complete absence of all ordinary +human qualities, a combination which made you a useful servant of my +will. My one condition has been always before you. The present case +demands your fulfillment of it." + +Estermen began to tremble. + +"The man may be there by accident," he faltered. "There is no certainty +as yet that I am even suspected. I'm--I'm horribly afraid to die!" he +added, with an ugly little laugh. + +"So are most men of your kidney," Prince Falkenberg replied composedly. +"Nevertheless, die you must, and to-night. Write your confession. Make +it clear that one of the victims was your personal enemy. I'll dictate +it, if you like." + +"I can do it myself," Estermen muttered. "Let me--let me write the +confession first and then make an attempt to escape," he pleaded. "If I +am taken, the confession shall be found upon me. It will make no +difference. Let me have a chance! I know the secret places of the city. +I have friends who might help me to escape." + +Prince Falkenberg watched his agent for a moment in contemptuous +curiosity. Estermen was walking restlessly up and down the few feet of +carpet, his fingers and the muscles of his face twitching. His words +had come with difficulty, as though he had suddenly developed an +impediment in his speech. His sallow complexion had become yellow. His +carefully waxed moustache was drooping, a speck of saliva was issuing +from his lips. + +"The request which you make to me," Prince Falkenberg replied, "I +absolutely refuse. I know you and your cowardly temperament too well to +allow you to come alive into the hands of the French police." + +"You value your own life highly enough!" Estermen snarled. + +"It is not so," Prince Falkenberg asserted. "If I had ever valued my +own life highly, there would have been no Herr Freudenberg; and if the +whole history of Herr Freudenberg is discovered, I follow you, my +friend, post haste. If I seem to be taking any pains to hold my own, +remember that mine is a life which is valuable to the Fatherland. You +have been and you are only a feeder at the troughs. One more or less +such as you in the world makes just the difference of a speck of +dust--that is all." + +Estermen shrank cowering into his seat. + +"I'd rather live--in torture--in prison or in chains--anywhere!" he +gasped. "I can't think of death!" + +Prince Falkenberg was becoming impatient. + +"My dear Estermen," he exclaimed, "what prison do you suppose remains +open for the murderer of seven men! You shrink from death. Yet let me +assure you that the guillotine, with the certain prospect of it before +you day after day through a long trial, is no pleasant outlet from the +world for a sybarite. Be a philosopher. Go and die as you have lived. +Write your confession, summon your dearest friend by telephone, give a +little supper--you'll have plenty of time--but see that the affair is +over before midnight! This is my advice to you, Estermen; these are +also my orders, my final orders. If I find you alive when I return, or +the confession unwritten, I will show you how death may be made more +horrible than anything you have yet conceived." + +Prince Falkenberg turned on his heel and left the apartment. Estermen +remained for several moments shrinking back in the chair upon which he +had collapsed. Then he rose and with trembling footsteps stole to the +window, peering out from behind the blind. The man at the café opposite +was still there! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +SANCTUARY + + +"This afternoon," Madame Christophor declared, looking thoughtfully at +Julien, "I am going to send you a new secretary." + +He turned a little eagerly in his easy-chair. + +"Lady Anne!" he exclaimed. + +"Are you glad?" she asked. + +Julien hesitated. His eyes sought his companion's face. She was seated +at the small writing-table drawn up close to his side, her head resting +upon her left hand, the pen in her right fingers sketching idle figures +at the bottom of the sheet which she had just written. She was wearing +a dress of strange-colored muslin, a shade between gray and silver, but +from underneath came a shimmer of blue, and there were turquoises about +her neck. Her large, soft eyes were fixed steadfastly upon his. There +was a sort of question in them which he seemed to have surprised there +more than once during the last few days. A sudden uneasiness seized +him. His brain was crowded with unwilling fancies. There were, without +doubt, symptoms of coquetry in her appearance. He had spoken of blue as +the one sublime color. As she leaned a little back in her chair, +resting from her labors, he could scarcely help noticing the blue silk +stockings and suède shoes which matched the hidden color of her skirt, +the ribbon which gleamed from the dusky masses of her hair. Madame +Christophor was always a very beautiful and a very elegant woman, and +it seemed to have pleased her during these last few days to appear at +her best. Julien gripped for a moment at his bandaged arm. + +"You are in pain? You would like me to change the bandage?" she +suggested almost eagerly. + +"Not yet," he replied. "It is still quite comfortable." + +She looked at him thoughtfully. + +"You have the air of wanting something," she remarked. "Is there +anything that displeases you?" + +"Displeases me! If you knew how strange that sounded!" he exclaimed. "I +do not think that any one ever lived with such luxury, or was treated +with so much kindness, as I during the last few days. You make every +second perfect." + +Madame Christophor sighed. Almost as Julien finished his speech he +regretted its conclusion. Madame Christophor, on the other hand, +although she sighed, seemed vaguely content. + +"You see, the fates against whom you have so great a grievance have +done something to atone," she declared. "No doubt you hated to leave +your work to come and speak to me in the street that afternoon. No +doubt your red-headed journalist friend hated me also. Yet if you had +not come, if my automobile had been detained a few minutes on the +way--ah! it is terrible indeed to think what might not have happened!" + +She shivered. A moment later she raised her eyes and continued. + +"I think," she said, "you must abandon a little of your hostility +against my sex. It was a woman who worked this mischief in your life +and a woman who was fortunate enough to save it. I think you can almost +cry quits with us, Sir Julien." + +He smiled. He was struggling to lead back their conversation to a +lighter level. A certain change in this woman's tone and manner, a +change which was reflected even in her appearance, disturbed him +painfully. + +"The balance is already on my side, dear hostess," he assured her. "You +have left me an eternal debtor to your sex. I shall never again indulge +in generalities or wholesale condemnation. It is, after all, foolish. +But tell me why you are sending Lady Anne to help me to-day?" + +She watched for any trace of disappointment in his tone. There was +none. On the contrary, his mention of Lady Anne was accompanied by a +slight eagerness which puzzled her. + +"I have a few social duties to attend to," she explained a little +vaguely. "Lady Anne is quite efficient. I like her handwriting, too. It +is like herself--clean-cut, legible. There are no hidden pools about +Lady Anne." + +"Yet," he said, "a woman always keeps some part of herself concealed." + +"You think that Lady Anne, too, has her secret?" Madame Christophor +asked, raising her eyes. + +"I think that if she has, she is quite capable of keeping it," he +replied. + +There was a knock at the door. Lady Anne entered. She came a few yards +into the room with a slight smile upon her lips, and nodded pleasantly +to Julien. In her slim stateliness, the untroubled serenity of youth +reflected in her smiling face, she represented perfectly the other type +of womanhood. Madame Christophor rose deliberately to her feet. For one +swift moment she measured the things between them. She herself was +conscious of a greater intellectual maturity, a more subtle quality in +her looks, a beauty less describable, more exotic, perhaps, but also +more provocative. The arts of her sex were at her finger-tips, the +small arts disdained by this well-looking and perfectly healthy young +woman. She turned her head quickly towards Sir Julien. It was the idle +impulse of the man or woman who plucks the petals from a flower. Julien +was gazing steadfastly at Lady Anne.... Madame Christophor picked up +her belongings and moved towards the door. + +"Be merciless today, my friend!" she exclaimed, pausing upon the +threshold,--"virulent, if you will! _Le Jour_ was screaming at you +last night. Jesen has lost his head a little; or is it the lash of his +master which he feels? How can one tell?" + +"After tonight," Julien remarked, with a smile, "who will read _Le +Jour_? I shall tell the story of the purchase of that paper by Herr +Freudenberg. French people will not love to think that the pen of Jesen +has been guided by the hand of Germany." + +Madame Christophor made a little grimace. + +"My friend," she declared, "my house is, I believe, the safest spot in +Paris, yet there are limits. Remember that you have become a celebrity. +There is an agitation in England to have you back at the Foreign +Office. All Paris is divided upon the subject of your life or death. +And there are men here in the city who seek for you night and day with +death in their hands. My house is sanctuary, but no one can write such +things as you are writing and deem himself secure against any risk." + +He smiled at her confidently. + +"Yet you would not have me leave out one single line, you would not +have me lower the torch for one second! You suggest caution!--you, who +haven't the word 'fear' in your vocabulary! It is your house, not mine. +There are more bombs to be bought in Paris. Yet tell me, would you have +me spare a single word of the truth?" + +She flashed back her answer across the room. For the moment she forgot +Lady Anne. They two were on another plane. + +"Not one word," she assured him, with soft yet vibrant earnestness. "I +would have you write the truth in letters of fire upon the clouds, for +all Paris to see. You have a message. See that it goes out." + +Madame Christophor closed the door softly behind her. Julien remained +looking at the spot from which she had disappeared. Then he drew a +little breath. + +"She is wonderful!" he muttered. + +Lady Anne took up her pen. She avoided looking at him. + +"Let us begin," she said.... + +They wrote for hours. Julien was in the mood for this final and fierce +attack upon _Le Jour_ and all the powers that stood behind it. He +held up Falkenberg to derision--the charlatan of modern politics, the +Puck of Berlin, whose one sincerity was his hatred for England, and one +capacity, the giant capacity for mischief! He wound up his article with +a scathing and personal denunciation of Falkenberg, and a splendidly +worded appeal to the French nation not for one moment to be deceived as +to the character of this tireless and ambitious schemer after his +country's welfare. All the time Anne took down his words in fluent and +flowing writing. When at last he had finished, he looked at the sheets +which surrounded her with something like amazement. + +"Why, what a pig I've been, Anne!" he exclaimed, glancing from the +table to the clock. "You must have been writing for nearly three +hours!" + +She was busy picking up the sheets. + +"Quite, I should say," she answered, "but I loved it. Now I am going to +ring for tea, and afterwards you must read it through. We might get the +manuscript down to the office to-night." + +"I shall need you when I read it through," he reminded her. "There will +be corrections." + +"Either Madame Christophor or I will be here," she replied. "Madame +Christophor may have some other work for me." + +He looked at her curiously. + +"Even you are different," he murmured. + +"Tell me at once what you mean?" she begged. + +"I wish I knew," he confessed. "To tell you the truth, Anne, a curious +feeling of detachment seems to have come over me--during the last few +days especially. It is such a short time since I was living the +ordinary sort of mechanical life in London, engaged to be married to +you, and my doings day by day all mapped out--a life interesting, of +course, but without any real variation. And now here I am, hanging on +to life by the thin edge of nothing, writing such things as I should +never have dared to have said from my seat in the House, practically +an adventurer. Do you wonder that sometimes I am not quite sure that it +isn't all a nightmare? I am actually hiding here in Paris from +assassins--in Paris, the most civilized city in the world--the guest of +a woman whose acquaintance I made only because a little manicurist in +Soho insisted upon it. And you, Anne, are here by my side, a +professional secretary, the friend of a milliner, more intimate and on +better terms with me than you were in the days when we were engaged to +be married! What has happened to us, Anne? How did we get here?" + +She laughed at him tolerantly. + +"We've come a little into our own, I suppose," she remarked. "As for +me, I feel a different woman since I stepped out of the made-to-order +world. And you--well, don't be angry, but you're not nearly so much of +a prig, are you, Julien? You're less starched and more human. Of course +we are more companionable. We are both more human." + +He nodded. + +"I suppose that so far as I am concerned Kendricks had something to do +with it--he was always trying to make me look at things differently. +But it seems such a short time for such an absolute change." + +She was balancing her pen upon the inkpot--keeping her eyes turned from +him. + +"It isn't always a matter of time, you know, Julien," she said +thoughtfully. "You were never really a prig--I was never really a +machine for wearing a ready-made smile and a few smart frocks. It took +a shock to make us see things, but neither of us remained wilfully +blind. You'll be back in your world before long and a better man than +ever." + +"And you?" + +"I have hopes some day of becoming a perfect secretary," she confessed. +"If I fail, I will at least make more bows than any one else in a day." + +He leaned towards her, showing a sudden and dangerous forgetfulness of +his bandaged arm. + +"Anne," he said firmly, "if I go back, you go back. Sometimes I think +that I shall never regret anything that has happened if--" + +The door was softly opened. It was Madame Christophor who entered with +a little pile of letters in her hand. Lady Anne, with slightly +heightened color, rose to her feet. There was something in Madame +Christophor's eyes which was almost fiercely questioning. + +"I am not disturbing you, I trust?" she asked slowly. "I bring Sir +Julien some letters." + +He caught up the sheets which lay by his side. + +"I will not even look at them until I have corrected my article," he +declared. + +Madame Christophor settled herself composedly in an easy-chair. + +"Lady Anne shall read it aloud," she proposed calmly, "and I will +assist in the corrections. For the French edition I may be able to +suggest. The papers today are most amusing," she continued. "The German +press is almost unreadable. No wonder that there is a price upon your +head, my friend!" + +Julien moved restlessly in his place. + +"I have had the most extraordinary luck," he remarked. "No other man, +naturally, knew so much of Anglo-German and Anglo-French relations. And +instead of being at home in Downing Street, and muzzled, I happened to +be here on the spot, to run up against Falkenberg, discover his little +schemes, and with my own special knowledge to see through them at once. +No one else ever had such an opportunity." + +Madame Christophor smiled enigmatically. She was looking thoughtfully +across at her guest. + +"It is not every opportunity in life," she murmured, "which a man knows +how to embrace!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +NEARING A CRISIS + + +That night, for the first time since his arrival in the house as a +guest, Julien dined downstairs. To his surprise, when he presented +himself in the smaller salon to which he had been directed, he found +the table laid for two only. Madame Christophor, who was standing on +the threshold of the winter-garden opening out from the apartment, read +his expression and frowned. + +"You expected Lady Anne to dine?" she asked bluntly. + +Julien was taken a little aback. + +"It seemed natural to expect her," he admitted. + +Madame Christophor moved towards the bell, but Julien intercepted her. +He remembered all that he owed to this woman. He was ashamed of his +lack of tact. + +"Dear Madame Christophor," he pleaded, "forgive me if for a moment I +forgot how altered things are. Indeed, it was not a matter of choice +with me. Of course, it will give me the greatest pleasure to dine +tête-à-tête with you!" + +He was, perhaps, a shade too impressive, but Madame Christophor, as all +women who greatly desire to read in a man's words what they choose to +find there, hesitated. Finally, with a shrug of the shoulders, she +turned away from the bell. + +"Three is such an impossible number," she declared, with well-assumed +carelessness. "Lady Anne has her own salon adjoining her apartment. She +dines there always. If I am without company, I enjoy the rest of being +alone. She is very delightful in her own way, your dear Lady Anne, but +she and I have not much in common. Come and see my roses." + +She led the way into the conservatory, a dome-shaped building with +colored glass at the top, fragrant, almost faint with the perfume of +roses and drooping exotics. A little fountain was playing in the +middle. When the butler announced the service of dinner and they +returned to take their places, she left the door open. + +"Tonight," she announced, as they sat side by side at the small round +table, "I am going to take advantage of the situation. I am your +hostess and you are an invalid. It is my opportunity to talk. Are you a +good listener, Sir Julien?" + +She had dropped her voice almost to a whisper. Those beautiful deep-set +eyes were challenging his. She seemed to have made up her mind that for +that night, at any rate, her beauty should be unquestioned. She wore a +dress of black net, fitting very closely, a wonderful background for +her white skin and the ropes of pearls which were twined about her +neck. He had never seen her _décolletée_, but he remembered +reading in a ladies' fashion paper that a famous sculptor had once +declared her neck and bust to be the most beautiful in Paris. She had +even added the slightest touch of color to her cheeks. There was no +longer any sign of the wrinkles at the sides of her eyes. She read the +half ingenuous, half unwilling admiration in his face, and she laughed +at him. + +"Ah, my friend," she murmured, "I can see that you object to the rôle +of listener! Very well, then, you shall talk. You shall tell me of your +life in England. You shall tell me what dreams have come to you for the +days when once more you shall help to shape the destinies of your +nation. Tell me how you mean to live! Shall you be again--what was it +Lady Anne thought you?--a prig?" + +"I am like many other and more famous men," he remarked. "I have +learned much in adversity." + +"I read the English papers," she continued presently. "I have also a +large correspondence. Do you know that there is nearly a rebellion in +your party? Questions have been asked about you in the House. Both +sides want you back. There is a feeling that you were allowed to go +much too easily, that the indiscretion of which you were guilty was a +trifle. This man Carraby is what you call--a cad! That does not do in +the high places. Nationality cannot conceal a lack of breeding." + +"I have thought over many things," Julien admitted. "If the way is made +clear for me, I shall go back. Why not? I believe that I can serve my +country, and it is the life for which I am best fitted. Carraby may +have his good points, but his ambitions have been a little too +extensive. He would have made a better mayor of the town where he was +born." + +"You are right," she declared. "There is no place for such men in the +great world. You will go back. It is written. See--I drink to England's +future Prime Minister!" + +She raised her glass, which the butler had just filled with champagne. +She looked into his eyes as she drank and Julien was conscious of a +passing uneasiness. She set the glass down, empty. Her hand lay for a +moment near his. + +"You will go back," she murmured. "You will forget. The people whom you +have met in your brief period of adversity will seem to you like +shadows. Is it not so?" + +He took her hand and raised it boldly to his lips. + +"It will never be like that with you, dear hostess," he assured her. +"There are things which one does not forget." + +She did not withdraw her hand. Its pressure upon his fingers was faint +but insistent. + +"Do you remember when we first met," she said softly, "how bitter we +were against the others--even at first against one another? You had +been betrayed by that unimportant woman and the whole sex was hateful +to you. I had just come from seeing the tragedy caused by a man's crass +selfishness. I, too, was wearing the fetters. To me the whole of your +sex seemed abominable.... You see," she went on, "my marriage was a +terrible disappointment. I fancied that I was marrying a great man, a +genius, an inspired statesman, and I found myself allied to a political +machine. My wealth--have I told you, I wonder, that I am very +wealthy?--helped him. For the rest, I was a puppet by his side. I +lived in Berlin for one year. Official life in Berlin for an American +woman, even though she be Princess von Falkenberg, is still +intolerable. The men were bad enough, the women worse. I could not +breathe. I was no part of my husband's life. I was no part of any one's +life. The German women did not understand me. My husband--oh, he is +very German in his heart!--only laughed at my complaints. He would have +been perfectly willing to see me become as those others--_hausfrauen_, +bearers of children, a domestic article. So we separated--divorce at that +moment was impossible. I came back to Paris." + +"You had no children?" Julien asked. + +"One boy," she answered, her eyes becoming very soft. "Do not let us +speak of him for a moment." + +The service of dinner continued. Outside, the water from the fountain +fell into the basin with a gentle, monotonous sound. The perfume of the +roses stole through the open doorway. One softly-shaded lamp had been +lit, but the rest of the lofty room remained in shadowy obscurity. The +light from that one lamp seemed to fall full upon Madame Christophor's +beautiful face. + +"I loved my boy," she went on. "It was part of my husband's cruelty to +detach him from me. He has the law on his side. I may not even see +Rudolf. Very well, I do my best to steel my heart. I come here to live. +I have many friends, but Falkenberg is the only man to whom I have ever +belonged, and he has treated me as he would have treated one of those +others--his companions for the moment. I have occupied myself here in +work of different sorts. I have tried in my way to do good among women +less happy, even, than I. Wherever I went I saw that every woman who +has sinned, every woman who is miserable, every woman who has become a +blot upon the earth, is what she is by reason of man's selfishness. +Can you wonder that I have grown a little bitter?" + +"I wonder at nothing in the woman who has been Falkenberg's wife," +Julien replied. "He seems to me the most unscrupulous person who ever +breathed. Yet in his way he is marvelously attractive." + +"He is," she admitted. "I fell in love with him against my will. +Directly my reason intervened, the madness was over. How old do you +think I am, Sir Julien?" + +Julien was a little startled. + +"How old?" he repeated. + +"A foolish question, of course," she continued. "How could you be +honest! I am twenty-nine years old. I believe that I am the richest +woman in Paris. I am tired of being called brilliant and cynical, of +showing fortune-hunters to the door, of living my life in loneliness. +Falkenberg has sworn that if I take any steps to make a divorce +possible, I shall never see my boy again. I have not seen him, as it +is, for nearly two years. The threat is losing its terrors.... You are +listening, my friend?" + +"Of course!" + +She turned to the butler. The other servants had already left the room. + +"Bring coffee into the winter-garden," she ordered. "Come, Sir Julien." + +She lit a cigarette and threw it away almost immediately. Her eyes were +gleaming like stars. She laid her fingers upon his arm as they passed +out into the perfumed air of the conservatory, and he seemed to feel +some touch of the fire that was burning in her veins. She swayed a +little towards him. The color in her cheeks was brilliant. Her bosom +was rising and falling quickly. She was splendidly handsome, nerved up +to great things, a woman inspired by a purpose. Julien was afraid. He, +too, felt something of the excitement of the moment, but his brain +seemed numbed. There was nothing he could say. She threw herself back +into a low chair and drew him down to her side. With her other hand she +caught hold of a cluster of pink roses and pressed their cool blossoms +to her cheek. + +"Sir Julien," she murmured, "I have looked so steadfastly into life, I +have striven so hard to find a place there. I have something to give. I +do not come empty-handed. I can place offerings upon the altar of the +great god. I have myself, my brains such as they are, and the golden +key which unlocks the wonderful doors. Can you wonder that I ask for +something in return? I have stood in the marketplace of life, I have +passed down between the stalls, and I am humiliated. There is no life, +there is no career upon this world for a woman. It is a strange +doctrine, perhaps, to preach in these days, but I have searched and I +know it to be the truth. Nature meant woman for man, and if she rebels +there is no seat for her alone among the mighty places. Alone I can win +none of the things I desire. You see, I talk to you like this, nakedly, +because we are of the order of those who understand. You very nearly +married a duke's daughter and became a middle-class politician. Don't +do it. Don't think of it any more, Julien. You were meant for the great +places, and I think--I think--that I was meant to hold the torch to +light you there!" + +"Madame Christophor!" + +She started at his tone. In the splendid arrogance of her assured +position, her brilliant gifts, her almost inspired individuality, +failure had never occurred to her. Even now she refused to read the +message in his set face. + +"You feel, perhaps," she went on, leaning towards him, "that you are +pledged to Lady Anne. Dear Sir Julien, rub your eyes! I want you to +see--all the way to the skies. Lady Anne is a sweet girl who will look +nice at the head of any one's table. She will read the papers and take +an intelligent interest in her husband's work, and ask him trite and +obvious questions to prove that she understands all about it. She will +give you phenacetin when you have a headache, she will fill your house +with the right sort of people. She will be very amiable and very +satisfied. She'll always read the debates and she'll sit up for you at +night in a pretty dressing-gown. And all the time the wall will grow, +brick by brick, and you will look up to the skies and find them empty, +and listen for the music and hear none, and a web will be spun about +your heart, and your brain will be clogged, and the fine thoughts will +go, and you'll never be anything but a successful politician. You +know very well that all the paths to the great pit of unhappiness are +crowded with men who have been successful in their profession." + +She swayed even closer towards him, her head a little thrown back, her +eyes inviting him. He scrambled to his feet. Still she held out her +hands. + +"Won't you trust me?" she begged. "Believe me that I know the way into +the great places, Julien." + +"Listen!" he cried hoarsely. "You have offered me everything except +your love. Thank Heaven you did not offer me that! I love Lady Anne." + +"Everything _except_ my love!" she exclaimed, with the first note +of trouble in her tone. "Everything _except_ my love! Are you mad?" + +"I love Lady Anne!" he repeated, setting his teeth. + +They stood facing one another. She tore a handful of the blossoms from +a syringa tree and commenced crushing them in her fingers. The sound of +footsteps scarcely disturbed her. The butler appeared, followed by Lady +Anne. The former excused himself with a grave face. + +"Madame," he announced, "the Prince von Falkenberg is here." + +Madame Christophor turned slowly around. + +"The Prince von Falkenberg! Where?" + +"In the waiting-room, madame." + +She moved away. She did not glance towards Julien. + +"I come," she announced. + + +Lady Anne had some letters in her hand, which she handed to Julien. He +threw them hastily aside and drew her suddenly into his arms and into +the shadow of the giant palm. + +"Anne," he pleaded, "not because of your mother, not because you would +make me a suitable wife, but because I love you, will you marry me?" + +He felt her relax in his arms. + +"Julien!" she murmured. + +"I didn't finish the sentence," he went on,--"to-morrow at the +Embassy?" + +"Absurd!" + +"It's the only way," he insisted confidently. "We couldn't be married +in London. All the tribe of Harbord would come and boo, and it would +save no end of gossip and bother when we got back. Anne--I love you +very much and I want you just as soon as I can get you!" + +"Of course, if you put it like that," she said softly,-- + +"Well?" + +"This is the only frock I have." + +"The Rue de la Paix is at our gates," he reminded her. + +"Be sensible," she begged. "You can't show your-self about Paris. +Something terrible will happen." + +"Not it!" he replied confidently. "It's too late." + +His arm crept a little further around her waist, he drew her even +further back among the drooping palms. + +"I think that I like this better than the last time you asked me!" she +whispered. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +FALKENBERG'S LAST EFFORT + + +"Madame," Prince Falkenberg declared, with a formal bow, "I owe you a +thousand apologies for this visit." + +Madame Christophor looked at him across the room, and in her eyes there +was no welcome nor any anger--only surprise. + +"You break," she reminded him, "the word of a prince!" + +Falkenberg smiled icily. + +"There are cataclysms in life," he said, "whirlpools into which one may +sometimes be drawn. One's will is overborne. I myself am in that +unfortunate position." + +Madame Christophor looked steadfastly at her visitor. Was it her fancy +or was he really growing older, this man of iron? The story of the last +few weeks was written into his face, there were shadows under his eyes, +a deep line across his forehead. + +"Since you are here, be seated," she invited, sinking herself wearily +into a chair. "Tell me as quickly as you can what has brought you?" + +"Portel has brought me," Falkenberg answered grimly. "They tell me that +he has taken shelter under the shadow of your petticoats." + +"Shelter from your assassins!" + +"Precisely!" Falkenberg admitted. + +"I do not admire your methods," Madame Christophor remarked. "They seem +to me not only brutal but clumsy. You killed seven men and injured +several others, to no purpose." + +"Madame," Falkenberg declared, "to secure the death of that man I would +have destroyed a whole quarter of Paris and every person in it." + +Madame Christophor shivered. + +"Thorough, as usual, my dear Prince," she murmured. "Nevertheless, I +find such statements loathsome. We should have outlived the days of +barbarity. I do not understand men who deal in such fashion with their +enemies." + +Falkenberg frowned. + +"There is something between us greater than personal enmity," he +retorted fiercely. "My personal enemy I would deal with in such a +manner as I make no doubt would commend itself to your scruples. Julien +Portel is more than that. He is the enemy of my country. Upon him, +therefore, I shall have no mercy." + +"I will not argue with you," she replied. "There is a plainer issue +before us. In passing my threshold you have broken your word of honor. +What do you want?" + +"I want Julien Portel!" + +Madame Christophor shrugged her shoulders. + +"You have wanted him for some little time." + +"Never so badly as at this instant," Falkenberg declared bitterly. "He +has set all Europe in a ferment with those infernal letters. He knows +too much. He knows whence came the money which bought _Le Jour_. +He knows every detail of my campaign here." + +"There are surely others," she objected, "who must have guessed--" + +"But there was no one else," he interrupted, "who had the special +knowledge which Portel has. He came from the Foreign Office, with the +records of the last two years in his mind. At Berlin he and I crossed +swords. He is the only Englishman who has ever caused me a moment's +uneasiness." + +"Are you sure," she asked, "that your campaign here has been a wise +one?" + +"The wisdom of Solomon," he replied grimly, "can be made to look like +folly by the accident of failure. There is no doubt as to its wisdom. +No one has studied these matters as I have studied them. No one has +seen the truth more clearly. An alliance between England and America is +a matter of a few years only, and when it comes the progress of Germany +is set back for a generation. The one absolute necessity before me was +to cut the bonds between England and France and to settle with England +alone and quickly--diplomatically, if possible; by force of arms as a +last resource. We don't seek war, Henriette. We are not really a +bloodthirsty nation. We seek territory. We need new lands--fruitful +lands, trade, the command of the seas. If we cannot get what we want +by peaceful means, then it must be war. England for the present is +weakly governed. She is in the throes of labor troubles. Her political +parties are ill-balanced. There is a puppet at the Foreign Office. Now +is the time to strike." + +"Is it wise to tell me your secrets?" she inquired coldly. "I have no +sympathy for you or your country." + +"I have a bargain to strike with you and you must understand," he +answered. "Twenty-four hours ago we dispatched a gunboat to a certain +neutral port which comes under the influence of England. We paid a +German to go there and send us word that he was in danger. We have sent +an intimation to the French and English Governments. To England it is +an insult. I have taken the chance that France has had enough of this +_entente_. Now you understand why I must have Julien Portel before +they can get him back to the Foreign Office, before he can do more +mischief. A strong man in Downing Street at this juncture might upset +everything." + +"I understand well enough why you need Julien Portel," she admitted. "I +am still in the dark, however, as to why you imagine that I shall give +him up?" + +"Because I am going to buy him from you," Falkenberg asserted. + +She glanced across the room at him, half curiously, half scornfully. + +"Buy him! You!" + +"Exactly," he replied. "You smile because you do not understand. I +offer you a dispensation for your divorce, and your son." + +A little tremor seemed to pass through her whole frame. For a moment +she closed her eyes. Then she sprang to her feet and stood quivering +before him. + +"This is one of your traps!" she exclaimed. "You don't mean it!" + +"To prove that I do," he insisted, "I have brought Rudolf with me to +Paris. He can be in your arms in a few minutes. Look into the street, +if you will." + +She crossed the room hastily and lifted the curtain. A low cry broke +from her lips. In the tonneau of the great touring car outside a little +boy was lying back amongst the cushions, asleep. + +"He is tired," Falkenberg said slowly, with his eyes fixed upon the +woman. "He has come all the way from Berlin without an hour's rest. Am +I to take him back to-morrow? It is for you to decide." + +Madame Christophor turned toward the door. Falkenberg barred the way. + +"Not yet!" he declared. "Do you accept my terms?" + +"But he is hungry!" she cried. "I can see that he is hungry! And he is +so pale--let me fetch him in." + +"Of course he is hungry," his father agreed. "He has also been asking +me questions about you all the way. He believes that he is going to see +you. I, too, believe that. You consent?" + +"Tell me exactly what it is that you require?" she demanded. + +"Take me to Portel," he answered swiftly. "Inform him that you cannot +any longer permit him the shelter of your roof." + +She sat down and began to laugh, softly but in unnatural fashion. +Falkenberg watched her with grim curiosity. + +"And then?" she inquired. + +He hesitated. + +"I have made some plans," he said slowly. "If he passes outside your +doors to-night, he will write no more articles!" + +"But the whole of the English Press is clamoring for his return to +power! There will be no need for his pen--he will take up his old +position." + +"Precisely!" Falkenberg assented. "It is not my intention that he shall +return to that position!" + +Madame Christophor sat with her eyes fixed upon the wall. Then she +began to laugh once more in the same strange manner. Falkenberg was +curious. + +"You find my intentions amusing?" he asked. + +"I find the situation amusing," she replied. "Half an hour ago I +offered Sir Julien Portel what is left of my life." + +Falkenberg stood perfectly still, watching her closely. Then his eyes +filled with a sudden bright light. + +"You!" he exclaimed. "You--Princess von Falkenberg--offered yourself to +this man and were refused?" + +"You are indeed a genius," she admitted. "I was refused." + +There was a brief silence. Falkenberg waited. Madame Christophor +remained silent. Her attitude puzzled him a little. He was afraid to +speak for fear of striking the wrong note. Nevertheless, the onus of +speech was thrust upon him. + +"Madame," he said at last, "I anticipate your reply. This man has put +an intolerable insult upon you. While he lives you could never forget +it. There are some privileges still belonging to me. I claim the right +of avenging that affront." + +"It comes conveniently--the affront!" she remarked, through her +clenched teeth. + +"Conveniently or not, the affront exists!" he cried. "You cannot refuse +me now! You would not have him go unpunished!" + +"I am not sure that he was to blame." + +"Not to blame?" Falkenberg repeated, with emphasis. "Would you have me +believe that you threw yourself at his head unasked, without +encouragement--you, the proudest woman in France? One does not believe +such folly!" + +"Nevertheless, it is the truth," Madame Christophor declared. + +Falkenberg smiled incredulously, but he said nothing. Madame +Christophor had found her way once more to the window. She stood there, +looking down into the car. The boy was still asleep. She gripped the +window-curtains with both her hands. He was so pale, so tired, and how +he had grown! + +"I give you even his heritage," Falkenberg promised. "Make of him a +Frenchman or an American, if you will. He is your own son. Take him. I +give my firstborn for my country. You will not refuse what I offer?" + +Madame Christophor made no answer. Falkenberg, however, saw the longing +in her face. It was enough! He suddenly changed his tactics. + +"This Julien Portel," he said,--"it is another woman he prefers." + +He saw her bosom heave. The storm against which she had been struggling +all the time seemed on the point of bursting. The hot blood was singing +in her ears, her eyes were aflame. She crossed the room and rang the +bell. Falkenberg was content to wait. He felt that he had won! The +butler appeared almost immediately. + +"You will conduct the Prince von Falkenberg into the winter-garden," +she directed. "He desires to speak to Sir Julien Portel." + +"And you?" Falkenberg asked, turning towards her. + +A swift gesture showed him her disordered countenance. It was +reasonable. + +"I follow," she announced. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +DEFEAT FOR FALKENBERG + + +Among the palms of Madame Christophor's conservatory, Julien and Lady +Anne were living through a brief new chapter of their history. The +wonderful thing had come to them. It was amazing--almost unrealizable! +A new glamor enveloped the merest trifles. They spoke in halting +sentences, they were at times almost incoherent. The marvel of it was +so great! + +Lady Anne was the first to hear the sound of approaching footsteps. She +listened. It was not Madame Christophor who returned. She laid her hand +upon Julien's arm. + +"It is Jean, the butler, who comes," she whispered. "He conducts some +one." + +On the threshold of the winter-garden, only a short distance away, they +heard Jean's voice. + +"Monsieur le Prince will find Sir Julien Portel a few steps further +on." + +"Monsieur le Prince!" Anne faltered, with whitening face. "Julien, what +does it mean?" + +Julien rose to his feet. The footsteps were close at hand now upon the +tessellated pavement. Then through the drooping palm boughs they saw +him. Julien was standing tense and prepared, his uninjured arm was +ready to strike. Falkenberg was there. + +"You!" Julien exclaimed. "Well?" + +The iron prince had disappeared. It was Herr Freudenberg, maker of +toys, suave, genial, fascinating, who bowed before them. + +"Why so surprised, Sir Julien?" he asked. "You forget that this is my +wife's house. The little difficulties which have existed between us +have to-day, I am happy to say, been removed. I have restored her son +to Madame la Princesse. We are reunited. Henceforth my wishes are the +wishes also of madame. You will present me? It is Lady Anne Clonarty, I +believe?" + +They were both bewildered. For the moment Falkenberg was supreme. He +bowed low upon the hesitating words of introduction. + +"Dear Lady Anne," he murmured, "do not be prejudiced against me. Sir +Julien believes that I am his enemy. I am not. I am his sincere and +heartfelt admirer." + +Lady Anne's eyebrows were slowly raised. + +"You have surely," she remarked, "a strange manner of showing such +sentiments!" + +Falkenberg smiled whimsically. He had the expression of a penitent boy +who has misbehaved. + +"It is at least consistent," he pleaded. "I admire Sir Julien's talents +to such an extent that I am perhaps a trifle too anxious that he should +not use them against my country." + +"You haven't forced your way in here to bandy phrases," Julien asserted +a little harshly. "What is it that you want?" + +"You!" Falkenberg answered softly. "You, my friend! Madame la +Princesse--my wife, whom you have known as Madame Christophor--finds it +impossible, against my wishes, to offer you any longer the shelter of +her roof. I am here to escort you, if you will, to your new +quarters--to follow you, if I cannot reconcile you to my company." + +Julien was startled, Lady Anne incredulous. + +"I do not believe," the former declared, "that Madame Christophor +intends any such act of inhospitality." + +"As to that," Falkenberg replied pleasantly, "my wife will be here +herself in a few moments. You shall hear what she has to say from her +own lips. You must remember that I have paid a price. I have given up +the guardianship of my son. You yourself," he continued, looking +steadfastly at Julien, "may know if any other cause exists likely to +have influenced my wife in granting my request." + +Julien set his teeth, but he did not flinch. + +"What is it that you want with me, Prince Falkenberg?" he demanded. +"Another brutal attempt at massacre? I owe you this," he added, raising +his bandaged arm. "Do you imagine that you can continue to use the +methods of other generations with impunity? The thing is absurd. There +are too many who know already the secret of Herr Freudenberg, maker of +toys! There are too many who will know, also, before long, the secret +of the explosion in the Rue de Montpelier!" + +Falkenberg nodded gravely. + +"I understand," he admitted. "One moves, of course, always, with the +knife at one's heart. Yet, until now, I, personally, am safe. Another +man dies to-night, even as we talk here, and confesses himself guilty +of the Rue de Montpelier affair. But let that pass. We have crossed +swords, Sir Julien, and I frankly admit, although I have gained my end +to-night, that I am worsted. The money I spent to purchase _Le +Jour_ has been thrown away. The months of careful intrigue, the +sacrifices and efforts I have made to destroy the _entente_, have +been rendered almost futile by your diabolical pen. Very well, for what +you have done I will accept defeat--I will accept defeat without +malice. But there is the future." + +"What of it?" Julien asked. + +"I do not intend," Falkenberg declared, in a low, firm tone, "to have +you back, a member of any English Government. I prefer Carraby and such +as he." + +"You flatter me!" Julien remarked grimly. + +"Not in the least," Falkenberg objected. "You know the position as well +as I. The political party of which you are a member is in power for a +long time. You have got hold of the middle class, you've bought the +Irish vote, you've bought labor. In the ranks of your party there isn't +a man whom I fear--only you. I will not have you go back." + +"But as it happens," Julien announced, "I am going back. I have heard +from England this evening. Your friend Carraby is resigning." + +Falkenberg shook his head. He remained calm, but there was an ominous +flash in his eyes. + +"You would make a mistake," he asserted. "No one ever goes +back--successfully. Do I not know--I who am twenty years your senior, I +who have felt my way into all the corners and crevices of life? Listen +to me, please." + +He drew a chair towards them and sat down, crossing his knees and +looking towards them both in friendly fashion. + +"Sir Julien," he said, "and you, my dear young lady, your entire future +depends upon this little conversation. Can you not put it out of your +minds for a few moments that I am the dangerous Falkenberg, the +mischief-maker, the ogre of all respectable Britons? Can you not +remember only that I am a well-meaning, not unkindly old gentleman who +has some good advice to offer? You at least will listen to me, Lady +Anne. Do I look like an assassin by choice? Do I seem like the sort of +person to indulge in these dangerous exercises for mere amusement? You +are both young, you have both your lives before you. Why do you, Sir +Julien, voluntarily put the yoke about your neck? Why do you, my +gracious young lady, suffer the man with whom your life is to be linked +to deliver himself over voluntarily into a state of bondage? Politics +lose all glamor to those who have dwelt within the walls. Sir Julien +has dwelt there and so have I. He knows in his heart whether it is +worth while. One lives always amidst a clamor of evil tongues, a +pestilent trail of poisonous suspicions. One gives up one's life to be +flouted and misunderstood, to be accused of evil motives and every +imaginable crime. When it is all over, when one has time to think of +all that one has missed, one feels that all one has done could have +been done just as well by the next man in the street. That is the end +of it. And against all that, you two have the world before you. You can +be rich--very rich indeed. You can make an idyll of this love of yours. +You can travel around the world in your own yacht, you can visit all +strange countries, you can wander where you will, and all the time +affairs in the world will go on very much the same as if you had stayed +and given the best hours of your life to the dusty treadmill. I am an +old man, Lady Anne, and I have an evil name in your country. They call +me greedy, subtle, and ambitious. I may be all these things, but let me +assure you that if I had my time over again my master could find +another servant and my country another toiler. There are fairer flowers +in life to be plucked than any which can be reached from the high +places in Downing Street or Berlin.... Let me, at least, Lady Anne, +make sure of your support? Mind, I am not threatening now--I plead." + +Lady Anne looked at him gravely. + +"Sir Julien," she declared, "will answer you for himself." + +"But I want your own decision," Falkenberg insisted. "I want you to see +the truth as I see it. I want you to tell me that you agree with me." + +She shook her head. + +"But I do not!" she exclaimed. "To me you have spoken like a sophist. +One does not gain happiness by seeking it. You may be honest in some +part of what you say--I cannot tell. Only I think that you have +mistaken Sir Julien's ideas--and mine." + +"You disappoint me!" Falkenberg murmured. + +Sir Julien smiled. + +"Not very much, I think," he said. "You always did believe in trying +the hundredth chance. Let us come back to the reasonable part of our +discussion. Do you propose, then, that I should leave this house at +this moment with you?" + +"My car is entirely at your service," Falkenberg suggested. + +"Do I seem to you so ingenuous?" Julien inquired. "I am wondering what +resources are open to me. I might propose to Lady Anne here that she +telephone for the gendarmes. Why should I not have an escort to take me +to an hotel?" + +Falkenberg shrugged his shoulders. + +"I like the idea," he admitted. "By all means, do as you say. Only do +me the favor to remember that this is my wife's house and with her +authority I request that you leave it immediately." + +"I wonder," Julien asked, "what may be in store for me?--what pleasant +schemes you have hatched?" + +Falkenberg shrugged his shoulders. + +"Listen," he said,--"if you listen attentively you will hear the murmur +of Paris calling you back. Almost you can hear the falling of a +thousand feet upon the pavements of the boulevards, the voice of life. +You may find an asylum there. Who can tell?" + +They heard the soft swirl of a woman's gown passing over the marble +floor. They all turned. It was Madame Christophor who stood there. + +"Still here?" she remarked. + +Julien frowned. + +"It is not my intention to linger," he assured her. "Prince von +Falkenberg has given me your message. I am prepared to go." + +Lady Anne moved hastily forward. + +"Do you know," she cried, "that they will kill him? Do you know that +this man," she added, pointing to Falkenberg, "has admitted it? Would +you dare to send him out to be butchered in the streets?" + +"The young lady exaggerates," Falkenberg protested. "This is a +perfectly respectable neighborhood. What possible harm can come to an +English gentleman? Besides, I have offered him, if he will, the +protection of my car." + +Madame Christophor sighed. She waved back Sir Julien. + +"Alas!" she exclaimed, "there has been a slight misunderstanding." + +She touched a bell which stood on the table by her side. Almost +immediately a tall, pale-faced man in dark clothes appeared, followed +by Jean, the butler. + +"My dear Prince," she said to her husband, "I do assure you that you +need have no special anxiety. Let me present to you Monsieur Bourgan of +the French Detective Service. Monsieur Bourgan--the Prince von +Falkenberg--Sir Julien Portel!" + +Monsieur Bourgan saluted. The two men looked at him,--as yet they +scarcely understood. + +"I suppose," Madame Christophor continued, "that I am a somewhat +nervous woman, but you see I can always plead the privilege of my sex. +I was delighted to have Sir Julien here with me, but in a sense it was +a responsibility. It occurred to me then to send a message to the +Minister of the Police, who happens to be a great friend of mine, and +at his suggestion Monsieur Bourgan here, who is, as I have no doubt you +both well know, very distinguished in the Service, has taken up his +residence in my house. He has occupied, as a matter of fact, the next +room to Sir Julien's. Forgive me," she added, smiling at them all, "if +I kept this little matter secret, but I know that men hate a fuss. I +propose, dear Prince," she added, turning to her husband, "that +Monsieur Bourgan accompanies you to your rooms. You need not fear then +any molestation." + +There was an absolute silence. It was broken at last by the Prince von +Falkenberg. + +"I must confess," he said slowly, "that I do not altogether +understand." + +Madame Christophor faced him with a faint smile upon her lips. The +smile itself told him all that he desired to know. + +"But, my dear Prince," she declared, "it is my anxiety for your safety +which induces me to propose this. Only a few minutes ago you were +telling me that you feared that you had become an extremely unpopular +person in Paris, and that the very streets were not safe for you. Under +the circumstances, one can scarcely wonder at it! The French +Government, however, is above all small feelings. A private citizen in +Paris, even though he be an enemy of France, is a person to be +respected. The protection of the detective force of Paris is at your +service. Monsieur Bourgan, you will do me the great favor of conducting +my husband to his rooms. Afterwards you will return here to continue +your watch over Sir Julien." + +"I am entirely at your command, madame," Monsieur Bourgan replied. + +Falkenberg hesitated for one single moment. He seemed to be measuring +the distance between Julien and himself. Under the pretense of picking +up a match, Monsieur Bourgan was almost between them. Falkenberg +laughed softly, then most graciously he made his adieux. + +"Lady Anne," he said, bowing, "one is permitted to wish you every +happiness? Sir Julien, let me assure you," he continued, "that it has +been a pleasure to renew our acquaintance. Dear Henriette," he added, +"this care for my safety touches me! And the boy?" + +"He is safe in my room," she assured him. "It is absurd of me, no +doubt, but I have turned the key upon him and placed a footman outside +the door. Take care of yourself, dear Rudolf. Monsieur Bourgan, I know, +will watch over you well. Yet you are one of those who take risks +always." + +Falkenberg raised her fingers to his lips. + +"Almost, dear Henriette," he murmured, "you make me regret that I ever +have to leave Paris at all." + +She leaned a little towards him. + +"I bear you no ill-will, Rudolf," she said softly. "Take my advice. +Leave Paris quickly." + +His eyes held hers as though seeking for some meaning to her words. She +only shook her head. He turned and followed Jean. Monsieur Bourgan +brought up the rear. Madame Christophor shrugged her shoulders. + +"Really," she declared, with a sigh, "life is becoming altogether too +complicated. Never mind, I have got rid of Prince Falkenberg for you, +Sir Julien. Between ourselves, I think that he will receive a hint to +leave Paris, and before very long. Listen--there goes his car." + +"Dear Madame Christophor," Lady Anne whispered, "you are wonderful!" + +Madame Christophor was already moving away. + +"Not really wonderful," she replied. "Only a little human. I must go to +my boy." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +THE ONE WAY OUT + + +Estermen started up from his chair. In the unlit room the figure of +his master seemed to have assumed a portentous, almost a threatening +shape. + +"Who's that?" he cried out. + +Falkenberg calmly turned on the electric light. + +"Still here, my friend?" he remarked significantly. + +Estermen began to tremble. + +"There is plenty of time," he faltered. "I am not sure about the man +opposite. It may be some one else he is watching." + +Falkenberg walked to the window and stood there in the full glare of +the light. The man opposite was still sipping his eternal coffee. He +glanced casually at Falkenberg and back at his paper. + +"You fool!" the latter said to Estermen. "Can't you see that he is +waiting only to draw the others in? Do you know that I--I, Von +Falkenberg, Chancellor of Germany, have received what they are pleased +to call a hint from the French Minister of Police that it would be +advisable for me to leave Paris? This is your blundering, Estermen!" + +"Not mine only," the man muttered. "Do you know that there are those +who wait for you in your rooms?" + +Falkenberg turned away. + +"Stay here till I return," he ordered. + +He turned the key of his own apartments and entered. His servant +hurried up to him. + +"There waits for Your Highness," he announced, "the Baron von +Neudheim." + +Falkenberg started. + +"Here?" he exclaimed. + +"In His Excellency's private apartment. There waits also--" + +Falkenberg had already departed. He opened the door of his room. His +secretary rose hastily to his feet. + +"What do you here, Neudheim?" Falkenberg demanded. "What has happened?" + +"Excellency," the young man replied, "there is trouble. Within half an +hour of your leaving, I had important news. I dared not telegraph. I +have followed you. I took a special train from the frontier." + +"Go on," Falkenberg said calmly. "It is something serious?" + +"Indeed, yes, Your Excellency!" the Baron continued. "It is concerning +the Agdar matter." + +Falkenberg's face lit up. + +"An ultimatum!" he exclaimed. "So much the better!" + +Baron von Neudheim shook his head. + +"For once, I am afraid," he said, "we have been trapped. His Excellency +himself sent for me. The reply from Downing Street has been received." + +"Well?" Falkenberg interrupted impatiently. + +"Your Excellency, the reply to our note is exceedingly courteous. It +states that the unrest referred to had already been reported to the +British Government, and a warship which left Portsmouth under sealed +orders some months ago was instructed to proceed to the port last week. +The note goes on to state that no intimation was given to Germany, as +the British Government was not aware that Germany had any interests, +but it further contains an assurance that the welfare of all white men +will receive equal attention." Falkenberg set his teeth. + +"What battleship was sent?" he asked. + +"The 'Aida,'" the young man replied slowly,--"a first-class cruiser, +twenty-six thousand tons." + +Falkenberg was silent for a moment. His face had grown dark. + +"And ours," he muttered, "was a third-rate gunboat! Who in all Downing +Street could have planned a coup like this?" + +"It was Sir Julien Portel--his last official action," the Baron +answered. "The papers to-morrow will be full of this. The Press of +Germany and England and France have the whole story." + +"Which is to say," Falkenberg exclaimed, "that we are to be the +laughing-stock of Europe! Anything else?" + +"There is an imperial summons commanding your presence at Potsdam at +once," Neudheim acknowledged reluctantly. + +"I start for the frontier in a quarter of an hour," Falkenberg decided. +"I shall drive to Châlons and telegraph for a special train from +there." + +"You will let me accompany you?" the young man begged. + +Falkenberg hesitated, then he shook his head. + +"No, it is my wish that you return by train. Take a day's holiday, if +you will. You will be back in time." + +The young man's expression was clouded. He was obviously disappointed. + +"But, Excellency," he pleaded, "there is trouble in Berlin. It is best, +indeed, that I should be by your side." + +Falkenberg held out his hand. + +"My dear Fritz," he replied, "you will obey my orders, as you always +have done. It is my wish that you return by the ordinary train +to-morrow night." + +"There is nothing I can do--no message--" + +"Nothing!" Falkenberg interrupted. "Look after yourself. Leave me now, +if you please." + +The young man moved reluctantly towards the door. + +"Excellency," he protested, "I do not desire a day's holiday. Things in +Berlin are bad. Let us talk together on our way north. You have never +yet known defeat. We can plan our way through, or fight it. Don't tell +me to leave you, dear master!" he wound up, with a sudden change of +tone. "There are still ways." + +Falkenberg laid his hand upon the young man's shoulder. + +"Fritz," he said, "my orders, if you please! Remember that I never +suffer them to be disputed. Goodbye!" + +The young man left the room. As he passed down the stairs he shivered. +Falkenberg passed into an inner apartment. Already he had guessed who +it was waiting for him. Mademoiselle rose to her feet with a little +cry. + +"At last!" she exclaimed. "Dear maker of toys, how long you have been! +How weary it has been to wait!" + +She came into his arms. He patted her head gently. + +"Dear little one!" + +"You are taking me to supper?" she begged. + +He shook his head. Her face fell, the big tears were already in her +eyes. + +"But you are troubled!" she cried. "Oh, come and forget it all for a +time! Isn't that what you told me once was my use in the world--that I +could chatter to you, or sing, or lead you through the light paths, so +that your brain could rest? Let me take you there, dear one. To-night, +if ever, you have the look in your face. You need rest. Come to me!" + +He looked at her steadfastly, looked at her feeling as one far away +gazing down upon some strange element in life. Then a thought came to +him. + +"Little one," he whispered, "you are irresistible. Wait, then. It may +be as you desire. Only, after supper I pass on." + +"And I with you?" she implored. + +He shook his head. + +"Wait here." + +Once more he returned to Estermen's apartments. Estermen was still +there, smoking furiously. The room was blue with tobacco smoke. +Falkenberg regarded him with distaste. + +"Make yourself presentable, man," he ordered. "We sup in the Montmartre +and we leave in a few minutes." + +"What, I?" Estermen exclaimed, springing up. + +"You and I and mademoiselle," Falkenberg told him. "I have made plans. +You may perhaps escape--who can tell?" + +Estermen, with a little sob of relief, hurried into his sleeping +apartment. Soon they were all three in the big car, gliding through the +busy streets. It was getting towards midnight and they took their place +among the crowd of vehicles climbing the hill, only wherever the street +was broad enough they passed always ahead. At the Rat Mort they came to +a stand-still. Falkenberg led the way up the narrow stairs, greeted +Albert with both hands, nodded amiably to the _chef d'orchestre_, +the flower girl and the head waiter, who crowded around him. + +"For as many as choose to come!" he declared. "The round table! The +best supper in France! It is a gala night, Albert. Serve us of your +best. Mademoiselle will sing. We are here to taste the joys of life." + +Albert led the way. + +"Ah, monsieur," he said, "it is good, indeed, to hear your voice! There +is no one who comes here who enters more splendidly into the spirit of +the place. When you are here I know that it will be a joyful evening +for all. They catch it, too, those others," he explained. "Sometimes +they come here stolid, British. They look around them, they eat, they +drink, they sit like stuffed animals. Then comes monsieur--dear +monsieur! He talks gayly, he laughs, he waves salutes, he drinks wine, +he makes friends. The thing spreads. It is the spirit--the real spirit. +Behold! Even the dull, once they catch it, they enjoy." + +Falkenberg took the cushioned seat in the corner. Close to his side was +mademoiselle, her hand already clasping his. Estermen, gaunt, red-eyed, +still haggard with fear, sat a few feet away. + +"Wine!" Falkenberg ordered. "Pommery--bottles of it! Never mind if we +cannot drink it. Let us look at it. Let us imagine the joys that come, +added to those we feel." + +Already the wine was rushing into their glasses. Falkenberg raised his +glass. + +"To our last supper, dear Marguerite!" he whispered. + +She shivered all over. She looked at him, her face was suddenly +strained. + +"You jest!" + +"Jest? But is it not a night for jests!" he answered. "Why not? Ah, +Marguerite, I take it back! To our first supper! Let us say to +ourselves that to-night we stand upon the threshold of life. Let us say +to ourselves that never before have I seen how blue your eyes shine, +how sweet your mouth, how soft your fingers, how dear the thrill which +passes from you to me. Close to me, Marguerite--close to me, little +one! Our first evening!" + +"Dearest," she whispered, "first or last, there could never be another. +It is you who make my life. It is you who, when you go, leave it +desolate." + +He held her hand more tightly. + +"Ah, little friend," he murmured, "you spoil me with your sweet +phrases! You set the music playing in my heart--the witch music, I +think. Come, we must speak to Estermen," he continued, looking +resolutely away from her. "We cannot have him sitting there glum, a +death's-head at our feast. Estermen, drink, man! Is this a funeral +party? Wake up. Mademoiselle who dances there looks towards you. Why +not? You see, she waves her hand. You have waltzed with her before. Ask +her to sit down with us. I have ordered supper. See, mademoiselle +approaches, Estermen. More glasses, waiter. Open more wine. There is +champagne here for everybody. Mademoiselle does us great honor. Permit +me!" + +The little dancing girl obeyed his invitation. She sat by Estermen's +side, but she cast a longing glance at Falkenberg. Their glasses were +filled. Estermen drank quickly, all the time looking about him with the +furtive air of a whipped dog. + +"To-night," Falkenberg cried, as he lifted his glass, "I have but one +command--be joyful. Why not? To-night I have Marguerite by my side, and +you--you can choose from the world of Marguerites. There is nothing in +life like this--the hour of midnight, the music of the moment, the wine +of the hour, the woman we love. Drink, Estermen, once more. Fix your +thoughts upon the present. Mademoiselle looks around her. She finds you +dull. She will seek for another admirer. Ah, mademoiselle!" he added, +leaning across the table, "if the sweetest girl in Paris were not here +already by my side, do you think that I would permit you to be for an +instant the companion of a dumb admirer?" + +Mademoiselle laughed back into his eyes. + +"If monsieur's friend were but as gallant as monsieur himself!" + +"He is depressed," Falkenberg declared, "but it passes. Behold! Another +glass like that, Estermen! Drink till you feel it bubbling in your +veins. Look at him now!" + +Falkenberg leaned back in his place and pressed his companion's arm. +Indeed, the wine was working its magic. The terror was passing from +Estermen's face. Already he was becoming more natural. + +"Leave them alone," Falkenberg said softly. "He will have no relapse. +The wine is in his blood. Ah, Marguerite! never did you seem so sweet +to me as tonight, when my face is set for the cold north! Have you joy +in remembering, little one? Have you sentiment enough for that?" + +"I have sentiment enough," she whispered, "to suffer every time you +leave me. To-night I am afraid to let you go. Oh! dear--my dear--take +me with you! I have begged you before, but to-night I beg you in a +different manner. I am afraid to be left alone. I care not where or +whatever the end of your journey may be. Take me with you, dear one. It +is because I love that I ask this!" + +He looked at her for a moment and there were wonderful things in his +eyes. + +"Ah, little girl," he murmured, "you teach one so much! One passes +through life too often with one's eyes closed, one finds the great +things in strange places, the rarest flowers even by the roadside. +Drink your wine, press my fingers--like that. See, it is the _chef +d'orchestre_ who approaches. You shall sing--sing to me, little +one." + +He motioned to the musician, who with a smile of delight held up his +hand to the orchestra. Mademoiselle hummed a few bars. The man who +listened nodded his head. Then he raised his violin, he passed his bow +across the strings. With the touch of his fingers he drew from them a +little melody. Mademoiselle assented. Her head was back against the +wall, her eyes half closed. Then she began to sing; sang so that in a +few moments the passionate words which streamed from her lips held the +room breathless. It was no ordinary music. It was the love prayer of a +woman, starting in sadness, passing on to passion, ending in wild +entreaty. As she finished she turned her head towards her companion. + +"You shall not go alone!" she cried, and her words might well have been +the text of her song. + +Falkenberg shook his head. + +"Something gayer," he begged,--"something more like the wine which +foams in our glasses." + +She obeyed him after only a moment's hesitation, yet in the first few +bars her song came to an abrupt end, her voice choked. She leaned +suddenly forward in her place, her face was hidden between her hands. +They all gazed at her curiously. + +"Nerves!" one declared. + +"Hysterics!" another echoed. + +"It is the life they lead, these women," an American explained to a +little party of guests. "They weep or they laugh always. Life with them +quivers all the time. They pass from one emotion to another--they +seldom know which. Look, it is over with her." + +It was over, indeed. She raised her head and sang, sang ravishingly, +charmingly, a gay love-song. Falkenberg was the first to applaud her. + +"To-night, dear," he murmured, "you are wonderful. You sing from the +heart, your voice has feeling, you bring to one the exquisite +moments.... Behold, the supper arrives! Estermen has made friends now +with his little _danseuse_. Sit closer to me, dear. These are the +golden hours. Give me your hand, look into my eyes, drink with me.... +How the minutes pass! There is magic in this place." + +Towards four o'clock Falkenberg and his companions came down the narrow +stairs, out into the morning. A fine rain was falling, the pavements +were already wet. Falkenberg was still gay, still laughing and talking. +Behind, a little company--the _chef d'orchestre_, the chief +_maître d'hôtel_, the flower girl--wondering at his generosity, +stood at the head of the stairs to bid him godspeed. He gave a louis to +the _commissionaire_ and called for a special carriage. He had +almost to lift Marguerite inside. + +"Dear child," he said, holding her hands, "here we must part for a +time--not for so long, perhaps. Who can tell? It is a comfortable +carriage, this. Here is a handful of money for the fare. It is of no +use to me." + +He emptied his pockets into her lap as she sat there. She made no +effort to pick up the shower of gold and silver. + +"What do you mean--that it is of no use to you?" + +"We drive for home," he answered. "We shall need no money to take us +there. Listen." + +He drew her face very close to his. + +"When you arrive at your apartment," he said, "you will find there a +little packet from me. Be wise, dear. If chance will have it that we do +not meet again very soon, may it help you to take all out of life that +you can find. Only sometimes when the heart is joyous, when the wine +flows and your feet are keeping time to the music of life, think for a +moment--of one who dwells, alas! in a quieter country. Dear +Marguerite!" + +He kissed her, first upon the lips and then lightly on the forehead. +Then gently he thrust away the arms which she had wound around his +neck. He waved to the coachman to drive off. With a little shrug of the +shoulders he took his own place in the great touring car. Estermen, +too, clambered into the tonneau. + +"You have supped well, I trust, Henri?" the Prince asked the chauffeur. + +"Without a doubt, Excellency," the man replied. + +"Then drive for the frontier," Falkenberg ordered. "We will stop you +when we need a rest." + +They left Paris in the semi-darkness. They were away in the country +before the faintest gleam of daylight broke through the eastern clouds. +Even then the way was still obscured. It was a stormy morning, and +banks of murky clouds were piled up where the sun should have risen. +The rain still fell. Soon they commenced to ascend a range of hills. At +the summit Falkenberg pulled the check-string. + +"Henri," he said, "come in behind here. I will drive for a time--it +will amuse me." + +The man descended. Falkenberg took his place at the wheel. Estermen, +obeying his gesture, scrambled into the seat by his side. + +"Go to the signpost," his master ordered the chauffeur. "Tell me +exactly, how many miles to Rheims?" + +The man clambered up the bank. The gray morning twilight was breaking +now through a sea of clouds. From where they were the vineyards sloped +down to the bank. A thin, curving line of silver marked the course of +the river. Here and there a little gleam of sunlight fell upon the +country below them. Estermen closed his eyes. + +"It makes me giddy," he muttered. "I hope that you will drive slowly +down the hill!" + +Falkenberg glanced to the left--the chauffeur was still peering at the +milestone. He slipped in the clutch and the car glided off, gathering +speed as though by magic. + +"You have left Henri!" Estermen cried. "He is running after us. Stop +the car! Can't you stop it?" + +Falkenberg turned his head only once. The stone walls now on either +side seemed flying past them. Estermen looked into his face and quaked +with fear. + +"This ride is for you and me alone, my friend!" Falkenberg replied. +"Sit tight and say your prayers, if it pleases you. This is better, +after all, than poison, or the cold muzzle of a revolver at your +forehead. Close your eyes if you are afraid; or open them, if you have +the courage, and see the world spin by. We start on the great journey." + +Estermen shrieked. He half rose to his feet, but Falkenberg, holding +the wheel with his right hand, struck him across the face with his left +so that he fell back in his place. + +"If you try to leave the car," he said, "I swear that I will stop and +come back. I will shoot you where you lie, like a dog. Be brave, man! +Be thankful that you are going to your death in honorable company and +in honorable fashion! It's better, this, than the guillotine, isn't it? +Look at the country below, like patchwork, coming up to us. Listen to +the wind rushing by. You see the trees, how they bend? You feel the +rain stinging your cheeks? Sit still, man, and fix your thoughts where +you will. Think of mademoiselle _la danseuse_, think of her +kisses, think of the perfume of the violets at her bosom! You see, we +arrive. Watch that corner of the viaduct." + +They were traveling now at a terrific speed, falling fast to the level +country. Before them was a high bridge, crossing the river. On the +left, a portion of it was being repaired and a few boards alone were up +for protection. Falkenberg, recognizing the spot for which he had been +looking, settled down in his seat. A grim smile parted his lips. + +"Jean Charles will never place his hand upon your shoulder now!" he +cried. "Can you hear the wind sob, Estermen? Soon you'll hear the water +in your ears! Hold fast. Don't spoil the end!" + +They were going at sixty miles an hour, and with the slightest swerve +of the steering wheel they turned to the left on entering the bridge +and struck the boards. Henri, in his account of the accident, declared +that although the car turned over before it reached the river, +Falkenberg never left his seat. Estermen, on the other hand, was thrown +violently out, and struck the water head foremost. From the condition +of his body it would seem that death was instantaneous. Falkenberg was +found with his arms locked around the steering wheel, his head bent +forward. He, too, seemed to have been drowned almost immediately. The +steering wheel was jammed, the car wrecked.... + +The authorities, who had left only a temporary protection while they +repaired the viaduct on the bridge, were severely censured. The makers +of the car were subjected to a very searching cross-examination. The +brakes and the uncertain light were blamed. Henri, who from the +hillside a mile or more back had watched with ghastly face, was the +only one who understood the accident, and he kept silent! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +ALL ENDS WELL + + +The Duchess of Clonarty was famous for doing the right thing. Three +weeks after the return of Julien and Lady Anne to London, she gave a +large dinner-party in their honor. At a quarter past eight, a +telephone message from the House of Commons was received, explaining +that Sir Julien would be ten minutes late, owing to his having to speak +at greater length than he had first intended upon the Agdar question. +Lady Anne was waiting for him, and they would arrive together certainly +within a quarter of an hour. The Duchess made every use of her +opportunity. She was at her very best during that brief period which +ensued while they waited for the delayed guests. + +"You know, my dear Lady Cardington," she explained, raising her voice a +little to indicate that this was not entirely a confidence, "I never +dreamed that dear Anne had so much self-confidence and resolution. Even +now I have scarcely given up wondering at it. If she had only told me +that she was so sincerely attached to Julien, I would never have +listened for one moment to that Harbord affair. It was a mistake, of +course," she rippled on, "but then one learns so much by one's +mistakes. Notwithstanding their wealth, they were most terrible and +impossible people. I am sure the association would have been most +distasteful to the Duke. Poor Henry used to lock himself in his study +when any of them were about the place, and what it would have been if +they were really able to call themselves connections, I cannot imagine. +You were speaking of the Carraby woman a few minutes ago. My dear Eva! +Of course, you have heard about her? Her husband, when he resigned, +gave out that he was obliged to go abroad for his wife's health. My +dear, his wife had already left him, three days before! She was seen in +Paris with Bob Sutherland. I hear the divorce suit is filed. What a +terrible woman!" + +"A great escape, I am sure, for Sir Julien," Lady Cardington declared. + +The Duchess drew a little breath. + +"Poor Julien was always so chivalrous," she murmured. "How thankful +your dear husband must be to think that at last he has one person in +his Cabinet who does command some sort of a following in the country!" + +The Duchess delivered her little shaft and moved to the door. Sir +Julien and Lady Anne Portel had just been announced. It was almost a +family dinner. The Duchess took Julien's arm and drew him into a corner +while the others filed past. + +"Is it true," she whispered, "that the Carraby woman has bolted?" + +Julien nodded. + +"I am afraid there isn't a doubt about it," he admitted. + +"How are things to-night? Anything new?" she asked. + +"Quite calm again," he replied. "The trouble seems to have passed over. +Falkenberg's death upset the whole scheme which was brewing against us, +whatever it may have been. All the notes which are being interchanged +at the present moment are perfectly pacific." + +The Duchess sighed. + +"After all," she said, "my little visit to Paris was +not so wild. I don't think you would ever have found out about Anne +but for me." + +Julien smiled. + +"If I really believed that," he assured her, "and I shall try to, then +I should feel that I owed you more than any person upon the earth." + +The dinner was a success. Lady Anne seemed certainly to have developed. +She was looking wonderfully handsome, and though her eyes strayed more +than once to the end of the table where her husband was sitting, she +carried on her share of the conversation with just that trifle of +assurance which marks the transition from girlhood to the dignity of +marriage. After the women had left, conversation for a few moments was +necessarily political. The Duke, who read the _Times_ and the +_Spectator_, and attended every debate in the House of Lords, +spoke with some authority. + +"I believe," he said firmly, "that we have passed through a crisis +greater than any one, even those in power, know of. It is my opinion +that Falkenberg was the bitter enemy of this country--that it was he, +indeed, who kept alive all that suspicious and jealous feeling of which +we have had constant evidences from Berlin. He was dying all the time +to make mischief. I am sorry, of course, for his tragical end. On the +other hand, I am inclined to believe that his departure from the sphere +of politics was the best thing that has happened to this country for +many years." + +"There is no doubt," Lord Cardington declared, "that he was working +hard to estrange France and England. Your letters, Sir Julien, made +that remarkably evident." + +"'The good that men do lives after them,'" some one quoted, "also the +evil. I am afraid it will be some time before France and England are on +exactly the same terms." + +"I would not be so sure," Julien interposed, setting down his glass. +"The politics of Paris are the politics of France, and the spirit of +the Parisian is essentially mercurial. Besides, the days of the great +alliance draw nearer--the next step forward after the arbitration +treaty. Who can doubt that when that is completed, France will embrace +the chance of permanent peace?" + +The Duke rose to his feet. + +"Five minutes only I am allowed, gentlemen," he said. "My wife wants +some of us, some of us have to go back to Westminster. I shall ask you, +therefore, before we separate, as this is in some respects an occasion, +to drink to the health of my son-in-law, Sir Julien Portel. Though a +politician of the old type, I do not fail to appreciate what we owe to +the new school. I am a reader of the old-fashioned newspapers, but I +recognize the fact that the modern Press sometimes exercises a new and +wonderful function in politics. It is my opinion that by means of this +modern journalism Sir Julien Portel has maintained the peace of the +world. I ask you, therefore, not only as my private friends and +relatives, but as politicians, to drink to-night to the health of my +son-in-law." + +They all rose. + +"And with that toast," Lord Cardington added, as he bowed toward +Julien, "let me associate the fervent pleasure felt by all of us in +welcoming back once more the colleague to whom we have so many reasons +to be thankful." + +The party broke up soon afterwards. Lady Anne drove back with her +husband to Westminster. She sat by his side in the closed car which had +been her father's wedding present. Her hands, linked together, were +passed through his arm. She was a very well satisfied woman. + +"Julien," she declared, "it's lovely to be back here, but I wouldn't +have been without those few weeks in Paris for anything in the world. I +don't think we can ever get back down into the bottom of the ruts, do +you?" + +"If ever we feel like it," he answered, smiling, "we'll cross the +Channel again, and take Mademoiselle Janette with us and seek for more +adventures." + +"Lovely!" she exclaimed. "I shall hold you to that, mind." + +"No need," he replied. "Kendricks is going to stay there as +correspondent for the _Post_. We must go and see him occasionally. +There is no one who understands better the temperament of the Parisian +than he." + +"There will be no more Herr Freudenberg to circumvent," she remarked. + +"Paris always has its problems," he answered. "Kendricks realizes that. +The plotting of the world takes place within a mile of Montmartre." + +They were nearing Westminster. Julien drew his wife towards him and +kissed her. + +"I shall only be about twenty minutes, dear," he suggested. "Why not +wait?" + +"Of course," she replied. "I have a little electric lamp here, and a +book. I'd love to." + +Julien walked blithely into the House. Lady Anne turned on the lamp, +drew out her book, and leaned back among the cushions with a deep sigh +of content. + + * * * * * + +That same night, wandering around Paris, Kendricks met Monsieur, +Madame, and Mademoiselle. + +"It is the gallant Englishman!" mademoiselle exclaimed. + +"It is the gentleman who ate both portions of chicken!" madame cried, +clapping her hands. + +It was a veritable meeting. Kendricks willingly joined their little +party and sat down with them in the brightly-lit cafe. Monsieur ordered +wine. + +"The business affairs of monsieur are prospering, I trust?" he said. +"After all, the _entente_ remains." + +Kendricks lifted his glass. + +"I drink to it!" he exclaimed. "It is the sanest thing to-day in +European politics. Drink to it yourself, monsieur, and you, madame, and +you, mademoiselle. You shall accuse us no longer, we English, of +selfishness or stupidity. For what reason, think you, did we order a +warship to Agdar and brave the whole wrath of Germany?" + +Monsieur held out his hand. + +"My friend," he declared, "it was a stroke of genius, that. It was what +we none of us expected from any English Minister. It was magnificent. I +confess it--it has altered my opinions. I drink with you now, cordially +and heartily. I drink to the _entente_. I believe in it. I am a +convert." + +Kendricks shook hands with every one solemnly. He shook hands last with +mademoiselle, and forgot to release her little fingers for several +moments. + +"Tell us of your friend, monsieur?" madame asked politely. + +But Kendricks did not hear! He was whispering in mademoiselle's ear. +Her dark eyes were fixed upon the tablecloth, her pretty lips were +parted, a most becoming flush of color was in her cheeks. Monsieur +looked at madame and winked. Madame smiled, well pleased. + +"_L'entente!_" monsieur murmured. + +Madame nodded. + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Mischief Maker, by E. Phillips Oppenheim + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISCHIEF MAKER *** + +***** This file should be named 8878-8.txt or 8878-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/8/7/8878/ + +Produced by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Mischief Maker + +Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim + +Posting Date: August 29, 2012 [EBook #8878] +Release Date: September, 2005 +First Posted: August 19, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISCHIEF MAKER *** + + + + +Produced by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + +THE MISCHIEF-MAKER + +BY + +E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM + +AUTHOR OF "THE LIGHTED WAY," "THE TEMPTING OF TAVERNAKE," "HAVOC," ETC. + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HANSON BOOTH + +1913 + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + +BOOK ONE + + + +CHAPTER + + + I SYMPATHY AND SELFISHNESS + + II AN INDISCREET LETTER + + III A RUINED CAREER + + IV A BUNCH OF VIOLETS + + V A SENTIMENTAL EPISODE + + VI AT THE CAFE L'ATHENEE + + VII COFFEE FOR THREE + + VIII IN PARIS + + IX MADAME CHRISTOPHOR + + X BETTER ACQUAINTANCE + + XI THE TOYMAKER FROM LEIPZIG + + XII AT THE RAT MORT + + XIII POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM + + XIV THE MORNING AFTER + + XV BEHIND CLOSED DOORS + + XVI "HAVE YOU EVER LOVED?" + + XVII KENDRICKS IS HOST + +XVIII A MEETING OF SOCIALISTS + + XIX AN OFFER + + XX FALKENBERG ACTS + + + + +BOOK TWO + + + +CHAPTER + + + + I THE FLIGHT OF LADY ANNE + + II "TO OUR NEW SELVES" + + III WORK FOR JULIEN + + IV A STARTLING DISCLOSURE + + V THE FIRST ARTICLE + + VI FALKENBERG FAILS + + VII LADY ANNE DECLINES + + VIII A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE + + IX FOOLHARDY JULIEN + + X THE SECOND ATTEMPT + + XI BY THE PRINCE'S ORDERS + + XII DISTRESSING NEWS + + XIII ESTERMEN'S DEATH WARRANT + + XIV SANCTUARY + + XV NEARING A CRISIS + + XVI FALKENBERG'S LAST REPORT + + XVII DEFEAT FOR FALKENBERG + +XVIII THE ONE WAY OUT + + XIX ALL ENDS WELL + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +"Really," he said, "I thought better of Herr Freudenberg" + +"At least," she reminded him, "you are going to see Madame +Christophor?" + +"Splendid!" he muttered, rising to his feet. "If only I can do it!" + +"Let me present to you Monsieur Bourgan of the French Detective +Service" + + + + + +BOOK ONE + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +SYMPATHY AND SELFISHNESS + + +The girl who was dying lay in an invalid chair piled up with cushions +in a sheltered corner of the lawn. The woman who had come to visit her +had deliberately turned away her head with a murmured word about the +sunshine and the field of buttercups. Behind them was the little +sanitarium, a gray stone villa built in the style of a chateau, +overgrown with creepers, and with terraced lawns stretching down to the +sunny corner to which the girl had been carried earlier in the day. +There were flowers everywhere--beds of hyacinths, and borders of purple +and yellow crocuses. A lilac tree was bursting into blossom, the breeze +was soft and full of life. Below, beyond the yellow-starred field of +which the woman had spoken, flowed the Seine, and in the distance one +could see the outskirts of Paris. + +"The doctor says I am better," the girl whispered plaintively. "This +morning he was quite cheerful. I suppose he knows, but it is strange +that I should feel so weak--weaker even day by day. And my cough--it +tears me to pieces all the time." + +The woman who was bending over her gulped something down in her throat +and turned her head. Although older than the invalid whom she had come +to visit, she was young and very beautiful. Her cheeks were a trifle +pale, but even without the tears her eyes were almost the color of +violets. + +"The doctor must know, dear Lucie," she declared. "Our own feelings so +often mean nothing at all." + +The girl moved a little uneasily in her chair. She, also, had once been +pretty. Her hair was still an exquisite shade of red-gold, but her +cheeks were thin and pinched, her complexion had gone, her clothes fell +about her. She seemed somehow shapeless. + +"Yes," she agreed, "the doctor knows--he must know. I see it in his +manner every time he comes to visit me. In his heart," she added, +dropping her voice, "he must know that I am going to die." + +Her eyes seemed to have stiffened in their sockets, to have become +dilated. Her lips trembled, but her eyes remained steadfast. + +"Oh! madame," she sobbed, "is it not cruel that one should die like +this! I am so young. I have seen so little of life. It is not just, +madame--it is not just!" + +The woman who sat by her side was shaking. Her heart was torn with +pity. Everywhere in the soft, sunlit air, wherever she looked, she +seemed to read in letters of fire the history of this girl, the history +of so many others. + +"We will not talk of death, dear," she said. "Doctors are so wonderful, +nowadays. There are so few diseases which they cannot cure. They seem +to snatch one back even from the grave. Besides, you are so young. One +does not die at nineteen. Tell me about this man--Eugene, you called +him. He has never once been to see you--not even when you were in the +hospital?" + +The girl began to tremble. + +"Not once," she murmured. + +"You are sure that he had your letters? He knows that you are out here +and alone?" + +"Yes, he knows!" + +There was a short silence. The woman found it hard to know what to say. +Somewhere down along the white, dusty road a man was grinding the music +of a threadbare waltz from an ancient barrel-organ. The girl closed her +eyes. + +"We used to hear that sometimes," she whispered, "at the cafes. At one +where we went often they used to know that I liked it and they always +played it when we came. It is queer to hear it again--like this.... +Oh, when I close my eyes," she muttered, "I am afraid! It is like +shutting out life for always." + +The woman by her side got up. Lucie caught at her skirt. + +"Madame, you are not going yet?" she pleaded. "Am I selfish? Yet you +have not stayed with me so long as yesterday, and I am so lonely." + +The woman's face had hardened a little. + +"I am going to find that man," she replied. "I have his address. I want +to bring him to you." + +The girl's hold upon her skirt tightened. + +"Sit down," she begged. "Do not leave me. Indeed it is useless. He +knows. He does not choose to come. Men are like that. Oh! madame, I +have learned my lesson. I know now that love is a vain thing. Men do +not often really feel it. They come to us when we please them, but +afterwards that does not count. I suppose we were meant to be +sacrificed. I have given up thinking of Eugene. He is afraid, perhaps, +of the infection. I think that I would sooner go out of life as I lie +here, cold and unloved, than have him come to me unwillingly." + +The woman could not hide her tears any longer. There was something so +exquisitely fragile, so strangely pathetic, in that prostrate figure by +her side. + +"But, my dear," she faltered,-- + +"Madame," the girl interrupted, "hold my hand for a moment. That is the +doctor coming. I hear his footstep. I think that I must sleep." + +Madame Christophor--she had another name, but there were few occasions +on which she cared to use it--was driven back to Paris, in accordance +with her murmured word of instruction, at a pace which took little heed +of police regulations or even of safety. Through the peaceful lanes, +across the hills into the suburbs, and into the city itself she passed, +at a speed which was scarcely slackened even when she turned into the +Boulevard which was her destination. Glancing at the slip of paper +which she held in her hand, she pulled the checkstring before a tall +block of buildings. She hurried inside, ascended two flights of stairs, +and rang the bell of a door immediately opposite her. A very +German-looking manservant opened it after the briefest of delays--a man +with fair moustache, fat, stolid face and inquisitive eyes. + +"Is your master in," she demanded, "Monsieur Estermen?" + +The man stared at her, then bowed. The appearance of Madame Christophor +was, without doubt, impressive. + +"I will inquire, madame," he replied. + +"I am in a hurry," she said curtly. "Be so good as to let your master +know that." + +A moment later she was ushered into a sitting-room--a man's apartment, +untidy, reeking of cigarette smoke and stale air. There were +photographs and souvenirs of women everywhere. The windows were +fast-closed and the curtains half-drawn. The man who stood upon the +hearthrug was of medium height, dark, with close-cropped hair and a +black, drooping moustache. His first glance at his visitor, as the door +opened, was one of impertinent curiosity. + +"Madame?" he inquired. + +"You are Monsieur Estermen?" + +He bowed. He was very much impressed and he endeavored to assume a +manner. + +"That is my name. Pray be seated." + +She waved away the chair he offered. + +"My automobile is in the street below," she said. "I wish you to come +with me at once to see a poor girl who is dying." + +He looked at her in amazement. + +"Are you serious, madame?" + +"I am very serious indeed," she replied. "The girl's name is Lucie +Renault." + +For the moment he seemed perplexed. Then his eyebrows were slowly +raised. + +"Lucie Renault," he repeated. "What do you know about her?" + +"Only that she is a poor child who has suffered at your hands and who +is dying in a private hospital," Madame Christophor answered. "She has +been taken there out of charity. She has no friends, she is dying +alone. Come with me. I will take you to her. You shall save her at +least from that terror." + +It was the aim of the man with whom she spoke to be considered modern. +A perfect and invincible selfishness had enabled him to reach the +topmost heights of callousness, and to remain there without +affectation. + +"If the little girl is dying," he said, "I am sorry, for she was pretty +and companionable, although I have lost sight of her lately. But as to +my going out to see her, why, that is absurd. I hate illness of all +sorts." + +The woman looked at him steadfastly, looked at him as though she had +come into contact with some strange creature. + +"Do you understand what it is that I am saying?" she demanded. "This +girl was once your little friend, is it not so? It was for your sake +that she gave up the simple life she was living when you first knew +her, and went upon the stage. The life was too strenuous for her. She +broke down, took no care of herself, developed a cough and alas! +tuberculosis." + +The man sighed. He had adopted an expression of abstract sympathy. + +"A terrible disease," he murmured. + +"A terrible disease indeed," Madame Christophor repeated. "Do you not +understand what I mean when I tell you that she is dying of it? Very +likely she will not live a week--perhaps not a day. She lies there +alone in the garden of the hospital and she is afraid. There are none +who knew her, whom she cares for, to take her into their arms and to +bid her have no fear. Is it not your place to do this? You have held +her in your arms in life. Don't you see that it is your duty to cheer +her a little way on this last dark journey?" + +The man threw away his cigarette and moved to the mantelpiece, where he +helped himself to a fresh one from the box. + +"Madame," he said, "I perceive that you are a sentimentalist." + +She did not speak--she could not. She only looked at him. + +"Death," he continued, lighting his cigarette, "is an ugly thing. If it +came to me I should probably be quite as much afraid--perhaps +more--than any one else. But it has not come to me just yet. It has +come, you tell me, to little Lucie. Well, I am sorry, but there is +nothing I can do about it. I have no intention whatever of making +myself miserable. I do not wish to see her. I do not wish to look upon +death, I simply wish to forget it. If it were not, madame," he added, +with a bow and a meaning glance from his dark eyes, "that you bring +with you something of your own so well worth looking upon, I could +almost find myself regretting your visit." + +She still regarded him fixedly. There was in her face something of that +shrinking curiosity with which one looks upon an unclean and horrible +thing. + +"That is your answer?" she murmured. + +The man had little understanding and he replied boldly. + +"It is my answer, without a doubt. Lucie, if what you tell me is true, +as I do not for a moment doubt, is dying from a disease the ravages of +which are hideous to watch, and which many people believe, too, to be +infectious. Let me advise you, madame, to learn also a little wisdom. +Let me beg of you not to be led away by these efforts of sentiment, +however picturesque and delightful they may seem. The only life that is +worth considering is our own. The only death that we need fear is our +own. We ought to live like that." + +The woman stood quite still. She was tall and she was slim. Her figure +was exquisite. She was famous throughout the city for her beauty. The +man's eyes dwelt upon her and the eternal expression crept slowly into +his face. He seemed to understand nothing of the shivering horror with +which she was regarding him. + +"If it were upon any other errand, madame," he continued, leaning +towards her, "believe, I pray you, that no one would leave this room to +become your escort more willingly than I." + +She turned away. + +"You will not leave me already?" he begged. + +"Monsieur," she declared, as she threw open the door before he could +reach it, "if I thought that there were many men like you in the world, +if I thought--" + +She never finished her sentence. The emotions which had seized her were +entirely inexpressible. He shrugged his shoulders. + +"My dear lady," he said, "let me assure you that there is not a man of +the world in this city who, if he spoke honestly, would not feel +exactly as I do. Allow me at least to see you to your automobile." + +"If you dare to move," she muttered, "if you dare--" + +She swept past him and down the stairs into the street. She threw +herself into the corner of the automobile. The chauffeur looked around. + +"Where to, madame?" he inquired. + +She hesitated for a moment. She had affairs of her own, but the thought +of the child's eyes came up before her. + +"Back to the hospital," she ordered. "Drive quickly." + +They rushed from Paris once more into the country, with its spring +perfumes, its soft breezes, its restful green, but fast though they +drove another messenger had outstripped them. From the little chapel, +as the car rolled up the avenue, came the slow tolling of a bell. +Madame Christophor stood on the corner of the lawn alone. The invalid +chair was empty. The blinds of the villa were being slowly lowered. She +turned around and looked toward the city. It seemed to her that she +could see into the rooms of the man whom she had left a few minutes +ago. A lark was singing over her head. She lifted her eyes and looked +past him up to the blue sky. Her lips moved, but never a sound escaped +her. Yet the man who sat in his rooms at that moment, yawning and +wondering where to spend the evening, and which companion he should +summon by telephone to amuse him, felt a sudden shiver in his veins. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +AN INDISCREET LETTER + + +The library of the house in Grosvenor Square was spacious, handsome and +ornate. Mr. Algernon H. Carraby, M.P., who sat dictating letters to a +secretary in an attitude which his favorite photographer had rendered +exceedingly familiar, at any rate among his constituents, was also, in +his way, handsome and ornate. Mrs. Carraby, who had just entered the +room, fulfilled in an even greater degree these same characteristics. +It was acknowledged to be a very satisfactory household. + +"I should like to speak to you for a moment, Algernon," his wife +announced. + +Mr. Carraby noticed for the first time that she was carrying a letter +in her hand. He turned at once to his secretary. + +"Haskwell," he said, "kindly return in ten minutes." + +The young man quitted the room. Mrs. Carraby advanced a few steps +further towards her husband. She was tall, beautifully dressed in the +latest extreme of fashion. Her movements were quiet, her skin a little +pale, and her eyebrows a little light. Nevertheless, she was quite a +famous beauty. Men all admired her without any reservations. The best +sort of women rather mistrusted her. + +"Is that the letter, Mabel?" her husband asked, with an eagerness which +he seemed to be making some effort to conceal. + +She nodded slowly. He held out his hand, but she did not at once part +with it. + +"Algernon," she said quietly, "you know that I am not very scrupulous. +We both of us want success--a certain sort of success--and we have both +of us been content to pay the price. You have spent a good deal of +money and you have succeeded very well indeed. Somehow or other, I feel +to-day as though I were spending more than money." + +He laughed a little uncomfortably. + +"My dear Mabel!" he protested. "You are not going to back out, are +you?" + +"No," she replied, "I do not think that I shall back out. There is +nothing in the whole world I want so much as to have you a Cabinet +Minister. If there had been any other way--" + +"But there is no other way," her husband interrupted. "So long as +Julien Portel lives, I should never get my chance. He holds the post I +want. Every one knows that he is clever. He has the ear of the Prime +Minister and he hates me. My only chance is his retirement." + +Mrs. Carraby looked at the letter. + +"Well," she said, "I have played your game for you. I have gone even to +the extent of being talked about with Julien Portel." + +Her husband moved uneasily in his chair. + +"That will all blow over directly," he declared. "Besides, if--if +things go our way, we shan't see much more of Portel. Give me the +letter." + +Still she hesitated. It was curious that throughout the slow evolution +of this scheme to break a man's life, for which she was mainly +responsible, she had never hesitated until this moment. Always it had +been fixed in her mind that Algernon was to be a Cabinet Minister; she +was to be the wife of a Cabinet Minister. That there were any other +things greater in life than the gratification of so reasonable an +ambition had never seemed possible. Now she hesitated. She looked at +her husband and she saw him with new eyes. He seemed suddenly a mean +little person. She thought of the other man and there was a strange +quiver in her heart--a very unexpected sensation indeed. There was a +difference in the breed. It came home to her at that moment. She found +herself even wondering, as she swung the letter idly between her thumb +and fore-finger, whether she would have been a different woman if she +had had a different manner of husband. + +"The letter!" he repeated. + +She laid it calmly on the desk before him. + +"Of course," she said coldly, "if you find the contents affectionate +you must remember that I am in no way responsible. This was your +scheme. I have done my best." + +The man's fingers trembled slightly as he broke the seal. + +"Naturally," he agreed, pausing for an instant and looking up at her. +"I knew that I could trust you or I would never have put such an idea +into your head." + +She laughed; a characteristic laugh it was, quite cold, quite +mirthless, apparently quite meaningless. Carraby turned back to the +letter, tore open the envelope and spread it out before them. He read +it out aloud in a sing-song voice. + +_Downing Street. Tuesday_ + +MY DEAREST MABEL, + +I had your sweet little note an hour ago. Of course I was disappointed +about luncheon, as I always am when I cannot see you. Your promise to +repay me, however, almost reconciles me. + +The man looked up at his wife. + +"Promise?" he repeated hoarsely. "What does he mean?" + +"Go on," she said, with unchanged expression. "See if what you want is +there." + +The man continued to read: + +I am going to ask you a very great favor, Mabel. When we are alone +together, I talk to you with absolute freedom. To write you on matters +connected with my office is different. I know very well how deep and +sincere your interest in politics really is, and it has always been one +of my greatest pleasures, when with you, to talk things over and hear +your point of view. Without flattery, dear, I have really more than +once found your advice useful. It is your understanding which makes our +companionship always a pleasure to me, and I rely upon that when I beg +you not to ask me to write you again on matters to which I have really +no right to allude. You do not mind this, dear? And having read you my +little lecture, I will answer your question. Yes, the Cabinet Council +was held exactly as you surmise. With great difficulty I persuaded +B---- to adopt my view of the situation. They are all much too +terrified of this war bogey. For once I had my own way. Our answer to +this latest demand from Berlin was a prompt and decisive negative. +Nothing of this is to be known for at least a week. + +I am sorry your husband is such a bear. Perhaps on Monday we may meet +at Cardington House? + +Please destroy this letter at once. + +Ever affectionately yours, + +JULIEN. + +The man's eyes, as he read, grew brighter. + +"It is enough?" the woman asked. + +"It is more than enough!" + +Slowly he replaced it in its envelope and thrust it into the +breast-pocket of his coat. + +"What are you going to do with it?" she inquired. + +"I have made my plans," he answered. "I know exactly how to make the +best and most dignified use of it." + +He rose to his feet. Something in his wife's expression seemed to +disturb him. He walked a few steps toward the door and came back again. + +"Mabel," he said, "are you glad?" + +"Naturally I am glad," she replied. + +"You have no regrets?" + +Again she laughed. + +"Regrets?" she echoed. "What are they? One doesn't think about such +things, nowadays." + +They stood quite still in the centre of that very handsome apartment. +They were almost alien figures in the world in which they moved, +Carraby, the rankest of newcomers, carried into political life by his +wife's ambitions, his own self-amassed fortune, and a sort of subtle +cunning--a very common substitute for brains; Mrs. Carraby, on whom had +been plastered an expensive and ultra-fashionable education, although +she was able perhaps more effectually to conceal her origin, the +daughter of a rich Yorkshire manufacturer, who had secured a paid +entrance into Society. They were purely artificial figures for the very +reason that they never admitted any one of these facts to themselves, +but talked always the jargon of the world to which they aspired, as +though they were indeed denizens therein by right. At that moment, +though, a single natural feeling shook the man, shook his faith in +himself, in life, in his destiny. There was Jewish blood in his veins +and it made itself felt. + +"Mabel," he began, "this man Portel--you've flirted with him, you say?" + +"I have most certainly flirted with him," she admitted quietly. + +"He hasn't dared--" + +A flash of scorn lit her cold eyes. + +"I think," she said, "that you had better ask me no questions of that +sort." + +Carraby went slowly out. Already the moment was passing. Of course he +could trust his wife! Besides, in his letter was the death warrant of +the man who stood between him and his ambitions. Mrs. Carraby listened +to his footsteps in the hall, heard his suave reply to his secretary, +heard his orders to the footman who let him out. From where she stood +she watched him cross the square. Already he had recovered his alert +bearing. His shoes and his hat were glossy, his coat was of an +excellent fit. The woman watched him without movement or any change of +expression. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +A RUINED CAREER + + +Sir Julien Portel stood in the middle of his bedroom, dressed in shirt +and trousers only. The sofa and chairs around him were littered with +portions of the brilliant uniform which he had torn from his person a +few minutes before with almost feverish haste. His perplexed servant, +who had only just arrived, was doing his best to restore the room to +some appearance of order. + +"You needn't mind those wretched things for the present, Richards," his +master ordered sharply. "Bring the rest of the tweed traveling suit +like the trousers I have on, and then see about packing some clothes." + +The man ceased his task. He looked around, a little bewildered. + +"Do I understand that you are going out of town tonight, Sir Julien?" +he asked. + +"I am going on to the continent by the nine o'clock train," was the +curt reply. + +Richards was a perfectly trained servant, but the situation was too +much for him. + +"You will excuse me, Sir Julien," he said, "but there is Lord +Cardington's dinner tonight, and the reception afterwards at the +Foreign Office. I have your court clothes ready." + +His master laughed shortly. + +"I am not attending the dinner or the reception, Richards. You can put +those things back again and get me the traveling clothes." + +The man seemed a little dazed, but turned automatically towards the +wardrobe. + +"Shall you require me to accompany you, sir?" he inquired. + +"Not at present," Sir Julien replied. "You will have to come on with +the rest of my luggage when I have decided what to do." + +Richards was not more than ordinarily inquisitive, but the +circumstances were certainly unusual. + +"Do you mean, sir, that you will not be returning to London at +present?" he ventured to ask. + +"I shall not be returning to London for some time," Sir Julien answered +sharply. "Get on with the packing as quickly as you can. Put the +whiskey and soda on the table in the sitting-room, and the cigarettes. +Remember, if any one comes I am not at home." + +"Too late, my dear fellow," a voice called out from the adjoining room. +"You see, I have found my way up unannounced--a bad habit, but my +profession excuses everything." + +The man stood on the threshold of the room opening out from the +bedroom--tall, florid, untidily dressed, with clean-shaven, humorous +face, ungloved hands, and a terribly shabby hat. He looked around the +room and shrugged his shoulders. + +"What an infernal mess!" he exclaimed. "Come along out into the +sitting-room, Julien. I want to talk to you." + +"I should like to know how the devil you got in here!" Sir Julien +muttered. "I told the fellow downstairs that no one was to be allowed +up." + +"He did try to make himself disagreeable," the newcomer replied. +"However, here I am--that's enough." + +Sir Julien turned to his servant. + +"Get on with your packing, Richards," he directed, "and let me know +when you have finished." + +Sir Julien followed his visitor into the sitting-room, closing the door +behind him. His manner was not in the least cordial. + +"Look here, Kendricks, old fellow," he said, "I don't want to be rude, +but I am not in the humor to talk to any one. I have had a rotten week +of it and just about as much as I can stand. Help yourself to a whiskey +and soda, say what you have to say and then go." + +The newcomer nodded. He helped himself to the whiskey and soda, but he +seemed in no hurry to speak. On the contrary, he settled himself down +in an easy-chair with the appearance of a man who had come to stay. + +"Julien," he remarked presently, "you are up against it--up against it +rather hard. Don't trouble to interrupt me. I know pretty well all +about it. I said from the first you'd have to resign. There wasn't any +other way out of it." + +"Quite right," Julien agreed. "There wasn't. I've finished up +everything to-day--resigned my office, applied for the Chiltern +Hundreds, and I am going to clear out of the country to-night." + +"And all because you wrote a foolish letter to a woman!" Kendricks +murmured, half to himself. "By the bye, there's no doubt about the +letter, I suppose?" + +"None in the world," Julien replied. + +"There's nothing that the Press can do to set you right?" + +"Great heavens, no!" Julien declared. "No one can help me. I've no one +to blame but myself. I wrote the letter--there the matter ends." + +"And she passed it on to that shocking little bounder of a husband of +hers! What a creature! Did it ever occur to you that it was a plot?" + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"It makes so little difference." + +"You were in Carraby's way," Kendricks continued, producing a pipe from +his pocket and leisurely filling it. "There was no getting past you and +you were a young man. It's a dirty business." + +"If you don't mind," Julien said coldly, "we won't discuss it any +further. So far as I am concerned, the whole matter is at an end. I was +compelled to take part in to-day's mummery. I hated it--that they all +knew. I suppose it's foolish to mind such things, David," he went on +bitterly, taking up a cigarette and throwing himself into a chair, "but +a year ago--it was just after I came back from Berlin and you may +remember it was the fancy of the people to believe that I had saved the +country from war--they cheered me all the way from Whitehall to the +Mansion House. To-day there was only a dull murmur of voices--a sort of +doubting groan. I felt it, Kendricks. It was like Hell, that ride!" + +Kendricks nodded sympathetically. + +"I suppose you know that a version of the letter is in the evening +papers?" he asked. + + +"My resignation will be in the later issues," Julien told him. "It was +pretty well known yesterday afternoon. I leave for the continent +to-night." + +There was a short silence between the two men. In a sense they had been +friends all their lives. Sir Julien Portel had been a successful +politician, the youngest Cabinet Minister for some years. Kendricks had +never aspired to be more than a clever journalist of the vigorous type. +Nevertheless, they had been more than ordinarily intimate. + +"Have you made any plans?" Kendricks inquired presently. "Of course, +you would have to resign office, but don't you think there might be a +chance of living it down?" + +"Not a chance on earth," Julien replied. "As to what I am going to do, +don't ask me. For the immediate present I am going to lose myself in +Normandy or somewhere. Afterwards I think I shall move on to my old +quarters in Paris. There's always a little excitement to be got out of +life there." + +Kendricks looked at his friend through the cloud of tobacco smoke. + +"It's excitement of rather a dangerous order," he remarked slowly. + +"I shall never be likely to forget that I am an Englishman," Julien +said. "Perhaps I may be able to do something to set matters right +again. One can't tell. By the bye, Kendricks," he went on, "do you +remember when we were at college how you hated women? How you used to +try and trace half the things that went wrong in life to their +influence?" + +The journalist nodded. He knocked the ashes from his pipe deliberately. + +"I was a boy in those days," he declared. "I am a man now, getting on +toward middle age, and on that one subject I am as rabid as ever. I +hate their meddling in men's affairs, shoving themselves into politics, +always whispering in a man's ear under pretence of helping him with +their sympathy. They're in evidence wherever you go--women, women, +women! The place reeks with them. You can't go about your work, hour by +hour or day by day, without having them on every side of you. It's like +a poison, this trail of them over every piece of serious work we +attempt, over every place we find our way into. They bang the +typewriters in our offices, they elbow us in the streets, they smile at +us from the next table at our workaday luncheon, they crowd the tubes +and the cars and the cabs in the streets. Why the deuce, Julien, can't +we treat them like those sage Orientals, and dump them all in one place +where they belong till we've finished our work?" + +Julien lifted his tumbler of whiskey and soda to his lips and set it +down empty. + +"In a way, you're right, Kendricks," he agreed. "You go too far, of +course, but I do believe that women hold too big a place in our lives. +I am one of the poor fools who goes to the wall to gratify the vanity +of one of them." + +The journalist muttered a word under his breath which he would have +been very sorry to have seen in the pages of his paper. Julien had +moved to the open window. There had been a little break in his voice. +No one knew better than Kendricks that a very brilliant career was +broken. + +"I think you're wise to go away for a time, Julien," he decided. "Look +here, it's six o'clock now. I have a taxicab waiting downstairs. Come +round to my rotten little restaurant in Soho and dine with me. Your +fellow can meet us at Charing-Cross with your things. You won't see a +soul you know where I'm going to take you." + +Julien turned slowly away from the window. He was looking for the last +time from those rooms at the London which he had loved. The setting sun +had caught the dome of St. Paul's, was flashing from the dark, placid +water of the Thames. The roar of the great city was passing from +eastwards to westwards. + +"You're a good chap, Kendricks," he declared. "I'll come along, with +pleasure. I shall have enough solitude later on. But listen, before we +go--listen, David, to a speech after your own heart." + +Julien stood quite still for a moment. His pale face seemed suddenly +whiter, his eyes were full of fire. + +"David," he said, "if ever the time comes in the future when I find +that a woman is beginning to claim a minute of my thoughts, a single +one of my emotions, to govern the slightest throb of my pulses, I'll +take her by the throat and I'll throw her out of what's left of my life +as I would a rat that had crept into my room. I've done with them. +Curse all women!" + +There was a silence. Kendricks leaned over to the fireplace and knocked +his pipe against the hearth. Then he suddenly paused. + +"What's that?" he asked abruptly. + +There was a soft knocking at the outside door. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +A BUNCH OF VIOLETS + + +Kendricks rose slowly to his feet. Julien was looking toward the door +with a frown upon his face. While they stood there the knocking was +repeated, still soft but a little more insistent. Julien hesitated no +longer. + +"I think," Kendricks said dryly, "that you had better see who is +there." + +The door was already opened. Julien seemed suddenly transformed into a +graven image. He said nothing, merely gazing at the woman who walked +calmly past him into the room. Kendricks, who also recognized her, +withdrew his pipe from his mouth. This was a situation indeed! The +woman, with her hands inside her muff, looked from one to the other of +the two men. + +"Am I interrupting a very important interview?" she asked calmly. "If +not, perhaps you could spare me five minutes of your time, Sir Julien?" + +Kendricks recovered himself at once. + +"I'll wait for you downstairs, Julien," he declared. + +He caught up his hat and departed, closing the door after him. Julien +was still motionless. + +"Well?" she began. + +He drew a little breath. He was beginning to regain his +self-possession. + +"My dear Mrs. Carraby," he said, "with your wonderful knowledge of the +world and its ways, will you permit me to point out that your presence +here is a little embarrassing to me and might, under certain +circumstances, be a good deal more embarrassing to you?" + +Mrs. Carraby smiled. She stood where the sunlight touched her brown +hair and her quiet, pale face. She was one of those women who are never +afraid of the light. Her face was of that strange, self-contained +nature, colorless, apparently, yet capable of strange and rapid +changes. Just now the last glow of sunlight seemed to have found a +skein of gold in her hair, a queer gleam of light in her eyes. She +stood there looking at the man whom she had come to visit. + +"Julien," she said, "I wanted a few words with you." + +It was impossible for him to remain altogether unmoved. Whatever else +might be the truth, she had risked most of the things that were dear to +her in life by this visit. + +"Mrs. Carraby," he declared, "I am entirely at your service. If you +think that any useful purpose can be served by words between you and +me, I would only point out, for your own sake, that your visit is, to +say the least of it, unwise. These are bachelor chambers." + +"You know very well," she replied calmly, "that it was my only chance +of speaking with you. If I had sent for you, you would not have come. +If I had spoken to you in the street, you would have passed me +by--quite rightly. This was my only chance. That is why I have come to +you." + +"If you think it worth the risk," he remarked gravely, "pray continue." + +She shrugged her shoulders very slightly. + +"Who can tell what is worth the risk?" + +"You have at least excited my curiosity," he admitted, leaning a little +towards her. "I cannot conceive what it is that you want to say to me." + +She lifted her eyes to his, and though there was nothing unusual about +them--there were few people, indeed, who could tell you what color they +were--men seldom forgot it when Mrs. Carraby looked at them steadily. + +"I do not know, myself," she said. "I do not know why I have come." + +Julien laughed unnaturally. + +"Pray be seated," he begged. "Would you like to examine my curios or my +photographs? I must apologize for the condition of my room. You see, +you happen to be the first woman who has ever crossed its threshold." + +"That," she remarked, "rather interests me. Still, it is only what I +should have expected. No, I do not think that I will sit down. I am +trying to ask myself exactly why I have come." + + +"If you can answer that question," Julien said grimly, "you will +appease a very natural curiosity on my part. It is not like you." + +"Quite true," she assented. "It is not like me. I have run a great risk +in coming here and it is not my metier to run risks. And now that I am +here I do not know why I have come. This has been an impulse and this +is an hour outside my life. I am trying to understand it. Come here, +Julien." He came unwillingly to her side. She held out her hand, but +he shook his head. + +"Mabel," he said, "you and I do not need to mince words. To-night I am +celebrating the ruin of my career. I am leaving England within a few +hours. I have you to thank for what has happened. Yet you come to me, +you hold out your hand. You must forgive me--I am afraid I am dull." + +"No," she replied, "you are not dull. Your feelings towards me are +obvious and very natural. Mine towards you I am not so sure of. It is +not because I did not understand you that I came here to-night. It is +because I did not understand myself. May I go on?" + +"Why not?" he answered. "I am at your service." + +"From the days of my boarding-school," she continued, "I have known +only one Mabel. In her girlhood she had all that she could get out of +life and turned everything she could to her own ends. A marriage was +arranged for her--you see, I was half a Jewess and my husband was half +a Jew, and things are done like that with us. The marriage opened the +door to a fresh set of ambitions. For the last few years I have trodden +a well-worn path. It was I who advised my husband to refuse a +baronetcy. It was I who won his first election. I see that my +photographs are in all the illustrated papers, that his speeches are +properly recorded, that my visiting list moves within the correct +limits. These things have spelt life. To the fulfillment of my +husband's ambitions there was one obstacle. That obstacle was you. In +life one schemes. It was my husband's wish that I should make myself +agreeable to you, even to the extent of a flirtation." + +She raised her eyes. + +"Your obedience to your husband is most touching," he said. + +"It is true, I suppose," she went on, "that we have flirted. I looked +upon it as the means to an end. The end came. I played my cards quite +ruthlessly, I gathered in the reward. I got your letter, I handed it to +my husband. Your career was finished, my husband's begun." + +"This is most interesting," Julien muttered. + +"Is it?" she answered. "I suppose it should have been an hour of +triumph with me. It simply isn't. I have come to a place in my life +which I don't understand. When I told myself that it was over, that I +had flirted with you, that I had won your friendship and your +confidence, betrayed you, ruined you for a peerage and that my husband +should take office, I should surely have been satisfied! It was for +that I had worked. I gave my husband the letter and I watched him walk +off in triumph. Since then I have not been myself. I have come to you, +Julien, to ask if there is no other end possible to this?" + +Once more she raised her eyes. Julien came a step nearer to her. They +were standing now face to face. + +"All of a sudden," she murmured, "I looked back and I saw the way I +have lived and the way I am living and the life that spreads itself out +before me. I saw myself a peeress, I saw myself receiving my husband's +guests, I saw the gratification of all those ambitions which have +seemed to me so wonderful. And I locked the door and I shrieked and it +seemed to me that there was a new thing and a new thought in my life. I +have done you a hideous wrong, Julien. There is only one way I can set +it right. There is only one moment in which it can be done, and that +moment is now. Tomorrow I shall be back again. For this one hour I see +the truth. I am a very rich woman, Julien. My husband's future, indeed, +is largely bound up with my wealth. Remember that in all I have done I +have been his agent. He hates you, has hated you from the first because +you were a gentleman and he never was. This is my one moment of madness +in a perfectly well-ordered life." + +One of her hands stole from her muff, stole out half-hesitatingly +towards him. Julien took it in his and raised it to his lips. Then he +looked her in the eyes. + +"Dear Mabel," he said, "you are forgiven. I understand perfectly the +reasons for your coming. Go back to your husband, wear your coronet and +receive his guests with a free conscience. I forgive you." + +Her hand slipped back into her muff. She began to tremble a little. + +"As for me," he went on, "I played the fool and I pay willingly. I was +engaged to marry a very charming girl who believed in me and whom I +cared for as much as it was possible for me to care for anything +outside my career. I flirted with you because it was a piquant thing to +do. You were a woman whom other men found difficult, you were the wife +of a man whom I despised and who was trying all the time to undermine +my position. I sacrificed my self-respect every time I crossed your +threshold. To-day I pay. I am willing. As for you, Mabel, your visit +here shall square things between us. I wish you the best of luck. You +must let me ring for my servant. He will find you a taxicab." + +He moved toward the bell. Mrs. Carraby, with her hands inside her muff, +stood exactly as though she were part of the furniture of the room. +With his finger upon the ivory disc, he hesitated. She was not looking +towards him and her eyes were half closed. + + +"Perhaps," he suggested, "you would rather find your way out alone? I +will not offer my escort, for obvious reasons." + +She turned slowly round. + +"Do not ring," she ordered sharply. "Come here." + +He came at once towards her. She took both his hands in hers, she +leaned towards him. She was a tall woman and they were very nearly the +same height. + +"Julien," she whispered, "is this all that you have to say to me?" + +"It is more," Julien replied frankly, "than I expected ever to have to +say to you again in this world. What do you expect? You don't think +that I am the kind of man to--but that is absurd! Come. We'll part +friends, if you like. Here's my hand." + +"We must part, then?" she said. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Unless a walking tour in Normandy for a month appeals to you. You see, +I am going to take a holiday, and I have a fancy that our ideas on the +subject of holidays might not exactly agree." + +"A holiday," she repeated. "I am not sure--do you know, Julien, I +sometimes believe that I have never had a holiday in my life?" + +He looked at her doubtingly. + +"After all," she continued, "can't you see that I have come here to ask +you one question? You are different from the people I have known +intimately and the people with whom I have been brought up, different +from my husband. You know what my life has been. I have told you just +now that the great doubt has come to me within the last few days. Won't +you tell me what I want to know? Is there anything better, anything +greater, anything more wonderful in life than these things which I have +known, these ambitions, this social struggle? Tell me, Julien, is there +anything else? Can you tell me how and where to find it?" + +Once more her fingers had crept out of her muff. + +Her hands were upon his shoulders, she seemed to be drawing him to +her. Julien kissed her lightly on the forehead. + +"For you, my dear Mabel," he decided, "I should say that there was +nothing better. A leopard cannot change its spots. The life into which +you have been brought and for which you have qualified so admirably, is +the only life which would suit you. If you fancy sometimes in your +dreams, or in your waking hours, that you hear cries and calls from +another country, don't listen to them. You would never be happy outside +the world you know of. You see, one who has made such a failure of life +himself is yet well able to advise. Forgive me." + +The telephone on his writing table was ringing. He turned aside to +answer it. It was a question regarding the whereabouts of some papers +at the office and it took him a few minutes to explain. When he set the +receiver back and turned around, he was alone. There was nothing to +remind him of her visit but a bunch of violets which seemed to have +fallen from her muff, and the faint perfume from them. He took them up, +smelt them for a moment, and flung them lightly into the hearth. Then +he touched his bell. + +"My hat, stick and gloves, Richards," he ordered. "Bring my things to +Charing-Cross at half-past eight. Have them registered only to +Boulogne. You understand?" + +"Perfectly, sir," the man replied. + +Julien glanced once more around his sitting-room. The little bunch of +violets was smouldering upon the hearth. In a sense they seemed to him +symbolical. + +"Kendricks is right," he muttered. "It is the women who play the devil +with our lives!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +A SENTIMENTAL EPISODE + + +Kendricks was waiting below in the taxicab, leaning back in the corner +with his feet upon the opposite seat, and smoking his very disreputable +pipe with an air of serene content. + +"Sorry to have turned you out into the street like this," Julien +remarked. + +"Thank you," Kendricks replied, "under the circumstances I preferred +the street." + +Julien hesitated for a moment and glanced at his watch. + +"There is one more call that I must pay, David," he said. "You won't +mind, will you? We've plenty of time." + +"Mind? Of course not," Kendricks answered, stretching himself out in +the cab. "Do what you please with me, only leave an hour or an hour and +a half for dinner. I am the best-tempered person in the world so long +as no one interferes with my regular meal hours." + +"It's just a little farewell call," Julien explained, "that I want to +pay. I've told the man where to go." + +Kendricks nodded silently. He knew all about that little call, but if +he felt any sympathy he was careful not to show it. They drew up in a +few minutes before a large and solemn-looking house at the corner of +Hamilton Place. + +"Don't hurry," Kendricks advised, stretching himself out once more in +the cab. "I'll smoke another pipe and thank heaven we are not in New +York! You wait an hour there and take your choice of paying the fare or +buying the taxicab!" + +Julien ascended the steps and rang the bell at the door of the house. +It was immediately opened by a manservant, who recognized him with a +bow and a smile, for which, somehow or other, he felt thankful. + +"Is Lady Anne in, Robert?" he inquired. + +The man stood on one side. + +"Please to walk in, Sir Julien," he invited. "Lady Anne is with some +young people in the drawing-room. Will you go in there to them, or +would you prefer that I announce you?" + +"Is there any one in the waiting-room?" Julien asked. + +"No one at present, sir." + +"Let me go in there, then. I want to speak to Lady Anne alone for a +moment. You might let her know that I am here." + +"Certainly, sir." + +Julien walked restlessly up and down the small, uncomfortable +apartment, the room which he had always hated. There were illustrated +papers arranged in a row upon a leather-topped table, two stiff +horsehair easychairs, and various views of Clonarty, the country seat +of the Duke of Clonarty, around the walls. Presently he heard the +laughter in the drawing-room cease. There was a short silence, then the +sound of footsteps across the hall and the abrupt opening of the door +of the room in which he was waiting. Julien looked up quickly. It was, +after all, what he had expected! A somewhat vivacious-looking little +lady in a muslin gown and elaborate hat held out both her hands to him. +In the darkened light of the room she might very well have passed for a +younger and less serious edition of her own daughter. + +"My dear Julien!" she exclaimed, in a tone which was manifestly +sympathetic. "This is terrible news we are hearing about you. But what +an odd time you have chosen to come and tell us all about it!" + +"I have not come to tell you all about it, Duchess," Julien assured +her. "The newspapers will tell you everything that is worth knowing. +They are so much better informed." + +"The newspapers sometimes exaggerate," she objected. + +"In my case," he replied, "I do not think that exaggeration is +possible. Everything has happened to me that could possibly happen to +any one in my unfortunate position." + +"You mean that these stories are all true, then?" + +"Every one of them. I really don't suppose that I ought to show my face +here at all. I have simply come to say good-bye. There is just a single +word that I want to say to Anne." + +"Tell me, Julien," she demanded, "you really did write that letter to +Mrs. Carraby?" + +"I did." + +"And she gave it to her husband?" + +"Yes!" + +For once the Duchess was perfectly and delightfully natural. + +"That woman," she declared, "is a detestable cat! Mind, Julien," she +added, "I don't mean by that that you were not hideously and entirely +to blame. I can't feel that you deserve a single grain of sympathy. All +the same, a woman who can do a thing like that should not be +tolerated." + +Julien smiled grimly. He was perfectly well aware that at that moment +Mrs. Carraby was passing from the list of the Duchess's acquaintances. +It was all so inconsequent. + +"Can I have that one word with Anne?" he begged. + +The Duchess looked doubtful. + +"Why?" + +"I am going abroad to-night. I should like to say good-bye to her." + +"Isn't it a little foolish?" she asked. "I don't mean your going +abroad--that, I suppose, is almost necessary--but why do you want to +see Anne? I can give her all the proper messages." + +Julien laughed bitterly. + +"There are some things," he said, "which can scarcely be altogether +ignored. It may have escaped your memory that Anne was to have been my +wife." + +"Not at all," the Duchess replied. "The only thing I do not understand +is why, as any such arrangement is of course now ridiculous, you should +want to see her again. What can you possibly have to say to her?" "An +affair of sentiment," he explained. "I have a fancy to say good-bye." + +The Duchess shook her head. + +"Those sort of things don't belong to us," she declared. "You ought to +know better, my dear Julien. I can see no possible object in it. I will +give her any message you like, and so far as she is concerned I can +assure you that she has not the slightest ill-feeling. She is really +quite angelic about it." + +"Duchess," Julien said steadily, "I came here expecting that these +would be your views. You are Anne's mother and of course you are in +authority, but when two people of our age are engaged to marry one +another, they pass just a little beyond the sphere of their parents' +influence. Anne and I have been in that position. Don't think for a +moment that I wish to dispute your authority when I say that I intend +to see her before I leave." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"Ah! my dear Julien," she murmured, "if you had only been as firm with +that foolish woman. Still, if you have really made up your mind, I am +sure I don't want to be disagreeable. Perhaps it would be just as well +to get the thing over." + +She touched the bell. + +"Ask Lady Anne to step this way," she told the servant. + +The man withdrew and the door was closed again. The Duchess showed no +signs of being about to take her leave. + +"This matter has already, I presume, been fully discussed between you +and Anne?" Julien remarked. "It will not be necessary for you even to +give her a parting word of advice?" + +"You amusing person!" she laughed. "There are no words of advice of +mine needed in a case like this. To tell you the truth, Julien, +although I always liked you, as you know, I hated your engagement to +Anne. You were a very charming young man to have about the house and I +was always pleased to see my girls flirt with you, but as a son-in-law +I ranked you from the first amongst the undesirables. Your income, so +far as I know, is a little less than nothing at all, and politics, as +you are discovering to-day, are a precarious form of livelihood. Anne +hasn't a copper and never will have. She ought to marry a rich man, and +I intend now that she shall. Here she is. Now do get this stupid affair +over quickly." + +The door was opened and Lady Anne came in. She was taller than her +mother, of more serious aspect, and her hair was a shade darker. There +was something of the same expression about the eyes. She came straight +over to Julien and gave him both her hands. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "this is shocking! Run away, if you +please, mother. I must see Julien for a moment alone." + +The Duchess left the room. They both waited until the door was closed. +Then she turned and faced him. + +"I suppose it's all true?" she asked. + +"Every word of it, Anne," he answered. "Please don't misunderstand the +reason of my coming. I am absolutely a ruined man and I absolutely +deserve everything that has come to me. But there was one thing I +wanted to say to you before I went." + +"There was also one thing," she remarked, looking at him intently, +"which I intended to ask you, provided you gave me the opportunity." + +"It is about Mrs. Carraby," he said firmly. + +"So was my question," she murmured. + +"The friendship between Mrs. Carraby and myself," Julien continued, +"has been patent to every one for a great many years. I knew her long +before I did you. It began, in fact, when we were little more than +children. It finished--to-day. There is only one thing I want to say to +you about it, and that is this. Our friendship was of that sort which +is fairly well recognized and even approved of by the world in which we +live. It contained, of course, certain elements of flirtation--I am not +denying that. There was never at any time, however, anything in that +friendship which made it an error even of taste on my part to ask you +to become my wife." + +She took his face between her hands and deliberately kissed him. + +"That's just what I wanted to know, Julien," she declared. "Now shake +hands, be off, and do the best you can for yourself. I wish you the +best of luck, the very best. That's all we can say to one another, +isn't it?" + +"Quite all," he admitted. + +"You are a dear, good fellow," she went on, "and I have been quite fond +of you, although I think that I bored you now and then. I should have +made you an excellent wife, perhaps a better one than I shall the next +man who comes along. Don't stay any longer, there's a dear, because +although I never pretended to have much heart, this sort of thing does +upset one, you know, and I want to look my best to-night. Write me +sometimes, if you will. I'd love to hear that you'd found some interest +in life to help you gather up the threads. And here--this is for luck." + +She took a little turquoise pin from her waistband and stuck it in his +black tie. Then, before he could stop her, she touched the bell with +one hand and gave him the other. + +"Please kiss my fingers, Julien, and tell me I've behaved nicely." + + +He looked steadily into her eyes and then away out of the window, +across the square. It was such a natural ending, this. It was foolish +that his heart should shake, even for a second. And yet there had been +one occasion--at Clonarty--when she had lain very close to him in his +arms, and the moonlight had been falling through the pine trees in +little dappled places around them, and the wind had been making faint +music among the swinging boughs--for these few moments, at any rate, +the other things had shone in her face. Were they illusions really, +those moments of agitation, he wondered--simply one long, sensuous +period passing like breath from a looking-glass and leaving nothing +behind? He looked into her face. There was no sign there. Then he +dropped the fingers which he had been holding. Women were wonderful! + +"Do write," she begged, as she walked into the hall with him. "Dear me, +what a strange-looking person you have with you in the taxicab!" + +"He is a friend," Julien said quietly, "a journalist. I might say the +same of the young man who is watching us from the drawing-room, Anne! +Who is he?" + +She made a little face at him and whispered in his ear. + +"Semitic, as you see, and positively appalling. He is entirely mother's +choice. He arrived ten minutes after the evening papers were out, but +somehow or other I don't fancy that we shall make anything of him. It's +young Harbord, you know." + +Julien made his effort. He touched her fingers once more in +conventional fashion. He leaned towards her earnestly. + +"My dear Anne," he said, "that young man has an income of at least a +hundred thousand a year. Have you ever considered what a wonderful +thing it is to possess an income like that? You could surround yourself +with it like a halo. You could eat it, wear it, and breathe it every +second of your life. You could even use it as a means of escaping as +often as possible from the somewhat inevitable but highly objectionable +adjunct who seems now to be peering at us through the door. Be a wise +girl, Anne. An income like that doesn't depend upon discretions or +indiscretions. Besides, as a matter of fact, I really do not think that +that young man knows what it is to be indiscreet. Remember, I am quite +serious. A hundred thousand a year should lift any man beyond the pale +of criticism." + +"Yes!" the girl replied, looking at him as he walked down the steps. "I +shall remember. Good-bye!" + +"We are getting on," Julien declared lightly, as he took his place in +the taxicab. "Really, it is astonishing how much a man can get through +in a day if he sets his mind to it. Is there any place where we could +get a drink, do you think, Kendricks? I have just passed through a +trying and affecting interview. I have said farewell to the lady who +was to have been my wife. That sort of thing upsets one." + +"You are behaving, my dear Julien," Kendricks admitted, "like a man of +sense. In a moment or two we shall pass Very's, on our way to the +restaurant where I am going to entertain you at dinner. It will +probably be such a dinner as you have never eaten before in your life! +You will not need an _aperitif_. I am not sure, indeed, that it is not +tempting providence and inviting indigestion to offer you a mixed +vermouth here. However, come along. One experience more or less in such +a day will not disturb you." + +They entered the cafe and sat down at a small, marble-topped table. +Julien lit a cigarette and Kendricks affected not to notice that the +hand which held the match was shaking. A crowd of people, mostly +foreigners, were sitting about the place. Julien, as he sipped his +vermouth, noticed a familiar face nearly opposite him--a young, +somewhat sandy-complexioned man, quietly dressed, insignificant, and +yet with some sort of personality. + +"I wonder who that fellow is?" he remarked. "I seem to know his face." + +Kendricks looked incuriously across the room. + +"One knows every one by sight in London," he said. "The fellow is +probably a clerk in some office where you have been, or a salesman +behind the counter at one of the shops you patronize. It's odd +sometimes how a face will pursue you like that. That's a pretty little +girl with whom he's shaking hands." + +Julien watched the two idly for a moment. The man had risen to greet +his newly-arrived companion, who was chattering to him in fluent +French. All the time Julien was aware that now and then the former's +eyes strayed over towards him. It was odd that, notwithstanding his +somewhat disturbed state of mind, he was conscious of a distinct +curiosity as to this young man's identity. + +"Come along," Kendricks suggested. "We shan't get a table at all at the +place where I am going to take you to dine, unless we are punctual." + +They finished their vermouth and left the cafe. Kendricks knocked out +the ashes from his pipe and leaned a little forward in the taxicab. + +"We go now," he continued, "into a foreign land--foreign, at least, to +you, my young Exquisite--the land of journalists, of foreigners, of +hairdressers and anarchists, and cutthroats of every description. +Nevertheless, we shall dine well, and if you will only drink enough of +the chianti which I shall order, I can promise you a nap on your way to +Dover. You look as though you could do with it." + +Julien suddenly remembered that his eyes were hot, and almost +simultaneously he felt the weight that was dragging down his heart. He +laughed desperately. + +"I'll eat your dinner, David," he promised, "and I'll do justice to +your chianti. From what you tell me about our expedition, I should +imagine that we are going into the land to which I shall soon belong." + +"It's a wonderful country," Kendricks muttered, looking out of the +window. "It may not be flowing exactly with milk and honey, but its +sinews are supple and its blood is red. For absolute vitality, I'd back +the Cafe l'Athenee against the Carlton any day. Here we are." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +AT THE CAFE L'ATHENEE + + +The Cafe L'Athenee was in a narrow back street and consisted of a +ground floor apartment of moderate size, and a number of small rooms, +most of which were already crowded with diners. There were no +smooth-faced _maitres d'hotel_ to conduct new arrivals to a table, no +lift to the upper rooms, no palm-lined stairways, or any of the modern +appurtenances of restaurant life. Kendricks, taking the lead as an +habitue, pushed his way up to the first floor, pushed his way past the +hurrying and perspiring waiters, who did not even stop to answer +questions, and finally pounced upon a table which was just being +vacated by three other people. The two men sat down before the debris +and waited patiently for its removal. + +"Don't turn your nose up yet," Kendricks begged. "Wait till you've +tasted the spaghetti. And don't look at the tablecloth as though it +would bite you. They'll put a clean napkin over it directly and you'll +forget all about those stains. This is where one takes off the kid +gloves and deals with the realities of eating and drinking. I am +inclined to think sometimes, Julien, as a humble admirer from a long +way off, that you've worn those kid gloves a little too long." + +Julien looked across at his friend. Kendricks was still smoking his +pipe and he was evidently in earnest. It was obvious, too, that he had +more to say. + +"You know," he continued, loudly summoning a waiter and pointing to the +table before them, "you know, Julien, I have always had this feeling +about you. I think that life has been made a trifle too easy for you. +You have slipped with so little effort into the polished places. You +never had to take your coat and waistcoat off and try a +rough-and-tumble struggle with life. No man is the worse for it. +Prosperity and smooth-traveling along the easy ways, even though they +come to one as the reward of brainwork, lead to a certain flabbiness in +life, lead to many moments when you have to stop and ask whether things +are worth while, lead sometimes, I think, to that curious neuroticism +from which clever, successful people suffer as well as the butterflies +of fashion. You are up against it now, Julien, real and hard. You don't +feel that you've got a day to live that you care a snap of the fingers +about. You look at what you think are the pieces of your life and you +imagine yourself a gaunt spectator of what has been, gazing down at +them, and you've quite made up your mind that it isn't a bit of good +trying to collect the fragments. Such d----d nonsense, Julien! You may +have made a jolly hash of things as a Cabinet Minister, but that isn't +any reason why you shouldn't make a success of life as a man. Look +here, Carlo," he added, addressing the waiter, "the table d'hote +dinner--everything, and serve it hot. Bring us fresh butter with our +spaghetti, and a flask of chianti." + +"Si, signor!" the man replied, gazing for a moment in wonder at this +shock-headed individual who spoke his own language so perfectly. + +Kendricks laid down the menu and glanced across the table at Julien's +face with its slightly weary smile. + +"Of course, I know how you're feeling now," he went on,--"rotten!--so +would any one. Try and forget it, try and forget yourself. Look about +you. What do these people do for a living, do you think? They weren't +born with a title. There's no one in this room who went to Eton and +Oxford, played cricket for their university, and lolled their way into +life as you did. Look at them all. The thin chap in the corner is a +barber, got a small shop of his own now. I go there sometimes for a +shave. He lived on thirteen shillings a week for six years, while he +saved the money to start for himself. It was touch and go with him +afterwards. In three months he'd nearly lost the lot. He'd married a +little wife who stood behind the counter and had worked almost as hard +as he, but somehow or other the customers wouldn't come. Then she had a +baby, was laid up for a time, he had to engage some one to take her +place, and at that time he had about fifteen shillings left in the +world. I used to be shaved there every day then. I knew all about it. I +used to hear him, when he thought no one was listening, go and call a +cheerful word up the stairs--'Shop full of customers!' 'Sold another +bottle of hair restorer!' or something of that sort. Then some one lent +him a fiver, and, by Jove, he turned the corner! He's doing well now. +That's his wife--the plump little woman who's straightening his tie. +They come here every Wednesday night and they can afford it. Yet he was +up against it badly once, Julien. That's right, look at him, be +interested. He's a common-looking little beast, isn't he?--but he's got +a stout heart." + +"I think," Julien said, "that I could guess the name of the man who +lent him the fiver." + +"You'd be a mug if you couldn't," Kendricks retorted. "It's doing that +sort of thing that helps you to smile sometimes when the knocks come. I +tell you, Julien, some of the people--these small shopkeepers, +especially--do have the devil of a fight to get their ounce of pleasure +out of life. Nothing's made easy for them. They don't know anything +about that big west-end world, with pleasures tuned up to the latest +pitch, where you do even your work with every luxury at hand to make it +easy. There's a little chap there--an Italian. See him? He's sitting by +the side of the old man with the gray beard. That man's his father. +They both landed over here with scarcely a copper. The young fellow +worked like a slave--sixteen shillings a week I think he was getting, +and he kept the old man on it. Then he lost his job, couldn't get +another. The old man had to go to the workhouse, the young man slept on +the Embankment, ate free soup, picked up scraps, lived on the garbage +heap of life. He pulled himself together, though, got another job, +improved it, saved a few shillings, drove up in a cab and took the old +man out. Look at them now. He's got a little tailor's shop not a +hundred yards from here, and somehow or other one or two people on the +stage--they're a good-hearted lot--have taken him up He gets lots of +work and brings the old man here now and then for a treat. How are you, +Pietro?" he called across the room. "When are you going to send me that +coat along?" + +The young man grinned. + +"Too many orders to make you that coat, sir," he declared. + +Kendricks smiled. + +"No one can deny that I need a new coat," he said. "I told Pietro when +things were slack that he could make me one, but he gets lots of orders +now. See the little girl in the corner? She's going out--no, she's +going to stay here; they've found her room at that table. I suppose +you'd turn your nose up at her because she has a lot too much powder on +her cheeks, and you don't like that lace collar around her neck. It +isn't clean, I know, and the make-up on her face is clumsy. Must be +uncomfortable, too, but she's done her best. She's been dancing at the +_Hippodrome_ this afternoon, probably rehearsing afterwards. She's got +an hour now before she goes back to the evening performance. She's +taking the eighteenpenny dinner, you see. She'll get a glass of chianti +free with it. I am in luck to-night. I can tell you about nearly all +these people. Her name is Bessie Hazell--Sarah Ann Jinks, very likely, +but that's what she calls herself, anyway. She married an acrobat two +years ago and they started doing quite well. Then he got a cough, had +to give up work, the doctors all shook their heads at him, wanted to +tell him it was consumption. Bless you, she wouldn't listen to it! She +got him down to Bournemouth somehow and they patched him up. He came +back and started again, caught cold, and had another bad spell. Still, +she wouldn't have it that there was anything serious the matter with +him! He'd be all right, she said, if it weren't for the climate, and +every night she danced, mind--danced twice a day. She's quite clever, +they say--might have done well if she'd only herself to think of and +could spare a little of her money for lessons. Not she! She sent him to +Davos, paid for it somehow. He's back again now. He can't go on the +stage, but he's got a light job somewhere. I don't know that he's +earning anything particular. They've got a baby to keep, but they do it +all right between them. She isn't pleasant to look at, is she? What's +that matter? She's a bit of real life, anyhow." + +"Why didn't you bring me here before, Kendricks?" Julien asked. + +The man leaned back and laughed. + +"Ask yourself that question, not me," he replied. "You--Sir Julien +Portel, caricatured as the best-dressed man in the House of Commons, +member of the most fashionable clubs, brilliant debater, successful +politician, future Prime Minister, and all that sort of twaddle. You +were living too far up in the clouds, my friend, to come down here. You +see, I am not offering you much sympathy, Julien. I don't think you +need it. You were soaring up to the skies just because of your gifts +and your position and your opportunities. You are down now. Well, +you're thundering sorry for yourself. I don't know that I'm sorry for +you. I'll tell you in ten years' time. By Jove, here's your +sandy-headed little friend!" + +The man, with the girl upon his arm, had entered the room and had taken +seats at a table in the corner, for which, apparently, they had been +waiting. Julien looked at them curiously. + +"Why," he exclaimed suddenly, leaning across the table, "I remember him +now! He's at the shop--I mean he's an Intelligence man." + +Kendricks nodded. + +"Just the sort of inconspicuous-looking person who could go anywhere +without being noticed." + +"I recollect him quite well," Julien continued. "It's not in my +department, of course, but I remember being told he was a very useful +little beggar." + +"I should say, without a doubt," Kendricks declared, "that he was at +present working hard for the safety and welfare of the British Empire. +If you've suddenly recognized the man, I'll tell you who the girl is. +She's a manicurist at the Milan." + +Julien looked round and watched them for a moment curiously. Again he +noticed that his interest in the young man was at least reciprocated. + +"The fellow has recognized me, of course," he said. "You know, +Kendricks, I remember two or three years ago a most amazing item of +news was brought to us--one that made a real difference, too--through a +manicurist." + +"Shouldn't be a bit surprised," Kendricks replied. + +"Things drop out in the most unexpected places, as you'd find out if +you'd been a journalist." + +"She was sent for into the room of some princess--at Claridge's, I +think it was, or one of the west-end hotels--and while she was there a +man came from one of the inner rooms and said a few words in Russian. +The girl had been in St. Petersburg and understood. It made quite a +difference. I remember the story." + +"Might have been the same man and the same manicurist," Kendricks +remarked. + +Julien shook his head. + +"There was trouble about the manicurist," he said, "and she had to +leave the country. She's in South Africa now." + +"I can't say that I like the appearance of the fellow," Kendricks +declared. "Don't funk the soup, Julien--it's better than it looks. He's +a slimy-looking sort of chap. I have a theory that the modern sort of +Secret Service agent ought to be a person like myself--breezy and +obvious. Julien, if that girl doesn't stop gazing at you sideways, +you'll be in trouble with your late employee." + +Julien looked across at the opposite table. The girl, as he had noticed +before, was stealing frequent glances at him. For some reason or other, +she seemed anxious to attract his attention. + +"Quite a conquest!" Kendricks murmured. "Drink some more of that +chianti, man, and bring some color to your cheeks. There's a charming +little manicurist wants to flirt with you. What teeth and what a +smile!" + +"Considering that she has been listening to my history for the last +quarter of an hour, I imagine that her interest is of a less +sentimental nature," Julien said. "I have probably been pointed out to +her as the biggest fool in Christendom." + +"Not you," Kendricks declared. "I assure you that I am a critic in such +matters. She looks when the young man who is with her is engaged upon +his dinner, or speaking to the waiter. I am not positive, even, that +she wants to flirt, Julien. I think she wants to say something to you." + +Julien laughed. + +"What shall I do? Present myself? Bah!" he added, almost fiercely. "I +wish the girl would keep her black eyes to herself. I want to tell you +this, Kendricks. You've talked some splendid common sense to me without +going out of your way to do it. I am not going to whine, now or at any +other time, but as long as I live I never want anything more to do with +a woman. That sounds about the most futile and empty-headed thing a man +can say--I know that. But there it is. I tell you the very thought of +them makes me shudder. They're like pampered, highly-groomed animals, +with their mouths open for the tit-bits of life. They have to be fed +with whatever food it may be they crave for, and that's the end of it." + +Kendricks motioned with his head across the room to where the little +woman with the blackened eyebrows was eating her dinner. + +"What about that?" he asked. + +"I don't know anything about that sort," Julien admitted. "What you +told me sounded like one of the things you read of in newspapers and +never believe. I don't believe it. Mind you, I don't say it's false, +but I don't believe it because I have never spoken to the woman whom I +could imagine capable of such unselfishness. If I patch up the pieces +again, Kendricks," he added, and his face was suddenly very dark and +very set--the face of an older man, "whatever cement I use, it won't be +the cement of love or any sentiment whatsoever connected with women." + +Kendricks nodded. + +"It's my belief," he began, then he stopped short. "Julien," he +continued kindly, "you're nothing but a big baby. You think you've +moved in the big places. So you have, in a way. But there was a hideous +mistake about your life. You've never had to build. No one can climb +who doesn't build first. These ready-made ladders don't count. Now," he +added, dropping his voice and glancing quickly across the room, "you +will have an opportunity to put into force your new and magnificent +principles of misogyny. Our little sandy-headed friend has been +summoned from the room. I saw the _commissionaire_ come up and whisper +in his ear. Mademoiselle is writing a note. A hundred to one it is to +you!" + +Julien frowned. He, too, turned his head, and he met the girl's eyes. +She was looking at him curiously. It was not the look of the woman who +invites so much as the look of the woman who appeals for an +understanding, who has something to say. She smiled ever so faintly and +touched with her finger the scrap of paper which she thrust into the +waiter's hand. Then she bent once more over her plate. The man came +across to Julien. + +"For you, monsieur," he announced, and laid it by the side of Julien's +plate. + +"Read it," Kendricks whispered across the table, for he had been quick +to see his companion's first impulse. + +"Why should I?" Julien said coldly. "I have no desire to have anything +to do with that young person. What can she have to say to me?" + +"Nevertheless, read it," Kendricks repeated. + +Julien unrolled the scrap of paper with reluctant fingers. There were +only a few words written there in hasty pencil: + +Monsieur, there is a friend of mine whom you must see. Call at number +17, Avenue de St. Paul and ask for Madame Christophor. Do not attempt +to speak to me. This is for your good. + +Julien's fingers were upon the note to destroy it, but again Kendricks +stopped him. + +"Julien," he insisted, "don't be an idiot. The little girl knows who +you are. She can't imagine that you are in the humor just now for +flirtations. Put the note in your pocket and call. One can't tell. Your +life has been so artificial that you've probably left off believing in +any adventures outside story-books. My life leads me into different +places and I never neglect an opportunity like that." + +"A sister manicurist, I expect," Julien replied scornfully; "a palmist, +or some creature of that sort." + +Kendricks hammered upon the table for the waiter. + +"One takes one's chances," he agreed, "but I do not think that the +little girl over there would send you upon a fool's errand. There are +other things in life, you know, Julien. You carry in your head +political secrets which would be worth a great deal. There may be +danger in that call." + +Julien looked at him with faintly curling lip. + +"Tell me exactly what you mean?" he asked. + +Kendricks shrugged his shoulders. The waiter had arrived and he gave +him a vociferous order. + +"Listen," he said, "I could hand you out a hundred surmises and each +one of them ought to be sufficient to induce you to keep that +appointment. You leave here--shall we say under a cloud?--presumably +disgusted with life, with the Government which gives you no second +chance, with your country which discards you. And you have been +Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Can't you conceive that +this woman on whom you are to call might make suggestions to you which +would at least be amusing? Don't look so incredulous, Julien. Remember +you've lived in the stilted places. I haven't. I believe in the +underground world. You must know for yourself that a great deal of the +truth leaks up through the gratings." + +"That is true enough," Julien admitted, "but somehow or other--" + +"Let it go at that," Kendricks interrupted. "Promise me that you will +call at that address." + +Julien laughed. + +"Yes, I'll call!" he promised. + +"Then look across at the little girl and nod," Kendricks suggested. +"She's watching you all the time anxiously. The man hasn't come back +yet." + +Julien turned his head half unwillingly. The girl was leaning across +the table, her eyes fixed steadfastly upon his. Her lips were parted, +her eyebrows were slightly raised, as though in question. She had been +holding a menu before her face to shield her from the casual observer, +but the moment Julien turned his head she lowered it. He inclined his +head slowly. A curious expression of relief took the place of that +appearance of strained anxiety. Her face became natural once more. She +laid down the menu and took a sip of wine from her glass. Kendricks +looked across at Julien and raised his glass to his lips. + +"We will drink, my dear Julien," he said, "to your visit to Madame +Christophor, and what may come of it!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +COFFEE FOR THREE + + +"Admit," Kendricks insisted, "that you have dined well?" + +"I have dined amply," Julien replied. + +Kendricks frowned. + +"I am not satisfied," he declared. + +"The _entrecote_ was wonderful, also the omelette," Julien admitted. "I +will supplement 'amply' with 'well,' if you wish, but the insistent +note about this dinner is certainly its amplitude. I have not eaten so +much for ages." + +Kendricks was filling his pipe. + +"Cigars or cigarettes you must order for yourself," he said. "I know +nothing of them. The coffee is before you. I will be frank with you--it +is not good. The brandy, however, is harmless." + +Julien lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair. Just then the +sandy young man re-entered the room. He hastened to his place, but +instead of resuming it stood by the side of the girl, talking. He +seemed to be suggesting some course of which she disapproved, pointing +to her unfinished dinner. Kendricks nodded his head slowly. + +"The young man has to leave," he remarked. "He wishes mademoiselle to +accompany him. She declines. He is annoyed. Behold, a lover's tiff! He +has placed the money for the dinner upon the table. He shakes her hand +very politely. Behold, he goes! Mademoiselle shrugs her shoulders. She +orders from the menu. She remains alone. My dear Julien, if you will +you can prosecute your conquest. The young man has departed." + +Julien glanced across the room. He met the girl's eyes and once again +he saw in them that curious, almost impersonal invitation. + +"She wants something," Kendricks declared. "I am going over to see what +it can be. Carlo!" + +He summoned the waiter and asked him a question quickly in Italian. + +"The man says that her companion is not returning," he remarked, +rising. "I am going to interview the young lady." + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"As you will." + +Kendricks crossed the room, his pipe still in his hand. The girl +watched him come, for a moment, and then looked down upon the +tablecloth. She was at the end of a table laid for four or five people, +but only two men were left at the extreme end. + +"Mademoiselle," Kendricks said, "my friend thanks you for your message. +His curiosity, however, is piqued. Is there not an opportunity now for +explaining further?" + +She regarded her questioner a little doubtfully. + +"Who are you?" she asked. + +Kendricks sighed. + +"My dear young lady," he answered, "I flattered myself that I possessed +a personality which no one could mistake. Furthermore, I am a constant +patron here." + +"I have never been here in my life before," the girl told him. + +"Then your ignorance shall be pardoned," Kendricks declared. "My name +is David Kendricks. I am a journalist. I ought to be an editor, but the +fact remains that I am a mere collector of news, a bringer together of +those trifles which go to make such prints as these," he added, +touching her evening paper, "interesting." + +"A journalist," she repeated, glancing up at him. "Yes! I might have +guessed that. Are you a friend of Sir Julien Portel?" + +"I think I may call myself a friend," Kendricks admitted. "We were at +college together." + +She rose composedly to her feet. + +"Then I will take my coffee at your table," she decided. "You may +present me. I am Mademoiselle Senn." + +Kendricks hesitated. + +"You may not find my friend in the most amiable of moods," he began. + + +The girl waved her hand. + +"It is to be explained," she declared. "To tell you the truth, I was +surprised to see him even in so out of the way a restaurant as this." + +"He leaves to-night for the Continent," Kendricks told her. + +"So I heard," the girl replied. "Come." + +Sir Julien watched their approach and the frown upon his aristocratic +forehead, though thin, was distinct. Kendricks, however, took no notice +of it, and the girl pretended that she had not seen. + +"Julien," the former announced, holding a chair for mademoiselle, "I am +permitted the pleasure of presenting you to Mademoiselle Senn, who +already knows your name. Mademoiselle sent you a message a few minutes +ago. If she is good-natured, she may choose to explain it. If not, what +does it matter? Mademoiselle will take her coffee with us." + +Julien rose to his feet and bowed very slightly. + +"We have only a moment or two to spare," he said, "as I am leaving +London to-night." + +She looked at him and smiled oddly. She was a very typical young +Frenchwoman of her class--round-faced, with trim little figure, black +eyes, and smart but simple hat; not really good-looking except for the +depth of her clear eyes, and yet with a command of her person and +movements which was not without its charm. + +"Monsieur is not too gallant," she murmured, "but one is inclined to +forgive him. If I may take my coffee, I will go. Monsieur has promised +me that he will call and see Madame?" + +"Your friend in Paris?" Julien remarked, a little doubtfully. + +"Ah! I dare not call her that," the girl continued. "Madame is +different. But I know that it is her wish that you call, and I know +that it would be for your welfare." + +"Is it necessary," Julien asked coldly, "that you should be so +mysterious? After all, you know, the thing, on the face of it, is +impossible. Madame probably does not know of my existence, and why +should you take it for granted that I am going abroad?" + +"Oh, la, la!" the girl interrupted. "But you amuse one! Madame knows +everything which she desires to know. As to your going to France, +monsieur over there," she added, moving her head backwards, "told me so +some minutes ago." + +"And how the dickens did he know, and what right had he to talk about +my affairs?" Julien demanded, with all an Englishman's indignation at +his movements having been discussed by strangers. + +"I suppose that it is his business to know those things," she replied, +sipping her coffee. "He is a very mysterious young man. He takes a room +sometimes at the Milan Hotel and he sends for me to manicure his hands. +Then he asks me very clever questions and I look down and I give +him--very clever answers. Then he thinks, perhaps, that his methods are +not quite the best, and he sends me a great box of chocolates, some +stalls for the theatre, some flowers--why not? Then he comes again to +be manicured and he asks more questions, but I know so little. Then +sometimes, not very often, he brings me out to dine. Imagine for +yourself, monsieur," she went on, with a wave of the hand, "the +excitement, the wonder of all this to a poor French girl! And again he +asks questions, but again I know so little. And then, in the midst of +our dinner, his employer has sent for him. He has to go on a journey. +It is sad, is it not? He would like me to go with him to the station, +to see him off, but I--" she shrugged her shoulders. "Why should I +leave before I have finished my dinner? In truth, he wearies me, that +young man. I do not think, Sir Julien Portel, that Englishmen are very +clever." + +"As a race," Julien declared grimly, "I agree with you. I think that +most men are unutterable fools. But this young admirer of yours--what +are these questions which he asks you so often, and what business is he +in that he should be compelled to leave you to hurry away?" + +"Ah, monsieur!" she answered, "it is you now who ask questions. Why +should I tell you, indeed, more than I tell him?" + +Julien smiled. + +"Perhaps because it was a matter of moment to him whether you replied +or not, whereas, frankly, I only ask you these questions out of the +idlest curiosity." + +"Also a little," she remarked, "to make conversation, is it not so? +Very well, then, Sir Julien Portel, let me tell you this. If you do not +know who that young man is, I do not wonder that you find it necessary +to catch the nine o'clock train to the Continent to-night and to give +up that delightful work of yours, where you try to keep the peace +between all these wicked nations, and to get the lion's share of +everything for your great, greedy country. If you do not know who that +young man is, you have not the head for detail, the memory, which goes +to the making of politicians." + +Julien leaned back in his chair and laughed, softly but genuinely. Even +Kendricks seemed a little taken aback. + +"Upon my word!" the latter exclaimed. "This is an interesting young +person! Mademoiselle, I congratulate you. You have the gifts." + +"Interesting, indeed!" Julien agreed, sitting up in his place. +"Mademoiselle, to save my reputation with you I must confess. I do know +who the young man is. He is in the Intelligence Branch of the Secret +Service of the British Foreign Office--Number 3 Department." + +The girl nodded several times. + +"What you call it I do not know," she said. "He is just one of those +ordinary people who go about to collect little items of information for +your Government. That is why I have received from him four pounds of +chocolate, at least a sovereign's worth of roses, four stalls for the +theatre--which I do believe that he had given to him because they were +for plays that no one goes to see, and to-night a dinner--such a +dinner, messieurs, with chianti that burned my tongue!" + +"This," Kendricks declared, "is quite a bright young lady! +Mademoiselle, I trust that we shall become better acquainted." + +"And in the meantime," Julien inquired, "what are these wonderful items +of information which you carry with you, and which this unfortunate +young man fails so utterly to elicit?" + +"Ah! well," she sighed, "I am by profession a manicurist, but some +freak of nature gave me the power of keeping my mouth closed, of +looking as though I knew a good deal, but of saying so little. Now, +messieurs, what could a poor girl know in the way of secrets for which +that young man would get credit if he had succeeded in eliciting them? +What could I know, indeed? I sit on my little stool and sometimes there +are great people who give me their hands, and they are thoughtful. And +sometimes I ask questions and they answer me absently, because, after +all, what does it matter?--a manicurist from the shop downstairs, +earning her thirty shillings a week, and anxious to be agreeable for +the sake of her tip! And then sometimes while I am there they dictate +letters, or a caller comes, or the telephone rings. One does not think +of the manicure girl at such a time. Fortunately, there are some like +me who know so well how to keep silent, to say nothing, to be dumb." + +"The methods of that young man," Kendricks asserted, "were crude. Now, +young lady, consider my position. I represent a power greater than the +power of Governments. I represent a Press which is greedy for personal +news. Have you trimmed lately the nails of a duchess? If so, tell me +what she wore, her favorite oath, any trifling expression likely to be +of interest to the British public! And instead of roses I will send +you carnations; instead of dead-head tickets I will take you myself to +the _Gaiety_; instead of a dinner at the Cafe l'Athenee, I will take +you to supper at the Milan." + +"Your friend," mademoiselle declared, smiling at Julien, "is quite an +intelligent person. I like him very much. But I wish he would not smoke +that pipe and I should like to buy him a necktie." + +"Julien," Kendricks sighed, "the Bohemian has no chance against such a +model as you." + +"I do not think," she remarked, looking Julien in the eyes, "that Sir +Julien Portel cares very much for women--just now, at any rate." + +Julien frowned. He absolutely declined to answer the challenge in her +dark eyes. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "when I present myself to this Madame +Christophor, do I deliver any message from you? Do I explain my visit?" + +The girl shook her head slowly. + +"It will not be necessary," she told him. "Madame Christophor will know +all about you. She will be expecting you." + +He smiled scornfully. + +"It would be a pity to disappoint a lady with such a remarkable knack +of foretelling things. Supposing, however, I change my mind and visit +St. Petersburg instead?" + +She raised her hands--an expressive gesture. + +"There is no Madame Christophor in St. Petersburg. I think that you +will be very ill-advised if you go there. Many of the elements which go +to the making of life wait for you in Paris. In St. Petersburg you +would be a stranger. The life is not there." + +She rose to her feet briskly. + +"Good night, Monsieur le Bohemian!" she said. "Remember that you have +only to accept my little gift of a necktie, to let me take you to a +coiffeur whom I know of, and I will dine with you when you choose. Good +night, Sir Julien! I think I envy you." + +Julien laughed. The idea seemed odd to him. + +"I fancy you would be in a minority, mademoiselle," he declared. + +"At least," she reminded him, "you are going to see Madame +Christophor!" + +She nodded and left them a little abruptly. Kendricks paid their bill +and they descended into the street a few minutes later. The +_commissionaire_ called a taxi for them and they drove toward +Charing-Cross. + +"My friend," Kendricks said, "if I had you here for another week, cut +off from your old life, I'd show you some things that would astonish +you. It's good fortune and these well-ordered ways that keep a man a +prig, even after he's finished with Oxford. The man who lives in the +clouds of Mayfair knows nothing of the real life of this city." + +"Some day I'll come back and be your pupil," Julien promised. "You're a +good fellow, David. You've given me something to think about, at any +rate, something to think about besides my own misfortunes." + +"That's just what I set out to do," Kendricks declared. "There are +plenty of bigger tragedies than yours loose in the world. Watch the +people, Julien--the people whom such men as you glance over or through +as of no account, the common people, the units of life. Strip them bare +and they aren't so very different, you know. Try and feel for a moment +what they feel. Look at the little dressmaker there, going over to +Paris to buy models, hanging on to her husband's arm. She's probably +got a shop in the suburbs and this trip is a daring experiment. See how +earnestly they are talking about it. I don't think that they have too +easy a time to make ends meet. Do you see that old lady there, clinging +to her daughter? How she hates to part with her! She is going to a +situation, without a doubt, and Paris isn't too easy a place for a girl +with hair and eyes like hers. In her heart I think that the old lady is +remembering that. Then look at that little old man with the tired eyes, +carrying his two valises himself to save the hire of a porter. Can't +you tell by the air of him that he has had an unsuccessful business +journey? Poor fellow! It's a hard struggle for life, Julien, if you get +in the wrong row. You've no one dependent upon you, you don't know the +worst agony that can wring a man's heart.... Got your ticket and +everything, eh? And that looks like your servant. Are you taking him +with you?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"I shall have to do without a manservant. I never had much money, you +know, David." + +"So much the better," Kendricks declared heartily. "It gives you a +final chance. The gutters of the world are full of good fellows who +have been ruined through stepping into a sufficient income." + +They found a carriage and arranged Julien's few belongings. Presently +mademoiselle's companion came hurrying up the platform, followed by a +porter carrying his dressing-case. A short distance behind, +mademoiselle, too, was walking, humming to herself. + +"Company to Boulogne for you, Julien," Kendricks pointed out. "Your +little man from Number 3 Branch is on your track." + +Julien smiled. The young man never glanced towards their carriage as he +passed, but mademoiselle, who was still a few steps behind, made a wry +face at Kendricks. + +"I believe she knew that he was going across," the latter declared. + +"I wonder if he, too," Julien murmured, "has to call on Madame +Christophor?" + +The whistle sounded. Kendricks put out his great hands. + +"Good luck to you, Julien, old fellow!" he said. "Stand up to life like +a man and look it in the face. I tell you I haven't been gassing +to-night. I'd hate to pose as a moralist, but I do believe that +misfortunes are often blessings in disguise. And I tell you I've a sort +of faith in that little French girl. She gives one to think, as she +herself remarked. Look up Madame Christophor. Don't be surprised to see +me at any moment. I generally turn up in Paris every few weeks or so. +Good luck to you!" + +Julien leaned out of the window and waved his hand to Kendricks as the +train moved slowly around the curve. The last face he saw upon the +platform, however, was the face of mademoiselle. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +IN PARIS + + +For exactly a month Julien disappeared. At the end of that time, +looking very brown, a shade thinner, and possessed of a knowledge of +the older towns of Normandy which would not have disgraced a guidebook, +he arrived one cold, gray morning at the Gare du Nord. During all this +time he had scarcely seen one familiar face. It was an unpleasant shock +for him, as he waited for his baggage in the Customs House, to realize +that he was being watched from behind a pile of trunks by the little +man who had shown so much interest in him at the Cafe l'Athenee on the +night he had left England. The sight somehow annoyed him. He crossed +the room and accosted his late subordinate. + +"What is your name?" he asked coldly. "You are in the Intelligence +Department, I believe?" + +"My name is Foster, Sir Julien," the young man replied, after a +moment's hesitation. + +"What are you doing over here?" + +The young man hesitated. + +"You will excuse me, Sir Julien," he said slowly, "but I am responsible +only to the permanent officials in control of my office. Besides,--" + +"You can tell me at least how long you have been in Paris?" Julien +interrupted. + +"Since the night, Sir Julien, when you came as far as Boulogne." + +"May I ask," Julien demanded, "whether I am going to be subject to your +espionage?" + +The young man whose name was Foster looked blandly at a pile of luggage +which was just arriving. + +"I am not at liberty, Sir Julien," he said, "to explain my +instructions." + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"Do as you like, of course. At the same time, let me tell you that you +irritate me. Keep out of my sight as much as possible. It will be +better for you." + +Julien turned and left him there, declared his luggage, and was driven +to a quiet hotel in the Rue de Rivoli. There he had a bath, changed his +clothes, and strolled up the Champs Elysees towards the Bois. The sun +had come out and the avenue was crowded with automobiles and carriages. +He walked steadily on until he reached the first of the cafes in the +Bois. He took a chair and watched the crowd. A peculiar sensation of +loneliness oppressed him, a loneliness of which he had been scarcely +conscious during this last month's wanderings among the quiet places. +Paris had seemed so different to him on his last visit. He was +surrounded by friends and people who were anxious to become his +friends. He was in charge of a difficult mission which he was conscious +of conducting with skill. Everywhere he was meeting English people of +his own order, all delighted to see him, all pleased with his notice. +His few days in Paris were merely a change in the kaleidoscope from +London. The life--everything else--was the same. This time he was like +a man cast upon a desert island. He sat at his little table, sipping a +glass of vermouth, and conscious that no man in Paris had fewer +friends. The clubs were closed to him, there were no official visits to +pay, no calls to make, no familiar faces to look for. He was a man who +had had his day, a man disgraced, a man in whom the people had lost +faith, who was dead politically and socially. He thought his position +over carefully from every point of view. It was ruin, utter and +complete. He had disclosed a valuable political secret to a woman who +had not hesitated to make use of it. Nothing could be more ignoble. He +tried to fancy for himself some new life under altered conditions, but +everywhere he seemed to run up against some possibility, some +combination of circumstances which included a share in things which +were absolutely finished. His brain refused to fashion for him the +thought of any life which could leave outside everything which had been +of account to him up till now. Even in London, among the working +classes, it might have been easier. He remembered those few vivid +speeches of Kendricks'. What a gift the man had! Always he seemed to +see big things in life smouldering underneath the lives of these +ordinary people--big things unsuspected, invisible. There was nothing +of the sort to be found here. The only Paris Julien had ever known was +closed to him. Paris the vicious repelled him instinctively. He was +here, he had even looked forward to coming, but now that he had arrived +there was nothing for him to do. After all, he had better have found +some far distant corner in Switzerland or Italy. There was no club for +him to go to, no interest in perusing the newspapers, no visits from +ambassadors to think about. The puzzles of his daily life were ended. +There was nothing for him to do where he was but to eat and to drink +and to sleep! + +He lunched at a restaurant of which he had never heard before, and +there, to his anger, almost at the next table, he found Foster. With a +trace of his former imperiousness of manner, he summoned him. The young +man rose, after a moment's hesitation, and obeyed the mandate. + +"What are you doing here?" Julien demanded. + +"Lunching, sir," the young man replied. "The place has been recommended +to me. I do not know Paris well." + +"You lie," Julien declared. "Unless you knew Paris well, you wouldn't +be here for Number 3 Branch. Tell me, are you still watching me?" + +"That is a question, Sir Julien, which, as I said before, I am not at +liberty to answer." + +Julien drew a little breath between his teeth. + +"Look here," he continued, "I want to warn you that I am a bad-tempered +man. You can write home if you like and tell them that you met me +coming out of the German Embassy and the Russian Embassy and the +Italian Embassy, with a list of prices in my hands for different pieces +of information. Is that what you're afraid of, eh?" + +"Sir Julien," the young man answered, "I have to make reports only. It +is not my business to question the necessity for them." + +Julien laughed. After all, the little man was right. + +"Well, perhaps I do need looking after. Is there any particular place +where you would like me to dine? I don't want to bring you out into the +byways if I can help it." + +The young man excused himself politely. Julien finished his luncheon +and then took a carriage back to his hotel. He found half-a-dozen +visiting cards in his box and glanced at them eagerly. Every one of +them was from the representative of a newspaper. He tore them into +pieces, left a curt message for their bearers, and went up to his room. +A telegram was lying upon his bureau. He tore it open and read: + +Call on Madame Christophor this afternoon. + +He frowned and threw the unsigned telegram into a wastepaper-basket. + +"That decides it," he muttered to himself. "I will not call upon Madame +Christophor." + +Nevertheless, he changed into calling attire and presently strolled out +once more into the sunshine. From habit he turned into the Champs +Elysees. The sight of a group of acquaintances drove him into a side +street. He walked for a short distance and then paused to see his +whereabouts. He was in the Avenue de St. Paul. He studied the numbers. +Exactly opposite was Number 17. He stood there, gazing at the house, +and at that moment a large automobile glided up to the front door. The +footman sprang down and a lady descended, passing within a few feet of +him. She was tall, very elegant, and her eyes, gaining, perhaps, a +little color from the pallor of her cheeks, were the most beautiful +shade of violet-blue which he had ever seen. She was a woman whom it +was impossible not to notice. Julien stood quite still, watching her. +The footman who had stepped down in advance had rung the bell, and the +postern door already stood open. The lady did not at once enter. She +was looking at Julien. This, then, was Madame Christophor! He was aware +at that moment of two distinct impressions--one was that she knew +perfectly well who he was; the other that at any cost, however _gauche_ +it might seem, it was better for him to ignore the faint gleam of +recognition which already lent the dawn of a gracious smile to her +lips. + +The woman was certainly expecting him to speak. Every second her +hesitation seemed more purposeful. Julien, however, with an effort +which was almost savage, set his teeth and walked on. She looked after +him for a moment and began to laugh softly to herself. Julien walked +steadily on till he had reached the corner of the street. Then he +turned away abruptly and without glancing around. He was angry with +himself, angry at the sound of that faint, musical laugh. He had quite +made up his mind not to call upon Madame Christophor. It would, in +fact, now be impossible. He would never be able to explain his +avoidance of her. + +He was in a part of Paris of which he knew nothing, but he walked on +aimlessly, anxious only to escape the vicinity of the clubs and of the +fashionable thoroughfares. Suddenly he was conscious that an automobile +had drawn up close to the curbstone by his side. The footman sprang +lightly down and accosted him. + +"Monsieur," he announced, "Madame Christophor has sent her automobile. +She would be happy to receive you at once." + +Julien glanced inside the automobile. It was daintily upholstered in +white. A pile of cushions lay on the seat, there was a glove upon the +floor, the faint fragrance of roses seemed to steal out. Almost he +fancied that the woman's face was there, leaning a little towards him, +with the curious smile about the lips, the wonderful eyes glowing into +his. Then he set his teeth. + +"You had better inform your mistress," he said, "that there is some +mistake. I have not the honor of the acquaintance of Madame +Christophor. You have followed the wrong person." + +The man hesitated. He seemed perplexed. + +"But, monsieur," he persisted, "madame pointed you out herself. It was +only because of a block in the roadway that we were not able to catch +you up before. We have, indeed, never lost sight of you." + +Julien shook his head. "Pray assure madame," he said, "of my most +respectful regrets. I have not the honor of her acquaintance." + +He walked on. The two men sat for a moment on the box of the car, +watching him. Then they turned around and the car disappeared. Julien +jumped into a little carriage and drove back to his hotel. As he passed +through into the office, the clerk leaned forward. + +"Monsieur is desired upon the telephone," he announced. + +Julien frowned. + +"Who is it?" + +The man shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the booth. Julien +hesitated. Then he stepped inside and held the receiver to his ear. + +"Who is this?" he asked. + +A very slow, musical voice answered him. He never for a moment had a +doubt as to whose it might be. + +"Is this Sir Julien Portel?" + +"This is Julien Portel," he answered. "Who is it speaking?" + +"I am Henriette Christophor," the voice replied. "I had word from +England, Sir Julien Portel, that you were coming to see me." + +"I shall do myself that honor," Julien assured her, "before I leave +Paris." + +"You were not polite," the voice continued, "that you did not come this +afternoon." + +"Madame," Julien said, "I am not here to make acquaintances. It is true +that I promised to call upon you; I do not know why, I do not know whom +I promised, I do not know for what reason I was asked to come. Since I +have promised, however, and you are kind enough to desire it, I will +come." + +"And why not now?" the voice persisted. "You are alone in Paris, are +you not? I have something to say to you, something which is best said +quickly." + +Julien hesitated. + +"You will come?" the voice begged. "My automobile will be at your hotel +in ten minutes. You shall come, and if you dislike, after all, to make +that call, you shall drive with me, if you prefer it. Monsieur, if you +please!" + +"I will be ready," Julien answered. + +He hung up the receiver and walked out into the hall. He was angry with +himself because only an hour ago he had told himself that he would not +make that call. He was angry, too, because the fact of his making it or +not making it had assumed a ridiculous importance in his eyes. + +He walked to the bar and filled his case with cigarettes. Then he took +up a monthly magazine and read. His own official resignation was dealt +with in a political article of some significance. It interested him +curiously. One sentence in particular he read several times: + +It is not our desire to play the alarmist, but we would point out to +Great Britain that she may at any time within the next few weeks be +called upon to face a situation of great gravity, and we cannot help +expressing our regret that when that time comes the country should be +deprived of the advice, sound judgment and experience of a man who, +notwithstanding his youth, has already made his mark in European +politics. + +Julien flung the paper down. What that situation might be he knew, +perhaps, better than any man! + +The porter hurried up to him. + +"There is a lady outside who inquires for monsieur," he announced. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +MADAME CHRISTOPHOR + + +She held out an ungloved hand to him as he stepped up to the +automobile. Having gained her ends, she was disposed to be merciful. + +"This is very kind of you, Sir Julien," she murmured. "I really was +most anxious to have you visit me. Will you step in, please, and drive +with me a little way? One converses so easily and it would perhaps +amuse you more than to sit in my rooms." + +"You are very thoughtful," Julien replied. "I will come, with pleasure, +if I may." + +He seated himself by her side. + +"You must put your stick and gloves in the rack there," she continued, +"and make yourself quite comfortable. We drive a short distance into +the country, if you do not mind." + +"I am entirely at your service," he answered. + +He was firmly determined to remain wholly unimpressed by whatever she +said or did, yet, even in those first few moments, the sweetness of her +voice and the delicate correctness of her English sounded like music to +him. There was a suspicion of accent, too, which puzzled him. + +"We are not altogether strangers, you know," she went on. "I have seen +you before several times. I think the last time that you were in Paris +you sat in a box at Auteuil with some friends of mine." + +Somehow or other, he was conscious of a certain embarrassment. He was +not at his best with this woman, and he found it hard, almost +impossible, to escape from commonplaces. + +"It was my misfortune that I did not see you," he remarked. "My visit +was rather a momentous one. I dare say I paid less attention than usual +to my surroundings." + +"Tell me," she asked, "it was my little friend Emilie, was it not, who +persuaded you to come and see me?" + +"It was a little girl with whose name, even, I was unacquainted," +Julien replied. "I must admit that I scarcely took her request +seriously. I could not conceive anything which you might have to say +which could justify the intrusion of a perfect stranger." + +"But you," she reminded him, "are not a perfect stranger. You have been +a public man. You see, I am not afraid of hurting you because I think +that you will soon get over that little sensitiveness. I know all about +you--everything. You trusted a woman. Ah! monsieur, it is dangerous, +that." + +"Madame," he said, looking into her wonderful eyes, "one makes that +mistake once, perhaps, in a lifetime--never again." + +"The woman who deceives," she sighed, "makes it so difficult for all +those who come after! I suppose already in your mind I figure as a sort +of adventuress, is it not so?" + +"Certainly, madame," he answered calmly. "It never occurred to me to +doubt but that you were something of the sort." + +She half closed her eyes and laughed softly to herself, moving her head +like a child, as though from sheer pleasure. + +"It is delicious, this frankness!" she exclaimed. "Ah! what a pity that +you did not come before that other woman had destroyed all your faith! +We might, perhaps, have been friends. Who can tell?" + +"It is possible," he assented. + +"So you believe that I am an adventuress," she continued. "You think +that I sent for you probably to try and steal one by one all those +wonderful secrets which I suppose you have stored up at the back of +your head. One cannot be Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs +without knowing things. Keep them to yourself, Sir Julien. I ask you no +questions." + +"Then why," he demanded, "did you insist upon this visit from me, and +why did the little manicurist, who is a perfect stranger to me, insist +also that I should come to you?" + +She smiled, and looked down at her hands for a moment. + +"Now if I answer all your questions, Sir Julien," she said, "you will +have no more curiosity left, and when your curiosity is gone, perhaps +some measure of your interest may go, too. Can you not bring yourself +to believe that I may have had personal reasons for desiring your +acquaintance?" + +"Madame," he answered, "no! I cannot bring myself to believe that." + +Again she laughed. + +"I think," she declared, "that it is your candor which makes you +Englishmen so attractive. Do you believe that I am a dangerous person, +Sir Julien?" + +He looked at her coldly and dispassionately. + +"I think," he decided, "that you might be very dangerous indeed to a +susceptible person." + +"But not to you?" + +"Certainly not to me," he admitted. "As you have already told me, it is +within your knowledge that I am paying the price for having trusted a +woman." + +She nodded. + +"It is a fine sort of ruin, after all. Not to trust is generally proof +of a mean and doubting disposition." + +"You are probably right, madame," he agreed. "Is it permitted to remind +you that we have been together for some time and you have not yet +enlightened me as to your reasons for seeking my acquaintance?" + +"Can't you believe that it was a whim?" she asked. + +"No!" + +"Remember that I saw you when you were here before," she persisted. + +"I have no recollection of having met you." + +"Yet I can tell you nearly all that you did on that last visit of +yours. You dined one night at the Embassy, one night at the Travelers' +Club with a party of four, one night with the Minister--Courcelles. You +were two hours with him on the afternoon of the day you dined with him. +You managed to snatch an hour at the races and to lunch at the Pre +Catelan on your way. You lunched, I believe, with Monsieur le Duc de +St. Simon and his friends." + +"Your knowledge of my movements," he declared, "is very flattering. It +suggests an interest in me, I admit, but I have yet to be convinced +that that interest is in any way personal." + +She looked at him from under the lids of her eyes. + +"What is it, Sir Julien, that you possess, then, which you fear that I +might steal?" + +He returned her gaze boldly. "I am a discarded Minister," he said. "I +might reasonably be supposed to be suffering from a sense of wrong. Why +should it not occur to a clever woman like you that it might be a +favorable moment to obtain a little information concerning one or two +political problems of some importance? Are you interested in such +matters, madame?" + +She leaned back in her seat and laughed. He sat and watched her. +Distinctly she was, in certain ways, the most beautiful woman he had +ever seen. It was true that she was pale and that her neck was a trifle +thin, but her face was so aristocratic and yet so piquant, the color of +her eyes so delightful, her mouth so soft and yet so humorous. She laid +her hand upon his arm. + +"Oh! my dear, dear Englishman," she exclaimed, "Heaven indeed has sent +you to me that I should not die of ennui! You do not know who I am--I, +Madame Christophor?" + +"I have no idea who you are," he assured her. "I have never seen you +before. I know of no other name than the one by which I was told to ask +for you." + +She leaned a little closer to him. + +"Come," she said, "you see me for what I am. I shall not rob you, I +shall not drug you, I shall not try to tear secrets out of your throat +by any medieval methods. We are neither of us of the order of those who +seek adventures in vulgar fashion and expect always a vulgar +termination. Can't we be friends for a time--companions? Paris is an +empty city for me just now. And for you--you must avoid those whom you +know. It follows that you must be lonely. Let me show you my Paris." + +Julien looked steadfastly out at the country, at the flying hedges, the +tall avenues of poplar trees in the distance, the clumsy farm wagon +coming across the hayfield, the blue-petticoated women who marched by +its side--anywhere to escape for a moment or two from her eyes. It was +absurd that he should feel even this faint interest in her proposition! +It was only a month since the blow had fallen, only a month since the +girl to whom he had been engaged had sent him away with a sigh and a +little handshake. It was only a month since life lay in splinters +around him. It was much too soon to feel the slightest interest in the +things which she was proposing! + +"Madame Christophor," he said, "you are very kind, but I tell you +frankly that I should accept your proposition with more pleasure if you +had been of my own sex." + +"You have become a woman-hater?" + +"I cannot trust a woman," he answered coldly. "All the time I have the +feeling of insecurity. I fear that it must sound ungallant if I tell +you what is the sober truth--that your sex for the present has lost all +charm for me." + +She closed her eyes. Perhaps from behind the mask of her still face she +was laughing at him! + +"Do you think I don't understand that a little?" she murmured. "Never +mind, for to-night, at least, I will be sexless. You can believe that I +am a man. I think you will find that I can talk to you about most of +the things that men know of. Politics we will leave alone. You would +mistrust me at once. Art--I can tell you of our modern French painters; +I can tell you about these two wonderful Russians who are painting in +their studio here; I can tell you what to look for at the new +exhibitions, what studios to visit--I can take you to them, if you +will. Or old Paris--does that interest you? Have you ever seen it +properly? I know my old Paris very well indeed. Or would you rather +talk of books? There have been many years when I have done little else +but read. Tell me that we may be companions for a time. You have +nothing to lose, indeed, and I have so much to gain." + +"Madame," Julien replied, "I do not trust you. You are doubtless an +agreeable companion, and as such I am willing to spend a short time +with you. This is an ungracious acceptance of your suggestion, but it +is the best I am capable of." + +She clapped her hands. + +"It is something, after all," she declared, "and let me tell you this, +my friend," she added, leaning over. "You have been frank with me. You +have told me that you hated my sex, that you distrusted us all. Very +well, I will share your frankness. I will tell you this. Neither am I +any friend of your sex. I, too, have my grievance. I, too, have +something in my heart of which I cannot speak, which, when I think of +it, makes me hate every male creature that walks the earth. Perhaps +with that in my heart and what you have in yours, we may meet and pass +and meet again and pass, and do one another no harm. Is that finished?" + +"By all means," he agreed. + +Her expression changed. + +"Come," she said, "now you shall see that I have begun my plots. I have +brought you away from Paris into the country places. For what, I +wonder? Are you terrified?" + +"Not in the least," he assured her. + + +"Brave fellow! Perhaps when you know the truth, your heart will shake +with fear. You are going to dine in a country restaurant." + +"That does not terrify me in the least," he replied, smiling. "I think +that it will be charming." + +"It is a tiny place," she told him, "not very well known as yet; soon, +I fear, likely to become fashionable. One sits at little tables on a +lawn of the darkest green. If the sun shines, an umbrella of pink and +white holland shades us. Quite close is the river and a field of +buttercups. There are flowers in the garden, and so many shrubs that +one can be almost alone. And behind, an old inn. They cook simply, but +the trout comes from the river, and it is cool." + +"It sounds delightful," Julien admitted; "but, madame, indeed it is I +who must be host." + +She shook her head. + +"On the contrary, it is by subtlety that I have brought you here and +that I claim to be the giver of the feast. You see, you dine with me +to-night. You must ask me back again. It is the custom of your country, +is it not?" + +He smiled. The automobile had turned in now up a short drive, and +stopped before a long, low building. Down in the gardens they could see +fairylights swinging in the faint breeze. A short man, with +close-cropped hair and a fierce black moustache and imperial, came +hastening out to greet them. When he recognized Madame Christophor, he +bowed low. + +"Monsieur Leon," she said, "I bring an Englishman to try your river +trout. You must give me a table near that great tree of lilac that +smells so sweetly. I order nothing--you understand? But you must +remember that monsieur is English. He will want his champagne dry and +his brandy very old. Is it not so, my friend? Now I will give you into +charge of _monsieur le proprietaire_ here. He shall show you where you +can drink a little _aperitif_, if you will. He shall show you, too, +where to find me presently." + +A trim maid came hurrying up and took possession of Madame Christophor. +Julien followed his guide into a small reception room, all pink and +white. + +"If monsieur desires to wash," the proprietor explained, "he passes +beyond there. And for an _aperitif?_" + +"I will take anything you send me," Julien declared. "What is the name +of this place, monsieur?" + +"They call it the Maison Leon d'Or, monsieur," the man replied. "It is +my own idea--a country house I purchased once for myself, but found it +too far, alas! from Paris. In the fine weather we could, if we chose, +have half Paris here. When the cold days come, there is nobody. +Monsieur permits?" + +He departed and Julien strolled to the window. In the portion of the +gardens over which he looked were smaller tables, set out simply for +those who desired to take their coffee and liqueurs or _aperitif_ out +of doors. Julien glanced out idly enough at the little group of people +dotted about here and there. Then his face suddenly darkened. At a +table within a few yards of where he stood were seated Foster and a man +whose back was turned towards him. + +Julien's first impulse was to retire out of sight, for the window was +open and he himself imperfectly concealed by the muslin blind. Then, as +he was on the point of retiring, he distinctly heard the sound of his +own name. The two men were speaking in a low tone, but a slight breeze +was blowing into the room. Julien stood still and listened. The man who +was a stranger to him was speaking to Foster. + +"The woman is first, it is true," he muttered. "She will pump him dry, +no doubt. But what matter? She may even put him on his guard, but I say +again, what matter? There is a price for everything, a price or--" + +The man's voice died away and Julien heard nothing for some time. Then +he saw Foster shake his head. + +"Our service," Foster declared, "does not protect us in such a +position. It does not allow us to go to extremes. I am supposed to be +here to watch him, but I am really powerless. He might become your man +or hers or any one else's. I could do nothing but report." + +His companion leaned across the table. + +"What you call your Secret Service," Julien heard him say, "is a farce. +You have no authority, no scope. You are too proud to ferret about as +the others do. You sit in dignified ease and wait for information to be +brought to you. My good Foster, you must learn to be a man. We must +teach you." + +Again their voices became inaudible. Julien drew back into the room. +His heart was beating faster, his brain was full of new thoughts. From +a place where he was absolutely secure he sat and gazed at Foster and +his companion. Presently the waiter entered with the _aperitif_. Julien +gave him five francs. + +"Listen," he said, "you see those two gentlemen sitting there?" + +"_Parfaitement_, monsieur," the man replied. + +"Have you ever seen the elder one before--the dark one with the +glasses?" + +The waiter hesitated. + +"Monsieur," he said, looking at the five francs in his hand, "_monsieur +le proprietaire_ here has strange notions. He objects that we mention +ever the name of any of his clients." + +"Why is that?" Julien asked. + +"How should one know, monsieur?" the waiter answered. "Only it seems +that this place is a little distance from Paris, it is retired, one +finds seclusion here. People meet, I think, in these gardens who do not +care to be seen in Paris. There are some come here who whisper at the +door to _monsieur le proprietaire_ that their names must never be +mentioned." + +"One can understand that, perhaps," Julien agreed, "but these are +surely affairs of gallantry? It is when the gentlemen bring ladies, +perhaps?" + +The man shook his head and gesticulated an emphatic negative. + +"Monsieur," he declared, "there are other things. There are other +things, indeed. This place is well-known because there meet here often +men who are interested in discussing serious matters. I can tell +monsieur, alas! the name of no one among the guests here. If I +attempted it, it would mean my dismissal, and there is no place in +Paris, monsieur, where the salaries are so good as here." Julien +hesitated. Then he drew a louis from his pocket. + +"Listen," he said, "you may rely upon my word. No mention of it shall +go outside this room. Take this louis for just the name of that +gentleman with his back to you." + +The waiter took the louis. + +"His name, monsieur, I cannot tell you, but I will tell you what +perhaps will do for monsieur as well. The German Ambassador comes +sometimes here with a party of friends; somewhere in the distance you +will find the gentleman about whom you ask. The German Ambassador rides +through the streets when Paris is troubled; somewhere close at hand you +will find monsieur there. The German Ambassador he attends the races; +feeling, perhaps, is running a little high. Somewhere amongst the crowd +who watch the races, and very close to _Monsieur l'Ambassadeur_, you +will find monsieur there with the shoulders." + +Julien drank his _aperitif_ thoughtfully. + +"Thank you," he said to the waiter. "You have earned your money. You +need have no fear." + +There was a knock at the door. _Monsieur le proprietaire_ presented +himself. + +"Monsieur," he announced, "it is my honor to conduct you to the table +reserved for madame and yourself. Madame awaits you." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +BETTER ACQUAINTANCE + + +The gardens of the Maison Leon d'Or were, in their way, unique. There +was no extent of open space, but the walks threaded everywhere a large +shrubbery, and in all sorts of corners and quiet places little dining +tables had been placed. Scarcely any one was in sight of any other +person, although they were so close together that all the time there +was a hum of voices. In the distance, down by the river, a large +gondola was passing slowly backwards and forwards, on which an +orchestra played soft music. Julien and Madame Christophor crossed the +narrow strip of lawn together and followed Monsieur Leon into the +graveled path bordered with fairy lamps. + +"I have arranged for madame and monsieur," he announced, looking +backwards, "a table near the lilac tree of which madame is so fond. The +perfume, indeed, is exquisite. If madame pleases!" + +They turned from the path on to another strip of lawn, which they +gained by rounding a large lilac bush. Here a small table was laid with +the whitest of cloths and the most dazzling of silver. An attentive +waiter was already arranging an ice-pail in a convenient spot. From +here the gardens sloped gently to the river, which was barely forty +yards distant. Although it was scarcely twilight, the men on the +gondola were lighting the lamps. + +"Madame and monsieur will find this table removed from all chance +visitors," the proprietor declared. "If the dinner is not perfect, +permit that I wait upon you again. A word to the waiter and I arrive. +Madame! Monsieur!" + +He retreated, with a bow to each. Julien, with a little laugh, took his +place at the table. + +"Madame," he said, "your entertainment is charming." + +"The entertainment is nothing," Madame replied, "but here at least is +one advantage--we are really alone. I do not know how you feel, but the +greatest rest in life to me is sometimes the solitude. There is no one +overlooking us, there is no one likely to pass whom we know. We are +virtually cut off from all those who know us or whom we know. My +friend, I would like you to remember this our first evening. Talk, if +you will, or be silent. For me it is equal. I, too, have thoughts which +I can summon at any time to bear me company. And there is the river. Do +you hear the soft flow of it, and the rustle of the breeze in the +shrubs, the perfumes, and--listen--the music? Ah! Sir Julien, I think +that we give you over here some things which you do not easily find in +your own country." + +"You are right," he agreed slowly. "You give us a better climate, more +sympathetic companionship, a tenderer chicken, a more artistic salad." + +"At heart you are a materialist, I perceive," she declared. + +"We all are," he admitted. "Everything depends upon our power of +concealment." + +The service of dinner commenced almost at once. There was something +excessively peaceful in the scene. The tables were so arranged that one +heard nothing of the clatter of crockery. The murmur of voices came +like a pleasant undernote. They talked lightly for some time of the +English theatres, of the stage generally, some recent memoirs--anything +that came into their heads. Then Julien was silent for several minutes. +He leaned slightly across the table. Their own lamp was lit now and +through the velvety dusk her eyes seemed to glow with a new beauty. + +"Tell me," he begged, "you spoke of yourself a little time ago as +though you might have a personality at which I ought to have guessed. +Are you a woman of Society, or an artist, or merely an idler?" + +"I have known something of Society," she replied. "I believe I may say +that I am something of an artist. It is very certain that I am not an +idler. Why ask me these questions? Let us forget to be serious tonight. +Let us remember only that we are companions, and that the hours, as +they pass, are pleasant." + +"It is a philosophy," he murmured, "which brings its own retribution." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"All happiness is lost," she declared, "the moment you begin to try and +define it. It is a sensation, not a state of being. Let us drift. The +waters are not dangerous for you or for me." + +Her words chilled him with a sudden memory. Then, in the act of helping +himself to wine, he paused. Some one had taken the table nearest to +them, dimly visible through the laurel bushes. He heard the voice of +the man who had been with Foster, giving the orders. + +"Listen!" + +There was no need for him to have spoken. Curiously enough, Madame + + +Christophor seemed also to have recognized the voice. Her hand fell +upon Julien's. He looked at her in surprise. Her cheeks were blanched, +her eyes blazing. + +"You hear that voice?" she whispered. + +Julien nodded. + +"It is the voice of the only person in the world," she continued, "whom +I absolutely hate." + +"You know whose it is, then?" + +"Of course!" she replied. + +"So do I," he muttered. "I have never seen the man's face, but I know a +little about him." + +She shivered. + +"Come," she said, "let us have our coffee later. We have finished +dinner and the moon is coming up. If we walk to the bottom there, we +shall see it from the bend of the river, and we shall escape from those +men." + +He rose hastily to his feet. She led the way down the path. Here and +there they caught a glimpse of other tables as they passed--little +parties of two or four, all very gay. Madame breathed more freely as +they progressed. Presently they passed through an iron gate into a +field, already half-mown. The perfume of the fresh-cut grass came to +them with an almost overpowering sweetness. Her hand fell upon his arm. + +"Forgive me," she begged, "I am not really a weak woman. I do not think +that there is any other sound in life which I hate so much as the sound +of that voice." + +They walked in silence along the narrow path. Soon they reached the +edge of the river. A few steps further on was a seat, of which they +took possession. In the distance the gondola, on fire now with lamps, +was playing a waltz. A bat flew for a moment about their heads. +Somewhere in the woods a long way down the river a nightingale was +singing. + +"I am not often so foolish," she murmured. "Once--let me tell you +this--once I had a dear little friend. She was very sweet, but a little +too trusting, too simple for the life here. She found a lover. She +thought she had found the happiness of her life. Poor child! For a +month, perhaps, she was happy. Then he forced her to give up her little +home and her savings and go upon the stage. He preferred a mistress +from the theatres. She worked hard, but, sweetly pretty though she was, +she was not very successful. Then she caught cold. She began to lose +her health--and she lost her lover." + +"Brute!" + +"The child got worse," madame went on. "Presently they told her that it +was consumption. She went to a hospital and she wrote a pathetic little +note to the man. He tore it up. There had been an article in the papers +a few weeks before proving that consumption was among the diseases +which were more or less infectious. He sent her a few brutal lines and +a trifle of money, with a warning that there was to be no more. He +never went to see her. The child grew worse. I used to sit with her +sometimes. I saw her look down upon the river, almost as we are looking +now, and her eyes would grow soft and wet with tears, and she would +tell me in whispers of the evenings she had spent with him, when the +love had first come, and how sweet and tender he was. There must be +something wrong, she was sure. He did not understand, he could not know +how ill she really was. She prayed for the sight of him. I put her off +with one excuse after another, but one day the fear of death was in her +eyes, the terror came to her, she was afraid. She was afraid of dying +alone, of going into a strange country, no one to hold her. I went to +the man, I begged him to come and see her. He scoffed at me. If she had +consumption, she was better dead. He would have flirted with me if I +had let him. I can hear his voice now--brutal, jeering, hideous! It was +the voice, Sir Julien, which we heard ten minutes ago at the next +table. Do you wonder that I hate it?" + +"And the little girl?" he asked. + +"When I returned without him," she answered, "the little girl was +dead." + +They were both silent, listening to the splash of the water and to the +distant music. + +"Life is like that," she went on. "We pass through it lightly enough, +but Heaven only knows the number of little tragedies against which our +skirts must brush. Sometimes they leave impressions, sometimes we grow +callous, but the horror of that man's voice will stay with me +always.... Shall we go back now? You would like your coffee." + +"Sit here for five minutes more," he begged. "Tell me, did you know +that the man was a spy?" + +She looked at him curiously. + +"How is it that you know so much about him?" + +"He is sitting there with an Englishman who comes from our Intelligence +Department," Julien explained. "They were speaking together of some +one--I believe it was myself--speaking in none too friendly terms. +There was a woman, too, whose name they coupled with mine, but I could +not hear that. I made some inquiries about the man. I was told that he +was in the suite of the German Ambassador." + +She nodded. + +"Whoever or whatever he is," she said, "he is something to be abhorred. +Hush! There is some one coming down the footpath." + +They sat quite silent. Some instinct seemed to tell them who it was. +Suddenly they heard the voice--rasping, unpleasant. + +"You have bungled the affair, Foster. It is not well-managed; it is not +clever. You were to have brought him to me, to have let me know the +instant he reached Paris. I would have seen him. Just as he was, I +should have succeeded. Now it may be that this woman has warned him +already. She is very clever. If she has him, he will not escape." + +Foster's voice was inaudible, but whatever he said seemed to anger his +companion. + +"Thunder and lightning!" they heard the man exclaim. "Am I a fool that +you talk to me like this? Yes, I go to him--I go to him to-night, but I +tell you that it is too late! If it is too late, there is but one thing +to be done. You are a coward, Foster!" + +They came out into the open, on the path which fringed the river, and +they were immediately silent. They came strolling along and noticed for +the first time the two figures upon the seat. Instantly they began to +talk upon some local subject. No escape was possible. In a few minutes +they were opposite the bench. Foster started a little. The other man's +face darkened. He ventured upon a bow. Madame Christophor looked at him +as one might look upon some strange animal. Foster hesitated for a +moment, but his companion pushed him along. + +"I think," she whispered, "that that man would like to do me an +injury." + +Julien was watching their retreating forms. + +"I don't understand what Foster is doing there, or what the dickens +they were talking about," he said thoughtfully. "I think if you don't +mind," he added, "we will return." + +"Why are you so suddenly uneasy?" she asked. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Apparently," he answered, "you know who I am and everything about me. +I, on the other hand, am ignorant almost of your very name. There are +certain circumstances connected with my late career which make it +inadvisable--" + +"Oh, I know all that you are going to say!" she interrupted. "But ask +yourself. Have I made any attempt whatever to ask you a single +unbecoming question?" + +"You certainly have not," he confessed. + +"Your little friend returns," she whispered. "See!" + +Foster came back to them, slowly, with reluctant footsteps. He had the +appearance of a man bent upon a mission which he dislikes. + +"Sir Julien," he said, as he drew near, "would you grant me a moment's +interview?" + +Julien looked at him. + +"You probably know my address," he replied coldly. "You can call there +and see me. At present I am engaged." + +"Sir Julien, the matter is of some importance," Foster persisted. "I +have a friend who is anxious to meet you. It would be an affair of a +few words only, and perhaps an appointment afterwards." + +"Is the friend to whom you refer the person with whom you were walking +just now?" Julien inquired. + +"Yes!" Foster admitted. "If you can spare me a moment I can explain--" + +"You need explain nothing," Julien interrupted. "Understand, please, +that I decline absolutely to make that person's acquaintance." + +Foster looked away from Sir Julien to the woman who stood by his side. + +"Am I to take this as final?" he asked. + +Julien turned on his heel. + +"Absolutely," he said. "The little I know of the person with whom you +seem to be spending the evening makes me feel more inclined to pitch +him into the river than to make his acquaintance. As a matter of fact, +Foster, I don't know, of course, under what instructions you are acting +over here, but I should not have considered him exactly a companion for +you." + + +Foster started. A new fear had suddenly broken in upon him. + +"I am doing my best to carry out instructions, sir," he declared. "I do +not understand why you should take so prejudiced a view of my friend." + +"It is, perhaps," Julien replied, "because I know more about him than +you seem to. Good night!" + +They walked slowly back to the gardens. The woman was thoughtful. + +"I am sorry," she said, "that those people came along to spoil our +first evening together. I am glad, though, that you refused to meet the +German. All that he would have done would have been to try and fill +your mind with suspicions of me. Haven't you found me harmless?" + +"I am not sure," he answered. + +She laughed softly. + +"Ah, me!" she exclaimed, "I gave you an opening, didn't I, and one must +remember that of late years the men of your nation have established a +reputation over here for gallantry. Harmless, at least, so far as +regards tearing political secrets from your bosom?" + +"As a matter of fact," Julien remarked, "there are not so many secrets +between France and England, are there?" + +"Thanks in some measure to you," she reminded him. "You take it for +granted, I notice, that I am a Frenchwoman." + +He looked at her in great surprise. + +"Why, indeed, yes! Is there any doubt about it?" + +"My mother was an American," she told him. + +"Tell me your real name?" he asked suddenly. + +"On the contrary, I am going to beg you not to try and discover it. Let +us remain as we are for a little time. You are lonely here and you need +companionship, and I am very much in the same position. You are a hater +of women and I have sworn eternal enmity against all men. We are so +safe, and solitude is bad for us." + +He smiled. + +"You are very kind," he said, "but as for me, I am only starting my +wanderings. I want to go on through Algiers to Morocco, to Egypt, and +later to the east. I never meant to stay long in Paris." + +"I do not blame you," she declared. "Sooner or later you must find your +way where the battle is. Paris is not a city for men. One loiters here +for a time, but one passes on always. Never mind, while you stay here I +shall claim you." + +They drove back to Paris through the perfumed stillness of the long +spring night. Madame had instructed her chauffeur to drive slowly, and +more than one automobile rushed past them, with flaring lights and +sounding horn. In one they caught a glimpse of Foster and his +companion, whispering together as they raced by. Madame half closed her +eyes with a little shiver. + +"Those men again!" she exclaimed, "They say that Estermen never +abandons a chase. You may still find him waiting for you in your +hotel!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +THE TOYMAKER FROM LEIPZIG + + +In the front row of balcony tables at the Cafe des Ambassadeurs was one +which had been transformed into a veritable bower of pink roses. The +florists had been at work upon it since early in the afternoon, and +their labors were only just concluded as the guests of the restaurant +were beginning to arrive. Henri, the chief _maitre d'hotel_, had +personally superintended its construction. He stood looking at the +result of their labors now with a well-satisfied aspect. + +"But it is perfect," he declared. "The orders of Monsieur Freudenberg +have indeed been delightfully carried out. You will present the account +as usual, mademoiselle," he directed the florist, who in her black +frock, a little hot and flushed with her labors, was standing by his +side. "Remember monsieur is well able to pay." + +"It is, perhaps, a prince who dines in such state?" the girl inquired. + +The _maitre d'hotel_ smiled. + +"It is, on the contrary," he told her, "a maker of toys from Germany." + +She made a little grimace. + +"And to think that my back aches, that I have pricked myself so," she +exclaimed, showing the scarred tips of her fingers, "for the sake of a +toymaker from Germany! But it is not like you, Henri, to disturb +yourself so for anything less than a prince." + +Henri, who was a sleek and handsome man, with black moustache and +imperial, shook his head sadly. + +"Ah! mademoiselle," he said, "when you have lived as long as I, you +will know that the times indeed have changed. It is no longer the +princes of the world to whom one gives one's best service. It is those +who carry the heaviest money bags who command it." + +"Well, well," she replied, "that is perhaps true. Yet in our little +shop in the Rue de la Paix we do not always find that it is those with +the heaviest money bags who pay us most generously for our flowers. I +would sooner serve a bankrupt aristocrat than a wealthy shopkeeper. If +they pay at all, these aristocrats, they pay well." + +Henri stretched out his hands. + +"Mademoiselle, there are shopkeepers who are also princes. My client of +this evening is one of those. Behold, he comes! Pardon!" + +The man for whom these great preparations had been made stood in the +entrance of the restaurant, waiting for the woman who was giving her +cloak to the _vestiaire_. He was tall and thin, dressed rather +severely, with a black tie and short coat, a monocle which hung from +his neck with a black ribbon. His face was unusually long, his eyes +deep-set, his mouth set firm on a somewhat protuberant jaw, with lines +at the corners which somehow suggested humor. When he saw Henri he +nodded. + +"Once more, Henri," he remarked, with a little smile, "once more in my +beloved Paris!" + +"Monsieur is always welcome," Henri declared, bowing to the ground. +"Paris is the gayer for his coming." + +"You are indeed a nation of courtiers!" Herr Carl Freudenberg +exclaimed. "What German _Oberkellner_ would have thought of a speech +like that to a Frenchman finding himself in Berlin! Ah! Henri, you try, +all of you, to spoil me here. Is it not so, mademoiselle?" he added, +turning with a bow and a smile to the girl who stood now by his side. +"Henri here speaks honied words to me always. The wonder to me is that +I am ever able to tear myself away from this city of fascination." + +"If we could keep monsieur," the girl murmured, smiling at Henri, "I +think that we should all be very well content." + +Herr Freudenberg made a little grimace. + +"But my toys!" he cried. "Who is there in Germany could make such toys +as I and my factory people? The world would be sad indeed--the world of +children, I mean--if my factory were to close down or my designers +should lose their cunning." + +"Is it the greatest ambition of monsieur," the girl asked, "to amuse +and make happy the world of children? Have not the world of grown +people some claims?" + +"Monsieur will, I trust, and madame," Henri declared, as they moved +slowly forward, "find much to admire in the table which has been +prepared for them this evening. It is by the orders of monsieur so +enclosed that here one may talk without fear of observation. And the +perfume of these roses, every one of which has been selected, is a +wonderful thing. It is indeed a work of art." + +Herr Freudenberg turned deliberately on one side where the little +flower girl was still lingering. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "something tells me that it is you whom we +have to thank for this adorable creation. It is indeed a work of +supreme art. If mademoiselle would permit!" + +He slipped a crumpled note into her fingers, so quietly and +unostentatiously that it was there and in her pocket before any one had +time to notice it. She went out murmuring to herself. + +"He is a prince, this monsieur--a veritable prince!" + +"For your dinner," Henri announced, as they seated themselves in their +places, "I have no word to tell you. I spare you, as you see, the +barbarity of a menu. What will come to you, monsieur and madame, is at +least of our best. I can promise that. And the wine is such as I myself +have selected, knowing well the taste of monsieur." + +"And of madame also, I trust?" Herr Freudenberg remarked. + +"Ah! monsieur," Henri continued, "when monsieur is not in Paris, madame +is invisible. Not once since I last had this pleasure of waiting upon +you, have I had the joy of seeing her." + +Herr Freudenberg looked across the table at his companion with +twinkling eyes. + +"This is a city of conspirators," he declared. "You make a man vain and +happy and joyous at the same time. Let your dinner be served, then, +Henri. Since I was in Paris last I have eaten many times, but I have +not dined." + +The _maitre d'hotel_ departed, but for the next hour or so his eyes +were seldom far away from the table where sat his most esteemed client. +Once or twice, others of the diners sent for him. + +"Henri," one asked, and then another, "tell us, who is it that dines +like a prince under the canopy of pink roses?" + +Henri smiled. + +"Monsieur," he replied, "it is Herr Carl Freudenberg of Leipzig." + +"Herr Carl Freudenberg of Leipzig--but who is he?" + +"He is a great manufacturer of toys, monsieur." + +"A German!" one muttered. + +"It is they who are spoiling Paris," another grumbled. + +"They have at least the money!" + +One woman alone shook her head. + +"It is not money only," she murmured, "which buys these things here +from Henri."... + +The companion of Herr Carl Freudenberg was, without doubt, as charming +as she appeared, for Herr Freudenberg certainly enjoyed his dinner as a +man should. Nor were those lines of humor engraven about his mouth for +nothing, to judge by the frequent peals of laughter from mademoiselle. +Towards the close of dinner, Henri himself carried to them a superb +violet ice, with real flowers around the dish and an electric light +burning in the middle. + +"For two days, madame," he announced, "our chef has dreamed of this. It +is a creation." + +"It is exquisite!" mademoiselle cried, with a gesture of delight. +"Never in my life have I seen anything so wonderful." + +"Henri," Herr Freudenberg said in an aside, "you will present my +compliments to the chef. You will shake him by the hand from me. You +will double the little affair which passes between us. Tell him that it +comes from one who appreciates the work of a great artist, even though +his French thickens a little in his throat." + +Henri bowed low. + +"If monsieur's body is German," he declared, "his soul at least belongs +to the land of romance." + +They were alone again and the girl leaned across the table. + +"Monsieur," she murmured, "it is cruel of you to come so seldom. You +see what you do? You spoil the keepers of our restaurants, you steal +away the hearts of your poor little companions, and then--one night or +two, perhaps, and it is over. Monsieur Freudenberg has gone. The earth +swallows him." + +"Back to my toys, mademoiselle," he whispered. "One has one's work." + +She looked at him long and tenderly. + +"Monsieur," she said, "it is two months, a week and three days since +you were in Paris. Since then I have sung and danced, night by night, +but my heart has never been gay. Come oftener, monsieur, or may one not +sometimes cross the frontier and learn a little of your barbarous +country?" + +For the first time the faintest shadow of gravity crossed his face. + +"Mademoiselle," he replied, "alas! The world is full of hard places. +Behold me! When I am here, I am your devoted and admiring slave, but +believe me that when I leave Paris and set my face eastwards, I do not +exist. Dear Marguerite, it hurts me to repeat this--I do not exist." + +She looked down into her plate. + +"I understand," she murmured. "You said it to me once before. Have I +not always been discreet? Have I ever with the slightest word disobeyed +you?" + +"Nor will you ever, dear Marguerite," he declared confidently, "for if +you did it would be the end. In the city where I make my toys, life as +we live it here is not known. It is not recognized. And there is one's +work in the world." + +She looked up from her plate. Her expression had changed. + +"It was foolish of me," she whispered. "To-night is one of those nights +in Heaven for which I spend all my days longing. I think no more of the +future. You are here. Tell me, from here--where?" + +"To the Opera. I have engaged the box that you prefer. We arrive for +the last act of 'Samson et Dalila' and for the ballet." + +"And afterwards?" + +"To the Abbaye. After that, there is the Rat Mort--Albert must not be +disappointed--and a new place, they tell me. One must see all these new +places." + +"And we leave here soon?" + +"You are impatient!" + +"Only to be alone with you," she answered. "Even those few moments in +the automobile are precious." + +He smiled at her across the table. She was very pretty with her fair +hair and dark eyes, very Parisian, and yet with a shade of graceful +seriousness about her eyes and mouth. + +"Dear Marguerite," he said, "I wait only for one of my agents who comes +to speak to me on a matter of business. He is due almost at this +moment. After he has been here, then we go. Cannot you believe," he +whispered, dropping his voice a little and leaning slightly across the +table, "that I, too, will love to feel your dear fingers in mine, your +lips, perhaps, for a moment, as we pass to the Opera?" + +"It is a joy one must snatch," she murmured. + +"There is no joy in life," he replied, "which is not the sweeter for +being snatched, and snatched quickly." + +"And you a German!" she sighed. + +Henri appeared once more, and after him Estermen. Herr Freudenberg, +with a word of excuse to his companion, turned to greet the newcomer. + +"Well?" + +Estermen stood quite close to the table. He was distinctly ill at ease. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he said, "I have done my best. It was impossible +for me to obtain an introduction to this customer." + +"Impossible?" Herr Freudenberg repeated, his face suddenly becoming +stony. + +"Let me explain," Estermen continued hastily. "This customer arrived in +Paris last night or early this morning. He was called upon at once by a +lady who lives in the Avenue de St. Paul. She has told him a little +story about me--I am sure of it. He has refused to make my +acquaintance." + +"And you were content?" + +Estermen spread out his pudgy hands. + +"What can one do?" he muttered. "The man is quick-tempered. He dined +tonight in the country at the Maison Leon d'Or with madame. It was +there that I sought an introduction with him. It was impossible for me +to force myself." + +"You know where to find him, I suppose?" + +"I know the hotel at which he is staying." + +"Make it your business to find him," Herr Freudenberg ordered. "Bring +him with you, if before one o'clock to the Abbaye Theleme; if +afterwards, to the Rat Mort." + +Estermen looked stolidly puzzled. + +"Am I to mention the subject of the toys of Herr Freudenberg's +manufacture?" + +Herr Freudenberg tore a corner from the programme which lay on the +table between them, and wrote a single word upon it. + +"Study that at your leisure, my friend," he said. "Pay attention to the +task I impose upon you. Nothing is more important in my visit to Paris +than that I should make the acquaintance of this person. Much depends +upon it. I rely upon you, Estermen." + +Estermen thrust the morsel of paper into his waist-coat pocket. Then he +leaned a little closer to this man who seemed to be his master. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he began, "I spoke of a lady in the Avenue de St. +Paul, the companion to-night of the person whose acquaintance you are +anxious to make." + +"What of her?" Herr Freudenberg asked calmly. "There are many ladies, +without a doubt, who live in the Avenue de St. Paul." + +"The name of this one," Estermen continued slowly, "is Madame +Christophor." + +Herr Freudenberg sat quite still in his place. His eyes seemed fixed +upon a cluster of the roses which hung down from the other side of the +sweet-smelling barrier by which they were surrounded. Yet something had +gone out of his face, something fresh had arrived. The half +contemptuous curl of the lips was finished. His mouth now was straight +and hard, his eyes set, the deep lines upon his forehead and around his +mouth were suddenly insistent. He sat so motionless that his face for a +moment seemed as though it were fashioned in wax. Then his lips moved, +he spoke in a whisper which was almost inaudible. + +"Henriette!" + +From across the table his companion watched him. At first she was +puzzled. When she heard the woman's name which came so softly from his +lips, she turned pale. Herr Freudenberg recovered from his fit of +abstraction almost as quickly as he had lapsed into it. + +"I thank you, Estermen," he declared. "It is a coincidence, this. I am +obliged for your forethought in mentioning it. Until later, then." + +The man made a somewhat clumsy bow, glanced admiringly at Herr +Freudenberg's companion, and departed. Herr Freudenberg was shaking his +head slowly. + +"I fear," he said softly to himself, "sometimes I fear that I am not so +well served as might be in Paris. However, we shall see. For the moment +let us banish these dull cares. If you are ready, Marguerite, I think I +might suggest that the nearer way to the Opera is by the Champs +Elysees." + +She rose to her feet and gave him her hand for a moment as she passed. + +"If one could only find as easily the way to your heart, dear maker of +toys!" she murmured. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +AT THE RAT MORT + + +Julien had been back in the hotel about half an hour and in his room +barely ten minutes when he was disturbed by a knock at the door. +Immediately afterwards, to his amazement, Estermen entered. + +"What the devil are you doing up here?" Julien asked angrily. "How dare +you follow me about!" + +"Sir Julien," his visitor answered, "I beg that you will not make a +commotion. It was perfectly easy for me to gain admission here. It will +be perfectly easy for me, if it becomes necessary, to leave without +trouble. I ask you to be reasonable. I am here. Listen to what I have +to say. You are prejudiced against me. It is not fair. You have spoken +with a woman who is my enemy. Give me leave, at least, to address a few +words to you. You will not be the loser." + +Julien was angry, but underneath it all he was also curious. + +"Well, go on, then." + +"You are reasonable," said Estermen, laying his hat and stick upon the +bed. "Listen. Your story is known at Berlin as well as in Paris. There +is only one opinion concerning it and that is that you have been +shamefully treated." + +"I am not asking for sympathy, sir," Julien answered coldly. + +"Nor am I offering it," the other returned. "I am stating facts. There +are many who do not hesitate to say that you have been made the victim +of a political plot, conceived among the members of your own party; +that you are suffering at the present moment from your masterly efforts +on behalf of peace." + +"Pray go on," Julien invited. "I consider all this grossly impertinent, +but I am willing to listen to what you have to say." + +"The greatest man in Germany," Estermen continued, "when he heard of +your misfortune, declared at once that the peace of Europe was no +longer assured. I am here to-night, Sir Julien, without credentials, it +is true, but I am the spokesman of a very great person indeed. He is +anxious to know your plans." + +"I have no plans." + +"Your political future, then--" + +"I have no political future," Julien interrupted. "That is finished for +me." + +"But the thing is absurd!" protested Estermen. "There is no other man +but you capable of dealing tactfully and diplomatically with my +country. Your blundering predecessors brought us twice within an ace of +war. If the man takes your place to whom rumor has already given it, I +give Europe six weeks' peace--no more. We are a sensitive nation, as +you know. You learned how to humor us. No one before you tried. You +kept your alliance with France, but you were not afraid to show us the +open hand. There are those in Berlin, Sir Julien, who consider you the +greatest statesman England ever possessed." + +"I listen," Julien said. "Pray proceed." + +"It cannot be," Estermen went on, "that you mean to accept the +situation?" + +"I have no alternative," Julien answered. + +"It is not, then, a question of money?" Estermen ventured slowly. "The +Press tell us that you are poor." + +"Money, in this case, would scarcely help," Julien remarked. + +"There is no man in the world who can afford to despise the power of +money," Estermen said quietly. + +"Are you here to offer me any?" + +"I am not. Have you anything to give in exchange for it?" + +Julien laughed a little shortly. + +"I imagined," he declared, "that with your first remarks you had +climbed to the dizziest heights of impertinence. I perceive that I was +mistaken. I am a discarded minister,"--dryly. "I may be supposed to +have in my possession secrets for which your country would pay. Is it +not to those facts that I am indebted for the honor of this visit?" + +"Not in the least," answered Estermen. "Our own Secret Service keeps us +supplied with such information as we desire. My object in seeking you +is this. The Prince von Falkenberg is in Paris for a few hours only. He +wants to meet you. I have been ordered to arrange this meeting, if +possible." + +Julien did not attempt to conceal his interest. + +"Why on earth didn't you say so at once?" he exclaimed. "What does he +want of me?" + +Estermen shrugged his shoulders. + +"Who knows? Who knows what Falkenberg ever wants? He is here, there and +everywhere--today in Paris, tomorrow in Berlin, next week in Moscow. +Yet it is he, as you know well, who shapes the whole destinies of my +country. It is he alone in whom the Emperor has blind and absolute +confidence. If he holds up his hand, it is war. If he holds it down, it +is peace." + +"What does he do in Paris?" Julien inquired. + +Estermen shook his head. + +"He arrived this morning and disappeared. Tonight he sent me orders +that I was to search for you." + +"Where is he now?" Julien asked. + +"At eight o'clock tonight," Estermen said, "he declared himself to be +Herr Carl Freudenberg, dealer in German toys. He dressed, dined at the +Ambassadeurs with Mademoiselle Ixe from the Opera, sent for me, learned +that I was at the Maison Leon d'Or, telephoned there, and all for this +one thing--that I should bring you to him without a moment's delay." + +"But where is he now?" Julien asked again. + +Estermen glanced at the clock and at a piece of paper which he took +from his pocket. + +"It is one o'clock within a few minutes," he remarked. "Herr +Freudenberg is either at the Abbaye Theleme or the Rat Mort." + +Julien scarcely hesitated. + +"When you first came in," he admitted, "I felt like throwing you out. +How you got here I don't know. I suppose it is no use complaining to +the hotel people. But there is no man on the face of this earth in whom +I am more interested than Falkenberg. I shall change my clothes, and in +a quarter of an hour I am at your service. Wait for me downstairs." + +Estermen drew a little sigh of relief. "I shall await you, Sir +Julien," he declared. + +All Paris seemed to be seeking distraction as they drove in the +automobile along the Boulevard des Italiens. Julien sat with folded +arms in the corner of the automobile. He had no fancy for his +companion. He was anxious so far as possible to avoid speech with him. +Estermen, on the contrary, seemed only too desirous of removing the +impression of dislike of which he was acutely conscious. He talked the +whole of the time of the cafes and the women, of everything he thought +might be interesting to his companion. Julien listened in grim silence. +Only once he interrupted. + +"What brings Herr Freudenberg to Paris?" he inquired once more. + +Estermen was suddenly reticent. + +"He has affairs here," he said. "He is also like us others--a man who +loves his pleasure. You will find him tonight with a most charming +companion--Mademoiselle Ixe of the Opera. Before the coming of Herr +Freudenberg, I remember her well--the companion at times of many. +To-day she is changed, _triste_ when he is not here, faithful in a most +un-Parisianlike manner." + +They swung round to the left. + +"Herr Freudenberg," Estermen continued, "is a great lover of the night +life of Paris. He goes from one cafe to the other. He is untired, +sleepless. He seems to find inspiration where others find fatigue." + +Julien raised his eyebrows, but he said nothing. These were not his +impressions of the man whom they were seeking! + +They drew up presently at the doors of the Abbaye Theleme. There were +crowds of people trying to gain admission. Estermen elbowed his way +through. + +"Herr Freudenberg?" he asked of the man who stood at the door. + +The man's forbidding face changed like magic. + +"Herr Freudenberg left but ten minutes ago for the Rat Mort. Those who +inquired for him were to follow." + +Estermen nodded and touched Julien on the arm. + +"We will walk," he said. "It is at the corner there." + +They presented themselves at the doors of a smaller and dingier cafe. +Estermen elbowed the way up the narrow stairs. They emerged in a small +room, brilliantly lit and filled with people. The usual little band was +playing gay music. A corpulent _maitre d'hotel_ bowed as they appeared. + +"Herr Freudenberg," Estermen began. + +The waiter's bow by this time was a different affair. + +"Monsieur will follow me," he invited. + +At the corner table at the far end of the room--the most desired of +any--sat Herr Freudenberg with Mademoiselle Ixe by his side. They met +the flower girl coming away with empty arms. The table of Herr +Freudenberg was smothered with roses. There was a shade more color in +the cheeks of Mademoiselle Ixe, in her eyes a light as soft as any +which the eyes of a woman who loved could know. Herr Freudenberg, +unruffled, had still the air of a man who finds life pleasant. As the +two men came up the room, he rose and held out both his hands. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, "it is indeed my friend of Berlin! Welcome, dear +Sir Julien! We meet on neutral ground, is it not so? We meet now in the +city of pleasures. Let us sit for a little time and talk, and forget +that you and I once wrote a chapter together in the history--of +toymaking. But first," he added, turning to Mademoiselle Ixe, +"mademoiselle permits me to introduce a very dear and cherished +acquaintance to an equally dear and cherished friend. This gentleman, +dear Marguerite, and I make toys in different countries, and there was +a time when it was necessary for us to consult together. So he came to +Berlin and I have never forgotten his visit. For the present, join us, +dear Julien. You permit that I call you by your first name? It is after +midnight, and after midnight in Paris one permits everything. Now we +drink together, we three, for Estermen must leave us, I know. We drink +together to the making of toys, the building of toy palaces, and the +love of one another. Come, Monsieur Albert, see that your _sommelier_ +opens that bottle that you have chosen for us so carefully," he +continued, turning to the manager who was hovering close at hand. "This +is a meeting and we need the best wine that ever came from the +vineyards of France. A dear friend, Albert. Bow low to him, indeed, for +he is worthy of it. Afterwards we will perhaps eat something. Send your +waiter. But above all, monsieur, see to it that mademoiselle with the +fair curls dances once more. My friend, I think, would like to see her. +And we must have music. Let the band never cease playing. Ah! it is +here, dear Albert, that one learns to forget how strenuous life really +is. It is here that one may unbend. The wine!" + +While Herr Freudenberg talked the _sommelier_ had gravely served the +champagne in some tall and wonderful glasses brought from a private +cabinet by Monsieur Albert himself to honor his most treasured +visitors. Herr Freudenberg raised his glass, clinked it against the +glass of mademoiselle, clinked it against Julien's glass. + +"Come," he cried, "to our better acquaintance, to our better +understanding! Mademoiselle," he added, lowering his tone, "to the +eternal continuance of those things which lie between you and me!" + +Estermen had departed and Julien breathed the freer for it. +Mademoiselle Ixe chattered to him for a few moments, and Herr +Freudenberg whispered in the ears of Albert, who withdrew at once. + +"One must eat," Herr Freudenberg declared. "Albert has some peaches, +wonderful peaches from the gardens where the sun always shines. Peaches +and macaroons--afterwards coffee. Ah! my friend, you remember those +somber banquets when we all hated one another because we all fancied +that the other wanted what we had a right to? Ugh! When I think of +Berlin in those days, when no one smiled, when one's sense of humor was +there only to be kept down with an iron hand, why, it gives one to +weep! Mademoiselle, I have a prayer to make." + +"It is granted," she assured him softly. + +"Presently the orchestra shall play the music of Faust. You will sing +to us? Tonight is one of my nights, never really perfect unless some +minutes of it move to the music of your voice." + +She laughed softly. + +"Yes, monsieur, I will sing," she answered, "but not the Jewel Song +tonight. Send the _chef d'orchestre_ to me." + +At the merest signal he was there with his violin under his arm. +Mademoiselle whispered a word in his ear and he departed, all smiles. +The selection which they were playing suddenly ceased. _Monsieur le +chef_ alone played some Italian air, which no one wholly recognized but +every one found familiar. Slowly he walked around the tables, playing +still, always with his eyes upon Mademoiselle Ixe, and when at last he +stood before her, she threw her head back and sang. + +The clatter of crockery diminished, the waiters paused in their tasks +or crept on tiptoe about the place. Men and women stood up at their +tables that they might see the singer better; conversation ceased. And +all the time the _chef d'orchestre_ drew music from his violin, and +mademoiselle, with half-closed eyes, her head thrown back, filled the +whole room with melody. Even she herself knew that she was singing as +she never sang at the Opera, as she had never sung when a great +impressario had come to try her voice, as one sings only when the heart +is shaking a little, and as she finished, the fingers of her left hand +slowly crept across the table into the hand of Herr Freudenberg, the +toymaker, and her last notes were sung almost in a whisper into his +ears. The room rose up to applaud. The _chef d'orchestre_ went back to +his place, bowing right and left. Herr Freudenberg raised the fingers +that lay between his hand to his lips. + +"Ah, mademoiselle," he murmured, "I have no longer words!" + +Albert came back. Scarcely more than a look passed between him and Herr +Freudenberg. Then the latter rose to his feet. + +"Come," he said, "a little surprise for you. You, too, dear Julien. I +insist. This way." + +They passed from the room. As mademoiselle rose to her feet, people +began once more to applaud. + +"Mademoiselle will sing again presently, perhaps," Herr Freudenberg +answered a man who leaned forward. "We do not depart." + +He led the way to the head of the staircase and they passed into the +back regions of the place--dim, ill-lit, mysterious. Albert, who had +preceded them, threw open the door of a room. There was a small supper +table laid for three, more flowers, more wine. + +"It is that one may talk for five minutes," Herr Freudenberg explained. +"Mademoiselle!" + +But mademoiselle had already flitted away. The door somehow was closed, +the two men were alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM + + +Herr Freudenberg shrugged his shoulders and glanced at the +softly-closed door. + +"Mademoiselle is a paragon," he declared. "Always she understands. Sir +Julien, will you not sit down for a moment? Let me confess that this +little supper-party is a pretense. For five minutes I wish to talk to +you." + +Julien seated himself without hesitation. + +"My dear host," he said, "I left Berlin a year ago with only one +hope--or rather two. The first was that I might never have to visit +Berlin again! The second was that I might have the pleasure of meeting +you as speedily and as often as possible." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled--a quiet, reminiscent smile. + +"Even now," he remarked, "when I would speak to you for a moment on +more serious subjects, the strange humor of that round-table conference +comes home to me. There were you and I and our big friend from Austria, +and that awful dull man from here, and the Russian. Shall you ever +forget that speechless Russian, who never opened his lips except to +disagree? Sometimes I caught your eye across the table. And, Sir +Julien, you know, I presume, whose was the triumph of those days?" + +Julien smiled doubtfully. + +"Yours, of course," Herr Freudenberg continued. "The Press even +ventured to find fault with me. England, as usual, they declared, had +gained all she desired and had given the very minimum. However, we will +not waste time in reminiscences. To-day the only pleasure I have in +thinking of that conference is the fact that you and I came together. +When you left Berlin--I saw you off, you remember--I told those who +stood around that there went the future Prime Minister of England. I +believed it, and I am seldom mistaken. Tell me, what piece of +transcendental ill-fortune is this which brings you here an exile?" + +"I committed an act of transcendental folly," Julien replied. "I have +no one to blame but myself. I not only wrote an indiscreet letter, but +I put my name to it. I was deceived, too, in the character of the woman +to whom it was sent." + +"It is so trifling an error," Herr Freudenberg said thoughtfully, "made +by many a man without evil results. One learns experience as one passes +on in life. It is a hard price that you are paying for yours. Come, +that is finished. Now answer me. What are you going to do?" + +Julien laughed, a little bitterly. + +"My friend," he answered, stretching out his hand and taking a +cigarette from the open box upon the table, "you ask rather a hard +question. My resignation was accepted, was even required of me. +Politics and diplomacy are alike barred to me. There is no return. What +is there left? I may write a book. So far as my means permit, I may +travel. I may play games, take a walk in the morning, play bridge in +the afternoon, eat heavily and sleep early. What is there left, Herr +Freudenberg--tell me of your wisdom--for a man about whose ears has +come crashing the scaffolding of his life?" + +Herr Freudenberg looked across at his companion, and in that dimly-lit +room his eyes were bright and his lips firm. + +"To rebuild, my friend," he declared. "Choose another foundation and +rebuild." + +"You recognize, I presume," Julien said, "that I require a few more +details if your advice is to be of value?" + +"The details are here in this room," Herr Freudenberg replied firmly. +"Be my man. I cannot offer you fame, because fame comes only, nowadays, +to the man who serves his own country. You see, I make no pretense at +deceiving you, but I offer you a life of action, I offer you such +wealth as your imagination can have conceived, and I offer you +revenge." + +"Revenge," Julien repeated, a little vaguely. + +"Upon the political party by whose scheming that letter was first of +all elicited from you and then made public," Herr Freudenberg said +slowly. "Do you imagine that it was a thoughtless act of that woman's? +Do you know that her reward is to be a peerage for her husband?" + +"You, too, believe that it was a trap, then?" Julien remarked. + +"Of course. Don't you know yourself that you were a thorn in the flesh +to your own party? They hated you because you were not afraid to preach +war when war might have saved your country from what is to come. They +hated you because you were a strong man in a strong place, and because +the people believed in you. They hated you because the policy which +would have been yours in the four or five years to come, would have +been the policy which would have brought the country around you, which +alone would have kept your party in power. You were the only figure in +politics which the imperialist party in England had to fear. Mrs. +Carraby--I believe that was the lady's name--is ill-paid enough with +that peerage. Leave out the personal element--or leave it in, if you +will, for when I speak of my country I know no friendships--but, my +dear friend, let me tell you that I myself would have given more than a +peerage--I would have given a principality--to the person who threw you +out of English politics." + +Julien's eyes were bright. Somehow or other, his old dreams, his old +faith in himself had returned for a moment. And then the bitterness all +swept in upon him. + +"I think, Herr Freudenberg," he said, "that you are talking a little in +the skies. At any rate, it makes no difference. Those things have +passed." + +"Those things have passed," Herr Freudenberg assented. "There is no +future for you in England. That is why I wish to rescue you from the +ignominy of which you yourself have spoken. I repeat my offer. Be my +man. You shall taste life and taste it in such gulps as you wish." + +Julien shook his head slowly. + +"My friend," he said, "it is the cruel part of our profession that one +man's life can be given to one country alone." + +"Wrong!" Herr Freudenberg declared briskly. "I am not going to decry +patriotism. The welfare of my country is the religion which guides my +life. But you--you have no country. There is no England left for you. +She has thrown you out. You are a wanderer, a man without ties or home. +That is why I claim you as my man. I want to show you the way to +revenge." + +"You puzzle me," Julien admitted. "You talk about revenge. I know you +far too well to believe that you would propose to me any scheme which +would involve the raising even of my little finger against the country +which has turned me out." + +"Naturally," Herr Freudenberg agreed. "You do me no less than justice, +my dear Sir Julien. What I do hope that you have firmly fixed in your +mind is that I, despite your halfpenny papers, your novelists seeking +for a new sensation, and your weird middle class, I, Carl Freudenberg, +maker of toys, am the honest and sincere friend of England. The work +which I ask you to do for me would be as much in the interests of your +country as of my own, only when I say your country, I mean your country +governed by the political party in which I have faith and confidence. I +tell you frankly that an England governed as she is at present is a +country I loathe. If I raise my hand against her--not in war, mind, but +in diplomacy--if I strive to humble her to-day, it is because I would +cover if I could the political party who are in power at this moment +with disrepute and discredit. Why should you yourself shrink from +aiding me in this task? They are the party in whose ranks--high in +whose ranks, I might say--are those who stooped with baseness, with +deceit unmentionable, to rid themselves of you. Therefore, I say +strike. Come with me and you shall help. And when the time comes, I +think I can promise you that I can show you a way back, a way which you +have never guessed." + +Julien looked across the table long and earnestly. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he said, "if I answer you in the negative, it is +because of your own words. The love of your country, you told me not +long ago, is your religion. For her good you would make use even of +those you call your friends. Now I am sincere with you. I do not know +whether to trust you or not. For that reason I cannot attempt to +discuss this matter with you. I do not ask even that you explain +yourself." + +"You mean that at any rate you cannot trust me entirely?" Herr +Freudenberg replied. "Well, if you had, I should have been disappointed +in you. Still, I have said things that were in my heart to say to you. +We send now for Mademoiselle Ixe. Before very long we talk together +again." + +Herr Freudenberg touched the bell. A waiter appeared almost +immediately. + +"Find mademoiselle," he ordered. "Tell her that we wait impatiently." + +Mademoiselle was not far away. Herr Freudenberg passed his arm through +hers. + +"We return, I think," he said. "This little room has served its +purpose." + +Julien on the landing tried to make his adieux, but his host only +laughed at him. Mademoiselle Ixe held out her hand and led him into the +room by her side. + +"He wishes it," she murmured softly. "He has so few nights here, one +must do as he desires." + +The little party returned to their table in the corner. Somehow or +other, their coming seemed to enliven the room. There was more spirit +in the music, more animation in the conversation. Albert walked with a +sprightlier step. Then Julien, in his passage down the room, received a +distinct shock. He stopped short. + +"Kendricks, by Jove!" he exclaimed. + +Kendricks, sitting alone at a small table, with a bottle of champagne +in front of him and a huge cigar in his mouth, waved his hand joyfully. +Then he glanced at his friend's companions, frowned for a moment, and +gazed fixedly at Herr Freudenberg. + +"Julien, by all that's lucky!" he called out. "And I haven't been in +Paris four hours! I called at your hotel and they told me you were out. +Sit down." + +"I am not alone," Julien began to explain,-- + +Herr Freudenberg turned round. + +"You must present your friend," he declared. "He must join us." + +Julien hesitated for a moment. + +"Kendricks," he said, "this is my friend, Herr Freudenberg." + +The two men shook hands. Kendricks as yet had scarcely taken his eyes +off Herr Freudenberg's face. + +"I am glad to meet you, sir," he remarked. "It is odd, but your face +seems familiar to me." + +Herr Freudenberg leaned over the table. + +"My friend, Mr. Kendricks," he said, "you are, I believe, a newspaper +man, and you should know the world. When you see a face that is +familiar to you in Paris, and in this Paris, it goes well that you +forget that familiarity, eh?" + +Kendricks nodded. + +"It is sound," he agreed. "I will join you, with pleasure." + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg continued, "permit me to introduce my +new friend, Mr. Kendricks. Mr. Kendricks--Mademoiselle Ixe. We will now +begin, if it is your pleasure, to spend the evening. There is room in +our corner, Mr. Kendricks. Come there, and presently Mademoiselle Ixe +will sing to us, mademoiselle with the yellow hair there will dance, +the orchestra shall play their maddest music. This is Paris and we are +young. Ah, my friends, it comes to us but seldom to live like this!" + +They all sat down together. Herr Freudenberg gave reckless orders for +more wine. The _chef d'orchestre_ was at his elbow, Albert hovered +in the background. Kendricks leaned over and whispered in his friend's +ear. + +"Julien, who is our friend?" + +"A manufacturer of toys from Leipzig," Julien answered grimly. + +"The toys that giants play with!" Kendricks muttered. "I have never +forgotten a face in my life." + +"Then forget this one for a moment," Julien advised him quickly. "This +is not a night for memories. I have lived with the ghosts of them long +enough." + +Their party became larger. The little dancing girl came to drink wine +with them and remained to listen to Herr Freudenberg. A friend of +Mademoiselle Ixe--a tall, fair girl in a blue satin gown--detached +herself from her friends and joined them. Herr Freudenberg, with his +arm resting lightly around Mademoiselle Ixe's waist, talked joyously +and incessantly. It was not until some one lifted the blind and +discovered that the sun was shining that they spoke of a move. Then, as +the _vestiaire_ came hurrying up with their coats and wraps, Herr +Freudenberg lifted his glass. + +"One last toast!" he cried. "Dear Marguerite, my friends, all of +you--to the sun which calls us to work, to the moon which calls us to +pleasure, to the love that crowds our hearts!" + +He raised his companion's hand to his lips and drew her arm through +his. + +"Come," he cried, "to the streets! We will take our coffee from the +stall of Madame Huber." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +THE MORNING AFTER + + +Kendricks and Julien drove down from the hill in a small open +victoria. The sun had risen, but here and there were traces of a fading +twilight. A faint mauve glow hung over the sleeping streets. The +sunlight as yet was faint and the morning breeze chilly. As they passed +down the long hill, tired-looking waiters were closing up the night +cafes. Bedraggled revelers crept along the pavements with weary +footsteps. + +With every yard of their progression, the meeting between the two +extremes of life seemed to become more apparent. The children of the +night--the weary, unwholesome products of dissipation, rubbed shoulders +with the children of the morning--girls, hatless, in simple clothes, +walking with brisk footsteps to their work; market women, brown-cheeked +and hearty, setting out their wares upon the stalls; the youth of +Paris, blithe and strenuous, walking light-footed to the region of +warehouses and factories. Julien and Kendricks looked out upon the +little scene with interest. Both had been sleepy when they had left the +cafe, but there was something stimulating in the sight of this thin but +constant stream of people. Kendricks sat up and began to talk. + +"Julien," he declared, "this Paris never alters. It's a queer little +world and a rotten one. We are here just at the ebbing of the tide. +Don't you feel the hatefulness of it--the thin-blooded scream for +pleasure which needs the lash of these painted women, these gaudy +cafes, this yellow wine all the time? My God! and they call it +pleasure! Look at these people going to their work, Julien. There's +where the red blood flows. They're the people with the taste of life +between their teeth. Can't you see them at their pleasures--see them +sitting in a beer-garden with a girl and a band, their week's money in +their pocket, and the knowledge that they've earned it? Perhaps +sometimes they look up the hill and wonder at the craze for it all. Did +you see the stream coming up to-night--automobiles, victorias, +carriages of every sort; pale-faced men who had lunched too well, dined +too well, flogging their tired systems in the craze for more +excitement, more pleasure; eating at an unwholesome hour, smoking +sickly cigarettes, kissing rouged lips, listening to the false music of +that hard laughter? Look at those girls arm in arm, off to their little +milliner's shop. Hear them laugh! You don't hear anything like that, +Julien, on the top of the hill." + +"Of course," Julien remarked, stifling a yawn, "if you've come to Paris +to be moral--" + +"Not I!" Kendricks broke in roughly. "Bless you, I'm one of the worst. +A wild night in Paris calls me even now from any part of the world. But +Lord, what fools we are! And, Julien, we get worse. It's the old people +who keep these places going." + +"The older we get," Julien replied, "the harder we have to struggle for +our joys." + +Kendricks wheeled suddenly in his place. + +"Tell me how long you have known Herr Freudenberg?" he insisted. "How +many times have you been seen with him? Is it the truth that you met +him to-night for the first time?" + +Julien laughed. + +"My dear David!" he protested,-- + +"To tell you the truth, Julien," Kendricks interrupted, "there's some +hidden trouble, some mysterious influence at work which seems to be +upsetting the relations just now between France and England. To be +frank with you, I know that Carraby, at a Cabinet meeting yesterday, +suggested that you were at the bottom of it." + +Julien's eyes suddenly flashed fire. + +"D--n that fellow!" he muttered. "Does anybody believe it?" + +Kendricks shrugged his shoulders. + +"Scarcely. And yet, Julien, it pays to be careful. You can't afford to +be seen in public places with the enemies of your country." + +"Is Carl Freudenberg an enemy of my country?" + +Kendricks leaned back in his seat and laughed scornfully. + +"Julien," he exclaimed, "there are times when you are very simple! Do +you indeed mean that you would try to deceive even me? You would +pretend that I, David Kendricks, of the _Post_, don't know that +Herr Freudenberg and the Prince von Falkenberg, ruler of Germany, are +one and the same person? Maker of toys, he calls himself! Maker of +fools' palaces, if you like, builder of prison houses, if you will. No +man was ever born with less of a conscience, more solely and wholly +ambitious both for his country and for himself, than the man with whom +you talked to-night. You knew him?" + +"Naturally," Julien answered. "We met at Berlin." + +"The man is a great genius," Kendricks continued. "No one will deny him +that. They speak of his weaknesses. They talk of his drinking bouts, of +his plunges into French dissipation. The man hasn't a single dissipated +thought in his mind. He moves through this world--this little Paris +world--with one idea only. He gets behind the scenes. He comes here +secretly, drops hints here and there as a private person, lets himself +be considered a Parisian of Parisians. All the time he listens and he +drops his cunning words of poison and he works. What are his ambitions? +Do you know, Julien?" + +"Do you?" Julien asked. + +"It seems to me that I have some idea," Kendricks answered. "This is +your hotel, isn't it?" + +Julien nodded. + +"Are you going to stay here?" + +Kendricks shook his head. + +"I stay at a little hotel in the Rue Taitbout. I stay there because it +is full of the weirdest set of foreigners you ever knew. This morning +we breakfast together?" + +"Come and see me when you will," Julien invited, "or I will come to +you; not to breakfast, though--I am engaged." + +"To Herr Freudenberg?" Kendricks asked quickly. + +"To the lady whom your little friend, the manicurist, sent me to +visit," Julien replied. "Perhaps now you will tell me that she is an +ambassadress in disguise?" + +"I'll tell you nothing about her this morning," Kendricks said. "I'll +tell you nothing which you ought not to find out for yourself." + +"Do you think I may breakfast with her safely?" Julien inquired. + +"Heaven knows--I don't!" Kendricks replied. "No man is safe with such a +woman as Madame Christophor. But let it go. We dine together to-night. +I'll tell you some news then. I'm going to unroll a plan of campaign. +There's work for you, if you like it;--nothing formulated as yet, but +it's coming--perhaps hope--who knows?" + +The sun rose higher in the heavens, the mauve light faded from the sky. +Morning had arrived in earnest and Paris settled herself down to the +commencement of another day. Julien, for the first time since he had +left England, was asleep five minutes after his head had touched the +pillow. Herr Freudenberg, on the contrary, made no attempt at all to +retire. In the sitting-room of his apartments in the Boulevard +Maupassant he sat in his dressing-gown, carefully studying some letters +which had arrived by the night mail. Opposite to him was a secretary; +by his side Estermen, who appeared to be there for the purpose of +making a report. + +"Not a document," Estermen was saying, "not a line of writing of any +sort in his trunk, his bureau, or anywhere about his room." + +Herr Freudenberg nodded thoughtfully. + +"But these Englishmen are the devil to deal with!" he said. "The +luncheon is ordered to-day in the private room at the Armenonville?" + +"Everything has been attended to," Estermen replied. + +Herr Freudenberg was thoughtful for several moments. Then with a wave +of his hand he dismissed Estermen. + +"You, too, can go, Fritz," he said to his secretary. "You have had a +long night's work." + +"You yourself, Excellency, should sleep for a while," his secretary +advised. + +Herr Freudenberg shook his head. + +"Sleep," he declared, "is a waste of time. I need no sleep. As you go, +you can tell my servant to prepare a warm bath. I will rest then for an +hour and walk in the Champs Elysees." + +The secretary withdrew and Herr Freudenberg was alone. He picked up a +crumpled rose that lay upon the table and twirled it for a moment or +two in his fingers. The action seemed to be wholly unconscious. His +eyes were set in a fixed stare, his thoughts were busy weaving out his +plans for the day. It was not until he was summoned to his bath that he +rose and glanced at the withered flower. Then he smiled. + +"Poor little Marguerite!" he murmured. "What a pity!" + +He touched the rose with his lips, abandoned his first intention, which +seemed to have been to throw it into the fireplace, and put it back +carefully upon the table, side by side with an odd white glove. + +"Queer little record of the froth of life," he said softly to himself. +"One soiled evening glove, a faded rose, a woman's tears,--they pass. +What can one do--we poor others who have to drive the wheels of life?" + +He sighed, shrugged his high shoulders, and passed out. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +BEHIND CLOSED DOORS + + +Very soon after mid-day on the same morning, Herr Carl Freudenberg was +the host at a small luncheon party given in a private room of the most +famous restaurant in the Bois. His morning attire was a model of +correctness, his eyes were clear, his manner blithe, almost joyous. +There was no possible indication in his appearance of his misspent +hours. He was at once a genial and courteous host. Monsieur Decheles +sat at his right hand; Monsieur Felix Brant on his left; Monsieur +Pelleman opposite to him. The three men had arrived in an automobile +together and had entered the restaurant by the private way, but that +they were guests of some distinction was obvious from their reception +by the manager himself. + +The luncheon was worthy of the great reputation of the place. It was +swiftly and well served. With the coffee and liqueurs the waiters +withdrew. Herr Freudenberg, with a smile, rose up and tried the door. +Then he returned to his place, lit a cigarette, and leaned back in his +chair. + +"My dear friends," he announced, "now we can talk." + +Monsieur Pelleman smiled. + +"Yes," he admitted, "we can talk. In this excellent brandy, Monsieur +Carl Freudenberg, I drink your very good health. Long may these little +visits of yours continue." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled his thanks. + +"Monsieur Pelleman," he said, "and you, too, my dear friends, let me +assure you that there is nothing in the world which I enjoy so much as +these brief visits of mine to your delightful capital. No more I think +of the pressures and cares of office. I let myself go, and on these +occasions, as you know, I speak to you not in the language of +diplomacy, but as good friends who meet together to enjoy an hour or +two of one another's company, and who, because there is no harm to be +done by it, but much good, open their hearts and speak true words with +one another." + +Monsieur Decheles smiled. + +"It is a pleasure which we all share," he declared. "It is more +agreeable, without a doubt, to take lunch with Monsieur Carl +Freudenberg, and to speak openly, than to exchange long-winded +interviews, the true meaning of which is too much concealed by +diplomatic verbiage, with the excellent gentleman to whose good offices +are intrusted the destinies of Herr Freudenberg's great nation." + +"Monsieur," Herr Freudenberg said, "to-day shall be no exception. +To-day I speak to you, perhaps, more openly than ever before. To-day I +perhaps risk much--yet why not speak the things which are in my heart?" + +Monsieur Felix Brant took a cigarette from the box by his elbow, but he +felt for it only. His eyes never left the face of his host. Of the +three men, he seemed the one least in sympathy with the state of +affairs to which Herr Freudenberg had alluded so cheerfully. He watched +the man at the head of the table all the time as though every energy of +which he was possessed was devoted to the task of reading underneath +that suave but impenetrable face. + +"Gentlemen," Herr Freudenberg continued, "there have been many +misapprehensions between your country and mine. Ten years ago we seemed +indeed on the highroad to friendship. It was then--I speak frankly, +mind--that your country made the one fatal mistake of recent years. +Great Britain, isolated, left behind in the race for power, a weakened +and decaying nation, having searched the world over for allies, held +out the timorous hand of friendship to you. What evil genius was with +your statesmen that day! When the history of these times comes to be +written, it is my firm belief that it will be then acknowledged that +the genius of the man who reigned over Great Britain at that time was +alone responsible for the commencement of what has become a veritable +alliance." + +Herr Freudenberg paused. + +"There is no doubt," Monsieur Decheles asserted calmly, "that the +influence of the late king was immense among the people of France. He +appealed somehow to their imaginations, a great monarch who was also a +_bon viveur_, who had lived his days in Paris as the others." + +Herr Freudenberg nodded thoughtfully. + +"He is dead," he said, "and history will write him down as a great +king. Do you know that it is one of my theories that morals have +nothing to do with government? I doubt whether a more sagacious monarch +has ever reigned over that unfortunate country than the one we speak +of. So sagacious was he that he even saw the beginning of the end, he +saw the things that must come when he looked across the North Sea; and +notwithstanding his descent, notwithstanding all the ties which should +have allied him with Germany, he hated our people and he hated our +country with a prophetic hatred. But we gossip a little, gentlemen. Let +me proceed. I want you to realize that the policy of Germany for the +last five years has been wholly directed towards securing the +friendship of your country. I want you to realize that but for the +continual interference of Great Britain you would even now be in a far +more favorable position with us than you are to-day. Germany wants +nothing in Morocco. Germany's first and greatest wish is for a rich and +prosperous France. On the other hand, Germany is loyal to her +friendships, and fervent in her hatreds. The country whose humiliation +is a solemn charge upon my people is Great Britain and not France." + +Monsieur Decheles leaned back in his chair. Monsieur Felix Brant never +moved. + +"I want," Herr Freudenberg continued, "to have you think and consider +and weigh this matter. Why do you, a great and prosperous country, link +yourselves with a decaying power, against whom, before very long, +Germany is pledged to strike? These are the plainest words that have +ever been spoken by a citizen of one country to three citizens of +another. Herr Freudenberg, the maker of toys, speaks to his three +French friends as a thoughtful merchant of his country who has had +unusual facilities for imbibing the spirit of her politicians. +Gentlemen, you do not misunderstand me?" + +"It is impossible, Herr Freudenberg," Monsieur Decheles said, "to +misunderstand you for a single moment. Your hand is too clear and your +methods too sagacious." + +"Then let me repeat," Herr Freudenberg declared, "that before many +years are passed--perhaps, indeed, before many months--it is the +intention of my country either to inflict a scathing diplomatic +humiliation upon Great Britain, or to engage in this war the fear of +which has kept her in a state of panic for the last ten years. Keep +that in your minds, my friends. Friendship is a great thing, honor is a +great thing, generosity is a great thing, but I would speak to you +three citizens of France to-day as I would speak to her rulers had I +access to them, and I would say, 'Do you dare, for the sake of an +alliance out of which you have procured no single benefit, do you dare +to drag your country into unnecessary, fruitless and bloody war?' You +have nothing to gain by it, you have everything to lose. Let Germany +deal with her traditional enemy in her own way. And as for France, let +France believe what is, without doubt, the truth--that she has nothing +whatever to fear from Germany. I will not speak of the past, but the +greatest thinkers in Germany to-day regret nothing so much in the +history of her splendid rise as that unfortunate campaign of +Bismarck's. It is the one blot upon her magnificent history. Let that +go--let that go and be buried. I bring you timely warning. I come to +the city I love, for her own sake, for the sake of her people whom I +also love. I beg you to listen to these words of mine, to adjust your +policy so that little by little you weaken the joints which bind you to +England, so that when the time comes you yourself may not be dragged +into a hopeless and pitiless struggle." + +There was a moment's silence. Then Monsieur Decheles spoke. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he began, "what you have said we have been in some +measure prepared for. The more amicable tone of all the correspondence +between our two countries has been marked of late. Yet there have been +times, and not long ago, when your country has shown wonderful +readiness to treat with a rough hand the claims of France in many +quarters of the world. The more powerful your country, the greater she +is to be feared. Supposing France stood on one side while Great Britain +fell before your arms, what then would be the relations between France +and Germany?" + +Monsieur Brant spoke for the first time. + +"Herr Freudenberg, you remind me of the fable of the Persian who had +two men to fight, both as strong as himself. To the one he sent +ambassadors, with the key of his favorite gardens; the other he fought. +It is a great policy to deal with your enemies one at a time." + +Herr Freudenberg stretched out his arms across the table. + +"My friend," he pronounced, "without faith there is no genius. Without +genius there is no government. I only ask you to believe this one +thing. Germany is not and never has been the traditional enemy of +France. I ask you to study the whole question for but one single +half-hour, I ask you to read the commercial records of these days. Help +yourself to all the statistics that throw light upon this question, and +I swear that you will find that whereas Great Britain and Germany stand +opposed to one another under every condition and in every quarter of +the world, there is no single bone of contention anywhere between +France and Germany. Their aims are different, their destinies are +written. I ask you to apply only a reasonable measure of philosophy and +common sense, a reasonable measure of faith, to the things I say." + +There was a cautious tap at the door, a whispered message. Monsieur +Pelleman rose. + +"It is my secretary," he announced. "I fear, gentlemen, that we are due +elsewhere." + +"Herr Freudenberg, your luncheon has been delightful," Monsieur +Decheles declared, holding out his hand. "You have given us, as usual, +something to think of. These informal meetings between citizens of two +great countries will do, I am sure, more than anything else in the +world, to ripen our budding friendship." + +"Your words," Herr Freudenberg replied, grasping the hand which had +been offered to him, "are a happy augury. When we meet again, I shall +be able to prove the coming of the things of which I have spoken." + +They left him on the threshold of the room. The giver of the feast was +alone. Very slowly he retraced his steps and stood for a moment with +folded arms, looking down on the table at which they had lunched. His +natural urbanity, the smile half persuasive, half humorous, which had +parted his lips, had gone. His face seemed to have resolved itself into +lines of iron. As he stood there, one seemed suddenly to realize the +presence of a great man--a greater, even, than Carl Freudenberg, maker +of toys! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +"HAVE YOU EVER LOVED?" + + +Nothing which he had heard or imagined of Madame Christophor had +prepared Julien for the subdued yet manifest magnificence of her +dwelling. He passed through that small postern gate beneath the watch +of a butler who relieved him of his stick and gloves and handed him +over to a sort of major-domo. Afterwards he was conducted across a +beautiful round hall, lit with quaint fragments of stained-glass +window, through a picture gallery which almost took Julien's breath +away, and into a small room, very daintily furnished, entirely and +characteristically French of the Louis Seize period. A round table was +laid for two in front of an open window, which looked out upon a lawn +smooth and velvety, with here and there little flower-beds, and in the +middle a gray stone fountain. Madame Christophor came in almost at the +same moment from the garden. She was wearing a long lace coat over the +thinnest of muslin skirts, and a hat with some violets in it which +seemed to match exactly the color of her eyes. + +"So you have come, my friend of a few hours," she said, smiling at him. +"The fear has not seized you yet? You are not afraid that over my +simple luncheon table I shall ask you compromising questions?" + +"I am neither afraid of your asking questions, madame," he assured her, +"nor of my being tempted to reply to them." + +"That," she murmured, "is ungallant. Meanwhile, we lunch." + +Such a meal as he might have expected from such surroundings was +swiftly and daintily served. There was cantaloup, cut in halves, with +the faintest suspicion of liqueur, and a great globule of ice; an +omelette, even for Paris a wonderful omelette,--a _mousse_ of +chicken, some asparagus, a bowl of peaches, and coffee. After the +latter had been served, madame, with a little wave of her hand, +dismissed the servants from the room. + +"Sir Julien," she said, "I am not pleased with you." + +He sighed. + +"I regret your displeasure the more," he declared, "because I find +myself indebted to you for a new gastronomic ideal." + +"You are really beginning to wake up," she laughed. "When you first +arrived here, less than twenty-four hours ago, you thought yourself a +broken-spirited and broken-hearted man. You were very dull. Soon you +will begin to realize that life is a matter of epochs, that no blow is +severe enough to kill life itself. It is only the end of an epoch. But +I am displeased with you, as I said, because you have told me nothing. +This morning I have letters from London. I learn that through a single +indiscretion not only were you forced to relinquish a great political +career, but that you were forced also to give up the lady for whom you +cared." + +"You have ingenious correspondents," he remarked. + +"Truthful ones, are they not?" + +"I was engaged to marry Lady Anne Clonarty," he admitted. "It was, if I +may venture to say so, an alliance." + +Madame Christophor's eyes twinkled. + +"Once," she declared, "I met the Duke of Clonarty. I also met the +Duchess, I also saw Lady Anne. They were traveling in great state +through Italy. It was in Rome that I came across them. The Duchess was +very affable to me. I think you have rightly expressed your affair of +the heart, my friend. It was to have been an alliance!" + +Julien was thoughtful. Madame Christophor in a moment continued. + +"You know, my friend," she said, tapping the ash from her cigarette +into her saucer, "your misfortune came just in time to save you from +becoming what in English you call a great, a colossal prig." + +His eyebrows went up. Suddenly he smiled. + +"Perhaps," he admitted. "To be a successful politician one must of +necessity be a prig." + +"Not in the least," she reminded him swiftly. "There is the Prince von +Falkenberg." + +"The maker of toys," he murmured. + +"The maker, alas! of toys which the world were better without," she +replied. "But never mind that. For the sake of your ambitions you were +content, were you not, to marry a young woman with whom you had not the +slightest sympathy, in order that she might receive your guests, might +add the lustre of her name to the expansion of her husband's genius?" + +"Madame," he said, "we live a very short time. We live only one life. +Only certain things are possible to us. The man who tries to crowd +everything into that life fails. He is a dilettante. He may find +pleasure but he reaches no end. He strikes no long sustained note. In +the eyes of those who come after him, he is a failure." + +"This," she murmured, "is interesting. Please go on." + +"The man who means to succeed," he continued, "to succeed in any one +position, must sacrifice everything else--temperament, if necessary +character--for that one thing. When I left college, the study of +politics was almost chosen for me. It became a part of my life. As my +interest developed, it is true that my outlook upon life was narrowed. +I was content to forget, perhaps, that I was a man, I strove fervently +and desperately to develop into the perfect political machine. From +that point of view, nobody in England would have made me a better wife +than Lady Anne Clonarty." + +She nodded. + +"What a blessing that you wrote that letter!" + +"I don't know," he replied. "I still think it was a great misfortune. +Frankly, I have no idea what to make of my life. I don't know how to +start again, to deal with the pieces in any intelligent fashion. Now +that I am outside the thing, I see the narrowness of it all, I see that +I was giving up many things which are interesting and beautiful, many +friendships that might have been delightful, but on the other hand +there was always the pressing on, the big, vital side, the great throb +of life. I miss it. I feel to myself as a great factory sounds on +Sundays and holidays, when the engine that drives all the machinery of +the place is silent. I wander among the empty, quiet places, and I am +lonely." + +"Have you ever loved a woman?" she asked. + +Her voice had suddenly dropped. He looked across the table. Her lips +were slightly parted, her eyes fixed upon his. There was something +shining out of them which he did not wholly understand. He only knew +that the question seemed to have stirred him in some new way. An +intense sense of pleasurable content, a feeling as though he were +listening to music, stole through his senses. This was a new thing. He +was bewildered. He leaned a little further across the table. He found +himself watching the faint blue veins of her delicate fingers, noticing +the curious perfume of roses that seemed to come to him from the +flutter of the lace around her neck. + +"You are a man, Sir Julien. You must be thirty-five--perhaps older. Yet +somehow you have the look to me of one who has never cared at all." + +"It is true," he admitted. + +"Life," she declared, "is a strange place. A few months ago your whole +career was one of ambition. Misfortune came, or what you counted a +misfortune. You reckoned yourself ruined. It is simply a change of +poise. You turn now naturally to the other things in life. Do you know +that you will find them greater?" + +He shook his head. + +"It is too early for me to believe that," he said. "I will admit that +now and then in my forced solitude I have sometimes realized that one +may become too engrossed in a career of ambition. One may shut out many +things in life that are sweet and wholesome. But it is too early yet +for me to look back upon what has happened with equanimity and say that +I am glad to be a wanderer on the face of the earth, a homeless man, a +waif." + + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"You know that people are talking about you in London?" she asked +abruptly. + +He looked a little startled. + +"I know nothing of the sort," he replied. "I have scarcely looked at a +newspaper for weeks. Kendricks is over here with some story--" + +"Who is Kendricks?" she interrupted. + +"A journalist, an old friend of mine. What he told me, though, I looked +upon as simply a little more malice from my friend Carraby." + +"Tell me exactly his news?" + +"He told me," Julien continued, "that there is a good deal of unrest +over in London concerning our relations with France. The absolute +candor and completely good understanding which existed a short time ago +seems to have become clouded. Carraby is trying to suggest in English +circles that I have been using my influence over here against the +present government. The absurd part of it is that although I have been +in France for a month, I arrived in Paris only yesterday." + +"I was not alluding to that at all," she said. "It is in the country +places, at the by-elections, and twice in the House itself lately, that +things have been said which point to a certain impatience at your +having been dropped so completely. You know Brentwood?" + +"A strong, firm man," Julien replied, "but scarcely a friend of mine." + +"Well, in your House of Parliament, the night before last," she +continued, "he said that your country needed men at the Foreign Office +who, however great might be their love of peace, still were not afraid +of war, and your name was mentioned." + +Julien smiled. + +"They used to call me the fire-brand. I suppose I am in a great +minority. I have never been able to see that a wholesome war, in +defense of one's territory and one's honor, is an unmixed curse. It is +the natural blood-letting of a strong country." + +"No wonder you are unpopular in radical circles," she remarked, raising +her eyebrows; "but anyhow, what I really want to say to you is this. +Don't do anything rash. You have made the acquaintance of the most +dangerous man in Europe. Don't let him control your actions, don't let +him influence you. I want you always, whatever you do, to leave the way +open for your return." + +He shook his head. + +"I do not think that my return is ever possible." + +"Have you talked with your friend Kendricks?" she asked. + +"Not yet," he replied. + +"Hear what he has to say," she continued. "Bring him to see me if you +will." + +"I will try," he promised. + +They were silent for a moment, listening to the splashing of the +fountain outside and the distant hum of the city. + +"Do you know that you are very kind to me?" he said. + +"You were very much afraid of me yesterday," she reminded him. + +"Had I any cause?" + +She smiled. + +"I shall not tell you my secrets. You must find them out. I have +dabbled in politics, I have dabbled in diplomacy. I have not as a rule +very much sympathy with your sex, as I think you know. It has never +interested me before even to give good advice to a man. If I were you, +Sir Julien, beyond a certain point I would not trust Madame +Christophor, for when the time comes I have always the feeling that if +a man's career lay within my power, I would sooner wreck it than help +him." + +"Of course you are talking nonsense," he declared. + +"Am I?" she replied. "Well, I don't know. I can look back now to a +half-hour of my life when I loathed every creature that could call +itself a man." + +"But it was a single person," he reminded her, "who sinned." + +"His crime was too great to be the crime of a single man," she +asserted, with a quiver of passion in her tone. "It was the culmination +of the whole abominable selfishness of his sex. One man's life is too +light a price to pay for the tragedy of that half-hour. I have never +spared one of your sex since. I never shall." + +"So far you have been kind to me," he persisted. + +"Up to a certain point. Beyond that, I warn you, I should have no pity. +If you were a wise man, I think even now that you would thank me for my +luncheon and take my hand and bid me farewell." + +"Instead of which," he answered, smiling, "I am waiting only to know +when you will do me the honor to come and dine with me?" + +She shook her head. + +"I will make no appointment," she said. "Send me your telephone number +directly you move into your rooms. If I am weary of myself I may call +for you, but I tell you frankly that you must not expect it. If I see a +way of making use of you, that will be different." + +"May I come and see you again?" he begged. "You are dismissing me +rather abruptly." + +She shrugged her shoulders. She was looking weary, as though the heat +of the day had tried her. + +"I care very little, after all," she answered, "whether I ever see you +again. I wish I could care, although if I did the result would be the +same." + +"You asked me a question a short time ago," he remarked. "Let me ask +you the same. Have you never cared for any one?" + +"I cared once for my husband." + +"You have been married?" + +"Most certainly. I lived with my husband for two years." + +"And now?" he persisted. + +"We are separated. You really do not know my other name?" + +"I have never heard you called anything but Madame Christophor." + +"Well, you will hear it in time," she assured him. "You will probably +think you have made a great discovery. In the meantime, farewell." + +She gave him her hands. He held them in his perhaps a little longer +than was necessary. She raised her eyes questioningly. He drew them a +little closer. Very quietly she removed the right one and touched a +bell by her side. + +"If my automobile is of any service to you, Sir Julien," she said, +"pray use it. It waits outside and I shall not be ready to go out for +an hour at least." + +"Thank you," he replied. "Your automobile, empty, has no attractions." + +The butler was already in the room. + +"See that Sir Julien makes use of my automobile if he cares to," she +ordered. "This has been a very pleasant visit. I hope we may soon meet +again." + +She avoided his eyes. He had an instinctive feeling that she was either +displeased or disappointed with him. He followed the butler out into +the hall filled with a vague sense of self-dissatisfaction. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +KENDRICKS IS HOST + + +"You are going to spend," Kendricks declared, "a democratic evening. +You are going to mix with common folk. To-night we shall drink no +champagne at forty francs the bottle. On the other hand, we shall +probably drink a great deal more beer than is good for us. How do you +find the atmosphere here?" + +"Filthy!" + +"I was afraid you might notice it," Kendricks remarked. "Never mind, +presently you will forget it. You have never been here before, I +presume?" + +"I have not," Julien agreed. "I daresay I shall find it interesting. +You wouldn't describe it as quiet, would you?" + +"One does not eat quietly here," Kendricks replied. "Four hundred +people, mostly Germans, when they eat are never silent. The service of +four hundred dinners continues at the same time. Listen to them. Close +your eyes and you will appreciate the true music of crockery." + +"If that infernal little band would keep quiet," Julien grumbled, "one +might hear oneself talk!" + +"Let us have no more criticisms," Kendricks begged. "To-night you are +of the working class. You may perhaps be a small manufacturer, the +agent of a manufacturing firm in the country, a clerk with a moderate +salary, or a mechanic in his best clothes. Remember that and do not +complain of the music. You do not hear it every day. Let us hear no +more blase speeches, if you please.... Good! The dinner arrives. We +dine here, my friend, for two francs. You will probably require another +meal before the evening is concluded. On the other hand, you may feel +that you never require another meal as long as you live. That is a +matter of luck. In any case, you had better squeeze a little further +up. Madame and her two daughters are going to sit next to you, and +opposite there will be monsieur, and I judge the fiance of one of the +young ladies. It will be a family party. If there is anything in that +dish of _hors d'oeuvres_ which you fancy particularly, help +yourself quickly. In a moment or two there will be no opportunity." + +The two men were seated opposite one another at a long table in a huge +popular restaurant in the heart of the city. It was Kendricks' +plan--Kendricks, in fact, had insisted upon it. + +"You know, my dear Julien," he continued, "a certain education is +necessary for you. If only I had a little more time I should be +invaluable. You have taken all your life too narrow a view. That +wretched Eton training! You would have been better off at a +board-school. We all should." + +"You were at Winchester yourself," Julien reminded him, trying some of +the bread and approving of it. + +"For a short time only," Kendricks admitted, "and then you forget the +years after which I spent in the byways. Oh, I know my people! I know +the common people of America and England and France and Germany. I know +them and love them. I love the middle classes, too, the honestly +vulgar, honestly snobbish, foolishly ambitious, yet over-cautious +middle class. The extreme types of every nation lose their racial +individuality. You find the true thing only among the bourgeoisie. Oh, +if I only knew whether these people," he added, "understood English!" + +"You must not risk it," Julien warned him. "Madame has already her eye +upon you." + +"As a possible suitor for that unmated daughter on her right, I +suspect," Kendricks declared. "The young lady has looked at me twice +and down at her plate. Julien, you must change places." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort," Julien retorted. + +"If I ingratiate myself with this family and trouble comes of it," +Kendricks continued, "the fault will be yours. Madame," he added, +standing up and bowing, "will you permit me?" + +Madame had been looking at the bread. Kendricks gallantly offered it. +Madame's bows and smiles were a thing delightful to behold. +Mademoiselle, too, would take bread, if monsieur was so kind. When +Kendricks sat down again, the way was paved for general conversation. +Julien, however, practically buttonholed his friend. + +"Kendricks," he said, "you have told me nothing about England." + +"There is little to tell," Kendricks replied. "The little there is will +filter from me during the evening. We are spending a long evening +together, you know, Julien." + +"Heavens alive!" Julien groaned. "I am not sure that I am strong +enough." + +"Eat that soup," Kendricks advised him. "That, at least, is sustaining. +Never mind stirring it up to see what vegetables are at the bottom. +Take my word for it, it is good. And leave the pepper-pot alone. How +the people crowd in! You perceive the commercial traveler with a +customer? How they talk about that last order! The fat man facing you +puzzles me. I wish I could know the occupation of our neighbors. I am +curious." + +"I should ask them," Julien suggested dryly. + +"An idea!" Kendricks assented approvingly. "Let us wait until they have +drunk the free wine. You understand, my dear Julien, that you pay +nothing for that flask which stands by your side? It comes with the +dinner. It is free." + +Julien helped himself, and sipped it thoughtfully. + +"At least," he murmured, as he set his glass down, "one is thankful +that we do not pay for it!" + +"There are some," Kendricks remarked, "who prefer beer. Personally, I +like to preserve my local color. _Vin ordinaire_ in Paris, beer in +Germany. Madame!" + +Kendricks had caught madame's eye with the glass at his lips. He rose +at once and bowed. Madame acknowledged his graciousness with a huge +smile, which spread even to her double chin. Monsieur leaned forward +and joined in the ceremony. Mademoiselle, after a timid glance at her +mother, also responded. Kendricks' character as an Englishman of +gallantry was thoroughly established. + +"I am doing our national character good," he declared to Julien, as he +set down his glass empty. "As to my own constitution--but let that +pass. We will drown this stuff in honest beer, later on. How are you +getting on with the fish?" + +"It is excellent--really excellent," Julien proclaimed. "Do you mean to +say seriously that you are going to pay only two francs each for this +repast?" + +"Not a centime more," Kendricks assured him. "Do you know why I brought +you here?" + +"Part of my education, I suppose," Julien replied resignedly. + +"Quite true. Further than that, I am here on business for my paper. I +am here to study the effect of the German invasion of Paris. This place +is being spoken of as being the haunt of Germans. It still seems to me +that I find plenty of the real French people." + +"Do we pursue your investigations elsewhere during the course of the +evening?" Julien inquired. + +"The whole of our evening," Kendricks told him, "is devoted to that +purpose, and incidentally," he added, "to your education. We are going +for red-blooded pleasure to-night, for the real thing,--for the hearty +laughs, for the wholesome appetites; no caviare sandwiches, over-dry +champagne, rouged lips and Rue de la Paix hats for us. If we make love, +we make love honestly. Mademoiselle may permit a clasp of her hand--no +more." + +"So far," Julien remarked, "mademoiselle--" + +"That is for later," Kendricks interrupted briskly. "We shall go to a +singing-hall--a German singing-hall. The mademoiselles whom we meet +will probably have their own sweethearts. Somehow, to-night I fancy +that we shall be lookers-on. What does it matter? We shall at least see +life. We shall catch the shadows of other people's happinesses. It is, +I believe, the sincerest form. The chicken, dear Julien,--what of the +chicken?" + +Julien hesitated. + +"There is little to be said against it," he confessed. "The only +trouble is that it fails to arrive." + +Kendricks summoned a waiter, a task of no inconsiderable difficulty, +for the service was automatic--the dishes were set upon the table and +the waiter disappeared for the next lot. Anything intervening was +almost impossible. Monsieur, Kendricks declared, pointing indignantly +across the table, had not been served with chicken! The waiter shook +his head. It was unheard of! Monsieur had probably had his chicken and +forgotten it. The chicken had been brought, two portions. There was no +doubt about it. But where then had the chicken been hidden? Kendricks +became fluent. He looked under the table. He pointed to his friend's +empty plate. The waiter, only half convinced, departed with a vague +promise. Kendricks sipped his wine. + +"It is a regrettable incident," he declared, "but in the excitement of +conversation, Julien, I ate both portions of chicken." + +He had lapsed into French, the language in which he had argued with the +waiter. Madame was overcome with the humor of the affair. Mademoiselle +tittered as she leaned across and told her fiance. The unattached +mademoiselle looked her sympathy with Julien. Monsieur saw the joke and +laughed heartily. They looked reproachfully at Kendricks. To them it +was indeed a tragedy! + +"Madame," Kendricks explained, "it is not my custom to be so greedy. +The waiter set both portions before me, meaning, without doubt, that I +should pass one to my friend. Alas! in the pleasure of conversation in +these delightful surroundings,"--he bowed low to mademoiselle--"something, +I don't know what it was, carried me away, and I ate and ate until both +portions were vanished. Ah!" he exclaimed. "Triumph! The waiter returns. +He brings chicken, too, for my friend. Garcon, you have done well. You +shall be rewarded. It is excellent." + +The waiter, still with a protesting air, passed up the chicken. The +little party was convulsed with merriment. They all watched Julien eat +his tardy course. Kendricks, with an air of recklessness, sipped more +wine. + +"I flatter myself," he said, "that before very long I shall have taught +you to forget that you were ever a Cabinet Minister, that you were ever +at Eton, that you were ever at Oxford. One does not live in those +places, you know, Julien. One shrivels instead of expands.... My +friend, we have dined." + +"Is there nothing more?" Julien asked. + +"There is fruit," Kendricks admitted. "It was in my mind to spare you +the fruit. I see it to right and left of us being handed around--nuts, +a banana, apples whose exterior I trust is misleading. Never mind, you +have desired fruit and you shall have it. Waiter, monsieur desires his +fruit." + +The waiter disappeared and in a moment or two Julien was served. + +"Coffee, if you will?" + +"No coffee, thanks," Julien decided. "If we are really going to spend +the evening visiting places of entertainment of a similar class, let us +reserve our coffee. A large cigar, I think." + +Kendricks sighed. + +"I hate to go. Mademoiselle opposite is pleased with me. I have made a +good impression upon madame. Monsieur is ready to extend to me the +right hand of fellowship. One of those pleasing little romances one +dreams about might here find a commencement. In a week's time I might +be accepted as a son-in-law of the house. I see all the signs of assent +already beaming in madame's eye. Perhaps we had better go, Julien!" + +They took their leave, not without the exchange of many smiles and bows +with the little family party they left behind. They walked slowly down +the room, arm in arm. + +"We were fortunate, you see, in our neighbors," Kendricks declared. +"There are Germans everywhere here. One is curious about these people. +One wonders how far they have imbibed the manners and customs of the +people among whom they live. Are they still absolutely and entirely +Teutons, do you suppose? Do they intermarry here, make friends, or do +they remain an alien element?" + +"To judge by appearances," Julien remarked, "they remain an alien +element. It is astonishing how seldom you see mixed parties of French +people and Germans here." + +"It is exactly to make observations upon that point that I am in +Paris," Kendricks asserted. "My people are curious. They want me to +watch and write about it. Do you know that there is a feeling in +London, Julien, that we are reaching the climax?" + +Julien nodded. + +"I can quite believe it," he replied. "Falkenberg seems to show every +desire to force our hand." + +"May the Lord deliver us from a Germanized Paris!" Kendricks prayed. +"They may have the Ritz, if they will, and the Elysees Palace. They may +have all the halls of fashion and gilt and wealth. They may swamp the +Pre Catelan and the Armenonville, so long as they leave us the real +Paris. Come, we take our coffee here. This is a German cafe, if you +like. Never mind, let us see if by chance any French people have +wandered in." + +They drank coffee at a little table in a huge building, hung with +tobacco smoke, with the inevitable band at one end, and crowded with +people. Kendricks smiled as the waiter brought them sugared cakes with +their coffee. + +"It is Germany," he declared. "Look! An odd Frenchman or two, perhaps; +no French women. Look at the hats, the women's faces. The hats looked +well enough in the shop-windows here. What an ignoble end for them! +From an aesthetic point of view, Julien, nothing is more terrible than +the domesticity of the German. If only he could be persuaded to leave +his wife at home! Think how much more attractive it would make these +places. He would have more money to spend upon himself, upon his own +beer and his own pretzels, and in time, no doubt, a lonely feeling, a +feeling of sentiment, would overpower him, and the vacant chair would +be filled by one of these vivacious little women who might teach him in +time that blood was meant to flow, not to ooze like mud." + +"I shall begin to think," Julien remarked, "that you don't like +Germans." + +"There you are wrong," Kendricks replied. "In their own country I like +them. They have all the good qualities. Germany for the Germans, I +should say always, and me for any other country. We have drunk our +coffee. Let us go." + +They passed on to a music-hall, where they listened to a mixed +performance and drank beer out of long glasses, served to them by a +distinctly Teutonic waiter. Greatly to Kendricks' annoyance, however, +they were surrounded by English and Americans, and were too tightly +packed in to change their seats. On the way out, however, he suddenly +beamed. + +"Behold!" he exclaimed. + +He swept his hat from his head. It was their companions at the dinner +table. Madame was pleased to remember him, also mademoiselle. + +"I shall invite them to supper," Kendricks declared. + +"If you do," Julien retorted, "I shall go home." + +Kendricks heaved a long sigh as he regretfully let them pass by. + +"It's just a touch of Oxford left in you," he complained. "For myself, +I know that madame would be excellent company, and I am perfectly +certain that mademoiselle would let me whisper--discreetly--in her ear. +Alas! it is a lost opportunity, and from here we go--to who knows +what?" + +He was suddenly serious. Julien looked at him in surprise. They were +standing on the pavement outside. Kendricks consulted his watch. + +"You have courage, I know, my friend," he said. "That is one reason why +I choose you for my companion to-night. I have two tickets for a German +socialist gathering here. The tickets were obtained with extraordinary +difficulty. I know that your German is pure and I can trust to my own. +From this minute, not a word in any other language, if you please." + +"I am really not sure," Julien objected, "that I want to go to a German +socialist meeting. In any case, I am hungry." + +"Hungry!" Kendricks exclaimed. "Hungry! What ingratitude! But be calm, +my friend," he added, taking Julien's arm, "there will be sausages and +beer where we are going." + +"In that case," Julien agreed, "I am with you. Which way?" + +"Almost opposite us," Kendricks declared. "Come along." + +They paused outside a brilliantly lit cafe with a German name. Julien +looked at it doubtfully. + +"Surely they don't hold meetings in a place like this?" he muttered. + +Kendricks lowered his voice. + +"We go into the cafe first," he said. "The meeting is in a private +room. Come." + +They pushed open the swinging doors and entered the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +A MEETING OF SOCIALISTS + + +The _brasserie_ into which the two men pushed their way was +smaller and less ornate than the one which they had last visited. Many +of the tables, too, were laid for supper. The tone of the place was +still entirely Teutonic. Kendricks and his companion seated themselves +at a table. + +"You will eat sausage?" Kendricks asked. + +"I will eat anything," Julien replied. + +"It is better," Kendricks remarked. "Here from the first we may be +watched. We are certainly observed. Be sure that you do not let fall a +single word of English. It might be awkward afterwards." + +"It's a beastly language," Julien declared, "but the beer and sausages +help. How many of the people here will be at the meeting?" + +"Not a hundredth part of them," Kendricks answered. "It was a terrible +job to get these tickets and I wouldn't like to guarantee now that we +have them that we get there. Remember, if any questions are asked, +you're an American, the editor or envoy of _The Coming Age._" + +"The dickens I am!" Julien exclaimed. "Where am I published?" + +"In New York; you're a new issue." + +Julien ate sausages and bread and butter steadily for several minutes. + +"To me," he announced, "there is something more satisfying about a meal +of this description than that two-franc dinner where you stole my +chicken." + +"You have Teutonic instincts, without a doubt," Kendricks declared, +"but after all, why not a light dinner and an appetite for supper? +Better for the digestion, better for the pocket, better for passing the +time. What are you staring at?" + +Julien was looking across the room with fixed eyes. + +"I was watching a man who has been sitting at a small table over +there," he remarked. "He has just gone out through that inner door. For +a moment I could have sworn that it was Carl Freudenberg." + +Kendricks shook his head. + +"Mr. Carl Freudenberg takes many risks, but I do not think he would +care to show himself here." + +"It is no crime that he is in Paris," Julien objected. + +"In a sense it is," Kendricks said. "These incognito visits of his must +soon cease if they were talked too much about. Then there is another +thing. This cafe is the headquarters of German socialism in Paris, and +Herr Freudenberg is the sworn enemy of socialists. He fights them with +an iron hand, wherever he comes into contact with them. This is a +law-abiding place, without a doubt, and the Germans as a rule are a +law-abiding people, but I would not feel quite sure that he would leave +unmolested if he were recognized here at this minute." + +"You think he knows that?" Julien asked. + +"Knows it!" Kendricks replied scornfully. "There is nothing goes on in +Paris that he does not know. He peers into every nook and corner of the +city. He knows the feelings of the aristocrats, of the bourgeoisie, of +the official classes. Not only that, he knows their feelings towards +England, towards the Triple Alliance, towards Russia. He never seems to +ask questions, he never forgets an answer. He is a wonderful man, in +short; but I do not think that you will see him here to-night." + +The long hand of the clock pointed toward midnight. Kendricks called +for the bill and paid it. + +"We go this way," he announced, "through the billiard rooms." + +They left the cafe by the swing-door to which Julien had pointed, +passed through a crowded billiard room, every table of which was in +use, down a narrow corridor till they came face to face with a closed +door, on which was inscribed "Number 12." Kendricks knocked softly and +it was at once opened. There was another door a few yards further on, +and between the two a very tall doorkeeper and a small man in +spectacles. + +"Who are you?" the doorkeeper demanded gruffly. + +Kendricks produced his tickets. The tall man, however, did not move. He +scrutinized them, word for word. Then he scrutinized the faces of the +two men. Kendricks he seemed inclined to pass, but he looked at Julien +for long, and in a puzzled manner. + +"Of what nationality is your friend?" he asked Kendricks. + +"I am an American," Julien replied. + +"And your profession?" + +"A newspaper editor. I edit _The Coming Age_." + +"This is not altogether in order," the tall man declared. "The meeting +which we are holding to-night is not one in which the Press is +interested. We are here to discuss one man, and one man only. I do not +think that you would hear anything you could print, and as you do not +belong to our direct association here I think it would be better if you +did not enter." + +Kendricks stood his ground, however. + +"I must appeal," he said, "to your secretary." + +The little man in spectacles came forward. Kendricks stated his case +with much indignation. + +"Here am I," he announced, "editor of the only socialist paper in +London worthy of the title. I come over because I hear of this meeting. +I bring with me my American friend, the editor of _The Coming +Age_. For no other reason have we visited Paris than for this. If +you refuse us admission to this meeting, the whole of the English +branch will consider it an insult." + +"And the American," Julien put in firmly. + +The two men whispered together. The taller one, still grumbling, stood +on one side. + +"Pass in," he directed. "It is not strictly in order, but our secretary +permits." + +The two men passed on. The room in which they found themselves was a +small one and there were not more than fifty people present. It was +very dimly lit and they could barely make out the forms of the row of +men who were sitting upon chairs upon the platform. They contented +themselves with seats quite close to the door. No drinks were being +served here. Although one or two men were smoking, the general aspect +seemed to be one of stern and serious intensity. A man upon the +platform was just finishing speaking as they entered, and he apparently +called upon some one else. A large and heavy German stood up on the +centre of the slightly raised stage. He wore shapeless clothes and +horn-rimmed spectacles. His face was benevolent. He had a double chin +and a soft voice. + +"My brothers," he said, "at these our meetings we have many things to +discuss. We have little time to waste. Why beat about the bush? I am +here to speak to you of the greatest enemy our cause has in the +world--Prince Adolf Rudolf von Falkenberg." + +He paused. There was an ugly little murmur through the room. It was +very easy indeed to understand that the man whose name had been +mentioned was unpopular. + +"The cause of socialism," the speaker continued, "is the one cause we +all have at heart. In our Fatherland it flourishes, but it flourishes +slowly. The reason that we are denied our just and legitimate triumphs +is simply owing to the vigorous opposition, the brutal enmity, of +Prince Adolf Rudolf von Falkenberg. My brothers, this man has been +warned. His only answer has been a fresh and more diabolical measure. +He fights us everywhere with the fierceness of a man who hates his +enemy. It is our duty, brethren, that we do not see our cause retarded +by the enmity of any one man. Therefore, it is my business to say to +you to-night that that man should be removed." + +There was a murmur of voices, one clearer than the others. + +"But how?" + +The man on the platform adjusted his spectacles. + +"My brother asks how? I will tell him. Falkenberg loves war. We others +hate it. We work always to infuse throughout the army our own +principles and theories. Falkenberg falls upon them with all his might +and main. There are orders posted in every barracks in Germany. Our +literature is confiscated. Any man preaching our doctrines is drummed +out upon the streets. I say that these things cannot last. I say that +Falkenberg must go. A friend in the audience has asked how. I will +answer you. There is a body of men whose beliefs are somewhat similar +to ours, but who go further. It is possible they see the truth. But for +us at present it is not possible to accept their general principles. +This case is an exception. The anarchists of Berlin, one of whom, Franz +Kuzman, is here to-night, will dispose of Falkenberg for us if we +provide sufficient funds to make an escape possible, and an annuity for +the executioner should he live, or for his wife should he die." + +There was a slow, ominous murmur of voices. The fat man on the platform +beamed at everybody. + +"Kuzman is here upon the platform," he announced. "Does any one wish to +hear him?" + +Kuzman stood up--an awkward, rawboned, dark-featured man. In a coat +that was too short for him, he stood rather like a puppet upon the +platform. + +"If you delegates of the socialist societies decide that it is just," +he said, in a hoarse, unpleasant tone, "I am willing to see that +Falkenberg meets his reward. I can say no more. I do not fail. I move +against no one save those who deserve death and against whom the death +sentence has been pronounced. But when I do move, that man dies." + +He resumed his seat. The fat man went on. + +"Is it your wish," he asked, "that Kuzman be authorized by you to +arrange this affair?" + +The murmur of voices was scarcely intelligible. + +"Into the hands of every one of you," the fat man continued, "will be +placed a strip of paper. You will write upon it 'Yes' or 'No.' Kuzman +will be instructed according to your verdict." + +Some one on the platform bustled around. Kendricks and Julien were both +supplied with the long strips. In a few minutes these were collected. +The man upon the platform turned up the lights a little higher. He drew +a small table towards him and began sorting out the papers into two +heaps. One was obviously much larger than the other. Towards the end he +came across a slip, however, at which he paused. He read it with +knitted brows, half rose to his feet and stopped. Then he went on with +his counting. Presently he got up. + +"My brothers," he said, "there are forty-two papers here. Of these, +thirty-five agree to the appointment of Kuzman for the purpose we have +spoken of. Six are against it. One paper I will read to you. The writer +has not troubled to put 'Yes' or 'No.' This is what I find: + +"Falkenberg has served his Emperor and his country to the whole extent +of his will and his capacity. He has given his life to make his country +great. If he has been stern upon the cause of socialism, it is because +he does not believe that socialism, as it is at present preached, is +good for Germany. I vote, therefore, that Falkenberg live. + +"We desire to know," the speaker continued, "who wrote those words. +They do not sound like the words of one of our delegates. Johann and +Hesler, stand by the door. Turn up the lights. Let us see exactly who +there is here to-night, unknown to us." + +There was a little murmur. A man who sat only three or four places off +from Kendricks and Julien rose silently to his feet and moved towards +the door. It was as yet locked, however. From the other end of the room +the lights were suddenly heightened. The faces of the men were now +distinctly visible. A light in the body of the hall flared up. A man +was discovered with his hand upon the door handle. There was a hoarse +murmur of voices. + +"Who is he? Hold fast of the door! Let no one pass out!" + +The man turned quickly round. The light flashed upon his face. Julien +was the first to recognize him and he gripped Kendricks by the arm. + +"My God!" he muttered, "it's Falkenberg himself! Who is the man with +the key?" + +Kendricks pointed to him. They crept closer. Then that hoarse murmur of +voices turned suddenly into a low, passionate cry. + +"Falkenberg! Falkenberg himself!" + +The toymaker made no further attempt at concealment. He drew himself up +and faced them. They were creeping towards him now from all corners of +the room--an ugly-looking set of men, men with an ugly purpose in their +faces. + +"Yes, I am Falkenberg!" he cried. "I am here to spy upon you, if you +will. Why not? Kill me, if you choose, but I warn you that if you do +the whole of Germany will rise against you and your cause." + +"Don't let him escape!" some one shouted from the platform. + +"Gag him!" + +"It is fate!" + +"He is ours!" + +"A rope!" + +There was no mistaking the feeling of the men. Julien whispered swiftly +in Kendricks' ear. Simultaneously his right arm shot out. The man who +guarded the door felt his neck suddenly twisted back. Kendricks +snatched the key from his hand and thrust it in the lock. Some one +struck him a violent blow on the head. He reeled, but was still able to +turn the key. They came then with a howl from all parts of the room. +Julien felt a storm of blows. Falkenberg, with one swoop of his long +arm, disposed of their nearest assailant. + +"Get off, man," Kendricks ordered. "You first!" + +The door was wide open now. They half stumbled, half fell into the +outer cafe. The orchestra stopped playing, people rose to their feet. +Before they well knew what was happening, Falkenberg had slipped +through their midst and passed out of the door. One of the pursuers, +with a howl of rage, sprang after him, but he tripped against an +abutting marble table and fell. Kendricks and Julien stepped quietly to +one side, threading their way among the throng of customers in the +cafe. Loud voices shouted for an explanation. + +"It was a pickpocket," some one called out from among those who came +streaming from the room,--"a tall man with a wound on the forehead. Did +no one see him?" + +They all looked towards the door. + +"He passed out so swiftly," they murmured. + +Several of them had already reached the door of the cafe and were +rushing down the street in the direction which Falkenberg had taken. + +"There were two others," a grim voice shouted from behind. + +A waiter, who had seen the two men sit down, looked doubtfully towards +them. Kendricks pushed a note into his hand. + +"Serve us with something quickly," he begged. + +The man pocketed the note and set before them the beer which he was +carrying. Kendricks, whose knuckles were bleeding, laid his hand under +the table. Julien took a long drink of the beer and began to recover +his breath. + +"So far," he declared, "I have found your evening with the masses a +little boisterous." + +Kendricks laughed. + +"Wait till my hand has stopped bleeding," he said, "and we will slip +out. That was a narrow escape for Falkenberg. What a pluck the fellow +must have!" + +"It seems almost like a foolhardy risk," Julien muttered. "If those +fellows could have got at him, they'd have killed him. Have they gone +back to their room, I wonder? Let us hear what the people say about the +affair." + +"What was the disturbance?" he asked. + +The man shrugged his shoulders. + +"It was a meeting in one of the private rooms of the cafe," he +declared, "a meeting of some society. They were taking a vote when they +discovered a pickpocket. He bolted out of the room. They say that he +has got away." + +"Did he steal much?" Julien inquired. + +The man shook his head. + +"A watch and chain, or something of the sort," he told them. "The +excitement is all over now. The gentlemen have gone back to their +meeting." + +Julien smiled and finished his beer. + +"Is our evening at an end, Kendricks?" he asked. + +Kendricks shook his head. + +"Not quite," he replied, binding his handkerchief around his knuckles. +"If you are ready, there is just one other call we might make." + +"More German _brasseries_?" + +Kendricks smiled grimly. + +"Not to-night. We climb once more the hill. We pay our respects to +Monsieur Albert." + +"The Rat Mort?" + +"Exactly!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +AN OFFER + + +Kendricks, as they entered the cafe, recognized his friends with joy +openly expressed. + +"It is fate!" he exclaimed, striking a dramatic attitude. + +"It is the gentleman who ate both portions of chicken!" mademoiselle +cried. + +"It is the gallant Englishman of the Cafe Helder," madame laughed, her +double chin becoming more and more evident. + +"And yonder, in the corner, sits Mademoiselle Ixe," Kendricks whispered +to Julien. "For whom does she wait, I wonder?". + +"For Herr Freudenberg?" suggested Julien. + +"For Herr Freudenberg, let us pray," Kendricks replied. + +The husband of madame, the father of mademoiselle, the rightly +conceived future papa-in-law-to-be of the attendant young man, rose to +his feet in response to a kick from his wife. + +"If monsieur is looking for a table," he suggested, "there is room here +adjoining ours. It will incommode us not in the slightest." + +"Of all places in the room," Kendricks declared, with a bow, "the most +desirable, the most charming. Madame indeed permits--and mademoiselle?" + +There were more bows, more pleasant speeches. A small additional table +was quickly brought. Kendricks ignored the more comfortable seat by +Julien's side and took a chair with his back to the room. From here he +leaned over and conversed with his new friends. He started flirting +with mademoiselle, he paid compliments to madame, he suddenly plunged +into politics with monsieur. Julien listened, half in amusement, half +in admiration. For Kendricks was not talking idly. + +"A man of affairs, monsieur," Kendricks proclaimed himself to be. "My +interest in both countries, madame," he continued, knowing well that +she, too, loved to talk of the affairs, "is great. I am one of those, +indeed, who have benefited largely by this delightful alliance." + +Alliance! Monsieur smiled at the word. Kendricks protested. + +"But what else shall we call it, dear friends?" he argued. "Are we not +allied against a common foe? The exact terms of the _entente_, +what does it matter? Is it credible that England would remain idle +while the legions of Germany overran this country?" + +Monsieur was becoming interested. So was madame. It was madame who +spoke--one gathered that it was usual! + +"What, then," she demanded, "would England do?" + +"She would come to the aid of your charming country, madame." + +"But how?" madame persisted pertinently. + +Kendricks was immediately fluent. He talked in ornate phrases of the +resources of the British Empire, the perfection of her fleet, the +wonder of her new guns. Julien, who knew him well, was amazed not only +at his apparent earnestness, but at his insincerity. He was speaking +well and with a wealth of detail which was impressive enough. His +little company of new friends were listening to him with marked +attention; Julien alone seemed conscious that they were listening to a +man who was speaking against his own convictions. + +"Monsieur! Monsieur Julien!" + +It was the voice of Mademoiselle Ixe. She was leaning slightly forward +in her place. Julien turned quickly around and she motioned him to a +seat by her side. He rose at once and accepted her invitation. + +"I do not disturb you?" she asked. "It seemed to me that your friend +was talking with those strange people there and that you were not very +much interested. It is dull when one sits here alone." + +"Naturally," Julien agreed. "My friend talks politics, and for my part +it is very certain that I would sooner talk of other things with +mademoiselle." + +She was a born flirt--a matter of nationality as well as temperament, +and not to be escaped--and her eyes flashed the correct reply. But a +moment later she was gazing wistfully at the door. + +"You expect Herr Freudenberg?" Julien inquired. + +"I cannot tell," she replied. "I must not say that I am expecting him +because he did not ask me to meet him here. But I thought, perhaps, +that he might come--so I risked it. I was restless to-night. I do not +sing this week because Herr Freudenberg is in Paris, and without any +occupation it is hard to control the thoughts. I sat at home until I +could bear it no longer. _Eh bien!_ I sent for a little carriage +and I ventured here. There is a chance that he may come." + +"Mademoiselle permits that I offer her some supper?" Julien suggested. + +She hesitated and glanced at the clock. + +"You are very kind, Sir Julien," she answered. "I have waited because I +have thought that there was a chance that he might come, and to sup +alone is a drear thing. If monsieur really--Ah! Behold! After all, it +is he! It is he who comes. What happiness!" + +It was indeed Herr Freudenberg who had mounted the stairs and was +yielding now his coat to the attentive _vestiaire_--Herr +Freudenberg, unruffled and precisely attired in evening clothes. He +showed not the slightest signs of his recent adventure. He chatted +gayly to Albert and waved his hand to mademoiselle. He came towards +them with a smile upon his face, walking lightly and with the footsteps +of a young man. Yet mademoiselle shivered, her lip drooped. + +"He is not pleased," she murmured. "I have done wrong." + +There was nothing apparent to others in Herr Freudenberg's manner to +justify her conviction. He raised her fingers to his lips with charming +gayety. + +"Dear Marguerite," he exclaimed, "this is indeed a delightful surprise! +And Sir Julien, too! I am enchanted. Once more let us celebrate. Let us +sup. I am in time, eh?" + +"With me, if you please," Julien insisted, taking up the menu. + +Herr Freudenberg smiled genially. + +"Host or guest, who cares so long as we are joyous?" he cried, sitting +on mademoiselle's other side. "Although to-night," he added, with a +humorous glance at Julien, "it should surely be I who entertains! Dear +Marguerite!" + +He patted her hand. She looked at him pathetically and he smiled back +again. + +"Be happy, my child," he begged. "It is gone, that little twinge. It +was perhaps jealousy," he whispered in her ear. "Sir Julien has +captured many hearts." + +She drew a sigh of content. She raised his hand to her lips. Then she +dabbed at her eyes with the few inches of perfumed lace which she +called a handkerchief. It was passing, that evil moment. + +"There is no man in the world," she told him softly, "who should be +able to make you jealous. In your heart you know." + +He laughed lightly. + +"You will make me vain, dear one. Give me your little fingers to hold +for a moment. There--it is finished." + +He looked around the room with the light yet cheerful curiosity of the +pleasure-seeker. Then he leaned over towards Julien. + +"What does our shock-headed friend the journalist do in that company?" +he asked, with a backward motion of his head. + +Julien smiled. + +"He is devoted to madame with the double chin. He is apparently also +devoted to mademoiselle, the daughter of madame with the double chin. +He is contemplating, I believe, an alliance with the bourgeoisie." + +Herr Freudenberg watched the group for a moment with a slight frown. + +"They are types," he said under his breath, "absolute types. Kendricks +is studying them, without a doubt." + +He continued his scrutiny of the room. Then he leaned towards +mademoiselle. + +"Dear Marguerite!" + +"Yes?" + +"There is Mademoiselle Soupelles there," he pointed out, "sitting with +an untidy-looking man in a morning coat and a red tie. You see them?" + +"But certainly," mademoiselle agreed. "They are together always. It is +an alliance, that." + +"It would please me," Herr Freudenberg continued, still speaking almost +under his breath, "to converse with the companion of Mademoiselle +Soupelles. From you, dear Marguerite, I conceal nothing. I made no +appointment with you to-night because it was my intention to speak with +that person, and I could not tell where he would be. All has happened +fortunately. We spend our evening together, after all. See what you can +do to help me. Go and talk to your friend, Mademoiselle Soupelles. +Bring them here if you can. Sir Julien thinks he is ordering the +supper, but he is too late; I ordered it from Albert as I entered." + +Mademoiselle rose at once and shook out her skirts. She kissed her hand +across the room to her friend. + +"I go to speak to her," she promised. "What I can do I will. You know +that, dear one. But he is a strange-looking man, this companion of +hers. You know who he is? His name is Jesen. If I were Susanne, I would +see to it that he was more _comme-il-faut_." + +Herr Freudenberg laughed. + +"Never mind his appearance," he said. "He can drive the truth into the +hearts of this people as swiftly and as surely as any man who ever took +up a pen. Bring him here, little sweetheart, and to-morrow we visit +Cartier together." + +She glanced at him almost reproachfully. + +"As if that mattered!" she murmured, as she glided away. + +Julien turned discontentedly to his companion. + +"This fellow will take no order from me," he objected. "Do you own this +place, Herr Freudenberg, that you must always be obeyed here?" + +"By no means," Herr Freudenberg replied. "To-night is an exception. I +ordered supper as I entered. You see, there are others whom I may ask +to join. You shall have your turn when you will and I will be a very +submissive guest, but to-night--well, I have even at this moment +charged mademoiselle with a message to her friend and her friend's +companion. I have begged them to join us. On these nights I like +company--plenty of company!" + +"In that case, perhaps," Julien suggested, "I may be _de trop_." + +Freudenberg laid his hand upon his companion's shoulder. + +"My friend," he said earnestly, "it is not for you to talk like that, +to-night of all nights. If I say little, it is because we are both men +of few words, and I think that we understand. You know very well what +you and your shock-headed friend have done for me. Not that I believe," +he went on, "that it would ever come to me to be hounded to death by +such a gang. I am too fervent a believer in my own star for that. But +one never knows. It is well, anyhow, to escape with a sound skin." + +"Why did you run such a risk?" Julien asked him. + +"Partly," Freudenberg answered, "because I was really curious to know +what those fellows were driving at; and partly," he added, "because, +alas! I am possessed of that restless spirit, that everlasting craving +for adventures, which drives one on into any place where life stirs. I +knew that these people were plotting something against me. I wanted to +hear it with my own ears, to understand exactly what it was against +which I must be prepared. But now, Sir Julien, I question you. As for +me, my presence there was reasonable enough; but what were you doing in +such a place? What interests have you in German socialism?" + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"I cannot say that I have any," he admitted. "It was Kendricks who took +me. He is showing me Paris--Paris from his own point of view. He took me +first to a restaurant, where we dined for two francs and sat at the +same table with those people to whom he is now making himself so +agreeable. Kendricks has democratic instincts. His latest fad is to try +and instil them into me." + +Herr Freudenberg looked thoughtfully across at the journalist, still +deep in argument with his friends. + +"I am not sure that I understand that man," he declared. "In a sense he +impresses me. I should have put him down as one of those who do nothing +without a set and fixed purpose. But enough of other people. Listen. I +wish to speak with you--of yourself. I am glad that we have met +to-night. I have another and altogether a different proposition to make +to you." + +Julien remained silent for several moments. Herr Freudenberg watched +him. + +"A proposition to make to me," Julien repeated at last. "Well, let me +hear it?" + +Herr Freudenberg leaned towards him. + +"Sir Julien," he said, "there has happened to you, as to many of us, a +little slip in your life. It is a wise thing if for a few months you +pass off the stage of European affairs. You are of an adventurous +spirit. Will you undertake a commission for me? Listen. I will +guarantee that it is something which does not, and could not ever, by +any chance, affect in the slightest degree the interests of your +country. It is a commission which will take you a year to execute, and +it will lead you into a new land. It will require tact, diplomacy and +some courage. If you succeed, your reward will be an income for life. +If you fail, the worst that can happen to you is that you will have +passed a year of your life without effective result. Still, you will at +least have traveled, you will at least have seen new phases of life." + +Julien was puzzled. + +"You cannot seriously propose to me," he protested, "to undertake a +diplomatic errand for a country which has absolutely no claims upon +me--to which I am not even attracted?" he added. + +Herr Freudenberg tapped with his forefinger upon the table. Upon his +lips was a genial and tolerant smile. He had the air of a preceptor +devoting special pains upon the most backward member of his +kindergarten class. + +"My friend," he said, "there is no political question involved +whatever. The mission which I ask you to undertake would lead you into +a remote part of Africa, where neither your country nor mine has at +present any interests. More than this I cannot tell you unless you show +signs of accepting my invitation. The negotiations which you would have +to conduct are simply these. Four years ago a distinguished German +scientist who was in command of a somewhat rash expedition, was +captured by the ruler of the country to which I wish you to travel. For +some time the question of a mission to ascertain his fate has been upon +the carpet. It is true that we have received letters from him. He +professes to be happy and contented, to have been kindly treated, and +to have accepted a post in the army of his captor. We wish to know +whether these letters are genuine or not. If they are genuine, all is +well, but a suspicion still remains among some of us that the person in +question is being held in torture as an example to other white men who +might penetrate so far. This is the first object in the journey which I +propose to you. There is nothing political about it at all, as you +perceive. It is purely a matter of humanity.... Ah! I see that our +party is to be increased. Here are some new friends who arrive." + +Mademoiselle Ixe had succeeded. She returned now to her place, followed +by the girl with the chestnut-colored hair and her companion. At close +quarters the latter, at any rate, was scarcely prepossessing. He was a +man of middle age, untidily dressed, whose clothes were covered with +cigar ash and recent wine stains, whose linen was none of the cleanest, +and whose eyes behind his pince-nez were already bloodshot. Herr +Freudenberg, however, seemed to notice none of these unpleasant +defects. He grasped him vigorously by the hand. + +"It is Monsieur Jesen!" he exclaimed. "Often you have been pointed out +to me, and I have long wished to have the pleasure of making your +acquaintance. Sit down and join us, monsieur. Your little friend, +too,--ah, mademoiselle!" + +He bent low over the girl's hand and placed a seat for her. The party +was now arranged. Their host beamed upon them all. + +"Come," he continued, "this is perhaps my last night in Paris for some +time! We have had adventures, too, within these few hours. You find us +celebrating. My English friend here is one of us. I will not introduce +him by name. Why should we trouble about names? We are all friends, all +good fellows, here to pass the time agreeably, to drink good wine, to +look into beautiful eyes, mademoiselle, to amuse ourselves. It is the +science of life, that. Monsieur Jesen, mademoiselle, dear Marguerite, +my English friend here, let me be sure that your glasses are filled. To +the very brim, garcon--to the very brim! Let us drink together to the +joyous evenings of the past, to the joyous evenings of the future, to +these few present hours that lie before us when we shall sit here and +taste further this very admirable vintage. To the wine we drink, to the +lips we love, to this hour of life!" + +For the moment there was no more serious conversation. Herr Freudenberg +had started a vein of frivolity to which every one there was quick to +respond. Only every now and then he himself, the giver of the feast, +had suddenly the look of a different man as he sat and whispered in the +ear of Monsieur Jesen. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +FALKENBERG ACTS + + +At two o'clock, with obvious reluctance, Kendricks' new friends +departed. Their leave-taking was long and ceremonious. Kendricks, +indeed, insisted upon escorting mademoiselle to the door. Madame left +the place with the assured conviction that a prospective son-in-law was +soon to present himself--it could be for no other reason that the +English gentleman had so sedulously attached himself to their party. +Monsieur, having less sentiment, was not so sure. Mademoiselle had both +hopes and fears. They discussed the matter fully on their homeward +drive. + +Kendricks strolled over to the table where Julien was and touched him +on the shoulder. + +"Is this to be another all-night sitting?" he asked. + +Herr Freudenberg was deep in conversation with Monsieur Jesen--the +friend of mademoiselle's friend. He glanced up, but his greeting was +almost perfunctory. Kendricks looked keenly at the man who was leaning +back in his padded seat. The eyes of Monsieur Jesen were a little more +bloodshot now. He had spilt wine down the front of his waistcoat, cigar +ash upon his coat-sleeve. He was by no means an inviting person to look +at. Yet about his forehead and mouth there was an expression of power. +Herr Freudenberg, with obvious regret, abandoned his conversation for a +moment. + +"You are taking your friend away?" he remarked suavely. "We shall part +from him with regret. Sir Julien," he added, whispering in his ear, "I +must have your answer to my proposition. I will put it into absolutely +definite shape, if you like, within the next few days." + +"I move into my old rooms--number 17, Rue de Montpelier--to-morrow +morning, or rather this morning," Julien replied. "You might telephone +or call there at any time." + +"Tell me, is what I have proposed in any way attractive to you?" Herr +Freudenberg asked, still speaking in an undertone. + +"In a sense it is," Julien answered. "It needs further consideration, +of course. I must also consult my friend." + +Herr Freudenberg glanced at Kendricks and shrugged his shoulders. He +had the air of one slightly annoyed. Kendricks was bending over +Mademoiselle Ixe. Herr Freudenberg whispered in Julien's ear. + +"You take too much advice from your boisterous friend, dear Sir +Julien," he asserted. "Mark my words, he will try to keep you here, +cooling your heels upon the mat. He will prevent you from raising your +hand to knock upon the door of destiny. These men who write are like +that. They do not understand action." + +Kendricks turned from mademoiselle. + +"You are ready, Julien?" he asked. + +"Quite," Julien answered. + +They made their adieux. Herr Freudenberg watched them leave the room. +The man by his side--Monsieur Jesen--also watched a little curiously. + +"An English journalist," Herr Freudenberg remarked, "some say a man of +ability. I find him a trifle boisterous and uncouth. Monsieur Jesen, +our conversation interests me immensely. I feel sure--" + +Jesen looked suspiciously around. + +"We have talked enough of business," he declared. "It is an idea, this +of yours. For the rest, I cannot tell. A wonderful idea!" he continued. +"And as for me, am I not the man to embrace it?" + +"You have but to say a single word," Herr Freudenberg reminded him +softly, "and all is arranged." + +Monsieur Jesen puffed furiously at a cigarette. The fingers which had +held the match to it were shaking. The man himself seemed unsteady on +his seat. Yet it was obvious that his brain was working. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he said, "there is but one weak point in all your +chain of arguments. To do as you ask, it will be necessary that I--I, +Paul Jesen, so well-known, whose opinions are followed by millions of +my country people--it would be necessary for me to abandon my +convictions, to turn a right-about-face. Ask yourself, is it not like +selling one's honor when one writes the things one does not believe?" + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. + +"My friend, you ask me a question the reply to which is already spoken. +I tell you that behind, at the back of your brain, you know and realize +the truth of all these things. Think, man! Call to mind the arguments I +have used. Remember, I have lifted the curtain, I have shown you the +things that arrive, the things that are inevitable." + +Mademoiselle, the companion of Monsieur Jesen, had had enough of this. +It was her weekly holiday. She yawned and tapped her friend upon the +arm. + +"My dear Paul," she protested, "while you and Herr Freudenberg talk as +two men who have immense affairs, Marguerite and I we weary ourselves. +If I am to be alone like this, very good. I speak to my friends. There +is Monsieur de Chaussin there. He throws me a kiss. Do you wish that I +sit with him? He looks, indeed, as though he had plenty to say! Or +there is the melancholy Italian gentleman, who raises his glass always +when I look. And the two Americans--" + +"You have reason, little one," Monsieur Jesen interrupted. "Herr +Freudenberg, this is no place for such a discussion." + +"Agreed!" Herr Freudenberg exclaimed. "We owe our apologies to +mademoiselle, your charming friend, and mademoiselle, my adored +companion," he added, turning to Marguerite. "Come, let us drink more +wine. Let us talk together. What is your pleasure, mademoiselle, the +friend of my good friend, Monsieur Jesen? Will you have them dance to +us? Is there music to which you would listen? Or shall we pray +Marguerite here that she sings? Let us, at any rate, be gay. And for +the rest, Monsieur Jesen, time has no count for us who live our lives. +When we leave here, you and I will talk more." + +It was daylight before they left. The whole party got into Herr +Freudenberg's motor. + +"I drive you first to your rooms, Monsieur Jesen," he said. "I take +then the liberty of entering with you. The little conversation which we +have begun is best concluded within the shelter of four walls." + +Monsieur Jesen was excited yet nervous. + +"It is too late," he muttered, "to talk business." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. + +"Ah!" he cried, "you jest, my friend. Look out of that window. You see +the sunshine in the streets, you breathe the fresh, clear air? Too +late, indeed! It is morning, and the brain is keenest then. Don't you +feel the fumes of the hot room, of the wine, of the tobacco smoke, all +pass away with the touch of that soft wind?" + +Monsieur Jesen stared. He was conscious of a very bad headache, an +uncomfortable sense that he had, as usual on his weekly holiday, eaten +and drunk and smoked a great deal more than was good for him. He gazed +with wonder at this tall, spare-looking man, who had drunk as much and +smoked as much and eaten as much as any one else, and yet appeared +exactly as he had done four hours ago. Even his linen was still +spotless. His eyes were bright, his manner buoyant. + +"Monsieur," he murmured, "you are marvelous. I have never before met a +German merchant like you." + +Herr Freudenberg sat quite still for a moment. He looked at +mademoiselle, the friend of Monsieur Jesen, and he realized that theirs +was no casual acquaintance. In both he recognized the characteristics +of fidelity. As he had always the genius to do, he took his risks. + +"Monsieur Jesen," he announced, "I am no German maker of toys. Let me +ascend with you to your room and you shall hear who I am and why I have +said these things to you." + +Monsieur Jesen held his hand to his head. Something in the manner of +this new friend of his was, in a sense, mesmeric. + +"You shall ascend, monsieur," he said. "I do not know who you are, but +you are evidently a very wonderful person. We will ascend and you shall +wait while I place my head in cold water and Susanne mixes me some +absinthe. Then I will listen." + +The automobile came to a standstill about halfway down a shabby street +in a somewhat shabby neighborhood. Herr Freudenberg noticed this fact +without change of countenance, but with secret pleasure. He turned to +Marguerite. + +"Dear Marguerite," he whispered, "for an hour or so I must leave you. +You will permit that my man takes you to your apartments and returns +for me here?" + +"May I not wait for you here in the automobile?" she asked timidly. + +Herr Freudenberg shook his head kindly. + +"Dear little one," he murmured, "not this morning. Indeed, I have +important affairs on hand. As soon as I am free, I will telephone. +Sleep well, little girl." + +He stepped out on to the pavement. The postern door in front of them +was opened, in response to Monsieur Jesen's vigorous knocking, from +some invisible place by a string. The three of them climbed four +flights of rickety stairs. They reached at last a stone landing. +Monsieur Jesen threw open a door and led the way into an untidy-looking +salon. + +"Monsieur will forgive the fact," he begged, "that I am not better +housed. If it were not for little Susanne here," he added, patting her +upon the shoulder, "I doubt whether I should keep a roof above my head +at all." + +"It is not like this," Herr Freudenberg declared, "that genius should +be treated." + +"Indeed," Mademoiselle Susanne intervened, "it is what I tell him +always. Monsieur, they pay him but a beggarly three hundred francs a +month--he, who writes all the editorials; he, who is the spirit of the +papers! It is not fair. I tell dear Paul that it is wicked, and, as he +says, the money, if it were not for me, he would squander it in a +minute. I have even to go with him to the office, for there are many +who know when Paul draws his little cheque." + +Herr Freudenberg set down his hat upon the table. He looked around at +all the evidences of unclean and sordid life. Then he looked at the +man. It was a queer housing, this, for genius! His face remained +expressionless. Of the disgust he felt he showed no sign. In the +building of houses one must use many tools! + +"Monsieur Jesen," he said, "and mademoiselle--I speak to you both, for +I recognize that between you there is indeed a union of sympathy and +souls. Mademoiselle, then, I address myself to you. On certain terms I +have offered to purchase for Monsieur Paul here a two-thirds share of +the newspaper upon which he works, that two-thirds share which he and I +both know is in the market at this moment. I am willing at mid-day +to-morrow, or rather to-day, to place within his hands the sum +required. I am willing to send my notary with him to the office, and +the affair could be arranged at half-past twelve. From then he +practically owns _Le Jour_. Its politics are his to control. I +make him this offer, mademoiselle, and it is a greater one than it +sounds, for the money which I place in his hands to make this +purchase--five hundred thousand francs--is his completely and +absolutely. You move at once into apartments befitting your new +position. Monsieur Paul Jesen is no longer a struggling and ill-paid +journalist. He is the proprietor of an important journal, through whose +columns he shall help to guide the policy of your nation." + +Monsieur Jesen sat down. His fingers were clutching one another. +Mademoiselle stared at Herr Freudenberg. Her color was coming and +going. + +"Monsieur, I do not understand!" she cried. "Are you a prince in +disguise? Why do you do this?" + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg replied, "your question is the +question of an intelligent woman. Why do I do this? Not for nothing, I +assure you. It is my custom to make bargains, indeed, but I make them +so that those with whom I deal shall never regret the day they met Herr +Freudenberg. I offer you this splendid future, you and Monsieur Jesen +there, on one condition, and it is a small one, for already the truth +has found its way a little into his brain. _Le Jour_ has supported +always, wholly and entirely, the _entente_ between Great Britain +and your country. I have tried to point out to Paul Jesen here what all +far-seeing people must soon appreciate--that the _entente_ is +doomed." + +The girl glanced at Jesen. Jesen was looking away out of the dusty +window. + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg continued, "I will not weary you at +this hour in the morning with politics. I have talked long with +Monsieur Jesen and I think that I have shown him something of the +truth. You came to the rescue of Great Britain when she lay friendless +and powerless. You saved her prestige; you saved her, without doubt, +from invasion. What have you gained? Nothing! What can you ever gain? +Nothing! Her army of toy soldiers would be of less use to you than a +single corps from across the Elbe. Her fleet--you have no possessions +to guard. It is for herself only that she maintains it. I ask you to +think quietly for yourself and ask yourself on whose side is the +balance of advantage. You can reply to that question in one way, and +one way only. France has been carried away on a wave of enthusiasm, a +wave of sentiment--call it what you will. But France is a far-seeing +people. The moment is ripe. I propose to Paul Jesen that his should be +the hand and _Le Jour_ the vehicle which shall bring the French +people to a proper understanding of the political situation." + +"Who, then, are you?" Mademoiselle Susanne persisted. + +Herr Freudenberg barely hesitated. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "we speak of great things, we three, in this +little chamber of yours. I, who have often talked of great things +before, have learned in life one lesson at least, and that is when one +may trust. It is not my desire that many people should know who I am. +It suits my purpose better to move in Paris as a private citizen, but +to you two let me tell the truth. I am Prince Falkenberg." + +There was a silence. The man looked at him, sober enough now, in +amazement. The girl's hands were clasped together. She was watching the +man--her man. She crept to his side, her arm was around his neck. + +"Dear Paul," she whispered, "think! Think how sweet life might be. +There is so much truth in all this. I know little of politics, but +think of the hard times we have lived through. Think how glorious to +have you ride in your automobile to the offices of your newspaper, to +see you pass into the editor's sanctum instead of waiting outside, to +have me call for you, perhaps, and take you out to lunch--no, never at +Drevel's any more--at the Cafe de Paris, or Henry's, or Paillard's, or +out in the Bois! And the excursions, dear Paul. Think of them! The +country--how we both love the country! You remember when we first went +out together to the little town on the river, where no one ever seemed +to have come from Paris before? How sleepy and quiet the long +afternoon, when we lay in the grass and heard the birds sing, and the +murmur of the river, and we had only a few francs for our dinner, and +we had to leave the train and walk that last four miles because you had +drunk one more _bock_. Dear Paul, think what life might be if one +were really rich!" + +The man's eyes flashed. + +"It is true," he muttered. "All my life I have been a straggler." + +"You have done your genius an ill turn, my friend," Herr Freudenberg +said slowly. "No man can be at his best who knows care. I, Prince +Falkenberg, I promise you that it is the truth which I have spoken, the +truth which I shall show you. You lose no shadow of honor or +self-respect. There will come a day when the millions of readers whom +you shall influence will say to themselves--'Paul Jesen, he is the man +who saw the truth. It is he who has saved France.' You accept?" + +"Monsieur le Prince," Susanne cried, "he accepts!" + +Jesen rose to his feet. He had become a little unsteady again. He +struck the table with his fist. + +"I accept!" he declared. + + + + + + +BOOK TWO + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +THE FLIGHT OF LADY ANNE + + +It was exactly nine forty-five in the evening, about three weeks +later, when the two-twenty from London steamed into the Gare du Nord. +Julien, from his place among the little crowd wedged in behind the +gates, gazed with blank amazement at the girl who, among the first to +leave the train, was presenting her ticket to the collector. At that +moment she recognized him. With a purely mechanical effort he raised +his hat and held out his hand. + +"Lady Anne!" he exclaimed. "Why--I had no idea you were coming to +Paris," he added weakly. + +She laughed--the same frank, good-humored laugh, except that she seemed +to lack just a little of her usual self-possession. + +"Neither did I," she confessed, "until this morning." + +He looked at her blankly. She was carrying her own jewel-case. He could +see no signs of a maid or any party. + +"But tell me," he asked, "where are the rest of your people?" + +She shook her head. + +"Nowhere. I am quite alone." + +Julien was speechless. + +"You must really forgive me," he continued, after a moment's pause, "if +I seem stupid. It is scarcely a month ago since I read of your +engagement to Harbord. The papers all said that you were to be married +at once." + +She nodded. + +"That's exactly it," she said. "That's why I am here." + +"What, you mean that you are going to be married here?" asked Julien. + +"I am not going to be married at all," she replied cheerfully. "Between +ourselves, Julien," she added, "I found I couldn't go through with it." + +"Couldn't go through with it!" he repeated feebly. + +Lady Anne was beginning to recover herself. + +"Don't be stupid," she begged. "You used to be quick enough. Can't you +see what has happened? I became engaged to the little beast. I stood it +for three weeks. I didn't mind him at the other end of the room, but +when he began to talk about privileges and attempt to take liberties, I +found I couldn't bear the creature anywhere near me. Then all of a +sudden I woke up this morning and remembered that we were to be married +in a week. That was quite enough for me. I slipped out after lunch, +caught the two-twenty train, and here I am." + +"Exactly," Julien agreed. "Here you are." + +"With my luggage," she continued, swinging the jewel-case in her hand +and laughing in his face. + +"With your luggage," Julien echoed. "Seriously, is that all that you +have brought?" + +"Every bit," she answered. "You know mother?" + +"Yes, I know your mother!" he admitted. + +"Well, I didn't exactly feel like taking her into my confidence," Lady +Anne explained, smiling. "Under those circumstances, I thought it just +as well to make my departure as quietly as possible." + +"Then they don't know where you are?" + +"Really," she assured him, "you are becoming quite intelligent. They do +not." + +"In other words, you've run away?" + +"Marvelous!" she murmured. "I suppose it's the air over here." + +A sudden idea swept into Julien's mind. Of course, it was ridiculous, +yet for a moment his heart gave a little jump. Perhaps she divined his +thought, for her next words disposed of it effectually. + +"Of course, I knew that you were in Paris, but I had no idea that we +should meet, certainly not like this. I have a dear friend to whose +apartments I shall go at once. She is a milliner." + +"She is a what?" Julien asked blankly. + +A smile played about Lady Anne's lips. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "you know, you never did understand +me! I repeat that she is a milliner and that she is a dear friend of +mine, and I am going just as I am to tell her that I have come to spend +the night. She will have to find me rooms, she will have to help me +find employment." + +Kendricks, who had come by the same train, and whom Julien was there to +meet, was hovering in the background. Julien, seeing him, could do no +more than nod vaguely. + +"Lady Anne," he began,-- + +"You needn't bother about that," she interrupted. "We were always good +friends, weren't we?" she added carelessly. "Besides, to call me 'Lady' +anything would be rather ridiculous under the present circumstances." + +"Well, Anne, then," he said, "please let me get my bearings. I +understand that you were engaged to Harbord--you weren't forced into +it, I suppose?" + +"Not at all. I tried to run along the usual groove, but I came up +against something too big for me. I don't know how other girls do it. I +simply found I couldn't. Samuel Harbord is rather by way of being +something outrageous, you know." + +"Of course he is," Julien agreed, with sudden appreciation of the fact. + +"You needn't be so vigorous about it. I remember your almost forcing +him on to me the day you called to say good-bye." + +"I was talking rubbish," Julien asserted. "You see, I was in rather an +unfortunate position myself that day, wasn't I? No one likes to feel +like a discarded lover. I can understand your chucking Harbord all +right, but I can't quite see why it was necessary for you to run away +from home to come and stay with a little milliner." + +She laughed. + +"My dear Julien, you don't know those Harbords! There are hordes of +them, countless hordes--mothers and sisters and cousins and aunts. +They've besieged the place ever since our engagement was announced. If +the merest whisper were to get about among them that I was thinking of +backing out, there's nothing they wouldn't do. They'd make the whole +place intolerable for me--follow me about in the street, weep in my +bedroom, hang around the place morning, noon and night. Besides, mother +would be on their side and the whole thing would be impossible." + +"I have no doubt," Julien admitted, "that the situation would be a +trifle difficult, but to talk about earning your own living--you, Lady +Anne--" + +"Lady fiddlesticks!" she interrupted. "What a stupid old thing you are, +Julien! You never found out, I suppose, that at heart I am a Bohemian?" + +"No, I never did!" he assented vigorously. + +"Ah, well," she remarked, "you were too busy flirting with that Carraby +woman to discover all my excellent qualities. We mustn't stay here, +must we? Are you very busy, or do you want to drive me to my friend's +house? Of course, meeting you here will be the end of me if any one +sees us. Still, I don't suppose you object to a little scandal, and the +more I get the happier I shall be." + +"I'll take you anywhere," Julien promised. "You don't mind waiting +while I speak to the man whom I have come to meet?" + +"Not at all," she replied. "You are sure he won't object?" + +"Of course not," Julien assured her. "Kendricks is an awfully good +sort." + +The two men gripped hands. Kendricks was carrying his own bag and +smoking his accustomed pipe. He had apparently been asleep in the +carriage and was looking a little more untidy than usual. + +"I got your wire all right," Julien said, "and I am thundering glad to +see you. Are you just in search of the ordinary sort of copy, or is +there anything special doing?" + +"Something special," Kendricks answered, "and you're in it. When can we +talk? No hurry, as long as I see you some time to-night." + +"I am entirely at your service," Julien declared. "I have been bored to +death for the last few weeks and I am only too anxious to have a talk. +You don't mind if I see this young lady to her friend's house first? I +don't know exactly where it is, but it won't take very long. She is all +alone, and as long as we have met I feel that I ought to look after +her." + +"Naturally," Kendricks agreed. "I can go to my hotel and meet you +anywhere you say for supper." + +Julien glanced at his watch. + +"It is ten o'clock within a minute or two," he announced. "Supposing we +make it half-past eleven at the Abbaye?" + +Kendricks nodded. + +"That'll suit me. So long!" + +He strode away in search of a cab. Julien returned to Lady Anne and +took the jewel-case from her fingers. + +"It's all arranged," he said. "You are quite sure that you have no more +luggage?" + +She laughed. + +"Not a scrap! Have you ever traveled without luggage, Julien? It makes +you feel that you are really in for adventures." + +"Does it!" he replied a little weakly. Somehow or other, he had never +associated a love for adventures with Lady Anne. + +"Isn't it fun to be in Paris once more?" she continued. "I want a real +rickety little _voiture_ and I want the man to have a white hat, +if possible, and I want to drive down into Paris over those cobbles." + +"Any particular address?" + +She handed him a card. He called an open victoria and directed the man. +Together they drove out of the station yard. Lady Anne leaned forward, +looking around her with keen pleasure. + +"Julien," she cried, "this is delightful, meeting you! I hope I shan't +be a bother to you, but really it is rather nice to feel that I have +one friend here." + +"You couldn't possibly be a bother to me," he declared. "I'm rather a +waif here myself, you know, and I am honestly glad to see you." + +She looked at him quickly and breathed a little sigh of relief. + +"Now that's sweet of you," she said. "Of course, I don't see why you +shouldn't be. We were always good friends, weren't we? and it makes me +feel so much more comfortable to remember that we never went in for the +other sort of thing." + +"There was just one moment," he murmured ruminatingly,-- + +She turned her head. + +"Stop at once," she begged. "That moment passed, as you know. If it +hadn't, things might have been different. If it hadn't, I should feel +differently about being with you now. We are forgetting that moment, if +you please, Julien. Do, there's a good fellow. If you wanted to be +good-natured, you could be so nice to me until I get used to being +alone." + +"Forgotten it shall be, by all means," he promised cheerfully. "Do you +know that the address you gave me is only a few yards away?" + +"Oh, bother!" she exclaimed. "I knew that it was somewhere up by the +Gare du Nord." + +They turned off from the Rue Lafayette and pulled up opposite a +milliner's shop. + +"Mademoiselle Rignaut lives up above," Lady Anne said, alighting. "It's +sweet of you to have brought me, Julien." + +"I am going to wait and see that you are all right," he replied, +ringing the bell. + +There was a short delay, then the door was opened. A young woman peered +out. + +"Who is it?" she asked quickly. + +A little of Lady Anne's confidence for the moment had almost deserted +her. The girl's face was invisible and the interior of the passage +looked cheerless. Nevertheless, she answered briskly. + +"Don't you remember me, Mademoiselle Janette? I am Lady Anne--Lady Anne +Clonarty, you know." + +There was a wondering scream, an exclamation of delight, and Julien +stood on the pavement for fully five minutes. Then Lady Anne +reappeared, followed by her friend. + +"Sir Julien," she said, "this is Mademoiselle Rignaut. I am awfully +lucky. Mademoiselle Rignaut has a room she can let me have and we are +going to raid her shop and get everything I want. She has costumes as +well as hats." + +Julien shook hands with the little Frenchwoman, who had not yet +recovered from her amazement. + +"But this is wonderful, monsieur, is it not," she cried, "to see dear +Lady Anne like this? Such a surprise! Such a delight! But, miladi," she +added suddenly, "you must be hungry--starving!" + +"I am," Lady Anne admitted frankly. + +The little woman's face fell. + +"But only this afternoon," she explained, "my servant was taken away to +the hospital! What can we--" + +"What you will both do," Julien interrupted, "is to come and have +supper with me." + +"Do you really mean it?" Lady Anne asked doubtfully. "What about your +friend?" + +"He won't mind," Julien assured her. "You shall take your first step +into Bohemia, my dear Anne. We had arranged to sup in the Montmartre. +You and Mademoiselle Rignaut must come. I can give you half an hour to +get ready--more, if you want it." + +"What larks!" Lady Anne exclaimed. "Can I come in a traveling dress?" + +"You can come just as you are," Julien replied. "One visits these +places just as one feels disposed. I'll be off and get a taximeter +automobile instead of this thing, and come back for you whenever you +say." + +"You are a brick," Lady Anne declared. "I shall love to go." + +"Monsieur is too kind," Mademoiselle Rignaut agreed, "but as for me, it +is not fitting--" + +"Rubbish!" Lady Anne interrupted briskly. "You've got to get all that +sort of stuff out of your head, Janette, and to start with you must +come to supper with us. Bless you, I couldn't go alone with Sir Julien! +I was engaged to be married to him three months ago." + +Mademoiselle shook her head feebly. + +"But indeed, Miladi Anne," she protested, "you are a strange people, +you English! I do not understand." + +Lady Anne took her by the arm and turned towards the open door. + +"Don't bother about that. We'll be ready in half an hour, Julien." + +Julien returned to the Gare du Nord and treated himself to a whiskey +and soda. He was surprised at the pleasurable sense of excitement which +this meeting had given him. During the last few weeks in Paris he had +found little to interest or amuse him. He had been, in fact, very +distinctly bored. The newspapers and illustrated journals, although +they were always full of interest to him, had day by day brought their +own particular sting. Although his affection for Lady Anne had been of +a distinctly modified character, yet he had found it curiously +unpleasant to read everywhere of her engagement, of her plans for the +future, and to look at the photographs of her and her intended +bridegroom which seemed to stare at him from every page. Somehow or +other, although he told himself that personally it was of no +consequence to him, he yet found the present situation of affairs far +more to his liking. + +He lounged about the Gare du Nord, smoking a cigarette and thinking +over what she had told him. There was a good deal in the present +situation to appeal to his sense of humor. He thought of the Duke and +the Duchess when they discovered the flight of their daughter,--their +efforts to keep all details from the papers; of Harbord and his horde +of relations--Harbord, who had neither the dignity nor the breeding to +accept such a reverse in silence. He could imagine the gossip at the +clubs and among their friends. He himself was immensely surprised. He +had considered himself something of a judge of character, and yet he +had looked upon Lady Anne as a good-natured young person, brimful of +common sense, without an ounce of sentiment--a perfectly well-ordered +piece of the machinery of her sex. The whole affair was astonishing. +Perhaps to him the most astonishing part was that he found himself +continually looking at the clock, counting almost the minutes until it +was possible for him to start on this little expedition! + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +"TO OUR NEW SELVES" + + +Julien found a taximeter automobile and, punctually at the time +appointed, drove to the little milliner's shop in the Rue St. Antoine. +Lady Anne and her companion were waiting for him and they drove off +together in high good humor. The manager at the Abbaye bowed before +them with special deference. He recognized Julien as an occasional +customer, and Lady Anne, even in her traveling gown, was a person to +inspire attention. + +They chose a table and ordered supper for four. Kendricks had not yet +arrived, but it was barely half-past eleven and the place was almost +empty. Lady Anne was in high spirits and chattering all the time. +Julien looked at her occasionally in amazement. They had seldom been +alone together in London, but on those few occasions when the +conventions had demanded it, he had been inclined to find her rather +stupid. She was certainly nothing of the sort this evening! + +"I suppose I am a baby," she exclaimed, laughing, "but to-night I feel +as though I were beginning a new life! Tell me, mademoiselle, have you +a place for me as a seamstress? Or will you have me for a model? My +figure is good enough, isn't it?" + +"Miladi," Mademoiselle Rignaut declared deprecatingly, "there is no +girl in my shop with a figure like yours, but it is not well for you to +talk so, indeed. It is shocking." + +Lady Anne laughed gayly. + +"Now, my little friend," she said, "let us understand one another. +There is no more 'miladi.' I am Anne--Anne to you and Anne to Julien +here. I've finished with the 'miladi' affair. I dare say I shouldn't +care about being a model, but all the same I am going to earn my own +living." + +"Earn your own living!" Mademoiselle Rignaut echoed, in something like +horror. + +She had met the Duke and the Duchess--she had traveled even to London +and had passed the night beneath the ducal roof. Lady Anne's mother had +very sound ideas of economy, and Mademoiselle Rignaut was cheap and yet +undoubtedly French. + +"Earn my own living, without a doubt," Lady Anne repeated, helping +herself to a roll. "You don't mind my eating some bread and butter, do +you, Julien? I couldn't lunch--I was much too excited, and the tea on +the train was filthy. Why, of course I am going to earn my own living," +she continued. "I've only got a few thousand francs with me, and some +jewelry. I believe I have got a small income, but Heaven knows whether +they will let me have it!" + +Julien's eyes were suddenly lit with humor. + +"Why, the Duke will be here for you to-morrow," he exclaimed, "to take +you back!" + +She leaned back in her seat with an air of deliberation. + +"I'm free," she insisted. "I'm twenty-six years old, thank Heaven! +Twenty-six years I've had of it--enough to crush any one. No more! You +know, I like this sense of freedom," she went on. "It's perfectly +amazing how young I feel. Julien, do you remember when mother wouldn't +let us lunch together at the Ritz without a chaperon?" + +"I do," he assented. "I'm sure we didn't need one, either." + +She smiled reminiscently. + +"What sticks we were! What a silly life! I really have the most +delightful feeling, as though I were starting things all over again, as +though there were all sorts of wonderful adventures before me." + +Julien looked at her quickly. There was no woman in the place half so +good-looking or with any pretensions to such style. He was conscious of +an odd twinge of jealousy. + +"You'll have no trouble in finding adventures," he remarked a little +grimly. + +Her eyes flashed back an answer to his thought. + +"Bless you, I don't want anything to do with men! Fancy having been +engaged to you and to Samuel Harbord! What further thrills could +possibly be in store for me?" + +"Well, I don't know," Julien retorted. "I suppose if I was a stick, +there must have been something about you which induced me to be one." + +"Not a bit of it," she objected. "You were a solemn, studious, +gentlemanly, well-behaved, well-conducted prig--very much a male +edition of what I was myself. What a life we should have lived +together!... Here's your friend. You know, I rather like the look of +him. He's so delightfully untidy. I should think he belongs round about +the new world, doesn't he?" + +"He's a working journalist," Julien answered, "a very clever fellow and +a good friend of mine." + +"Then I shall adore him," Lady Anne decided,--"not because he is a good +friend of yours, but because he is a working journalist. Why, I saw him +sitting waiting for you the day you came and wished me that touching +good-bye," she added. "I liked him even then. It seemed so sweet of him +to come and help you through that terrible ordeal." + +She held out her hand to Kendricks very charmingly when he was +presented. + +"Don't be terrified at finding us here, please," she begged. "I know +you have some business to talk over with Julien, but you see we were +starving, and Julien had to be polite to me because we were once +engaged to be married. I promise you that when we have eaten we will go +home." + +Kendricks looked at her for a moment and smiled. + +"You know," he said, "I believe you've run away." + +She laughed. + +"I felt sure that I was going to like your friend, Julien!" she +exclaimed. "He understands things so quickly." + +"I am a newspaper man, you see," he told her. "Just as I left, I was +reading all sorts of things about your wedding, and the presents, and +the rest of it. I saw you in the train and recognized you." + +"Don't think I've come over after Julien," she continued cheerfully. "I +never dreamed of seeing him--not just yet, at any rate. I had no idea +where to run to, but Paris seemed to me so easy and so natural, and +somehow or other it must be more difficult to worry any one into going +back from a foreign country. Not that I've any idea of going back," she +broke off. "I think I'm going to enjoy life hugely out here." + +"But it is most astonishing!" Mademoiselle Rignaut declared with a +gasp. + +"My little friend here," Lady Anne went on, "hasn't got over it all +yet. She doesn't understand the sheer barbarity of being a duke's +daughter. The worst of it is she'll never have an opportunity of trying +it for herself. Heaven save the others! Julien, I hope we are going to +have some champagne. Mother never liked me to drink champagne at a +restaurant. You see," she explained, "we weren't rich enough to be in +really the smart set, or else I should have been allowed to do any +mortal thing, and if you aren't in the very smart set, it is best to +turn up your nose at them and to ape propriety. That's what we did. It +suited father because it was cheap, and mother because she said it went +with my style." + +"Champagne, by all means," Julien agreed. "I ordered it some time ago. +And here comes the lobster." + +"Julien, tell him to give me some wine," Lady Anne begged. "I am +thirsty." + +Julien gave the order to the _sommelier_. She raised the glass to +her lips and looked at him. + +"To our new selves," she exclaimed, laughing, "and to the broken +bonds!" + +Julien raised his glass at once. + +"To our new selves!" he echoed. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +WORK FOR JULIEN + + +The new Anne had not forgotten her natural stubbornness. At half-past +twelve she rose from the supper table and declined absolutely to allow +Julien to escort her home. + +"My dear Julien," she declared, "the thing is ridiculous. We have +finished with all that. I am a Bohemian. I expect to walk about these +streets when and where and at what hour I choose. You have business +with Mr. Kendricks and I am glad of it. You certainly shall not waste +your time gallivanting around with me. Janette and I together could +defy any sort of danger." + +"But, my dear Anne," Julien protested, "you cannot make these changes +so suddenly. To drive you home would take, at the most, half an hour." + +"I shall enjoy the drive immensely," Lady Anne answered coolly, "but we +shall take it alone. Don't be foolish, Julien. Come and find us a +little carriage and say good night nicely." + +He was forced to obey. He found a carriage and helped her in. She even +stopped him when he would have paid for it. + +"For the present," she said, "I prefer to arrange these matters for +myself. Thanks ever so much for the supper," she added, "and come and +see me in a day or two, won't you?" + +She gave him her hand and smiled her farewells at him. The lamplight +flashed upon her as she leaned forward to say good-bye, and Julien for +the first time realized that her hair was a beautiful shade of brown, +and that there was a quiet but very effective beauty about her face +which he had never appreciated. She waved her hand and laughed at him +in frank good-fellowship which he somehow felt vaguely annoying. The +carriage rolled away and he went back to Kendricks. + +"My friend," the latter exclaimed, "pay your bill and let us depart! I +am in no humor for the cafes to-night. Let us go to your rooms and sit +quietly, or drive--whichever you choose." + +"You have news?" Julien remarked. + +"I have news and a proposition for you," Kendricks replied. "I am not +sure that we do ourselves much good by being seen about Paris together +just now. I am not sure, even, whether it is safe." + +Julien stared at him. + +"You are making fun of me!" + +"Not I," Kendricks assured him. "We are both being drawn into a queer +little cycle of events, events which perhaps we may influence. When we +get back to your rooms, I will tell you about it. Until then, not a +word." + +They drove down the hill, talking of Lady Anne. + +"Somehow," Kendricks remarked, "she doesn't fit in, in the least, with +your description of her. I imagined a cold, rather stupid young woman, +of very moderate intelligence, and certainly no sense of humor. Do you +know that your Lady Anne is really a very charming person?" + +"She puzzles me a little," Julien confessed. "Something has changed +her." + +Kendricks nodded. + +"Whatever has done it has done a good thing. She gave you your conge +quite calmly, didn't she?" + +"Absolutely," Julien admitted. "She brushed me away as though I had +been a misbehaving fly." + +"After all," Kendricks said, "you were of the same kidney--a prig of +the first water, you know, Julien. I am never tired of telling you so, +am I? Never mind, it's good for you. Have you seen Herr Freudenberg +this week?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"Not since we were all at the Rat Mort together nearly a month ago. Did +I tell you that he made me an offer then?" + +"No, you told me nothing about it," Kendricks replied, leaning forward +with interest. "What sort of an offer? Go on, tell me about it?" + +"He wanted me," Julien continued, "to undertake the command of an +expedition to some place which he did not specify, to discover whether +a German who was living there was being held a prisoner--" + +"Oh, la, la!" Kendricks interrupted. "Tell me what your reply was?" + +"I told him that I must consult you first. As a matter of fact, I never +thought seriously about it at all. The whole affair seemed to me so +vague, and it didn't attract me in the least. I don't know whether you +can understand what I mean, but to me it appeared to be an entirely +artificial suggestion. If such a thing had been reasonable at all, I +should have said that it was an offer invented on the spur of the +moment by Herr Freudenberg, to get me out of Paris." + +"Really, Julien," declared Kendricks, "I am beginning to have hopes of +you. There are times when you are almost bright." + +"What are you here for?" Julien asked. "Is there anything wrong in +London?" + +"Anything wrong!" Kendricks growled. "You and your foolish letters, +Julien! You left the way open for that little bounder Carraby and he'll +do for us. Lord, how they love him in Berlin!" + +"They are not exactly appreciating him over here, are they?" Julien +remarked. "I don't understand the tone of the Press at all. There's +something at the back of it all." + +"There is," Kendricks agreed grimly. "Sit tight, wait till we are in +your rooms. I'll tell you some news." + +"We are there now," Julien replied, as the little carriage pulled up. +"Follow me, Kendricks, and take care of the stairs. I hope you like the +smell of new bread? You see, the ground floor is occupied by a +confectioner's shop. It keeps me hungry half the time." + +"Delicious!" Kendricks murmured. "Are these your rooms?" + +Julien nodded and turned on the electric light. + +"Not palatial, as you see, but comfortable and, I flatter myself, +typically French. Don't you love the red plush and the gilt mirror? Of +course, one doesn't sit upon the chairs or look into the mirror, but +they at least remind you of the country you're in." + +Kendricks threw open the window. The hum of the city came floating into +the room. They drew up easy-chairs. + +"Whiskey and soda at your side," Julien pointed out. "You can smoke +your filthy pipe to your heart's content. I won't even insult you by +offering you a cigar. Now go ahead." + +Kendricks lit his pipe and smoked solemnly. + +"Your remarks," he declared, "are actuated by jealousy. You haven't the +stomach for a man's smoke. Now listen. There's the very devil of a +mischief abroad and Falkenberg's at the bottom of it. Do you know what +he's doing?" + +"I know nothing." + +"You remember the night that we were up at the Rat Mort? He was talking +with a dirty-looking man in a red tie and pince-nez." + +"I remember it quite well," Julien admitted. + +"Well, he was the leader writer in _Le Jour_,--Jesen--a brilliant +man, an absolutely wonderful writer, but shiftless. Do you know what +Falkenberg has done? The paper was in the market, the controlling share +of it, and he bought it, or rather he put the money into Jesen's hands +to buy it with. The whole tone of the paper with regard to foreign +affairs has turned completely round. Every other day there is a +scathing article in it attacking the _entente_ with England. +You've read them, of course?" + +"So has every one," Julien replied gravely. "The people here talk of +little else." + +"It is known," Kendricks continued, "that Falkenberg has made every use +of his frequent visits to this city to ingratiate himself with certain +members of the French Cabinet, and to impress them with his views. To +some extent there is no doubt that he has succeeded. The German +Press--the inspired portion of it, at any rate--is backing all this up +by articles extremely friendly towards France and deriding her +friendship with England." + +"This, too, I have noticed," Julien admitted. + +"Carraby is in hot water already," Kendricks went on. "He had a chance +on Monday in the House, when he was asked a question about the German +gunboat which is reported to have gone to Agdar. The fool muddled it. +He gave the sort of suave, methodist reply one expected, and the German +Press jeered at him openly. Julien, it's serious. The French people are +honest enough, but they are impressionable. A Liberal Government was +never popular with them. You were the only Liberal Foreign Minister in +whom they believed. This man Carraby they despise. Besides, he has +Jewish blood in his veins and you know what that means over here. +Jesen's articles come thundering out and already other papers are +beginning to follow suit. The poison has been at work for months. You +remember monsieur and madame and mademoiselle, with whom I talked so +earnestly? Well, they were but types. I talked to them because I wanted +to find out their point of view. There are many others like them. They +look upon the _entente_ with good-natured tolerance. They doubt +the real ability of Britain to afford practical aid to France, should +she be attacked. This good-natured tolerance is being changed into +irritation. Falkenberg's efforts are ceaseless. The moment he has the +two countries really estranged, he will strike." + +"Against which?" Julien asked quickly. + +"Heaven only knows!" Kendricks answered. "For my part, I have always +believed that it would be against England. There is no strategic reason +for a war between France and Germany. Germany needs more than France +can give her. She does not need money, she needs territory. Falkenberg +is a rabid imperialist, a dreamer of splendid dreams, a real genius. He +is fighting to-day with the subtlest weapons the mind of man ever +conceived. Now, Julien, listen. I am here with a direct proposition to +you." + +"But what can I do?" Julien exclaimed. + +"This," Kendricks replied. "It is my idea. I saw Lord Southwold this +morning and he agreed. We want you to write for our paper a series of +articles, dated from Paris and signed in your own name, and we want you +to attack Falkenberg and the game he is playing. We will arrange for +them to appear simultaneously in one of the leading journals here. We +want you to write openly of these German spies who infest Paris. We +want you first to hint and then to speak openly of the purchase of +_Le Jour_ by means of German gold. We want you to combat the +popular opinion here that our army is a wooden box affair, and that we +as a nation are too crassly selfish to risk our fleet for the benefit +of France. We want you to strike a great note and tell the truth. +Julien, those articles signed by you and dated from Paris may do a +magnificent work." + +Julien's eyes were already agleam. + +"Splendid!" he muttered, rising to his feet. "If only I can do it!" + +"Of course you can do it," Kendricks insisted firmly. "Before you spoke +so often you used to write for the _Nineteenth Century_ every +month. You haven't forgotten the trick. Some of your sentences I +remember even now. I tell you, Julien, they helped me to appreciate +you. I liked you better when you took up the pen sometimes than I liked +you in those perfect clothes and perfect manner in your office at +Downing Street. Your tongue had the politician's trick of gliding over +the surface of things. Your pen scratched and spluttered its way into +the heart of affairs. Get back to it, Julien. I want your first article +before I leave Paris to-night." + +"I'll do my best," Julien promised. "It's a great scheme. I'm going to +commence now." + +"I hoped you would," Kendricks replied. "You've got the atmosphere +here. You're sitting in the heart of the France that belongs to the +French. It isn't for nothing that I've taken you round a little with me +since we were here. Chance was kind, too, when it brought us up against +Freudenberg. Remember, Julien, journalism isn't the gentlemanly art it +was ten or twenty years ago. You can take up your pen and stab. That's +what we want." + +"It's fine," Julien declared. "It is war!" + +Kendricks rose to his feet. + +"I'm going to bed," he announced. "The last month has been exciting and +there's plenty more to come. I need sleep. Julien, just a word of +caution." + +"Fire away," Julien sighed. He was already gazing steadfastly out of +the window, already the sentences were framing themselves in his mind. + +"The day upon which your first article appears," Kendricks said, +"Freudenberg will strike. Your life here will never be wholly safe. You +will be encompassed with spies and enemies. Why, this wild-cat scheme +of his of sending you off on some expedition was solely because you are +the one man of whom he is afraid. He feared lest Carraby might make +some hideous blunder in a crisis and that the country might demand you +back. That is why he wanted you out of the way." + +"You may be right," Julien admitted. "What's that striking--one +o'clock? Till to-night, David!" + +Kendricks nodded and left the room. Julien sat for a moment before the +open window. It was rather an impressive view of the city with its +millions of lights, the fine buildings of the Place de la Concorde in +clear relief against the deep sky, the Eiffel Tower glittering in the +distance, the subtle perfume of pleasure in the air. Julien stood there +and raised his eyes to the skies. Already his brain was moving to the +grim music of his thoughts. He looked away from the city to the fertile +country. Some faint memory of those once blackened fields and desolate +villages stole into his mind. He turned to his desk, drew the paper +towards him and wrote. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +A STARTLING DISCLOSURE + + +Julien was driving, a few afternoons later, with Madame Christophor. +She had picked him up in the Bois, where he had gone for a solitary +walk. In her luxurious automobile they passed smoothly beyond the +confines of the Park and out into the country. After her brief summons +and the few words of invitation, they relapsed into a somewhat curious +silence. + +"My friend," Madame Christophor remarked at length, glancing +thoughtfully towards him, "I find a change in you. You are pale and +tired and silent. It is your duty to amuse me, but you make no effort +to do so. Yet you have lost that look of complete dejection. You have, +indeed, the appearance of a man who has accomplished something, who has +found a new purpose in life." + +Julien to some extent recovered himself. + +"Dear Madame Christophor," he exclaimed, "it is true! My manners are +shocking. Yet, in a way, I have an excuse. I have been hard at work for +the last few days. I was writing all night until quite late this +morning. It was because I could not sleep that I came out to sit under +the trees--where you found me, in fact." + +"Writing," she repeated. "So you are changing your weapons, are you? +You are going to make a new bid for power?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"It is not that," he answered. "I have no personal ambitions connected +with my present work. It was an idea--a great idea--but it was not my +own. Yet the work has been an immense relief." + +She looked away, relapsing once more into silence. He glanced towards +her. The weariness of her expression was more than ever evident to-day, +the weariness that was not fretful, that seemed, indeed, to give an +added sweetness to her face. Yet its pathos was always there. Her eyes, +which looked steadily down the road in front of them, were full of the +fatigue of unwelcome days. + +"You men so easily escape," she murmured. "We women never." + +Julien was conscious of a certain selfishness in all his thoughts +connected with his companion. He had been so ready always to accept her +society, to accept and profit by the stimulus of her intellect. Yet he +himself had given so little, had shown so little interest in her or her +personal affairs. He sat a trifle more upright in his place. + +"Dear Madame Christophor," he said earnestly, "you have been so kind to +me, you have shown so much interest always in my doings and my +troubles. Why not tell me something of your own life? I have felt so +much the benefit of your sympathy. Is there nothing in the world I +could do for you?" + +She sighed. + +"No person in the world," she declared, "could help me; certainly not +one of your sex. I start with an instinctive and unchanging hatred +towards every one of them." + +"But, madame," Julien protested, "is that reasonable?" + +"It is the truth," she replied. "I do my best when we are together to +forget it so far as you are concerned. I succeed because you do not use +with me any of the miserable devices of your sex to provoke an interest +whether they really desire it or not. You treat me, Sir Julien, as it +pleases me to be treated. It is for that reason, I am sure--it must be +for that reason--that I find some pleasure in being with you, whereas +the society of any other man is a constant irritation to me." + +Julien hesitated. + +"You know," he began, "I am not naturally a curious person. I have +never asked a question of you or about you from the few people with +whom I have come in contact over here. At the same time,--" + +"Do you mean," she interrupted, "do you seriously mean that you are +ignorant as to who I really am, as to any part of my history?" + +"Entirely," Julien assured her. + +She was thoughtful for several moments. + +"Well, that is strange," she declared. "You are upsetting one of my pet +theories. All the men whom I have ever known have been more curious +than women. Are you interested in me, by any chance, Sir Julien?" + +"Immensely," he replied. + +"I am glad to hear it. Do you know, that is a great concession for me +to make, but it is the truth? I like you to be interested in me. Yet I +must confess that your ignorance as to who I really am astonishes me. +Perhaps," she added gravely, "if you knew, you would not be sitting by +my side at the present moment." + +"I cannot believe," he said, smiling, "that you are such a very +terrible person." + +"Terrible? Perhaps that is not the word," she admitted. + +"There is one thing," he went on, "concerning which I have always been +curious." + +"And that?" + +"The little manicure girl whom I met in the Soho restaurant," he +replied promptly, "what on earth was her reason for wishing me to come +and see you? Why did you want me to come?" + +"I thought," she murmured, "that we had agreed not to speak of those +matters for the present." + +"That was some time ago. Things are changing around us every day. It is +possible that within a very short time I may find myself in such a +position here that I am forced to know exactly who are my friends and +who my enemies." + +"Can you believe," she asked, "that you would ever find me among the +latter?" + +Julien thought for several moments. + +"I shall not ask you," he proceeded, "not to be offended with me for +what I am going to say. It was a chance remark I heard--no more. It +certainly, however, did suggest some association. There is a man who +comes often to Paris, who calls himself a maker of toys. He says that +he comes from Leipzig and that his name is Herr Freudenberg." + +She sat as still as a statue. Not a line of her features was changed. +Julien turned a little in his seat. As he watched, he saw that her +bosom underneath the lace scarf which she wore was rising and falling +quickly. Her teeth came suddenly together. He saw the lids droop over +her eyes as though she were in pain. + +"Herr Freudenberg," she repeated, "what of him?" + +"I knew him in the days when I counted for something in the world," +Julien explained. "Don't you remember that on the night when we dined +together at the Maison Leon d'Or he sent one of his emissaries for me? +He was a man in whom I had always felt the greatest, the most complete +interest. I went to him gladly. Since then, as you will know if you +read the papers, events have moved rapidly. I am beginning to realize +now how completely and absolutely that man is the enemy of my country." + +"It is true, that," she murmured. + +"For some reason," Julien continued, "he seemed anxious to remove me +from Paris. He made me a somewhat singular offer. He wanted me to go to +some distant country on a mission--not political and yet for Germany." + +"And do you go?" + +"No," he replied, "I have found other work. I don't think that I +seriously considered it at any time, yet I have always been curious as +to why he should have made such an offer to me." + +She had the air now of a woman who had completely recovered control of +herself. + +"Sir Julien," she asked, "I beg of you to tell me this. If you do not +know who I am, why have you mentioned Herr Freudenberg's name to me?" + +"Madame," Julien answered, "because the man who brought me the message +from Herr Freudenberg, the man who conducted me to him, the man +concerning whom you told me that strange, pathetic little story--he let +fall one word. I asked him no question. I wished for no information +except from you. Yet I am only human. I have had impulses of +curiosity." + +"Herr Freudenberg is my husband," Madame Christophor declared. + +Julien looked at her in amazement. For the moment he was speechless. + +"I say what is perhaps literally but not actually true," she went on. +"He was my husband. We are separated. We are not divorced because we +were married as Roman Catholics. We are separated. There will never be +anything else between us." + +Julien remained silent. It was so hard to say anything. The woman's +tone told him that around her speech hovered a tragedy. + +"Now you know that Herr Freudenberg is my husband," she asked, "are you +not a little afraid to be sitting here by my side?" + +"Why should I be?" + +"Don't you know," she continued, "that he is your enemy?" + +Julien looked grave. + +"No, I have scarcely realized that," he answered. "I think, perhaps, +when he reads yesterday's papers he may be feeling like that. At +present, so far as he knows, what have I done?" + +"You," she said, "were the only man who ever stood up to him, who ever +dealt a blow at his political supremacy. At the Conference of Berlin +you triumphed. German papers politely, and in a very veiled manner, +reminded him of his defeat. It was not a great matter, it is true, but +none the less the Conference of Berlin was the first diplomatic failure +in which he had ever been concerned, and you were responsible for it." + +"You think, then," Julien remarked, "that he still harbors a grudge +against me for that?" + +"Without a doubt. Now tell me what you mean when you speak of +yesterday's papers?" + +"I am writing a series of articles," Julien told her. "They commenced +yesterday. They will appear in a French paper--_Le Grand +Journal_--and in the English _Post_. They are written with the +sole idea of attacking Herr Freudenberg. When he reads the first, he +will understand--he will be my enemy." + +She held out her hand. + +"Then say good-bye to me now, my friend," she murmured, "for you will +die." + +Julien laughed scornfully. + +"We do not live in those days," he reminded her. "We fight with the +pen, with diplomacy, with all the weapons of statecraft and intrigue, +if you will. But this is not now the Paris of Dumas. One does not +assassinate." + +"My friend," she said earnestly, "you do not know Herr Freudenberg. If +indeed you have become during these last few days his enemy, by this +time next week you will surely have passed into some other sphere of +activity. There are no methods too primitive for him, no methods too +subtle or too cruel. He can be the most charming, the most winning, the +most generous, the most romantic person who ever breathed; or he can be +a Nero, a cruel and brutal butcher, a murderer either of reputations or +bodies--he cares little which." + +"Presently," Julien declared, "I shall begin to feel uncomfortable." + +"Oh! you have courage, of course," she admitted, with a scornful little +shrug of the shoulders. "No one has ever denied that to your race. But +you have also the unconquerable stupidity which makes heroes and +victims of your soldiers." + +Julien smiled. + +"Well, I am at least warned, and for that I thank you. Now let me ask +you another question. You have told me this very strange thing about +yourself and Herr Freudenberg. You have told me of your feelings +concerning him. Yet you have not really told me exactly on what terms +you are with him at present? Forgive me if I find this important." + +"I do not receive him," she replied. "I have no interest in his comings +or his goings. I have a solemn promise, a promise to which he has +subscribed upon his honor, that he shall not seek to cross the +threshold of my house. He sent me an ambassador once quite lately to +make me a certain proposition connected with you." + +"With me?" Julien repeated. + +She nodded. + +"He has great faith in my powers," she went on, looking him full in the +face, "also, apparently, some belief in your susceptibility. Is that +unkind of me? Never mind, it is the truth. He imagined, perhaps, that I +might help him to rid Paris of your presence. There was just one thing +he could offer me which I desired. He came to offer it." + +"You refused?" Julien exclaimed. + +Her eyes rested upon his. Her expression was faintly provocative. + +"How could I accept an offer," she asked, "to deal with a thing which +did not belong to me? You have shown no signs at present, Sir Julien, +of becoming my abject slave." + +The car rushed through a straggling village. All the time she was +watching him. Then she threw herself back among the cushions with a +little laugh. + +"A week or so ago," she murmured, "I had a fancy that if I had +tried--well, that perhaps you were not so different from other men. I +should have loathed my conquest, I should probably have loathed you, +but I think that I should have expected it. At the present moment," she +went on, glancing into a little gold mirror which she had picked up +from a heap of trifles lying on the table before her, "at the present +moment I am disillusioned. My vanity is wounded though my relief is +great. Nevertheless, Sir Julien, tell me what has happened to you +during the last few days?" + +"Work," Julien replied, "the sort of work I was craving for." + +"Not only that," she insisted, setting down the mirror with a sigh. +"There is something else." + +"If there is," Julien assured her, "I am not yet conscious of it." + +They had emerged from the country lane along which they had been +traveling and were returning now to Paris along the broad highroad. +They were going at a fair speed when suddenly a huge racing car came +flashing by them, covered with dust, and with all the indications of +having come a great distance. Madame Christophor leaned forward in her +seat and clutched her companion's arm. Her eyes were fixed upon the +figure of the man leaning back by the side of the driver. + +"You see?" she muttered. + +"Herr Freudenberg!" Julien gasped. + +She nodded. Already the car had vanished in a cloud of dust. + +"He is just from Germany or from the frontier. He very seldom comes all +the way by rail. The car is always waiting." + +"I shall see him, then, to-night," Julien declared. "Already, without a +doubt, he knows. Already he is my enemy. What about you, Madame +Christophor?" + +"My friend," she promised, "you will have nothing to fear from me. So +long as I can forget your sex, I rather like you." + +"Are you going to answer my question about the little girl who sent me +to you?" he asked. + +"I will tell you, if you like," she said. "Mademoiselle Senn was once +in my service. She occasionally executes commissions for me in London. +She knows everybody. It was in obedience to my wishes that she gave you +that message." + +"But why?" Julien demanded. "What interest had you in me?" + +"None," she answered a little coldly,--"no personal interest. I sent +that message because I discovered that the individual who has just +passed us in the automobile was framing certain schemes in connection +with you if you should come to Paris. Politically as well as personally +he and I are enemies. He hates America and the whole Anglo-Saxon race. +It has amused me more than once to thwart his schemes. I intended to +set you upon your guard. You see, it is very simple. Mademoiselle Senn +wrote me at first that she did not know you and that she feared you +were inaccessible. Then she wired me of an accidental meeting and that +she had delivered my message. The whole affair is simpler than it +seemed, is it not so?... Now listen. I have satisfied your curiosity. +You now shall answer a question. Who is Miss Clonarty?" + +Julien gazed at her in astonishment. + +"Miss Clonarty?" he repeated. + +Madame Christophor nodded. + +"The name seems to surprise you. A young English woman called on me +to-day in answer to my advertisement for a secretary who could write +and speak English. She said that her name was Miss Anne Clonarty and +she referred me to you." + +"If she is the lady whom I suppose she is," Julien replied, "you will +be perfectly safe in engaging her." + +Madame Christophor looked at him from underneath the lids of her eyes. + +"Do you think that I do not know?" she asked, with a shade of contempt +in her tone,--"that I do not sometimes read the papers? Do you think +that I have not seen that Lady Anne Clonarty, the girl whom you were +engaged to marry, disappeared from her home the other day, on the eve +of her marriage to another man? It is this girl who comes to me for my +situation, is it not so?" + +Julien was silent. + +"I knew nothing of her coming. I did not even know that you wanted a +secretary." + +"I wonder why she came to Paris," Madame Christophor remarked. "Is she +in love with you?" + +"There was never any question of anything of the sort," Julien declared +fervently. + +"You have seen her since she arrived in Paris?" + +"Entirely by accident. I saw her alight from the train. I was at the +Gare du Nord to meet Kendricks." + +Madame Christophor leaned back in her seat. + +"Is it your wish that I engage her?" + +"Certainly," Julien replied. "I am sure that you will find her +competent. At the same time, I don't know how long she will keep this +thing up." + +"As a rule I do not care for handsome women around me," Madame +Christophor said composedly. "Lady Anne is much too good-looking to +please me. She has all the freshness and vitality," she added, dropping +her voice a little, "which seem to have left me forever." + +"You have experience," Julien reminded her. "Experience in itself is +wonderful, even though one has to pay for it." + +They were in the streets of Paris now. Madame Christophor shrugged her +shoulders and sat up. + +"It is one of the misfortunes of my sex," she said, a little bitterly, +"that without experience we lack charm--in the eyes of you men, that is +to say. It is your own folly.... Are you coming home with me, my +friend, or shall I set you down somewhere?" + +"As near the Gare du Nord as possible, if you please," Julien begged. +"I have wearied you enough for one afternoon." + +Madame Christophor looked at him thoughtfully. There was a slight frown +upon her forehead. + +"Somewhere near the Gare du Nord!" she repeated. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +THE FIRST ARTICLE + + +Julien found Lady Anne in a small, stuffy apartment on the third floor +of the house in the Rue St. Antoine. Before her was a sewing-machine, +and the floor of the room was littered with oddments of black calico. +She herself was seated apparently deep in thought before an untrimmed +hat. + +"What on earth, my dear Anne," he exclaimed, "are you doing?" + +She merely glanced up at his entrance. Her eyes were still far away. + +"Don't interrupt," she begged. "I am seeking for an inspiration. In my +younger days I used to trim hats. I don't suppose anything I could do +would be of any use here, but one must try everything." + +"But I thought," he protested, "that you were going to be a lady's +secretary, or something of that sort?" + +"I have applied for a situation," she admitted. "I am not engaged yet. +By the bye, I gave your name as a reference. I wonder if there is any +chance for me." + +"As a matter of fact," he told her, "I have just left the lady whose +advertisement you answered." + +"Madame Christophor?" + +"Madame Christophor. If you are really anxious for that post, I can +assure you that it is yours." + +She flung the hat to the other end of the room. + +"Good!" she exclaimed. "I don't think this sort of thing is in my line +at all. Tell me, is Madame Christophor half as charming as she looks?" + +"I have known her only a short time," Julien replied, "but she is +certainly a very wonderful woman." + +"What does she do," Lady Anne asked, "to require a secretary?" + +"She is a woman of immense wealth, I believe," Julien answered, "and +she has many charities. She is married, but separated from her husband. +I think, on the whole, that she must have led a rather unhappy life." + +"I think it is very extraordinary," Lady Anne remarked, "that she +should be willing to take a secretary who knows nothing of typewriting +or shorthand. I told her how ignorant I was, but she didn't seem to +mind much." + +Julien sat down by the side of the sewing-machine. + +"Anne," he began, "do you really think you're going to care for this +sort of thing?" + +"What sort of thing?" she demanded. + +"Why, life on your own. You have been so independent always and a +person of consequence. You know what it means to be a servant?" + +"Not yet," Lady Anne admitted. "I think, though, that it is quite time +I did. I am rather looking forward to it." + +Julien was a little staggered. She looked over at him and laughed +scornfully. + +"After all," she said, "I am not sure, Julien, whether you are a person +of much understanding. You proposed to me because I happened to be the +sort of girl you were looking for. My connections were excellent and my +appearance, I suppose, satisfactory. You never thought of me myself, me +as an independent person, in all your life. Do you believe that I am +simply Lady Anne Clonarty, a reasonable puppet, a walking doll to +receive some one's guests and further his social ambitions? Don't you +think that I have the slightest idea of being a woman of my own? What's +wrong with me, I wonder, Julien, that you should take me for something +automatic?" + +"You acted the part," he reminded her. + +"With you, yes!" she replied scornfully. "I should like to know how +much you encouraged me to be anything different. A sawdust man I used +to think you. Oh, we matched all right! I am not denying that. I was +what I had to be. I sometimes wonder if misfortune will not do you +good." + +"Misfortune is lending you a tongue, at any rate," he retorted. + +"As yet," she objected, "I know nothing of misfortune. The impulse +which led me to chuck things was just the most wonderful thing that +ever came to me in life. I awoke this morning feeling like a freed +woman. I sang while I got up. It seemed to me that I had never seen +anything so beautiful as the view of Paris from my poky window. And I +got up without a maid, too, Julien. I had no perfectly equipped +bathroom to wander into. Not much luxury about these rooms of +Janette's." + +He glanced at her admiringly. + +"You certainly look as though the life agreed with you," he answered. +"Put on your hat and come out to dinner." + +She rose to her feet at once. + +"I have been praying for that," she confessed. "You know, Julien, I +should starve badly. The one thing I can't get rid of is my appetite. +You don't expect me to make a toilette, because I can't?" + +"Nothing of the sort," he assured her. "Come as you are." + +She kept him waiting barely five minutes. She was still wearing her +smart traveling suit and the little toque which she had worn when she +left home. She walked down the street with him, humming gayly. + +"Have you read the English papers this morning, Julien?" she asked. + +"Not thoroughly," he admitted. + +"Columns about me," she declared blithely. "The general idea is that I +am suffering from a lapse of memory. They have found traces of me in +every part of England. Not a word about Paris, thank goodness!" + +"But do you mean to say that no one has an idea of where you are? Won't +your mother be anxious?" + +"Not a bit of it," Lady Anne laughed. "I left a note for her, just to +say that she wasn't to worry. She knows I'll take care of myself all +right. Julien, don't you love these streets and their crowds of people? +Every one looks as though they were on a holiday." + +"So they are," Julien replied. "Life is only a holiday over here. In +England we go about with our eyes fixed upon the deadliest thing in +life we can imagine. Over here, depression is a crime. They call into +their minds the most joyous thing they can think of. It becomes a +habit. They think only of the pleasantness of life. They keep their +troubles buried underneath." + +"It is the way to live," she murmured. + +"This, at any rate," he answered, leading the way into Henry's "is the +place at which to dine. Just fancy, we were engaged for three months +and not once did I dine with you alone! Now we are not engaged and we +think nothing of it." + +"Less than nothing," she agreed, "except that I am frightfully hungry." + +They found a comfortable table. Julien took up the menu and wrote out +the dinner carefully. + +"In this country," he said, leaning back, "we are spared the barbarity +of table d'hote dinners. Therefore we must wait, but what does it +matter? There is always something to talk about." + +"I am glad to hear that you feel like that, Julien. I remember +sometimes when we were alone together in England, we seemed to find it +a trifle difficult." + +"Since then," he replied, "we have both burst the bonds--I of +necessity, you of choice." + +"I don't believe," she declared, helping herself to _hors +d'oeuvres_, "that we are either of us going to be sorry for it." + +"One can never tell. So far as you are concerned, I haven't got over +the wonder of it yet. You never showed me so much of the woman +throughout our engagement as you have shown me during the last few +days." + +"My dear Julien," she protested, "you didn't know where to look for it. +Why does this funny little man with the mutton-chop whiskers hover +around our table all the time?" + +"He is distressed," Julien explained, "to see you eating so much bread +and butter. He fears that you will not have an appetite for the very +excellent dinner which I have ordered." + +"He is right," she decided. "Never mind, I will leave the rolls alone. +I am still, I can assure you, ravenous." + +She leaned back and, looking out into the room, began to laugh. People +who passed never failed to notice her. She was certainly a +striking-looking girl and she had, above all, the air. + +"Julien," she cried, "this is really too amusing! Did you see who went +by just then? It was Lord Athlington--my venerable uncle--with the lady +with the yellow hair. He saw you here with me--saw us sitting together +alone, having dinner--me unchaperoned, a runaway! Isn't it delicious?" + +Julien looked after his companion's elderly relative with a smile. + +"I wonder," he remarked, "whether your uncle's magnificent +unconsciousness is due to defective eyesight or nerve?" + +"Nerve, without a doubt," she insisted. "We all have it. Besides, don't +you see he's changed their table so as to be out of sight? I wonder +what he really thinks of me! If we'd belonged even to the really smart +set in town, it wouldn't have been half so funny. They do so many +things that seem wrong that people forget to be shocked." + +"I can conceive," he murmured, "that your mother's ambitions would +scarcely lead her in that direction." + +Lady Anne shrugged her shoulders. + +"I don't think she could get in if she tried. The really disreputable +people in Society are so exclusive. I wonder, Julien, if I shall be +allowed to come out and dine with you when I am Madame Christophor's +secretary?" + +"Once a week, perhaps," he suggested,--"scarcely oftener, I am afraid." + +"Ah! well," she declared, "I shall like work, I am convinced. Julien, +you are spoiling me. I am sure this is a _cuisine de luxe_. I told +you to take me to a cheap restaurant." + +"We will try them all in time," he answered. "I had to start by taking +you to my favorite place." + +"You really mean, then," she asked, "that you are going on being nice +to me? Of course, I haven't the slightest claim on you. I suppose, as a +matter of fact, I treated you rather badly, didn't I?" + +"Not a bit of it," he assured her. "I was a failure, that was all. But +of course I am going on being nice to you. There aren't too many people +over here whom one cares to be with. There aren't very many just now," +he continued, "who care to be with me." + +"Idiotic!" she replied. "Tell me about this work of yours?" + +He explained Kendricks' idea. Her eyes glistened. + +"It's really splendid," she declared. "How I should love to have seen +your first article!" + +"You shall read it afterwards," he told her. "I have a copy of _Le +Grand Journal_ in my overcoat pocket." + +She beckoned to the _vestiaire_. + +"I will not wait a moment," she insisted. "I shall read it while dinner +is being served. It's a glorious idea, this, to fight your way back +with your pen. There are those nowadays who tell us, you know, Julien, +that there is more to be done through the Press than in Parliament. +Your spoken words can influence only a small number of people. What you +write the world reads." + +She explained what she desired to the _vestiaire_. He reappeared a +minute or two later with the newspaper. She spread it out before her. +Julien read it over her shoulder. He himself had seen it before, but +his own eyes were the brighter as he reread it. When she had finished +she said very little. They ate the first course of their dinner almost +in silence. Then she laid her hand suddenly upon his. + +"Julien, dear," she said, "I have done you a wrong. I am sorry." + +"A wrong?" he repeated. + +She looked at him almost humbly. There was something new in her eyes, +something new in her expression. + +"I am afraid," she continued, "that I never looked upon you as anything +more than the ordinary stereotyped politician, a skilful debater, of +course, and with the chessboard brains of diplomacy. This,"--she +touched the newspaper with her forefinger--"this is something very +different." + +"Do you like it, then?" + +"Like it!" she repeated scornfully. "Can't you feel yourself how +different it is from those precise, cynical little speeches of yours? +It is as though a smouldering bonfire had leapt suddenly into flame. +There is genius in every line. Go on writing like that, Julien, and you +will soon be more powerful than ever you were in the House of Commons." + +He laughed. It was absurd to admit it, but nothing had pleased him so +much since the coming of his misfortune! She was thoughtful for some +time, every now and then glancing back at the newspaper. Over their +coffee she broke into a little reminiscent laugh. + +"Did I tell you about Mrs. Carraby?" she asked. "Mother and I met her +at Wumbledon House, two or three days after her husband's appointment +had been confirmed. I can see her now coming towards us. There were so +many people around that she had to risk everything. Oh, it was a great +moment for mother! She never troubled even to raise her lorgnettes. She +never attempted any of that glaring-through-you sort of business. She +just looked up at Mrs. Carraby's hand and looked up at her eyes and +walked by without changing a muscle. Of course I did the same--very +nearly as well, too, I believe. Cat!" + +Julien frowned slightly. + +"You can imagine," he said, "that I am not very keen about discussing +Mrs. Carraby. Yet, after all, her husband and his career were, I +suppose, the most important things in life to her." + +"Then she's going to have a pretty rocky time," Lady Anne decided. "I +don't understand much about politics, but I know it's no use putting a +tradesman into the Foreign Office. He's wobbly already, and as for Mrs. +Carraby--well, I don't know if she ever went on with you like it, +Julien, but you remember Bob Sutherland--the one in the Guards, I +mean?--well, she's going an awful pace with him." + +"I think," he declared, "that Mrs. Carraby can take care of herself." + +"Perhaps," Lady Anne replied, looking thoughtfully at her cigarette. +"You see, the woman knows in her heart that she's impossible. She +copies all our bad tricks. She sees that we all flirt as a matter of +course, and she tries to outdo us. It's the old story. What one person +can do with impunity, another makes an awful hash of. We can go to the +very gates because when we get there we know how to shrug our shoulders +and turn away. I am not sure that Mrs. Carraby has breeding enough for +that. She'll go through, if Bob has his way." + +"You are becoming rather an advanced young person," Julien remarked, as +he paid the bill. + +"My dear Julien," she said, "I've told you before that you never knew +me. If you had appreciated me as I deserved, when you came that cropper +you wouldn't have called on me to say good-bye. You'd have left that +red-headed friend of yours at home and told me that the empty place in +the taxicab was mine." + +He laughed and then suddenly became grave. + +"Supposing I had?" he whispered. + +She looked at him, startled. In that moment he seemed to see a new +thing in her face, a new and marvelous softness. It passed like a +flash--so swiftly that it left him wondering whether it was not indeed +a trick of his imagination. + +"Absurd!" she murmured. "Tell me, what is there we can do now? Must I +go home?" + +"On the contrary," he declared, "you are engaged to me for the evening. +Only I must call at my rooms. Do you mind?" + +"I mind nothing," she assured him. "Let us take a carriage and drive +about the streets. Julien, what a yellow moon!" + +They clambered into a little _voiture_, and with a hoarse shout +and a crack of the whip from the _cocher_, they started off. Lady +Anne leaned back with an exclamation of content. + +"If only it weren't so theatrical!" she sighed. "The streets seem so +clean and the buildings so white and the sky so blue and the people so +gay. Yet I suppose the bitterness of life is here as in the other +places. Why do you want to call at your rooms, Julien?" + +"There is just a chance," he explained, "that there may be a telegram +from Kendricks. I want to know what they think of my article." + +She laughed scornfully. + +"I can tell you that. There is only one thing they can think. How these +people will hate you who are trying to make mischief between France and +England!" + +Julien smiled grimly. + +"I shouldn't be surprised," he admitted. "It may come to a tussle +between us yet." + +They pulled up before the door of his rooms. She, too, alighted. + +"I want to see what your quarters are like," she said calmly. "I may +come up, mayn't I?" + +"By all means," he assented. + +She followed him up the dark stairs and into his room. He turned on the +lights. She looked around at his little salon, with its French +furniture, its open windows with the lime trees only a few feet away, +and threw herself into an easy-chair with a sigh of content. + +"Julien, how delightful!" she exclaimed. "Is there anything for you?" + +He walked to the mantelpiece. There was a telegram and a note for him. +The former he tore open and his eyes sparkled as he read it aloud. + +Magnificent. Be careful. Am coming over at once. + +KENDRICKS. + +He passed it on to her. Then he opened the note. + +I am coming to your rooms for my answer to-night. + +CARL FREUDENBERG. + +Even as he read it there was a knocking at the door. She looked up +doubtfully. + +"Who is that?" + +"It may be the man who writes me here," he told her. + +She rose softly to her feet and pointed to the door which divided the +apartments. He nodded and she passed through into the inner room. +Julien went to the outside door and threw it open. It was indeed Herr +Freudenberg who stood there. + +"Come in," he invited. + +Herr Freudenberg removed his hat and entered. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +FALKENBERG FAILS + + +Herr Freudenberg was dressed for the evening with his usual fastidious +neatness. He had the air of a man who had been engaged for many nights +in some arduous occupation. There were dark rims under his eyes, the +lines upon his forehead were deeper. Nevertheless, he smiled with +something of his old gayety as he accepted the chair which Julien +placed for him. + +"My dear Sir Julien," he said, "I have come a good many hundred miles +at a most inconvenient moment for the sake of a brief conversation with +you." + +Julien raised his eyebrows. + +"You surprise me!" he exclaimed. "I had no idea that the mission you +spoke of was so urgent." + +"Nor is it," Herr Freudenberg replied. "As a matter of fact, it +scarcely exists at all, or if it did exist, it was created simply as a +means of removing you from within the reach of practical politics for +some months. I have foresight, you see, Sir Julien. I saw what was +coming. Permit me to tell you that I do not like your letter in _Le +Grand Journal_ yesterday, a letter which I understand appeared also +in the London _Post_." + +"I am sorry," Julien said calmly. "Still, to be perfectly frank, it +wasn't written with a view of pleasing or displeasing you. It was +written in a strenuous attempt to preserve the friendship between +France and England." + +"It is to be followed, I presume, by others?" Herr Freudenberg asked. + +"It is the first of a series," Julien admitted. + +"You know," Herr Freudenberg remarked, glancing at his finger-nails for +a moment, "that it is most diabolically clever?" + +"You flatter me," Julien murmured. + +"Not at all. I have spoken the truth. I am here to know what price you +will take to suppress the remainder of the series." + +Julien considered. + +"I will take," he replied, "the exact amount of the last war indemnity +which was paid to you by France." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. + +"A mere trifle to the war indemnity we shall be asking from England +before very long." + +"I am not avaricious," Julien declared. "Those are my terms." + +Herr Freudenberg sighed. + +"My friend," he said, "it would be better if you talked of this matter +reasonably. There are other ways of securing the non-continuance of +those letters than by purchase." + +"Precisely," Julien answered, "but Paris, in its beaten thoroughfares, +at any rate, is a law-abiding city. I don't fancy that I shall come to +much grief here." + +"A brave man," Herr Freudenberg remarked, "seldom believes that he will +come to grief." + +"If the blow falls, nevertheless, it is at least considerate of you +that you bring me warning!" + +"Rubbish!" Herr Freudenberg interposed. "Listen, Sir Julien, I ask you +to consider this matter as a reasonable person. We don't want war. We +don't mean to have war. But the desire of my Ministers--my own +desire--really is to inflict a crushing diplomatic humiliation upon the +present Government of Great Britain. It is composed of incompetent and +objectionable persons. We desire to humiliate them. Yet who is it that +we find taking up the cudgels on their behalf? You--the man whom they +drove out, the man whom from sheer jealousy they ousted from their +ranks. Why, you should be with us, not against us." + +"I have no grudge whatever against my party," Julien said. "You seem to +have been misinformed upon that subject. Besides, I am an Englishman +and a patriot. The whole series of my articles will be written, and I +shall do my best to point out exactly the means by which this present +coolness between our two countries has been engineered." + +"I will give you," Herr Freudenberg offered, "a million francs not to +write those articles." + +Julien pointed to the door. + +"You are becoming offensive!" + +Herr Freudenberg rose slowly to his feet. There was a little glitter in +his eyes. + +"I have gone out of my way," he declared, "to be friendly with you, +most obstinate of Englishmen. That now is finished. You shall not write +those articles." + +"You threaten me?" + +"I do!" + +"There are times," Julien remarked quietly, "when I scarcely know +whether to take you seriously. There is surely a little of the +burlesque about such a statement?" + +Herr Freudenberg shrugged his shoulders slightly. + +"You think so? Nevertheless, no man whom I have ever threatened has +done the thing against which I have warned him." + +Julien turned towards the door to open it. Herr Freudenberg, with +footsteps like a cat, came up behind him. Suddenly he threw his long, +sinewy arm around the other's neck. Taken utterly unprepared, Julien +was powerless. Herr Freudenberg swung him round upon his back and knelt +upon his chest. + +"This," he said calmly, "distresses me extremely. Yet what am I to do?" + +He whistled softly. The door was opened. Estermen came in with +suspicious alacrity. There was scarcely any need of words. In a moment +Julien's legs and arms were bound and a gag thrust between his teeth. +Herr Freudenberg moved before the door and listened. + +"Estermen has reported to me," he remarked, "that you keep no +manservant. Any intrusion here, therefore, is scarcely to be feared. +You will permit me?" + +He took one of the tumblers from the tray, rinsed it out with +soda-water, and poured the contents of a small phial into it. Then he +came and stood over Julien. + +"My obstinate Englishman," he proceeded, "this tumbler contains the +waters of forgetfulness. Let me assure you upon my honor that the +liquid is harmless. Its one effect is to reduce those who take it to +such a state that for the space of a week or two their mental faculties +are impaired. You will drink this in a few minutes. You will awake +feeling weak, languid, indisposed for exercise, incapable of mental +effort. The doctor will prescribe a tonic, you will go away, but it +will be months before you are able to set yourself to any task +requiring the full use of your faculties. At the end of that time, I +trust that you will have found wisdom. Will you swallow the draught?" + +Julien shook his head violently. Herr Freudenberg sighed. + +"I was hoping," he continued, "that you would not force me to mention +the alternative. I should dislike exceedingly having to inflict any +more lasting injury upon you, but you stand in my path and I permit no +one to do that. Drink, and in a month or two all will be as it is now. +Refuse, and I shall leave Estermen to deal with you, and let me warn +you that his methods are not so gentle as mine. More men than one who +have been foolish have disappeared in Paris." + +"If you move a step this way," a calm voice said from the other end of +the room, "I shall shoot." + +Herr Freudenberg turned his head. Estermen, whose nerves were less +under control, gave a little cry. Lady Anne was standing upon the +threshold of the doorway between the two rooms, and in her very steady +hand was grasped a small revolver. The two men were speechless. + +"It has taken me some time to find this," Lady Anne went on, "and +longer still to find the cartridges. I do not understand in the least +what has happened, but I am perfectly serious when I tell you that I +shall shoot either of you two if you move a step towards me." + +Herr Freudenberg looked into the revolver, looked at Lady Anne and made +her a little bow. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "who you may be I do not, alas! know. Sir +Julien, however, is indeed to be congratulated that he possesses +already so charming and courageous a friend with the entree to his +bedroom." + +Lady Anne lifted the revolver a few inches and fired. The bullet struck +the wall barely a foot over Herr Freudenberg's head. A faint puff of +blue smoke floated up towards the ceiling. + +"I do not like impertinence," she remarked. "If you have any more such +speeches to make--" + +"Mademoiselle, I have none," Herr Freudenberg interrupted, bowing. +"Allow me, on the contrary, to offer you my apologies and to express my +admiration for your bearing. I must, alas! acknowledge myself, for the +moment, vanquished. I shall leave you to release our dear friend, Sir +Julien. But, if you are wise, mademoiselle, if you are really his +friend, you will advise him to obey the injunction which I have sought +to lay upon him to-day. A little affair like this which goes wrong, is +nothing. I have a dozen means of enforcing my words, not one of which +has ever failed." + +"I do not know who you are," Lady Anne said calmly, "or what it is +against which you are warning Sir Julien, but I am perfectly certain of +one thing. He will do what is right and what he conceives to be his +duty, without fear of threats from you or any one." + +Herr Freudenberg bowed low. Estermen, who had been glancing more than +once uneasily towards the revolver, was already at the door. + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg declared, "bravery is a splendid gift, +discretion a finer. Sir Julien knows who I am and he knows that I have +yet to admit myself vanquished in any scheme in which I engage. He will +use his judgment. Meanwhile, mademoiselle!" + +He bowed low, turned and left the room. Lady Anne listened to his +retreating footsteps. Then she crossed the room quickly and bent over +Julien. + +"Are you hurt?" she asked breathlessly. + +He shook his head. She fumbled for a few minutes with the gag and +removed it. + +"Not a bit," he assured her. "Don't put the revolver down yet, but +fetch me a knife. You'll find one on the mantelpiece in the bedroom." + +She did as he told her. In a few minutes he was free. He stood up, +gasping. + +"The fellow came up behind me," he explained, "while I was walking to +the door. Anne, what a brick you are!" + +He held out his hand. She took it, laughing frankly. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "what else could any one do? I heard +the row and,--shall I admit it?--peeped through the keyhole. I couldn't +see anything, so I opened the door softly and heard something of what +was going on. This old revolver was lying on your dressing-table, but I +had an awful hunt for the cartridges. Whoever were those men?" + +Julien smiled. + +"When I tell you," he said, "you will think that I am mad. Yet this is +the truth. The man with whom you talked was Prince von Falkenberg." + +"What, the German Minister?" + +Julien nodded. + +"It seems incredible, doesn't it? Falkenberg is a man possessed of one +idea--to upset the relations between France and England. For that +purpose he has been paying secret visits to Paris for the last year. He +has corrupted the Press here. He has wormed his way into the confidence +of one or two of the Ministers. The thing is a perfect mania with him. +He has taken it into his head that the articles which Kendricks has +made me promise to write, and the first one of which appeared in _Le +Grand Journal_ yesterday--the one you read at dinner-time--are going +to be exploited as an exposure of his methods. For that reason he came +ostensibly to confirm an offer which he made me some time ago. When I +refused, he offered me a large sum of money--anything to get rid of me +and to stop my writing these articles. Of course I declined, and there +you are." + +Lady Anne began to laugh once more. + +"Well," she said, "I suppose I'm not dreaming. It sounds like a page +out of an opera-bouffe. That man who was here, whom I threatened to +shoot, was really Prince Falkenberg?" + +"There's no doubt whatever about it," Julien assured her. "The very +first night I was in Paris he sent for me. Anne," he went on, turning +once more towards her, "I haven't thanked you half enough. What a nerve +you have! You were splendid!" + +"Don't talk rubbish, Julien," she protested. "The stroke of luck was +that I happened to be there. It must have been quite a surprise for him +to see an apparently respectable young woman step out of your bedroom. +I am inclined to fear, Julien, that I am compromised. Anyhow, mother +would say so!" + +"Between ourselves," Julien remarked, "I don't think that Falkenberg +will mention the occurrence. Just wait while I put on another collar +and we'll go to that music-hall." + +She glanced at the clock. + +"I think you shall take me home instead." + +He looked at her quickly. + +"This affair has upset you!" + +"My dear Julien," she said dryly, "what an absurd idea! Of course I am +quite used to these little affairs, to seeing you lie bound and gagged, +and pointing a revolver at that unpleasant-looking Prince, with a +horrible fear inside me all the time that if I did aim at anything I +shouldn't hit it! Nevertheless, I think I'll go home, if you don't +mind." + +They descended the stairs and he called a little _voiture_. + +"I suppose it would sound silly," he ventured, after a time, "if I said +anything more about thanking you?" + +"Ridiculous!" she replied. "But what are you going to do? Are you going +to the police?" + +He shook his head. + +"I think that Herr Freudenberg, as he calls himself, would be too +clever for me if I tried anything of that sort. You see, I have put +this revolver into my pocket. I am going to avoid the lonely places, +and have Kendricks with me as much as possible." + +She nodded. + +"Take care of yourself," she advised, in a matter-of-fact tone, as they +turned into the street where Mademoiselle Rignaut lived. "I don't want +to hear of any tragedies." + +"When shall I see you again?" Julien asked. + +"It depends upon what reply I get from Madame Christophor," she +answered. "She may want me at once, and I don't know yet whether I'll +get an evening out or not! I shall have to leave you to discover that. +Good night!" + +She vanished within the dark doorway. Julien stepped back into the +carriage more than a little puzzled. To him Anne had always seemed the +prototype of all that was serene and matter-of-fact. To-night he had +found her unrecognizable. There was something, too, in her face as she +had turned away, a slight tremble in her voice, that bewildered him. As +he drove back to his rooms through the lighted streets, it was strange +that, notwithstanding the exciting adventure through which he had +passed, his thoughts were chiefly concerned with the problem of this +unfamiliar Lady Anne! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +LADY ANNE DECLINES + + +"My dear Julien!" + +The Duchess was very impressive indeed. From the depths of an +easy-chair in her sitting-room at the Ritz Hotel she held out both her +hands, and in her eyes was that peculiar strained look which Julien had +only been privileged to observe once or twice in his life. It +indicated, or rather it was the Duchess's substitute for, emotion. +Julien at once perceived, therefore, that this was an occasion. + +"First of all," she went on, motioning him to a chair, "first of all, +before I say a single word about this strange thing which has brought +me to Paris, let me congratulate you. I always knew, dear Julien, that +you would do something, that you would not allow yourself to be +altogether crushed by the machinations of that hateful woman." + +"Really," Julien began, "I am not quite sure--" + +"I mean your letters, of course," she interrupted. "The Duke, when he +finished the first one, said only one thing--'Wonderful!' That is just +how we all feel about them, Julien. I met Lord Cardington only a few +hours before I left London, and he was absolutely enthusiastic. 'If one +thing,' he said, 'will save the country, it is this splendid attack +upon the new diplomacy!'--as you so cleverly called it. The Duke tells +me that that first article of yours is to be printed as a leaflet and +distributed throughout the country." + +"I am very glad," Julien said, "to hear all this. Tell me, what brings +you to Paris? Is the Duke with you?" + +The Duchess smiled at him reproachfully. + +"You ask me what brings me to Paris, Julien? Come, come! You and I +mustn't begin like that. I want you to tell me at once where she is." + +"Where who is?" + +"Anne, of course! Please don't play with me. Consider what a terrible +time we have all been through." + +Julien did not at once reply. His very hesitation seemed to afford the +Duchess a lively satisfaction. + +"There!" she declared. "You are not going to pretend, then, that you +don't know? That is excellent. Julien, tell me at once where to find +her. Take me to her." + +"I am afraid I can't do that," Julien objected. + +"My dear--my dear Julien!" the Duchess protested. "This is all so +foolish. Why should there be any mystery about Anne's whereabouts? I am +not angry. I ought to be, perhaps, but you see I have guessed my dear +girl's secret. I've felt for her terribly during the last few weeks, +but it was so hard to know what to do. It seemed shocking at the time, +but perhaps, after all, the course which she adopted was the wisest." + +"I am very glad to hear that you are taking it like that," Julien +remarked, "and I am sure Anne will be. I think the best thing I can do +is to go and see her and tell her that you are here--" + +"She does not know, then?" the Duchess interrupted. + +"Why, of course not," Julien replied. "I received your note early this +morning--before I was up, in fact--and you begged me so earnestly to +come round at once that I came straight here without calling anywhere." + +The Duchess coughed. + +"Very well, Julien, I will leave you to go and fetch Anne whenever you +like. I shall await you here impatiently. Tell me how it was that you +both managed to deceive us so completely?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"I haven't the slightest notion what you mean." + +The Duchess shrugged her shoulders. + +"For my part," she said, "I always looked upon dear Anne as the most +unemotional, unsentimental person. Naturally I thought that she was a +little attracted towards you, but on the other hand I had no idea that +she looked upon marriage as anything but a reasonable and necessary +part of life. I had no idea, even, that she had any real affection for +you." + +"Affection for me!" + +Julien looked up. The Duchess was regarding him as a mother might look +at a naughty child whom she intended to pardon. + +"I did notice," she continued, "that Anne seemed very silent for some +time after your departure, and there was a curious lack of enthusiasm +about her preparations for the wedding with Mr. Samuel Harbord. She +scarcely looked, even, at the pearls he gave her. You know that I found +them on the floor of her bedroom after she had gone away? Well, well, +never mind that," the Duchess went on. "When I got her hurried note and +understood the whole affair, I must say that on the whole it was a +relief to me. Dear Anne--she is only like what I was at her age, before +I married the Duke. You ought to be very proud and happy, Julien." + +"I should be very happy," Julien declared, "to understand in the least +what you are talking about." + +The Duchess stared at him. + +"My good man," she cried, "my own daughter runs away on the eve of her +marriage, throws all Society into a commotion, comes to Paris to join +the man whom she cares for--you--you, Julien--and then you affect to +misunderstand!" + +Julien was speechless for several moments. He was conscious of a little +wave of strange emotion. The walls of the hotel sitting-room fell away. +He was standing on the edge of the wood behind the shrubbery of +laurels. The smell of the country gardens, the distant music, the +delicious stillness, the queer, troubled look in Anne's eyes, her +suddenly quickened breath, that moment which had passed so soon! It +came back to him with a peculiar insistence during those few seconds! + +Then he brushed it away. + +"My dear Duchess," he said slowly, "you are laboring under some +extraordinary mistake. Anne and I were very good friends and I think +that we should have made a reasonably contented couple. That, however, +was naturally broken off at once owing to my misfortune. Anne's visit +to Paris, her sudden flight from London, had nothing whatever to do +with me. I met her here entirely by accident. No word has passed +between us which would suggest for a single moment that she looked upon +this matter any differently!" + +The Duchess listened to him steadily. At first there were signs of a +coming storm. Like a skilful general, however, she abandoned her +position and changed her tactics. She got up and walked to the window, +produced a handkerchief from her pocket, and stood dabbing her eyes. +She looked out over the Place Vendome. Julien, who had not the least +idea what to say, kept silent. + +"Julien," she said at last, turning around, "this--this is a blow to +me. If what you say is true, and of course it is, dear Anne's life is +ruined. At present every one sympathizes with her. You know, Samuel +Harbord, notwithstanding his enormous wealth--you have no idea, Julien, +how horrid he was about the settlements--is very unpopular. There wasn't +a soul except his own people who didn't thoroughly enjoy his position. +Anne had run away to Paris, they all said, because she declined to give +up her old sweetheart. You know what they will all say now? She came +and you would have none of her! I ask you, Julien, as a man of the +world, isn't that the view people are bound to take?" + +"It is a very stupid view," Julien declared. "Anne cares no more for me +than for any other man. She isn't that sort. Even if I were in a +position to marry any one, I am quite sure that she would refuse me." + +The Duchess began to see her way. She tried, however, to banish the +look of relief from her face. + +"My dear Julien," she said very gently, "you men, however well you +mean, sometimes make such mistakes. I want to show you what I am sure +you will see to be your duty. Things, of course, can never be as we had +once hoped. On the other hand, I am a mother, Julien, and I want to see +my daughters happy. We are very, very poor, but a little privation is +good for all of us. The Duke will settle two thousand a year upon Anne, +and I am quite sure that you can earn money with that wonderful pen of +yours, and then, of course, there is your own small income." + +"Anne doesn't want to marry me, and," he added, after a moment's +hesitation, "I don't want to marry Anne. You forget that I am an +outcast from life. I have to start things all over again. What should I +do with a wife who has been used to the sort of life Anne has always +led?" + +"Dear Julien," the Duchess repeated, "I want to show you your duty. If +you do not marry Anne, every one in London will say that she came to +you and you refused her. It is your duty at least to give her the +opportunity. It is unfortunate that she came here, perhaps, but we have +finished with all that. She is here, every one knows that she is here, +and you have been seen together." + +Julien rose from his chair and walked up and down the room. + +"I haven't talked very much with Anne," he said, pausing after a while, +"but it seems to me that she is making a bid for liberty. She is an +independent sort of girl, you know, after all, although she was very +well content, up to a certain point, to take things as they came. I +don't believe for a moment that she would marry me." + +"At least," the Duchess persisted, "do your duty and ask her. If +necessary, even let people know that you have asked her. It is your +duty, Julien." + +Julien hesitated no longer. + +"Very well," he decided, "since you put it like that I will ask Anne, +but I warn you, I think she will refuse me." + +"She will do nothing of the sort," the Duchess declared; "but oh! +Julien, it would make me so happy if you would take me to her, if I +could have just a few minutes' talk with her first, before you said +anything serious." + +Julien smiled. + +"Dear Duchess, I think not. I will go to see Anne alone. I will ask her +to marry me in my own way. I will tell her that you are here, and +whether she consents to marry me or not, I will bring her to see you. +But my offer shall be made before you and she meet." + +"You are a little hard, dear Julien," the Duchess murmured, "but let it +be so. Only remember that the poor dear child may be feeling very +sensitive--she must know that she has placed herself so completely in +your power. Be nice to her, Julien." + +The Duchess offered him a tentative but somewhat artificial embrace, +which Julien with great skill evaded. + +"We shall see," he remarked, "what happens. I shall find you here, I +suppose?" + +The Duchess nodded. + +"I have traveled all night," she said, half closing her eyes. "Directly +I saw that it was my duty, I came here without waiting a single second. +I shall lie down and rest and hope, Julien, until I see you both. I +shall hope and pray that you will bring Anne here to luncheon with me +and that we shall have a little family gathering." + +Anne was seated before the wide-open window in the little back room +leading from Mademoiselle Rignaut's workshop. A sewing-machine was on +the table in the middle of the apartment, the floor was strewn with +fragments of material. Anne, in a perfectly plain black gown, similar +to those worn by the other young ladies of the establishment, was +making bows. She looked at Julien, as he entered, in blank amazement. +Then a shadow of annoyance crossed her face. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "fancy letting you climb these four +flights of stairs! Besides, these are my working hours. I am not +receiving visitors." + +"Rubbish!" Julien interposed. "There's surely no need for you to pose +as a seamstress?" + +She laughed. + +"Don't be foolish! Why not a seamstress? I am absolutely determined to +do work of some sort. I am tired of living on other people and other +people's efforts. Until I hear from Madame Christophor, or find another +post, I am doing what I am fit for here. Don't make me any more annoyed +than I am at present. I am cross enough with Janette because she will +make me sit in here instead of with the other girls." + +He came across the room and stood by her side before the window. The +slight haze of the midsummer morning rested over the city with its +tangled mass of roofs and chimneys, its tall white buildings with funny +little verandas, the sweep of boulevards and statelier buildings in the +distance. She looked up and followed his eyes. + +"Don't you like my view?" she asked. "One misses the roar of London. Do +you notice how much shriller and less persistent all the noises are? +Yet it has its own inspiration, hasn't it?" + +"Without a doubt," Julien answered. "Of course, you can guess what I +came for?" + +"If it were to ask me to lunch," she said, composedly threading her +needle, "I am sorry, but I can't come. I have to make twenty-five of +these bows and I am rather slow at it." + +"Luncheon might have followed as an after-thought," he replied. "My +real mission was to suggest that you should marry me." + +Lady Anne's fingers paused for a moment in the air. She sat quite +still. Her eyes were half closed. There was a curious little quiver at +her heart, a little throb in her ears. On the whole, however, she kept +her self-control marvelously. + +"Whatever put that into your head?" she inquired, going on with her +work. + +He hesitated. It was in his mind to tell her of that evening at +Clonarty, to speak of it, to recall that one wave of emotion on which, +indeed, they might have floated into a completer understanding. He +looked at her steadfastly. She was very graceful, very good to look +upon. She sat upright in her poor cane chair, bending over her foolish +little task. But he missed any inspiration which might have guided his +tongue. She looked so thoroughly self-possessed, so splendidly superior +to circumstances. + +"Isn't it natural?" he asked. "You and I were always good friends. We +have come together here and we are both a little lonely. I have never +known any one else in the world, Anne," he continued, "with whom I have +been able to think of marriage with more--more content. One might live +quite a pleasant life here. We should not be paupers. At any rate, +there would be no reason for you to sit in this stuffy room making +bows, or to go and write Madame Christophor's letters." + +"Is that all?" + +Again he was tempted. For a single moment she had raised her eyes and +he had fancied that in that swift upward glance he had seen the light +of an almost eager questioning, an almost pathetic search. He bent +towards her, but she refused obstinately to look at him again. + +"Dear Anne," he said, "I have always been fond of you." + +Again her fingers were idle. An idea seemed to have occurred to her. +She asked him a question. + +"How long is it since you have seen my mother?" + +He did not at once reply. She raised her head and looked at him. Then +she knew the truth. She set her teeth and fought. A little sob was +strangled in her throat. + +"I left your mother a few minutes ago," he told her. "She arrived in +Paris this morning and sent for me." + +Lady Anne worked for a time in silence. Then she laid the bow, which +she had finished, upon the table, and leaned back in her chair, +clasping her right knee with her hands. + +"You really are the queerest person, Julien," she declared. "How you +were ever a success as a diplomatist I can't imagine! You came in with +the air of one charged with a high and holy mission. It was so obvious +and yet for a moment it puzzled me. How I would love to have been with +you this morning--with you and my mother, I mean--somewhere behind a +curtain! Never mind, you've done the really right and honorable +thing--you have given me my chance. I am very grateful, Julien." + +She looked frankly enough into his face now and laughed. Julien +remained silent. + +"Can't you see, both of you," Anne went on, "you silly people, that +something quite alien to us and our set has found its way into my +life--a sort of middle-class complaint--Heaven knows what you would call +it!--but it came just in time to place me in a most awkward position. I +still haven't any doubt that marriage is a very respectable and +desirable institution, but to me the idea of it as a matter of +convenience has suddenly become--well, a little worse than the thing +which we all shudder at so righteously when we pass along the streets +of Paris. Of course, I know," she added, "that's a shocking point of +view. My mother would hold, and you, too, that a legalized sale is no +sale at all, that matrimony is a perfectly hallowed institution, a +perfectly moral state, and all the rest of it. You see, I very nearly +admitted it myself--I very nearly sold myself!" + +She shuddered. Then she rose to her feet, straight and splendid, with +all the grace of her beautiful young womanhood. + +"Men don't think just as we do about this," she continued. "You are all +much too Oriental. But a woman has at least a right to keep what she +doesn't choose to sell, even if in the end she chooses to give it." + +Julien moved a step nearer to her. + +"Anne," he said, "supposing one cared?" + +Every fibre of her body was set in an effort of resistance. The mocking +laugh rose readily enough to her lips, the words were crushed back in +her throat. Only the faintest shadow shone for a moment in her eyes. + +"Ah, Julien," she murmured lightly, "if one cared! But does that really +come, I wonder? Not to such men as you. Not often, I am afraid, to such +women as I." + +The door was suddenly opened. Little Mademoiselle Rignaut was covered +with confusion. + +"But, miladi," she exclaimed, "a thousand pardons--" + +"Janette," Anne interrupted, "if I hear that once more I leave--I seek +another situation." + +"But, mademoiselle, then," Mademoiselle Rignaut corrected, "a thousand +pardons indeed! I had no idea--" + +"My dear Janette," Lady Anne protested, "why do you apologize for +entering your own workshop? It is foolish, this. I go now, dear Julien, +to put on my hat. You shall drive me to where my mother is staying--the +Ritz, I suppose? Afterwards you shall leave us. Wait in the street +below. I shall be less than two minutes." + +Mademoiselle Rignaut was still apologetic as she conducted Julien down +the narrow stairs. + +"But indeed," she declared, "there never was a young lady so strange, +with such charming manners, so sweet, as dear Miladi Anne. All the time +she smiles, inconveniences are nothing, one would imagine that she were +happy. And yet at night--" + +"At night what?" Julien asked. + +Mademoiselle shook her head. + +"Miladi Anne is not quite so cheerful as she seems. At night I fancy +that she does not sleep too well. One hears her, and, alas! Monsieur +Sir Julien, last night I heard her sobbing quietly." + +"Lady Anne sobbing?" Julien exclaimed. "It seems impossible." + +"Indeed, but women are strange!" Mademoiselle Rignaut sighed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE + + +Lady Anne came gayly down to the street a few minutes later. She was +still wearing the plain black gown and the simplest of hats. +Nevertheless, she looked charming. Her fresh complexion with its slight +touch of sunburn, her wealth of brown hair, and the distinction of her +carriage, made her everywhere an object of admiration in a city where +the prevailing type of beauty was so different. + +"Poor mother!" she exclaimed, as they crossed the Place de l'Opera. +"Tell me, was she very theatrical this morning, Julien?" + +Julien smiled. + +"I am afraid I must admit that she was," he declared. "I found her very +interesting." + +"I hate to talk about her," Anne continued, "it makes one feel so +unfilial, but really she is the most wonderful marionette that ever +lived the perfect life. You see, I have been behind the scenes so long. +Every now and then a little of the woman's nature crops up. Her cut to +Mrs. Carraby, for instance, was quite one of the events of the season. +It was so perfectly administered, so utterly scathing. I hear that the +poor creature went to bed for a fortnight afterwards. Gracious, I hope +I am not distressing you, Julien!" she added hastily. + +"Not in the least," Julien assured her grimly. "I have no interest in +Mrs. Carraby." + +Lady Anne sighed. + +"That's how you men talk when your little feeling has evaporated. +Julien, you're a selfish crowd! You make the world a very difficult +place for a woman." + +"I think," he said, "that your sex avenges itself.' + +"I am not sure," she replied. "Men so often place the burden of their +own follies upon a woman's shoulders." + +"You rebuke me rightly," Julien declared bitterly. + +"I was not thinking of you," she told him reproachfully. "I am sorry, +Julien. I should not have said that." + +"It was the truth," he confessed, "absolutely the truth. Still, I have +never blamed Mrs. Carraby for my disasters. It was my own asinine +simplicity. Tell me, when shall I see you again? I think I ought to +leave you here." + +She laughed. + +"You want to know about my interview with mother? Well, you shall know +all about that, I promise you, because I have changed my mind. I intend +to make you an auditor. Don't desert me, Julien, please. Remember, this +is really a trying moment for me. I have to face an irate and obstinate +parent. If friendship is worth anything, come and help me." + +"I can't help thinking," he objected, "that your mother would rather +talk to you alone." + +"Then you will please to consider me and not my mother," Anne insisted, +as they drew up before the door of the hotel. "I wish you to remain." + +The Duchess received them perfectly. She did not attempt anything +emotional. She simply held out both her hands a little apart. + +"You dear, sensible people!" she cried. "Anne, how dared you give us +such a shock!" + +Anne leaned over and kissed her mother. + +"Mother," she announced, "I am not going to marry Julien." + +The Duchess started. The expression which flashed from her eyes was +unmistakably genuine. + +"Don't talk nonsense, Anne!" she exclaimed sharply. + +"No nonsense about it," Anne retorted. "I can't bear to talk when any +one is standing up. Sit down, and in a few sentences I'll let you know +how hopeless it all is." + +There was real fear in the Duchess's eyes. + +"Anne," she gasped, "is there a man, then?" + +"You idiotic person, of course there isn't!" Anne replied. "Why on +earth you should all talk about a man directly a girl breaks away for a +time, I can't imagine. Now sit down there and listen. I brought Julien +along because if you bully me too much I shall make him take me away. +We are excellent friends, Julien and I, and he has been very kind to me +since I came here; but I met him entirely by accident, and if I hadn't +I am quite sure that we might have lived here for years and never come +across one another." + +"But I have told every one in London!" the Duchess protested. "I have +explained everything! I have told them how you always loved Julien, +what a terrible blow his troubles were, and how you suddenly found that +it was impossible for you to marry any other man, and like a dear, +romantic child that you are you ran away to him." + +"Yes," Lady Anne said dryly, "that's a very pretty story! That's just +what I imagined you would tell everybody when you knew that I'd come +here. That is just," she continued slowly, "what you have been rubbing +into poor Julien this morning before he came to see me. Very well, +mother, up to a certain point it came off, you see. Julien called most +dutifully, found me sitting in an attic--'attic' is the correct word, +isn't it?--and made his declaration. No, I don't think he declared +anything, on second thoughts! He effectually concealed any feelings he +might have had. It was a suggestion which he made." + +"My manner of expressing myself," Julien began a little stiffly-- + +"Your manner of expressing yourself was perfect," Anne interrupted. "It +was a great deal too perfect, my _preux chevalier_. Only you see, +Julien, only you see, mother, Julien offered me exactly what I left +home to escape from. I have come to the conclusion," she went on, +smoothing her skirt about her knees, "that it is most indecent and +wholly improper even to think of marrying a man who does not love you +and whom you do not love." + +The Duchess closed her eyes. + +"Anne, what have you been reading?" she murmured. + +"Not a thing," Anne went on. "I never did read half enough. I'm simply +acting by instinct. Julien and I were engaged for three months and at +the end of that time we were complete strangers. The idea of marrying a +stranger was not attractive to me. Let that go. Julien went. Along came +Samuel--" + +"We will not talk about Mr. Harbord," the Duchess interposed hastily. + +"Oh, yes, we will! Now so far as Julien was concerned," Anne continued, +"I dare say I should have smothered my feelings because there is +nothing revolting about him. He is quite an attractive person, and +physically everything to be desired. But when it came to a man who was +not a gentleman, whose manners were odious, who offended my taste every +time he opened his mouth--why, you see, the thing couldn't be thought +of! Day by day it got worse. Towards the end he began to try and put +his hands on me. That made me think. That's why I came to Paris." + +"Anne," the Duchess declared severely, "you are indecent!" + +"On the contrary," Anne insisted, "I think it was the most decent thing +I ever did. Now please listen. I will not come back to England, I will +not marry Julien, I will not think of or discuss the subject of +marriage with any one. I am a free person and I haven't the least +intention of spending my life moping. I am going to have a pleasant +time and I am going to have it in my own way. You have two other +daughters, mother--Violet and Lucy. Unless they change, they are +exactly what you would have them. Be satisfied. Devote your energies to +them and count me a black sheep. You can make me a little allowance, if +you like--a hundred a year or so--but whether I have it or not, I am +either going to make bows in Mademoiselle Rignaut's workshop, or I am +going to be secretary to a very delightful lady--a Mrs. Christophor, or +something of the sort." + +The Duchess rose--she had an idea that she was more dignified standing. + +"Anne," she said, "I am your mother. Not only that, but I ask you to +remember who you are. The women of England look for an example to us. +They look to us to live regular and law-abiding lives, to be dutiful +wives and mothers. You are behaving like a creature from an altogether +different world. You speak openly of things I have never permitted +mentioned. I ask you to reflect. Do you owe nothing to me? Do you owe +nothing to your father, to our position?" + +"A great deal, mother," Anne replied, "but I owe more to myself than to +any one else in the world." + +The Duchess felt hopeless. She looked toward Julien. + +"There is so much of this foolish sort of talk about," she complained. +"It all comes of making friends with socialists and labor people, and +having such terrible nonsense printed in the reviews. What are we to +do, Julien? Can't you persuade Anne? I am sure that she is really fond +of you." + +"I wouldn't attempt to influence her for a single moment," Julien +declared. "I won't say whether I think she is right or wrong. On the +whole, I am inclined to think that she is right." + +"You, too, desert me!" the Duchess exclaimed. + +"Well, it all depends upon one's conception of happiness, of course," +Julien replied, "but so far as I am concerned, let me tell you that the +idea of a girl like Anne married to an insufferable bounder like +Harbord, just because he's got millions of money, simply made me boil." + +Anne, for some reason or other, was looking quite pleased. + +"I am so glad to know you felt like that, Julien. It's really the +nicest thing you've said to me all the morning. Well, that's over now. +Mother, why don't you give us some lunch and take the four o'clock +train back? It's the Calais train, which I know you always prefer." + +The Duchess reflected for a moment. There were advantages in lunching +at the Ritz with Julien on one side of her and Anne on the other. She +gave a little sigh and consented. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +FOOLHARDY JULIEN + + +The luncheon in the beautiful restaurant of the Ritz was a meal after +the Duchess's own heart. She was at home here and received the proper +amount of attention. Not only that, but many acquaintances--mostly +foreign, but a few English--paused at her table to pay their respects. +To every one of these she carefully introduced her daughter and Sir +Julien. The situation was not without its embarrassments. Lady Anne, +however, dissipated them by an unaffected fit of laughter. + +"Mother thinks she is putting everything quite right by lending us the +sanctity of her presence," she declared. "We have been seen lunching at +the Ritz. After this, who shall say that I ran away from home to meet a +riding master in Paris, or some other disreputable person? I may +perhaps be pitied as the victim of a hopeless infatuation for you, +Julien, but for the rest, if we only sit here long enough I shall be +whitewashed." + +The Duchess was a little uneasy. + +"I must say, Anne," she protested, "that you seem to have developed a +great deal of levity during the last few days. It's not a subject to be +alluded to so lightly. Ah! now let me tell you who this is. A +wonderfully interesting person, I can assure you. She was born in Paris +of American parents, very wealthy indeed, married when quite young to +Prince Falkenberg, and separated from him within two years. They say +that she lives a queer, half Bohemian sort of life now, but she is +still a great person when she chooses. My dear Princess!" + +Madame Christophor, who had entered the room on her way to a luncheon +party, paused for a moment and shook hands. Then she recognized Julien. + +"Really," she murmured, "this is most unexpected. My dear Duchess, you +have quite deserted Paris. Is this your daughter--Lady Anne? I scarcely +remember her. And yet--" + +"We met yesterday," Lady Anne interrupted promptly. "You know, I want +to be your secretary, Madame Christophor, if you will let me. My mother +has entirely cast me off, so it doesn't matter." + +The Duchess made a most piquant gesture. It was really an insufferable +position, but she was determined to remain graceful. + +"My dear Madame Christophor," she said, "you have no grown-up children, +of course, so I cannot ask for your sympathy. But I have a daughter +here who is giving me a great deal of trouble. I flatter myself that I +have modern views of life, but Anne--well, I won't discuss her." + +Madame Christophor smiled. + +"Young people are different nowadays, Duchess," she remarked. "If Lady +Anne really wants to come into life on her own, why not? She can be my +secretary if she chooses. I shall pay her just as much as I should any +one else, and I shall send her away if she is not satisfactory. There +are a great many young people nowadays, Duchess," she continued, "in +very much your daughter's position, who do these odd things. I always +think that it is better not to stand in their way. Sir Julien, I want +to speak to you before you leave this restaurant. I have something +important to say." + +The Duchess was a little taken aback. To her it seemed a social +cataclysm, something unheard of, that her daughter should propose to be +any one's secretary. Yet this woman, who was certainly of her own +order, had accepted the thing as entirely natural--had dismissed it, +even, with a few casual remarks. Julien, who since Madame Christophor's +arrival had been standing in his place, was somewhat perplexed. + +"You are lunching here?" he asked. + +"With the Servian Minister's wife. I shall excuse myself early. It is a +vital necessity that we talk for a few minutes before you leave here. +Five minutes ago I sent a note to your rooms." + +"I shall be at your service," Julien replied slowly. + +"I shall expect you in the morning," Madame Christophor said, smiling +at Lady Anne. "Don't be later than ten o'clock. I am always at home +after four, Duchess, if you are spending any time in Paris," she added. + +They watched her as she passed to the little group who were awaiting +her arrival. She was certainly one of the most elegant women in the +room. Lady Anne looked after her with a faint frown. + +"I wonder," she murmured, "if I shall like Madame Christophor?" + +"I had no idea, Julien," the Duchess remarked, "that you were friendly +with her." + +Julien evaded the question. + +"At any rate," he said, turning to Anne, "this will be better for you +than making bows." + +"I suppose so," she assented. "All the same, I am very much my own +mistress in that dusty little workshop. If Madame Christophor--isn't +that the name she chooses to be called by?--becomes exacting, I am not +even sure that I shan't regret my bow-making." + +"Tell me exactly how long you have known her, Julien!" the Duchess +persisted. + +"Since my arrival in Paris this time," Julien answered. "I had--well, a +sort of introduction to her." + +"She is received everywhere," the Duchess continued, "because I know +she visits at the house of the Comtesse Deschelles, who is one of the +few women in Paris of the old faction who are entirely exclusive. At +the same time, I am told that she leads a very retired life now, and is +more seen in Bohemia than anywhere. I am not at all sure that it is a +desirable association for Anne." + +"Well, you can leave off troubling about that," Anne said. "Remember, +however much we make believe, I have really shaken the dust of +respectability off my feet. Hamilton Place knows me no longer. I am a +dweller in the byways. Even if I come back, it will be as a stranger. +People will be interested in me, perhaps, as some one outside their +lives. 'That strange daughter of the poor dear Duchess, you know,' they +will say, 'who ran away to Paris! Some terrible affair. No one knows +the rights of it.' Can't you hear it all? They will be kind to me, of +course, but I shan't belong. Alas!" + +The Duchess was studying her bill and wondering how much to tip the +waiter. She only answered absently. + +"My dear Anne, you are talking quite foolishly. I wish I knew," she +added plaintively, a few minutes later, "what you have been reading or +whom you have been meeting lately." + +"Don't bother about me," Anne begged. "What you want to do now is to +tell Parkins to pack up your things and I'll come and see you off by +the four o'clock train. Julien must wait outside for my future +employer. What I really think is going to happen is that she's going to +ask for my character. Julien, be merciful to me! Remember that above +all things I have always been respectable. Remind her that if I were +too intelligent I should probably rob her of her secrets or money or +something. I am really a most machine-like person. Nature meant me to +be secretary to a clever woman, and my handwriting--don't forget my +handwriting. Nothing so clear or so rapid has ever been seen." + +The Duchess signed her bill, slightly undertipped the waiter and +accepted his subdued thanks with a gracious smile. + +"I can see," she said, as they left the room, "that I shall have to +wash my hands of you. Nevertheless, I shall not lose hope." + +She shook hands solemnly with Julien, and he performed a like ceremony +with Lady Anne. + +"When shall I see you again?" he asked the latter. + +"You had better question Madame Christophor concerning my evenings +out," she replied. "It is not a matter I know much about. I am sure you +are quite welcome to any of them." + +Julien found a seat in the broad passageway. Several acquaintances +passed to and fro whom so far as possible he avoided. Madame +Christophor came at last. She was the centre of the little party who +were on their way into the lounge. When she neared Julien, however, she +paused and made her adieux. He rose and waited for her expectantly. + +"We are to talk here?" he asked. + +She nodded. + +"In that corner." + +She pointed to a more retired spot. He followed her there. + +"Order some coffee," she directed. + +He obeyed her and they were promptly served. She waited, chatting idly +of their luncheon party, of the coincidence of meeting with the +Duchess, until they were entirely freed from observation. Then she +leaned towards him. + +"Sir Julien," she said, "I have read your articles, the first and the +second. You are a brave man." + +He smiled. + +"Are you going to warn me once more against Herr Freudenberg?" he +asked. + +She shook her head. + +"If you do not know your danger," she continued, "you would be too +great a fool to be worth warning. Remember that Freudenberg came from +Berlin as fast as express trains and his racing-car could bring him, +the moment he read the first." + +"I have already had a brief but somewhat unpleasant interview with +him," Julien remarked. + +"I congratulate you," she went on. "Unpleasant interviews with Herr +Freudenberg generally end differently. Now listen to me. I have a +proposition to make. There is one house in Paris where you will be +safe--mine. I offer you its shelter. Come there and finish your work." + +Julien made no reply. He sipped his coffee for a moment. Then he turned +slowly round. + +"Madame Christophor," he said, "once you told me that you disliked and +distrusted all men. Why, then, should I trust you?" + +She winced a little, but her tone when she answered him was free of +offense. + +"Why should you, indeed?" she replied. "Yet you should remember that +the man against whose cherished schemes your articles are directed is +the man whom I have more cause to hate than any other in the world." + +"Herr Freudenberg," he murmured. + +"Prince Adolf Rudolf von Falkenberg," she corrected him. "Do you know +the story of my married life?" + +"I have never heard it," he told her. + +"I will spare you the details," she continued. "My husband married me +with the sole idea of using my house, my friends, my social position +here for the furtherance of his schemes. Under my roof I discovered +meetings of spies, spies paid to suborn the different services in this +country--the navy, the army, the railway works. When I protested, he +laughed at me. He made no secret of his ambitions. He is the sworn and +inveterate enemy of your country. His feeling against France is a +slight thing in comparison with his hatred of England. For the last ten +years he has done nothing but scheme to humiliate her. When I +discovered to what purpose my house was being put, I bade him leave it. +I bade him choose another hotel, and when he saw that I was in earnest, +he obeyed. It is one of the conditions of our separation that he does +not cross my threshold. That is why I say, Sir Julien, that you have +nothing to fear in accepting the shelter of my roof." + +"Madame Christophor," Julien said earnestly, "I am most grateful for +your offer. At the same time, I honestly do not believe that I have +anything to fear anywhere. Herr Freudenberg has made one attempt upon +me and has failed. I do not think that he is likely to risk everything +by any open assaults. In these civilized days of the police, the +telephone and the law courts, one is not so much at the mercy of a +strong man as in the old days. I do not fear Herr Freudenberg." + +Madame Christophor shrugged her shoulders. + +"My friend," she admitted, "I admire your courage, but listen. You say +that one attempt has already been made to silence you. For every letter +you write, there will be another made. At each fresh one, these +creatures of Herr Freudenberg's will have learned more cunning. In the +end they are bound to succeed. Why risk your life? I offer my house as +a sanctuary. There is no need for you to pass outside it. You could +take the exercise you require in my garden, which is bounded by four of +the highest walls in Paris. You can sit in a room apart from the rest +of the house, with three locked doors between you and the others. You +may write there freely and without fear." + +Julien smiled. + +"I am afraid it is my stupidity," he said, "but I cannot possibly bring +myself to believe in the existence of any danger. I will promise you +this, if I may. If any further attempt should be made upon me, any +attempt which came in the least near being successful, I will remember +your offer. For the present my mind is made up. I shall remain where I +am." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"Ingrate!" + +"Not that, by any means," he assured her heartily. "You know that I am +grateful. You know that if I refuse for the moment your offer it is not +because I mistrust you. I simply feel that I should be taking elaborate +precautions which are quite unnecessary." + +"I might even spare you," she remarked, smiling, "Lady Anne for your +secretary." + +"Even that inducement," he answered steadily, "does not move me." + +She sighed. + +"You will have your own way," she said, "and yet there is something +rather sad about it. I know so much more of this Paris than you. I know +so much more of Herr Freudenberg. Remember that there are a quarter of +a million Germans in this city, and of that quarter of a million at +least twenty thousand belong to one or the other of the secret +societies with which the city abounds. All of them are different in +tone, but they all have at the end of their programme the cause of the +Fatherland. By this time you will have been named to them as its enemy. +Twenty thousand of them, my friend, and not a scruple amongst the lot!" + +He moved in his place a little restlessly. + +"One does not fight in these ways nowadays," he protested. + +"Pig-headed Englishman!" she murmured. "You to say that, too!" + +His thoughts flashed back to those few moments of vivid life in his own +rooms. He thought of Freudenberg's calm perseverance. An uncomfortable +feeling seized him. + +"I do not know," she went on, leaning a little towards him, "why I +should interest myself in you at all." + +"Why do you, then?" he asked, looking at her suddenly. + +She played with the trifles that hung from her chatelaine. He watched +for the raising of her eyes, but he watched in vain. She did not return +his inquiring look. + +"Never mind," she said, "I have warned you. It is for you to act as you +think best. If you change your mind, come to me. I will give you +sanctuary at any time. Take me to my automobile, please." + +He obeyed her and watched her drive off. Then he went slowly and +unmolested back to his rooms. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE SECOND ATTEMPT + + +The concierge of Julien's apartments issued with a somewhat mysterious +air from his little lodge as his tenant passed through the door. He was +a short man with a fierce, bristling moustache. He wore a semi-military +coat, always too short for him, and he was so stout that he was seldom +able to fasten more than two of the buttons of his waistcoat. + +"Monsieur!" + +"What is it, Pierre?" Julien asked. "Any callers for me?" + +"There have been callers, indeed, monsieur," Pierre replied, "callers +whose errand I do not quite understand. They asked many questions +concerning monsieur. When they had finished, the man--bah! he was a +German!--he thrust into my hand a hundred franc note. He said, 'No word +of this to Monsieur Sir Julien!' I put the note into the bottom of my +trousers pocket, but I made no response. I am not dishonorable. I keep +the note because these men should think me craven enough to give them +information, to hear their questions, and to say nothing to monsieur, +one of my own lodgers! It was an insult, that. Therefore I keep the +hundred franc note. Therefore I tell monsieur all that these two men +did ask." + +"You showed," Julien declared, "a rare and excellent discretion. +Proceed." + +"They asked questions, monsieur, on every conceivable subject," Pierre +continued. "Their interest in your doings was amazing. They asked what +meals you took in the house, at what hour you went out and at what hour +you returned. Then the shorter of the two wished to take the room above +yours. I asked him more than double the price, but he would have +engaged it. Then I told him that I was not sure. There was a gentleman +to whom it was offered. They come back this afternoon to know the +result." + +"If they find a lodging in this house," Julien said, "I fear that I +must leave." + +"It shall be," Pierre decided, "as monsieur wishes. I am not to be +tempted with money when it comes to a question of retaining an old +tenant. The room is let to another. It is finished." + +Julien climbed the stairs thoughtfully to his apartments, locked +himself in and sat down before his desk. For an hour or more he worked. +Then there came a timid knock at the door. He looked around, frowning. +After a moment's hesitation he affected not to notice the summons, and +continued his work. The knocking came again, however, low but +persistent. Julien rose to his feet, turned the key and opened the +door. + +"Mademoiselle!" he exclaimed, genuinely surprised. + +It was Mademoiselle Ixe who glided past him into the room. She signed +to him to close the door. He did so, and turning slowly faced her. She +was standing a few yards away, her lips a little parted, pale +notwithstanding the delicately artistic touch of coloring upon her +cheeks. Her hands were crossed upon the jade top of her lace parasol. +In her muslin gown and large hat she formed a very effective picture as +she stood there with her eyes now fixed upon Julien. + +"Mademoiselle," he began, "I do not quite understand." + +"Look outside," she begged. "See that there is no one there. I am so +afraid that I might have been followed." + +Julien stepped out onto the landing and returned. + +"There is no one about at all," he assured her. + +She drew a little sigh. + +"But it is rash, this! Monsieur Sir Julien, you are glad--you are +pleased to see me? Make me one of your pretty speeches at once or I +shall go." + +"But, mademoiselle," Julien said, wheeling a chair towards her, "who +indeed could be anything but glad to see you at any time? Yet forgive +me if I am stupid. Tell me why you have come to see me this afternoon +and why you are afraid that you are followed?" + +"Why?" she murmured, looking up into his eyes. "Ah, Monsieur Sir +Julien, it is hard indeed to tell you that!" + +Mademoiselle Ixe was without doubt an extraordinarily pretty young +woman. She was famous even in Paris for her figure, her looks, the +perfection of her clothes, the daintiness and distinction of those +small adjuncts to her toilette so dear to the heart of a Parisienne. +Julien looked at her and sighed. + +"Perhaps, mademoiselle," he said, "you will find it hard also to tell +me whether you come of your own accord or at the instigation of Herr +Freudenberg?" + +She looked genuinely hurt. Julien, however, was merciless. + +"It is, perhaps, because Herr Freudenberg has told you that I once lost +great things through trusting a woman that you think to find me an easy +victim?" he went on. "Come, am I to give you those sheets over there," +he added, pointing to his writing-table, "and promise for your sake +never to write another line, or have you more serious designs?" + +"Monsieur Julien," she faltered,-- + +He suddenly changed his tone. + +"Am I cruel?" he asked. "Forgive me, mademoiselle--forgive me, +Marguerite." + +She held out her delicately gloved hand towards him; her face she +turned a little away and one gathered that there were tears in her eyes +which she did not wish him to see. + +"Take off my glove, please," she whispered. "I did not think you would +be so cruel even for a moment." + +He took her fingers in his, fingers which promptly returned his +pressure. His right arm stole around her. + +"Monsieur Sir Julien," she continued very softly, "please promise that +you will speak to me no more now of Herr Freudenberg. Tell me that you +are glad I have come. Say some more of those pretty things that you +whispered to me in the Rat Mort." + +His arm tightened about her. She was powerless. + +"Julien!" she murmured. + +He laughed quietly. Suddenly she struggled to escape from him. + +"Let me go!" she cried. "Sir Julien, but you are rough. Monsieur!" + +He flung her from him back into the chair. In his left hand he held the +pistol he had taken from the bosom of her gown--a dainty little affair +of ivory and silver. He turned it over curiously. She lay back in the +chair where he had thrown her, gripping its sides with tremulous +fingers, her eyes deep-set, distended, staring at him. He thrust the +weapon into his pocket. + +"Really," he said, "I thought better of Herr Freudenberg. Why doesn't +he come himself?" + +"Oh, he will come!" she answered. + +"Will he?" Julien replied. "I should have thought better of him if he +had come first, instead of sending a woman to do his work." + +She sat up in the chair. Julien had known well how to rouse her. + +"You do not think that he is afraid?" she cried. "Afraid of you? Bah! +For the rest, it was I who insisted on coming. He was troubled. I knew +why. I said to myself, 'It is a risk I will take. I will go to Sir +Julien's rooms. I will shoot him. I will pretend that it was a love +affair. I will go into court all with tears, I will wear my prettiest +clothes, nothing indeed will happen. An affair of jealousy--a moment of +madness. One takes account of these things. Then Herr Freudenberg +himself has great friends here, friends in high places. He will see +that nothing happens.'" + +"A very pretty scheme," Julien remarked sarcastically. "Supposing, +however, I turn the tables upon you, mademoiselle. You are here and I +have taken away this little plaything. Would Herr Freudenberg be +jealous if he knew, I wonder?" + +She glanced at the door. + +"Locked," Julien continued grimly. "Do you still wish me to come and +make pretty speeches to you?" he added. "You are certainly looking +very charming, mademoiselle. Your gown is exquisite. What can I do more +than echo what all Paris has said--that there is no one of her +daughters more bewitching? Can you wonder if I lose my head a little +when I find you here with me in my rooms--a visit, too, of pure +affection?" + +She rose to her feet. The patch of color upon her cheeks had become +more vivid. + +"You will let me go?" she faltered. + +Julien unlocked the door. + +"Mademoiselle," he answered, "I shall most certainly let you go. Permit +me to thank you for the pleasure which your brief visit has afforded +me." + +The door was opened before her. Julien stood on one side. The smile +with which he dismissed her was half contemptuous, half kindly. Upon +the threshold she hesitated. + +"Sir Julien!" + +"Mademoiselle Ixe?" + +"If there were no Herr Freudenberg," she whispered, "if it were not my +evil fortune, Monsieur Sir Julien, to love him so foolishly, so +absolutely, so that every moment of separation is full of pain, every +other man like a figure in a dream--if it were not for this, Monsieur +Sir Julien, I do not think that I should like to leave you so easily!" + +Julien made no reply. She passed out with a little sigh. He heard the +flutter of her laces and draperies as she crossed the passage and +commenced the descent of the stairs. Julien was closing the door when +he heard a familiar voice and a heavy footstep. Kendricks, with a +Gladstone bag in his hand, came bustling up. + +"Julien, you dog," he exclaimed savagely, "you're at it again! Why the +devil can't you keep these women at arm's length? What has that pretty +little creature of Herr Freudenberg's been doing here?" + +Julien laughed as he closed the door. + +"Don't be a fool, David! She wasn't here at my invitation." + +"Tears in her eyes!" Kendricks muttered. "Sobbing to herself as she +went down the steps! Crocodile's tears, I know. These d--d women, +Julien! Out with it. What did she come for?" + +Julien produced the pistol from his pocket. + +"It was," he explained, "her amiable intention to please her lord and +master at the slight expense of my life. Fortunately, the game was a +new one to her and she kept on feeling the bosom of her gown to see +whether the pistol was there still." + +"What did you do?" Kendricks demanded. + +"What was there for me to do?" Julien replied. "I took her little toy +away and told her to run off. This is the second time, David. Estermen +and Freudenberg have had a shy at me here themselves, and they'd have +gotten me all right but for an accident. I won't tell you what the +accident was, for the moment, owing to your peculiar prejudices. How +are things in London?" + +Kendricks threw himself into an easy-chair and began to fill his pipe. + +"Julien," he declared, "you've done the trick! I'm proud of my advice, +proud of the result. There isn't a club or an omnibus or a tube or a +public-house where that letter of yours isn't being talked about. They +tell me it's the same here. Have you seen the German papers?" + +"Not one." + +"Never was such a thunderbolt launched," Kendricks continued. "They are +all either stupefied or hysterical. Freudenberg left Berlin an hour +after he saw the article. You tell me you've met him already?" + +"Yes, he's been here," Julien replied. "He offered to make me a Croesus +if I'd stop the letters. When I refused, well, we had a scuffle, and by +Jove, they nearly got me! He means to wipe me out." + +"We'll see about that!" Kendricks muttered. "I'm not going to leave +your side till we're through with this little job." + +"Madame Christophor suggested that I should go there and finish," +Julien said. "What do you think of that?" + +"Madame Fiddlesticks!" Kendricks retorted angrily. "The wife of +Falkenberg! Do you want to walk into the lion's jaws?" + +"She is separated from her husband," Julien reminded him. "My own +impression is that she hates him." + +"I'd never believe it," Kendricks insisted. "The fellow has the devil's +own way with these women. Look at that little wretch I met on the +stairs. A harmless, flirting little opera singer a year ago. Now she'd +come here and murder a man against whom she hasn't the slightest +grudge, for his sake. I tell you the fellow's got an unwholesome +influence over every one with whom he comes in contact." + +"Have you read to-day's letter?" Julien asked abruptly. + +"Read it! Man alive, it made the heart jump inside me! I tell you it's +set the war music dancing wherever a dozen men have come together. I +always thought you had a pretty gift as a maker of phrases, Julien, but +I never knew you dipped your pen in the ink of the immortals. I tell +you no one doubts anything you have written. That's the genius of it. +No one denies it, no one attempts arguments, every one in England and +France whose feelings have been ruffled is already wanting to shake +hands all over again. One sees that giant figure, the world's +mischief-maker, suddenly caught at his job. It's gorgeous! How about +number four?" + +"Half written," Julien declared, pointing to his table. + +Kendricks went to the door and locked it, went to the cupboard and +brought out the whiskey and soda, undid his Gladstone bag, buttoned a +life preserver on his left wrist, and laid a Mauser pistol on the table +by the side of him. + +"Julien," he said, "I feel like the biggest ass unhung, but I am here +with my playthings to be watchdog. Get to your desk and write, man. One +drink first. Come." + +They raised their glasses. + +"What have you called number three?" Kendricks asked. + +"'A Maker of Toys!'" Julien replied. + +"Here's damnation to him!" Kendricks said, raising the glass to his +lips. "Now get to work, Julien." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +BY THE PRINCE'S ORDERS + + +Once more mademoiselle sat beneath a canopy of pink roses, surrounded +by obsequious waiters, with the murmur of music in her ears, opposite +the man she adored. Yet without a doubt mademoiselle was disturbed. Her +fixed eyes were riveted upon the newspaper which Herr Freudenberg had +passed into her hand. She was suddenly very pale. + +"Send some of these people away," she begged. "I am frightened." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. With a wave of his hand they were alone. + +"Dear Marguerite," he said quietly, "compose yourself. All those who +stand in my way and the way of my country must be swept aside, but +remember this. They have all received their warning. I lift my hand +against no one who has not first received a chance of escape." + +"He was a man so gallant," she faltered, "so _comme il faut_. +Listen to me, please." + +She laid the newspaper upon the table and kept the flat of her hand +still upon it. Then she leaned towards him. + +"You will not be angry with me?" she implored. "Indeed I did it to +please you, to win, if I could, a little more of your love. I knew that +this man Sir Julien stood in your path and that you found it difficult +to remove him. An impulse came to me. We had talked together gayly as a +man of gallantry may talk to a woman like myself. It might easily pass +for flirting, those things that he has said. Although you, dear one," +she added, looking across the table, "know how it is with me when such +words are spoken. Well, I bought cartridges for my little pistol that +you gave me, I thrust it into the bosom of my gown, I wore my prettiest +clothes, and yesterday I went to his rooms." + +Herr Freudenberg's cold eyes were suddenly fixed upon her face. His +fingers stopped their drumming upon the tablecloth. + +"Proceed!" + +"I meant to shoot him," she confessed. "I thought that if I could not +escape afterwards it was so easy for people to believe that he was my +lover, that it was a crime of jealousy, a moment's passion. I said to +myself, too, that you would help so that after all my punishment would +be a very small affair. In no other way it seemed to me could he have +been disposed of so easily." + +"Sweet little fool!" Herr Freudenberg murmured. "Did it never enter +into your little brain that you are known as my companion?" + +She shook her head. + +"That would have counted for nothing. People would not have believed +that I had any other motive. I should have declared that it was a love +affair." + +"What happened?" + +"He was too quick for me," mademoiselle admitted. "He saw me feel the +spot where the pistol lay concealed. He--he snatched it away." + +"And afterwards?" Herr Freudenberg inquired, with the ghost of a smile +upon his lips. + +She raised her eyes. + +"He let me go," she replied. "He threw open the door and he laughed at +me. Forgive me, please, if I am sad, if indeed I weep. He was a gallant +gentleman." + +Herr Freudenberg sighed. Slowly he raised his glass to his lips and +drank. + +"It is an amiable epitaph," he declared. "Many a man has gone up to +Heaven with a worse. Cheer up, my little Marguerite. A year or two more +or less in a man's life is no great matter, and after all it was not +one warning which this rash man received. You have not yet read the +account of the affair." + +Mademoiselle slowly withdrew the palm of her hand from the paper. The +paragraph was headed: + +SHOCKING EXPLOSION IN THE RUE DE MONTPELIER. + +She looked up. + +"I cannot read it," she murmured. "Tell me." + +"It is simple," he replied. "This afternoon an unfortunate explosion +occurred in the house in the Rue de Montpelier where Sir Julien had his +apartments. The whole of the front of the premises was blown away. It +is regrettable," he added, with a little shrug of the shoulders, "that +in all seven people perished, including the concierge. Mr. Kendricks, +an English journalist, was taken away alive, but terribly injured, to +the hospital. His companion, who seems to have been within a few feet +of him when the explosion occurred, was unfortunately blown to pieces. +The details as to his fate might perhaps interfere with your appetite, +but let me at least assure you, my dear Marguerite," Herr Freudenberg +continued, "that such a death is entirely painless. I regret the +necessity for such means, but the man had his chance. I regret, also, +the fate of the other poor people who lost their lives. Unfortunately, +it was necessary to remove Sir Julien in such a way that no suspicion +should be cast upon any one person. The death of the concierge, for +instance, was absolutely essential. He was suspicious about some of my +men who had been making inquiries." + +"But it is horrible!" she gasped. + +"Little one," he went on, "life is like that. To succeed one has to +cultivate indifference. Sir Julien Portel had many warnings. He knew +very well that if he persisted in writing those articles, he was +braving my defiance. Already he has done mischief enough. The whole +series would have undone the work of the last two years. To-night," +Herr Freudenberg continued, with a sigh of relief, "we may open the +Journal without apprehensions. There are no more secrets disclosed, no +more of these marvelously written appeals to--" + +Herr Freudenberg stopped short. His eyebrows had drawn closer together. +He was gazing at the sheet which he held in his hand with more +expression in his face than mademoiselle had ever seen there before. + +"My God!" he muttered. + +She, too, bent forward. She, too, saw the article with its heading: "A +Maker of Toys!" + +Herr Freudenberg waved her back. Line by line he read the article. When +he had finished, his face was almost ghastly. He drained his glass and +called for the _sommelier_. + +"Serve more wine," he ordered briefly. + +"What is it that you have seen?" she asked. + +"I was a fool not to have been prepared," he answered. "There is +another article in to-night's paper, but of course he would have sent +it off before--before the explosion happened. It is worse than the +others!" he went on hoarsely. "Thank Heaven, that man is out of the +way! I would give a million marks to be able to destroy every copy of +this paper that was ever issued. It is not fair fighting!... It is +barbarous! No longer can I hope for any privacy in this country. You +see--you see, Marguerite? He has written of me openly. 'The Toymaker +from Leipzig!'--that is what he has called me! These two, Kendricks and +he, they saw through me from the first. They knew what it was that I +desired. Damn them!" + +Mademoiselle crossed herself instinctively. Once she had been +religious. + +"Poor Sir Julien!" + +Herr Freudenberg sighed. + +"To-morrow night, at any rate," he said, "there will be no article. We +have made sure of that. I pray to Heaven that it may not be too late!" + +She shuddered. The service of dinner was resumed. + +"Put the paper away," she begged. "Don't let us think of it any more. +After all, as you say, he was warned. Nothing that one feels now can do +any good. Give me some wine. Talk to me of other things." + +Estermen came in to them presently. Herr Freudenberg insisted upon his +taking a chair. Once more he dismissed the waiters. + +"All goes well," Estermen announced. "There is not an idea at +headquarters as to the source of the explosion. I have been round with +the newspaper men." + +"How is Kendricks?" Herr Freudenberg asked. + +"Alive, but barely conscious." + +"It is a pity," Herr Freudenberg said coldly. "Kendricks is responsible +for a good deal of the trouble. Did you see that to-night's article is +here?" + +Estermen nodded. + +"He must have been a day ahead," he explained. "It was probably a later +one of the series upon which he was engaged when the thing occurred." + +"This one will do sufficient harm," Herr Freudenberg remarked grimly. + +Estermen shrugged his shoulders. + +"It is true, and yet we have a great start. Public opinion is +thoroughly unsettled. Even those who accepted the _entente_ as the +most brilliant piece of diplomacy of the generation, are beginning to +wonder what really has been gained by it. If I were at Berlin," +Estermen continued, with a covert glance up at his master, "now is the +time I should choose. To-morrow _Le Grand Journal_ will be silent. +To-morrow I should send a polite notification to the English Government +that owing to the unsettled condition of the country, and the +nervousness of certain German residents, His Imperial Majesty has +thought it wise to send a warship to Agdar." + +"The German subjects are a trifle hypothetical," Herr Freudenberg +muttered. "We had the utmost difficulty in persuading an ex-convict to +go out there." + +"What does it matter?" Estermen asked. "He is there. He represents the +glorious liberties of the Fatherland. Millions have been spent before +now for the blood of one man." + +Marguerite sighed. She was leaning back in her place, watching the +boughs of the lime trees swinging gently back and forth in the night +breeze, the cool moonlight outside, refreshing in its contrast to the +over-lit and overheated auditorium of the music-hall. On the stage a +Revue was in full swing. Mademoiselle Ixe glanced at it but seldom. Her +eyes seemed to be always outside. + +"Tell me," she demanded almost passionately, "why cannot one leave the +world alone? It is great enough and beautiful enough. Will Germany be +really the happier, do you think, if she triumphs against England? It +doesn't seem worth while. Life is so short, the joy of living is so +hard to grasp. Don't you think," she added, leaning towards her +companion, her beautiful eyes full of entreaty, "that for one night at +least, all thoughts of your country and of her destinies might pass +away? Let us live in the world that amuses itself, that takes the +pleasures that grow ready to its hand, whose arms are not rapacious, +and whose sword lies idle. Forget for a little time, dear friend. Let +us both forget!" + +Herr Freudenberg smiled as he finished his wine. + +"Ah! dear Marguerite," he said, "you preach the great philosophy. We +will try humbly to follow in your footsteps. Lead on and we will +follow--up to the Montmartre, if you will, or down to the Rue Royale. +What does it matter, sweetheart, so long as we are together?" + +She shivered a little as his fingers touched hers, although her eyes +still besought him. The _vestiaire_ was standing by with her lace +coat. She rose slowly to her feet. + +"To the Rue Royale," she decided. "To-night I have no fancy for the +Montmartre." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +DISTRESSING NEWS + + +Mrs. Carraby advanced into the library of the great house in Grosvenor +Square. Her husband had risen from his desk and was standing with his +hands in his pockets upon the hearth-rug. His dress was as neat and +correct as ever, his hair as accurately parted, his small moustache as +effectually twirled. Yet there was a frown upon his face, an expression +of gloomy peevishness about his expression. His wife stood and looked +at him, looked at him and thought. + +"You are back early," he said. "What is the matter? You don't look +radiantly happy. I thought you were looking forward so much to this +bazaar." + +"I was," she replied. "I am disappointed." + +He saw then that her silence was not a matter of indifference but of +anger. + +"What's wrong?" he asked quickly. + +Her lips parted for a moment. One saw that her teeth were firmly +clenched. There was a wicked light in her strange-colored eyes. + +"It was that woman again," she muttered,--"the Duchess!" + +"What about her?" Carraby demanded. "She's bound to be civil to you +now, anyway." + +"Is she?" Mrs. Carraby replied. "Is she, indeed! Well, her civility +this afternoon has been such that I shall have to give up my stall. I +can't stay there." + +"What do you mean?" he demanded. + +"Nothing except that before everybody she once more cut me dead, cut me +wickedly," Mrs. Carraby declared. "You don't understand the tragedy of +this to a woman. You are not likely to. She did it in such a way this +time that there isn't a person worth knowing in London who isn't +laughing about it at the present moment." + +"Beast of a woman!" he muttered. + +Mrs. Carraby came a little further into the room. She sank into an +easy-chair and sat there. Her hands were tightly clenched, her face was +hard and cold, her tone icy. Yet one felt that underneath a tempest was +raging. + +"You know, Algernon," she went on, "we had some hard times when you +first began to make your way a little. When we first took this house, +even, things weren't altogether easy. Americans can come from nowhere, +do the most outrageous things in the world, and take London by storm. +London, on the other hand, is cruel to English people who have only +their money. She was cruel to us, Algernon, but with all the snubs and +all the difficulties I ever had, nothing has ever happened to me like +to-day." + +"You'll get over it." + +"Get over it!" she repeated. "Yes, but I thought that that sort of +thing was at an end. I thought that when you were a Cabinet Minister no +one would dare to treat me as though I were a social nobody." + +"You must remember that the Duchess has a special reason," he reminded +her. "I suppose it's that Portel affair." + +"Yes," Mrs. Carraby agreed, "it is the Portel affair." + +They were both silent. There wasn't much to be said, for the moment. + +"Have you heard," he inquired presently, "whether Lady Anne is with him +in Paris?" + +"No," she replied. "Somehow or other, people don't seem to talk scandal +about Lady Anne. They say that she is staying for a time with an old +friend there. Algernon!" + +"Yes?" + +"Is it true that you are doing so badly at the Foreign Office?" she +asked bluntly. + +A little flush mounted almost to his forehead. + +"I have had the devil's own luck," he muttered. + +"I can't take up a newspaper," she continued bitterly, "without finding +it full of abuse of you. They say that during six weeks the _entente +cordiale_ has vanished. They say that you have lost the friendship +of France, that she trusts us no longer, and that Germany's tone +becomes more threatening and more bullying every day, solely on account +of your weakness." + +"We can't afford to risk a war," Carraby explained. "I am a Radical +Minister. I have represented a Radical constituency ever since I came +into Parliament. What the devil should I have to say to my people if +within a couple of months of taking office we were plunged into war?" + +"I do not pretend," Mrs. Carraby remarked, "to be an active politician, +but I have heard it said that the best way to avoid war is to show that +you are not afraid of it. They say that that is where Sir Julien Portel +was so splendid. Do you know that the leading article of one of your +own papers this morning declares that Germany would never have dared to +have said so much to us if she had not known that she had only a puppet +to deal with in the Cabinet? You know what all the other papers are +hinting at? Is it true, Algernon, that you gave two hundred thousand +pounds to the party?" + +"Whether it is true or not," Carraby retorted, "it makes no difference. +I wanted this post, wanted it for your sake as much as my own, and I +wish to Heaven that it was at the bottom of the sea! I'd resign +to-morrow if I could do so with dignity. I can't now, of course. Every +one would say I was chucked. To make things worse," he went on +savagely, "there come these infernal letters of Portel's!" + +Mrs. Carraby raised her eyebrows. + +"Why, I've heard it said that those letters are the one hope this +country has! I have heard it said that but for those letters France and +England would be as far apart to-day as they ever were. I heard it said +only this afternoon that those letters were our only hope of peace. +They were compared with the letters of Junius, whoever he was. Lord +Cardington told me himself that they were the most splendid political +prose he had ever read in his life." + +"That may be true enough," Carraby growled, "but they make it all the +harder for me. No doubt Portel was a good Minister. No doubt he was +doing very well in his post. Now he writes these letters every one +remembers it, every one is asking for him back again. It's hell, Mabel! +I wish to God we'd let the man alone!" Mrs. Carraby looked at her +husband steadfastly. She was a little taller than he. She looked at +him, from his well-brushed hair to the trim patent boots which adorned +his small feet. She looked at him and in those strange-colored eyes of +hers were unmentionable things. She turned away and walked to the +window. In imagination she was back again in Julien's rooms. She lived +again through those few minutes. If he had answered differently! + +Outside in the square the newsboys were shouting. She had stood before +the window for some time when a familiar name fell upon her ears. She +turned around and touched the bell. + +"What is it that you want?" her husband asked. + +"A paper," she replied. + +A very correct butler brought her the _Pall Mall Gazette_ a moment +or two later. She scanned it eagerly. Then it slipped from her +shuddering fingers. She turned upon her husband. + +"He is dead!" she cried. "Can't you read it? 'Death of an Englishman in +an explosion in Paris. Mr. Kendricks, a journalist, seriously injured; +Sir Julien Portel, the ex-Cabinet Minister,--dead!'" + +She stood as though turned to stone. Then something in her husband's +face seemed to bring her back to the present. She turned upon him. Her +face was suddenly lit with some strange, quivering fire. It was one of +the moments of her life. + +"You miserable worm!" she shrieked. "You dare to stand there and smile +because a man is dead! You!" + +He tried to draw himself up, tried to rebuke her. He might as well have +tried to stem a torrent. + +"I've done my best to share your rotten, scheming life," she cried, "to +help you in your dirty ways, and to crawl up into the places we +coveted! Once I saw the truth. Once a real man was kind to me and I saw +the difference. I've felt it in my heart ever since. For your sake and +my own, for the sake of our rotten, miserable ambitions, I ruined him +and sent him to his death. He is dead, do you hear? You and I did it! +We are murderers! And to think that I did it for you! That you--such a +creature as you--might take his place!" + +She threw up her hands high above her head. There had been people who +had doubted her good looks. No one at that instant would have denied +her beauty. Carraby's eyes were fixed upon her and he was afraid. Even +when she had cast herself face downward upon the couch, and lay with +her head buried in her hands, he dared not go near. He stood there +gazing at her across the room. Perhaps he, too, though his +understanding was less, tasted a little of the poison! + +In the splendid library of his palace in Berlin, the maker of toys +leaned back in his chair after a long and successful day's work. There +lingered upon his lips still the remnants of a grim smile, which the +dictation of a dispatch to London had just evoked. His secretary +gathered up his papers. His master was disposed to be genial. + +"My young friend," he remarked, "those letters from Paris--they were +stopped just in time, eh?" + +"Just in time, indeed, Highness," the young man replied. "I have +friends who write me from there. They assure me that their effect was +tremendous. The cessation of them was indeed an act of Providence." + +Prince Falkenberg's lips relaxed. There were hard lines at the corners +of his mouth. Yet if this were indeed a smile, it was no pleasant thing +to look upon! + +"An act of Providence, without a doubt!" he exclaimed,--"Providence +which watches always over the destinies of our dear Fatherland!" + +"I shall bring you now, Highness, the foreign papers?" the young man +suggested. + +"If you please," his master replied. "I read them now, thank Heaven, +with an easier feeling." + +The young man retreated and reappeared in a few minutes with a pile of +newspapers. Prince Falkenberg rose and stretched himself, lit a long +black cigar and threw himself into a comfortable chair before the high +window. + +"Your Highness will take some coffee, perhaps?" the young man asked. + +"Presently." + +The great Minister unfolded his newspapers. A reference in the English +_Times_ perplexed him. He turned to the journal which only a few +days ago he had opened with almost a shudder. He undid the wrapper, +shook it open and looked at it. Then suddenly he sat like a man turned +to stone. The cigar burnt out between his teeth, his eyes were riveted +upon that page, the black letters seemed to have become lurid. The +sentences stabbed, he was face to face with the impossible. The paper +which he read was dated on the preceding day. Before him was a fourth +article, dated from Paris, dated less than forty-eight hours ago, +signed "Julien Portel." The title of the article was "The World's Great +Mischief-Maker!" He read on, read from that first sentence to the last, +read the naked truth about himself, saw his motives exposed, his +secret visits to Paris derided, his foibles photographed. He saw +himself the laughing stock of Europe. Then he leaned over and rang the +bell. + +"Neudheim," he said, "let it be given out that I leave to-night for +Falkenberg as usual. Let the automobile be prepared for a long journey. +I leave in half an hour." + +The young man stared. He had fancied that those flying visits of his +master's for a time were to be discontinued. + +"Your Highness goes south?" he asked. + +"I drive all night," Prince Falkenberg replied. "See that the Count +Rudolf is prepared to accompany me. Quick! Give the orders." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +ESTERMEN'S DEATH-WARRANT + + +In the untidy salon of his bachelor apartments in the Boulevard +Maupassant Estermen awaited the coming of his master in veritable fear +and trembling. In all his experience he had never been compelled to +face a crisis such as this. There had been small failures, punished, +perhaps, by a sarcastic word or biting sentence. There had been no +failure to compare with this one! Herr Freudenberg deliberately, and of +his own free choice, was accustomed to take huge risks. When they came +he accepted them, but when they were not inevitable he as sedulously +avoided them. The wrecking of Julien's apartments in the Rue de +Montpelier was by far the most hazardous enterprise which had been +attempted since the days of the toymaker's first secret visits to +Paris. Half a dozen human beings had been done to death in a manner +which invited and even challenged the attentions of the French police. +A terrible risk had been run and run in vain. The blow had been struck +at the very moment when its object was unattainable! Estermen shivered +as he tried to imagine for himself the coming interview. Gone, he +feared, was his life of pleasant luxury among the flesh-pots and easy +ways of Paris; his bachelor apartments, occupied in name by him but of +which the real tenant was his dreaded master. And behind all this +apprehension lurked another grisly and terrible fear! For the twentieth +time during the last few minutes he peered through the closely drawn +Venetian-blind, and his blood ran cold. On the pavement opposite, +before the small table of a cafe, a man was sitting--the same man! For +two days he had been there--a gaunt and silent person with a wonderful +trick of gazing away into space from the columns of his newspaper. But +Estermen knew all about that! He knew, even, the man's name! He knew +that he was one of the most persistent and successful of French +detectives. His name was Jean Charles and he had never known failure. +Estermen looked at him through the blind and his pale face was ugly +with fear. + +The moment arrived. The long, gray traveling car, covered with dust, +swung around the corner and stopped below. Herr Freudenberg was +travel-stained and almost unrecognizable in his motor clothes as he +stepped out and passed into the block of apartments. Contrary to his +usual custom, he did not at once present himself before the man who +awaited him in fear and trembling. Estermen heard him enter his own +suite of rooms on the other side of the stairway and give a few brief +orders. Then there was a peremptory knock at the door. Herr Freudenberg +was announced and entered. + +To the man who had been waiting for his sentence there was something +terrible in the grim impassivity of Prince Falkenberg's features. His +face was set and white and sphinx-like. Only his eyes shone with a +fierce, unusual fire. + +"What have you to say, Estermen?" he demanded. + +"It was a miracle," Estermen faltered. "Sir Julien descended the stairs +with the copy in his hand to speak to a caller. For seventeen hours he +had been in his rooms, for the following seventeen hours he would +probably have been there, too. For the intervening thirty seconds he +happened to be upon the pavement. It was a miracle!" + +This was the end of all the specious story which Estermen had gone over +so often to himself! Yet he had done his cause no harm, for the few +sentences he spoke were the truth. + +"You have discovered his present whereabouts?" his master demanded. + +Estermen hesitated. He feared that this was another blow which he was +about to deal. + +"He is at the house of Madame Christophor in the Rue de St. Paul," he +faltered. + +His news, however, did not discompose Prince Falkenberg. On the +contrary, he seemed, if anything, to find the intelligence agreeable. + +"Have you made any inquiries as to his condition?" + +Estermen shrugged his shoulders. + +"The household of Madame Christophor," he replied, "is, as you know, +outside my sphere of influence. It is, besides, incorruptible. I myself +am personally obnoxious to Madame. I could do nothing but wait for your +coming." + +Prince Falkenberg stood with his hands behind him, thinking. He had +relapsed into his former grim and impenetrable silence. And while he +waited the sweat stood out in beads upon Estermen's forehead. Greatly +he feared that the worst was to come! + +"Have you anything else to say to me?" his master asked. + +"Nothing!" Estermen replied, with faltering lips. + +Prince Falkenberg's eyes were fierce orbs of light and his servant +quailed before him. + +"Have you any reason to believe that the origin of the crime is +suspected?" + +It was the question which above all others he had dreaded! Estermen was +a coward and a fluent liar. The latter gift, however, availed him +nothing. He felt as though the nerves of his tongue were being +controlled by some other agency. Against his will he told the truth. + +"Jean Charles is watching these apartments!" + +"Ah!" + +Prince Falkenberg's single exclamation was the death sentence of his +agent. Estermen knew it and his knees knocked one against the other. + +"For six years," Prince Falkenberg said, after a moment's pause, "you +have lived an easy and a comfortable life, Estermen,--a life, I dare +say, spent among the gutter vices which would naturally appeal to a +person of your temperament; a life, apart from the small services which +I have required of you, directed altogether by your own inclinations. +Be thankful for those six years. As you well know, but for me they +would have been spent either in prison or in the problematical future +world--a matter entirely at the discretion of the judge who tried you. +It pleased me to rescue you for my own purpose. You were possessed of a +certain amount of low cunning and a complete absence of all ordinary +human qualities, a combination which made you a useful servant of my +will. My one condition has been always before you. The present case +demands your fulfillment of it." + +Estermen began to tremble. + +"The man may be there by accident," he faltered. "There is no certainty +as yet that I am even suspected. I'm--I'm horribly afraid to die!" he +added, with an ugly little laugh. + +"So are most men of your kidney," Prince Falkenberg replied composedly. +"Nevertheless, die you must, and to-night. Write your confession. Make +it clear that one of the victims was your personal enemy. I'll dictate +it, if you like." + +"I can do it myself," Estermen muttered. "Let me--let me write the +confession first and then make an attempt to escape," he pleaded. "If I +am taken, the confession shall be found upon me. It will make no +difference. Let me have a chance! I know the secret places of the city. +I have friends who might help me to escape." + +Prince Falkenberg watched his agent for a moment in contemptuous +curiosity. Estermen was walking restlessly up and down the few feet of +carpet, his fingers and the muscles of his face twitching. His words +had come with difficulty, as though he had suddenly developed an +impediment in his speech. His sallow complexion had become yellow. His +carefully waxed moustache was drooping, a speck of saliva was issuing +from his lips. + +"The request which you make to me," Prince Falkenberg replied, "I +absolutely refuse. I know you and your cowardly temperament too well to +allow you to come alive into the hands of the French police." + +"You value your own life highly enough!" Estermen snarled. + +"It is not so," Prince Falkenberg asserted. "If I had ever valued my +own life highly, there would have been no Herr Freudenberg; and if the +whole history of Herr Freudenberg is discovered, I follow you, my +friend, post haste. If I seem to be taking any pains to hold my own, +remember that mine is a life which is valuable to the Fatherland. You +have been and you are only a feeder at the troughs. One more or less +such as you in the world makes just the difference of a speck of +dust--that is all." + +Estermen shrank cowering into his seat. + +"I'd rather live--in torture--in prison or in chains--anywhere!" he +gasped. "I can't think of death!" + +Prince Falkenberg was becoming impatient. + +"My dear Estermen," he exclaimed, "what prison do you suppose remains +open for the murderer of seven men! You shrink from death. Yet let me +assure you that the guillotine, with the certain prospect of it before +you day after day through a long trial, is no pleasant outlet from the +world for a sybarite. Be a philosopher. Go and die as you have lived. +Write your confession, summon your dearest friend by telephone, give a +little supper--you'll have plenty of time--but see that the affair is +over before midnight! This is my advice to you, Estermen; these are +also my orders, my final orders. If I find you alive when I return, or +the confession unwritten, I will show you how death may be made more +horrible than anything you have yet conceived." + +Prince Falkenberg turned on his heel and left the apartment. Estermen +remained for several moments shrinking back in the chair upon which he +had collapsed. Then he rose and with trembling footsteps stole to the +window, peering out from behind the blind. The man at the cafe opposite +was still there! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +SANCTUARY + + +"This afternoon," Madame Christophor declared, looking thoughtfully at +Julien, "I am going to send you a new secretary." + +He turned a little eagerly in his easy-chair. + +"Lady Anne!" he exclaimed. + +"Are you glad?" she asked. + +Julien hesitated. His eyes sought his companion's face. She was seated +at the small writing-table drawn up close to his side, her head resting +upon her left hand, the pen in her right fingers sketching idle figures +at the bottom of the sheet which she had just written. She was wearing +a dress of strange-colored muslin, a shade between gray and silver, but +from underneath came a shimmer of blue, and there were turquoises about +her neck. Her large, soft eyes were fixed steadfastly upon his. There +was a sort of question in them which he seemed to have surprised there +more than once during the last few days. A sudden uneasiness seized +him. His brain was crowded with unwilling fancies. There were, without +doubt, symptoms of coquetry in her appearance. He had spoken of blue as +the one sublime color. As she leaned a little back in her chair, +resting from her labors, he could scarcely help noticing the blue silk +stockings and suede shoes which matched the hidden color of her skirt, +the ribbon which gleamed from the dusky masses of her hair. Madame +Christophor was always a very beautiful and a very elegant woman, and +it seemed to have pleased her during these last few days to appear at +her best. Julien gripped for a moment at his bandaged arm. + +"You are in pain? You would like me to change the bandage?" she +suggested almost eagerly. + +"Not yet," he replied. "It is still quite comfortable." + +She looked at him thoughtfully. + +"You have the air of wanting something," she remarked. "Is there +anything that displeases you?" + +"Displeases me! If you knew how strange that sounded!" he exclaimed. "I +do not think that any one ever lived with such luxury, or was treated +with so much kindness, as I during the last few days. You make every +second perfect." + +Madame Christophor sighed. Almost as Julien finished his speech he +regretted its conclusion. Madame Christophor, on the other hand, +although she sighed, seemed vaguely content. + +"You see, the fates against whom you have so great a grievance have +done something to atone," she declared. "No doubt you hated to leave +your work to come and speak to me in the street that afternoon. No +doubt your red-headed journalist friend hated me also. Yet if you had +not come, if my automobile had been detained a few minutes on the +way--ah! it is terrible indeed to think what might not have happened!" + +She shivered. A moment later she raised her eyes and continued. + +"I think," she said, "you must abandon a little of your hostility +against my sex. It was a woman who worked this mischief in your life +and a woman who was fortunate enough to save it. I think you can almost +cry quits with us, Sir Julien." + +He smiled. He was struggling to lead back their conversation to a +lighter level. A certain change in this woman's tone and manner, a +change which was reflected even in her appearance, disturbed him +painfully. + +"The balance is already on my side, dear hostess," he assured her. "You +have left me an eternal debtor to your sex. I shall never again indulge +in generalities or wholesale condemnation. It is, after all, foolish. +But tell me why you are sending Lady Anne to help me to-day?" + +She watched for any trace of disappointment in his tone. There was +none. On the contrary, his mention of Lady Anne was accompanied by a +slight eagerness which puzzled her. + +"I have a few social duties to attend to," she explained a little +vaguely. "Lady Anne is quite efficient. I like her handwriting, too. It +is like herself--clean-cut, legible. There are no hidden pools about +Lady Anne." + +"Yet," he said, "a woman always keeps some part of herself concealed." + +"You think that Lady Anne, too, has her secret?" Madame Christophor +asked, raising her eyes. + +"I think that if she has, she is quite capable of keeping it," he +replied. + +There was a knock at the door. Lady Anne entered. She came a few yards +into the room with a slight smile upon her lips, and nodded pleasantly +to Julien. In her slim stateliness, the untroubled serenity of youth +reflected in her smiling face, she represented perfectly the other type +of womanhood. Madame Christophor rose deliberately to her feet. For one +swift moment she measured the things between them. She herself was +conscious of a greater intellectual maturity, a more subtle quality in +her looks, a beauty less describable, more exotic, perhaps, but also +more provocative. The arts of her sex were at her finger-tips, the +small arts disdained by this well-looking and perfectly healthy young +woman. She turned her head quickly towards Sir Julien. It was the idle +impulse of the man or woman who plucks the petals from a flower. Julien +was gazing steadfastly at Lady Anne.... Madame Christophor picked up +her belongings and moved towards the door. + +"Be merciless today, my friend!" she exclaimed, pausing upon the +threshold,--"virulent, if you will! _Le Jour_ was screaming at you +last night. Jesen has lost his head a little; or is it the lash of his +master which he feels? How can one tell?" + +"After tonight," Julien remarked, with a smile, "who will read _Le +Jour_? I shall tell the story of the purchase of that paper by Herr +Freudenberg. French people will not love to think that the pen of Jesen +has been guided by the hand of Germany." + +Madame Christophor made a little grimace. + +"My friend," she declared, "my house is, I believe, the safest spot in +Paris, yet there are limits. Remember that you have become a celebrity. +There is an agitation in England to have you back at the Foreign +Office. All Paris is divided upon the subject of your life or death. +And there are men here in the city who seek for you night and day with +death in their hands. My house is sanctuary, but no one can write such +things as you are writing and deem himself secure against any risk." + +He smiled at her confidently. + +"Yet you would not have me leave out one single line, you would not +have me lower the torch for one second! You suggest caution!--you, who +haven't the word 'fear' in your vocabulary! It is your house, not mine. +There are more bombs to be bought in Paris. Yet tell me, would you have +me spare a single word of the truth?" + +She flashed back her answer across the room. For the moment she forgot +Lady Anne. They two were on another plane. + +"Not one word," she assured him, with soft yet vibrant earnestness. "I +would have you write the truth in letters of fire upon the clouds, for +all Paris to see. You have a message. See that it goes out." + +Madame Christophor closed the door softly behind her. Julien remained +looking at the spot from which she had disappeared. Then he drew a +little breath. + +"She is wonderful!" he muttered. + +Lady Anne took up her pen. She avoided looking at him. + +"Let us begin," she said.... + +They wrote for hours. Julien was in the mood for this final and fierce +attack upon _Le Jour_ and all the powers that stood behind it. He +held up Falkenberg to derision--the charlatan of modern politics, the +Puck of Berlin, whose one sincerity was his hatred for England, and one +capacity, the giant capacity for mischief! He wound up his article with +a scathing and personal denunciation of Falkenberg, and a splendidly +worded appeal to the French nation not for one moment to be deceived as +to the character of this tireless and ambitious schemer after his +country's welfare. All the time Anne took down his words in fluent and +flowing writing. When at last he had finished, he looked at the sheets +which surrounded her with something like amazement. + +"Why, what a pig I've been, Anne!" he exclaimed, glancing from the +table to the clock. "You must have been writing for nearly three +hours!" + +She was busy picking up the sheets. + +"Quite, I should say," she answered, "but I loved it. Now I am going to +ring for tea, and afterwards you must read it through. We might get the +manuscript down to the office to-night." + +"I shall need you when I read it through," he reminded her. "There will +be corrections." + +"Either Madame Christophor or I will be here," she replied. "Madame +Christophor may have some other work for me." + +He looked at her curiously. + +"Even you are different," he murmured. + +"Tell me at once what you mean?" she begged. + +"I wish I knew," he confessed. "To tell you the truth, Anne, a curious +feeling of detachment seems to have come over me--during the last few +days especially. It is such a short time since I was living the +ordinary sort of mechanical life in London, engaged to be married to +you, and my doings day by day all mapped out--a life interesting, of +course, but without any real variation. And now here I am, hanging on +to life by the thin edge of nothing, writing such things as I should +never have dared to have said from my seat in the House, practically +an adventurer. Do you wonder that sometimes I am not quite sure that it +isn't all a nightmare? I am actually hiding here in Paris from +assassins--in Paris, the most civilized city in the world--the guest of +a woman whose acquaintance I made only because a little manicurist in +Soho insisted upon it. And you, Anne, are here by my side, a +professional secretary, the friend of a milliner, more intimate and on +better terms with me than you were in the days when we were engaged to +be married! What has happened to us, Anne? How did we get here?" + +She laughed at him tolerantly. + +"We've come a little into our own, I suppose," she remarked. "As for +me, I feel a different woman since I stepped out of the made-to-order +world. And you--well, don't be angry, but you're not nearly so much of +a prig, are you, Julien? You're less starched and more human. Of course +we are more companionable. We are both more human." + +He nodded. + +"I suppose that so far as I am concerned Kendricks had something to do +with it--he was always trying to make me look at things differently. +But it seems such a short time for such an absolute change." + +She was balancing her pen upon the inkpot--keeping her eyes turned from +him. + +"It isn't always a matter of time, you know, Julien," she said +thoughtfully. "You were never really a prig--I was never really a +machine for wearing a ready-made smile and a few smart frocks. It took +a shock to make us see things, but neither of us remained wilfully +blind. You'll be back in your world before long and a better man than +ever." + +"And you?" + +"I have hopes some day of becoming a perfect secretary," she confessed. +"If I fail, I will at least make more bows than any one else in a day." + +He leaned towards her, showing a sudden and dangerous forgetfulness of +his bandaged arm. + +"Anne," he said firmly, "if I go back, you go back. Sometimes I think +that I shall never regret anything that has happened if--" + +The door was softly opened. It was Madame Christophor who entered with +a little pile of letters in her hand. Lady Anne, with slightly +heightened color, rose to her feet. There was something in Madame +Christophor's eyes which was almost fiercely questioning. + +"I am not disturbing you, I trust?" she asked slowly. "I bring Sir +Julien some letters." + +He caught up the sheets which lay by his side. + +"I will not even look at them until I have corrected my article," he +declared. + +Madame Christophor settled herself composedly in an easy-chair. + +"Lady Anne shall read it aloud," she proposed calmly, "and I will +assist in the corrections. For the French edition I may be able to +suggest. The papers today are most amusing," she continued. "The German +press is almost unreadable. No wonder that there is a price upon your +head, my friend!" + +Julien moved restlessly in his place. + +"I have had the most extraordinary luck," he remarked. "No other man, +naturally, knew so much of Anglo-German and Anglo-French relations. And +instead of being at home in Downing Street, and muzzled, I happened to +be here on the spot, to run up against Falkenberg, discover his little +schemes, and with my own special knowledge to see through them at once. +No one else ever had such an opportunity." + +Madame Christophor smiled enigmatically. She was looking thoughtfully +across at her guest. + +"It is not every opportunity in life," she murmured, "which a man knows +how to embrace!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +NEARING A CRISIS + + +That night, for the first time since his arrival in the house as a +guest, Julien dined downstairs. To his surprise, when he presented +himself in the smaller salon to which he had been directed, he found +the table laid for two only. Madame Christophor, who was standing on +the threshold of the winter-garden opening out from the apartment, read +his expression and frowned. + +"You expected Lady Anne to dine?" she asked bluntly. + +Julien was taken a little aback. + +"It seemed natural to expect her," he admitted. + +Madame Christophor moved towards the bell, but Julien intercepted her. +He remembered all that he owed to this woman. He was ashamed of his +lack of tact. + +"Dear Madame Christophor," he pleaded, "forgive me if for a moment I +forgot how altered things are. Indeed, it was not a matter of choice +with me. Of course, it will give me the greatest pleasure to dine +tete-a-tete with you!" + +He was, perhaps, a shade too impressive, but Madame Christophor, as all +women who greatly desire to read in a man's words what they choose to +find there, hesitated. Finally, with a shrug of the shoulders, she +turned away from the bell. + +"Three is such an impossible number," she declared, with well-assumed +carelessness. "Lady Anne has her own salon adjoining her apartment. She +dines there always. If I am without company, I enjoy the rest of being +alone. She is very delightful in her own way, your dear Lady Anne, but +she and I have not much in common. Come and see my roses." + +She led the way into the conservatory, a dome-shaped building with +colored glass at the top, fragrant, almost faint with the perfume of +roses and drooping exotics. A little fountain was playing in the +middle. When the butler announced the service of dinner and they +returned to take their places, she left the door open. + +"Tonight," she announced, as they sat side by side at the small round +table, "I am going to take advantage of the situation. I am your +hostess and you are an invalid. It is my opportunity to talk. Are you a +good listener, Sir Julien?" + +She had dropped her voice almost to a whisper. Those beautiful deep-set +eyes were challenging his. She seemed to have made up her mind that for +that night, at any rate, her beauty should be unquestioned. She wore a +dress of black net, fitting very closely, a wonderful background for +her white skin and the ropes of pearls which were twined about her +neck. He had never seen her _decolletee_, but he remembered +reading in a ladies' fashion paper that a famous sculptor had once +declared her neck and bust to be the most beautiful in Paris. She had +even added the slightest touch of color to her cheeks. There was no +longer any sign of the wrinkles at the sides of her eyes. She read the +half ingenuous, half unwilling admiration in his face, and she laughed +at him. + +"Ah, my friend," she murmured, "I can see that you object to the role +of listener! Very well, then, you shall talk. You shall tell me of your +life in England. You shall tell me what dreams have come to you for the +days when once more you shall help to shape the destinies of your +nation. Tell me how you mean to live! Shall you be again--what was it +Lady Anne thought you?--a prig?" + +"I am like many other and more famous men," he remarked. "I have +learned much in adversity." + +"I read the English papers," she continued presently. "I have also a +large correspondence. Do you know that there is nearly a rebellion in +your party? Questions have been asked about you in the House. Both +sides want you back. There is a feeling that you were allowed to go +much too easily, that the indiscretion of which you were guilty was a +trifle. This man Carraby is what you call--a cad! That does not do in +the high places. Nationality cannot conceal a lack of breeding." + +"I have thought over many things," Julien admitted. "If the way is made +clear for me, I shall go back. Why not? I believe that I can serve my +country, and it is the life for which I am best fitted. Carraby may +have his good points, but his ambitions have been a little too +extensive. He would have made a better mayor of the town where he was +born." + +"You are right," she declared. "There is no place for such men in the +great world. You will go back. It is written. See--I drink to England's +future Prime Minister!" + +She raised her glass, which the butler had just filled with champagne. +She looked into his eyes as she drank and Julien was conscious of a +passing uneasiness. She set the glass down, empty. Her hand lay for a +moment near his. + +"You will go back," she murmured. "You will forget. The people whom you +have met in your brief period of adversity will seem to you like +shadows. Is it not so?" + +He took her hand and raised it boldly to his lips. + +"It will never be like that with you, dear hostess," he assured her. +"There are things which one does not forget." + +She did not withdraw her hand. Its pressure upon his fingers was faint +but insistent. + +"Do you remember when we first met," she said softly, "how bitter we +were against the others--even at first against one another? You had +been betrayed by that unimportant woman and the whole sex was hateful +to you. I had just come from seeing the tragedy caused by a man's crass +selfishness. I, too, was wearing the fetters. To me the whole of your +sex seemed abominable.... You see," she went on, "my marriage was a +terrible disappointment. I fancied that I was marrying a great man, a +genius, an inspired statesman, and I found myself allied to a political +machine. My wealth--have I told you, I wonder, that I am very +wealthy?--helped him. For the rest, I was a puppet by his side. I +lived in Berlin for one year. Official life in Berlin for an American +woman, even though she be Princess von Falkenberg, is still +intolerable. The men were bad enough, the women worse. I could not +breathe. I was no part of my husband's life. I was no part of any one's +life. The German women did not understand me. My husband--oh, he is +very German in his heart!--only laughed at my complaints. He would have +been perfectly willing to see me become as those others--_hausfrauen_, +bearers of children, a domestic article. So we separated--divorce at that +moment was impossible. I came back to Paris." + +"You had no children?" Julien asked. + +"One boy," she answered, her eyes becoming very soft. "Do not let us +speak of him for a moment." + +The service of dinner continued. Outside, the water from the fountain +fell into the basin with a gentle, monotonous sound. The perfume of the +roses stole through the open doorway. One softly-shaded lamp had been +lit, but the rest of the lofty room remained in shadowy obscurity. The +light from that one lamp seemed to fall full upon Madame Christophor's +beautiful face. + +"I loved my boy," she went on. "It was part of my husband's cruelty to +detach him from me. He has the law on his side. I may not even see +Rudolf. Very well, I do my best to steel my heart. I come here to live. +I have many friends, but Falkenberg is the only man to whom I have ever +belonged, and he has treated me as he would have treated one of those +others--his companions for the moment. I have occupied myself here in +work of different sorts. I have tried in my way to do good among women +less happy, even, than I. Wherever I went I saw that every woman who +has sinned, every woman who is miserable, every woman who has become a +blot upon the earth, is what she is by reason of man's selfishness. +Can you wonder that I have grown a little bitter?" + +"I wonder at nothing in the woman who has been Falkenberg's wife," +Julien replied. "He seems to me the most unscrupulous person who ever +breathed. Yet in his way he is marvelously attractive." + +"He is," she admitted. "I fell in love with him against my will. +Directly my reason intervened, the madness was over. How old do you +think I am, Sir Julien?" + +Julien was a little startled. + +"How old?" he repeated. + +"A foolish question, of course," she continued. "How could you be +honest! I am twenty-nine years old. I believe that I am the richest +woman in Paris. I am tired of being called brilliant and cynical, of +showing fortune-hunters to the door, of living my life in loneliness. +Falkenberg has sworn that if I take any steps to make a divorce +possible, I shall never see my boy again. I have not seen him, as it +is, for nearly two years. The threat is losing its terrors.... You are +listening, my friend?" + +"Of course!" + +She turned to the butler. The other servants had already left the room. + +"Bring coffee into the winter-garden," she ordered. "Come, Sir Julien." + +She lit a cigarette and threw it away almost immediately. Her eyes were +gleaming like stars. She laid her fingers upon his arm as they passed +out into the perfumed air of the conservatory, and he seemed to feel +some touch of the fire that was burning in her veins. She swayed a +little towards him. The color in her cheeks was brilliant. Her bosom +was rising and falling quickly. She was splendidly handsome, nerved up +to great things, a woman inspired by a purpose. Julien was afraid. He, +too, felt something of the excitement of the moment, but his brain +seemed numbed. There was nothing he could say. She threw herself back +into a low chair and drew him down to her side. With her other hand she +caught hold of a cluster of pink roses and pressed their cool blossoms +to her cheek. + +"Sir Julien," she murmured, "I have looked so steadfastly into life, I +have striven so hard to find a place there. I have something to give. I +do not come empty-handed. I can place offerings upon the altar of the +great god. I have myself, my brains such as they are, and the golden +key which unlocks the wonderful doors. Can you wonder that I ask for +something in return? I have stood in the marketplace of life, I have +passed down between the stalls, and I am humiliated. There is no life, +there is no career upon this world for a woman. It is a strange +doctrine, perhaps, to preach in these days, but I have searched and I +know it to be the truth. Nature meant woman for man, and if she rebels +there is no seat for her alone among the mighty places. Alone I can win +none of the things I desire. You see, I talk to you like this, nakedly, +because we are of the order of those who understand. You very nearly +married a duke's daughter and became a middle-class politician. Don't +do it. Don't think of it any more, Julien. You were meant for the great +places, and I think--I think--that I was meant to hold the torch to +light you there!" + +"Madame Christophor!" + +She started at his tone. In the splendid arrogance of her assured +position, her brilliant gifts, her almost inspired individuality, +failure had never occurred to her. Even now she refused to read the +message in his set face. + +"You feel, perhaps," she went on, leaning towards him, "that you are +pledged to Lady Anne. Dear Sir Julien, rub your eyes! I want you to +see--all the way to the skies. Lady Anne is a sweet girl who will look +nice at the head of any one's table. She will read the papers and take +an intelligent interest in her husband's work, and ask him trite and +obvious questions to prove that she understands all about it. She will +give you phenacetin when you have a headache, she will fill your house +with the right sort of people. She will be very amiable and very +satisfied. She'll always read the debates and she'll sit up for you at +night in a pretty dressing-gown. And all the time the wall will grow, +brick by brick, and you will look up to the skies and find them empty, +and listen for the music and hear none, and a web will be spun about +your heart, and your brain will be clogged, and the fine thoughts will +go, and you'll never be anything but a successful politician. You +know very well that all the paths to the great pit of unhappiness are +crowded with men who have been successful in their profession." + +She swayed even closer towards him, her head a little thrown back, her +eyes inviting him. He scrambled to his feet. Still she held out her +hands. + +"Won't you trust me?" she begged. "Believe me that I know the way into +the great places, Julien." + +"Listen!" he cried hoarsely. "You have offered me everything except +your love. Thank Heaven you did not offer me that! I love Lady Anne." + +"Everything _except_ my love!" she exclaimed, with the first note +of trouble in her tone. "Everything _except_ my love! Are you mad?" + +"I love Lady Anne!" he repeated, setting his teeth. + +They stood facing one another. She tore a handful of the blossoms from +a syringa tree and commenced crushing them in her fingers. The sound of +footsteps scarcely disturbed her. The butler appeared, followed by Lady +Anne. The former excused himself with a grave face. + +"Madame," he announced, "the Prince von Falkenberg is here." + +Madame Christophor turned slowly around. + +"The Prince von Falkenberg! Where?" + +"In the waiting-room, madame." + +She moved away. She did not glance towards Julien. + +"I come," she announced. + + +Lady Anne had some letters in her hand, which she handed to Julien. He +threw them hastily aside and drew her suddenly into his arms and into +the shadow of the giant palm. + +"Anne," he pleaded, "not because of your mother, not because you would +make me a suitable wife, but because I love you, will you marry me?" + +He felt her relax in his arms. + +"Julien!" she murmured. + +"I didn't finish the sentence," he went on,--"to-morrow at the +Embassy?" + +"Absurd!" + +"It's the only way," he insisted confidently. "We couldn't be married +in London. All the tribe of Harbord would come and boo, and it would +save no end of gossip and bother when we got back. Anne--I love you +very much and I want you just as soon as I can get you!" + +"Of course, if you put it like that," she said softly,-- + +"Well?" + +"This is the only frock I have." + +"The Rue de la Paix is at our gates," he reminded her. + +"Be sensible," she begged. "You can't show your-self about Paris. +Something terrible will happen." + +"Not it!" he replied confidently. "It's too late." + +His arm crept a little further around her waist, he drew her even +further back among the drooping palms. + +"I think that I like this better than the last time you asked me!" she +whispered. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +FALKENBERG'S LAST EFFORT + + +"Madame," Prince Falkenberg declared, with a formal bow, "I owe you a +thousand apologies for this visit." + +Madame Christophor looked at him across the room, and in her eyes there +was no welcome nor any anger--only surprise. + +"You break," she reminded him, "the word of a prince!" + +Falkenberg smiled icily. + +"There are cataclysms in life," he said, "whirlpools into which one may +sometimes be drawn. One's will is overborne. I myself am in that +unfortunate position." + +Madame Christophor looked steadfastly at her visitor. Was it her fancy +or was he really growing older, this man of iron? The story of the last +few weeks was written into his face, there were shadows under his eyes, +a deep line across his forehead. + +"Since you are here, be seated," she invited, sinking herself wearily +into a chair. "Tell me as quickly as you can what has brought you?" + +"Portel has brought me," Falkenberg answered grimly. "They tell me that +he has taken shelter under the shadow of your petticoats." + +"Shelter from your assassins!" + +"Precisely!" Falkenberg admitted. + +"I do not admire your methods," Madame Christophor remarked. "They seem +to me not only brutal but clumsy. You killed seven men and injured +several others, to no purpose." + +"Madame," Falkenberg declared, "to secure the death of that man I would +have destroyed a whole quarter of Paris and every person in it." + +Madame Christophor shivered. + +"Thorough, as usual, my dear Prince," she murmured. "Nevertheless, I +find such statements loathsome. We should have outlived the days of +barbarity. I do not understand men who deal in such fashion with their +enemies." + +Falkenberg frowned. + +"There is something between us greater than personal enmity," he +retorted fiercely. "My personal enemy I would deal with in such a +manner as I make no doubt would commend itself to your scruples. Julien +Portel is more than that. He is the enemy of my country. Upon him, +therefore, I shall have no mercy." + +"I will not argue with you," she replied. "There is a plainer issue +before us. In passing my threshold you have broken your word of honor. +What do you want?" + +"I want Julien Portel!" + +Madame Christophor shrugged her shoulders. + +"You have wanted him for some little time." + +"Never so badly as at this instant," Falkenberg declared bitterly. "He +has set all Europe in a ferment with those infernal letters. He knows +too much. He knows whence came the money which bought _Le Jour_. +He knows every detail of my campaign here." + +"There are surely others," she objected, "who must have guessed--" + +"But there was no one else," he interrupted, "who had the special +knowledge which Portel has. He came from the Foreign Office, with the +records of the last two years in his mind. At Berlin he and I crossed +swords. He is the only Englishman who has ever caused me a moment's +uneasiness." + +"Are you sure," she asked, "that your campaign here has been a wise +one?" + +"The wisdom of Solomon," he replied grimly, "can be made to look like +folly by the accident of failure. There is no doubt as to its wisdom. +No one has studied these matters as I have studied them. No one has +seen the truth more clearly. An alliance between England and America is +a matter of a few years only, and when it comes the progress of Germany +is set back for a generation. The one absolute necessity before me was +to cut the bonds between England and France and to settle with England +alone and quickly--diplomatically, if possible; by force of arms as a +last resource. We don't seek war, Henriette. We are not really a +bloodthirsty nation. We seek territory. We need new lands--fruitful +lands, trade, the command of the seas. If we cannot get what we want +by peaceful means, then it must be war. England for the present is +weakly governed. She is in the throes of labor troubles. Her political +parties are ill-balanced. There is a puppet at the Foreign Office. Now +is the time to strike." + +"Is it wise to tell me your secrets?" she inquired coldly. "I have no +sympathy for you or your country." + +"I have a bargain to strike with you and you must understand," he +answered. "Twenty-four hours ago we dispatched a gunboat to a certain +neutral port which comes under the influence of England. We paid a +German to go there and send us word that he was in danger. We have sent +an intimation to the French and English Governments. To England it is +an insult. I have taken the chance that France has had enough of this +_entente_. Now you understand why I must have Julien Portel before +they can get him back to the Foreign Office, before he can do more +mischief. A strong man in Downing Street at this juncture might upset +everything." + +"I understand well enough why you need Julien Portel," she admitted. "I +am still in the dark, however, as to why you imagine that I shall give +him up?" + +"Because I am going to buy him from you," Falkenberg asserted. + +She glanced across the room at him, half curiously, half scornfully. + +"Buy him! You!" + +"Exactly," he replied. "You smile because you do not understand. I +offer you a dispensation for your divorce, and your son." + +A little tremor seemed to pass through her whole frame. For a moment +she closed her eyes. Then she sprang to her feet and stood quivering +before him. + +"This is one of your traps!" she exclaimed. "You don't mean it!" + +"To prove that I do," he insisted, "I have brought Rudolf with me to +Paris. He can be in your arms in a few minutes. Look into the street, +if you will." + +She crossed the room hastily and lifted the curtain. A low cry broke +from her lips. In the tonneau of the great touring car outside a little +boy was lying back amongst the cushions, asleep. + +"He is tired," Falkenberg said slowly, with his eyes fixed upon the +woman. "He has come all the way from Berlin without an hour's rest. Am +I to take him back to-morrow? It is for you to decide." + +Madame Christophor turned toward the door. Falkenberg barred the way. + +"Not yet!" he declared. "Do you accept my terms?" + +"But he is hungry!" she cried. "I can see that he is hungry! And he is +so pale--let me fetch him in." + +"Of course he is hungry," his father agreed. "He has also been asking +me questions about you all the way. He believes that he is going to see +you. I, too, believe that. You consent?" + +"Tell me exactly what it is that you require?" she demanded. + +"Take me to Portel," he answered swiftly. "Inform him that you cannot +any longer permit him the shelter of your roof." + +She sat down and began to laugh, softly but in unnatural fashion. +Falkenberg watched her with grim curiosity. + +"And then?" she inquired. + +He hesitated. + +"I have made some plans," he said slowly. "If he passes outside your +doors to-night, he will write no more articles!" + +"But the whole of the English Press is clamoring for his return to +power! There will be no need for his pen--he will take up his old +position." + +"Precisely!" Falkenberg assented. "It is not my intention that he shall +return to that position!" + +Madame Christophor sat with her eyes fixed upon the wall. Then she +began to laugh once more in the same strange manner. Falkenberg was +curious. + +"You find my intentions amusing?" he asked. + +"I find the situation amusing," she replied. "Half an hour ago I +offered Sir Julien Portel what is left of my life." + +Falkenberg stood perfectly still, watching her closely. Then his eyes +filled with a sudden bright light. + +"You!" he exclaimed. "You--Princess von Falkenberg--offered yourself to +this man and were refused?" + +"You are indeed a genius," she admitted. "I was refused." + +There was a brief silence. Falkenberg waited. Madame Christophor +remained silent. Her attitude puzzled him a little. He was afraid to +speak for fear of striking the wrong note. Nevertheless, the onus of +speech was thrust upon him. + +"Madame," he said at last, "I anticipate your reply. This man has put +an intolerable insult upon you. While he lives you could never forget +it. There are some privileges still belonging to me. I claim the right +of avenging that affront." + +"It comes conveniently--the affront!" she remarked, through her +clenched teeth. + +"Conveniently or not, the affront exists!" he cried. "You cannot refuse +me now! You would not have him go unpunished!" + +"I am not sure that he was to blame." + +"Not to blame?" Falkenberg repeated, with emphasis. "Would you have me +believe that you threw yourself at his head unasked, without +encouragement--you, the proudest woman in France? One does not believe +such folly!" + +"Nevertheless, it is the truth," Madame Christophor declared. + +Falkenberg smiled incredulously, but he said nothing. Madame +Christophor had found her way once more to the window. She stood there, +looking down into the car. The boy was still asleep. She gripped the +window-curtains with both her hands. He was so pale, so tired, and how +he had grown! + +"I give you even his heritage," Falkenberg promised. "Make of him a +Frenchman or an American, if you will. He is your own son. Take him. I +give my firstborn for my country. You will not refuse what I offer?" + +Madame Christophor made no answer. Falkenberg, however, saw the longing +in her face. It was enough! He suddenly changed his tactics. + +"This Julien Portel," he said,--"it is another woman he prefers." + +He saw her bosom heave. The storm against which she had been struggling +all the time seemed on the point of bursting. The hot blood was singing +in her ears, her eyes were aflame. She crossed the room and rang the +bell. Falkenberg was content to wait. He felt that he had won! The +butler appeared almost immediately. + +"You will conduct the Prince von Falkenberg into the winter-garden," +she directed. "He desires to speak to Sir Julien Portel." + +"And you?" Falkenberg asked, turning towards her. + +A swift gesture showed him her disordered countenance. It was +reasonable. + +"I follow," she announced. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +DEFEAT FOR FALKENBERG + + +Among the palms of Madame Christophor's conservatory, Julien and Lady +Anne were living through a brief new chapter of their history. The +wonderful thing had come to them. It was amazing--almost unrealizable! +A new glamor enveloped the merest trifles. They spoke in halting +sentences, they were at times almost incoherent. The marvel of it was +so great! + +Lady Anne was the first to hear the sound of approaching footsteps. She +listened. It was not Madame Christophor who returned. She laid her hand +upon Julien's arm. + +"It is Jean, the butler, who comes," she whispered. "He conducts some +one." + +On the threshold of the winter-garden, only a short distance away, they +heard Jean's voice. + +"Monsieur le Prince will find Sir Julien Portel a few steps further +on." + +"Monsieur le Prince!" Anne faltered, with whitening face. "Julien, what +does it mean?" + +Julien rose to his feet. The footsteps were close at hand now upon the +tessellated pavement. Then through the drooping palm boughs they saw +him. Julien was standing tense and prepared, his uninjured arm was +ready to strike. Falkenberg was there. + +"You!" Julien exclaimed. "Well?" + +The iron prince had disappeared. It was Herr Freudenberg, maker of +toys, suave, genial, fascinating, who bowed before them. + +"Why so surprised, Sir Julien?" he asked. "You forget that this is my +wife's house. The little difficulties which have existed between us +have to-day, I am happy to say, been removed. I have restored her son +to Madame la Princesse. We are reunited. Henceforth my wishes are the +wishes also of madame. You will present me? It is Lady Anne Clonarty, I +believe?" + +They were both bewildered. For the moment Falkenberg was supreme. He +bowed low upon the hesitating words of introduction. + +"Dear Lady Anne," he murmured, "do not be prejudiced against me. Sir +Julien believes that I am his enemy. I am not. I am his sincere and +heartfelt admirer." + +Lady Anne's eyebrows were slowly raised. + +"You have surely," she remarked, "a strange manner of showing such +sentiments!" + +Falkenberg smiled whimsically. He had the expression of a penitent boy +who has misbehaved. + +"It is at least consistent," he pleaded. "I admire Sir Julien's talents +to such an extent that I am perhaps a trifle too anxious that he should +not use them against my country." + +"You haven't forced your way in here to bandy phrases," Julien asserted +a little harshly. "What is it that you want?" + +"You!" Falkenberg answered softly. "You, my friend! Madame la +Princesse--my wife, whom you have known as Madame Christophor--finds it +impossible, against my wishes, to offer you any longer the shelter of +her roof. I am here to escort you, if you will, to your new +quarters--to follow you, if I cannot reconcile you to my company." + +Julien was startled, Lady Anne incredulous. + +"I do not believe," the former declared, "that Madame Christophor +intends any such act of inhospitality." + +"As to that," Falkenberg replied pleasantly, "my wife will be here +herself in a few moments. You shall hear what she has to say from her +own lips. You must remember that I have paid a price. I have given up +the guardianship of my son. You yourself," he continued, looking +steadfastly at Julien, "may know if any other cause exists likely to +have influenced my wife in granting my request." + +Julien set his teeth, but he did not flinch. + +"What is it that you want with me, Prince Falkenberg?" he demanded. +"Another brutal attempt at massacre? I owe you this," he added, raising +his bandaged arm. "Do you imagine that you can continue to use the +methods of other generations with impunity? The thing is absurd. There +are too many who know already the secret of Herr Freudenberg, maker of +toys! There are too many who will know, also, before long, the secret +of the explosion in the Rue de Montpelier!" + +Falkenberg nodded gravely. + +"I understand," he admitted. "One moves, of course, always, with the +knife at one's heart. Yet, until now, I, personally, am safe. Another +man dies to-night, even as we talk here, and confesses himself guilty +of the Rue de Montpelier affair. But let that pass. We have crossed +swords, Sir Julien, and I frankly admit, although I have gained my end +to-night, that I am worsted. The money I spent to purchase _Le +Jour_ has been thrown away. The months of careful intrigue, the +sacrifices and efforts I have made to destroy the _entente_, have +been rendered almost futile by your diabolical pen. Very well, for what +you have done I will accept defeat--I will accept defeat without +malice. But there is the future." + +"What of it?" Julien asked. + +"I do not intend," Falkenberg declared, in a low, firm tone, "to have +you back, a member of any English Government. I prefer Carraby and such +as he." + +"You flatter me!" Julien remarked grimly. + +"Not in the least," Falkenberg objected. "You know the position as well +as I. The political party of which you are a member is in power for a +long time. You have got hold of the middle class, you've bought the +Irish vote, you've bought labor. In the ranks of your party there isn't +a man whom I fear--only you. I will not have you go back." + +"But as it happens," Julien announced, "I am going back. I have heard +from England this evening. Your friend Carraby is resigning." + +Falkenberg shook his head. He remained calm, but there was an ominous +flash in his eyes. + +"You would make a mistake," he asserted. "No one ever goes +back--successfully. Do I not know--I who am twenty years your senior, I +who have felt my way into all the corners and crevices of life? Listen +to me, please." + +He drew a chair towards them and sat down, crossing his knees and +looking towards them both in friendly fashion. + +"Sir Julien," he said, "and you, my dear young lady, your entire future +depends upon this little conversation. Can you not put it out of your +minds for a few moments that I am the dangerous Falkenberg, the +mischief-maker, the ogre of all respectable Britons? Can you not +remember only that I am a well-meaning, not unkindly old gentleman who +has some good advice to offer? You at least will listen to me, Lady +Anne. Do I look like an assassin by choice? Do I seem like the sort of +person to indulge in these dangerous exercises for mere amusement? You +are both young, you have both your lives before you. Why do you, Sir +Julien, voluntarily put the yoke about your neck? Why do you, my +gracious young lady, suffer the man with whom your life is to be linked +to deliver himself over voluntarily into a state of bondage? Politics +lose all glamor to those who have dwelt within the walls. Sir Julien +has dwelt there and so have I. He knows in his heart whether it is +worth while. One lives always amidst a clamor of evil tongues, a +pestilent trail of poisonous suspicions. One gives up one's life to be +flouted and misunderstood, to be accused of evil motives and every +imaginable crime. When it is all over, when one has time to think of +all that one has missed, one feels that all one has done could have +been done just as well by the next man in the street. That is the end +of it. And against all that, you two have the world before you. You can +be rich--very rich indeed. You can make an idyll of this love of yours. +You can travel around the world in your own yacht, you can visit all +strange countries, you can wander where you will, and all the time +affairs in the world will go on very much the same as if you had stayed +and given the best hours of your life to the dusty treadmill. I am an +old man, Lady Anne, and I have an evil name in your country. They call +me greedy, subtle, and ambitious. I may be all these things, but let me +assure you that if I had my time over again my master could find +another servant and my country another toiler. There are fairer flowers +in life to be plucked than any which can be reached from the high +places in Downing Street or Berlin.... Let me, at least, Lady Anne, +make sure of your support? Mind, I am not threatening now--I plead." + +Lady Anne looked at him gravely. + +"Sir Julien," she declared, "will answer you for himself." + +"But I want your own decision," Falkenberg insisted. "I want you to see +the truth as I see it. I want you to tell me that you agree with me." + +She shook her head. + +"But I do not!" she exclaimed. "To me you have spoken like a sophist. +One does not gain happiness by seeking it. You may be honest in some +part of what you say--I cannot tell. Only I think that you have +mistaken Sir Julien's ideas--and mine." + +"You disappoint me!" Falkenberg murmured. + +Sir Julien smiled. + +"Not very much, I think," he said. "You always did believe in trying +the hundredth chance. Let us come back to the reasonable part of our +discussion. Do you propose, then, that I should leave this house at +this moment with you?" + +"My car is entirely at your service," Falkenberg suggested. + +"Do I seem to you so ingenuous?" Julien inquired. "I am wondering what +resources are open to me. I might propose to Lady Anne here that she +telephone for the gendarmes. Why should I not have an escort to take me +to an hotel?" + +Falkenberg shrugged his shoulders. + +"I like the idea," he admitted. "By all means, do as you say. Only do +me the favor to remember that this is my wife's house and with her +authority I request that you leave it immediately." + +"I wonder," Julien asked, "what may be in store for me?--what pleasant +schemes you have hatched?" + +Falkenberg shrugged his shoulders. + +"Listen," he said,--"if you listen attentively you will hear the murmur +of Paris calling you back. Almost you can hear the falling of a +thousand feet upon the pavements of the boulevards, the voice of life. +You may find an asylum there. Who can tell?" + +They heard the soft swirl of a woman's gown passing over the marble +floor. They all turned. It was Madame Christophor who stood there. + +"Still here?" she remarked. + +Julien frowned. + +"It is not my intention to linger," he assured her. "Prince von +Falkenberg has given me your message. I am prepared to go." + +Lady Anne moved hastily forward. + +"Do you know," she cried, "that they will kill him? Do you know that +this man," she added, pointing to Falkenberg, "has admitted it? Would +you dare to send him out to be butchered in the streets?" + +"The young lady exaggerates," Falkenberg protested. "This is a +perfectly respectable neighborhood. What possible harm can come to an +English gentleman? Besides, I have offered him, if he will, the +protection of my car." + +Madame Christophor sighed. She waved back Sir Julien. + +"Alas!" she exclaimed, "there has been a slight misunderstanding." + +She touched a bell which stood on the table by her side. Almost +immediately a tall, pale-faced man in dark clothes appeared, followed +by Jean, the butler. + +"My dear Prince," she said to her husband, "I do assure you that you +need have no special anxiety. Let me present to you Monsieur Bourgan of +the French Detective Service. Monsieur Bourgan--the Prince von +Falkenberg--Sir Julien Portel!" + +Monsieur Bourgan saluted. The two men looked at him,--as yet they +scarcely understood. + +"I suppose," Madame Christophor continued, "that I am a somewhat +nervous woman, but you see I can always plead the privilege of my sex. +I was delighted to have Sir Julien here with me, but in a sense it was +a responsibility. It occurred to me then to send a message to the +Minister of the Police, who happens to be a great friend of mine, and +at his suggestion Monsieur Bourgan here, who is, as I have no doubt you +both well know, very distinguished in the Service, has taken up his +residence in my house. He has occupied, as a matter of fact, the next +room to Sir Julien's. Forgive me," she added, smiling at them all, "if +I kept this little matter secret, but I know that men hate a fuss. I +propose, dear Prince," she added, turning to her husband, "that +Monsieur Bourgan accompanies you to your rooms. You need not fear then +any molestation." + +There was an absolute silence. It was broken at last by the Prince von +Falkenberg. + +"I must confess," he said slowly, "that I do not altogether +understand." + +Madame Christophor faced him with a faint smile upon her lips. The +smile itself told him all that he desired to know. + +"But, my dear Prince," she declared, "it is my anxiety for your safety +which induces me to propose this. Only a few minutes ago you were +telling me that you feared that you had become an extremely unpopular +person in Paris, and that the very streets were not safe for you. Under +the circumstances, one can scarcely wonder at it! The French +Government, however, is above all small feelings. A private citizen in +Paris, even though he be an enemy of France, is a person to be +respected. The protection of the detective force of Paris is at your +service. Monsieur Bourgan, you will do me the great favor of conducting +my husband to his rooms. Afterwards you will return here to continue +your watch over Sir Julien." + +"I am entirely at your command, madame," Monsieur Bourgan replied. + +Falkenberg hesitated for one single moment. He seemed to be measuring +the distance between Julien and himself. Under the pretense of picking +up a match, Monsieur Bourgan was almost between them. Falkenberg +laughed softly, then most graciously he made his adieux. + +"Lady Anne," he said, bowing, "one is permitted to wish you every +happiness? Sir Julien, let me assure you," he continued, "that it has +been a pleasure to renew our acquaintance. Dear Henriette," he added, +"this care for my safety touches me! And the boy?" + +"He is safe in my room," she assured him. "It is absurd of me, no +doubt, but I have turned the key upon him and placed a footman outside +the door. Take care of yourself, dear Rudolf. Monsieur Bourgan, I know, +will watch over you well. Yet you are one of those who take risks +always." + +Falkenberg raised her fingers to his lips. + +"Almost, dear Henriette," he murmured, "you make me regret that I ever +have to leave Paris at all." + +She leaned a little towards him. + +"I bear you no ill-will, Rudolf," she said softly. "Take my advice. +Leave Paris quickly." + +His eyes held hers as though seeking for some meaning to her words. She +only shook her head. He turned and followed Jean. Monsieur Bourgan +brought up the rear. Madame Christophor shrugged her shoulders. + +"Really," she declared, with a sigh, "life is becoming altogether too +complicated. Never mind, I have got rid of Prince Falkenberg for you, +Sir Julien. Between ourselves, I think that he will receive a hint to +leave Paris, and before very long. Listen--there goes his car." + +"Dear Madame Christophor," Lady Anne whispered, "you are wonderful!" + +Madame Christophor was already moving away. + +"Not really wonderful," she replied. "Only a little human. I must go to +my boy." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +THE ONE WAY OUT + + +Estermen started up from his chair. In the unlit room the figure of +his master seemed to have assumed a portentous, almost a threatening +shape. + +"Who's that?" he cried out. + +Falkenberg calmly turned on the electric light. + +"Still here, my friend?" he remarked significantly. + +Estermen began to tremble. + +"There is plenty of time," he faltered. "I am not sure about the man +opposite. It may be some one else he is watching." + +Falkenberg walked to the window and stood there in the full glare of +the light. The man opposite was still sipping his eternal coffee. He +glanced casually at Falkenberg and back at his paper. + +"You fool!" the latter said to Estermen. "Can't you see that he is +waiting only to draw the others in? Do you know that I--I, Von +Falkenberg, Chancellor of Germany, have received what they are pleased +to call a hint from the French Minister of Police that it would be +advisable for me to leave Paris? This is your blundering, Estermen!" + +"Not mine only," the man muttered. "Do you know that there are those +who wait for you in your rooms?" + +Falkenberg turned away. + +"Stay here till I return," he ordered. + +He turned the key of his own apartments and entered. His servant +hurried up to him. + +"There waits for Your Highness," he announced, "the Baron von +Neudheim." + +Falkenberg started. + +"Here?" he exclaimed. + +"In His Excellency's private apartment. There waits also--" + +Falkenberg had already departed. He opened the door of his room. His +secretary rose hastily to his feet. + +"What do you here, Neudheim?" Falkenberg demanded. "What has happened?" + +"Excellency," the young man replied, "there is trouble. Within half an +hour of your leaving, I had important news. I dared not telegraph. I +have followed you. I took a special train from the frontier." + +"Go on," Falkenberg said calmly. "It is something serious?" + +"Indeed, yes, Your Excellency!" the Baron continued. "It is concerning +the Agdar matter." + +Falkenberg's face lit up. + +"An ultimatum!" he exclaimed. "So much the better!" + +Baron von Neudheim shook his head. + +"For once, I am afraid," he said, "we have been trapped. His Excellency +himself sent for me. The reply from Downing Street has been received." + +"Well?" Falkenberg interrupted impatiently. + +"Your Excellency, the reply to our note is exceedingly courteous. It +states that the unrest referred to had already been reported to the +British Government, and a warship which left Portsmouth under sealed +orders some months ago was instructed to proceed to the port last week. +The note goes on to state that no intimation was given to Germany, as +the British Government was not aware that Germany had any interests, +but it further contains an assurance that the welfare of all white men +will receive equal attention." Falkenberg set his teeth. + +"What battleship was sent?" he asked. + +"The 'Aida,'" the young man replied slowly,--"a first-class cruiser, +twenty-six thousand tons." + +Falkenberg was silent for a moment. His face had grown dark. + +"And ours," he muttered, "was a third-rate gunboat! Who in all Downing +Street could have planned a coup like this?" + +"It was Sir Julien Portel--his last official action," the Baron +answered. "The papers to-morrow will be full of this. The Press of +Germany and England and France have the whole story." + +"Which is to say," Falkenberg exclaimed, "that we are to be the +laughing-stock of Europe! Anything else?" + +"There is an imperial summons commanding your presence at Potsdam at +once," Neudheim acknowledged reluctantly. + +"I start for the frontier in a quarter of an hour," Falkenberg decided. +"I shall drive to Chalons and telegraph for a special train from +there." + +"You will let me accompany you?" the young man begged. + +Falkenberg hesitated, then he shook his head. + +"No, it is my wish that you return by train. Take a day's holiday, if +you will. You will be back in time." + +The young man's expression was clouded. He was obviously disappointed. + +"But, Excellency," he pleaded, "there is trouble in Berlin. It is best, +indeed, that I should be by your side." + +Falkenberg held out his hand. + +"My dear Fritz," he replied, "you will obey my orders, as you always +have done. It is my wish that you return by the ordinary train +to-morrow night." + +"There is nothing I can do--no message--" + +"Nothing!" Falkenberg interrupted. "Look after yourself. Leave me now, +if you please." + +The young man moved reluctantly towards the door. + +"Excellency," he protested, "I do not desire a day's holiday. Things in +Berlin are bad. Let us talk together on our way north. You have never +yet known defeat. We can plan our way through, or fight it. Don't tell +me to leave you, dear master!" he wound up, with a sudden change of +tone. "There are still ways." + +Falkenberg laid his hand upon the young man's shoulder. + +"Fritz," he said, "my orders, if you please! Remember that I never +suffer them to be disputed. Goodbye!" + +The young man left the room. As he passed down the stairs he shivered. +Falkenberg passed into an inner apartment. Already he had guessed who +it was waiting for him. Mademoiselle rose to her feet with a little +cry. + +"At last!" she exclaimed. "Dear maker of toys, how long you have been! +How weary it has been to wait!" + +She came into his arms. He patted her head gently. + +"Dear little one!" + +"You are taking me to supper?" she begged. + +He shook his head. Her face fell, the big tears were already in her +eyes. + +"But you are troubled!" she cried. "Oh, come and forget it all for a +time! Isn't that what you told me once was my use in the world--that I +could chatter to you, or sing, or lead you through the light paths, so +that your brain could rest? Let me take you there, dear one. To-night, +if ever, you have the look in your face. You need rest. Come to me!" + +He looked at her steadfastly, looked at her feeling as one far away +gazing down upon some strange element in life. Then a thought came to +him. + +"Little one," he whispered, "you are irresistible. Wait, then. It may +be as you desire. Only, after supper I pass on." + +"And I with you?" she implored. + +He shook his head. + +"Wait here." + +Once more he returned to Estermen's apartments. Estermen was still +there, smoking furiously. The room was blue with tobacco smoke. +Falkenberg regarded him with distaste. + +"Make yourself presentable, man," he ordered. "We sup in the Montmartre +and we leave in a few minutes." + +"What, I?" Estermen exclaimed, springing up. + +"You and I and mademoiselle," Falkenberg told him. "I have made plans. +You may perhaps escape--who can tell?" + +Estermen, with a little sob of relief, hurried into his sleeping +apartment. Soon they were all three in the big car, gliding through the +busy streets. It was getting towards midnight and they took their place +among the crowd of vehicles climbing the hill, only wherever the street +was broad enough they passed always ahead. At the Rat Mort they came to +a stand-still. Falkenberg led the way up the narrow stairs, greeted +Albert with both hands, nodded amiably to the _chef d'orchestre_, +the flower girl and the head waiter, who crowded around him. + +"For as many as choose to come!" he declared. "The round table! The +best supper in France! It is a gala night, Albert. Serve us of your +best. Mademoiselle will sing. We are here to taste the joys of life." + +Albert led the way. + +"Ah, monsieur," he said, "it is good, indeed, to hear your voice! There +is no one who comes here who enters more splendidly into the spirit of +the place. When you are here I know that it will be a joyful evening +for all. They catch it, too, those others," he explained. "Sometimes +they come here stolid, British. They look around them, they eat, they +drink, they sit like stuffed animals. Then comes monsieur--dear +monsieur! He talks gayly, he laughs, he waves salutes, he drinks wine, +he makes friends. The thing spreads. It is the spirit--the real spirit. +Behold! Even the dull, once they catch it, they enjoy." + +Falkenberg took the cushioned seat in the corner. Close to his side was +mademoiselle, her hand already clasping his. Estermen, gaunt, red-eyed, +still haggard with fear, sat a few feet away. + +"Wine!" Falkenberg ordered. "Pommery--bottles of it! Never mind if we +cannot drink it. Let us look at it. Let us imagine the joys that come, +added to those we feel." + +Already the wine was rushing into their glasses. Falkenberg raised his +glass. + +"To our last supper, dear Marguerite!" he whispered. + +She shivered all over. She looked at him, her face was suddenly +strained. + +"You jest!" + +"Jest? But is it not a night for jests!" he answered. "Why not? Ah, +Marguerite, I take it back! To our first supper! Let us say to +ourselves that to-night we stand upon the threshold of life. Let us say +to ourselves that never before have I seen how blue your eyes shine, +how sweet your mouth, how soft your fingers, how dear the thrill which +passes from you to me. Close to me, Marguerite--close to me, little +one! Our first evening!" + +"Dearest," she whispered, "first or last, there could never be another. +It is you who make my life. It is you who, when you go, leave it +desolate." + +He held her hand more tightly. + +"Ah, little friend," he murmured, "you spoil me with your sweet +phrases! You set the music playing in my heart--the witch music, I +think. Come, we must speak to Estermen," he continued, looking +resolutely away from her. "We cannot have him sitting there glum, a +death's-head at our feast. Estermen, drink, man! Is this a funeral +party? Wake up. Mademoiselle who dances there looks towards you. Why +not? You see, she waves her hand. You have waltzed with her before. Ask +her to sit down with us. I have ordered supper. See, mademoiselle +approaches, Estermen. More glasses, waiter. Open more wine. There is +champagne here for everybody. Mademoiselle does us great honor. Permit +me!" + +The little dancing girl obeyed his invitation. She sat by Estermen's +side, but she cast a longing glance at Falkenberg. Their glasses were +filled. Estermen drank quickly, all the time looking about him with the +furtive air of a whipped dog. + +"To-night," Falkenberg cried, as he lifted his glass, "I have but one +command--be joyful. Why not? To-night I have Marguerite by my side, and +you--you can choose from the world of Marguerites. There is nothing in +life like this--the hour of midnight, the music of the moment, the wine +of the hour, the woman we love. Drink, Estermen, once more. Fix your +thoughts upon the present. Mademoiselle looks around her. She finds you +dull. She will seek for another admirer. Ah, mademoiselle!" he added, +leaning across the table, "if the sweetest girl in Paris were not here +already by my side, do you think that I would permit you to be for an +instant the companion of a dumb admirer?" + +Mademoiselle laughed back into his eyes. + +"If monsieur's friend were but as gallant as monsieur himself!" + +"He is depressed," Falkenberg declared, "but it passes. Behold! Another +glass like that, Estermen! Drink till you feel it bubbling in your +veins. Look at him now!" + +Falkenberg leaned back in his place and pressed his companion's arm. +Indeed, the wine was working its magic. The terror was passing from +Estermen's face. Already he was becoming more natural. + +"Leave them alone," Falkenberg said softly. "He will have no relapse. +The wine is in his blood. Ah, Marguerite! never did you seem so sweet +to me as tonight, when my face is set for the cold north! Have you joy +in remembering, little one? Have you sentiment enough for that?" + +"I have sentiment enough," she whispered, "to suffer every time you +leave me. To-night I am afraid to let you go. Oh! dear--my dear--take +me with you! I have begged you before, but to-night I beg you in a +different manner. I am afraid to be left alone. I care not where or +whatever the end of your journey may be. Take me with you, dear one. It +is because I love that I ask this!" + +He looked at her for a moment and there were wonderful things in his +eyes. + +"Ah, little girl," he murmured, "you teach one so much! One passes +through life too often with one's eyes closed, one finds the great +things in strange places, the rarest flowers even by the roadside. +Drink your wine, press my fingers--like that. See, it is the _chef +d'orchestre_ who approaches. You shall sing--sing to me, little +one." + +He motioned to the musician, who with a smile of delight held up his +hand to the orchestra. Mademoiselle hummed a few bars. The man who +listened nodded his head. Then he raised his violin, he passed his bow +across the strings. With the touch of his fingers he drew from them a +little melody. Mademoiselle assented. Her head was back against the +wall, her eyes half closed. Then she began to sing; sang so that in a +few moments the passionate words which streamed from her lips held the +room breathless. It was no ordinary music. It was the love prayer of a +woman, starting in sadness, passing on to passion, ending in wild +entreaty. As she finished she turned her head towards her companion. + +"You shall not go alone!" she cried, and her words might well have been +the text of her song. + +Falkenberg shook his head. + +"Something gayer," he begged,--"something more like the wine which +foams in our glasses." + +She obeyed him after only a moment's hesitation, yet in the first few +bars her song came to an abrupt end, her voice choked. She leaned +suddenly forward in her place, her face was hidden between her hands. +They all gazed at her curiously. + +"Nerves!" one declared. + +"Hysterics!" another echoed. + +"It is the life they lead, these women," an American explained to a +little party of guests. "They weep or they laugh always. Life with them +quivers all the time. They pass from one emotion to another--they +seldom know which. Look, it is over with her." + +It was over, indeed. She raised her head and sang, sang ravishingly, +charmingly, a gay love-song. Falkenberg was the first to applaud her. + +"To-night, dear," he murmured, "you are wonderful. You sing from the +heart, your voice has feeling, you bring to one the exquisite +moments.... Behold, the supper arrives! Estermen has made friends now +with his little _danseuse_. Sit closer to me, dear. These are the +golden hours. Give me your hand, look into my eyes, drink with me.... +How the minutes pass! There is magic in this place." + +Towards four o'clock Falkenberg and his companions came down the narrow +stairs, out into the morning. A fine rain was falling, the pavements +were already wet. Falkenberg was still gay, still laughing and talking. +Behind, a little company--the _chef d'orchestre_, the chief +_maitre d'hotel_, the flower girl--wondering at his generosity, +stood at the head of the stairs to bid him godspeed. He gave a louis to +the _commissionaire_ and called for a special carriage. He had +almost to lift Marguerite inside. + +"Dear child," he said, holding her hands, "here we must part for a +time--not for so long, perhaps. Who can tell? It is a comfortable +carriage, this. Here is a handful of money for the fare. It is of no +use to me." + +He emptied his pockets into her lap as she sat there. She made no +effort to pick up the shower of gold and silver. + +"What do you mean--that it is of no use to you?" + +"We drive for home," he answered. "We shall need no money to take us +there. Listen." + +He drew her face very close to his. + +"When you arrive at your apartment," he said, "you will find there a +little packet from me. Be wise, dear. If chance will have it that we do +not meet again very soon, may it help you to take all out of life that +you can find. Only sometimes when the heart is joyous, when the wine +flows and your feet are keeping time to the music of life, think for a +moment--of one who dwells, alas! in a quieter country. Dear +Marguerite!" + +He kissed her, first upon the lips and then lightly on the forehead. +Then gently he thrust away the arms which she had wound around his +neck. He waved to the coachman to drive off. With a little shrug of the +shoulders he took his own place in the great touring car. Estermen, +too, clambered into the tonneau. + +"You have supped well, I trust, Henri?" the Prince asked the chauffeur. + +"Without a doubt, Excellency," the man replied. + +"Then drive for the frontier," Falkenberg ordered. "We will stop you +when we need a rest." + +They left Paris in the semi-darkness. They were away in the country +before the faintest gleam of daylight broke through the eastern clouds. +Even then the way was still obscured. It was a stormy morning, and +banks of murky clouds were piled up where the sun should have risen. +The rain still fell. Soon they commenced to ascend a range of hills. At +the summit Falkenberg pulled the check-string. + +"Henri," he said, "come in behind here. I will drive for a time--it +will amuse me." + +The man descended. Falkenberg took his place at the wheel. Estermen, +obeying his gesture, scrambled into the seat by his side. + +"Go to the signpost," his master ordered the chauffeur. "Tell me +exactly, how many miles to Rheims?" + +The man clambered up the bank. The gray morning twilight was breaking +now through a sea of clouds. From where they were the vineyards sloped +down to the bank. A thin, curving line of silver marked the course of +the river. Here and there a little gleam of sunlight fell upon the +country below them. Estermen closed his eyes. + +"It makes me giddy," he muttered. "I hope that you will drive slowly +down the hill!" + +Falkenberg glanced to the left--the chauffeur was still peering at the +milestone. He slipped in the clutch and the car glided off, gathering +speed as though by magic. + +"You have left Henri!" Estermen cried. "He is running after us. Stop +the car! Can't you stop it?" + +Falkenberg turned his head only once. The stone walls now on either +side seemed flying past them. Estermen looked into his face and quaked +with fear. + +"This ride is for you and me alone, my friend!" Falkenberg replied. +"Sit tight and say your prayers, if it pleases you. This is better, +after all, than poison, or the cold muzzle of a revolver at your +forehead. Close your eyes if you are afraid; or open them, if you have +the courage, and see the world spin by. We start on the great journey." + +Estermen shrieked. He half rose to his feet, but Falkenberg, holding +the wheel with his right hand, struck him across the face with his left +so that he fell back in his place. + +"If you try to leave the car," he said, "I swear that I will stop and +come back. I will shoot you where you lie, like a dog. Be brave, man! +Be thankful that you are going to your death in honorable company and +in honorable fashion! It's better, this, than the guillotine, isn't it? +Look at the country below, like patchwork, coming up to us. Listen to +the wind rushing by. You see the trees, how they bend? You feel the +rain stinging your cheeks? Sit still, man, and fix your thoughts where +you will. Think of mademoiselle _la danseuse_, think of her +kisses, think of the perfume of the violets at her bosom! You see, we +arrive. Watch that corner of the viaduct." + +They were traveling now at a terrific speed, falling fast to the level +country. Before them was a high bridge, crossing the river. On the +left, a portion of it was being repaired and a few boards alone were up +for protection. Falkenberg, recognizing the spot for which he had been +looking, settled down in his seat. A grim smile parted his lips. + +"Jean Charles will never place his hand upon your shoulder now!" he +cried. "Can you hear the wind sob, Estermen? Soon you'll hear the water +in your ears! Hold fast. Don't spoil the end!" + +They were going at sixty miles an hour, and with the slightest swerve +of the steering wheel they turned to the left on entering the bridge +and struck the boards. Henri, in his account of the accident, declared +that although the car turned over before it reached the river, +Falkenberg never left his seat. Estermen, on the other hand, was thrown +violently out, and struck the water head foremost. From the condition +of his body it would seem that death was instantaneous. Falkenberg was +found with his arms locked around the steering wheel, his head bent +forward. He, too, seemed to have been drowned almost immediately. The +steering wheel was jammed, the car wrecked.... + +The authorities, who had left only a temporary protection while they +repaired the viaduct on the bridge, were severely censured. The makers +of the car were subjected to a very searching cross-examination. The +brakes and the uncertain light were blamed. Henri, who from the +hillside a mile or more back had watched with ghastly face, was the +only one who understood the accident, and he kept silent! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +ALL ENDS WELL + + +The Duchess of Clonarty was famous for doing the right thing. Three +weeks after the return of Julien and Lady Anne to London, she gave a +large dinner-party in their honor. At a quarter past eight, a +telephone message from the House of Commons was received, explaining +that Sir Julien would be ten minutes late, owing to his having to speak +at greater length than he had first intended upon the Agdar question. +Lady Anne was waiting for him, and they would arrive together certainly +within a quarter of an hour. The Duchess made every use of her +opportunity. She was at her very best during that brief period which +ensued while they waited for the delayed guests. + +"You know, my dear Lady Cardington," she explained, raising her voice a +little to indicate that this was not entirely a confidence, "I never +dreamed that dear Anne had so much self-confidence and resolution. Even +now I have scarcely given up wondering at it. If she had only told me +that she was so sincerely attached to Julien, I would never have +listened for one moment to that Harbord affair. It was a mistake, of +course," she rippled on, "but then one learns so much by one's +mistakes. Notwithstanding their wealth, they were most terrible and +impossible people. I am sure the association would have been most +distasteful to the Duke. Poor Henry used to lock himself in his study +when any of them were about the place, and what it would have been if +they were really able to call themselves connections, I cannot imagine. +You were speaking of the Carraby woman a few minutes ago. My dear Eva! +Of course, you have heard about her? Her husband, when he resigned, +gave out that he was obliged to go abroad for his wife's health. My +dear, his wife had already left him, three days before! She was seen in +Paris with Bob Sutherland. I hear the divorce suit is filed. What a +terrible woman!" + +"A great escape, I am sure, for Sir Julien," Lady Cardington declared. + +The Duchess drew a little breath. + +"Poor Julien was always so chivalrous," she murmured. "How thankful +your dear husband must be to think that at last he has one person in +his Cabinet who does command some sort of a following in the country!" + +The Duchess delivered her little shaft and moved to the door. Sir +Julien and Lady Anne Portel had just been announced. It was almost a +family dinner. The Duchess took Julien's arm and drew him into a corner +while the others filed past. + +"Is it true," she whispered, "that the Carraby woman has bolted?" + +Julien nodded. + +"I am afraid there isn't a doubt about it," he admitted. + +"How are things to-night? Anything new?" she asked. + +"Quite calm again," he replied. "The trouble seems to have passed over. +Falkenberg's death upset the whole scheme which was brewing against us, +whatever it may have been. All the notes which are being interchanged +at the present moment are perfectly pacific." + +The Duchess sighed. + +"After all," she said, "my little visit to Paris was +not so wild. I don't think you would ever have found out about Anne +but for me." + +Julien smiled. + +"If I really believed that," he assured her, "and I shall try to, then +I should feel that I owed you more than any person upon the earth." + +The dinner was a success. Lady Anne seemed certainly to have developed. +She was looking wonderfully handsome, and though her eyes strayed more +than once to the end of the table where her husband was sitting, she +carried on her share of the conversation with just that trifle of +assurance which marks the transition from girlhood to the dignity of +marriage. After the women had left, conversation for a few moments was +necessarily political. The Duke, who read the _Times_ and the +_Spectator_, and attended every debate in the House of Lords, +spoke with some authority. + +"I believe," he said firmly, "that we have passed through a crisis +greater than any one, even those in power, know of. It is my opinion +that Falkenberg was the bitter enemy of this country--that it was he, +indeed, who kept alive all that suspicious and jealous feeling of which +we have had constant evidences from Berlin. He was dying all the time +to make mischief. I am sorry, of course, for his tragical end. On the +other hand, I am inclined to believe that his departure from the sphere +of politics was the best thing that has happened to this country for +many years." + +"There is no doubt," Lord Cardington declared, "that he was working +hard to estrange France and England. Your letters, Sir Julien, made +that remarkably evident." + +"'The good that men do lives after them,'" some one quoted, "also the +evil. I am afraid it will be some time before France and England are on +exactly the same terms." + +"I would not be so sure," Julien interposed, setting down his glass. +"The politics of Paris are the politics of France, and the spirit of +the Parisian is essentially mercurial. Besides, the days of the great +alliance draw nearer--the next step forward after the arbitration +treaty. Who can doubt that when that is completed, France will embrace +the chance of permanent peace?" + +The Duke rose to his feet. + +"Five minutes only I am allowed, gentlemen," he said. "My wife wants +some of us, some of us have to go back to Westminster. I shall ask you, +therefore, before we separate, as this is in some respects an occasion, +to drink to the health of my son-in-law, Sir Julien Portel. Though a +politician of the old type, I do not fail to appreciate what we owe to +the new school. I am a reader of the old-fashioned newspapers, but I +recognize the fact that the modern Press sometimes exercises a new and +wonderful function in politics. It is my opinion that by means of this +modern journalism Sir Julien Portel has maintained the peace of the +world. I ask you, therefore, not only as my private friends and +relatives, but as politicians, to drink to-night to the health of my +son-in-law." + +They all rose. + +"And with that toast," Lord Cardington added, as he bowed toward +Julien, "let me associate the fervent pleasure felt by all of us in +welcoming back once more the colleague to whom we have so many reasons +to be thankful." + +The party broke up soon afterwards. Lady Anne drove back with her +husband to Westminster. She sat by his side in the closed car which had +been her father's wedding present. Her hands, linked together, were +passed through his arm. She was a very well satisfied woman. + +"Julien," she declared, "it's lovely to be back here, but I wouldn't +have been without those few weeks in Paris for anything in the world. I +don't think we can ever get back down into the bottom of the ruts, do +you?" + +"If ever we feel like it," he answered, smiling, "we'll cross the +Channel again, and take Mademoiselle Janette with us and seek for more +adventures." + +"Lovely!" she exclaimed. "I shall hold you to that, mind." + +"No need," he replied. "Kendricks is going to stay there as +correspondent for the _Post_. We must go and see him occasionally. +There is no one who understands better the temperament of the Parisian +than he." + +"There will be no more Herr Freudenberg to circumvent," she remarked. + +"Paris always has its problems," he answered. "Kendricks realizes that. +The plotting of the world takes place within a mile of Montmartre." + +They were nearing Westminster. Julien drew his wife towards him and +kissed her. + +"I shall only be about twenty minutes, dear," he suggested. "Why not +wait?" + +"Of course," she replied. "I have a little electric lamp here, and a +book. I'd love to." + +Julien walked blithely into the House. Lady Anne turned on the lamp, +drew out her book, and leaned back among the cushions with a deep sigh +of content. + + * * * * * + +That same night, wandering around Paris, Kendricks met Monsieur, +Madame, and Mademoiselle. + +"It is the gallant Englishman!" mademoiselle exclaimed. + +"It is the gentleman who ate both portions of chicken!" madame cried, +clapping her hands. + +It was a veritable meeting. Kendricks willingly joined their little +party and sat down with them in the brightly-lit cafe. Monsieur ordered +wine. + +"The business affairs of monsieur are prospering, I trust?" he said. +"After all, the _entente_ remains." + +Kendricks lifted his glass. + +"I drink to it!" he exclaimed. "It is the sanest thing to-day in +European politics. Drink to it yourself, monsieur, and you, madame, and +you, mademoiselle. You shall accuse us no longer, we English, of +selfishness or stupidity. For what reason, think you, did we order a +warship to Agdar and brave the whole wrath of Germany?" + +Monsieur held out his hand. + +"My friend," he declared, "it was a stroke of genius, that. It was what +we none of us expected from any English Minister. It was magnificent. I +confess it--it has altered my opinions. I drink with you now, cordially +and heartily. I drink to the _entente_. I believe in it. I am a +convert." + +Kendricks shook hands with every one solemnly. He shook hands last with +mademoiselle, and forgot to release her little fingers for several +moments. + +"Tell us of your friend, monsieur?" madame asked politely. + +But Kendricks did not hear! He was whispering in mademoiselle's ear. +Her dark eyes were fixed upon the tablecloth, her pretty lips were +parted, a most becoming flush of color was in her cheeks. Monsieur +looked at madame and winked. Madame smiled, well pleased. + +"_L'entente!_" monsieur murmured. + +Madame nodded. + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Mischief Maker, by E. Phillips Oppenheim + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MISCHIEF MAKER *** + +***** This file should be named 8878.txt or 8878.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/8/7/8878/ + +Produced by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Mischief Maker + +Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim + +Release Date: September, 2005 [EBook #8878] +[This file was first posted on August 19, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE MISCHIEF MAKER *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + + +THE MISCHIEF-MAKER + +BY + +E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM + +AUTHOR OF "THE LIGHTED WAY," "THE TEMPTING OF TAVERNAKE," "HAVOC," ETC. + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HANSON BOOTH + +1913 + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + +BOOK ONE + + + +CHAPTER + + + I SYMPATHY AND SELFISHNESS + + II AN INDISCREET LETTER + + III A RUINED CAREER + + IV A BUNCH OF VIOLETS + + V A SENTIMENTAL EPISODE + + VI AT THE CAFE L'ATHENEE + + VII COFFEE FOR THREE + + VIII IN PARIS + + IX MADAME CHRISTOPHOR + + X BETTER ACQUAINTANCE + + XI THE TOYMAKER FROM LEIPZIG + + XII AT THE RAT MORT + + XIII POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM + + XIV THE MORNING AFTER + + XV BEHIND CLOSED DOORS + + XVI "HAVE YOU EVER LOVED?" + + XVII KENDRICKS IS HOST + +XVIII A MEETING OF SOCIALISTS + + XIX AN OFFER + + XX FALKENBERG ACTS + + + + +BOOK TWO + + + +CHAPTER + + + + I THE FLIGHT OF LADY ANNE + + II "TO OUR NEW SELVES" + + III WORK FOR JULIEN + + IV A STARTLING DISCLOSURE + + V THE FIRST ARTICLE + + VI FALKENBERG FAILS + + VII LADY ANNE DECLINES + + VIII A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE + + IX FOOLHARDY JULIEN + + X THE SECOND ATTEMPT + + XI BY THE PRINCE'S ORDERS + + XII DISTRESSING NEWS + + XIII ESTERMEN'S DEATH WARRANT + + XIV SANCTUARY + + XV NEARING A CRISIS + + XVI FALKENBERG'S LAST REPORT + + XVII DEFEAT FOR FALKENBERG + +XVIII THE ONE WAY OUT + + XIX ALL ENDS WELL + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +"Really," he said, "I thought better of Herr Freudenberg" + +"At least," she reminded him, "you are going to see Madame +Christophor?" + +"Splendid!" he muttered, rising to his feet. "If only I can do it!" + +"Let me present to you Monsieur Bourgan of the French Detective +Service" + + + + + +BOOK ONE + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +SYMPATHY AND SELFISHNESS + + +The girl who was dying lay in an invalid chair piled up with cushions +in a sheltered corner of the lawn. The woman who had come to visit her +had deliberately turned away her head with a murmured word about the +sunshine and the field of buttercups. Behind them was the little +sanitarium, a gray stone villa built in the style of a chateau, +overgrown with creepers, and with terraced lawns stretching down to the +sunny corner to which the girl had been carried earlier in the day. +There were flowers everywhere--beds of hyacinths, and borders of purple +and yellow crocuses. A lilac tree was bursting into blossom, the breeze +was soft and full of life. Below, beyond the yellow-starred field of +which the woman had spoken, flowed the Seine, and in the distance one +could see the outskirts of Paris. + +"The doctor says I am better," the girl whispered plaintively. "This +morning he was quite cheerful. I suppose he knows, but it is strange +that I should feel so weak--weaker even day by day. And my cough--it +tears me to pieces all the time." + +The woman who was bending over her gulped something down in her throat +and turned her head. Although older than the invalid whom she had come +to visit, she was young and very beautiful. Her cheeks were a trifle +pale, but even without the tears her eyes were almost the color of +violets. + +"The doctor must know, dear Lucie," she declared. "Our own feelings so +often mean nothing at all." + +The girl moved a little uneasily in her chair. She, also, had once been +pretty. Her hair was still an exquisite shade of red-gold, but her +cheeks were thin and pinched, her complexion had gone, her clothes fell +about her. She seemed somehow shapeless. + +"Yes," she agreed, "the doctor knows--he must know. I see it in his +manner every time he comes to visit me. In his heart," she added, +dropping her voice, "he must know that I am going to die." + +Her eyes seemed to have stiffened in their sockets, to have become +dilated. Her lips trembled, but her eyes remained steadfast. + +"Oh! madame," she sobbed, "is it not cruel that one should die like +this! I am so young. I have seen so little of life. It is not just, +madame--it is not just!" + +The woman who sat by her side was shaking. Her heart was torn with +pity. Everywhere in the soft, sunlit air, wherever she looked, she +seemed to read in letters of fire the history of this girl, the history +of so many others. + +"We will not talk of death, dear," she said. "Doctors are so wonderful, +nowadays. There are so few diseases which they cannot cure. They seem +to snatch one back even from the grave. Besides, you are so young. One +does not die at nineteen. Tell me about this man--Eugene, you called +him. He has never once been to see you--not even when you were in the +hospital?" + +The girl began to tremble. + +"Not once," she murmured. + +"You are sure that he had your letters? He knows that you are out here +and alone?" + +"Yes, he knows!" + +There was a short silence. The woman found it hard to know what to say. +Somewhere down along the white, dusty road a man was grinding the music +of a threadbare waltz from an ancient barrel-organ. The girl closed her +eyes. + +"We used to hear that sometimes," she whispered, "at the cafes. At one +where we went often they used to know that I liked it and they always +played it when we came. It is queer to hear it again--like this.... +Oh, when I close my eyes," she muttered, "I am afraid! It is like +shutting out life for always." + +The woman by her side got up. Lucie caught at her skirt. + +"Madame, you are not going yet?" she pleaded. "Am I selfish? Yet you +have not stayed with me so long as yesterday, and I am so lonely." + +The woman's face had hardened a little. + +"I am going to find that man," she replied. "I have his address. I want +to bring him to you." + +The girl's hold upon her skirt tightened. + +"Sit down," she begged. "Do not leave me. Indeed it is useless. He +knows. He does not choose to come. Men are like that. Oh! madame, I +have learned my lesson. I know now that love is a vain thing. Men do +not often really feel it. They come to us when we please them, but +afterwards that does not count. I suppose we were meant to be +sacrificed. I have given up thinking of Eugene. He is afraid, perhaps, +of the infection. I think that I would sooner go out of life as I lie +here, cold and unloved, than have him come to me unwillingly." + +The woman could not hide her tears any longer. There was something so +exquisitely fragile, so strangely pathetic, in that prostrate figure by +her side. + +"But, my dear," she faltered,-- + +"Madame," the girl interrupted, "hold my hand for a moment. That is the +doctor coming. I hear his footstep. I think that I must sleep." + +Madame Christophor--she had another name, but there were few occasions +on which she cared to use it--was driven back to Paris, in accordance +with her murmured word of instruction, at a pace which took little heed +of police regulations or even of safety. Through the peaceful lanes, +across the hills into the suburbs, and into the city itself she passed, +at a speed which was scarcely slackened even when she turned into the +Boulevard which was her destination. Glancing at the slip of paper +which she held in her hand, she pulled the checkstring before a tall +block of buildings. She hurried inside, ascended two flights of stairs, +and rang the bell of a door immediately opposite her. A very +German-looking manservant opened it after the briefest of delays--a man +with fair moustache, fat, stolid face and inquisitive eyes. + +"Is your master in," she demanded, "Monsieur Estermen?" + +The man stared at her, then bowed. The appearance of Madame Christophor +was, without doubt, impressive. + +"I will inquire, madame," he replied. + +"I am in a hurry," she said curtly. "Be so good as to let your master +know that." + +A moment later she was ushered into a sitting-room--a man's apartment, +untidy, reeking of cigarette smoke and stale air. There were +photographs and souvenirs of women everywhere. The windows were +fast-closed and the curtains half-drawn. The man who stood upon the +hearthrug was of medium height, dark, with close-cropped hair and a +black, drooping moustache. His first glance at his visitor, as the door +opened, was one of impertinent curiosity. + +"Madame?" he inquired. + +"You are Monsieur Estermen?" + +He bowed. He was very much impressed and he endeavored to assume a +manner. + +"That is my name. Pray be seated." + +She waved away the chair he offered. + +"My automobile is in the street below," she said. "I wish you to come +with me at once to see a poor girl who is dying." + +He looked at her in amazement. + +"Are you serious, madame?" + +"I am very serious indeed," she replied. "The girl's name is Lucie +Renault." + +For the moment he seemed perplexed. Then his eyebrows were slowly +raised. + +"Lucie Renault," he repeated. "What do you know about her?" + +"Only that she is a poor child who has suffered at your hands and who +is dying in a private hospital," Madame Christophor answered. "She has +been taken there out of charity. She has no friends, she is dying +alone. Come with me. I will take you to her. You shall save her at +least from that terror." + +It was the aim of the man with whom she spoke to be considered modern. +A perfect and invincible selfishness had enabled him to reach the +topmost heights of callousness, and to remain there without +affectation. + +"If the little girl is dying," he said, "I am sorry, for she was pretty +and companionable, although I have lost sight of her lately. But as to +my going out to see her, why, that is absurd. I hate illness of all +sorts." + +The woman looked at him steadfastly, looked at him as though she had +come into contact with some strange creature. + +"Do you understand what it is that I am saying?" she demanded. "This +girl was once your little friend, is it not so? It was for your sake +that she gave up the simple life she was living when you first knew +her, and went upon the stage. The life was too strenuous for her. She +broke down, took no care of herself, developed a cough and alas! +tuberculosis." + +The man sighed. He had adopted an expression of abstract sympathy. + +"A terrible disease," he murmured. + +"A terrible disease indeed," Madame Christophor repeated. "Do you not +understand what I mean when I tell you that she is dying of it? Very +likely she will not live a week--perhaps not a day. She lies there +alone in the garden of the hospital and she is afraid. There are none +who knew her, whom she cares for, to take her into their arms and to +bid her have no fear. Is it not your place to do this? You have held +her in your arms in life. Don't you see that it is your duty to cheer +her a little way on this last dark journey?" + +The man threw away his cigarette and moved to the mantelpiece, where he +helped himself to a fresh one from the box. + +"Madame," he said, "I perceive that you are a sentimentalist." + +She did not speak--she could not. She only looked at him. + +"Death," he continued, lighting his cigarette, "is an ugly thing. If it +came to me I should probably be quite as much afraid--perhaps +more--than any one else. But it has not come to me just yet. It has +come, you tell me, to little Lucie. Well, I am sorry, but there is +nothing I can do about it. I have no intention whatever of making +myself miserable. I do not wish to see her. I do not wish to look upon +death, I simply wish to forget it. If it were not, madame," he added, +with a bow and a meaning glance from his dark eyes, "that you bring +with you something of your own so well worth looking upon, I could +almost find myself regretting your visit." + +She still regarded him fixedly. There was in her face something of that +shrinking curiosity with which one looks upon an unclean and horrible +thing. + +"That is your answer?" she murmured. + +The man had little understanding and he replied boldly. + +"It is my answer, without a doubt. Lucie, if what you tell me is true, +as I do not for a moment doubt, is dying from a disease the ravages of +which are hideous to watch, and which many people believe, too, to be +infectious. Let me advise you, madame, to learn also a little wisdom. +Let me beg of you not to be led away by these efforts of sentiment, +however picturesque and delightful they may seem. The only life that is +worth considering is our own. The only death that we need fear is our +own. We ought to live like that." + +The woman stood quite still. She was tall and she was slim. Her figure +was exquisite. She was famous throughout the city for her beauty. The +man's eyes dwelt upon her and the eternal expression crept slowly into +his face. He seemed to understand nothing of the shivering horror with +which she was regarding him. + +"If it were upon any other errand, madame," he continued, leaning +towards her, "believe, I pray you, that no one would leave this room to +become your escort more willingly than I." + +She turned away. + +"You will not leave me already?" he begged. + +"Monsieur," she declared, as she threw open the door before he could +reach it, "if I thought that there were many men like you in the world, +if I thought--" + +She never finished her sentence. The emotions which had seized her were +entirely inexpressible. He shrugged his shoulders. + +"My dear lady," he said, "let me assure you that there is not a man of +the world in this city who, if he spoke honestly, would not feel +exactly as I do. Allow me at least to see you to your automobile." + +"If you dare to move," she muttered, "if you dare--" + +She swept past him and down the stairs into the street. She threw +herself into the corner of the automobile. The chauffeur looked around. + +"Where to, madame?" he inquired. + +She hesitated for a moment. She had affairs of her own, but the thought +of the child's eyes came up before her. + +"Back to the hospital," she ordered. "Drive quickly." + +They rushed from Paris once more into the country, with its spring +perfumes, its soft breezes, its restful green, but fast though they +drove another messenger had outstripped them. From the little chapel, +as the car rolled up the avenue, came the slow tolling of a bell. +Madame Christophor stood on the corner of the lawn alone. The invalid +chair was empty. The blinds of the villa were being slowly lowered. She +turned around and looked toward the city. It seemed to her that she +could see into the rooms of the man whom she had left a few minutes +ago. A lark was singing over her head. She lifted her eyes and looked +past him up to the blue sky. Her lips moved, but never a sound escaped +her. Yet the man who sat in his rooms at that moment, yawning and +wondering where to spend the evening, and which companion he should +summon by telephone to amuse him, felt a sudden shiver in his veins. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +AN INDISCREET LETTER + + +The library of the house in Grosvenor Square was spacious, handsome and +ornate. Mr. Algernon H. Carraby, M.P., who sat dictating letters to a +secretary in an attitude which his favorite photographer had rendered +exceedingly familiar, at any rate among his constituents, was also, in +his way, handsome and ornate. Mrs. Carraby, who had just entered the +room, fulfilled in an even greater degree these same characteristics. +It was acknowledged to be a very satisfactory household. + +"I should like to speak to you for a moment, Algernon," his wife +announced. + +Mr. Carraby noticed for the first time that she was carrying a letter +in her hand. He turned at once to his secretary. + +"Haskwell," he said, "kindly return in ten minutes." + +The young man quitted the room. Mrs. Carraby advanced a few steps +further towards her husband. She was tall, beautifully dressed in the +latest extreme of fashion. Her movements were quiet, her skin a little +pale, and her eyebrows a little light. Nevertheless, she was quite a +famous beauty. Men all admired her without any reservations. The best +sort of women rather mistrusted her. + +"Is that the letter, Mabel?" her husband asked, with an eagerness which +he seemed to be making some effort to conceal. + +She nodded slowly. He held out his hand, but she did not at once part +with it. + +"Algernon," she said quietly, "you know that I am not very scrupulous. +We both of us want success--a certain sort of success--and we have both +of us been content to pay the price. You have spent a good deal of +money and you have succeeded very well indeed. Somehow or other, I feel +to-day as though I were spending more than money." + +He laughed a little uncomfortably. + +"My dear Mabel!" he protested. "You are not going to back out, are +you?" + +"No," she replied, "I do not think that I shall back out. There is +nothing in the whole world I want so much as to have you a Cabinet +Minister. If there had been any other way--" + +"But there is no other way," her husband interrupted. "So long as +Julien Portel lives, I should never get my chance. He holds the post I +want. Every one knows that he is clever. He has the ear of the Prime +Minister and he hates me. My only chance is his retirement." + +Mrs. Carraby looked at the letter. + +"Well," she said, "I have played your game for you. I have gone even to +the extent of being talked about with Julien Portel." + +Her husband moved uneasily in his chair. + +"That will all blow over directly," he declared. "Besides, if--if +things go our way, we shan't see much more of Portel. Give me the +letter." + +Still she hesitated. It was curious that throughout the slow evolution +of this scheme to break a man's life, for which she was mainly +responsible, she had never hesitated until this moment. Always it had +been fixed in her mind that Algernon was to be a Cabinet Minister; she +was to be the wife of a Cabinet Minister. That there were any other +things greater in life than the gratification of so reasonable an +ambition had never seemed possible. Now she hesitated. She looked at +her husband and she saw him with new eyes. He seemed suddenly a mean +little person. She thought of the other man and there was a strange +quiver in her heart--a very unexpected sensation indeed. There was a +difference in the breed. It came home to her at that moment. She found +herself even wondering, as she swung the letter idly between her thumb +and fore-finger, whether she would have been a different woman if she +had had a different manner of husband. + +"The letter!" he repeated. + +She laid it calmly on the desk before him. + +"Of course," she said coldly, "if you find the contents affectionate +you must remember that I am in no way responsible. This was your +scheme. I have done my best." + +The man's fingers trembled slightly as he broke the seal. + +"Naturally," he agreed, pausing for an instant and looking up at her. +"I knew that I could trust you or I would never have put such an idea +into your head." + +She laughed; a characteristic laugh it was, quite cold, quite +mirthless, apparently quite meaningless. Carraby turned back to the +letter, tore open the envelope and spread it out before them. He read +it out aloud in a sing-song voice. + +_Downing Street. Tuesday_ + +MY DEAREST MABEL, + +I had your sweet little note an hour ago. Of course I was disappointed +about luncheon, as I always am when I cannot see you. Your promise to +repay me, however, almost reconciles me. + +The man looked up at his wife. + +"Promise?" he repeated hoarsely. "What does he mean?" + +"Go on," she said, with unchanged expression. "See if what you want is +there." + +The man continued to read: + +I am going to ask you a very great favor, Mabel. When we are alone +together, I talk to you with absolute freedom. To write you on matters +connected with my office is different. I know very well how deep and +sincere your interest in politics really is, and it has always been one +of my greatest pleasures, when with you, to talk things over and hear +your point of view. Without flattery, dear, I have really more than +once found your advice useful. It is your understanding which makes our +companionship always a pleasure to me, and I rely upon that when I beg +you not to ask me to write you again on matters to which I have really +no right to allude. You do not mind this, dear? And having read you my +little lecture, I will answer your question. Yes, the Cabinet Council +was held exactly as you surmise. With great difficulty I persuaded +B---- to adopt my view of the situation. They are all much too +terrified of this war bogey. For once I had my own way. Our answer to +this latest demand from Berlin was a prompt and decisive negative. +Nothing of this is to be known for at least a week. + +I am sorry your husband is such a bear. Perhaps on Monday we may meet +at Cardington House? + +Please destroy this letter at once. + +Ever affectionately yours, + +JULIEN. + +The man's eyes, as he read, grew brighter. + +"It is enough?" the woman asked. + +"It is more than enough!" + +Slowly he replaced it in its envelope and thrust it into the +breast-pocket of his coat. + +"What are you going to do with it?" she inquired. + +"I have made my plans," he answered. "I know exactly how to make the +best and most dignified use of it." + +He rose to his feet. Something in his wife's expression seemed to +disturb him. He walked a few steps toward the door and came back again. + +"Mabel," he said, "are you glad?" + +"Naturally I am glad," she replied. + +"You have no regrets?" + +Again she laughed. + +"Regrets?" she echoed. "What are they? One doesn't think about such +things, nowadays." + +They stood quite still in the centre of that very handsome apartment. +They were almost alien figures in the world in which they moved, +Carraby, the rankest of newcomers, carried into political life by his +wife's ambitions, his own self-amassed fortune, and a sort of subtle +cunning--a very common substitute for brains; Mrs. Carraby, on whom had +been plastered an expensive and ultra-fashionable education, although +she was able perhaps more effectually to conceal her origin, the +daughter of a rich Yorkshire manufacturer, who had secured a paid +entrance into Society. They were purely artificial figures for the very +reason that they never admitted any one of these facts to themselves, +but talked always the jargon of the world to which they aspired, as +though they were indeed denizens therein by right. At that moment, +though, a single natural feeling shook the man, shook his faith in +himself, in life, in his destiny. There was Jewish blood in his veins +and it made itself felt. + +"Mabel," he began, "this man Portel--you've flirted with him, you say?" + +"I have most certainly flirted with him," she admitted quietly. + +"He hasn't dared--" + +A flash of scorn lit her cold eyes. + +"I think," she said, "that you had better ask me no questions of that +sort." + +Carraby went slowly out. Already the moment was passing. Of course he +could trust his wife! Besides, in his letter was the death warrant of +the man who stood between him and his ambitions. Mrs. Carraby listened +to his footsteps in the hall, heard his suave reply to his secretary, +heard his orders to the footman who let him out. From where she stood +she watched him cross the square. Already he had recovered his alert +bearing. His shoes and his hat were glossy, his coat was of an +excellent fit. The woman watched him without movement or any change of +expression. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +A RUINED CAREER + + +Sir Julien Portel stood in the middle of his bedroom, dressed in shirt +and trousers only. The sofa and chairs around him were littered with +portions of the brilliant uniform which he had torn from his person a +few minutes before with almost feverish haste. His perplexed servant, +who had only just arrived, was doing his best to restore the room to +some appearance of order. + +"You needn't mind those wretched things for the present, Richards," his +master ordered sharply. "Bring the rest of the tweed traveling suit +like the trousers I have on, and then see about packing some clothes." + +The man ceased his task. He looked around, a little bewildered. + +"Do I understand that you are going out of town tonight, Sir Julien?" +he asked. + +"I am going on to the continent by the nine o'clock train," was the +curt reply. + +Richards was a perfectly trained servant, but the situation was too +much for him. + +"You will excuse me, Sir Julien," he said, "but there is Lord +Cardington's dinner tonight, and the reception afterwards at the +Foreign Office. I have your court clothes ready." + +His master laughed shortly. + +"I am not attending the dinner or the reception, Richards. You can put +those things back again and get me the traveling clothes." + +The man seemed a little dazed, but turned automatically towards the +wardrobe. + +"Shall you require me to accompany you, sir?" he inquired. + +"Not at present," Sir Julien replied. "You will have to come on with +the rest of my luggage when I have decided what to do." + +Richards was not more than ordinarily inquisitive, but the +circumstances were certainly unusual. + +"Do you mean, sir, that you will not be returning to London at +present?" he ventured to ask. + +"I shall not be returning to London for some time," Sir Julien answered +sharply. "Get on with the packing as quickly as you can. Put the +whiskey and soda on the table in the sitting-room, and the cigarettes. +Remember, if any one comes I am not at home." + +"Too late, my dear fellow," a voice called out from the adjoining room. +"You see, I have found my way up unannounced--a bad habit, but my +profession excuses everything." + +The man stood on the threshold of the room opening out from the +bedroom--tall, florid, untidily dressed, with clean-shaven, humorous +face, ungloved hands, and a terribly shabby hat. He looked around the +room and shrugged his shoulders. + +"What an infernal mess!" he exclaimed. "Come along out into the +sitting-room, Julien. I want to talk to you." + +"I should like to know how the devil you got in here!" Sir Julien +muttered. "I told the fellow downstairs that no one was to be allowed +up." + +"He did try to make himself disagreeable," the newcomer replied. +"However, here I am--that's enough." + +Sir Julien turned to his servant. + +"Get on with your packing, Richards," he directed, "and let me know +when you have finished." + +Sir Julien followed his visitor into the sitting-room, closing the door +behind him. His manner was not in the least cordial. + +"Look here, Kendricks, old fellow," he said, "I don't want to be rude, +but I am not in the humor to talk to any one. I have had a rotten week +of it and just about as much as I can stand. Help yourself to a whiskey +and soda, say what you have to say and then go." + +The newcomer nodded. He helped himself to the whiskey and soda, but he +seemed in no hurry to speak. On the contrary, he settled himself down +in an easy-chair with the appearance of a man who had come to stay. + +"Julien," he remarked presently, "you are up against it--up against it +rather hard. Don't trouble to interrupt me. I know pretty well all +about it. I said from the first you'd have to resign. There wasn't any +other way out of it." + +"Quite right," Julien agreed. "There wasn't. I've finished up +everything to-day--resigned my office, applied for the Chiltern +Hundreds, and I am going to clear out of the country to-night." + +"And all because you wrote a foolish letter to a woman!" Kendricks +murmured, half to himself. "By the bye, there's no doubt about the +letter, I suppose?" + +"None in the world," Julien replied. + +"There's nothing that the Press can do to set you right?" + +"Great heavens, no!" Julien declared. "No one can help me. I've no one +to blame but myself. I wrote the letter--there the matter ends." + +"And she passed it on to that shocking little bounder of a husband of +hers! What a creature! Did it ever occur to you that it was a plot?" + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"It makes so little difference." + +"You were in Carraby's way," Kendricks continued, producing a pipe from +his pocket and leisurely filling it. "There was no getting past you and +you were a young man. It's a dirty business." + +"If you don't mind," Julien said coldly, "we won't discuss it any +further. So far as I am concerned, the whole matter is at an end. I was +compelled to take part in to-day's mummery. I hated it--that they all +knew. I suppose it's foolish to mind such things, David," he went on +bitterly, taking up a cigarette and throwing himself into a chair, "but +a year ago--it was just after I came back from Berlin and you may +remember it was the fancy of the people to believe that I had saved the +country from war--they cheered me all the way from Whitehall to the +Mansion House. To-day there was only a dull murmur of voices--a sort of +doubting groan. I felt it, Kendricks. It was like Hell, that ride!" + +Kendricks nodded sympathetically. + +"I suppose you know that a version of the letter is in the evening +papers?" he asked. + + +"My resignation will be in the later issues," Julien told him. "It was +pretty well known yesterday afternoon. I leave for the continent +to-night." + +There was a short silence between the two men. In a sense they had been +friends all their lives. Sir Julien Portel had been a successful +politician, the youngest Cabinet Minister for some years. Kendricks had +never aspired to be more than a clever journalist of the vigorous type. +Nevertheless, they had been more than ordinarily intimate. + +"Have you made any plans?" Kendricks inquired presently. "Of course, +you would have to resign office, but don't you think there might be a +chance of living it down?" + +"Not a chance on earth," Julien replied. "As to what I am going to do, +don't ask me. For the immediate present I am going to lose myself in +Normandy or somewhere. Afterwards I think I shall move on to my old +quarters in Paris. There's always a little excitement to be got out of +life there." + +Kendricks looked at his friend through the cloud of tobacco smoke. + +"It's excitement of rather a dangerous order," he remarked slowly. + +"I shall never be likely to forget that I am an Englishman," Julien +said. "Perhaps I may be able to do something to set matters right +again. One can't tell. By the bye, Kendricks," he went on, "do you +remember when we were at college how you hated women? How you used to +try and trace half the things that went wrong in life to their +influence?" + +The journalist nodded. He knocked the ashes from his pipe deliberately. + +"I was a boy in those days," he declared. "I am a man now, getting on +toward middle age, and on that one subject I am as rabid as ever. I +hate their meddling in men's affairs, shoving themselves into politics, +always whispering in a man's ear under pretence of helping him with +their sympathy. They're in evidence wherever you go--women, women, +women! The place reeks with them. You can't go about your work, hour by +hour or day by day, without having them on every side of you. It's like +a poison, this trail of them over every piece of serious work we +attempt, over every place we find our way into. They bang the +typewriters in our offices, they elbow us in the streets, they smile at +us from the next table at our workaday luncheon, they crowd the tubes +and the cars and the cabs in the streets. Why the deuce, Julien, can't +we treat them like those sage Orientals, and dump them all in one place +where they belong till we've finished our work?" + +Julien lifted his tumbler of whiskey and soda to his lips and set it +down empty. + +"In a way, you're right, Kendricks," he agreed. "You go too far, of +course, but I do believe that women hold too big a place in our lives. +I am one of the poor fools who goes to the wall to gratify the vanity +of one of them." + +The journalist muttered a word under his breath which he would have +been very sorry to have seen in the pages of his paper. Julien had +moved to the open window. There had been a little break in his voice. +No one knew better than Kendricks that a very brilliant career was +broken. + +"I think you're wise to go away for a time, Julien," he decided. "Look +here, it's six o'clock now. I have a taxicab waiting downstairs. Come +round to my rotten little restaurant in Soho and dine with me. Your +fellow can meet us at Charing-Cross with your things. You won't see a +soul you know where I'm going to take you." + +Julien turned slowly away from the window. He was looking for the last +time from those rooms at the London which he had loved. The setting sun +had caught the dome of St. Paul's, was flashing from the dark, placid +water of the Thames. The roar of the great city was passing from +eastwards to westwards. + +"You're a good chap, Kendricks," he declared. "I'll come along, with +pleasure. I shall have enough solitude later on. But listen, before we +go--listen, David, to a speech after your own heart." + +Julien stood quite still for a moment. His pale face seemed suddenly +whiter, his eyes were full of fire. + +"David," he said, "if ever the time comes in the future when I find +that a woman is beginning to claim a minute of my thoughts, a single +one of my emotions, to govern the slightest throb of my pulses, I'll +take her by the throat and I'll throw her out of what's left of my life +as I would a rat that had crept into my room. I've done with them. +Curse all women!" + +There was a silence. Kendricks leaned over to the fireplace and knocked +his pipe against the hearth. Then he suddenly paused. + +"What's that?" he asked abruptly. + +There was a soft knocking at the outside door. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +A BUNCH OF VIOLETS + + +Kendricks rose slowly to his feet. Julien was looking toward the door +with a frown upon his face. While they stood there the knocking was +repeated, still soft but a little more insistent. Julien hesitated no +longer. + +"I think," Kendricks said dryly, "that you had better see who is +there." + +The door was already opened. Julien seemed suddenly transformed into a +graven image. He said nothing, merely gazing at the woman who walked +calmly past him into the room. Kendricks, who also recognized her, +withdrew his pipe from his mouth. This was a situation indeed! The +woman, with her hands inside her muff, looked from one to the other of +the two men. + +"Am I interrupting a very important interview?" she asked calmly. "If +not, perhaps you could spare me five minutes of your time, Sir Julien?" + +Kendricks recovered himself at once. + +"I'll wait for you downstairs, Julien," he declared. + +He caught up his hat and departed, closing the door after him. Julien +was still motionless. + +"Well?" she began. + +He drew a little breath. He was beginning to regain his +self-possession. + +"My dear Mrs. Carraby," he said, "with your wonderful knowledge of the +world and its ways, will you permit me to point out that your presence +here is a little embarrassing to me and might, under certain +circumstances, be a good deal more embarrassing to you?" + +Mrs. Carraby smiled. She stood where the sunlight touched her brown +hair and her quiet, pale face. She was one of those women who are never +afraid of the light. Her face was of that strange, self-contained +nature, colorless, apparently, yet capable of strange and rapid +changes. Just now the last glow of sunlight seemed to have found a +skein of gold in her hair, a queer gleam of light in her eyes. She +stood there looking at the man whom she had come to visit. + +"Julien," she said, "I wanted a few words with you." + +It was impossible for him to remain altogether unmoved. Whatever else +might be the truth, she had risked most of the things that were dear to +her in life by this visit. + +"Mrs. Carraby," he declared, "I am entirely at your service. If you +think that any useful purpose can be served by words between you and +me, I would only point out, for your own sake, that your visit is, to +say the least of it, unwise. These are bachelor chambers." + +"You know very well," she replied calmly, "that it was my only chance +of speaking with you. If I had sent for you, you would not have come. +If I had spoken to you in the street, you would have passed me +by--quite rightly. This was my only chance. That is why I have come to +you." + +"If you think it worth the risk," he remarked gravely, "pray continue." + +She shrugged her shoulders very slightly. + +"Who can tell what is worth the risk?" + +"You have at least excited my curiosity," he admitted, leaning a little +towards her. "I cannot conceive what it is that you want to say to me." + +She lifted her eyes to his, and though there was nothing unusual about +them--there were few people, indeed, who could tell you what color they +were--men seldom forgot it when Mrs. Carraby looked at them steadily. + +"I do not know, myself," she said. "I do not know why I have come." + +Julien laughed unnaturally. + +"Pray be seated," he begged. "Would you like to examine my curios or my +photographs? I must apologize for the condition of my room. You see, +you happen to be the first woman who has ever crossed its threshold." + +"That," she remarked, "rather interests me. Still, it is only what I +should have expected. No, I do not think that I will sit down. I am +trying to ask myself exactly why I have come." + + +"If you can answer that question," Julien said grimly, "you will +appease a very natural curiosity on my part. It is not like you." + +"Quite true," she assented. "It is not like me. I have run a great risk +in coming here and it is not my metier to run risks. And now that I am +here I do not know why I have come. This has been an impulse and this +is an hour outside my life. I am trying to understand it. Come here, +Julien." He came unwillingly to her side. She held out her hand, but +he shook his head. + +"Mabel," he said, "you and I do not need to mince words. To-night I am +celebrating the ruin of my career. I am leaving England within a few +hours. I have you to thank for what has happened. Yet you come to me, +you hold out your hand. You must forgive me--I am afraid I am dull." + +"No," she replied, "you are not dull. Your feelings towards me are +obvious and very natural. Mine towards you I am not so sure of. It is +not because I did not understand you that I came here to-night. It is +because I did not understand myself. May I go on?" + +"Why not?" he answered. "I am at your service." + +"From the days of my boarding-school," she continued, "I have known +only one Mabel. In her girlhood she had all that she could get out of +life and turned everything she could to her own ends. A marriage was +arranged for her--you see, I was half a Jewess and my husband was half +a Jew, and things are done like that with us. The marriage opened the +door to a fresh set of ambitions. For the last few years I have trodden +a well-worn path. It was I who advised my husband to refuse a +baronetcy. It was I who won his first election. I see that my +photographs are in all the illustrated papers, that his speeches are +properly recorded, that my visiting list moves within the correct +limits. These things have spelt life. To the fulfillment of my +husband's ambitions there was one obstacle. That obstacle was you. In +life one schemes. It was my husband's wish that I should make myself +agreeable to you, even to the extent of a flirtation." + +She raised her eyes. + +"Your obedience to your husband is most touching," he said. + +"It is true, I suppose," she went on, "that we have flirted. I looked +upon it as the means to an end. The end came. I played my cards quite +ruthlessly, I gathered in the reward. I got your letter, I handed it to +my husband. Your career was finished, my husband's begun." + +"This is most interesting," Julien muttered. + +"Is it?" she answered. "I suppose it should have been an hour of +triumph with me. It simply isn't. I have come to a place in my life +which I don't understand. When I told myself that it was over, that I +had flirted with you, that I had won your friendship and your +confidence, betrayed you, ruined you for a peerage and that my husband +should take office, I should surely have been satisfied! It was for +that I had worked. I gave my husband the letter and I watched him walk +off in triumph. Since then I have not been myself. I have come to you, +Julien, to ask if there is no other end possible to this?" + +Once more she raised her eyes. Julien came a step nearer to her. They +were standing now face to face. + +"All of a sudden," she murmured, "I looked back and I saw the way I +have lived and the way I am living and the life that spreads itself out +before me. I saw myself a peeress, I saw myself receiving my husband's +guests, I saw the gratification of all those ambitions which have +seemed to me so wonderful. And I locked the door and I shrieked and it +seemed to me that there was a new thing and a new thought in my life. I +have done you a hideous wrong, Julien. There is only one way I can set +it right. There is only one moment in which it can be done, and that +moment is now. Tomorrow I shall be back again. For this one hour I see +the truth. I am a very rich woman, Julien. My husband's future, indeed, +is largely bound up with my wealth. Remember that in all I have done I +have been his agent. He hates you, has hated you from the first because +you were a gentleman and he never was. This is my one moment of madness +in a perfectly well-ordered life." + +One of her hands stole from her muff, stole out half-hesitatingly +towards him. Julien took it in his and raised it to his lips. Then he +looked her in the eyes. + +"Dear Mabel," he said, "you are forgiven. I understand perfectly the +reasons for your coming. Go back to your husband, wear your coronet and +receive his guests with a free conscience. I forgive you." + +Her hand slipped back into her muff. She began to tremble a little. + +"As for me," he went on, "I played the fool and I pay willingly. I was +engaged to marry a very charming girl who believed in me and whom I +cared for as much as it was possible for me to care for anything +outside my career. I flirted with you because it was a piquant thing to +do. You were a woman whom other men found difficult, you were the wife +of a man whom I despised and who was trying all the time to undermine +my position. I sacrificed my self-respect every time I crossed your +threshold. To-day I pay. I am willing. As for you, Mabel, your visit +here shall square things between us. I wish you the best of luck. You +must let me ring for my servant. He will find you a taxicab." + +He moved toward the bell. Mrs. Carraby, with her hands inside her muff, +stood exactly as though she were part of the furniture of the room. +With his finger upon the ivory disc, he hesitated. She was not looking +towards him and her eyes were half closed. + + +"Perhaps," he suggested, "you would rather find your way out alone? I +will not offer my escort, for obvious reasons." + +She turned slowly round. + +"Do not ring," she ordered sharply. "Come here." + +He came at once towards her. She took both his hands in hers, she +leaned towards him. She was a tall woman and they were very nearly the +same height. + +"Julien," she whispered, "is this all that you have to say to me?" + +"It is more," Julien replied frankly, "than I expected ever to have to +say to you again in this world. What do you expect? You don't think +that I am the kind of man to--but that is absurd! Come. We'll part +friends, if you like. Here's my hand." + +"We must part, then?" she said. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Unless a walking tour in Normandy for a month appeals to you. You see, +I am going to take a holiday, and I have a fancy that our ideas on the +subject of holidays might not exactly agree." + +"A holiday," she repeated. "I am not sure--do you know, Julien, I +sometimes believe that I have never had a holiday in my life?" + +He looked at her doubtingly. + +"After all," she continued, "can't you see that I have come here to ask +you one question? You are different from the people I have known +intimately and the people with whom I have been brought up, different +from my husband. You know what my life has been. I have told you just +now that the great doubt has come to me within the last few days. Won't +you tell me what I want to know? Is there anything better, anything +greater, anything more wonderful in life than these things which I have +known, these ambitions, this social struggle? Tell me, Julien, is there +anything else? Can you tell me how and where to find it?" + +Once more her fingers had crept out of her muff. + +Her hands were upon his shoulders, she seemed to be drawing him to +her. Julien kissed her lightly on the forehead. + +"For you, my dear Mabel," he decided, "I should say that there was +nothing better. A leopard cannot change its spots. The life into which +you have been brought and for which you have qualified so admirably, is +the only life which would suit you. If you fancy sometimes in your +dreams, or in your waking hours, that you hear cries and calls from +another country, don't listen to them. You would never be happy outside +the world you know of. You see, one who has made such a failure of life +himself is yet well able to advise. Forgive me." + +The telephone on his writing table was ringing. He turned aside to +answer it. It was a question regarding the whereabouts of some papers +at the office and it took him a few minutes to explain. When he set the +receiver back and turned around, he was alone. There was nothing to +remind him of her visit but a bunch of violets which seemed to have +fallen from her muff, and the faint perfume from them. He took them up, +smelt them for a moment, and flung them lightly into the hearth. Then +he touched his bell. + +"My hat, stick and gloves, Richards," he ordered. "Bring my things to +Charing-Cross at half-past eight. Have them registered only to +Boulogne. You understand?" + +"Perfectly, sir," the man replied. + +Julien glanced once more around his sitting-room. The little bunch of +violets was smouldering upon the hearth. In a sense they seemed to him +symbolical. + +"Kendricks is right," he muttered. "It is the women who play the devil +with our lives!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +A SENTIMENTAL EPISODE + + +Kendricks was waiting below in the taxicab, leaning back in the corner +with his feet upon the opposite seat, and smoking his very disreputable +pipe with an air of serene content. + +"Sorry to have turned you out into the street like this," Julien +remarked. + +"Thank you," Kendricks replied, "under the circumstances I preferred +the street." + +Julien hesitated for a moment and glanced at his watch. + +"There is one more call that I must pay, David," he said. "You won't +mind, will you? We've plenty of time." + +"Mind? Of course not," Kendricks answered, stretching himself out in +the cab. "Do what you please with me, only leave an hour or an hour and +a half for dinner. I am the best-tempered person in the world so long +as no one interferes with my regular meal hours." + +"It's just a little farewell call," Julien explained, "that I want to +pay. I've told the man where to go." + +Kendricks nodded silently. He knew all about that little call, but if +he felt any sympathy he was careful not to show it. They drew up in a +few minutes before a large and solemn-looking house at the corner of +Hamilton Place. + +"Don't hurry," Kendricks advised, stretching himself out once more in +the cab. "I'll smoke another pipe and thank heaven we are not in New +York! You wait an hour there and take your choice of paying the fare or +buying the taxicab!" + +Julien ascended the steps and rang the bell at the door of the house. +It was immediately opened by a manservant, who recognized him with a +bow and a smile, for which, somehow or other, he felt thankful. + +"Is Lady Anne in, Robert?" he inquired. + +The man stood on one side. + +"Please to walk in, Sir Julien," he invited. "Lady Anne is with some +young people in the drawing-room. Will you go in there to them, or +would you prefer that I announce you?" + +"Is there any one in the waiting-room?" Julien asked. + +"No one at present, sir." + +"Let me go in there, then. I want to speak to Lady Anne alone for a +moment. You might let her know that I am here." + +"Certainly, sir." + +Julien walked restlessly up and down the small, uncomfortable +apartment, the room which he had always hated. There were illustrated +papers arranged in a row upon a leather-topped table, two stiff +horsehair easychairs, and various views of Clonarty, the country seat +of the Duke of Clonarty, around the walls. Presently he heard the +laughter in the drawing-room cease. There was a short silence, then the +sound of footsteps across the hall and the abrupt opening of the door +of the room in which he was waiting. Julien looked up quickly. It was, +after all, what he had expected! A somewhat vivacious-looking little +lady in a muslin gown and elaborate hat held out both her hands to him. +In the darkened light of the room she might very well have passed for a +younger and less serious edition of her own daughter. + +"My dear Julien!" she exclaimed, in a tone which was manifestly +sympathetic. "This is terrible news we are hearing about you. But what +an odd time you have chosen to come and tell us all about it!" + +"I have not come to tell you all about it, Duchess," Julien assured +her. "The newspapers will tell you everything that is worth knowing. +They are so much better informed." + +"The newspapers sometimes exaggerate," she objected. + +"In my case," he replied, "I do not think that exaggeration is +possible. Everything has happened to me that could possibly happen to +any one in my unfortunate position." + +"You mean that these stories are all true, then?" + +"Every one of them. I really don't suppose that I ought to show my face +here at all. I have simply come to say good-bye. There is just a single +word that I want to say to Anne." + +"Tell me, Julien," she demanded, "you really did write that letter to +Mrs. Carraby?" + +"I did." + +"And she gave it to her husband?" + +"Yes!" + +For once the Duchess was perfectly and delightfully natural. + +"That woman," she declared, "is a detestable cat! Mind, Julien," she +added, "I don't mean by that that you were not hideously and entirely +to blame. I can't feel that you deserve a single grain of sympathy. All +the same, a woman who can do a thing like that should not be +tolerated." + +Julien smiled grimly. He was perfectly well aware that at that moment +Mrs. Carraby was passing from the list of the Duchess's acquaintances. +It was all so inconsequent. + +"Can I have that one word with Anne?" he begged. + +The Duchess looked doubtful. + +"Why?" + +"I am going abroad to-night. I should like to say good-bye to her." + +"Isn't it a little foolish?" she asked. "I don't mean your going +abroad--that, I suppose, is almost necessary--but why do you want to +see Anne? I can give her all the proper messages." + +Julien laughed bitterly. + +"There are some things," he said, "which can scarcely be altogether +ignored. It may have escaped your memory that Anne was to have been my +wife." + +"Not at all," the Duchess replied. "The only thing I do not understand +is why, as any such arrangement is of course now ridiculous, you should +want to see her again. What can you possibly have to say to her?" "An +affair of sentiment," he explained. "I have a fancy to say good-bye." + +The Duchess shook her head. + +"Those sort of things don't belong to us," she declared. "You ought to +know better, my dear Julien. I can see no possible object in it. I will +give her any message you like, and so far as she is concerned I can +assure you that she has not the slightest ill-feeling. She is really +quite angelic about it." + +"Duchess," Julien said steadily, "I came here expecting that these +would be your views. You are Anne's mother and of course you are in +authority, but when two people of our age are engaged to marry one +another, they pass just a little beyond the sphere of their parents' +influence. Anne and I have been in that position. Don't think for a +moment that I wish to dispute your authority when I say that I intend +to see her before I leave." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"Ah! my dear Julien," she murmured, "if you had only been as firm with +that foolish woman. Still, if you have really made up your mind, I am +sure I don't want to be disagreeable. Perhaps it would be just as well +to get the thing over." + +She touched the bell. + +"Ask Lady Anne to step this way," she told the servant. + +The man withdrew and the door was closed again. The Duchess showed no +signs of being about to take her leave. + +"This matter has already, I presume, been fully discussed between you +and Anne?" Julien remarked. "It will not be necessary for you even to +give her a parting word of advice?" + +"You amusing person!" she laughed. "There are no words of advice of +mine needed in a case like this. To tell you the truth, Julien, +although I always liked you, as you know, I hated your engagement to +Anne. You were a very charming young man to have about the house and I +was always pleased to see my girls flirt with you, but as a son-in-law +I ranked you from the first amongst the undesirables. Your income, so +far as I know, is a little less than nothing at all, and politics, as +you are discovering to-day, are a precarious form of livelihood. Anne +hasn't a copper and never will have. She ought to marry a rich man, and +I intend now that she shall. Here she is. Now do get this stupid affair +over quickly." + +The door was opened and Lady Anne came in. She was taller than her +mother, of more serious aspect, and her hair was a shade darker. There +was something of the same expression about the eyes. She came straight +over to Julien and gave him both her hands. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "this is shocking! Run away, if you +please, mother. I must see Julien for a moment alone." + +The Duchess left the room. They both waited until the door was closed. +Then she turned and faced him. + +"I suppose it's all true?" she asked. + +"Every word of it, Anne," he answered. "Please don't misunderstand the +reason of my coming. I am absolutely a ruined man and I absolutely +deserve everything that has come to me. But there was one thing I +wanted to say to you before I went." + +"There was also one thing," she remarked, looking at him intently, +"which I intended to ask you, provided you gave me the opportunity." + +"It is about Mrs. Carraby," he said firmly. + +"So was my question," she murmured. + +"The friendship between Mrs. Carraby and myself," Julien continued, +"has been patent to every one for a great many years. I knew her long +before I did you. It began, in fact, when we were little more than +children. It finished--to-day. There is only one thing I want to say to +you about it, and that is this. Our friendship was of that sort which +is fairly well recognized and even approved of by the world in which we +live. It contained, of course, certain elements of flirtation--I am not +denying that. There was never at any time, however, anything in that +friendship which made it an error even of taste on my part to ask you +to become my wife." + +She took his face between her hands and deliberately kissed him. + +"That's just what I wanted to know, Julien," she declared. "Now shake +hands, be off, and do the best you can for yourself. I wish you the +best of luck, the very best. That's all we can say to one another, +isn't it?" + +"Quite all," he admitted. + +"You are a dear, good fellow," she went on, "and I have been quite fond +of you, although I think that I bored you now and then. I should have +made you an excellent wife, perhaps a better one than I shall the next +man who comes along. Don't stay any longer, there's a dear, because +although I never pretended to have much heart, this sort of thing does +upset one, you know, and I want to look my best to-night. Write me +sometimes, if you will. I'd love to hear that you'd found some interest +in life to help you gather up the threads. And here--this is for luck." + +She took a little turquoise pin from her waistband and stuck it in his +black tie. Then, before he could stop her, she touched the bell with +one hand and gave him the other. + +"Please kiss my fingers, Julien, and tell me I've behaved nicely." + + +He looked steadily into her eyes and then away out of the window, +across the square. It was such a natural ending, this. It was foolish +that his heart should shake, even for a second. And yet there had been +one occasion--at Clonarty--when she had lain very close to him in his +arms, and the moonlight had been falling through the pine trees in +little dappled places around them, and the wind had been making faint +music among the swinging boughs--for these few moments, at any rate, +the other things had shone in her face. Were they illusions really, +those moments of agitation, he wondered--simply one long, sensuous +period passing like breath from a looking-glass and leaving nothing +behind? He looked into her face. There was no sign there. Then he +dropped the fingers which he had been holding. Women were wonderful! + +"Do write," she begged, as she walked into the hall with him. "Dear me, +what a strange-looking person you have with you in the taxicab!" + +"He is a friend," Julien said quietly, "a journalist. I might say the +same of the young man who is watching us from the drawing-room, Anne! +Who is he?" + +She made a little face at him and whispered in his ear. + +"Semitic, as you see, and positively appalling. He is entirely mother's +choice. He arrived ten minutes after the evening papers were out, but +somehow or other I don't fancy that we shall make anything of him. It's +young Harbord, you know." + +Julien made his effort. He touched her fingers once more in +conventional fashion. He leaned towards her earnestly. + +"My dear Anne," he said, "that young man has an income of at least a +hundred thousand a year. Have you ever considered what a wonderful +thing it is to possess an income like that? You could surround yourself +with it like a halo. You could eat it, wear it, and breathe it every +second of your life. You could even use it as a means of escaping as +often as possible from the somewhat inevitable but highly objectionable +adjunct who seems now to be peering at us through the door. Be a wise +girl, Anne. An income like that doesn't depend upon discretions or +indiscretions. Besides, as a matter of fact, I really do not think that +that young man knows what it is to be indiscreet. Remember, I am quite +serious. A hundred thousand a year should lift any man beyond the pale +of criticism." + +"Yes!" the girl replied, looking at him as he walked down the steps. "I +shall remember. Good-bye!" + +"We are getting on," Julien declared lightly, as he took his place in +the taxicab. "Really, it is astonishing how much a man can get through +in a day if he sets his mind to it. Is there any place where we could +get a drink, do you think, Kendricks? I have just passed through a +trying and affecting interview. I have said farewell to the lady who +was to have been my wife. That sort of thing upsets one." + +"You are behaving, my dear Julien," Kendricks admitted, "like a man of +sense. In a moment or two we shall pass Very's, on our way to the +restaurant where I am going to entertain you at dinner. It will +probably be such a dinner as you have never eaten before in your life! +You will not need an _aperitif_. I am not sure, indeed, that it is not +tempting providence and inviting indigestion to offer you a mixed +vermouth here. However, come along. One experience more or less in such +a day will not disturb you." + +They entered the cafe and sat down at a small, marble-topped table. +Julien lit a cigarette and Kendricks affected not to notice that the +hand which held the match was shaking. A crowd of people, mostly +foreigners, were sitting about the place. Julien, as he sipped his +vermouth, noticed a familiar face nearly opposite him--a young, +somewhat sandy-complexioned man, quietly dressed, insignificant, and +yet with some sort of personality. + +"I wonder who that fellow is?" he remarked. "I seem to know his face." + +Kendricks looked incuriously across the room. + +"One knows every one by sight in London," he said. "The fellow is +probably a clerk in some office where you have been, or a salesman +behind the counter at one of the shops you patronize. It's odd +sometimes how a face will pursue you like that. That's a pretty little +girl with whom he's shaking hands." + +Julien watched the two idly for a moment. The man had risen to greet +his newly-arrived companion, who was chattering to him in fluent +French. All the time Julien was aware that now and then the former's +eyes strayed over towards him. It was odd that, notwithstanding his +somewhat disturbed state of mind, he was conscious of a distinct +curiosity as to this young man's identity. + +"Come along," Kendricks suggested. "We shan't get a table at all at the +place where I am going to take you to dine, unless we are punctual." + +They finished their vermouth and left the cafe. Kendricks knocked out +the ashes from his pipe and leaned a little forward in the taxicab. + +"We go now," he continued, "into a foreign land--foreign, at least, to +you, my young Exquisite--the land of journalists, of foreigners, of +hairdressers and anarchists, and cutthroats of every description. +Nevertheless, we shall dine well, and if you will only drink enough of +the chianti which I shall order, I can promise you a nap on your way to +Dover. You look as though you could do with it." + +Julien suddenly remembered that his eyes were hot, and almost +simultaneously he felt the weight that was dragging down his heart. He +laughed desperately. + +"I'll eat your dinner, David," he promised, "and I'll do justice to +your chianti. From what you tell me about our expedition, I should +imagine that we are going into the land to which I shall soon belong." + +"It's a wonderful country," Kendricks muttered, looking out of the +window. "It may not be flowing exactly with milk and honey, but its +sinews are supple and its blood is red. For absolute vitality, I'd back +the Cafe l'Athenee against the Carlton any day. Here we are." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +AT THE CAFE L'ATHENEE + + +The Cafe L'Athenee was in a narrow back street and consisted of a +ground floor apartment of moderate size, and a number of small rooms, +most of which were already crowded with diners. There were no +smooth-faced _maitres d'hotel_ to conduct new arrivals to a table, no +lift to the upper rooms, no palm-lined stairways, or any of the modern +appurtenances of restaurant life. Kendricks, taking the lead as an +habitue, pushed his way up to the first floor, pushed his way past the +hurrying and perspiring waiters, who did not even stop to answer +questions, and finally pounced upon a table which was just being +vacated by three other people. The two men sat down before the debris +and waited patiently for its removal. + +"Don't turn your nose up yet," Kendricks begged. "Wait till you've +tasted the spaghetti. And don't look at the tablecloth as though it +would bite you. They'll put a clean napkin over it directly and you'll +forget all about those stains. This is where one takes off the kid +gloves and deals with the realities of eating and drinking. I am +inclined to think sometimes, Julien, as a humble admirer from a long +way off, that you've worn those kid gloves a little too long." + +Julien looked across at his friend. Kendricks was still smoking his +pipe and he was evidently in earnest. It was obvious, too, that he had +more to say. + +"You know," he continued, loudly summoning a waiter and pointing to the +table before them, "you know, Julien, I have always had this feeling +about you. I think that life has been made a trifle too easy for you. +You have slipped with so little effort into the polished places. You +never had to take your coat and waistcoat off and try a +rough-and-tumble struggle with life. No man is the worse for it. +Prosperity and smooth-traveling along the easy ways, even though they +come to one as the reward of brainwork, lead to a certain flabbiness in +life, lead to many moments when you have to stop and ask whether things +are worth while, lead sometimes, I think, to that curious neuroticism +from which clever, successful people suffer as well as the butterflies +of fashion. You are up against it now, Julien, real and hard. You don't +feel that you've got a day to live that you care a snap of the fingers +about. You look at what you think are the pieces of your life and you +imagine yourself a gaunt spectator of what has been, gazing down at +them, and you've quite made up your mind that it isn't a bit of good +trying to collect the fragments. Such d----d nonsense, Julien! You may +have made a jolly hash of things as a Cabinet Minister, but that isn't +any reason why you shouldn't make a success of life as a man. Look +here, Carlo," he added, addressing the waiter, "the table d'hote +dinner--everything, and serve it hot. Bring us fresh butter with our +spaghetti, and a flask of chianti." + +"Si, signor!" the man replied, gazing for a moment in wonder at this +shock-headed individual who spoke his own language so perfectly. + +Kendricks laid down the menu and glanced across the table at Julien's +face with its slightly weary smile. + +"Of course, I know how you're feeling now," he went on,--"rotten!--so +would any one. Try and forget it, try and forget yourself. Look about +you. What do these people do for a living, do you think? They weren't +born with a title. There's no one in this room who went to Eton and +Oxford, played cricket for their university, and lolled their way into +life as you did. Look at them all. The thin chap in the corner is a +barber, got a small shop of his own now. I go there sometimes for a +shave. He lived on thirteen shillings a week for six years, while he +saved the money to start for himself. It was touch and go with him +afterwards. In three months he'd nearly lost the lot. He'd married a +little wife who stood behind the counter and had worked almost as hard +as he, but somehow or other the customers wouldn't come. Then she had a +baby, was laid up for a time, he had to engage some one to take her +place, and at that time he had about fifteen shillings left in the +world. I used to be shaved there every day then. I knew all about it. I +used to hear him, when he thought no one was listening, go and call a +cheerful word up the stairs--'Shop full of customers!' 'Sold another +bottle of hair restorer!' or something of that sort. Then some one lent +him a fiver, and, by Jove, he turned the corner! He's doing well now. +That's his wife--the plump little woman who's straightening his tie. +They come here every Wednesday night and they can afford it. Yet he was +up against it badly once, Julien. That's right, look at him, be +interested. He's a common-looking little beast, isn't he?--but he's got +a stout heart." + +"I think," Julien said, "that I could guess the name of the man who +lent him the fiver." + +"You'd be a mug if you couldn't," Kendricks retorted. "It's doing that +sort of thing that helps you to smile sometimes when the knocks come. I +tell you, Julien, some of the people--these small shopkeepers, +especially--do have the devil of a fight to get their ounce of pleasure +out of life. Nothing's made easy for them. They don't know anything +about that big west-end world, with pleasures tuned up to the latest +pitch, where you do even your work with every luxury at hand to make it +easy. There's a little chap there--an Italian. See him? He's sitting by +the side of the old man with the gray beard. That man's his father. +They both landed over here with scarcely a copper. The young fellow +worked like a slave--sixteen shillings a week I think he was getting, +and he kept the old man on it. Then he lost his job, couldn't get +another. The old man had to go to the workhouse, the young man slept on +the Embankment, ate free soup, picked up scraps, lived on the garbage +heap of life. He pulled himself together, though, got another job, +improved it, saved a few shillings, drove up in a cab and took the old +man out. Look at them now. He's got a little tailor's shop not a +hundred yards from here, and somehow or other one or two people on the +stage--they're a good-hearted lot--have taken him up He gets lots of +work and brings the old man here now and then for a treat. How are you, +Pietro?" he called across the room. "When are you going to send me that +coat along?" + +The young man grinned. + +"Too many orders to make you that coat, sir," he declared. + +Kendricks smiled. + +"No one can deny that I need a new coat," he said. "I told Pietro when +things were slack that he could make me one, but he gets lots of orders +now. See the little girl in the corner? She's going out--no, she's +going to stay here; they've found her room at that table. I suppose +you'd turn your nose up at her because she has a lot too much powder on +her cheeks, and you don't like that lace collar around her neck. It +isn't clean, I know, and the make-up on her face is clumsy. Must be +uncomfortable, too, but she's done her best. She's been dancing at the +_Hippodrome_ this afternoon, probably rehearsing afterwards. She's got +an hour now before she goes back to the evening performance. She's +taking the eighteenpenny dinner, you see. She'll get a glass of chianti +free with it. I am in luck to-night. I can tell you about nearly all +these people. Her name is Bessie Hazell--Sarah Ann Jinks, very likely, +but that's what she calls herself, anyway. She married an acrobat two +years ago and they started doing quite well. Then he got a cough, had +to give up work, the doctors all shook their heads at him, wanted to +tell him it was consumption. Bless you, she wouldn't listen to it! She +got him down to Bournemouth somehow and they patched him up. He came +back and started again, caught cold, and had another bad spell. Still, +she wouldn't have it that there was anything serious the matter with +him! He'd be all right, she said, if it weren't for the climate, and +every night she danced, mind--danced twice a day. She's quite clever, +they say--might have done well if she'd only herself to think of and +could spare a little of her money for lessons. Not she! She sent him to +Davos, paid for it somehow. He's back again now. He can't go on the +stage, but he's got a light job somewhere. I don't know that he's +earning anything particular. They've got a baby to keep, but they do it +all right between them. She isn't pleasant to look at, is she? What's +that matter? She's a bit of real life, anyhow." + +"Why didn't you bring me here before, Kendricks?" Julien asked. + +The man leaned back and laughed. + +"Ask yourself that question, not me," he replied. "You--Sir Julien +Portel, caricatured as the best-dressed man in the House of Commons, +member of the most fashionable clubs, brilliant debater, successful +politician, future Prime Minister, and all that sort of twaddle. You +were living too far up in the clouds, my friend, to come down here. You +see, I am not offering you much sympathy, Julien. I don't think you +need it. You were soaring up to the skies just because of your gifts +and your position and your opportunities. You are down now. Well, +you're thundering sorry for yourself. I don't know that I'm sorry for +you. I'll tell you in ten years' time. By Jove, here's your +sandy-headed little friend!" + +The man, with the girl upon his arm, had entered the room and had taken +seats at a table in the corner, for which, apparently, they had been +waiting. Julien looked at them curiously. + +"Why," he exclaimed suddenly, leaning across the table, "I remember him +now! He's at the shop--I mean he's an Intelligence man." + +Kendricks nodded. + +"Just the sort of inconspicuous-looking person who could go anywhere +without being noticed." + +"I recollect him quite well," Julien continued. "It's not in my +department, of course, but I remember being told he was a very useful +little beggar." + +"I should say, without a doubt," Kendricks declared, "that he was at +present working hard for the safety and welfare of the British Empire. +If you've suddenly recognized the man, I'll tell you who the girl is. +She's a manicurist at the Milan." + +Julien looked round and watched them for a moment curiously. Again he +noticed that his interest in the young man was at least reciprocated. + +"The fellow has recognized me, of course," he said. "You know, +Kendricks, I remember two or three years ago a most amazing item of +news was brought to us--one that made a real difference, too--through a +manicurist." + +"Shouldn't be a bit surprised," Kendricks replied. + +"Things drop out in the most unexpected places, as you'd find out if +you'd been a journalist." + +"She was sent for into the room of some princess--at Claridge's, I +think it was, or one of the west-end hotels--and while she was there a +man came from one of the inner rooms and said a few words in Russian. +The girl had been in St. Petersburg and understood. It made quite a +difference. I remember the story." + +"Might have been the same man and the same manicurist," Kendricks +remarked. + +Julien shook his head. + +"There was trouble about the manicurist," he said, "and she had to +leave the country. She's in South Africa now." + +"I can't say that I like the appearance of the fellow," Kendricks +declared. "Don't funk the soup, Julien--it's better than it looks. He's +a slimy-looking sort of chap. I have a theory that the modern sort of +Secret Service agent ought to be a person like myself--breezy and +obvious. Julien, if that girl doesn't stop gazing at you sideways, +you'll be in trouble with your late employee." + +Julien looked across at the opposite table. The girl, as he had noticed +before, was stealing frequent glances at him. For some reason or other, +she seemed anxious to attract his attention. + +"Quite a conquest!" Kendricks murmured. "Drink some more of that +chianti, man, and bring some color to your cheeks. There's a charming +little manicurist wants to flirt with you. What teeth and what a +smile!" + +"Considering that she has been listening to my history for the last +quarter of an hour, I imagine that her interest is of a less +sentimental nature," Julien said. "I have probably been pointed out to +her as the biggest fool in Christendom." + +"Not you," Kendricks declared. "I assure you that I am a critic in such +matters. She looks when the young man who is with her is engaged upon +his dinner, or speaking to the waiter. I am not positive, even, that +she wants to flirt, Julien. I think she wants to say something to you." + +Julien laughed. + +"What shall I do? Present myself? Bah!" he added, almost fiercely. "I +wish the girl would keep her black eyes to herself. I want to tell you +this, Kendricks. You've talked some splendid common sense to me without +going out of your way to do it. I am not going to whine, now or at any +other time, but as long as I live I never want anything more to do with +a woman. That sounds about the most futile and empty-headed thing a man +can say--I know that. But there it is. I tell you the very thought of +them makes me shudder. They're like pampered, highly-groomed animals, +with their mouths open for the tit-bits of life. They have to be fed +with whatever food it may be they crave for, and that's the end of it." + +Kendricks motioned with his head across the room to where the little +woman with the blackened eyebrows was eating her dinner. + +"What about that?" he asked. + +"I don't know anything about that sort," Julien admitted. "What you +told me sounded like one of the things you read of in newspapers and +never believe. I don't believe it. Mind you, I don't say it's false, +but I don't believe it because I have never spoken to the woman whom I +could imagine capable of such unselfishness. If I patch up the pieces +again, Kendricks," he added, and his face was suddenly very dark and +very set--the face of an older man, "whatever cement I use, it won't be +the cement of love or any sentiment whatsoever connected with women." + +Kendricks nodded. + +"It's my belief," he began, then he stopped short. "Julien," he +continued kindly, "you're nothing but a big baby. You think you've +moved in the big places. So you have, in a way. But there was a hideous +mistake about your life. You've never had to build. No one can climb +who doesn't build first. These ready-made ladders don't count. Now," he +added, dropping his voice and glancing quickly across the room, "you +will have an opportunity to put into force your new and magnificent +principles of misogyny. Our little sandy-headed friend has been +summoned from the room. I saw the _commissionaire_ come up and whisper +in his ear. Mademoiselle is writing a note. A hundred to one it is to +you!" + +Julien frowned. He, too, turned his head, and he met the girl's eyes. +She was looking at him curiously. It was not the look of the woman who +invites so much as the look of the woman who appeals for an +understanding, who has something to say. She smiled ever so faintly and +touched with her finger the scrap of paper which she thrust into the +waiter's hand. Then she bent once more over her plate. The man came +across to Julien. + +"For you, monsieur," he announced, and laid it by the side of Julien's +plate. + +"Read it," Kendricks whispered across the table, for he had been quick +to see his companion's first impulse. + +"Why should I?" Julien said coldly. "I have no desire to have anything +to do with that young person. What can she have to say to me?" + +"Nevertheless, read it," Kendricks repeated. + +Julien unrolled the scrap of paper with reluctant fingers. There were +only a few words written there in hasty pencil: + +Monsieur, there is a friend of mine whom you must see. Call at number +17, Avenue de St. Paul and ask for Madame Christophor. Do not attempt +to speak to me. This is for your good. + +Julien's fingers were upon the note to destroy it, but again Kendricks +stopped him. + +"Julien," he insisted, "don't be an idiot. The little girl knows who +you are. She can't imagine that you are in the humor just now for +flirtations. Put the note in your pocket and call. One can't tell. Your +life has been so artificial that you've probably left off believing in +any adventures outside story-books. My life leads me into different +places and I never neglect an opportunity like that." + +"A sister manicurist, I expect," Julien replied scornfully; "a palmist, +or some creature of that sort." + +Kendricks hammered upon the table for the waiter. + +"One takes one's chances," he agreed, "but I do not think that the +little girl over there would send you upon a fool's errand. There are +other things in life, you know, Julien. You carry in your head +political secrets which would be worth a great deal. There may be +danger in that call." + +Julien looked at him with faintly curling lip. + +"Tell me exactly what you mean?" he asked. + +Kendricks shrugged his shoulders. The waiter had arrived and he gave +him a vociferous order. + +"Listen," he said, "I could hand you out a hundred surmises and each +one of them ought to be sufficient to induce you to keep that +appointment. You leave here--shall we say under a cloud?--presumably +disgusted with life, with the Government which gives you no second +chance, with your country which discards you. And you have been +Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Can't you conceive that +this woman on whom you are to call might make suggestions to you which +would at least be amusing? Don't look so incredulous, Julien. Remember +you've lived in the stilted places. I haven't. I believe in the +underground world. You must know for yourself that a great deal of the +truth leaks up through the gratings." + +"That is true enough," Julien admitted, "but somehow or other--" + +"Let it go at that," Kendricks interrupted. "Promise me that you will +call at that address." + +Julien laughed. + +"Yes, I'll call!" he promised. + +"Then look across at the little girl and nod," Kendricks suggested. +"She's watching you all the time anxiously. The man hasn't come back +yet." + +Julien turned his head half unwillingly. The girl was leaning across +the table, her eyes fixed steadfastly upon his. Her lips were parted, +her eyebrows were slightly raised, as though in question. She had been +holding a menu before her face to shield her from the casual observer, +but the moment Julien turned his head she lowered it. He inclined his +head slowly. A curious expression of relief took the place of that +appearance of strained anxiety. Her face became natural once more. She +laid down the menu and took a sip of wine from her glass. Kendricks +looked across at Julien and raised his glass to his lips. + +"We will drink, my dear Julien," he said, "to your visit to Madame +Christophor, and what may come of it!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +COFFEE FOR THREE + + +"Admit," Kendricks insisted, "that you have dined well?" + +"I have dined amply," Julien replied. + +Kendricks frowned. + +"I am not satisfied," he declared. + +"The _entrecote_ was wonderful, also the omelette," Julien admitted. "I +will supplement 'amply' with 'well,' if you wish, but the insistent +note about this dinner is certainly its amplitude. I have not eaten so +much for ages." + +Kendricks was filling his pipe. + +"Cigars or cigarettes you must order for yourself," he said. "I know +nothing of them. The coffee is before you. I will be frank with you--it +is not good. The brandy, however, is harmless." + +Julien lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair. Just then the +sandy young man re-entered the room. He hastened to his place, but +instead of resuming it stood by the side of the girl, talking. He +seemed to be suggesting some course of which she disapproved, pointing +to her unfinished dinner. Kendricks nodded his head slowly. + +"The young man has to leave," he remarked. "He wishes mademoiselle to +accompany him. She declines. He is annoyed. Behold, a lover's tiff! He +has placed the money for the dinner upon the table. He shakes her hand +very politely. Behold, he goes! Mademoiselle shrugs her shoulders. She +orders from the menu. She remains alone. My dear Julien, if you will +you can prosecute your conquest. The young man has departed." + +Julien glanced across the room. He met the girl's eyes and once again +he saw in them that curious, almost impersonal invitation. + +"She wants something," Kendricks declared. "I am going over to see what +it can be. Carlo!" + +He summoned the waiter and asked him a question quickly in Italian. + +"The man says that her companion is not returning," he remarked, +rising. "I am going to interview the young lady." + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"As you will." + +Kendricks crossed the room, his pipe still in his hand. The girl +watched him come, for a moment, and then looked down upon the +tablecloth. She was at the end of a table laid for four or five people, +but only two men were left at the extreme end. + +"Mademoiselle," Kendricks said, "my friend thanks you for your message. +His curiosity, however, is piqued. Is there not an opportunity now for +explaining further?" + +She regarded her questioner a little doubtfully. + +"Who are you?" she asked. + +Kendricks sighed. + +"My dear young lady," he answered, "I flattered myself that I possessed +a personality which no one could mistake. Furthermore, I am a constant +patron here." + +"I have never been here in my life before," the girl told him. + +"Then your ignorance shall be pardoned," Kendricks declared. "My name +is David Kendricks. I am a journalist. I ought to be an editor, but the +fact remains that I am a mere collector of news, a bringer together of +those trifles which go to make such prints as these," he added, +touching her evening paper, "interesting." + +"A journalist," she repeated, glancing up at him. "Yes! I might have +guessed that. Are you a friend of Sir Julien Portel?" + +"I think I may call myself a friend," Kendricks admitted. "We were at +college together." + +She rose composedly to her feet. + +"Then I will take my coffee at your table," she decided. "You may +present me. I am Mademoiselle Senn." + +Kendricks hesitated. + +"You may not find my friend in the most amiable of moods," he began. + + +The girl waved her hand. + +"It is to be explained," she declared. "To tell you the truth, I was +surprised to see him even in so out of the way a restaurant as this." + +"He leaves to-night for the Continent," Kendricks told her. + +"So I heard," the girl replied. "Come." + +Sir Julien watched their approach and the frown upon his aristocratic +forehead, though thin, was distinct. Kendricks, however, took no notice +of it, and the girl pretended that she had not seen. + +"Julien," the former announced, holding a chair for mademoiselle, "I am +permitted the pleasure of presenting you to Mademoiselle Senn, who +already knows your name. Mademoiselle sent you a message a few minutes +ago. If she is good-natured, she may choose to explain it. If not, what +does it matter? Mademoiselle will take her coffee with us." + +Julien rose to his feet and bowed very slightly. + +"We have only a moment or two to spare," he said, "as I am leaving +London to-night." + +She looked at him and smiled oddly. She was a very typical young +Frenchwoman of her class--round-faced, with trim little figure, black +eyes, and smart but simple hat; not really good-looking except for the +depth of her clear eyes, and yet with a command of her person and +movements which was not without its charm. + +"Monsieur is not too gallant," she murmured, "but one is inclined to +forgive him. If I may take my coffee, I will go. Monsieur has promised +me that he will call and see Madame?" + +"Your friend in Paris?" Julien remarked, a little doubtfully. + +"Ah! I dare not call her that," the girl continued. "Madame is +different. But I know that it is her wish that you call, and I know +that it would be for your welfare." + +"Is it necessary," Julien asked coldly, "that you should be so +mysterious? After all, you know, the thing, on the face of it, is +impossible. Madame probably does not know of my existence, and why +should you take it for granted that I am going abroad?" + +"Oh, la, la!" the girl interrupted. "But you amuse one! Madame knows +everything which she desires to know. As to your going to France, +monsieur over there," she added, moving her head backwards, "told me so +some minutes ago." + +"And how the dickens did he know, and what right had he to talk about +my affairs?" Julien demanded, with all an Englishman's indignation at +his movements having been discussed by strangers. + +"I suppose that it is his business to know those things," she replied, +sipping her coffee. "He is a very mysterious young man. He takes a room +sometimes at the Milan Hotel and he sends for me to manicure his hands. +Then he asks me very clever questions and I look down and I give +him--very clever answers. Then he thinks, perhaps, that his methods are +not quite the best, and he sends me a great box of chocolates, some +stalls for the theatre, some flowers--why not? Then he comes again to +be manicured and he asks more questions, but I know so little. Then +sometimes, not very often, he brings me out to dine. Imagine for +yourself, monsieur," she went on, with a wave of the hand, "the +excitement, the wonder of all this to a poor French girl! And again he +asks questions, but again I know so little. And then, in the midst of +our dinner, his employer has sent for him. He has to go on a journey. +It is sad, is it not? He would like me to go with him to the station, +to see him off, but I--" she shrugged her shoulders. "Why should I +leave before I have finished my dinner? In truth, he wearies me, that +young man. I do not think, Sir Julien Portel, that Englishmen are very +clever." + +"As a race," Julien declared grimly, "I agree with you. I think that +most men are unutterable fools. But this young admirer of yours--what +are these questions which he asks you so often, and what business is he +in that he should be compelled to leave you to hurry away?" + +"Ah, monsieur!" she answered, "it is you now who ask questions. Why +should I tell you, indeed, more than I tell him?" + +Julien smiled. + +"Perhaps because it was a matter of moment to him whether you replied +or not, whereas, frankly, I only ask you these questions out of the +idlest curiosity." + +"Also a little," she remarked, "to make conversation, is it not so? +Very well, then, Sir Julien Portel, let me tell you this. If you do not +know who that young man is, I do not wonder that you find it necessary +to catch the nine o'clock train to the Continent to-night and to give +up that delightful work of yours, where you try to keep the peace +between all these wicked nations, and to get the lion's share of +everything for your great, greedy country. If you do not know who that +young man is, you have not the head for detail, the memory, which goes +to the making of politicians." + +Julien leaned back in his chair and laughed, softly but genuinely. Even +Kendricks seemed a little taken aback. + +"Upon my word!" the latter exclaimed. "This is an interesting young +person! Mademoiselle, I congratulate you. You have the gifts." + +"Interesting, indeed!" Julien agreed, sitting up in his place. +"Mademoiselle, to save my reputation with you I must confess. I do know +who the young man is. He is in the Intelligence Branch of the Secret +Service of the British Foreign Office--Number 3 Department." + +The girl nodded several times. + +"What you call it I do not know," she said. "He is just one of those +ordinary people who go about to collect little items of information for +your Government. That is why I have received from him four pounds of +chocolate, at least a sovereign's worth of roses, four stalls for the +theatre--which I do believe that he had given to him because they were +for plays that no one goes to see, and to-night a dinner--such a +dinner, messieurs, with chianti that burned my tongue!" + +"This," Kendricks declared, "is quite a bright young lady! +Mademoiselle, I trust that we shall become better acquainted." + +"And in the meantime," Julien inquired, "what are these wonderful items +of information which you carry with you, and which this unfortunate +young man fails so utterly to elicit?" + +"Ah! well," she sighed, "I am by profession a manicurist, but some +freak of nature gave me the power of keeping my mouth closed, of +looking as though I knew a good deal, but of saying so little. Now, +messieurs, what could a poor girl know in the way of secrets for which +that young man would get credit if he had succeeded in eliciting them? +What could I know, indeed? I sit on my little stool and sometimes there +are great people who give me their hands, and they are thoughtful. And +sometimes I ask questions and they answer me absently, because, after +all, what does it matter?--a manicurist from the shop downstairs, +earning her thirty shillings a week, and anxious to be agreeable for +the sake of her tip! And then sometimes while I am there they dictate +letters, or a caller comes, or the telephone rings. One does not think +of the manicure girl at such a time. Fortunately, there are some like +me who know so well how to keep silent, to say nothing, to be dumb." + +"The methods of that young man," Kendricks asserted, "were crude. Now, +young lady, consider my position. I represent a power greater than the +power of Governments. I represent a Press which is greedy for personal +news. Have you trimmed lately the nails of a duchess? If so, tell me +what she wore, her favorite oath, any trifling expression likely to be +of interest to the British public! And instead of roses I will send +you carnations; instead of dead-head tickets I will take you myself to +the _Gaiety_; instead of a dinner at the Cafe l'Athenee, I will take +you to supper at the Milan." + +"Your friend," mademoiselle declared, smiling at Julien, "is quite an +intelligent person. I like him very much. But I wish he would not smoke +that pipe and I should like to buy him a necktie." + +"Julien," Kendricks sighed, "the Bohemian has no chance against such a +model as you." + +"I do not think," she remarked, looking Julien in the eyes, "that Sir +Julien Portel cares very much for women--just now, at any rate." + +Julien frowned. He absolutely declined to answer the challenge in her +dark eyes. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "when I present myself to this Madame +Christophor, do I deliver any message from you? Do I explain my visit?" + +The girl shook her head slowly. + +"It will not be necessary," she told him. "Madame Christophor will know +all about you. She will be expecting you." + +He smiled scornfully. + +"It would be a pity to disappoint a lady with such a remarkable knack +of foretelling things. Supposing, however, I change my mind and visit +St. Petersburg instead?" + +She raised her hands--an expressive gesture. + +"There is no Madame Christophor in St. Petersburg. I think that you +will be very ill-advised if you go there. Many of the elements which go +to the making of life wait for you in Paris. In St. Petersburg you +would be a stranger. The life is not there." + +She rose to her feet briskly. + +"Good night, Monsieur le Bohemian!" she said. "Remember that you have +only to accept my little gift of a necktie, to let me take you to a +coiffeur whom I know of, and I will dine with you when you choose. Good +night, Sir Julien! I think I envy you." + +Julien laughed. The idea seemed odd to him. + +"I fancy you would be in a minority, mademoiselle," he declared. + +"At least," she reminded him, "you are going to see Madame +Christophor!" + +She nodded and left them a little abruptly. Kendricks paid their bill +and they descended into the street a few minutes later. The +_commissionaire_ called a taxi for them and they drove toward +Charing-Cross. + +"My friend," Kendricks said, "if I had you here for another week, cut +off from your old life, I'd show you some things that would astonish +you. It's good fortune and these well-ordered ways that keep a man a +prig, even after he's finished with Oxford. The man who lives in the +clouds of Mayfair knows nothing of the real life of this city." + +"Some day I'll come back and be your pupil," Julien promised. "You're a +good fellow, David. You've given me something to think about, at any +rate, something to think about besides my own misfortunes." + +"That's just what I set out to do," Kendricks declared. "There are +plenty of bigger tragedies than yours loose in the world. Watch the +people, Julien--the people whom such men as you glance over or through +as of no account, the common people, the units of life. Strip them bare +and they aren't so very different, you know. Try and feel for a moment +what they feel. Look at the little dressmaker there, going over to +Paris to buy models, hanging on to her husband's arm. She's probably +got a shop in the suburbs and this trip is a daring experiment. See how +earnestly they are talking about it. I don't think that they have too +easy a time to make ends meet. Do you see that old lady there, clinging +to her daughter? How she hates to part with her! She is going to a +situation, without a doubt, and Paris isn't too easy a place for a girl +with hair and eyes like hers. In her heart I think that the old lady is +remembering that. Then look at that little old man with the tired eyes, +carrying his two valises himself to save the hire of a porter. Can't +you tell by the air of him that he has had an unsuccessful business +journey? Poor fellow! It's a hard struggle for life, Julien, if you get +in the wrong row. You've no one dependent upon you, you don't know the +worst agony that can wring a man's heart.... Got your ticket and +everything, eh? And that looks like your servant. Are you taking him +with you?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"I shall have to do without a manservant. I never had much money, you +know, David." + +"So much the better," Kendricks declared heartily. "It gives you a +final chance. The gutters of the world are full of good fellows who +have been ruined through stepping into a sufficient income." + +They found a carriage and arranged Julien's few belongings. Presently +mademoiselle's companion came hurrying up the platform, followed by a +porter carrying his dressing-case. A short distance behind, +mademoiselle, too, was walking, humming to herself. + +"Company to Boulogne for you, Julien," Kendricks pointed out. "Your +little man from Number 3 Branch is on your track." + +Julien smiled. The young man never glanced towards their carriage as he +passed, but mademoiselle, who was still a few steps behind, made a wry +face at Kendricks. + +"I believe she knew that he was going across," the latter declared. + +"I wonder if he, too," Julien murmured, "has to call on Madame +Christophor?" + +The whistle sounded. Kendricks put out his great hands. + +"Good luck to you, Julien, old fellow!" he said. "Stand up to life like +a man and look it in the face. I tell you I haven't been gassing +to-night. I'd hate to pose as a moralist, but I do believe that +misfortunes are often blessings in disguise. And I tell you I've a sort +of faith in that little French girl. She gives one to think, as she +herself remarked. Look up Madame Christophor. Don't be surprised to see +me at any moment. I generally turn up in Paris every few weeks or so. +Good luck to you!" + +Julien leaned out of the window and waved his hand to Kendricks as the +train moved slowly around the curve. The last face he saw upon the +platform, however, was the face of mademoiselle. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +IN PARIS + + +For exactly a month Julien disappeared. At the end of that time, +looking very brown, a shade thinner, and possessed of a knowledge of +the older towns of Normandy which would not have disgraced a guidebook, +he arrived one cold, gray morning at the Gare du Nord. During all this +time he had scarcely seen one familiar face. It was an unpleasant shock +for him, as he waited for his baggage in the Customs House, to realize +that he was being watched from behind a pile of trunks by the little +man who had shown so much interest in him at the Cafe l'Athenee on the +night he had left England. The sight somehow annoyed him. He crossed +the room and accosted his late subordinate. + +"What is your name?" he asked coldly. "You are in the Intelligence +Department, I believe?" + +"My name is Foster, Sir Julien," the young man replied, after a +moment's hesitation. + +"What are you doing over here?" + +The young man hesitated. + +"You will excuse me, Sir Julien," he said slowly, "but I am responsible +only to the permanent officials in control of my office. Besides,--" + +"You can tell me at least how long you have been in Paris?" Julien +interrupted. + +"Since the night, Sir Julien, when you came as far as Boulogne." + +"May I ask," Julien demanded, "whether I am going to be subject to your +espionage?" + +The young man whose name was Foster looked blandly at a pile of luggage +which was just arriving. + +"I am not at liberty, Sir Julien," he said, "to explain my +instructions." + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"Do as you like, of course. At the same time, let me tell you that you +irritate me. Keep out of my sight as much as possible. It will be +better for you." + +Julien turned and left him there, declared his luggage, and was driven +to a quiet hotel in the Rue de Rivoli. There he had a bath, changed his +clothes, and strolled up the Champs Elysees towards the Bois. The sun +had come out and the avenue was crowded with automobiles and carriages. +He walked steadily on until he reached the first of the cafes in the +Bois. He took a chair and watched the crowd. A peculiar sensation of +loneliness oppressed him, a loneliness of which he had been scarcely +conscious during this last month's wanderings among the quiet places. +Paris had seemed so different to him on his last visit. He was +surrounded by friends and people who were anxious to become his +friends. He was in charge of a difficult mission which he was conscious +of conducting with skill. Everywhere he was meeting English people of +his own order, all delighted to see him, all pleased with his notice. +His few days in Paris were merely a change in the kaleidoscope from +London. The life--everything else--was the same. This time he was like +a man cast upon a desert island. He sat at his little table, sipping a +glass of vermouth, and conscious that no man in Paris had fewer +friends. The clubs were closed to him, there were no official visits to +pay, no calls to make, no familiar faces to look for. He was a man who +had had his day, a man disgraced, a man in whom the people had lost +faith, who was dead politically and socially. He thought his position +over carefully from every point of view. It was ruin, utter and +complete. He had disclosed a valuable political secret to a woman who +had not hesitated to make use of it. Nothing could be more ignoble. He +tried to fancy for himself some new life under altered conditions, but +everywhere he seemed to run up against some possibility, some +combination of circumstances which included a share in things which +were absolutely finished. His brain refused to fashion for him the +thought of any life which could leave outside everything which had been +of account to him up till now. Even in London, among the working +classes, it might have been easier. He remembered those few vivid +speeches of Kendricks'. What a gift the man had! Always he seemed to +see big things in life smouldering underneath the lives of these +ordinary people--big things unsuspected, invisible. There was nothing +of the sort to be found here. The only Paris Julien had ever known was +closed to him. Paris the vicious repelled him instinctively. He was +here, he had even looked forward to coming, but now that he had arrived +there was nothing for him to do. After all, he had better have found +some far distant corner in Switzerland or Italy. There was no club for +him to go to, no interest in perusing the newspapers, no visits from +ambassadors to think about. The puzzles of his daily life were ended. +There was nothing for him to do where he was but to eat and to drink +and to sleep! + +He lunched at a restaurant of which he had never heard before, and +there, to his anger, almost at the next table, he found Foster. With a +trace of his former imperiousness of manner, he summoned him. The young +man rose, after a moment's hesitation, and obeyed the mandate. + +"What are you doing here?" Julien demanded. + +"Lunching, sir," the young man replied. "The place has been recommended +to me. I do not know Paris well." + +"You lie," Julien declared. "Unless you knew Paris well, you wouldn't +be here for Number 3 Branch. Tell me, are you still watching me?" + +"That is a question, Sir Julien, which, as I said before, I am not at +liberty to answer." + +Julien drew a little breath between his teeth. + +"Look here," he continued, "I want to warn you that I am a bad-tempered +man. You can write home if you like and tell them that you met me +coming out of the German Embassy and the Russian Embassy and the +Italian Embassy, with a list of prices in my hands for different pieces +of information. Is that what you're afraid of, eh?" + +"Sir Julien," the young man answered, "I have to make reports only. It +is not my business to question the necessity for them." + +Julien laughed. After all, the little man was right. + +"Well, perhaps I do need looking after. Is there any particular place +where you would like me to dine? I don't want to bring you out into the +byways if I can help it." + +The young man excused himself politely. Julien finished his luncheon +and then took a carriage back to his hotel. He found half-a-dozen +visiting cards in his box and glanced at them eagerly. Every one of +them was from the representative of a newspaper. He tore them into +pieces, left a curt message for their bearers, and went up to his room. +A telegram was lying upon his bureau. He tore it open and read: + +Call on Madame Christophor this afternoon. + +He frowned and threw the unsigned telegram into a wastepaper-basket. + +"That decides it," he muttered to himself. "I will not call upon Madame +Christophor." + +Nevertheless, he changed into calling attire and presently strolled out +once more into the sunshine. From habit he turned into the Champs +Elysees. The sight of a group of acquaintances drove him into a side +street. He walked for a short distance and then paused to see his +whereabouts. He was in the Avenue de St. Paul. He studied the numbers. +Exactly opposite was Number 17. He stood there, gazing at the house, +and at that moment a large automobile glided up to the front door. The +footman sprang down and a lady descended, passing within a few feet of +him. She was tall, very elegant, and her eyes, gaining, perhaps, a +little color from the pallor of her cheeks, were the most beautiful +shade of violet-blue which he had ever seen. She was a woman whom it +was impossible not to notice. Julien stood quite still, watching her. +The footman who had stepped down in advance had rung the bell, and the +postern door already stood open. The lady did not at once enter. She +was looking at Julien. This, then, was Madame Christophor! He was aware +at that moment of two distinct impressions--one was that she knew +perfectly well who he was; the other that at any cost, however _gauche_ +it might seem, it was better for him to ignore the faint gleam of +recognition which already lent the dawn of a gracious smile to her +lips. + +The woman was certainly expecting him to speak. Every second her +hesitation seemed more purposeful. Julien, however, with an effort +which was almost savage, set his teeth and walked on. She looked after +him for a moment and began to laugh softly to herself. Julien walked +steadily on till he had reached the corner of the street. Then he +turned away abruptly and without glancing around. He was angry with +himself, angry at the sound of that faint, musical laugh. He had quite +made up his mind not to call upon Madame Christophor. It would, in +fact, now be impossible. He would never be able to explain his +avoidance of her. + +He was in a part of Paris of which he knew nothing, but he walked on +aimlessly, anxious only to escape the vicinity of the clubs and of the +fashionable thoroughfares. Suddenly he was conscious that an automobile +had drawn up close to the curbstone by his side. The footman sprang +lightly down and accosted him. + +"Monsieur," he announced, "Madame Christophor has sent her automobile. +She would be happy to receive you at once." + +Julien glanced inside the automobile. It was daintily upholstered in +white. A pile of cushions lay on the seat, there was a glove upon the +floor, the faint fragrance of roses seemed to steal out. Almost he +fancied that the woman's face was there, leaning a little towards him, +with the curious smile about the lips, the wonderful eyes glowing into +his. Then he set his teeth. + +"You had better inform your mistress," he said, "that there is some +mistake. I have not the honor of the acquaintance of Madame +Christophor. You have followed the wrong person." + +The man hesitated. He seemed perplexed. + +"But, monsieur," he persisted, "madame pointed you out herself. It was +only because of a block in the roadway that we were not able to catch +you up before. We have, indeed, never lost sight of you." + +Julien shook his head. "Pray assure madame," he said, "of my most +respectful regrets. I have not the honor of her acquaintance." + +He walked on. The two men sat for a moment on the box of the car, +watching him. Then they turned around and the car disappeared. Julien +jumped into a little carriage and drove back to his hotel. As he passed +through into the office, the clerk leaned forward. + +"Monsieur is desired upon the telephone," he announced. + +Julien frowned. + +"Who is it?" + +The man shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the booth. Julien +hesitated. Then he stepped inside and held the receiver to his ear. + +"Who is this?" he asked. + +A very slow, musical voice answered him. He never for a moment had a +doubt as to whose it might be. + +"Is this Sir Julien Portel?" + +"This is Julien Portel," he answered. "Who is it speaking?" + +"I am Henriette Christophor," the voice replied. "I had word from +England, Sir Julien Portel, that you were coming to see me." + +"I shall do myself that honor," Julien assured her, "before I leave +Paris." + +"You were not polite," the voice continued, "that you did not come this +afternoon." + +"Madame," Julien said, "I am not here to make acquaintances. It is true +that I promised to call upon you; I do not know why, I do not know whom +I promised, I do not know for what reason I was asked to come. Since I +have promised, however, and you are kind enough to desire it, I will +come." + +"And why not now?" the voice persisted. "You are alone in Paris, are +you not? I have something to say to you, something which is best said +quickly." + +Julien hesitated. + +"You will come?" the voice begged. "My automobile will be at your hotel +in ten minutes. You shall come, and if you dislike, after all, to make +that call, you shall drive with me, if you prefer it. Monsieur, if you +please!" + +"I will be ready," Julien answered. + +He hung up the receiver and walked out into the hall. He was angry with +himself because only an hour ago he had told himself that he would not +make that call. He was angry, too, because the fact of his making it or +not making it had assumed a ridiculous importance in his eyes. + +He walked to the bar and filled his case with cigarettes. Then he took +up a monthly magazine and read. His own official resignation was dealt +with in a political article of some significance. It interested him +curiously. One sentence in particular he read several times: + +It is not our desire to play the alarmist, but we would point out to +Great Britain that she may at any time within the next few weeks be +called upon to face a situation of great gravity, and we cannot help +expressing our regret that when that time comes the country should be +deprived of the advice, sound judgment and experience of a man who, +notwithstanding his youth, has already made his mark in European +politics. + +Julien flung the paper down. What that situation might be he knew, +perhaps, better than any man! + +The porter hurried up to him. + +"There is a lady outside who inquires for monsieur," he announced. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +MADAME CHRISTOPHOR + + +She held out an ungloved hand to him as he stepped up to the +automobile. Having gained her ends, she was disposed to be merciful. + +"This is very kind of you, Sir Julien," she murmured. "I really was +most anxious to have you visit me. Will you step in, please, and drive +with me a little way? One converses so easily and it would perhaps +amuse you more than to sit in my rooms." + +"You are very thoughtful," Julien replied. "I will come, with pleasure, +if I may." + +He seated himself by her side. + +"You must put your stick and gloves in the rack there," she continued, +"and make yourself quite comfortable. We drive a short distance into +the country, if you do not mind." + +"I am entirely at your service," he answered. + +He was firmly determined to remain wholly unimpressed by whatever she +said or did, yet, even in those first few moments, the sweetness of her +voice and the delicate correctness of her English sounded like music to +him. There was a suspicion of accent, too, which puzzled him. + +"We are not altogether strangers, you know," she went on. "I have seen +you before several times. I think the last time that you were in Paris +you sat in a box at Auteuil with some friends of mine." + +Somehow or other, he was conscious of a certain embarrassment. He was +not at his best with this woman, and he found it hard, almost +impossible, to escape from commonplaces. + +"It was my misfortune that I did not see you," he remarked. "My visit +was rather a momentous one. I dare say I paid less attention than usual +to my surroundings." + +"Tell me," she asked, "it was my little friend Emilie, was it not, who +persuaded you to come and see me?" + +"It was a little girl with whose name, even, I was unacquainted," +Julien replied. "I must admit that I scarcely took her request +seriously. I could not conceive anything which you might have to say +which could justify the intrusion of a perfect stranger." + +"But you," she reminded him, "are not a perfect stranger. You have been +a public man. You see, I am not afraid of hurting you because I think +that you will soon get over that little sensitiveness. I know all about +you--everything. You trusted a woman. Ah! monsieur, it is dangerous, +that." + +"Madame," he said, looking into her wonderful eyes, "one makes that +mistake once, perhaps, in a lifetime--never again." + +"The woman who deceives," she sighed, "makes it so difficult for all +those who come after! I suppose already in your mind I figure as a sort +of adventuress, is it not so?" + +"Certainly, madame," he answered calmly. "It never occurred to me to +doubt but that you were something of the sort." + +She half closed her eyes and laughed softly to herself, moving her head +like a child, as though from sheer pleasure. + +"It is delicious, this frankness!" she exclaimed. "Ah! what a pity that +you did not come before that other woman had destroyed all your faith! +We might, perhaps, have been friends. Who can tell?" + +"It is possible," he assented. + +"So you believe that I am an adventuress," she continued. "You think +that I sent for you probably to try and steal one by one all those +wonderful secrets which I suppose you have stored up at the back of +your head. One cannot be Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs +without knowing things. Keep them to yourself, Sir Julien. I ask you no +questions." + +"Then why," he demanded, "did you insist upon this visit from me, and +why did the little manicurist, who is a perfect stranger to me, insist +also that I should come to you?" + +She smiled, and looked down at her hands for a moment. + +"Now if I answer all your questions, Sir Julien," she said, "you will +have no more curiosity left, and when your curiosity is gone, perhaps +some measure of your interest may go, too. Can you not bring yourself +to believe that I may have had personal reasons for desiring your +acquaintance?" + +"Madame," he answered, "no! I cannot bring myself to believe that." + +Again she laughed. + +"I think," she declared, "that it is your candor which makes you +Englishmen so attractive. Do you believe that I am a dangerous person, +Sir Julien?" + +He looked at her coldly and dispassionately. + +"I think," he decided, "that you might be very dangerous indeed to a +susceptible person." + +"But not to you?" + +"Certainly not to me," he admitted. "As you have already told me, it is +within your knowledge that I am paying the price for having trusted a +woman." + +She nodded. + +"It is a fine sort of ruin, after all. Not to trust is generally proof +of a mean and doubting disposition." + +"You are probably right, madame," he agreed. "Is it permitted to remind +you that we have been together for some time and you have not yet +enlightened me as to your reasons for seeking my acquaintance?" + +"Can't you believe that it was a whim?" she asked. + +"No!" + +"Remember that I saw you when you were here before," she persisted. + +"I have no recollection of having met you." + +"Yet I can tell you nearly all that you did on that last visit of +yours. You dined one night at the Embassy, one night at the Travelers' +Club with a party of four, one night with the Minister--Courcelles. You +were two hours with him on the afternoon of the day you dined with him. +You managed to snatch an hour at the races and to lunch at the Pre +Catelan on your way. You lunched, I believe, with Monsieur le Duc de +St. Simon and his friends." + +"Your knowledge of my movements," he declared, "is very flattering. It +suggests an interest in me, I admit, but I have yet to be convinced +that that interest is in any way personal." + +She looked at him from under the lids of her eyes. + +"What is it, Sir Julien, that you possess, then, which you fear that I +might steal?" + +He returned her gaze boldly. "I am a discarded Minister," he said. "I +might reasonably be supposed to be suffering from a sense of wrong. Why +should it not occur to a clever woman like you that it might be a +favorable moment to obtain a little information concerning one or two +political problems of some importance? Are you interested in such +matters, madame?" + +She leaned back in her seat and laughed. He sat and watched her. +Distinctly she was, in certain ways, the most beautiful woman he had +ever seen. It was true that she was pale and that her neck was a trifle +thin, but her face was so aristocratic and yet so piquant, the color of +her eyes so delightful, her mouth so soft and yet so humorous. She laid +her hand upon his arm. + +"Oh! my dear, dear Englishman," she exclaimed, "Heaven indeed has sent +you to me that I should not die of ennui! You do not know who I am--I, +Madame Christophor?" + +"I have no idea who you are," he assured her. "I have never seen you +before. I know of no other name than the one by which I was told to ask +for you." + +She leaned a little closer to him. + +"Come," she said, "you see me for what I am. I shall not rob you, I +shall not drug you, I shall not try to tear secrets out of your throat +by any medieval methods. We are neither of us of the order of those who +seek adventures in vulgar fashion and expect always a vulgar +termination. Can't we be friends for a time--companions? Paris is an +empty city for me just now. And for you--you must avoid those whom you +know. It follows that you must be lonely. Let me show you my Paris." + +Julien looked steadfastly out at the country, at the flying hedges, the +tall avenues of poplar trees in the distance, the clumsy farm wagon +coming across the hayfield, the blue-petticoated women who marched by +its side--anywhere to escape for a moment or two from her eyes. It was +absurd that he should feel even this faint interest in her proposition! +It was only a month since the blow had fallen, only a month since the +girl to whom he had been engaged had sent him away with a sigh and a +little handshake. It was only a month since life lay in splinters +around him. It was much too soon to feel the slightest interest in the +things which she was proposing! + +"Madame Christophor," he said, "you are very kind, but I tell you +frankly that I should accept your proposition with more pleasure if you +had been of my own sex." + +"You have become a woman-hater?" + +"I cannot trust a woman," he answered coldly. "All the time I have the +feeling of insecurity. I fear that it must sound ungallant if I tell +you what is the sober truth--that your sex for the present has lost all +charm for me." + +She closed her eyes. Perhaps from behind the mask of her still face she +was laughing at him! + +"Do you think I don't understand that a little?" she murmured. "Never +mind, for to-night, at least, I will be sexless. You can believe that I +am a man. I think you will find that I can talk to you about most of +the things that men know of. Politics we will leave alone. You would +mistrust me at once. Art--I can tell you of our modern French painters; +I can tell you about these two wonderful Russians who are painting in +their studio here; I can tell you what to look for at the new +exhibitions, what studios to visit--I can take you to them, if you +will. Or old Paris--does that interest you? Have you ever seen it +properly? I know my old Paris very well indeed. Or would you rather +talk of books? There have been many years when I have done little else +but read. Tell me that we may be companions for a time. You have +nothing to lose, indeed, and I have so much to gain." + +"Madame," Julien replied, "I do not trust you. You are doubtless an +agreeable companion, and as such I am willing to spend a short time +with you. This is an ungracious acceptance of your suggestion, but it +is the best I am capable of." + +She clapped her hands. + +"It is something, after all," she declared, "and let me tell you this, +my friend," she added, leaning over. "You have been frank with me. You +have told me that you hated my sex, that you distrusted us all. Very +well, I will share your frankness. I will tell you this. Neither am I +any friend of your sex. I, too, have my grievance. I, too, have +something in my heart of which I cannot speak, which, when I think of +it, makes me hate every male creature that walks the earth. Perhaps +with that in my heart and what you have in yours, we may meet and pass +and meet again and pass, and do one another no harm. Is that finished?" + +"By all means," he agreed. + +Her expression changed. + +"Come," she said, "now you shall see that I have begun my plots. I have +brought you away from Paris into the country places. For what, I +wonder? Are you terrified?" + +"Not in the least," he assured her. + + +"Brave fellow! Perhaps when you know the truth, your heart will shake +with fear. You are going to dine in a country restaurant." + +"That does not terrify me in the least," he replied, smiling. "I think +that it will be charming." + +"It is a tiny place," she told him, "not very well known as yet; soon, +I fear, likely to become fashionable. One sits at little tables on a +lawn of the darkest green. If the sun shines, an umbrella of pink and +white holland shades us. Quite close is the river and a field of +buttercups. There are flowers in the garden, and so many shrubs that +one can be almost alone. And behind, an old inn. They cook simply, but +the trout comes from the river, and it is cool." + +"It sounds delightful," Julien admitted; "but, madame, indeed it is I +who must be host." + +She shook her head. + +"On the contrary, it is by subtlety that I have brought you here and +that I claim to be the giver of the feast. You see, you dine with me +to-night. You must ask me back again. It is the custom of your country, +is it not?" + +He smiled. The automobile had turned in now up a short drive, and +stopped before a long, low building. Down in the gardens they could see +fairylights swinging in the faint breeze. A short man, with +close-cropped hair and a fierce black moustache and imperial, came +hastening out to greet them. When he recognized Madame Christophor, he +bowed low. + +"Monsieur Leon," she said, "I bring an Englishman to try your river +trout. You must give me a table near that great tree of lilac that +smells so sweetly. I order nothing--you understand? But you must +remember that monsieur is English. He will want his champagne dry and +his brandy very old. Is it not so, my friend? Now I will give you into +charge of _monsieur le proprietaire_ here. He shall show you where you +can drink a little _aperitif_, if you will. He shall show you, too, +where to find me presently." + +A trim maid came hurrying up and took possession of Madame Christophor. +Julien followed his guide into a small reception room, all pink and +white. + +"If monsieur desires to wash," the proprietor explained, "he passes +beyond there. And for an _aperitif?_" + +"I will take anything you send me," Julien declared. "What is the name +of this place, monsieur?" + +"They call it the Maison Leon d'Or, monsieur," the man replied. "It is +my own idea--a country house I purchased once for myself, but found it +too far, alas! from Paris. In the fine weather we could, if we chose, +have half Paris here. When the cold days come, there is nobody. +Monsieur permits?" + +He departed and Julien strolled to the window. In the portion of the +gardens over which he looked were smaller tables, set out simply for +those who desired to take their coffee and liqueurs or _aperitif_ out +of doors. Julien glanced out idly enough at the little group of people +dotted about here and there. Then his face suddenly darkened. At a +table within a few yards of where he stood were seated Foster and a man +whose back was turned towards him. + +Julien's first impulse was to retire out of sight, for the window was +open and he himself imperfectly concealed by the muslin blind. Then, as +he was on the point of retiring, he distinctly heard the sound of his +own name. The two men were speaking in a low tone, but a slight breeze +was blowing into the room. Julien stood still and listened. The man who +was a stranger to him was speaking to Foster. + +"The woman is first, it is true," he muttered. "She will pump him dry, +no doubt. But what matter? She may even put him on his guard, but I say +again, what matter? There is a price for everything, a price or--" + +The man's voice died away and Julien heard nothing for some time. Then +he saw Foster shake his head. + +"Our service," Foster declared, "does not protect us in such a +position. It does not allow us to go to extremes. I am supposed to be +here to watch him, but I am really powerless. He might become your man +or hers or any one else's. I could do nothing but report." + +His companion leaned across the table. + +"What you call your Secret Service," Julien heard him say, "is a farce. +You have no authority, no scope. You are too proud to ferret about as +the others do. You sit in dignified ease and wait for information to be +brought to you. My good Foster, you must learn to be a man. We must +teach you." + +Again their voices became inaudible. Julien drew back into the room. +His heart was beating faster, his brain was full of new thoughts. From +a place where he was absolutely secure he sat and gazed at Foster and +his companion. Presently the waiter entered with the _aperitif_. Julien +gave him five francs. + +"Listen," he said, "you see those two gentlemen sitting there?" + +"_Parfaitement_, monsieur," the man replied. + +"Have you ever seen the elder one before--the dark one with the +glasses?" + +The waiter hesitated. + +"Monsieur," he said, looking at the five francs in his hand, "_monsieur +le proprietaire_ here has strange notions. He objects that we mention +ever the name of any of his clients." + +"Why is that?" Julien asked. + +"How should one know, monsieur?" the waiter answered. "Only it seems +that this place is a little distance from Paris, it is retired, one +finds seclusion here. People meet, I think, in these gardens who do not +care to be seen in Paris. There are some come here who whisper at the +door to _monsieur le proprietaire_ that their names must never be +mentioned." + +"One can understand that, perhaps," Julien agreed, "but these are +surely affairs of gallantry? It is when the gentlemen bring ladies, +perhaps?" + +The man shook his head and gesticulated an emphatic negative. + +"Monsieur," he declared, "there are other things. There are other +things, indeed. This place is well-known because there meet here often +men who are interested in discussing serious matters. I can tell +monsieur, alas! the name of no one among the guests here. If I +attempted it, it would mean my dismissal, and there is no place in +Paris, monsieur, where the salaries are so good as here." Julien +hesitated. Then he drew a louis from his pocket. + +"Listen," he said, "you may rely upon my word. No mention of it shall +go outside this room. Take this louis for just the name of that +gentleman with his back to you." + +The waiter took the louis. + +"His name, monsieur, I cannot tell you, but I will tell you what +perhaps will do for monsieur as well. The German Ambassador comes +sometimes here with a party of friends; somewhere in the distance you +will find the gentleman about whom you ask. The German Ambassador rides +through the streets when Paris is troubled; somewhere close at hand you +will find monsieur there. The German Ambassador he attends the races; +feeling, perhaps, is running a little high. Somewhere amongst the crowd +who watch the races, and very close to _Monsieur l'Ambassadeur_, you +will find monsieur there with the shoulders." + +Julien drank his _aperitif_ thoughtfully. + +"Thank you," he said to the waiter. "You have earned your money. You +need have no fear." + +There was a knock at the door. _Monsieur le proprietaire_ presented +himself. + +"Monsieur," he announced, "it is my honor to conduct you to the table +reserved for madame and yourself. Madame awaits you." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +BETTER ACQUAINTANCE + + +The gardens of the Maison Leon d'Or were, in their way, unique. There +was no extent of open space, but the walks threaded everywhere a large +shrubbery, and in all sorts of corners and quiet places little dining +tables had been placed. Scarcely any one was in sight of any other +person, although they were so close together that all the time there +was a hum of voices. In the distance, down by the river, a large +gondola was passing slowly backwards and forwards, on which an +orchestra played soft music. Julien and Madame Christophor crossed the +narrow strip of lawn together and followed Monsieur Leon into the +graveled path bordered with fairy lamps. + +"I have arranged for madame and monsieur," he announced, looking +backwards, "a table near the lilac tree of which madame is so fond. The +perfume, indeed, is exquisite. If madame pleases!" + +They turned from the path on to another strip of lawn, which they +gained by rounding a large lilac bush. Here a small table was laid with +the whitest of cloths and the most dazzling of silver. An attentive +waiter was already arranging an ice-pail in a convenient spot. From +here the gardens sloped gently to the river, which was barely forty +yards distant. Although it was scarcely twilight, the men on the +gondola were lighting the lamps. + +"Madame and monsieur will find this table removed from all chance +visitors," the proprietor declared. "If the dinner is not perfect, +permit that I wait upon you again. A word to the waiter and I arrive. +Madame! Monsieur!" + +He retreated, with a bow to each. Julien, with a little laugh, took his +place at the table. + +"Madame," he said, "your entertainment is charming." + +"The entertainment is nothing," Madame replied, "but here at least is +one advantage--we are really alone. I do not know how you feel, but the +greatest rest in life to me is sometimes the solitude. There is no one +overlooking us, there is no one likely to pass whom we know. We are +virtually cut off from all those who know us or whom we know. My +friend, I would like you to remember this our first evening. Talk, if +you will, or be silent. For me it is equal. I, too, have thoughts which +I can summon at any time to bear me company. And there is the river. Do +you hear the soft flow of it, and the rustle of the breeze in the +shrubs, the perfumes, and--listen--the music? Ah! Sir Julien, I think +that we give you over here some things which you do not easily find in +your own country." + +"You are right," he agreed slowly. "You give us a better climate, more +sympathetic companionship, a tenderer chicken, a more artistic salad." + +"At heart you are a materialist, I perceive," she declared. + +"We all are," he admitted. "Everything depends upon our power of +concealment." + +The service of dinner commenced almost at once. There was something +excessively peaceful in the scene. The tables were so arranged that one +heard nothing of the clatter of crockery. The murmur of voices came +like a pleasant undernote. They talked lightly for some time of the +English theatres, of the stage generally, some recent memoirs--anything +that came into their heads. Then Julien was silent for several minutes. +He leaned slightly across the table. Their own lamp was lit now and +through the velvety dusk her eyes seemed to glow with a new beauty. + +"Tell me," he begged, "you spoke of yourself a little time ago as +though you might have a personality at which I ought to have guessed. +Are you a woman of Society, or an artist, or merely an idler?" + +"I have known something of Society," she replied. "I believe I may say +that I am something of an artist. It is very certain that I am not an +idler. Why ask me these questions? Let us forget to be serious tonight. +Let us remember only that we are companions, and that the hours, as +they pass, are pleasant." + +"It is a philosophy," he murmured, "which brings its own retribution." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"All happiness is lost," she declared, "the moment you begin to try and +define it. It is a sensation, not a state of being. Let us drift. The +waters are not dangerous for you or for me." + +Her words chilled him with a sudden memory. Then, in the act of helping +himself to wine, he paused. Some one had taken the table nearest to +them, dimly visible through the laurel bushes. He heard the voice of +the man who had been with Foster, giving the orders. + +"Listen!" + +There was no need for him to have spoken. Curiously enough, Madame + + +Christophor seemed also to have recognized the voice. Her hand fell +upon Julien's. He looked at her in surprise. Her cheeks were blanched, +her eyes blazing. + +"You hear that voice?" she whispered. + +Julien nodded. + +"It is the voice of the only person in the world," she continued, "whom +I absolutely hate." + +"You know whose it is, then?" + +"Of course!" she replied. + +"So do I," he muttered. "I have never seen the man's face, but I know a +little about him." + +She shivered. + +"Come," she said, "let us have our coffee later. We have finished +dinner and the moon is coming up. If we walk to the bottom there, we +shall see it from the bend of the river, and we shall escape from those +men." + +He rose hastily to his feet. She led the way down the path. Here and +there they caught a glimpse of other tables as they passed--little +parties of two or four, all very gay. Madame breathed more freely as +they progressed. Presently they passed through an iron gate into a +field, already half-mown. The perfume of the fresh-cut grass came to +them with an almost overpowering sweetness. Her hand fell upon his arm. + +"Forgive me," she begged, "I am not really a weak woman. I do not think +that there is any other sound in life which I hate so much as the sound +of that voice." + +They walked in silence along the narrow path. Soon they reached the +edge of the river. A few steps further on was a seat, of which they +took possession. In the distance the gondola, on fire now with lamps, +was playing a waltz. A bat flew for a moment about their heads. +Somewhere in the woods a long way down the river a nightingale was +singing. + +"I am not often so foolish," she murmured. "Once--let me tell you +this--once I had a dear little friend. She was very sweet, but a little +too trusting, too simple for the life here. She found a lover. She +thought she had found the happiness of her life. Poor child! For a +month, perhaps, she was happy. Then he forced her to give up her little +home and her savings and go upon the stage. He preferred a mistress +from the theatres. She worked hard, but, sweetly pretty though she was, +she was not very successful. Then she caught cold. She began to lose +her health--and she lost her lover." + +"Brute!" + +"The child got worse," madame went on. "Presently they told her that it +was consumption. She went to a hospital and she wrote a pathetic little +note to the man. He tore it up. There had been an article in the papers +a few weeks before proving that consumption was among the diseases +which were more or less infectious. He sent her a few brutal lines and +a trifle of money, with a warning that there was to be no more. He +never went to see her. The child grew worse. I used to sit with her +sometimes. I saw her look down upon the river, almost as we are looking +now, and her eyes would grow soft and wet with tears, and she would +tell me in whispers of the evenings she had spent with him, when the +love had first come, and how sweet and tender he was. There must be +something wrong, she was sure. He did not understand, he could not know +how ill she really was. She prayed for the sight of him. I put her off +with one excuse after another, but one day the fear of death was in her +eyes, the terror came to her, she was afraid. She was afraid of dying +alone, of going into a strange country, no one to hold her. I went to +the man, I begged him to come and see her. He scoffed at me. If she had +consumption, she was better dead. He would have flirted with me if I +had let him. I can hear his voice now--brutal, jeering, hideous! It was +the voice, Sir Julien, which we heard ten minutes ago at the next +table. Do you wonder that I hate it?" + +"And the little girl?" he asked. + +"When I returned without him," she answered, "the little girl was +dead." + +They were both silent, listening to the splash of the water and to the +distant music. + +"Life is like that," she went on. "We pass through it lightly enough, +but Heaven only knows the number of little tragedies against which our +skirts must brush. Sometimes they leave impressions, sometimes we grow +callous, but the horror of that man's voice will stay with me +always.... Shall we go back now? You would like your coffee." + +"Sit here for five minutes more," he begged. "Tell me, did you know +that the man was a spy?" + +She looked at him curiously. + +"How is it that you know so much about him?" + +"He is sitting there with an Englishman who comes from our Intelligence +Department," Julien explained. "They were speaking together of some +one--I believe it was myself--speaking in none too friendly terms. +There was a woman, too, whose name they coupled with mine, but I could +not hear that. I made some inquiries about the man. I was told that he +was in the suite of the German Ambassador." + +She nodded. + +"Whoever or whatever he is," she said, "he is something to be abhorred. +Hush! There is some one coming down the footpath." + +They sat quite silent. Some instinct seemed to tell them who it was. +Suddenly they heard the voice--rasping, unpleasant. + +"You have bungled the affair, Foster. It is not well-managed; it is not +clever. You were to have brought him to me, to have let me know the +instant he reached Paris. I would have seen him. Just as he was, I +should have succeeded. Now it may be that this woman has warned him +already. She is very clever. If she has him, he will not escape." + +Foster's voice was inaudible, but whatever he said seemed to anger his +companion. + +"Thunder and lightning!" they heard the man exclaim. "Am I a fool that +you talk to me like this? Yes, I go to him--I go to him to-night, but I +tell you that it is too late! If it is too late, there is but one thing +to be done. You are a coward, Foster!" + +They came out into the open, on the path which fringed the river, and +they were immediately silent. They came strolling along and noticed for +the first time the two figures upon the seat. Instantly they began to +talk upon some local subject. No escape was possible. In a few minutes +they were opposite the bench. Foster started a little. The other man's +face darkened. He ventured upon a bow. Madame Christophor looked at him +as one might look upon some strange animal. Foster hesitated for a +moment, but his companion pushed him along. + +"I think," she whispered, "that that man would like to do me an +injury." + +Julien was watching their retreating forms. + +"I don't understand what Foster is doing there, or what the dickens +they were talking about," he said thoughtfully. "I think if you don't +mind," he added, "we will return." + +"Why are you so suddenly uneasy?" she asked. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Apparently," he answered, "you know who I am and everything about me. +I, on the other hand, am ignorant almost of your very name. There are +certain circumstances connected with my late career which make it +inadvisable--" + +"Oh, I know all that you are going to say!" she interrupted. "But ask +yourself. Have I made any attempt whatever to ask you a single +unbecoming question?" + +"You certainly have not," he confessed. + +"Your little friend returns," she whispered. "See!" + +Foster came back to them, slowly, with reluctant footsteps. He had the +appearance of a man bent upon a mission which he dislikes. + +"Sir Julien," he said, as he drew near, "would you grant me a moment's +interview?" + +Julien looked at him. + +"You probably know my address," he replied coldly. "You can call there +and see me. At present I am engaged." + +"Sir Julien, the matter is of some importance," Foster persisted. "I +have a friend who is anxious to meet you. It would be an affair of a +few words only, and perhaps an appointment afterwards." + +"Is the friend to whom you refer the person with whom you were walking +just now?" Julien inquired. + +"Yes!" Foster admitted. "If you can spare me a moment I can explain--" + +"You need explain nothing," Julien interrupted. "Understand, please, +that I decline absolutely to make that person's acquaintance." + +Foster looked away from Sir Julien to the woman who stood by his side. + +"Am I to take this as final?" he asked. + +Julien turned on his heel. + +"Absolutely," he said. "The little I know of the person with whom you +seem to be spending the evening makes me feel more inclined to pitch +him into the river than to make his acquaintance. As a matter of fact, +Foster, I don't know, of course, under what instructions you are acting +over here, but I should not have considered him exactly a companion for +you." + + +Foster started. A new fear had suddenly broken in upon him. + +"I am doing my best to carry out instructions, sir," he declared. "I do +not understand why you should take so prejudiced a view of my friend." + +"It is, perhaps," Julien replied, "because I know more about him than +you seem to. Good night!" + +They walked slowly back to the gardens. The woman was thoughtful. + +"I am sorry," she said, "that those people came along to spoil our +first evening together. I am glad, though, that you refused to meet the +German. All that he would have done would have been to try and fill +your mind with suspicions of me. Haven't you found me harmless?" + +"I am not sure," he answered. + +She laughed softly. + +"Ah, me!" she exclaimed, "I gave you an opening, didn't I, and one must +remember that of late years the men of your nation have established a +reputation over here for gallantry. Harmless, at least, so far as +regards tearing political secrets from your bosom?" + +"As a matter of fact," Julien remarked, "there are not so many secrets +between France and England, are there?" + +"Thanks in some measure to you," she reminded him. "You take it for +granted, I notice, that I am a Frenchwoman." + +He looked at her in great surprise. + +"Why, indeed, yes! Is there any doubt about it?" + +"My mother was an American," she told him. + +"Tell me your real name?" he asked suddenly. + +"On the contrary, I am going to beg you not to try and discover it. Let +us remain as we are for a little time. You are lonely here and you need +companionship, and I am very much in the same position. You are a hater +of women and I have sworn eternal enmity against all men. We are so +safe, and solitude is bad for us." + +He smiled. + +"You are very kind," he said, "but as for me, I am only starting my +wanderings. I want to go on through Algiers to Morocco, to Egypt, and +later to the east. I never meant to stay long in Paris." + +"I do not blame you," she declared. "Sooner or later you must find your +way where the battle is. Paris is not a city for men. One loiters here +for a time, but one passes on always. Never mind, while you stay here I +shall claim you." + +They drove back to Paris through the perfumed stillness of the long +spring night. Madame had instructed her chauffeur to drive slowly, and +more than one automobile rushed past them, with flaring lights and +sounding horn. In one they caught a glimpse of Foster and his +companion, whispering together as they raced by. Madame half closed her +eyes with a little shiver. + +"Those men again!" she exclaimed, "They say that Estermen never +abandons a chase. You may still find him waiting for you in your +hotel!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +THE TOYMAKER FROM LEIPZIG + + +In the front row of balcony tables at the Cafe des Ambassadeurs was one +which had been transformed into a veritable bower of pink roses. The +florists had been at work upon it since early in the afternoon, and +their labors were only just concluded as the guests of the restaurant +were beginning to arrive. Henri, the chief _maitre d'hotel_, had +personally superintended its construction. He stood looking at the +result of their labors now with a well-satisfied aspect. + +"But it is perfect," he declared. "The orders of Monsieur Freudenberg +have indeed been delightfully carried out. You will present the account +as usual, mademoiselle," he directed the florist, who in her black +frock, a little hot and flushed with her labors, was standing by his +side. "Remember monsieur is well able to pay." + +"It is, perhaps, a prince who dines in such state?" the girl inquired. + +The _maitre d'hotel_ smiled. + +"It is, on the contrary," he told her, "a maker of toys from Germany." + +She made a little grimace. + +"And to think that my back aches, that I have pricked myself so," she +exclaimed, showing the scarred tips of her fingers, "for the sake of a +toymaker from Germany! But it is not like you, Henri, to disturb +yourself so for anything less than a prince." + +Henri, who was a sleek and handsome man, with black moustache and +imperial, shook his head sadly. + +"Ah! mademoiselle," he said, "when you have lived as long as I, you +will know that the times indeed have changed. It is no longer the +princes of the world to whom one gives one's best service. It is those +who carry the heaviest money bags who command it." + +"Well, well," she replied, "that is perhaps true. Yet in our little +shop in the Rue de la Paix we do not always find that it is those with +the heaviest money bags who pay us most generously for our flowers. I +would sooner serve a bankrupt aristocrat than a wealthy shopkeeper. If +they pay at all, these aristocrats, they pay well." + +Henri stretched out his hands. + +"Mademoiselle, there are shopkeepers who are also princes. My client of +this evening is one of those. Behold, he comes! Pardon!" + +The man for whom these great preparations had been made stood in the +entrance of the restaurant, waiting for the woman who was giving her +cloak to the _vestiaire_. He was tall and thin, dressed rather +severely, with a black tie and short coat, a monocle which hung from +his neck with a black ribbon. His face was unusually long, his eyes +deep-set, his mouth set firm on a somewhat protuberant jaw, with lines +at the corners which somehow suggested humor. When he saw Henri he +nodded. + +"Once more, Henri," he remarked, with a little smile, "once more in my +beloved Paris!" + +"Monsieur is always welcome," Henri declared, bowing to the ground. +"Paris is the gayer for his coming." + +"You are indeed a nation of courtiers!" Herr Carl Freudenberg +exclaimed. "What German _Oberkellner_ would have thought of a speech +like that to a Frenchman finding himself in Berlin! Ah! Henri, you try, +all of you, to spoil me here. Is it not so, mademoiselle?" he added, +turning with a bow and a smile to the girl who stood now by his side. +"Henri here speaks honied words to me always. The wonder to me is that +I am ever able to tear myself away from this city of fascination." + +"If we could keep monsieur," the girl murmured, smiling at Henri, "I +think that we should all be very well content." + +Herr Freudenberg made a little grimace. + +"But my toys!" he cried. "Who is there in Germany could make such toys +as I and my factory people? The world would be sad indeed--the world of +children, I mean--if my factory were to close down or my designers +should lose their cunning." + +"Is it the greatest ambition of monsieur," the girl asked, "to amuse +and make happy the world of children? Have not the world of grown +people some claims?" + +"Monsieur will, I trust, and madame," Henri declared, as they moved +slowly forward, "find much to admire in the table which has been +prepared for them this evening. It is by the orders of monsieur so +enclosed that here one may talk without fear of observation. And the +perfume of these roses, every one of which has been selected, is a +wonderful thing. It is indeed a work of art." + +Herr Freudenberg turned deliberately on one side where the little +flower girl was still lingering. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "something tells me that it is you whom we +have to thank for this adorable creation. It is indeed a work of +supreme art. If mademoiselle would permit!" + +He slipped a crumpled note into her fingers, so quietly and +unostentatiously that it was there and in her pocket before any one had +time to notice it. She went out murmuring to herself. + +"He is a prince, this monsieur--a veritable prince!" + +"For your dinner," Henri announced, as they seated themselves in their +places, "I have no word to tell you. I spare you, as you see, the +barbarity of a menu. What will come to you, monsieur and madame, is at +least of our best. I can promise that. And the wine is such as I myself +have selected, knowing well the taste of monsieur." + +"And of madame also, I trust?" Herr Freudenberg remarked. + +"Ah! monsieur," Henri continued, "when monsieur is not in Paris, madame +is invisible. Not once since I last had this pleasure of waiting upon +you, have I had the joy of seeing her." + +Herr Freudenberg looked across the table at his companion with +twinkling eyes. + +"This is a city of conspirators," he declared. "You make a man vain and +happy and joyous at the same time. Let your dinner be served, then, +Henri. Since I was in Paris last I have eaten many times, but I have +not dined." + +The _maitre d'hotel_ departed, but for the next hour or so his eyes +were seldom far away from the table where sat his most esteemed client. +Once or twice, others of the diners sent for him. + +"Henri," one asked, and then another, "tell us, who is it that dines +like a prince under the canopy of pink roses?" + +Henri smiled. + +"Monsieur," he replied, "it is Herr Carl Freudenberg of Leipzig." + +"Herr Carl Freudenberg of Leipzig--but who is he?" + +"He is a great manufacturer of toys, monsieur." + +"A German!" one muttered. + +"It is they who are spoiling Paris," another grumbled. + +"They have at least the money!" + +One woman alone shook her head. + +"It is not money only," she murmured, "which buys these things here +from Henri."... + +The companion of Herr Carl Freudenberg was, without doubt, as charming +as she appeared, for Herr Freudenberg certainly enjoyed his dinner as a +man should. Nor were those lines of humor engraven about his mouth for +nothing, to judge by the frequent peals of laughter from mademoiselle. +Towards the close of dinner, Henri himself carried to them a superb +violet ice, with real flowers around the dish and an electric light +burning in the middle. + +"For two days, madame," he announced, "our chef has dreamed of this. It +is a creation." + +"It is exquisite!" mademoiselle cried, with a gesture of delight. +"Never in my life have I seen anything so wonderful." + +"Henri," Herr Freudenberg said in an aside, "you will present my +compliments to the chef. You will shake him by the hand from me. You +will double the little affair which passes between us. Tell him that it +comes from one who appreciates the work of a great artist, even though +his French thickens a little in his throat." + +Henri bowed low. + +"If monsieur's body is German," he declared, "his soul at least belongs +to the land of romance." + +They were alone again and the girl leaned across the table. + +"Monsieur," she murmured, "it is cruel of you to come so seldom. You +see what you do? You spoil the keepers of our restaurants, you steal +away the hearts of your poor little companions, and then--one night or +two, perhaps, and it is over. Monsieur Freudenberg has gone. The earth +swallows him." + +"Back to my toys, mademoiselle," he whispered. "One has one's work." + +She looked at him long and tenderly. + +"Monsieur," she said, "it is two months, a week and three days since +you were in Paris. Since then I have sung and danced, night by night, +but my heart has never been gay. Come oftener, monsieur, or may one not +sometimes cross the frontier and learn a little of your barbarous +country?" + +For the first time the faintest shadow of gravity crossed his face. + +"Mademoiselle," he replied, "alas! The world is full of hard places. +Behold me! When I am here, I am your devoted and admiring slave, but +believe me that when I leave Paris and set my face eastwards, I do not +exist. Dear Marguerite, it hurts me to repeat this--I do not exist." + +She looked down into her plate. + +"I understand," she murmured. "You said it to me once before. Have I +not always been discreet? Have I ever with the slightest word disobeyed +you?" + +"Nor will you ever, dear Marguerite," he declared confidently, "for if +you did it would be the end. In the city where I make my toys, life as +we live it here is not known. It is not recognized. And there is one's +work in the world." + +She looked up from her plate. Her expression had changed. + +"It was foolish of me," she whispered. "To-night is one of those nights +in Heaven for which I spend all my days longing. I think no more of the +future. You are here. Tell me, from here--where?" + +"To the Opera. I have engaged the box that you prefer. We arrive for +the last act of 'Samson et Dalila' and for the ballet." + +"And afterwards?" + +"To the Abbaye. After that, there is the Rat Mort--Albert must not be +disappointed--and a new place, they tell me. One must see all these new +places." + +"And we leave here soon?" + +"You are impatient!" + +"Only to be alone with you," she answered. "Even those few moments in +the automobile are precious." + +He smiled at her across the table. She was very pretty with her fair +hair and dark eyes, very Parisian, and yet with a shade of graceful +seriousness about her eyes and mouth. + +"Dear Marguerite," he said, "I wait only for one of my agents who comes +to speak to me on a matter of business. He is due almost at this +moment. After he has been here, then we go. Cannot you believe," he +whispered, dropping his voice a little and leaning slightly across the +table, "that I, too, will love to feel your dear fingers in mine, your +lips, perhaps, for a moment, as we pass to the Opera?" + +"It is a joy one must snatch," she murmured. + +"There is no joy in life," he replied, "which is not the sweeter for +being snatched, and snatched quickly." + +"And you a German!" she sighed. + +Henri appeared once more, and after him Estermen. Herr Freudenberg, +with a word of excuse to his companion, turned to greet the newcomer. + +"Well?" + +Estermen stood quite close to the table. He was distinctly ill at ease. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he said, "I have done my best. It was impossible +for me to obtain an introduction to this customer." + +"Impossible?" Herr Freudenberg repeated, his face suddenly becoming +stony. + +"Let me explain," Estermen continued hastily. "This customer arrived in +Paris last night or early this morning. He was called upon at once by a +lady who lives in the Avenue de St. Paul. She has told him a little +story about me--I am sure of it. He has refused to make my +acquaintance." + +"And you were content?" + +Estermen spread out his pudgy hands. + +"What can one do?" he muttered. "The man is quick-tempered. He dined +tonight in the country at the Maison Leon d'Or with madame. It was +there that I sought an introduction with him. It was impossible for me +to force myself." + +"You know where to find him, I suppose?" + +"I know the hotel at which he is staying." + +"Make it your business to find him," Herr Freudenberg ordered. "Bring +him with you, if before one o'clock to the Abbaye Theleme; if +afterwards, to the Rat Mort." + +Estermen looked stolidly puzzled. + +"Am I to mention the subject of the toys of Herr Freudenberg's +manufacture?" + +Herr Freudenberg tore a corner from the programme which lay on the +table between them, and wrote a single word upon it. + +"Study that at your leisure, my friend," he said. "Pay attention to the +task I impose upon you. Nothing is more important in my visit to Paris +than that I should make the acquaintance of this person. Much depends +upon it. I rely upon you, Estermen." + +Estermen thrust the morsel of paper into his waist-coat pocket. Then he +leaned a little closer to this man who seemed to be his master. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he began, "I spoke of a lady in the Avenue de St. +Paul, the companion to-night of the person whose acquaintance you are +anxious to make." + +"What of her?" Herr Freudenberg asked calmly. "There are many ladies, +without a doubt, who live in the Avenue de St. Paul." + +"The name of this one," Estermen continued slowly, "is Madame +Christophor." + +Herr Freudenberg sat quite still in his place. His eyes seemed fixed +upon a cluster of the roses which hung down from the other side of the +sweet-smelling barrier by which they were surrounded. Yet something had +gone out of his face, something fresh had arrived. The half +contemptuous curl of the lips was finished. His mouth now was straight +and hard, his eyes set, the deep lines upon his forehead and around his +mouth were suddenly insistent. He sat so motionless that his face for a +moment seemed as though it were fashioned in wax. Then his lips moved, +he spoke in a whisper which was almost inaudible. + +"Henriette!" + +From across the table his companion watched him. At first she was +puzzled. When she heard the woman's name which came so softly from his +lips, she turned pale. Herr Freudenberg recovered from his fit of +abstraction almost as quickly as he had lapsed into it. + +"I thank you, Estermen," he declared. "It is a coincidence, this. I am +obliged for your forethought in mentioning it. Until later, then." + +The man made a somewhat clumsy bow, glanced admiringly at Herr +Freudenberg's companion, and departed. Herr Freudenberg was shaking his +head slowly. + +"I fear," he said softly to himself, "sometimes I fear that I am not so +well served as might be in Paris. However, we shall see. For the moment +let us banish these dull cares. If you are ready, Marguerite, I think I +might suggest that the nearer way to the Opera is by the Champs +Elysees." + +She rose to her feet and gave him her hand for a moment as she passed. + +"If one could only find as easily the way to your heart, dear maker of +toys!" she murmured. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +AT THE RAT MORT + + +Julien had been back in the hotel about half an hour and in his room +barely ten minutes when he was disturbed by a knock at the door. +Immediately afterwards, to his amazement, Estermen entered. + +"What the devil are you doing up here?" Julien asked angrily. "How dare +you follow me about!" + +"Sir Julien," his visitor answered, "I beg that you will not make a +commotion. It was perfectly easy for me to gain admission here. It will +be perfectly easy for me, if it becomes necessary, to leave without +trouble. I ask you to be reasonable. I am here. Listen to what I have +to say. You are prejudiced against me. It is not fair. You have spoken +with a woman who is my enemy. Give me leave, at least, to address a few +words to you. You will not be the loser." + +Julien was angry, but underneath it all he was also curious. + +"Well, go on, then." + +"You are reasonable," said Estermen, laying his hat and stick upon the +bed. "Listen. Your story is known at Berlin as well as in Paris. There +is only one opinion concerning it and that is that you have been +shamefully treated." + +"I am not asking for sympathy, sir," Julien answered coldly. + +"Nor am I offering it," the other returned. "I am stating facts. There +are many who do not hesitate to say that you have been made the victim +of a political plot, conceived among the members of your own party; +that you are suffering at the present moment from your masterly efforts +on behalf of peace." + +"Pray go on," Julien invited. "I consider all this grossly impertinent, +but I am willing to listen to what you have to say." + +"The greatest man in Germany," Estermen continued, "when he heard of +your misfortune, declared at once that the peace of Europe was no +longer assured. I am here to-night, Sir Julien, without credentials, it +is true, but I am the spokesman of a very great person indeed. He is +anxious to know your plans." + +"I have no plans." + +"Your political future, then--" + +"I have no political future," Julien interrupted. "That is finished for +me." + +"But the thing is absurd!" protested Estermen. "There is no other man +but you capable of dealing tactfully and diplomatically with my +country. Your blundering predecessors brought us twice within an ace of +war. If the man takes your place to whom rumor has already given it, I +give Europe six weeks' peace--no more. We are a sensitive nation, as +you know. You learned how to humor us. No one before you tried. You +kept your alliance with France, but you were not afraid to show us the +open hand. There are those in Berlin, Sir Julien, who consider you the +greatest statesman England ever possessed." + +"I listen," Julien said. "Pray proceed." + +"It cannot be," Estermen went on, "that you mean to accept the +situation?" + +"I have no alternative," Julien answered. + +"It is not, then, a question of money?" Estermen ventured slowly. "The +Press tell us that you are poor." + +"Money, in this case, would scarcely help," Julien remarked. + +"There is no man in the world who can afford to despise the power of +money," Estermen said quietly. + +"Are you here to offer me any?" + +"I am not. Have you anything to give in exchange for it?" + +Julien laughed a little shortly. + +"I imagined," he declared, "that with your first remarks you had +climbed to the dizziest heights of impertinence. I perceive that I was +mistaken. I am a discarded minister,"--dryly. "I may be supposed to +have in my possession secrets for which your country would pay. Is it +not to those facts that I am indebted for the honor of this visit?" + +"Not in the least," answered Estermen. "Our own Secret Service keeps us +supplied with such information as we desire. My object in seeking you +is this. The Prince von Falkenberg is in Paris for a few hours only. He +wants to meet you. I have been ordered to arrange this meeting, if +possible." + +Julien did not attempt to conceal his interest. + +"Why on earth didn't you say so at once?" he exclaimed. "What does he +want of me?" + +Estermen shrugged his shoulders. + +"Who knows? Who knows what Falkenberg ever wants? He is here, there and +everywhere--today in Paris, tomorrow in Berlin, next week in Moscow. +Yet it is he, as you know well, who shapes the whole destinies of my +country. It is he alone in whom the Emperor has blind and absolute +confidence. If he holds up his hand, it is war. If he holds it down, it +is peace." + +"What does he do in Paris?" Julien inquired. + +Estermen shook his head. + +"He arrived this morning and disappeared. Tonight he sent me orders +that I was to search for you." + +"Where is he now?" Julien asked. + +"At eight o'clock tonight," Estermen said, "he declared himself to be +Herr Carl Freudenberg, dealer in German toys. He dressed, dined at the +Ambassadeurs with Mademoiselle Ixe from the Opera, sent for me, learned +that I was at the Maison Leon d'Or, telephoned there, and all for this +one thing--that I should bring you to him without a moment's delay." + +"But where is he now?" Julien asked again. + +Estermen glanced at the clock and at a piece of paper which he took +from his pocket. + +"It is one o'clock within a few minutes," he remarked. "Herr +Freudenberg is either at the Abbaye Theleme or the Rat Mort." + +Julien scarcely hesitated. + +"When you first came in," he admitted, "I felt like throwing you out. +How you got here I don't know. I suppose it is no use complaining to +the hotel people. But there is no man on the face of this earth in whom +I am more interested than Falkenberg. I shall change my clothes, and in +a quarter of an hour I am at your service. Wait for me downstairs." + +Estermen drew a little sigh of relief. "I shall await you, Sir +Julien," he declared. + +All Paris seemed to be seeking distraction as they drove in the +automobile along the Boulevard des Italiens. Julien sat with folded +arms in the corner of the automobile. He had no fancy for his +companion. He was anxious so far as possible to avoid speech with him. +Estermen, on the contrary, seemed only too desirous of removing the +impression of dislike of which he was acutely conscious. He talked the +whole of the time of the cafes and the women, of everything he thought +might be interesting to his companion. Julien listened in grim silence. +Only once he interrupted. + +"What brings Herr Freudenberg to Paris?" he inquired once more. + +Estermen was suddenly reticent. + +"He has affairs here," he said. "He is also like us others--a man who +loves his pleasure. You will find him tonight with a most charming +companion--Mademoiselle Ixe of the Opera. Before the coming of Herr +Freudenberg, I remember her well--the companion at times of many. +To-day she is changed, _triste_ when he is not here, faithful in a most +un-Parisianlike manner." + +They swung round to the left. + +"Herr Freudenberg," Estermen continued, "is a great lover of the night +life of Paris. He goes from one cafe to the other. He is untired, +sleepless. He seems to find inspiration where others find fatigue." + +Julien raised his eyebrows, but he said nothing. These were not his +impressions of the man whom they were seeking! + +They drew up presently at the doors of the Abbaye Theleme. There were +crowds of people trying to gain admission. Estermen elbowed his way +through. + +"Herr Freudenberg?" he asked of the man who stood at the door. + +The man's forbidding face changed like magic. + +"Herr Freudenberg left but ten minutes ago for the Rat Mort. Those who +inquired for him were to follow." + +Estermen nodded and touched Julien on the arm. + +"We will walk," he said. "It is at the corner there." + +They presented themselves at the doors of a smaller and dingier cafe. +Estermen elbowed the way up the narrow stairs. They emerged in a small +room, brilliantly lit and filled with people. The usual little band was +playing gay music. A corpulent _maitre d'hotel_ bowed as they appeared. + +"Herr Freudenberg," Estermen began. + +The waiter's bow by this time was a different affair. + +"Monsieur will follow me," he invited. + +At the corner table at the far end of the room--the most desired of +any--sat Herr Freudenberg with Mademoiselle Ixe by his side. They met +the flower girl coming away with empty arms. The table of Herr +Freudenberg was smothered with roses. There was a shade more color in +the cheeks of Mademoiselle Ixe, in her eyes a light as soft as any +which the eyes of a woman who loved could know. Herr Freudenberg, +unruffled, had still the air of a man who finds life pleasant. As the +two men came up the room, he rose and held out both his hands. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, "it is indeed my friend of Berlin! Welcome, dear +Sir Julien! We meet on neutral ground, is it not so? We meet now in the +city of pleasures. Let us sit for a little time and talk, and forget +that you and I once wrote a chapter together in the history--of +toymaking. But first," he added, turning to Mademoiselle Ixe, +"mademoiselle permits me to introduce a very dear and cherished +acquaintance to an equally dear and cherished friend. This gentleman, +dear Marguerite, and I make toys in different countries, and there was +a time when it was necessary for us to consult together. So he came to +Berlin and I have never forgotten his visit. For the present, join us, +dear Julien. You permit that I call you by your first name? It is after +midnight, and after midnight in Paris one permits everything. Now we +drink together, we three, for Estermen must leave us, I know. We drink +together to the making of toys, the building of toy palaces, and the +love of one another. Come, Monsieur Albert, see that your _sommelier_ +opens that bottle that you have chosen for us so carefully," he +continued, turning to the manager who was hovering close at hand. "This +is a meeting and we need the best wine that ever came from the +vineyards of France. A dear friend, Albert. Bow low to him, indeed, for +he is worthy of it. Afterwards we will perhaps eat something. Send your +waiter. But above all, monsieur, see to it that mademoiselle with the +fair curls dances once more. My friend, I think, would like to see her. +And we must have music. Let the band never cease playing. Ah! it is +here, dear Albert, that one learns to forget how strenuous life really +is. It is here that one may unbend. The wine!" + +While Herr Freudenberg talked the _sommelier_ had gravely served the +champagne in some tall and wonderful glasses brought from a private +cabinet by Monsieur Albert himself to honor his most treasured +visitors. Herr Freudenberg raised his glass, clinked it against the +glass of mademoiselle, clinked it against Julien's glass. + +"Come," he cried, "to our better acquaintance, to our better +understanding! Mademoiselle," he added, lowering his tone, "to the +eternal continuance of those things which lie between you and me!" + +Estermen had departed and Julien breathed the freer for it. +Mademoiselle Ixe chattered to him for a few moments, and Herr +Freudenberg whispered in the ears of Albert, who withdrew at once. + +"One must eat," Herr Freudenberg declared. "Albert has some peaches, +wonderful peaches from the gardens where the sun always shines. Peaches +and macaroons--afterwards coffee. Ah! my friend, you remember those +somber banquets when we all hated one another because we all fancied +that the other wanted what we had a right to? Ugh! When I think of +Berlin in those days, when no one smiled, when one's sense of humor was +there only to be kept down with an iron hand, why, it gives one to +weep! Mademoiselle, I have a prayer to make." + +"It is granted," she assured him softly. + +"Presently the orchestra shall play the music of Faust. You will sing +to us? Tonight is one of my nights, never really perfect unless some +minutes of it move to the music of your voice." + +She laughed softly. + +"Yes, monsieur, I will sing," she answered, "but not the Jewel Song +tonight. Send the _chef d'orchestre_ to me." + +At the merest signal he was there with his violin under his arm. +Mademoiselle whispered a word in his ear and he departed, all smiles. +The selection which they were playing suddenly ceased. _Monsieur le +chef_ alone played some Italian air, which no one wholly recognized but +every one found familiar. Slowly he walked around the tables, playing +still, always with his eyes upon Mademoiselle Ixe, and when at last he +stood before her, she threw her head back and sang. + +The clatter of crockery diminished, the waiters paused in their tasks +or crept on tiptoe about the place. Men and women stood up at their +tables that they might see the singer better; conversation ceased. And +all the time the _chef d'orchestre_ drew music from his violin, and +mademoiselle, with half-closed eyes, her head thrown back, filled the +whole room with melody. Even she herself knew that she was singing as +she never sang at the Opera, as she had never sung when a great +impressario had come to try her voice, as one sings only when the heart +is shaking a little, and as she finished, the fingers of her left hand +slowly crept across the table into the hand of Herr Freudenberg, the +toymaker, and her last notes were sung almost in a whisper into his +ears. The room rose up to applaud. The _chef d'orchestre_ went back to +his place, bowing right and left. Herr Freudenberg raised the fingers +that lay between his hand to his lips. + +"Ah, mademoiselle," he murmured, "I have no longer words!" + +Albert came back. Scarcely more than a look passed between him and Herr +Freudenberg. Then the latter rose to his feet. + +"Come," he said, "a little surprise for you. You, too, dear Julien. I +insist. This way." + +They passed from the room. As mademoiselle rose to her feet, people +began once more to applaud. + +"Mademoiselle will sing again presently, perhaps," Herr Freudenberg +answered a man who leaned forward. "We do not depart." + +He led the way to the head of the staircase and they passed into the +back regions of the place--dim, ill-lit, mysterious. Albert, who had +preceded them, threw open the door of a room. There was a small supper +table laid for three, more flowers, more wine. + +"It is that one may talk for five minutes," Herr Freudenberg explained. +"Mademoiselle!" + +But mademoiselle had already flitted away. The door somehow was closed, +the two men were alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM + + +Herr Freudenberg shrugged his shoulders and glanced at the +softly-closed door. + +"Mademoiselle is a paragon," he declared. "Always she understands. Sir +Julien, will you not sit down for a moment? Let me confess that this +little supper-party is a pretense. For five minutes I wish to talk to +you." + +Julien seated himself without hesitation. + +"My dear host," he said, "I left Berlin a year ago with only one +hope--or rather two. The first was that I might never have to visit +Berlin again! The second was that I might have the pleasure of meeting +you as speedily and as often as possible." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled--a quiet, reminiscent smile. + +"Even now," he remarked, "when I would speak to you for a moment on +more serious subjects, the strange humor of that round-table conference +comes home to me. There were you and I and our big friend from Austria, +and that awful dull man from here, and the Russian. Shall you ever +forget that speechless Russian, who never opened his lips except to +disagree? Sometimes I caught your eye across the table. And, Sir +Julien, you know, I presume, whose was the triumph of those days?" + +Julien smiled doubtfully. + +"Yours, of course," Herr Freudenberg continued. "The Press even +ventured to find fault with me. England, as usual, they declared, had +gained all she desired and had given the very minimum. However, we will +not waste time in reminiscences. To-day the only pleasure I have in +thinking of that conference is the fact that you and I came together. +When you left Berlin--I saw you off, you remember--I told those who +stood around that there went the future Prime Minister of England. I +believed it, and I am seldom mistaken. Tell me, what piece of +transcendental ill-fortune is this which brings you here an exile?" + +"I committed an act of transcendental folly," Julien replied. "I have +no one to blame but myself. I not only wrote an indiscreet letter, but +I put my name to it. I was deceived, too, in the character of the woman +to whom it was sent." + +"It is so trifling an error," Herr Freudenberg said thoughtfully, "made +by many a man without evil results. One learns experience as one passes +on in life. It is a hard price that you are paying for yours. Come, +that is finished. Now answer me. What are you going to do?" + +Julien laughed, a little bitterly. + +"My friend," he answered, stretching out his hand and taking a +cigarette from the open box upon the table, "you ask rather a hard +question. My resignation was accepted, was even required of me. +Politics and diplomacy are alike barred to me. There is no return. What +is there left? I may write a book. So far as my means permit, I may +travel. I may play games, take a walk in the morning, play bridge in +the afternoon, eat heavily and sleep early. What is there left, Herr +Freudenberg--tell me of your wisdom--for a man about whose ears has +come crashing the scaffolding of his life?" + +Herr Freudenberg looked across at his companion, and in that dimly-lit +room his eyes were bright and his lips firm. + +"To rebuild, my friend," he declared. "Choose another foundation and +rebuild." + +"You recognize, I presume," Julien said, "that I require a few more +details if your advice is to be of value?" + +"The details are here in this room," Herr Freudenberg replied firmly. +"Be my man. I cannot offer you fame, because fame comes only, nowadays, +to the man who serves his own country. You see, I make no pretense at +deceiving you, but I offer you a life of action, I offer you such +wealth as your imagination can have conceived, and I offer you +revenge." + +"Revenge," Julien repeated, a little vaguely. + +"Upon the political party by whose scheming that letter was first of +all elicited from you and then made public," Herr Freudenberg said +slowly. "Do you imagine that it was a thoughtless act of that woman's? +Do you know that her reward is to be a peerage for her husband?" + +"You, too, believe that it was a trap, then?" Julien remarked. + +"Of course. Don't you know yourself that you were a thorn in the flesh +to your own party? They hated you because you were not afraid to preach +war when war might have saved your country from what is to come. They +hated you because you were a strong man in a strong place, and because +the people believed in you. They hated you because the policy which +would have been yours in the four or five years to come, would have +been the policy which would have brought the country around you, which +alone would have kept your party in power. You were the only figure in +politics which the imperialist party in England had to fear. Mrs. +Carraby--I believe that was the lady's name--is ill-paid enough with +that peerage. Leave out the personal element--or leave it in, if you +will, for when I speak of my country I know no friendships--but, my +dear friend, let me tell you that I myself would have given more than a +peerage--I would have given a principality--to the person who threw you +out of English politics." + +Julien's eyes were bright. Somehow or other, his old dreams, his old +faith in himself had returned for a moment. And then the bitterness all +swept in upon him. + +"I think, Herr Freudenberg," he said, "that you are talking a little in +the skies. At any rate, it makes no difference. Those things have +passed." + +"Those things have passed," Herr Freudenberg assented. "There is no +future for you in England. That is why I wish to rescue you from the +ignominy of which you yourself have spoken. I repeat my offer. Be my +man. You shall taste life and taste it in such gulps as you wish." + +Julien shook his head slowly. + +"My friend," he said, "it is the cruel part of our profession that one +man's life can be given to one country alone." + +"Wrong!" Herr Freudenberg declared briskly. "I am not going to decry +patriotism. The welfare of my country is the religion which guides my +life. But you--you have no country. There is no England left for you. +She has thrown you out. You are a wanderer, a man without ties or home. +That is why I claim you as my man. I want to show you the way to +revenge." + +"You puzzle me," Julien admitted. "You talk about revenge. I know you +far too well to believe that you would propose to me any scheme which +would involve the raising even of my little finger against the country +which has turned me out." + +"Naturally," Herr Freudenberg agreed. "You do me no less than justice, +my dear Sir Julien. What I do hope that you have firmly fixed in your +mind is that I, despite your halfpenny papers, your novelists seeking +for a new sensation, and your weird middle class, I, Carl Freudenberg, +maker of toys, am the honest and sincere friend of England. The work +which I ask you to do for me would be as much in the interests of your +country as of my own, only when I say your country, I mean your country +governed by the political party in which I have faith and confidence. I +tell you frankly that an England governed as she is at present is a +country I loathe. If I raise my hand against her--not in war, mind, but +in diplomacy--if I strive to humble her to-day, it is because I would +cover if I could the political party who are in power at this moment +with disrepute and discredit. Why should you yourself shrink from +aiding me in this task? They are the party in whose ranks--high in +whose ranks, I might say--are those who stooped with baseness, with +deceit unmentionable, to rid themselves of you. Therefore, I say +strike. Come with me and you shall help. And when the time comes, I +think I can promise you that I can show you a way back, a way which you +have never guessed." + +Julien looked across the table long and earnestly. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he said, "if I answer you in the negative, it is +because of your own words. The love of your country, you told me not +long ago, is your religion. For her good you would make use even of +those you call your friends. Now I am sincere with you. I do not know +whether to trust you or not. For that reason I cannot attempt to +discuss this matter with you. I do not ask even that you explain +yourself." + +"You mean that at any rate you cannot trust me entirely?" Herr +Freudenberg replied. "Well, if you had, I should have been disappointed +in you. Still, I have said things that were in my heart to say to you. +We send now for Mademoiselle Ixe. Before very long we talk together +again." + +Herr Freudenberg touched the bell. A waiter appeared almost +immediately. + +"Find mademoiselle," he ordered. "Tell her that we wait impatiently." + +Mademoiselle was not far away. Herr Freudenberg passed his arm through +hers. + +"We return, I think," he said. "This little room has served its +purpose." + +Julien on the landing tried to make his adieux, but his host only +laughed at him. Mademoiselle Ixe held out her hand and led him into the +room by her side. + +"He wishes it," she murmured softly. "He has so few nights here, one +must do as he desires." + +The little party returned to their table in the corner. Somehow or +other, their coming seemed to enliven the room. There was more spirit +in the music, more animation in the conversation. Albert walked with a +sprightlier step. Then Julien, in his passage down the room, received a +distinct shock. He stopped short. + +"Kendricks, by Jove!" he exclaimed. + +Kendricks, sitting alone at a small table, with a bottle of champagne +in front of him and a huge cigar in his mouth, waved his hand joyfully. +Then he glanced at his friend's companions, frowned for a moment, and +gazed fixedly at Herr Freudenberg. + +"Julien, by all that's lucky!" he called out. "And I haven't been in +Paris four hours! I called at your hotel and they told me you were out. +Sit down." + +"I am not alone," Julien began to explain,-- + +Herr Freudenberg turned round. + +"You must present your friend," he declared. "He must join us." + +Julien hesitated for a moment. + +"Kendricks," he said, "this is my friend, Herr Freudenberg." + +The two men shook hands. Kendricks as yet had scarcely taken his eyes +off Herr Freudenberg's face. + +"I am glad to meet you, sir," he remarked. "It is odd, but your face +seems familiar to me." + +Herr Freudenberg leaned over the table. + +"My friend, Mr. Kendricks," he said, "you are, I believe, a newspaper +man, and you should know the world. When you see a face that is +familiar to you in Paris, and in this Paris, it goes well that you +forget that familiarity, eh?" + +Kendricks nodded. + +"It is sound," he agreed. "I will join you, with pleasure." + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg continued, "permit me to introduce my +new friend, Mr. Kendricks. Mr. Kendricks--Mademoiselle Ixe. We will now +begin, if it is your pleasure, to spend the evening. There is room in +our corner, Mr. Kendricks. Come there, and presently Mademoiselle Ixe +will sing to us, mademoiselle with the yellow hair there will dance, +the orchestra shall play their maddest music. This is Paris and we are +young. Ah, my friends, it comes to us but seldom to live like this!" + +They all sat down together. Herr Freudenberg gave reckless orders for +more wine. The _chef d'orchestre_ was at his elbow, Albert hovered +in the background. Kendricks leaned over and whispered in his friend's +ear. + +"Julien, who is our friend?" + +"A manufacturer of toys from Leipzig," Julien answered grimly. + +"The toys that giants play with!" Kendricks muttered. "I have never +forgotten a face in my life." + +"Then forget this one for a moment," Julien advised him quickly. "This +is not a night for memories. I have lived with the ghosts of them long +enough." + +Their party became larger. The little dancing girl came to drink wine +with them and remained to listen to Herr Freudenberg. A friend of +Mademoiselle Ixe--a tall, fair girl in a blue satin gown--detached +herself from her friends and joined them. Herr Freudenberg, with his +arm resting lightly around Mademoiselle Ixe's waist, talked joyously +and incessantly. It was not until some one lifted the blind and +discovered that the sun was shining that they spoke of a move. Then, as +the _vestiaire_ came hurrying up with their coats and wraps, Herr +Freudenberg lifted his glass. + +"One last toast!" he cried. "Dear Marguerite, my friends, all of +you--to the sun which calls us to work, to the moon which calls us to +pleasure, to the love that crowds our hearts!" + +He raised his companion's hand to his lips and drew her arm through +his. + +"Come," he cried, "to the streets! We will take our coffee from the +stall of Madame Huber." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +THE MORNING AFTER + + +Kendricks and Julien drove down from the hill in a small open +victoria. The sun had risen, but here and there were traces of a fading +twilight. A faint mauve glow hung over the sleeping streets. The +sunlight as yet was faint and the morning breeze chilly. As they passed +down the long hill, tired-looking waiters were closing up the night +cafes. Bedraggled revelers crept along the pavements with weary +footsteps. + +With every yard of their progression, the meeting between the two +extremes of life seemed to become more apparent. The children of the +night--the weary, unwholesome products of dissipation, rubbed shoulders +with the children of the morning--girls, hatless, in simple clothes, +walking with brisk footsteps to their work; market women, brown-cheeked +and hearty, setting out their wares upon the stalls; the youth of +Paris, blithe and strenuous, walking light-footed to the region of +warehouses and factories. Julien and Kendricks looked out upon the +little scene with interest. Both had been sleepy when they had left the +cafe, but there was something stimulating in the sight of this thin but +constant stream of people. Kendricks sat up and began to talk. + +"Julien," he declared, "this Paris never alters. It's a queer little +world and a rotten one. We are here just at the ebbing of the tide. +Don't you feel the hatefulness of it--the thin-blooded scream for +pleasure which needs the lash of these painted women, these gaudy +cafes, this yellow wine all the time? My God! and they call it +pleasure! Look at these people going to their work, Julien. There's +where the red blood flows. They're the people with the taste of life +between their teeth. Can't you see them at their pleasures--see them +sitting in a beer-garden with a girl and a band, their week's money in +their pocket, and the knowledge that they've earned it? Perhaps +sometimes they look up the hill and wonder at the craze for it all. Did +you see the stream coming up to-night--automobiles, victorias, +carriages of every sort; pale-faced men who had lunched too well, dined +too well, flogging their tired systems in the craze for more +excitement, more pleasure; eating at an unwholesome hour, smoking +sickly cigarettes, kissing rouged lips, listening to the false music of +that hard laughter? Look at those girls arm in arm, off to their little +milliner's shop. Hear them laugh! You don't hear anything like that, +Julien, on the top of the hill." + +"Of course," Julien remarked, stifling a yawn, "if you've come to Paris +to be moral--" + +"Not I!" Kendricks broke in roughly. "Bless you, I'm one of the worst. +A wild night in Paris calls me even now from any part of the world. But +Lord, what fools we are! And, Julien, we get worse. It's the old people +who keep these places going." + +"The older we get," Julien replied, "the harder we have to struggle for +our joys." + +Kendricks wheeled suddenly in his place. + +"Tell me how long you have known Herr Freudenberg?" he insisted. "How +many times have you been seen with him? Is it the truth that you met +him to-night for the first time?" + +Julien laughed. + +"My dear David!" he protested,-- + +"To tell you the truth, Julien," Kendricks interrupted, "there's some +hidden trouble, some mysterious influence at work which seems to be +upsetting the relations just now between France and England. To be +frank with you, I know that Carraby, at a Cabinet meeting yesterday, +suggested that you were at the bottom of it." + +Julien's eyes suddenly flashed fire. + +"D--n that fellow!" he muttered. "Does anybody believe it?" + +Kendricks shrugged his shoulders. + +"Scarcely. And yet, Julien, it pays to be careful. You can't afford to +be seen in public places with the enemies of your country." + +"Is Carl Freudenberg an enemy of my country?" + +Kendricks leaned back in his seat and laughed scornfully. + +"Julien," he exclaimed, "there are times when you are very simple! Do +you indeed mean that you would try to deceive even me? You would +pretend that I, David Kendricks, of the _Post_, don't know that +Herr Freudenberg and the Prince von Falkenberg, ruler of Germany, are +one and the same person? Maker of toys, he calls himself! Maker of +fools' palaces, if you like, builder of prison houses, if you will. No +man was ever born with less of a conscience, more solely and wholly +ambitious both for his country and for himself, than the man with whom +you talked to-night. You knew him?" + +"Naturally," Julien answered. "We met at Berlin." + +"The man is a great genius," Kendricks continued. "No one will deny him +that. They speak of his weaknesses. They talk of his drinking bouts, of +his plunges into French dissipation. The man hasn't a single dissipated +thought in his mind. He moves through this world--this little Paris +world--with one idea only. He gets behind the scenes. He comes here +secretly, drops hints here and there as a private person, lets himself +be considered a Parisian of Parisians. All the time he listens and he +drops his cunning words of poison and he works. What are his ambitions? +Do you know, Julien?" + +"Do you?" Julien asked. + +"It seems to me that I have some idea," Kendricks answered. "This is +your hotel, isn't it?" + +Julien nodded. + +"Are you going to stay here?" + +Kendricks shook his head. + +"I stay at a little hotel in the Rue Taitbout. I stay there because it +is full of the weirdest set of foreigners you ever knew. This morning +we breakfast together?" + +"Come and see me when you will," Julien invited, "or I will come to +you; not to breakfast, though--I am engaged." + +"To Herr Freudenberg?" Kendricks asked quickly. + +"To the lady whom your little friend, the manicurist, sent me to +visit," Julien replied. "Perhaps now you will tell me that she is an +ambassadress in disguise?" + +"I'll tell you nothing about her this morning," Kendricks said. "I'll +tell you nothing which you ought not to find out for yourself." + +"Do you think I may breakfast with her safely?" Julien inquired. + +"Heaven knows--I don't!" Kendricks replied. "No man is safe with such a +woman as Madame Christophor. But let it go. We dine together to-night. +I'll tell you some news then. I'm going to unroll a plan of campaign. +There's work for you, if you like it;--nothing formulated as yet, but +it's coming--perhaps hope--who knows?" + +The sun rose higher in the heavens, the mauve light faded from the sky. +Morning had arrived in earnest and Paris settled herself down to the +commencement of another day. Julien, for the first time since he had +left England, was asleep five minutes after his head had touched the +pillow. Herr Freudenberg, on the contrary, made no attempt at all to +retire. In the sitting-room of his apartments in the Boulevard +Maupassant he sat in his dressing-gown, carefully studying some letters +which had arrived by the night mail. Opposite to him was a secretary; +by his side Estermen, who appeared to be there for the purpose of +making a report. + +"Not a document," Estermen was saying, "not a line of writing of any +sort in his trunk, his bureau, or anywhere about his room." + +Herr Freudenberg nodded thoughtfully. + +"But these Englishmen are the devil to deal with!" he said. "The +luncheon is ordered to-day in the private room at the Armenonville?" + +"Everything has been attended to," Estermen replied. + +Herr Freudenberg was thoughtful for several moments. Then with a wave +of his hand he dismissed Estermen. + +"You, too, can go, Fritz," he said to his secretary. "You have had a +long night's work." + +"You yourself, Excellency, should sleep for a while," his secretary +advised. + +Herr Freudenberg shook his head. + +"Sleep," he declared, "is a waste of time. I need no sleep. As you go, +you can tell my servant to prepare a warm bath. I will rest then for an +hour and walk in the Champs Elysees." + +The secretary withdrew and Herr Freudenberg was alone. He picked up a +crumpled rose that lay upon the table and twirled it for a moment or +two in his fingers. The action seemed to be wholly unconscious. His +eyes were set in a fixed stare, his thoughts were busy weaving out his +plans for the day. It was not until he was summoned to his bath that he +rose and glanced at the withered flower. Then he smiled. + +"Poor little Marguerite!" he murmured. "What a pity!" + +He touched the rose with his lips, abandoned his first intention, which +seemed to have been to throw it into the fireplace, and put it back +carefully upon the table, side by side with an odd white glove. + +"Queer little record of the froth of life," he said softly to himself. +"One soiled evening glove, a faded rose, a woman's tears,--they pass. +What can one do--we poor others who have to drive the wheels of life?" + +He sighed, shrugged his high shoulders, and passed out. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +BEHIND CLOSED DOORS + + +Very soon after mid-day on the same morning, Herr Carl Freudenberg was +the host at a small luncheon party given in a private room of the most +famous restaurant in the Bois. His morning attire was a model of +correctness, his eyes were clear, his manner blithe, almost joyous. +There was no possible indication in his appearance of his misspent +hours. He was at once a genial and courteous host. Monsieur Decheles +sat at his right hand; Monsieur Felix Brant on his left; Monsieur +Pelleman opposite to him. The three men had arrived in an automobile +together and had entered the restaurant by the private way, but that +they were guests of some distinction was obvious from their reception +by the manager himself. + +The luncheon was worthy of the great reputation of the place. It was +swiftly and well served. With the coffee and liqueurs the waiters +withdrew. Herr Freudenberg, with a smile, rose up and tried the door. +Then he returned to his place, lit a cigarette, and leaned back in his +chair. + +"My dear friends," he announced, "now we can talk." + +Monsieur Pelleman smiled. + +"Yes," he admitted, "we can talk. In this excellent brandy, Monsieur +Carl Freudenberg, I drink your very good health. Long may these little +visits of yours continue." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled his thanks. + +"Monsieur Pelleman," he said, "and you, too, my dear friends, let me +assure you that there is nothing in the world which I enjoy so much as +these brief visits of mine to your delightful capital. No more I think +of the pressures and cares of office. I let myself go, and on these +occasions, as you know, I speak to you not in the language of +diplomacy, but as good friends who meet together to enjoy an hour or +two of one another's company, and who, because there is no harm to be +done by it, but much good, open their hearts and speak true words with +one another." + +Monsieur Decheles smiled. + +"It is a pleasure which we all share," he declared. "It is more +agreeable, without a doubt, to take lunch with Monsieur Carl +Freudenberg, and to speak openly, than to exchange long-winded +interviews, the true meaning of which is too much concealed by +diplomatic verbiage, with the excellent gentleman to whose good offices +are intrusted the destinies of Herr Freudenberg's great nation." + +"Monsieur," Herr Freudenberg said, "to-day shall be no exception. +To-day I speak to you, perhaps, more openly than ever before. To-day I +perhaps risk much--yet why not speak the things which are in my heart?" + +Monsieur Felix Brant took a cigarette from the box by his elbow, but he +felt for it only. His eyes never left the face of his host. Of the +three men, he seemed the one least in sympathy with the state of +affairs to which Herr Freudenberg had alluded so cheerfully. He watched +the man at the head of the table all the time as though every energy of +which he was possessed was devoted to the task of reading underneath +that suave but impenetrable face. + +"Gentlemen," Herr Freudenberg continued, "there have been many +misapprehensions between your country and mine. Ten years ago we seemed +indeed on the highroad to friendship. It was then--I speak frankly, +mind--that your country made the one fatal mistake of recent years. +Great Britain, isolated, left behind in the race for power, a weakened +and decaying nation, having searched the world over for allies, held +out the timorous hand of friendship to you. What evil genius was with +your statesmen that day! When the history of these times comes to be +written, it is my firm belief that it will be then acknowledged that +the genius of the man who reigned over Great Britain at that time was +alone responsible for the commencement of what has become a veritable +alliance." + +Herr Freudenberg paused. + +"There is no doubt," Monsieur Decheles asserted calmly, "that the +influence of the late king was immense among the people of France. He +appealed somehow to their imaginations, a great monarch who was also a +_bon viveur_, who had lived his days in Paris as the others." + +Herr Freudenberg nodded thoughtfully. + +"He is dead," he said, "and history will write him down as a great +king. Do you know that it is one of my theories that morals have +nothing to do with government? I doubt whether a more sagacious monarch +has ever reigned over that unfortunate country than the one we speak +of. So sagacious was he that he even saw the beginning of the end, he +saw the things that must come when he looked across the North Sea; and +notwithstanding his descent, notwithstanding all the ties which should +have allied him with Germany, he hated our people and he hated our +country with a prophetic hatred. But we gossip a little, gentlemen. Let +me proceed. I want you to realize that the policy of Germany for the +last five years has been wholly directed towards securing the +friendship of your country. I want you to realize that but for the +continual interference of Great Britain you would even now be in a far +more favorable position with us than you are to-day. Germany wants +nothing in Morocco. Germany's first and greatest wish is for a rich and +prosperous France. On the other hand, Germany is loyal to her +friendships, and fervent in her hatreds. The country whose humiliation +is a solemn charge upon my people is Great Britain and not France." + +Monsieur Decheles leaned back in his chair. Monsieur Felix Brant never +moved. + +"I want," Herr Freudenberg continued, "to have you think and consider +and weigh this matter. Why do you, a great and prosperous country, link +yourselves with a decaying power, against whom, before very long, +Germany is pledged to strike? These are the plainest words that have +ever been spoken by a citizen of one country to three citizens of +another. Herr Freudenberg, the maker of toys, speaks to his three +French friends as a thoughtful merchant of his country who has had +unusual facilities for imbibing the spirit of her politicians. +Gentlemen, you do not misunderstand me?" + +"It is impossible, Herr Freudenberg," Monsieur Decheles said, "to +misunderstand you for a single moment. Your hand is too clear and your +methods too sagacious." + +"Then let me repeat," Herr Freudenberg declared, "that before many +years are passed--perhaps, indeed, before many months--it is the +intention of my country either to inflict a scathing diplomatic +humiliation upon Great Britain, or to engage in this war the fear of +which has kept her in a state of panic for the last ten years. Keep +that in your minds, my friends. Friendship is a great thing, honor is a +great thing, generosity is a great thing, but I would speak to you +three citizens of France to-day as I would speak to her rulers had I +access to them, and I would say, 'Do you dare, for the sake of an +alliance out of which you have procured no single benefit, do you dare +to drag your country into unnecessary, fruitless and bloody war?' You +have nothing to gain by it, you have everything to lose. Let Germany +deal with her traditional enemy in her own way. And as for France, let +France believe what is, without doubt, the truth--that she has nothing +whatever to fear from Germany. I will not speak of the past, but the +greatest thinkers in Germany to-day regret nothing so much in the +history of her splendid rise as that unfortunate campaign of +Bismarck's. It is the one blot upon her magnificent history. Let that +go--let that go and be buried. I bring you timely warning. I come to +the city I love, for her own sake, for the sake of her people whom I +also love. I beg you to listen to these words of mine, to adjust your +policy so that little by little you weaken the joints which bind you to +England, so that when the time comes you yourself may not be dragged +into a hopeless and pitiless struggle." + +There was a moment's silence. Then Monsieur Decheles spoke. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he began, "what you have said we have been in some +measure prepared for. The more amicable tone of all the correspondence +between our two countries has been marked of late. Yet there have been +times, and not long ago, when your country has shown wonderful +readiness to treat with a rough hand the claims of France in many +quarters of the world. The more powerful your country, the greater she +is to be feared. Supposing France stood on one side while Great Britain +fell before your arms, what then would be the relations between France +and Germany?" + +Monsieur Brant spoke for the first time. + +"Herr Freudenberg, you remind me of the fable of the Persian who had +two men to fight, both as strong as himself. To the one he sent +ambassadors, with the key of his favorite gardens; the other he fought. +It is a great policy to deal with your enemies one at a time." + +Herr Freudenberg stretched out his arms across the table. + +"My friend," he pronounced, "without faith there is no genius. Without +genius there is no government. I only ask you to believe this one +thing. Germany is not and never has been the traditional enemy of +France. I ask you to study the whole question for but one single +half-hour, I ask you to read the commercial records of these days. Help +yourself to all the statistics that throw light upon this question, and +I swear that you will find that whereas Great Britain and Germany stand +opposed to one another under every condition and in every quarter of +the world, there is no single bone of contention anywhere between +France and Germany. Their aims are different, their destinies are +written. I ask you to apply only a reasonable measure of philosophy and +common sense, a reasonable measure of faith, to the things I say." + +There was a cautious tap at the door, a whispered message. Monsieur +Pelleman rose. + +"It is my secretary," he announced. "I fear, gentlemen, that we are due +elsewhere." + +"Herr Freudenberg, your luncheon has been delightful," Monsieur +Decheles declared, holding out his hand. "You have given us, as usual, +something to think of. These informal meetings between citizens of two +great countries will do, I am sure, more than anything else in the +world, to ripen our budding friendship." + +"Your words," Herr Freudenberg replied, grasping the hand which had +been offered to him, "are a happy augury. When we meet again, I shall +be able to prove the coming of the things of which I have spoken." + +They left him on the threshold of the room. The giver of the feast was +alone. Very slowly he retraced his steps and stood for a moment with +folded arms, looking down on the table at which they had lunched. His +natural urbanity, the smile half persuasive, half humorous, which had +parted his lips, had gone. His face seemed to have resolved itself into +lines of iron. As he stood there, one seemed suddenly to realize the +presence of a great man--a greater, even, than Carl Freudenberg, maker +of toys! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +"HAVE YOU EVER LOVED?" + + +Nothing which he had heard or imagined of Madame Christophor had +prepared Julien for the subdued yet manifest magnificence of her +dwelling. He passed through that small postern gate beneath the watch +of a butler who relieved him of his stick and gloves and handed him +over to a sort of major-domo. Afterwards he was conducted across a +beautiful round hall, lit with quaint fragments of stained-glass +window, through a picture gallery which almost took Julien's breath +away, and into a small room, very daintily furnished, entirely and +characteristically French of the Louis Seize period. A round table was +laid for two in front of an open window, which looked out upon a lawn +smooth and velvety, with here and there little flower-beds, and in the +middle a gray stone fountain. Madame Christophor came in almost at the +same moment from the garden. She was wearing a long lace coat over the +thinnest of muslin skirts, and a hat with some violets in it which +seemed to match exactly the color of her eyes. + +"So you have come, my friend of a few hours," she said, smiling at him. +"The fear has not seized you yet? You are not afraid that over my +simple luncheon table I shall ask you compromising questions?" + +"I am neither afraid of your asking questions, madame," he assured her, +"nor of my being tempted to reply to them." + +"That," she murmured, "is ungallant. Meanwhile, we lunch." + +Such a meal as he might have expected from such surroundings was +swiftly and daintily served. There was cantaloup, cut in halves, with +the faintest suspicion of liqueur, and a great globule of ice; an +omelette, even for Paris a wonderful omelette,--a _mousse_ of +chicken, some asparagus, a bowl of peaches, and coffee. After the +latter had been served, madame, with a little wave of her hand, +dismissed the servants from the room. + +"Sir Julien," she said, "I am not pleased with you." + +He sighed. + +"I regret your displeasure the more," he declared, "because I find +myself indebted to you for a new gastronomic ideal." + +"You are really beginning to wake up," she laughed. "When you first +arrived here, less than twenty-four hours ago, you thought yourself a +broken-spirited and broken-hearted man. You were very dull. Soon you +will begin to realize that life is a matter of epochs, that no blow is +severe enough to kill life itself. It is only the end of an epoch. But +I am displeased with you, as I said, because you have told me nothing. +This morning I have letters from London. I learn that through a single +indiscretion not only were you forced to relinquish a great political +career, but that you were forced also to give up the lady for whom you +cared." + +"You have ingenious correspondents," he remarked. + +"Truthful ones, are they not?" + +"I was engaged to marry Lady Anne Clonarty," he admitted. "It was, if I +may venture to say so, an alliance." + +Madame Christophor's eyes twinkled. + +"Once," she declared, "I met the Duke of Clonarty. I also met the +Duchess, I also saw Lady Anne. They were traveling in great state +through Italy. It was in Rome that I came across them. The Duchess was +very affable to me. I think you have rightly expressed your affair of +the heart, my friend. It was to have been an alliance!" + +Julien was thoughtful. Madame Christophor in a moment continued. + +"You know, my friend," she said, tapping the ash from her cigarette +into her saucer, "your misfortune came just in time to save you from +becoming what in English you call a great, a colossal prig." + +His eyebrows went up. Suddenly he smiled. + +"Perhaps," he admitted. "To be a successful politician one must of +necessity be a prig." + +"Not in the least," she reminded him swiftly. "There is the Prince von +Falkenberg." + +"The maker of toys," he murmured. + +"The maker, alas! of toys which the world were better without," she +replied. "But never mind that. For the sake of your ambitions you were +content, were you not, to marry a young woman with whom you had not the +slightest sympathy, in order that she might receive your guests, might +add the lustre of her name to the expansion of her husband's genius?" + +"Madame," he said, "we live a very short time. We live only one life. +Only certain things are possible to us. The man who tries to crowd +everything into that life fails. He is a dilettante. He may find +pleasure but he reaches no end. He strikes no long sustained note. In +the eyes of those who come after him, he is a failure." + +"This," she murmured, "is interesting. Please go on." + +"The man who means to succeed," he continued, "to succeed in any one +position, must sacrifice everything else--temperament, if necessary +character--for that one thing. When I left college, the study of +politics was almost chosen for me. It became a part of my life. As my +interest developed, it is true that my outlook upon life was narrowed. +I was content to forget, perhaps, that I was a man, I strove fervently +and desperately to develop into the perfect political machine. From +that point of view, nobody in England would have made me a better wife +than Lady Anne Clonarty." + +She nodded. + +"What a blessing that you wrote that letter!" + +"I don't know," he replied. "I still think it was a great misfortune. +Frankly, I have no idea what to make of my life. I don't know how to +start again, to deal with the pieces in any intelligent fashion. Now +that I am outside the thing, I see the narrowness of it all, I see that +I was giving up many things which are interesting and beautiful, many +friendships that might have been delightful, but on the other hand +there was always the pressing on, the big, vital side, the great throb +of life. I miss it. I feel to myself as a great factory sounds on +Sundays and holidays, when the engine that drives all the machinery of +the place is silent. I wander among the empty, quiet places, and I am +lonely." + +"Have you ever loved a woman?" she asked. + +Her voice had suddenly dropped. He looked across the table. Her lips +were slightly parted, her eyes fixed upon his. There was something +shining out of them which he did not wholly understand. He only knew +that the question seemed to have stirred him in some new way. An +intense sense of pleasurable content, a feeling as though he were +listening to music, stole through his senses. This was a new thing. He +was bewildered. He leaned a little further across the table. He found +himself watching the faint blue veins of her delicate fingers, noticing +the curious perfume of roses that seemed to come to him from the +flutter of the lace around her neck. + +"You are a man, Sir Julien. You must be thirty-five--perhaps older. Yet +somehow you have the look to me of one who has never cared at all." + +"It is true," he admitted. + +"Life," she declared, "is a strange place. A few months ago your whole +career was one of ambition. Misfortune came, or what you counted a +misfortune. You reckoned yourself ruined. It is simply a change of +poise. You turn now naturally to the other things in life. Do you know +that you will find them greater?" + +He shook his head. + +"It is too early for me to believe that," he said. "I will admit that +now and then in my forced solitude I have sometimes realized that one +may become too engrossed in a career of ambition. One may shut out many +things in life that are sweet and wholesome. But it is too early yet +for me to look back upon what has happened with equanimity and say that +I am glad to be a wanderer on the face of the earth, a homeless man, a +waif." + + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"You know that people are talking about you in London?" she asked +abruptly. + +He looked a little startled. + +"I know nothing of the sort," he replied. "I have scarcely looked at a +newspaper for weeks. Kendricks is over here with some story--" + +"Who is Kendricks?" she interrupted. + +"A journalist, an old friend of mine. What he told me, though, I looked +upon as simply a little more malice from my friend Carraby." + +"Tell me exactly his news?" + +"He told me," Julien continued, "that there is a good deal of unrest +over in London concerning our relations with France. The absolute +candor and completely good understanding which existed a short time ago +seems to have become clouded. Carraby is trying to suggest in English +circles that I have been using my influence over here against the +present government. The absurd part of it is that although I have been +in France for a month, I arrived in Paris only yesterday." + +"I was not alluding to that at all," she said. "It is in the country +places, at the by-elections, and twice in the House itself lately, that +things have been said which point to a certain impatience at your +having been dropped so completely. You know Brentwood?" + +"A strong, firm man," Julien replied, "but scarcely a friend of mine." + +"Well, in your House of Parliament, the night before last," she +continued, "he said that your country needed men at the Foreign Office +who, however great might be their love of peace, still were not afraid +of war, and your name was mentioned." + +Julien smiled. + +"They used to call me the fire-brand. I suppose I am in a great +minority. I have never been able to see that a wholesome war, in +defense of one's territory and one's honor, is an unmixed curse. It is +the natural blood-letting of a strong country." + +"No wonder you are unpopular in radical circles," she remarked, raising +her eyebrows; "but anyhow, what I really want to say to you is this. +Don't do anything rash. You have made the acquaintance of the most +dangerous man in Europe. Don't let him control your actions, don't let +him influence you. I want you always, whatever you do, to leave the way +open for your return." + +He shook his head. + +"I do not think that my return is ever possible." + +"Have you talked with your friend Kendricks?" she asked. + +"Not yet," he replied. + +"Hear what he has to say," she continued. "Bring him to see me if you +will." + +"I will try," he promised. + +They were silent for a moment, listening to the splashing of the +fountain outside and the distant hum of the city. + +"Do you know that you are very kind to me?" he said. + +"You were very much afraid of me yesterday," she reminded him. + +"Had I any cause?" + +She smiled. + +"I shall not tell you my secrets. You must find them out. I have +dabbled in politics, I have dabbled in diplomacy. I have not as a rule +very much sympathy with your sex, as I think you know. It has never +interested me before even to give good advice to a man. If I were you, +Sir Julien, beyond a certain point I would not trust Madame +Christophor, for when the time comes I have always the feeling that if +a man's career lay within my power, I would sooner wreck it than help +him." + +"Of course you are talking nonsense," he declared. + +"Am I?" she replied. "Well, I don't know. I can look back now to a +half-hour of my life when I loathed every creature that could call +itself a man." + +"But it was a single person," he reminded her, "who sinned." + +"His crime was too great to be the crime of a single man," she +asserted, with a quiver of passion in her tone. "It was the culmination +of the whole abominable selfishness of his sex. One man's life is too +light a price to pay for the tragedy of that half-hour. I have never +spared one of your sex since. I never shall." + +"So far you have been kind to me," he persisted. + +"Up to a certain point. Beyond that, I warn you, I should have no pity. +If you were a wise man, I think even now that you would thank me for my +luncheon and take my hand and bid me farewell." + +"Instead of which," he answered, smiling, "I am waiting only to know +when you will do me the honor to come and dine with me?" + +She shook her head. + +"I will make no appointment," she said. "Send me your telephone number +directly you move into your rooms. If I am weary of myself I may call +for you, but I tell you frankly that you must not expect it. If I see a +way of making use of you, that will be different." + +"May I come and see you again?" he begged. "You are dismissing me +rather abruptly." + +She shrugged her shoulders. She was looking weary, as though the heat +of the day had tried her. + +"I care very little, after all," she answered, "whether I ever see you +again. I wish I could care, although if I did the result would be the +same." + +"You asked me a question a short time ago," he remarked. "Let me ask +you the same. Have you never cared for any one?" + +"I cared once for my husband." + +"You have been married?" + +"Most certainly. I lived with my husband for two years." + +"And now?" he persisted. + +"We are separated. You really do not know my other name?" + +"I have never heard you called anything but Madame Christophor." + +"Well, you will hear it in time," she assured him. "You will probably +think you have made a great discovery. In the meantime, farewell." + +She gave him her hands. He held them in his perhaps a little longer +than was necessary. She raised her eyes questioningly. He drew them a +little closer. Very quietly she removed the right one and touched a +bell by her side. + +"If my automobile is of any service to you, Sir Julien," she said, +"pray use it. It waits outside and I shall not be ready to go out for +an hour at least." + +"Thank you," he replied. "Your automobile, empty, has no attractions." + +The butler was already in the room. + +"See that Sir Julien makes use of my automobile if he cares to," she +ordered. "This has been a very pleasant visit. I hope we may soon meet +again." + +She avoided his eyes. He had an instinctive feeling that she was either +displeased or disappointed with him. He followed the butler out into +the hall filled with a vague sense of self-dissatisfaction. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +KENDRICKS IS HOST + + +"You are going to spend," Kendricks declared, "a democratic evening. +You are going to mix with common folk. To-night we shall drink no +champagne at forty francs the bottle. On the other hand, we shall +probably drink a great deal more beer than is good for us. How do you +find the atmosphere here?" + +"Filthy!" + +"I was afraid you might notice it," Kendricks remarked. "Never mind, +presently you will forget it. You have never been here before, I +presume?" + +"I have not," Julien agreed. "I daresay I shall find it interesting. +You wouldn't describe it as quiet, would you?" + +"One does not eat quietly here," Kendricks replied. "Four hundred +people, mostly Germans, when they eat are never silent. The service of +four hundred dinners continues at the same time. Listen to them. Close +your eyes and you will appreciate the true music of crockery." + +"If that infernal little band would keep quiet," Julien grumbled, "one +might hear oneself talk!" + +"Let us have no more criticisms," Kendricks begged. "To-night you are +of the working class. You may perhaps be a small manufacturer, the +agent of a manufacturing firm in the country, a clerk with a moderate +salary, or a mechanic in his best clothes. Remember that and do not +complain of the music. You do not hear it every day. Let us hear no +more blase speeches, if you please.... Good! The dinner arrives. We +dine here, my friend, for two francs. You will probably require another +meal before the evening is concluded. On the other hand, you may feel +that you never require another meal as long as you live. That is a +matter of luck. In any case, you had better squeeze a little further +up. Madame and her two daughters are going to sit next to you, and +opposite there will be monsieur, and I judge the fiance of one of the +young ladies. It will be a family party. If there is anything in that +dish of _hors d'oeuvres_ which you fancy particularly, help +yourself quickly. In a moment or two there will be no opportunity." + +The two men were seated opposite one another at a long table in a huge +popular restaurant in the heart of the city. It was Kendricks' +plan--Kendricks, in fact, had insisted upon it. + +"You know, my dear Julien," he continued, "a certain education is +necessary for you. If only I had a little more time I should be +invaluable. You have taken all your life too narrow a view. That +wretched Eton training! You would have been better off at a +board-school. We all should." + +"You were at Winchester yourself," Julien reminded him, trying some of +the bread and approving of it. + +"For a short time only," Kendricks admitted, "and then you forget the +years after which I spent in the byways. Oh, I know my people! I know +the common people of America and England and France and Germany. I know +them and love them. I love the middle classes, too, the honestly +vulgar, honestly snobbish, foolishly ambitious, yet over-cautious +middle class. The extreme types of every nation lose their racial +individuality. You find the true thing only among the bourgeoisie. Oh, +if I only knew whether these people," he added, "understood English!" + +"You must not risk it," Julien warned him. "Madame has already her eye +upon you." + +"As a possible suitor for that unmated daughter on her right, I +suspect," Kendricks declared. "The young lady has looked at me twice +and down at her plate. Julien, you must change places." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort," Julien retorted. + +"If I ingratiate myself with this family and trouble comes of it," +Kendricks continued, "the fault will be yours. Madame," he added, +standing up and bowing, "will you permit me?" + +Madame had been looking at the bread. Kendricks gallantly offered it. +Madame's bows and smiles were a thing delightful to behold. +Mademoiselle, too, would take bread, if monsieur was so kind. When +Kendricks sat down again, the way was paved for general conversation. +Julien, however, practically buttonholed his friend. + +"Kendricks," he said, "you have told me nothing about England." + +"There is little to tell," Kendricks replied. "The little there is will +filter from me during the evening. We are spending a long evening +together, you know, Julien." + +"Heavens alive!" Julien groaned. "I am not sure that I am strong +enough." + +"Eat that soup," Kendricks advised him. "That, at least, is sustaining. +Never mind stirring it up to see what vegetables are at the bottom. +Take my word for it, it is good. And leave the pepper-pot alone. How +the people crowd in! You perceive the commercial traveler with a +customer? How they talk about that last order! The fat man facing you +puzzles me. I wish I could know the occupation of our neighbors. I am +curious." + +"I should ask them," Julien suggested dryly. + +"An idea!" Kendricks assented approvingly. "Let us wait until they have +drunk the free wine. You understand, my dear Julien, that you pay +nothing for that flask which stands by your side? It comes with the +dinner. It is free." + +Julien helped himself, and sipped it thoughtfully. + +"At least," he murmured, as he set his glass down, "one is thankful +that we do not pay for it!" + +"There are some," Kendricks remarked, "who prefer beer. Personally, I +like to preserve my local color. _Vin ordinaire_ in Paris, beer in +Germany. Madame!" + +Kendricks had caught madame's eye with the glass at his lips. He rose +at once and bowed. Madame acknowledged his graciousness with a huge +smile, which spread even to her double chin. Monsieur leaned forward +and joined in the ceremony. Mademoiselle, after a timid glance at her +mother, also responded. Kendricks' character as an Englishman of +gallantry was thoroughly established. + +"I am doing our national character good," he declared to Julien, as he +set down his glass empty. "As to my own constitution--but let that +pass. We will drown this stuff in honest beer, later on. How are you +getting on with the fish?" + +"It is excellent--really excellent," Julien proclaimed. "Do you mean to +say seriously that you are going to pay only two francs each for this +repast?" + +"Not a centime more," Kendricks assured him. "Do you know why I brought +you here?" + +"Part of my education, I suppose," Julien replied resignedly. + +"Quite true. Further than that, I am here on business for my paper. I +am here to study the effect of the German invasion of Paris. This place +is being spoken of as being the haunt of Germans. It still seems to me +that I find plenty of the real French people." + +"Do we pursue your investigations elsewhere during the course of the +evening?" Julien inquired. + +"The whole of our evening," Kendricks told him, "is devoted to that +purpose, and incidentally," he added, "to your education. We are going +for red-blooded pleasure to-night, for the real thing,--for the hearty +laughs, for the wholesome appetites; no caviare sandwiches, over-dry +champagne, rouged lips and Rue de la Paix hats for us. If we make love, +we make love honestly. Mademoiselle may permit a clasp of her hand--no +more." + +"So far," Julien remarked, "mademoiselle--" + +"That is for later," Kendricks interrupted briskly. "We shall go to a +singing-hall--a German singing-hall. The mademoiselles whom we meet +will probably have their own sweethearts. Somehow, to-night I fancy +that we shall be lookers-on. What does it matter? We shall at least see +life. We shall catch the shadows of other people's happinesses. It is, +I believe, the sincerest form. The chicken, dear Julien,--what of the +chicken?" + +Julien hesitated. + +"There is little to be said against it," he confessed. "The only +trouble is that it fails to arrive." + +Kendricks summoned a waiter, a task of no inconsiderable difficulty, +for the service was automatic--the dishes were set upon the table and +the waiter disappeared for the next lot. Anything intervening was +almost impossible. Monsieur, Kendricks declared, pointing indignantly +across the table, had not been served with chicken! The waiter shook +his head. It was unheard of! Monsieur had probably had his chicken and +forgotten it. The chicken had been brought, two portions. There was no +doubt about it. But where then had the chicken been hidden? Kendricks +became fluent. He looked under the table. He pointed to his friend's +empty plate. The waiter, only half convinced, departed with a vague +promise. Kendricks sipped his wine. + +"It is a regrettable incident," he declared, "but in the excitement of +conversation, Julien, I ate both portions of chicken." + +He had lapsed into French, the language in which he had argued with the +waiter. Madame was overcome with the humor of the affair. Mademoiselle +tittered as she leaned across and told her fiance. The unattached +mademoiselle looked her sympathy with Julien. Monsieur saw the joke and +laughed heartily. They looked reproachfully at Kendricks. To them it +was indeed a tragedy! + +"Madame," Kendricks explained, "it is not my custom to be so greedy. +The waiter set both portions before me, meaning, without doubt, that I +should pass one to my friend. Alas! in the pleasure of conversation in +these delightful surroundings,"--he bowed low to mademoiselle--"something, +I don't know what it was, carried me away, and I ate and ate until both +portions were vanished. Ah!" he exclaimed. "Triumph! The waiter returns. +He brings chicken, too, for my friend. Garcon, you have done well. You +shall be rewarded. It is excellent." + +The waiter, still with a protesting air, passed up the chicken. The +little party was convulsed with merriment. They all watched Julien eat +his tardy course. Kendricks, with an air of recklessness, sipped more +wine. + +"I flatter myself," he said, "that before very long I shall have taught +you to forget that you were ever a Cabinet Minister, that you were ever +at Eton, that you were ever at Oxford. One does not live in those +places, you know, Julien. One shrivels instead of expands.... My +friend, we have dined." + +"Is there nothing more?" Julien asked. + +"There is fruit," Kendricks admitted. "It was in my mind to spare you +the fruit. I see it to right and left of us being handed around--nuts, +a banana, apples whose exterior I trust is misleading. Never mind, you +have desired fruit and you shall have it. Waiter, monsieur desires his +fruit." + +The waiter disappeared and in a moment or two Julien was served. + +"Coffee, if you will?" + +"No coffee, thanks," Julien decided. "If we are really going to spend +the evening visiting places of entertainment of a similar class, let us +reserve our coffee. A large cigar, I think." + +Kendricks sighed. + +"I hate to go. Mademoiselle opposite is pleased with me. I have made a +good impression upon madame. Monsieur is ready to extend to me the +right hand of fellowship. One of those pleasing little romances one +dreams about might here find a commencement. In a week's time I might +be accepted as a son-in-law of the house. I see all the signs of assent +already beaming in madame's eye. Perhaps we had better go, Julien!" + +They took their leave, not without the exchange of many smiles and bows +with the little family party they left behind. They walked slowly down +the room, arm in arm. + +"We were fortunate, you see, in our neighbors," Kendricks declared. +"There are Germans everywhere here. One is curious about these people. +One wonders how far they have imbibed the manners and customs of the +people among whom they live. Are they still absolutely and entirely +Teutons, do you suppose? Do they intermarry here, make friends, or do +they remain an alien element?" + +"To judge by appearances," Julien remarked, "they remain an alien +element. It is astonishing how seldom you see mixed parties of French +people and Germans here." + +"It is exactly to make observations upon that point that I am in +Paris," Kendricks asserted. "My people are curious. They want me to +watch and write about it. Do you know that there is a feeling in +London, Julien, that we are reaching the climax?" + +Julien nodded. + +"I can quite believe it," he replied. "Falkenberg seems to show every +desire to force our hand." + +"May the Lord deliver us from a Germanized Paris!" Kendricks prayed. +"They may have the Ritz, if they will, and the Elysees Palace. They may +have all the halls of fashion and gilt and wealth. They may swamp the +Pre Catelan and the Armenonville, so long as they leave us the real +Paris. Come, we take our coffee here. This is a German cafe, if you +like. Never mind, let us see if by chance any French people have +wandered in." + +They drank coffee at a little table in a huge building, hung with +tobacco smoke, with the inevitable band at one end, and crowded with +people. Kendricks smiled as the waiter brought them sugared cakes with +their coffee. + +"It is Germany," he declared. "Look! An odd Frenchman or two, perhaps; +no French women. Look at the hats, the women's faces. The hats looked +well enough in the shop-windows here. What an ignoble end for them! +From an aesthetic point of view, Julien, nothing is more terrible than +the domesticity of the German. If only he could be persuaded to leave +his wife at home! Think how much more attractive it would make these +places. He would have more money to spend upon himself, upon his own +beer and his own pretzels, and in time, no doubt, a lonely feeling, a +feeling of sentiment, would overpower him, and the vacant chair would +be filled by one of these vivacious little women who might teach him in +time that blood was meant to flow, not to ooze like mud." + +"I shall begin to think," Julien remarked, "that you don't like +Germans." + +"There you are wrong," Kendricks replied. "In their own country I like +them. They have all the good qualities. Germany for the Germans, I +should say always, and me for any other country. We have drunk our +coffee. Let us go." + +They passed on to a music-hall, where they listened to a mixed +performance and drank beer out of long glasses, served to them by a +distinctly Teutonic waiter. Greatly to Kendricks' annoyance, however, +they were surrounded by English and Americans, and were too tightly +packed in to change their seats. On the way out, however, he suddenly +beamed. + +"Behold!" he exclaimed. + +He swept his hat from his head. It was their companions at the dinner +table. Madame was pleased to remember him, also mademoiselle. + +"I shall invite them to supper," Kendricks declared. + +"If you do," Julien retorted, "I shall go home." + +Kendricks heaved a long sigh as he regretfully let them pass by. + +"It's just a touch of Oxford left in you," he complained. "For myself, +I know that madame would be excellent company, and I am perfectly +certain that mademoiselle would let me whisper--discreetly--in her ear. +Alas! it is a lost opportunity, and from here we go--to who knows +what?" + +He was suddenly serious. Julien looked at him in surprise. They were +standing on the pavement outside. Kendricks consulted his watch. + +"You have courage, I know, my friend," he said. "That is one reason why +I choose you for my companion to-night. I have two tickets for a German +socialist gathering here. The tickets were obtained with extraordinary +difficulty. I know that your German is pure and I can trust to my own. +From this minute, not a word in any other language, if you please." + +"I am really not sure," Julien objected, "that I want to go to a German +socialist meeting. In any case, I am hungry." + +"Hungry!" Kendricks exclaimed. "Hungry! What ingratitude! But be calm, +my friend," he added, taking Julien's arm, "there will be sausages and +beer where we are going." + +"In that case," Julien agreed, "I am with you. Which way?" + +"Almost opposite us," Kendricks declared. "Come along." + +They paused outside a brilliantly lit cafe with a German name. Julien +looked at it doubtfully. + +"Surely they don't hold meetings in a place like this?" he muttered. + +Kendricks lowered his voice. + +"We go into the cafe first," he said. "The meeting is in a private +room. Come." + +They pushed open the swinging doors and entered the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +A MEETING OF SOCIALISTS + + +The _brasserie_ into which the two men pushed their way was +smaller and less ornate than the one which they had last visited. Many +of the tables, too, were laid for supper. The tone of the place was +still entirely Teutonic. Kendricks and his companion seated themselves +at a table. + +"You will eat sausage?" Kendricks asked. + +"I will eat anything," Julien replied. + +"It is better," Kendricks remarked. "Here from the first we may be +watched. We are certainly observed. Be sure that you do not let fall a +single word of English. It might be awkward afterwards." + +"It's a beastly language," Julien declared, "but the beer and sausages +help. How many of the people here will be at the meeting?" + +"Not a hundredth part of them," Kendricks answered. "It was a terrible +job to get these tickets and I wouldn't like to guarantee now that we +have them that we get there. Remember, if any questions are asked, +you're an American, the editor or envoy of _The Coming Age._" + +"The dickens I am!" Julien exclaimed. "Where am I published?" + +"In New York; you're a new issue." + +Julien ate sausages and bread and butter steadily for several minutes. + +"To me," he announced, "there is something more satisfying about a meal +of this description than that two-franc dinner where you stole my +chicken." + +"You have Teutonic instincts, without a doubt," Kendricks declared, +"but after all, why not a light dinner and an appetite for supper? +Better for the digestion, better for the pocket, better for passing the +time. What are you staring at?" + +Julien was looking across the room with fixed eyes. + +"I was watching a man who has been sitting at a small table over +there," he remarked. "He has just gone out through that inner door. For +a moment I could have sworn that it was Carl Freudenberg." + +Kendricks shook his head. + +"Mr. Carl Freudenberg takes many risks, but I do not think he would +care to show himself here." + +"It is no crime that he is in Paris," Julien objected. + +"In a sense it is," Kendricks said. "These incognito visits of his must +soon cease if they were talked too much about. Then there is another +thing. This cafe is the headquarters of German socialism in Paris, and +Herr Freudenberg is the sworn enemy of socialists. He fights them with +an iron hand, wherever he comes into contact with them. This is a +law-abiding place, without a doubt, and the Germans as a rule are a +law-abiding people, but I would not feel quite sure that he would leave +unmolested if he were recognized here at this minute." + +"You think he knows that?" Julien asked. + +"Knows it!" Kendricks replied scornfully. "There is nothing goes on in +Paris that he does not know. He peers into every nook and corner of the +city. He knows the feelings of the aristocrats, of the bourgeoisie, of +the official classes. Not only that, he knows their feelings towards +England, towards the Triple Alliance, towards Russia. He never seems to +ask questions, he never forgets an answer. He is a wonderful man, in +short; but I do not think that you will see him here to-night." + +The long hand of the clock pointed toward midnight. Kendricks called +for the bill and paid it. + +"We go this way," he announced, "through the billiard rooms." + +They left the cafe by the swing-door to which Julien had pointed, +passed through a crowded billiard room, every table of which was in +use, down a narrow corridor till they came face to face with a closed +door, on which was inscribed "Number 12." Kendricks knocked softly and +it was at once opened. There was another door a few yards further on, +and between the two a very tall doorkeeper and a small man in +spectacles. + +"Who are you?" the doorkeeper demanded gruffly. + +Kendricks produced his tickets. The tall man, however, did not move. He +scrutinized them, word for word. Then he scrutinized the faces of the +two men. Kendricks he seemed inclined to pass, but he looked at Julien +for long, and in a puzzled manner. + +"Of what nationality is your friend?" he asked Kendricks. + +"I am an American," Julien replied. + +"And your profession?" + +"A newspaper editor. I edit _The Coming Age_." + +"This is not altogether in order," the tall man declared. "The meeting +which we are holding to-night is not one in which the Press is +interested. We are here to discuss one man, and one man only. I do not +think that you would hear anything you could print, and as you do not +belong to our direct association here I think it would be better if you +did not enter." + +Kendricks stood his ground, however. + +"I must appeal," he said, "to your secretary." + +The little man in spectacles came forward. Kendricks stated his case +with much indignation. + +"Here am I," he announced, "editor of the only socialist paper in +London worthy of the title. I come over because I hear of this meeting. +I bring with me my American friend, the editor of _The Coming +Age_. For no other reason have we visited Paris than for this. If +you refuse us admission to this meeting, the whole of the English +branch will consider it an insult." + +"And the American," Julien put in firmly. + +The two men whispered together. The taller one, still grumbling, stood +on one side. + +"Pass in," he directed. "It is not strictly in order, but our secretary +permits." + +The two men passed on. The room in which they found themselves was a +small one and there were not more than fifty people present. It was +very dimly lit and they could barely make out the forms of the row of +men who were sitting upon chairs upon the platform. They contented +themselves with seats quite close to the door. No drinks were being +served here. Although one or two men were smoking, the general aspect +seemed to be one of stern and serious intensity. A man upon the +platform was just finishing speaking as they entered, and he apparently +called upon some one else. A large and heavy German stood up on the +centre of the slightly raised stage. He wore shapeless clothes and +horn-rimmed spectacles. His face was benevolent. He had a double chin +and a soft voice. + +"My brothers," he said, "at these our meetings we have many things to +discuss. We have little time to waste. Why beat about the bush? I am +here to speak to you of the greatest enemy our cause has in the +world--Prince Adolf Rudolf von Falkenberg." + +He paused. There was an ugly little murmur through the room. It was +very easy indeed to understand that the man whose name had been +mentioned was unpopular. + +"The cause of socialism," the speaker continued, "is the one cause we +all have at heart. In our Fatherland it flourishes, but it flourishes +slowly. The reason that we are denied our just and legitimate triumphs +is simply owing to the vigorous opposition, the brutal enmity, of +Prince Adolf Rudolf von Falkenberg. My brothers, this man has been +warned. His only answer has been a fresh and more diabolical measure. +He fights us everywhere with the fierceness of a man who hates his +enemy. It is our duty, brethren, that we do not see our cause retarded +by the enmity of any one man. Therefore, it is my business to say to +you to-night that that man should be removed." + +There was a murmur of voices, one clearer than the others. + +"But how?" + +The man on the platform adjusted his spectacles. + +"My brother asks how? I will tell him. Falkenberg loves war. We others +hate it. We work always to infuse throughout the army our own +principles and theories. Falkenberg falls upon them with all his might +and main. There are orders posted in every barracks in Germany. Our +literature is confiscated. Any man preaching our doctrines is drummed +out upon the streets. I say that these things cannot last. I say that +Falkenberg must go. A friend in the audience has asked how. I will +answer you. There is a body of men whose beliefs are somewhat similar +to ours, but who go further. It is possible they see the truth. But for +us at present it is not possible to accept their general principles. +This case is an exception. The anarchists of Berlin, one of whom, Franz +Kuzman, is here to-night, will dispose of Falkenberg for us if we +provide sufficient funds to make an escape possible, and an annuity for +the executioner should he live, or for his wife should he die." + +There was a slow, ominous murmur of voices. The fat man on the platform +beamed at everybody. + +"Kuzman is here upon the platform," he announced. "Does any one wish to +hear him?" + +Kuzman stood up--an awkward, rawboned, dark-featured man. In a coat +that was too short for him, he stood rather like a puppet upon the +platform. + +"If you delegates of the socialist societies decide that it is just," +he said, in a hoarse, unpleasant tone, "I am willing to see that +Falkenberg meets his reward. I can say no more. I do not fail. I move +against no one save those who deserve death and against whom the death +sentence has been pronounced. But when I do move, that man dies." + +He resumed his seat. The fat man went on. + +"Is it your wish," he asked, "that Kuzman be authorized by you to +arrange this affair?" + +The murmur of voices was scarcely intelligible. + +"Into the hands of every one of you," the fat man continued, "will be +placed a strip of paper. You will write upon it 'Yes' or 'No.' Kuzman +will be instructed according to your verdict." + +Some one on the platform bustled around. Kendricks and Julien were both +supplied with the long strips. In a few minutes these were collected. +The man upon the platform turned up the lights a little higher. He drew +a small table towards him and began sorting out the papers into two +heaps. One was obviously much larger than the other. Towards the end he +came across a slip, however, at which he paused. He read it with +knitted brows, half rose to his feet and stopped. Then he went on with +his counting. Presently he got up. + +"My brothers," he said, "there are forty-two papers here. Of these, +thirty-five agree to the appointment of Kuzman for the purpose we have +spoken of. Six are against it. One paper I will read to you. The writer +has not troubled to put 'Yes' or 'No.' This is what I find: + +"Falkenberg has served his Emperor and his country to the whole extent +of his will and his capacity. He has given his life to make his country +great. If he has been stern upon the cause of socialism, it is because +he does not believe that socialism, as it is at present preached, is +good for Germany. I vote, therefore, that Falkenberg live. + +"We desire to know," the speaker continued, "who wrote those words. +They do not sound like the words of one of our delegates. Johann and +Hesler, stand by the door. Turn up the lights. Let us see exactly who +there is here to-night, unknown to us." + +There was a little murmur. A man who sat only three or four places off +from Kendricks and Julien rose silently to his feet and moved towards +the door. It was as yet locked, however. From the other end of the room +the lights were suddenly heightened. The faces of the men were now +distinctly visible. A light in the body of the hall flared up. A man +was discovered with his hand upon the door handle. There was a hoarse +murmur of voices. + +"Who is he? Hold fast of the door! Let no one pass out!" + +The man turned quickly round. The light flashed upon his face. Julien +was the first to recognize him and he gripped Kendricks by the arm. + +"My God!" he muttered, "it's Falkenberg himself! Who is the man with +the key?" + +Kendricks pointed to him. They crept closer. Then that hoarse murmur of +voices turned suddenly into a low, passionate cry. + +"Falkenberg! Falkenberg himself!" + +The toymaker made no further attempt at concealment. He drew himself up +and faced them. They were creeping towards him now from all corners of +the room--an ugly-looking set of men, men with an ugly purpose in their +faces. + +"Yes, I am Falkenberg!" he cried. "I am here to spy upon you, if you +will. Why not? Kill me, if you choose, but I warn you that if you do +the whole of Germany will rise against you and your cause." + +"Don't let him escape!" some one shouted from the platform. + +"Gag him!" + +"It is fate!" + +"He is ours!" + +"A rope!" + +There was no mistaking the feeling of the men. Julien whispered swiftly +in Kendricks' ear. Simultaneously his right arm shot out. The man who +guarded the door felt his neck suddenly twisted back. Kendricks +snatched the key from his hand and thrust it in the lock. Some one +struck him a violent blow on the head. He reeled, but was still able to +turn the key. They came then with a howl from all parts of the room. +Julien felt a storm of blows. Falkenberg, with one swoop of his long +arm, disposed of their nearest assailant. + +"Get off, man," Kendricks ordered. "You first!" + +The door was wide open now. They half stumbled, half fell into the +outer cafe. The orchestra stopped playing, people rose to their feet. +Before they well knew what was happening, Falkenberg had slipped +through their midst and passed out of the door. One of the pursuers, +with a howl of rage, sprang after him, but he tripped against an +abutting marble table and fell. Kendricks and Julien stepped quietly to +one side, threading their way among the throng of customers in the +cafe. Loud voices shouted for an explanation. + +"It was a pickpocket," some one called out from among those who came +streaming from the room,--"a tall man with a wound on the forehead. Did +no one see him?" + +They all looked towards the door. + +"He passed out so swiftly," they murmured. + +Several of them had already reached the door of the cafe and were +rushing down the street in the direction which Falkenberg had taken. + +"There were two others," a grim voice shouted from behind. + +A waiter, who had seen the two men sit down, looked doubtfully towards +them. Kendricks pushed a note into his hand. + +"Serve us with something quickly," he begged. + +The man pocketed the note and set before them the beer which he was +carrying. Kendricks, whose knuckles were bleeding, laid his hand under +the table. Julien took a long drink of the beer and began to recover +his breath. + +"So far," he declared, "I have found your evening with the masses a +little boisterous." + +Kendricks laughed. + +"Wait till my hand has stopped bleeding," he said, "and we will slip +out. That was a narrow escape for Falkenberg. What a pluck the fellow +must have!" + +"It seems almost like a foolhardy risk," Julien muttered. "If those +fellows could have got at him, they'd have killed him. Have they gone +back to their room, I wonder? Let us hear what the people say about the +affair." + +"What was the disturbance?" he asked. + +The man shrugged his shoulders. + +"It was a meeting in one of the private rooms of the cafe," he +declared, "a meeting of some society. They were taking a vote when they +discovered a pickpocket. He bolted out of the room. They say that he +has got away." + +"Did he steal much?" Julien inquired. + +The man shook his head. + +"A watch and chain, or something of the sort," he told them. "The +excitement is all over now. The gentlemen have gone back to their +meeting." + +Julien smiled and finished his beer. + +"Is our evening at an end, Kendricks?" he asked. + +Kendricks shook his head. + +"Not quite," he replied, binding his handkerchief around his knuckles. +"If you are ready, there is just one other call we might make." + +"More German _brasseries_?" + +Kendricks smiled grimly. + +"Not to-night. We climb once more the hill. We pay our respects to +Monsieur Albert." + +"The Rat Mort?" + +"Exactly!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +AN OFFER + + +Kendricks, as they entered the cafe, recognized his friends with joy +openly expressed. + +"It is fate!" he exclaimed, striking a dramatic attitude. + +"It is the gentleman who ate both portions of chicken!" mademoiselle +cried. + +"It is the gallant Englishman of the Cafe Helder," madame laughed, her +double chin becoming more and more evident. + +"And yonder, in the corner, sits Mademoiselle Ixe," Kendricks whispered +to Julien. "For whom does she wait, I wonder?". + +"For Herr Freudenberg?" suggested Julien. + +"For Herr Freudenberg, let us pray," Kendricks replied. + +The husband of madame, the father of mademoiselle, the rightly +conceived future papa-in-law-to-be of the attendant young man, rose to +his feet in response to a kick from his wife. + +"If monsieur is looking for a table," he suggested, "there is room here +adjoining ours. It will incommode us not in the slightest." + +"Of all places in the room," Kendricks declared, with a bow, "the most +desirable, the most charming. Madame indeed permits--and mademoiselle?" + +There were more bows, more pleasant speeches. A small additional table +was quickly brought. Kendricks ignored the more comfortable seat by +Julien's side and took a chair with his back to the room. From here he +leaned over and conversed with his new friends. He started flirting +with mademoiselle, he paid compliments to madame, he suddenly plunged +into politics with monsieur. Julien listened, half in amusement, half +in admiration. For Kendricks was not talking idly. + +"A man of affairs, monsieur," Kendricks proclaimed himself to be. "My +interest in both countries, madame," he continued, knowing well that +she, too, loved to talk of the affairs, "is great. I am one of those, +indeed, who have benefited largely by this delightful alliance." + +Alliance! Monsieur smiled at the word. Kendricks protested. + +"But what else shall we call it, dear friends?" he argued. "Are we not +allied against a common foe? The exact terms of the _entente_, +what does it matter? Is it credible that England would remain idle +while the legions of Germany overran this country?" + +Monsieur was becoming interested. So was madame. It was madame who +spoke--one gathered that it was usual! + +"What, then," she demanded, "would England do?" + +"She would come to the aid of your charming country, madame." + +"But how?" madame persisted pertinently. + +Kendricks was immediately fluent. He talked in ornate phrases of the +resources of the British Empire, the perfection of her fleet, the +wonder of her new guns. Julien, who knew him well, was amazed not only +at his apparent earnestness, but at his insincerity. He was speaking +well and with a wealth of detail which was impressive enough. His +little company of new friends were listening to him with marked +attention; Julien alone seemed conscious that they were listening to a +man who was speaking against his own convictions. + +"Monsieur! Monsieur Julien!" + +It was the voice of Mademoiselle Ixe. She was leaning slightly forward +in her place. Julien turned quickly around and she motioned him to a +seat by her side. He rose at once and accepted her invitation. + +"I do not disturb you?" she asked. "It seemed to me that your friend +was talking with those strange people there and that you were not very +much interested. It is dull when one sits here alone." + +"Naturally," Julien agreed. "My friend talks politics, and for my part +it is very certain that I would sooner talk of other things with +mademoiselle." + +She was a born flirt--a matter of nationality as well as temperament, +and not to be escaped--and her eyes flashed the correct reply. But a +moment later she was gazing wistfully at the door. + +"You expect Herr Freudenberg?" Julien inquired. + +"I cannot tell," she replied. "I must not say that I am expecting him +because he did not ask me to meet him here. But I thought, perhaps, +that he might come--so I risked it. I was restless to-night. I do not +sing this week because Herr Freudenberg is in Paris, and without any +occupation it is hard to control the thoughts. I sat at home until I +could bear it no longer. _Eh bien!_ I sent for a little carriage +and I ventured here. There is a chance that he may come." + +"Mademoiselle permits that I offer her some supper?" Julien suggested. + +She hesitated and glanced at the clock. + +"You are very kind, Sir Julien," she answered. "I have waited because I +have thought that there was a chance that he might come, and to sup +alone is a drear thing. If monsieur really--Ah! Behold! After all, it +is he! It is he who comes. What happiness!" + +It was indeed Herr Freudenberg who had mounted the stairs and was +yielding now his coat to the attentive _vestiaire_--Herr +Freudenberg, unruffled and precisely attired in evening clothes. He +showed not the slightest signs of his recent adventure. He chatted +gayly to Albert and waved his hand to mademoiselle. He came towards +them with a smile upon his face, walking lightly and with the footsteps +of a young man. Yet mademoiselle shivered, her lip drooped. + +"He is not pleased," she murmured. "I have done wrong." + +There was nothing apparent to others in Herr Freudenberg's manner to +justify her conviction. He raised her fingers to his lips with charming +gayety. + +"Dear Marguerite," he exclaimed, "this is indeed a delightful surprise! +And Sir Julien, too! I am enchanted. Once more let us celebrate. Let us +sup. I am in time, eh?" + +"With me, if you please," Julien insisted, taking up the menu. + +Herr Freudenberg smiled genially. + +"Host or guest, who cares so long as we are joyous?" he cried, sitting +on mademoiselle's other side. "Although to-night," he added, with a +humorous glance at Julien, "it should surely be I who entertains! Dear +Marguerite!" + +He patted her hand. She looked at him pathetically and he smiled back +again. + +"Be happy, my child," he begged. "It is gone, that little twinge. It +was perhaps jealousy," he whispered in her ear. "Sir Julien has +captured many hearts." + +She drew a sigh of content. She raised his hand to her lips. Then she +dabbed at her eyes with the few inches of perfumed lace which she +called a handkerchief. It was passing, that evil moment. + +"There is no man in the world," she told him softly, "who should be +able to make you jealous. In your heart you know." + +He laughed lightly. + +"You will make me vain, dear one. Give me your little fingers to hold +for a moment. There--it is finished." + +He looked around the room with the light yet cheerful curiosity of the +pleasure-seeker. Then he leaned over towards Julien. + +"What does our shock-headed friend the journalist do in that company?" +he asked, with a backward motion of his head. + +Julien smiled. + +"He is devoted to madame with the double chin. He is apparently also +devoted to mademoiselle, the daughter of madame with the double chin. +He is contemplating, I believe, an alliance with the bourgeoisie." + +Herr Freudenberg watched the group for a moment with a slight frown. + +"They are types," he said under his breath, "absolute types. Kendricks +is studying them, without a doubt." + +He continued his scrutiny of the room. Then he leaned towards +mademoiselle. + +"Dear Marguerite!" + +"Yes?" + +"There is Mademoiselle Soupelles there," he pointed out, "sitting with +an untidy-looking man in a morning coat and a red tie. You see them?" + +"But certainly," mademoiselle agreed. "They are together always. It is +an alliance, that." + +"It would please me," Herr Freudenberg continued, still speaking almost +under his breath, "to converse with the companion of Mademoiselle +Soupelles. From you, dear Marguerite, I conceal nothing. I made no +appointment with you to-night because it was my intention to speak with +that person, and I could not tell where he would be. All has happened +fortunately. We spend our evening together, after all. See what you can +do to help me. Go and talk to your friend, Mademoiselle Soupelles. +Bring them here if you can. Sir Julien thinks he is ordering the +supper, but he is too late; I ordered it from Albert as I entered." + +Mademoiselle rose at once and shook out her skirts. She kissed her hand +across the room to her friend. + +"I go to speak to her," she promised. "What I can do I will. You know +that, dear one. But he is a strange-looking man, this companion of +hers. You know who he is? His name is Jesen. If I were Susanne, I would +see to it that he was more _comme-il-faut_." + +Herr Freudenberg laughed. + +"Never mind his appearance," he said. "He can drive the truth into the +hearts of this people as swiftly and as surely as any man who ever took +up a pen. Bring him here, little sweetheart, and to-morrow we visit +Cartier together." + +She glanced at him almost reproachfully. + +"As if that mattered!" she murmured, as she glided away. + +Julien turned discontentedly to his companion. + +"This fellow will take no order from me," he objected. "Do you own this +place, Herr Freudenberg, that you must always be obeyed here?" + +"By no means," Herr Freudenberg replied. "To-night is an exception. I +ordered supper as I entered. You see, there are others whom I may ask +to join. You shall have your turn when you will and I will be a very +submissive guest, but to-night--well, I have even at this moment +charged mademoiselle with a message to her friend and her friend's +companion. I have begged them to join us. On these nights I like +company--plenty of company!" + +"In that case, perhaps," Julien suggested, "I may be _de trop_." + +Freudenberg laid his hand upon his companion's shoulder. + +"My friend," he said earnestly, "it is not for you to talk like that, +to-night of all nights. If I say little, it is because we are both men +of few words, and I think that we understand. You know very well what +you and your shock-headed friend have done for me. Not that I believe," +he went on, "that it would ever come to me to be hounded to death by +such a gang. I am too fervent a believer in my own star for that. But +one never knows. It is well, anyhow, to escape with a sound skin." + +"Why did you run such a risk?" Julien asked him. + +"Partly," Freudenberg answered, "because I was really curious to know +what those fellows were driving at; and partly," he added, "because, +alas! I am possessed of that restless spirit, that everlasting craving +for adventures, which drives one on into any place where life stirs. I +knew that these people were plotting something against me. I wanted to +hear it with my own ears, to understand exactly what it was against +which I must be prepared. But now, Sir Julien, I question you. As for +me, my presence there was reasonable enough; but what were you doing in +such a place? What interests have you in German socialism?" + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"I cannot say that I have any," he admitted. "It was Kendricks who took +me. He is showing me Paris--Paris from his own point of view. He took me +first to a restaurant, where we dined for two francs and sat at the +same table with those people to whom he is now making himself so +agreeable. Kendricks has democratic instincts. His latest fad is to try +and instil them into me." + +Herr Freudenberg looked thoughtfully across at the journalist, still +deep in argument with his friends. + +"I am not sure that I understand that man," he declared. "In a sense he +impresses me. I should have put him down as one of those who do nothing +without a set and fixed purpose. But enough of other people. Listen. I +wish to speak with you--of yourself. I am glad that we have met +to-night. I have another and altogether a different proposition to make +to you." + +Julien remained silent for several moments. Herr Freudenberg watched +him. + +"A proposition to make to me," Julien repeated at last. "Well, let me +hear it?" + +Herr Freudenberg leaned towards him. + +"Sir Julien," he said, "there has happened to you, as to many of us, a +little slip in your life. It is a wise thing if for a few months you +pass off the stage of European affairs. You are of an adventurous +spirit. Will you undertake a commission for me? Listen. I will +guarantee that it is something which does not, and could not ever, by +any chance, affect in the slightest degree the interests of your +country. It is a commission which will take you a year to execute, and +it will lead you into a new land. It will require tact, diplomacy and +some courage. If you succeed, your reward will be an income for life. +If you fail, the worst that can happen to you is that you will have +passed a year of your life without effective result. Still, you will at +least have traveled, you will at least have seen new phases of life." + +Julien was puzzled. + +"You cannot seriously propose to me," he protested, "to undertake a +diplomatic errand for a country which has absolutely no claims upon +me--to which I am not even attracted?" he added. + +Herr Freudenberg tapped with his forefinger upon the table. Upon his +lips was a genial and tolerant smile. He had the air of a preceptor +devoting special pains upon the most backward member of his +kindergarten class. + +"My friend," he said, "there is no political question involved +whatever. The mission which I ask you to undertake would lead you into +a remote part of Africa, where neither your country nor mine has at +present any interests. More than this I cannot tell you unless you show +signs of accepting my invitation. The negotiations which you would have +to conduct are simply these. Four years ago a distinguished German +scientist who was in command of a somewhat rash expedition, was +captured by the ruler of the country to which I wish you to travel. For +some time the question of a mission to ascertain his fate has been upon +the carpet. It is true that we have received letters from him. He +professes to be happy and contented, to have been kindly treated, and +to have accepted a post in the army of his captor. We wish to know +whether these letters are genuine or not. If they are genuine, all is +well, but a suspicion still remains among some of us that the person in +question is being held in torture as an example to other white men who +might penetrate so far. This is the first object in the journey which I +propose to you. There is nothing political about it at all, as you +perceive. It is purely a matter of humanity.... Ah! I see that our +party is to be increased. Here are some new friends who arrive." + +Mademoiselle Ixe had succeeded. She returned now to her place, followed +by the girl with the chestnut-colored hair and her companion. At close +quarters the latter, at any rate, was scarcely prepossessing. He was a +man of middle age, untidily dressed, whose clothes were covered with +cigar ash and recent wine stains, whose linen was none of the cleanest, +and whose eyes behind his pince-nez were already bloodshot. Herr +Freudenberg, however, seemed to notice none of these unpleasant +defects. He grasped him vigorously by the hand. + +"It is Monsieur Jesen!" he exclaimed. "Often you have been pointed out +to me, and I have long wished to have the pleasure of making your +acquaintance. Sit down and join us, monsieur. Your little friend, +too,--ah, mademoiselle!" + +He bent low over the girl's hand and placed a seat for her. The party +was now arranged. Their host beamed upon them all. + +"Come," he continued, "this is perhaps my last night in Paris for some +time! We have had adventures, too, within these few hours. You find us +celebrating. My English friend here is one of us. I will not introduce +him by name. Why should we trouble about names? We are all friends, all +good fellows, here to pass the time agreeably, to drink good wine, to +look into beautiful eyes, mademoiselle, to amuse ourselves. It is the +science of life, that. Monsieur Jesen, mademoiselle, dear Marguerite, +my English friend here, let me be sure that your glasses are filled. To +the very brim, garcon--to the very brim! Let us drink together to the +joyous evenings of the past, to the joyous evenings of the future, to +these few present hours that lie before us when we shall sit here and +taste further this very admirable vintage. To the wine we drink, to the +lips we love, to this hour of life!" + +For the moment there was no more serious conversation. Herr Freudenberg +had started a vein of frivolity to which every one there was quick to +respond. Only every now and then he himself, the giver of the feast, +had suddenly the look of a different man as he sat and whispered in the +ear of Monsieur Jesen. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +FALKENBERG ACTS + + +At two o'clock, with obvious reluctance, Kendricks' new friends +departed. Their leave-taking was long and ceremonious. Kendricks, +indeed, insisted upon escorting mademoiselle to the door. Madame left +the place with the assured conviction that a prospective son-in-law was +soon to present himself--it could be for no other reason that the +English gentleman had so sedulously attached himself to their party. +Monsieur, having less sentiment, was not so sure. Mademoiselle had both +hopes and fears. They discussed the matter fully on their homeward +drive. + +Kendricks strolled over to the table where Julien was and touched him +on the shoulder. + +"Is this to be another all-night sitting?" he asked. + +Herr Freudenberg was deep in conversation with Monsieur Jesen--the +friend of mademoiselle's friend. He glanced up, but his greeting was +almost perfunctory. Kendricks looked keenly at the man who was leaning +back in his padded seat. The eyes of Monsieur Jesen were a little more +bloodshot now. He had spilt wine down the front of his waistcoat, cigar +ash upon his coat-sleeve. He was by no means an inviting person to look +at. Yet about his forehead and mouth there was an expression of power. +Herr Freudenberg, with obvious regret, abandoned his conversation for a +moment. + +"You are taking your friend away?" he remarked suavely. "We shall part +from him with regret. Sir Julien," he added, whispering in his ear, "I +must have your answer to my proposition. I will put it into absolutely +definite shape, if you like, within the next few days." + +"I move into my old rooms--number 17, Rue de Montpelier--to-morrow +morning, or rather this morning," Julien replied. "You might telephone +or call there at any time." + +"Tell me, is what I have proposed in any way attractive to you?" Herr +Freudenberg asked, still speaking in an undertone. + +"In a sense it is," Julien answered. "It needs further consideration, +of course. I must also consult my friend." + +Herr Freudenberg glanced at Kendricks and shrugged his shoulders. He +had the air of one slightly annoyed. Kendricks was bending over +Mademoiselle Ixe. Herr Freudenberg whispered in Julien's ear. + +"You take too much advice from your boisterous friend, dear Sir +Julien," he asserted. "Mark my words, he will try to keep you here, +cooling your heels upon the mat. He will prevent you from raising your +hand to knock upon the door of destiny. These men who write are like +that. They do not understand action." + +Kendricks turned from mademoiselle. + +"You are ready, Julien?" he asked. + +"Quite," Julien answered. + +They made their adieux. Herr Freudenberg watched them leave the room. +The man by his side--Monsieur Jesen--also watched a little curiously. + +"An English journalist," Herr Freudenberg remarked, "some say a man of +ability. I find him a trifle boisterous and uncouth. Monsieur Jesen, +our conversation interests me immensely. I feel sure--" + +Jesen looked suspiciously around. + +"We have talked enough of business," he declared. "It is an idea, this +of yours. For the rest, I cannot tell. A wonderful idea!" he continued. +"And as for me, am I not the man to embrace it?" + +"You have but to say a single word," Herr Freudenberg reminded him +softly, "and all is arranged." + +Monsieur Jesen puffed furiously at a cigarette. The fingers which had +held the match to it were shaking. The man himself seemed unsteady on +his seat. Yet it was obvious that his brain was working. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he said, "there is but one weak point in all your +chain of arguments. To do as you ask, it will be necessary that I--I, +Paul Jesen, so well-known, whose opinions are followed by millions of +my country people--it would be necessary for me to abandon my +convictions, to turn a right-about-face. Ask yourself, is it not like +selling one's honor when one writes the things one does not believe?" + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. + +"My friend, you ask me a question the reply to which is already spoken. +I tell you that behind, at the back of your brain, you know and realize +the truth of all these things. Think, man! Call to mind the arguments I +have used. Remember, I have lifted the curtain, I have shown you the +things that arrive, the things that are inevitable." + +Mademoiselle, the companion of Monsieur Jesen, had had enough of this. +It was her weekly holiday. She yawned and tapped her friend upon the +arm. + +"My dear Paul," she protested, "while you and Herr Freudenberg talk as +two men who have immense affairs, Marguerite and I we weary ourselves. +If I am to be alone like this, very good. I speak to my friends. There +is Monsieur de Chaussin there. He throws me a kiss. Do you wish that I +sit with him? He looks, indeed, as though he had plenty to say! Or +there is the melancholy Italian gentleman, who raises his glass always +when I look. And the two Americans--" + +"You have reason, little one," Monsieur Jesen interrupted. "Herr +Freudenberg, this is no place for such a discussion." + +"Agreed!" Herr Freudenberg exclaimed. "We owe our apologies to +mademoiselle, your charming friend, and mademoiselle, my adored +companion," he added, turning to Marguerite. "Come, let us drink more +wine. Let us talk together. What is your pleasure, mademoiselle, the +friend of my good friend, Monsieur Jesen? Will you have them dance to +us? Is there music to which you would listen? Or shall we pray +Marguerite here that she sings? Let us, at any rate, be gay. And for +the rest, Monsieur Jesen, time has no count for us who live our lives. +When we leave here, you and I will talk more." + +It was daylight before they left. The whole party got into Herr +Freudenberg's motor. + +"I drive you first to your rooms, Monsieur Jesen," he said. "I take +then the liberty of entering with you. The little conversation which we +have begun is best concluded within the shelter of four walls." + +Monsieur Jesen was excited yet nervous. + +"It is too late," he muttered, "to talk business." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. + +"Ah!" he cried, "you jest, my friend. Look out of that window. You see +the sunshine in the streets, you breathe the fresh, clear air? Too +late, indeed! It is morning, and the brain is keenest then. Don't you +feel the fumes of the hot room, of the wine, of the tobacco smoke, all +pass away with the touch of that soft wind?" + +Monsieur Jesen stared. He was conscious of a very bad headache, an +uncomfortable sense that he had, as usual on his weekly holiday, eaten +and drunk and smoked a great deal more than was good for him. He gazed +with wonder at this tall, spare-looking man, who had drunk as much and +smoked as much and eaten as much as any one else, and yet appeared +exactly as he had done four hours ago. Even his linen was still +spotless. His eyes were bright, his manner buoyant. + +"Monsieur," he murmured, "you are marvelous. I have never before met a +German merchant like you." + +Herr Freudenberg sat quite still for a moment. He looked at +mademoiselle, the friend of Monsieur Jesen, and he realized that theirs +was no casual acquaintance. In both he recognized the characteristics +of fidelity. As he had always the genius to do, he took his risks. + +"Monsieur Jesen," he announced, "I am no German maker of toys. Let me +ascend with you to your room and you shall hear who I am and why I have +said these things to you." + +Monsieur Jesen held his hand to his head. Something in the manner of +this new friend of his was, in a sense, mesmeric. + +"You shall ascend, monsieur," he said. "I do not know who you are, but +you are evidently a very wonderful person. We will ascend and you shall +wait while I place my head in cold water and Susanne mixes me some +absinthe. Then I will listen." + +The automobile came to a standstill about halfway down a shabby street +in a somewhat shabby neighborhood. Herr Freudenberg noticed this fact +without change of countenance, but with secret pleasure. He turned to +Marguerite. + +"Dear Marguerite," he whispered, "for an hour or so I must leave you. +You will permit that my man takes you to your apartments and returns +for me here?" + +"May I not wait for you here in the automobile?" she asked timidly. + +Herr Freudenberg shook his head kindly. + +"Dear little one," he murmured, "not this morning. Indeed, I have +important affairs on hand. As soon as I am free, I will telephone. +Sleep well, little girl." + +He stepped out on to the pavement. The postern door in front of them +was opened, in response to Monsieur Jesen's vigorous knocking, from +some invisible place by a string. The three of them climbed four +flights of rickety stairs. They reached at last a stone landing. +Monsieur Jesen threw open a door and led the way into an untidy-looking +salon. + +"Monsieur will forgive the fact," he begged, "that I am not better +housed. If it were not for little Susanne here," he added, patting her +upon the shoulder, "I doubt whether I should keep a roof above my head +at all." + +"It is not like this," Herr Freudenberg declared, "that genius should +be treated." + +"Indeed," Mademoiselle Susanne intervened, "it is what I tell him +always. Monsieur, they pay him but a beggarly three hundred francs a +month--he, who writes all the editorials; he, who is the spirit of the +papers! It is not fair. I tell dear Paul that it is wicked, and, as he +says, the money, if it were not for me, he would squander it in a +minute. I have even to go with him to the office, for there are many +who know when Paul draws his little cheque." + +Herr Freudenberg set down his hat upon the table. He looked around at +all the evidences of unclean and sordid life. Then he looked at the +man. It was a queer housing, this, for genius! His face remained +expressionless. Of the disgust he felt he showed no sign. In the +building of houses one must use many tools! + +"Monsieur Jesen," he said, "and mademoiselle--I speak to you both, for +I recognize that between you there is indeed a union of sympathy and +souls. Mademoiselle, then, I address myself to you. On certain terms I +have offered to purchase for Monsieur Paul here a two-thirds share of +the newspaper upon which he works, that two-thirds share which he and I +both know is in the market at this moment. I am willing at mid-day +to-morrow, or rather to-day, to place within his hands the sum +required. I am willing to send my notary with him to the office, and +the affair could be arranged at half-past twelve. From then he +practically owns _Le Jour_. Its politics are his to control. I +make him this offer, mademoiselle, and it is a greater one than it +sounds, for the money which I place in his hands to make this +purchase--five hundred thousand francs--is his completely and +absolutely. You move at once into apartments befitting your new +position. Monsieur Paul Jesen is no longer a struggling and ill-paid +journalist. He is the proprietor of an important journal, through whose +columns he shall help to guide the policy of your nation." + +Monsieur Jesen sat down. His fingers were clutching one another. +Mademoiselle stared at Herr Freudenberg. Her color was coming and +going. + +"Monsieur, I do not understand!" she cried. "Are you a prince in +disguise? Why do you do this?" + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg replied, "your question is the +question of an intelligent woman. Why do I do this? Not for nothing, I +assure you. It is my custom to make bargains, indeed, but I make them +so that those with whom I deal shall never regret the day they met Herr +Freudenberg. I offer you this splendid future, you and Monsieur Jesen +there, on one condition, and it is a small one, for already the truth +has found its way a little into his brain. _Le Jour_ has supported +always, wholly and entirely, the _entente_ between Great Britain +and your country. I have tried to point out to Paul Jesen here what all +far-seeing people must soon appreciate--that the _entente_ is +doomed." + +The girl glanced at Jesen. Jesen was looking away out of the dusty +window. + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg continued, "I will not weary you at +this hour in the morning with politics. I have talked long with +Monsieur Jesen and I think that I have shown him something of the +truth. You came to the rescue of Great Britain when she lay friendless +and powerless. You saved her prestige; you saved her, without doubt, +from invasion. What have you gained? Nothing! What can you ever gain? +Nothing! Her army of toy soldiers would be of less use to you than a +single corps from across the Elbe. Her fleet--you have no possessions +to guard. It is for herself only that she maintains it. I ask you to +think quietly for yourself and ask yourself on whose side is the +balance of advantage. You can reply to that question in one way, and +one way only. France has been carried away on a wave of enthusiasm, a +wave of sentiment--call it what you will. But France is a far-seeing +people. The moment is ripe. I propose to Paul Jesen that his should be +the hand and _Le Jour_ the vehicle which shall bring the French +people to a proper understanding of the political situation." + +"Who, then, are you?" Mademoiselle Susanne persisted. + +Herr Freudenberg barely hesitated. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "we speak of great things, we three, in this +little chamber of yours. I, who have often talked of great things +before, have learned in life one lesson at least, and that is when one +may trust. It is not my desire that many people should know who I am. +It suits my purpose better to move in Paris as a private citizen, but +to you two let me tell the truth. I am Prince Falkenberg." + +There was a silence. The man looked at him, sober enough now, in +amazement. The girl's hands were clasped together. She was watching the +man--her man. She crept to his side, her arm was around his neck. + +"Dear Paul," she whispered, "think! Think how sweet life might be. +There is so much truth in all this. I know little of politics, but +think of the hard times we have lived through. Think how glorious to +have you ride in your automobile to the offices of your newspaper, to +see you pass into the editor's sanctum instead of waiting outside, to +have me call for you, perhaps, and take you out to lunch--no, never at +Drevel's any more--at the Cafe de Paris, or Henry's, or Paillard's, or +out in the Bois! And the excursions, dear Paul. Think of them! The +country--how we both love the country! You remember when we first went +out together to the little town on the river, where no one ever seemed +to have come from Paris before? How sleepy and quiet the long +afternoon, when we lay in the grass and heard the birds sing, and the +murmur of the river, and we had only a few francs for our dinner, and +we had to leave the train and walk that last four miles because you had +drunk one more _bock_. Dear Paul, think what life might be if one +were really rich!" + +The man's eyes flashed. + +"It is true," he muttered. "All my life I have been a straggler." + +"You have done your genius an ill turn, my friend," Herr Freudenberg +said slowly. "No man can be at his best who knows care. I, Prince +Falkenberg, I promise you that it is the truth which I have spoken, the +truth which I shall show you. You lose no shadow of honor or +self-respect. There will come a day when the millions of readers whom +you shall influence will say to themselves--'Paul Jesen, he is the man +who saw the truth. It is he who has saved France.' You accept?" + +"Monsieur le Prince," Susanne cried, "he accepts!" + +Jesen rose to his feet. He had become a little unsteady again. He +struck the table with his fist. + +"I accept!" he declared. + + + + + + +BOOK TWO + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +THE FLIGHT OF LADY ANNE + + +It was exactly nine forty-five in the evening, about three weeks +later, when the two-twenty from London steamed into the Gare du Nord. +Julien, from his place among the little crowd wedged in behind the +gates, gazed with blank amazement at the girl who, among the first to +leave the train, was presenting her ticket to the collector. At that +moment she recognized him. With a purely mechanical effort he raised +his hat and held out his hand. + +"Lady Anne!" he exclaimed. "Why--I had no idea you were coming to +Paris," he added weakly. + +She laughed--the same frank, good-humored laugh, except that she seemed +to lack just a little of her usual self-possession. + +"Neither did I," she confessed, "until this morning." + +He looked at her blankly. She was carrying her own jewel-case. He could +see no signs of a maid or any party. + +"But tell me," he asked, "where are the rest of your people?" + +She shook her head. + +"Nowhere. I am quite alone." + +Julien was speechless. + +"You must really forgive me," he continued, after a moment's pause, "if +I seem stupid. It is scarcely a month ago since I read of your +engagement to Harbord. The papers all said that you were to be married +at once." + +She nodded. + +"That's exactly it," she said. "That's why I am here." + +"What, you mean that you are going to be married here?" asked Julien. + +"I am not going to be married at all," she replied cheerfully. "Between +ourselves, Julien," she added, "I found I couldn't go through with it." + +"Couldn't go through with it!" he repeated feebly. + +Lady Anne was beginning to recover herself. + +"Don't be stupid," she begged. "You used to be quick enough. Can't you +see what has happened? I became engaged to the little beast. I stood it +for three weeks. I didn't mind him at the other end of the room, but +when he began to talk about privileges and attempt to take liberties, I +found I couldn't bear the creature anywhere near me. Then all of a +sudden I woke up this morning and remembered that we were to be married +in a week. That was quite enough for me. I slipped out after lunch, +caught the two-twenty train, and here I am." + +"Exactly," Julien agreed. "Here you are." + +"With my luggage," she continued, swinging the jewel-case in her hand +and laughing in his face. + +"With your luggage," Julien echoed. "Seriously, is that all that you +have brought?" + +"Every bit," she answered. "You know mother?" + +"Yes, I know your mother!" he admitted. + +"Well, I didn't exactly feel like taking her into my confidence," Lady +Anne explained, smiling. "Under those circumstances, I thought it just +as well to make my departure as quietly as possible." + +"Then they don't know where you are?" + +"Really," she assured him, "you are becoming quite intelligent. They do +not." + +"In other words, you've run away?" + +"Marvelous!" she murmured. "I suppose it's the air over here." + +A sudden idea swept into Julien's mind. Of course, it was ridiculous, +yet for a moment his heart gave a little jump. Perhaps she divined his +thought, for her next words disposed of it effectually. + +"Of course, I knew that you were in Paris, but I had no idea that we +should meet, certainly not like this. I have a dear friend to whose +apartments I shall go at once. She is a milliner." + +"She is a what?" Julien asked blankly. + +A smile played about Lady Anne's lips. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "you know, you never did understand +me! I repeat that she is a milliner and that she is a dear friend of +mine, and I am going just as I am to tell her that I have come to spend +the night. She will have to find me rooms, she will have to help me +find employment." + +Kendricks, who had come by the same train, and whom Julien was there to +meet, was hovering in the background. Julien, seeing him, could do no +more than nod vaguely. + +"Lady Anne," he began,-- + +"You needn't bother about that," she interrupted. "We were always good +friends, weren't we?" she added carelessly. "Besides, to call me 'Lady' +anything would be rather ridiculous under the present circumstances." + +"Well, Anne, then," he said, "please let me get my bearings. I +understand that you were engaged to Harbord--you weren't forced into +it, I suppose?" + +"Not at all. I tried to run along the usual groove, but I came up +against something too big for me. I don't know how other girls do it. I +simply found I couldn't. Samuel Harbord is rather by way of being +something outrageous, you know." + +"Of course he is," Julien agreed, with sudden appreciation of the fact. + +"You needn't be so vigorous about it. I remember your almost forcing +him on to me the day you called to say good-bye." + +"I was talking rubbish," Julien asserted. "You see, I was in rather an +unfortunate position myself that day, wasn't I? No one likes to feel +like a discarded lover. I can understand your chucking Harbord all +right, but I can't quite see why it was necessary for you to run away +from home to come and stay with a little milliner." + +She laughed. + +"My dear Julien, you don't know those Harbords! There are hordes of +them, countless hordes--mothers and sisters and cousins and aunts. +They've besieged the place ever since our engagement was announced. If +the merest whisper were to get about among them that I was thinking of +backing out, there's nothing they wouldn't do. They'd make the whole +place intolerable for me--follow me about in the street, weep in my +bedroom, hang around the place morning, noon and night. Besides, mother +would be on their side and the whole thing would be impossible." + +"I have no doubt," Julien admitted, "that the situation would be a +trifle difficult, but to talk about earning your own living--you, Lady +Anne--" + +"Lady fiddlesticks!" she interrupted. "What a stupid old thing you are, +Julien! You never found out, I suppose, that at heart I am a Bohemian?" + +"No, I never did!" he assented vigorously. + +"Ah, well," she remarked, "you were too busy flirting with that Carraby +woman to discover all my excellent qualities. We mustn't stay here, +must we? Are you very busy, or do you want to drive me to my friend's +house? Of course, meeting you here will be the end of me if any one +sees us. Still, I don't suppose you object to a little scandal, and the +more I get the happier I shall be." + +"I'll take you anywhere," Julien promised. "You don't mind waiting +while I speak to the man whom I have come to meet?" + +"Not at all," she replied. "You are sure he won't object?" + +"Of course not," Julien assured her. "Kendricks is an awfully good +sort." + +The two men gripped hands. Kendricks was carrying his own bag and +smoking his accustomed pipe. He had apparently been asleep in the +carriage and was looking a little more untidy than usual. + +"I got your wire all right," Julien said, "and I am thundering glad to +see you. Are you just in search of the ordinary sort of copy, or is +there anything special doing?" + +"Something special," Kendricks answered, "and you're in it. When can we +talk? No hurry, as long as I see you some time to-night." + +"I am entirely at your service," Julien declared. "I have been bored to +death for the last few weeks and I am only too anxious to have a talk. +You don't mind if I see this young lady to her friend's house first? I +don't know exactly where it is, but it won't take very long. She is all +alone, and as long as we have met I feel that I ought to look after +her." + +"Naturally," Kendricks agreed. "I can go to my hotel and meet you +anywhere you say for supper." + +Julien glanced at his watch. + +"It is ten o'clock within a minute or two," he announced. "Supposing we +make it half-past eleven at the Abbaye?" + +Kendricks nodded. + +"That'll suit me. So long!" + +He strode away in search of a cab. Julien returned to Lady Anne and +took the jewel-case from her fingers. + +"It's all arranged," he said. "You are quite sure that you have no more +luggage?" + +She laughed. + +"Not a scrap! Have you ever traveled without luggage, Julien? It makes +you feel that you are really in for adventures." + +"Does it!" he replied a little weakly. Somehow or other, he had never +associated a love for adventures with Lady Anne. + +"Isn't it fun to be in Paris once more?" she continued. "I want a real +rickety little _voiture_ and I want the man to have a white hat, +if possible, and I want to drive down into Paris over those cobbles." + +"Any particular address?" + +She handed him a card. He called an open victoria and directed the man. +Together they drove out of the station yard. Lady Anne leaned forward, +looking around her with keen pleasure. + +"Julien," she cried, "this is delightful, meeting you! I hope I shan't +be a bother to you, but really it is rather nice to feel that I have +one friend here." + +"You couldn't possibly be a bother to me," he declared. "I'm rather a +waif here myself, you know, and I am honestly glad to see you." + +She looked at him quickly and breathed a little sigh of relief. + +"Now that's sweet of you," she said. "Of course, I don't see why you +shouldn't be. We were always good friends, weren't we? and it makes me +feel so much more comfortable to remember that we never went in for the +other sort of thing." + +"There was just one moment," he murmured ruminatingly,-- + +She turned her head. + +"Stop at once," she begged. "That moment passed, as you know. If it +hadn't, things might have been different. If it hadn't, I should feel +differently about being with you now. We are forgetting that moment, if +you please, Julien. Do, there's a good fellow. If you wanted to be +good-natured, you could be so nice to me until I get used to being +alone." + +"Forgotten it shall be, by all means," he promised cheerfully. "Do you +know that the address you gave me is only a few yards away?" + +"Oh, bother!" she exclaimed. "I knew that it was somewhere up by the +Gare du Nord." + +They turned off from the Rue Lafayette and pulled up opposite a +milliner's shop. + +"Mademoiselle Rignaut lives up above," Lady Anne said, alighting. "It's +sweet of you to have brought me, Julien." + +"I am going to wait and see that you are all right," he replied, +ringing the bell. + +There was a short delay, then the door was opened. A young woman peered +out. + +"Who is it?" she asked quickly. + +A little of Lady Anne's confidence for the moment had almost deserted +her. The girl's face was invisible and the interior of the passage +looked cheerless. Nevertheless, she answered briskly. + +"Don't you remember me, Mademoiselle Janette? I am Lady Anne--Lady Anne +Clonarty, you know." + +There was a wondering scream, an exclamation of delight, and Julien +stood on the pavement for fully five minutes. Then Lady Anne +reappeared, followed by her friend. + +"Sir Julien," she said, "this is Mademoiselle Rignaut. I am awfully +lucky. Mademoiselle Rignaut has a room she can let me have and we are +going to raid her shop and get everything I want. She has costumes as +well as hats." + +Julien shook hands with the little Frenchwoman, who had not yet +recovered from her amazement. + +"But this is wonderful, monsieur, is it not," she cried, "to see dear +Lady Anne like this? Such a surprise! Such a delight! But, miladi," she +added suddenly, "you must be hungry--starving!" + +"I am," Lady Anne admitted frankly. + +The little woman's face fell. + +"But only this afternoon," she explained, "my servant was taken away to +the hospital! What can we--" + +"What you will both do," Julien interrupted, "is to come and have +supper with me." + +"Do you really mean it?" Lady Anne asked doubtfully. "What about your +friend?" + +"He won't mind," Julien assured her. "You shall take your first step +into Bohemia, my dear Anne. We had arranged to sup in the Montmartre. +You and Mademoiselle Rignaut must come. I can give you half an hour to +get ready--more, if you want it." + +"What larks!" Lady Anne exclaimed. "Can I come in a traveling dress?" + +"You can come just as you are," Julien replied. "One visits these +places just as one feels disposed. I'll be off and get a taximeter +automobile instead of this thing, and come back for you whenever you +say." + +"You are a brick," Lady Anne declared. "I shall love to go." + +"Monsieur is too kind," Mademoiselle Rignaut agreed, "but as for me, it +is not fitting--" + +"Rubbish!" Lady Anne interrupted briskly. "You've got to get all that +sort of stuff out of your head, Janette, and to start with you must +come to supper with us. Bless you, I couldn't go alone with Sir Julien! +I was engaged to be married to him three months ago." + +Mademoiselle shook her head feebly. + +"But indeed, Miladi Anne," she protested, "you are a strange people, +you English! I do not understand." + +Lady Anne took her by the arm and turned towards the open door. + +"Don't bother about that. We'll be ready in half an hour, Julien." + +Julien returned to the Gare du Nord and treated himself to a whiskey +and soda. He was surprised at the pleasurable sense of excitement which +this meeting had given him. During the last few weeks in Paris he had +found little to interest or amuse him. He had been, in fact, very +distinctly bored. The newspapers and illustrated journals, although +they were always full of interest to him, had day by day brought their +own particular sting. Although his affection for Lady Anne had been of +a distinctly modified character, yet he had found it curiously +unpleasant to read everywhere of her engagement, of her plans for the +future, and to look at the photographs of her and her intended +bridegroom which seemed to stare at him from every page. Somehow or +other, although he told himself that personally it was of no +consequence to him, he yet found the present situation of affairs far +more to his liking. + +He lounged about the Gare du Nord, smoking a cigarette and thinking +over what she had told him. There was a good deal in the present +situation to appeal to his sense of humor. He thought of the Duke and +the Duchess when they discovered the flight of their daughter,--their +efforts to keep all details from the papers; of Harbord and his horde +of relations--Harbord, who had neither the dignity nor the breeding to +accept such a reverse in silence. He could imagine the gossip at the +clubs and among their friends. He himself was immensely surprised. He +had considered himself something of a judge of character, and yet he +had looked upon Lady Anne as a good-natured young person, brimful of +common sense, without an ounce of sentiment--a perfectly well-ordered +piece of the machinery of her sex. The whole affair was astonishing. +Perhaps to him the most astonishing part was that he found himself +continually looking at the clock, counting almost the minutes until it +was possible for him to start on this little expedition! + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +"TO OUR NEW SELVES" + + +Julien found a taximeter automobile and, punctually at the time +appointed, drove to the little milliner's shop in the Rue St. Antoine. +Lady Anne and her companion were waiting for him and they drove off +together in high good humor. The manager at the Abbaye bowed before +them with special deference. He recognized Julien as an occasional +customer, and Lady Anne, even in her traveling gown, was a person to +inspire attention. + +They chose a table and ordered supper for four. Kendricks had not yet +arrived, but it was barely half-past eleven and the place was almost +empty. Lady Anne was in high spirits and chattering all the time. +Julien looked at her occasionally in amazement. They had seldom been +alone together in London, but on those few occasions when the +conventions had demanded it, he had been inclined to find her rather +stupid. She was certainly nothing of the sort this evening! + +"I suppose I am a baby," she exclaimed, laughing, "but to-night I feel +as though I were beginning a new life! Tell me, mademoiselle, have you +a place for me as a seamstress? Or will you have me for a model? My +figure is good enough, isn't it?" + +"Miladi," Mademoiselle Rignaut declared deprecatingly, "there is no +girl in my shop with a figure like yours, but it is not well for you to +talk so, indeed. It is shocking." + +Lady Anne laughed gayly. + +"Now, my little friend," she said, "let us understand one another. +There is no more 'miladi.' I am Anne--Anne to you and Anne to Julien +here. I've finished with the 'miladi' affair. I dare say I shouldn't +care about being a model, but all the same I am going to earn my own +living." + +"Earn your own living!" Mademoiselle Rignaut echoed, in something like +horror. + +She had met the Duke and the Duchess--she had traveled even to London +and had passed the night beneath the ducal roof. Lady Anne's mother had +very sound ideas of economy, and Mademoiselle Rignaut was cheap and yet +undoubtedly French. + +"Earn my own living, without a doubt," Lady Anne repeated, helping +herself to a roll. "You don't mind my eating some bread and butter, do +you, Julien? I couldn't lunch--I was much too excited, and the tea on +the train was filthy. Why, of course I am going to earn my own living," +she continued. "I've only got a few thousand francs with me, and some +jewelry. I believe I have got a small income, but Heaven knows whether +they will let me have it!" + +Julien's eyes were suddenly lit with humor. + +"Why, the Duke will be here for you to-morrow," he exclaimed, "to take +you back!" + +She leaned back in her seat with an air of deliberation. + +"I'm free," she insisted. "I'm twenty-six years old, thank Heaven! +Twenty-six years I've had of it--enough to crush any one. No more! You +know, I like this sense of freedom," she went on. "It's perfectly +amazing how young I feel. Julien, do you remember when mother wouldn't +let us lunch together at the Ritz without a chaperon?" + +"I do," he assented. "I'm sure we didn't need one, either." + +She smiled reminiscently. + +"What sticks we were! What a silly life! I really have the most +delightful feeling, as though I were starting things all over again, as +though there were all sorts of wonderful adventures before me." + +Julien looked at her quickly. There was no woman in the place half so +good-looking or with any pretensions to such style. He was conscious of +an odd twinge of jealousy. + +"You'll have no trouble in finding adventures," he remarked a little +grimly. + +Her eyes flashed back an answer to his thought. + +"Bless you, I don't want anything to do with men! Fancy having been +engaged to you and to Samuel Harbord! What further thrills could +possibly be in store for me?" + +"Well, I don't know," Julien retorted. "I suppose if I was a stick, +there must have been something about you which induced me to be one." + +"Not a bit of it," she objected. "You were a solemn, studious, +gentlemanly, well-behaved, well-conducted prig--very much a male +edition of what I was myself. What a life we should have lived +together!... Here's your friend. You know, I rather like the look of +him. He's so delightfully untidy. I should think he belongs round about +the new world, doesn't he?" + +"He's a working journalist," Julien answered, "a very clever fellow and +a good friend of mine." + +"Then I shall adore him," Lady Anne decided,--"not because he is a good +friend of yours, but because he is a working journalist. Why, I saw him +sitting waiting for you the day you came and wished me that touching +good-bye," she added. "I liked him even then. It seemed so sweet of him +to come and help you through that terrible ordeal." + +She held out her hand to Kendricks very charmingly when he was +presented. + +"Don't be terrified at finding us here, please," she begged. "I know +you have some business to talk over with Julien, but you see we were +starving, and Julien had to be polite to me because we were once +engaged to be married. I promise you that when we have eaten we will go +home." + +Kendricks looked at her for a moment and smiled. + +"You know," he said, "I believe you've run away." + +She laughed. + +"I felt sure that I was going to like your friend, Julien!" she +exclaimed. "He understands things so quickly." + +"I am a newspaper man, you see," he told her. "Just as I left, I was +reading all sorts of things about your wedding, and the presents, and +the rest of it. I saw you in the train and recognized you." + +"Don't think I've come over after Julien," she continued cheerfully. "I +never dreamed of seeing him--not just yet, at any rate. I had no idea +where to run to, but Paris seemed to me so easy and so natural, and +somehow or other it must be more difficult to worry any one into going +back from a foreign country. Not that I've any idea of going back," she +broke off. "I think I'm going to enjoy life hugely out here." + +"But it is most astonishing!" Mademoiselle Rignaut declared with a +gasp. + +"My little friend here," Lady Anne went on, "hasn't got over it all +yet. She doesn't understand the sheer barbarity of being a duke's +daughter. The worst of it is she'll never have an opportunity of trying +it for herself. Heaven save the others! Julien, I hope we are going to +have some champagne. Mother never liked me to drink champagne at a +restaurant. You see," she explained, "we weren't rich enough to be in +really the smart set, or else I should have been allowed to do any +mortal thing, and if you aren't in the very smart set, it is best to +turn up your nose at them and to ape propriety. That's what we did. It +suited father because it was cheap, and mother because she said it went +with my style." + +"Champagne, by all means," Julien agreed. "I ordered it some time ago. +And here comes the lobster." + +"Julien, tell him to give me some wine," Lady Anne begged. "I am +thirsty." + +Julien gave the order to the _sommelier_. She raised the glass to +her lips and looked at him. + +"To our new selves," she exclaimed, laughing, "and to the broken +bonds!" + +Julien raised his glass at once. + +"To our new selves!" he echoed. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +WORK FOR JULIEN + + +The new Anne had not forgotten her natural stubbornness. At half-past +twelve she rose from the supper table and declined absolutely to allow +Julien to escort her home. + +"My dear Julien," she declared, "the thing is ridiculous. We have +finished with all that. I am a Bohemian. I expect to walk about these +streets when and where and at what hour I choose. You have business +with Mr. Kendricks and I am glad of it. You certainly shall not waste +your time gallivanting around with me. Janette and I together could +defy any sort of danger." + +"But, my dear Anne," Julien protested, "you cannot make these changes +so suddenly. To drive you home would take, at the most, half an hour." + +"I shall enjoy the drive immensely," Lady Anne answered coolly, "but we +shall take it alone. Don't be foolish, Julien. Come and find us a +little carriage and say good night nicely." + +He was forced to obey. He found a carriage and helped her in. She even +stopped him when he would have paid for it. + +"For the present," she said, "I prefer to arrange these matters for +myself. Thanks ever so much for the supper," she added, "and come and +see me in a day or two, won't you?" + +She gave him her hand and smiled her farewells at him. The lamplight +flashed upon her as she leaned forward to say good-bye, and Julien for +the first time realized that her hair was a beautiful shade of brown, +and that there was a quiet but very effective beauty about her face +which he had never appreciated. She waved her hand and laughed at him +in frank good-fellowship which he somehow felt vaguely annoying. The +carriage rolled away and he went back to Kendricks. + +"My friend," the latter exclaimed, "pay your bill and let us depart! I +am in no humor for the cafes to-night. Let us go to your rooms and sit +quietly, or drive--whichever you choose." + +"You have news?" Julien remarked. + +"I have news and a proposition for you," Kendricks replied. "I am not +sure that we do ourselves much good by being seen about Paris together +just now. I am not sure, even, whether it is safe." + +Julien stared at him. + +"You are making fun of me!" + +"Not I," Kendricks assured him. "We are both being drawn into a queer +little cycle of events, events which perhaps we may influence. When we +get back to your rooms, I will tell you about it. Until then, not a +word." + +They drove down the hill, talking of Lady Anne. + +"Somehow," Kendricks remarked, "she doesn't fit in, in the least, with +your description of her. I imagined a cold, rather stupid young woman, +of very moderate intelligence, and certainly no sense of humor. Do you +know that your Lady Anne is really a very charming person?" + +"She puzzles me a little," Julien confessed. "Something has changed +her." + +Kendricks nodded. + +"Whatever has done it has done a good thing. She gave you your conge +quite calmly, didn't she?" + +"Absolutely," Julien admitted. "She brushed me away as though I had +been a misbehaving fly." + +"After all," Kendricks said, "you were of the same kidney--a prig of +the first water, you know, Julien. I am never tired of telling you so, +am I? Never mind, it's good for you. Have you seen Herr Freudenberg +this week?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"Not since we were all at the Rat Mort together nearly a month ago. Did +I tell you that he made me an offer then?" + +"No, you told me nothing about it," Kendricks replied, leaning forward +with interest. "What sort of an offer? Go on, tell me about it?" + +"He wanted me," Julien continued, "to undertake the command of an +expedition to some place which he did not specify, to discover whether +a German who was living there was being held a prisoner--" + +"Oh, la, la!" Kendricks interrupted. "Tell me what your reply was?" + +"I told him that I must consult you first. As a matter of fact, I never +thought seriously about it at all. The whole affair seemed to me so +vague, and it didn't attract me in the least. I don't know whether you +can understand what I mean, but to me it appeared to be an entirely +artificial suggestion. If such a thing had been reasonable at all, I +should have said that it was an offer invented on the spur of the +moment by Herr Freudenberg, to get me out of Paris." + +"Really, Julien," declared Kendricks, "I am beginning to have hopes of +you. There are times when you are almost bright." + +"What are you here for?" Julien asked. "Is there anything wrong in +London?" + +"Anything wrong!" Kendricks growled. "You and your foolish letters, +Julien! You left the way open for that little bounder Carraby and he'll +do for us. Lord, how they love him in Berlin!" + +"They are not exactly appreciating him over here, are they?" Julien +remarked. "I don't understand the tone of the Press at all. There's +something at the back of it all." + +"There is," Kendricks agreed grimly. "Sit tight, wait till we are in +your rooms. I'll tell you some news." + +"We are there now," Julien replied, as the little carriage pulled up. +"Follow me, Kendricks, and take care of the stairs. I hope you like the +smell of new bread? You see, the ground floor is occupied by a +confectioner's shop. It keeps me hungry half the time." + +"Delicious!" Kendricks murmured. "Are these your rooms?" + +Julien nodded and turned on the electric light. + +"Not palatial, as you see, but comfortable and, I flatter myself, +typically French. Don't you love the red plush and the gilt mirror? Of +course, one doesn't sit upon the chairs or look into the mirror, but +they at least remind you of the country you're in." + +Kendricks threw open the window. The hum of the city came floating into +the room. They drew up easy-chairs. + +"Whiskey and soda at your side," Julien pointed out. "You can smoke +your filthy pipe to your heart's content. I won't even insult you by +offering you a cigar. Now go ahead." + +Kendricks lit his pipe and smoked solemnly. + +"Your remarks," he declared, "are actuated by jealousy. You haven't the +stomach for a man's smoke. Now listen. There's the very devil of a +mischief abroad and Falkenberg's at the bottom of it. Do you know what +he's doing?" + +"I know nothing." + +"You remember the night that we were up at the Rat Mort? He was talking +with a dirty-looking man in a red tie and pince-nez." + +"I remember it quite well," Julien admitted. + +"Well, he was the leader writer in _Le Jour_,--Jesen--a brilliant +man, an absolutely wonderful writer, but shiftless. Do you know what +Falkenberg has done? The paper was in the market, the controlling share +of it, and he bought it, or rather he put the money into Jesen's hands +to buy it with. The whole tone of the paper with regard to foreign +affairs has turned completely round. Every other day there is a +scathing article in it attacking the _entente_ with England. +You've read them, of course?" + +"So has every one," Julien replied gravely. "The people here talk of +little else." + +"It is known," Kendricks continued, "that Falkenberg has made every use +of his frequent visits to this city to ingratiate himself with certain +members of the French Cabinet, and to impress them with his views. To +some extent there is no doubt that he has succeeded. The German +Press--the inspired portion of it, at any rate--is backing all this up +by articles extremely friendly towards France and deriding her +friendship with England." + +"This, too, I have noticed," Julien admitted. + +"Carraby is in hot water already," Kendricks went on. "He had a chance +on Monday in the House, when he was asked a question about the German +gunboat which is reported to have gone to Agdar. The fool muddled it. +He gave the sort of suave, methodist reply one expected, and the German +Press jeered at him openly. Julien, it's serious. The French people are +honest enough, but they are impressionable. A Liberal Government was +never popular with them. You were the only Liberal Foreign Minister in +whom they believed. This man Carraby they despise. Besides, he has +Jewish blood in his veins and you know what that means over here. +Jesen's articles come thundering out and already other papers are +beginning to follow suit. The poison has been at work for months. You +remember monsieur and madame and mademoiselle, with whom I talked so +earnestly? Well, they were but types. I talked to them because I wanted +to find out their point of view. There are many others like them. They +look upon the _entente_ with good-natured tolerance. They doubt +the real ability of Britain to afford practical aid to France, should +she be attacked. This good-natured tolerance is being changed into +irritation. Falkenberg's efforts are ceaseless. The moment he has the +two countries really estranged, he will strike." + +"Against which?" Julien asked quickly. + +"Heaven only knows!" Kendricks answered. "For my part, I have always +believed that it would be against England. There is no strategic reason +for a war between France and Germany. Germany needs more than France +can give her. She does not need money, she needs territory. Falkenberg +is a rabid imperialist, a dreamer of splendid dreams, a real genius. He +is fighting to-day with the subtlest weapons the mind of man ever +conceived. Now, Julien, listen. I am here with a direct proposition to +you." + +"But what can I do?" Julien exclaimed. + +"This," Kendricks replied. "It is my idea. I saw Lord Southwold this +morning and he agreed. We want you to write for our paper a series of +articles, dated from Paris and signed in your own name, and we want you +to attack Falkenberg and the game he is playing. We will arrange for +them to appear simultaneously in one of the leading journals here. We +want you to write openly of these German spies who infest Paris. We +want you first to hint and then to speak openly of the purchase of +_Le Jour_ by means of German gold. We want you to combat the +popular opinion here that our army is a wooden box affair, and that we +as a nation are too crassly selfish to risk our fleet for the benefit +of France. We want you to strike a great note and tell the truth. +Julien, those articles signed by you and dated from Paris may do a +magnificent work." + +Julien's eyes were already agleam. + +"Splendid!" he muttered, rising to his feet. "If only I can do it!" + +"Of course you can do it," Kendricks insisted firmly. "Before you spoke +so often you used to write for the _Nineteenth Century_ every +month. You haven't forgotten the trick. Some of your sentences I +remember even now. I tell you, Julien, they helped me to appreciate +you. I liked you better when you took up the pen sometimes than I liked +you in those perfect clothes and perfect manner in your office at +Downing Street. Your tongue had the politician's trick of gliding over +the surface of things. Your pen scratched and spluttered its way into +the heart of affairs. Get back to it, Julien. I want your first article +before I leave Paris to-night." + +"I'll do my best," Julien promised. "It's a great scheme. I'm going to +commence now." + +"I hoped you would," Kendricks replied. "You've got the atmosphere +here. You're sitting in the heart of the France that belongs to the +French. It isn't for nothing that I've taken you round a little with me +since we were here. Chance was kind, too, when it brought us up against +Freudenberg. Remember, Julien, journalism isn't the gentlemanly art it +was ten or twenty years ago. You can take up your pen and stab. That's +what we want." + +"It's fine," Julien declared. "It is war!" + +Kendricks rose to his feet. + +"I'm going to bed," he announced. "The last month has been exciting and +there's plenty more to come. I need sleep. Julien, just a word of +caution." + +"Fire away," Julien sighed. He was already gazing steadfastly out of +the window, already the sentences were framing themselves in his mind. + +"The day upon which your first article appears," Kendricks said, +"Freudenberg will strike. Your life here will never be wholly safe. You +will be encompassed with spies and enemies. Why, this wild-cat scheme +of his of sending you off on some expedition was solely because you are +the one man of whom he is afraid. He feared lest Carraby might make +some hideous blunder in a crisis and that the country might demand you +back. That is why he wanted you out of the way." + +"You may be right," Julien admitted. "What's that striking--one +o'clock? Till to-night, David!" + +Kendricks nodded and left the room. Julien sat for a moment before the +open window. It was rather an impressive view of the city with its +millions of lights, the fine buildings of the Place de la Concorde in +clear relief against the deep sky, the Eiffel Tower glittering in the +distance, the subtle perfume of pleasure in the air. Julien stood there +and raised his eyes to the skies. Already his brain was moving to the +grim music of his thoughts. He looked away from the city to the fertile +country. Some faint memory of those once blackened fields and desolate +villages stole into his mind. He turned to his desk, drew the paper +towards him and wrote. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +A STARTLING DISCLOSURE + + +Julien was driving, a few afternoons later, with Madame Christophor. +She had picked him up in the Bois, where he had gone for a solitary +walk. In her luxurious automobile they passed smoothly beyond the +confines of the Park and out into the country. After her brief summons +and the few words of invitation, they relapsed into a somewhat curious +silence. + +"My friend," Madame Christophor remarked at length, glancing +thoughtfully towards him, "I find a change in you. You are pale and +tired and silent. It is your duty to amuse me, but you make no effort +to do so. Yet you have lost that look of complete dejection. You have, +indeed, the appearance of a man who has accomplished something, who has +found a new purpose in life." + +Julien to some extent recovered himself. + +"Dear Madame Christophor," he exclaimed, "it is true! My manners are +shocking. Yet, in a way, I have an excuse. I have been hard at work for +the last few days. I was writing all night until quite late this +morning. It was because I could not sleep that I came out to sit under +the trees--where you found me, in fact." + +"Writing," she repeated. "So you are changing your weapons, are you? +You are going to make a new bid for power?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"It is not that," he answered. "I have no personal ambitions connected +with my present work. It was an idea--a great idea--but it was not my +own. Yet the work has been an immense relief." + +She looked away, relapsing once more into silence. He glanced towards +her. The weariness of her expression was more than ever evident to-day, +the weariness that was not fretful, that seemed, indeed, to give an +added sweetness to her face. Yet its pathos was always there. Her eyes, +which looked steadily down the road in front of them, were full of the +fatigue of unwelcome days. + +"You men so easily escape," she murmured. "We women never." + +Julien was conscious of a certain selfishness in all his thoughts +connected with his companion. He had been so ready always to accept her +society, to accept and profit by the stimulus of her intellect. Yet he +himself had given so little, had shown so little interest in her or her +personal affairs. He sat a trifle more upright in his place. + +"Dear Madame Christophor," he said earnestly, "you have been so kind to +me, you have shown so much interest always in my doings and my +troubles. Why not tell me something of your own life? I have felt so +much the benefit of your sympathy. Is there nothing in the world I +could do for you?" + +She sighed. + +"No person in the world," she declared, "could help me; certainly not +one of your sex. I start with an instinctive and unchanging hatred +towards every one of them." + +"But, madame," Julien protested, "is that reasonable?" + +"It is the truth," she replied. "I do my best when we are together to +forget it so far as you are concerned. I succeed because you do not use +with me any of the miserable devices of your sex to provoke an interest +whether they really desire it or not. You treat me, Sir Julien, as it +pleases me to be treated. It is for that reason, I am sure--it must be +for that reason--that I find some pleasure in being with you, whereas +the society of any other man is a constant irritation to me." + +Julien hesitated. + +"You know," he began, "I am not naturally a curious person. I have +never asked a question of you or about you from the few people with +whom I have come in contact over here. At the same time,--" + +"Do you mean," she interrupted, "do you seriously mean that you are +ignorant as to who I really am, as to any part of my history?" + +"Entirely," Julien assured her. + +She was thoughtful for several moments. + +"Well, that is strange," she declared. "You are upsetting one of my pet +theories. All the men whom I have ever known have been more curious +than women. Are you interested in me, by any chance, Sir Julien?" + +"Immensely," he replied. + +"I am glad to hear it. Do you know, that is a great concession for me +to make, but it is the truth? I like you to be interested in me. Yet I +must confess that your ignorance as to who I really am astonishes me. +Perhaps," she added gravely, "if you knew, you would not be sitting by +my side at the present moment." + +"I cannot believe," he said, smiling, "that you are such a very +terrible person." + +"Terrible? Perhaps that is not the word," she admitted. + +"There is one thing," he went on, "concerning which I have always been +curious." + +"And that?" + +"The little manicure girl whom I met in the Soho restaurant," he +replied promptly, "what on earth was her reason for wishing me to come +and see you? Why did you want me to come?" + +"I thought," she murmured, "that we had agreed not to speak of those +matters for the present." + +"That was some time ago. Things are changing around us every day. It is +possible that within a very short time I may find myself in such a +position here that I am forced to know exactly who are my friends and +who my enemies." + +"Can you believe," she asked, "that you would ever find me among the +latter?" + +Julien thought for several moments. + +"I shall not ask you," he proceeded, "not to be offended with me for +what I am going to say. It was a chance remark I heard--no more. It +certainly, however, did suggest some association. There is a man who +comes often to Paris, who calls himself a maker of toys. He says that +he comes from Leipzig and that his name is Herr Freudenberg." + +She sat as still as a statue. Not a line of her features was changed. +Julien turned a little in his seat. As he watched, he saw that her +bosom underneath the lace scarf which she wore was rising and falling +quickly. Her teeth came suddenly together. He saw the lids droop over +her eyes as though she were in pain. + +"Herr Freudenberg," she repeated, "what of him?" + +"I knew him in the days when I counted for something in the world," +Julien explained. "Don't you remember that on the night when we dined +together at the Maison Leon d'Or he sent one of his emissaries for me? +He was a man in whom I had always felt the greatest, the most complete +interest. I went to him gladly. Since then, as you will know if you +read the papers, events have moved rapidly. I am beginning to realize +now how completely and absolutely that man is the enemy of my country." + +"It is true, that," she murmured. + +"For some reason," Julien continued, "he seemed anxious to remove me +from Paris. He made me a somewhat singular offer. He wanted me to go to +some distant country on a mission--not political and yet for Germany." + +"And do you go?" + +"No," he replied, "I have found other work. I don't think that I +seriously considered it at any time, yet I have always been curious as +to why he should have made such an offer to me." + +She had the air now of a woman who had completely recovered control of +herself. + +"Sir Julien," she asked, "I beg of you to tell me this. If you do not +know who I am, why have you mentioned Herr Freudenberg's name to me?" + +"Madame," Julien answered, "because the man who brought me the message +from Herr Freudenberg, the man who conducted me to him, the man +concerning whom you told me that strange, pathetic little story--he let +fall one word. I asked him no question. I wished for no information +except from you. Yet I am only human. I have had impulses of +curiosity." + +"Herr Freudenberg is my husband," Madame Christophor declared. + +Julien looked at her in amazement. For the moment he was speechless. + +"I say what is perhaps literally but not actually true," she went on. +"He was my husband. We are separated. We are not divorced because we +were married as Roman Catholics. We are separated. There will never be +anything else between us." + +Julien remained silent. It was so hard to say anything. The woman's +tone told him that around her speech hovered a tragedy. + +"Now you know that Herr Freudenberg is my husband," she asked, "are you +not a little afraid to be sitting here by my side?" + +"Why should I be?" + +"Don't you know," she continued, "that he is your enemy?" + +Julien looked grave. + +"No, I have scarcely realized that," he answered. "I think, perhaps, +when he reads yesterday's papers he may be feeling like that. At +present, so far as he knows, what have I done?" + +"You," she said, "were the only man who ever stood up to him, who ever +dealt a blow at his political supremacy. At the Conference of Berlin +you triumphed. German papers politely, and in a very veiled manner, +reminded him of his defeat. It was not a great matter, it is true, but +none the less the Conference of Berlin was the first diplomatic failure +in which he had ever been concerned, and you were responsible for it." + +"You think, then," Julien remarked, "that he still harbors a grudge +against me for that?" + +"Without a doubt. Now tell me what you mean when you speak of +yesterday's papers?" + +"I am writing a series of articles," Julien told her. "They commenced +yesterday. They will appear in a French paper--_Le Grand +Journal_--and in the English _Post_. They are written with the +sole idea of attacking Herr Freudenberg. When he reads the first, he +will understand--he will be my enemy." + +She held out her hand. + +"Then say good-bye to me now, my friend," she murmured, "for you will +die." + +Julien laughed scornfully. + +"We do not live in those days," he reminded her. "We fight with the +pen, with diplomacy, with all the weapons of statecraft and intrigue, +if you will. But this is not now the Paris of Dumas. One does not +assassinate." + +"My friend," she said earnestly, "you do not know Herr Freudenberg. If +indeed you have become during these last few days his enemy, by this +time next week you will surely have passed into some other sphere of +activity. There are no methods too primitive for him, no methods too +subtle or too cruel. He can be the most charming, the most winning, the +most generous, the most romantic person who ever breathed; or he can be +a Nero, a cruel and brutal butcher, a murderer either of reputations or +bodies--he cares little which." + +"Presently," Julien declared, "I shall begin to feel uncomfortable." + +"Oh! you have courage, of course," she admitted, with a scornful little +shrug of the shoulders. "No one has ever denied that to your race. But +you have also the unconquerable stupidity which makes heroes and +victims of your soldiers." + +Julien smiled. + +"Well, I am at least warned, and for that I thank you. Now let me ask +you another question. You have told me this very strange thing about +yourself and Herr Freudenberg. You have told me of your feelings +concerning him. Yet you have not really told me exactly on what terms +you are with him at present? Forgive me if I find this important." + +"I do not receive him," she replied. "I have no interest in his comings +or his goings. I have a solemn promise, a promise to which he has +subscribed upon his honor, that he shall not seek to cross the +threshold of my house. He sent me an ambassador once quite lately to +make me a certain proposition connected with you." + +"With me?" Julien repeated. + +She nodded. + +"He has great faith in my powers," she went on, looking him full in the +face, "also, apparently, some belief in your susceptibility. Is that +unkind of me? Never mind, it is the truth. He imagined, perhaps, that I +might help him to rid Paris of your presence. There was just one thing +he could offer me which I desired. He came to offer it." + +"You refused?" Julien exclaimed. + +Her eyes rested upon his. Her expression was faintly provocative. + +"How could I accept an offer," she asked, "to deal with a thing which +did not belong to me? You have shown no signs at present, Sir Julien, +of becoming my abject slave." + +The car rushed through a straggling village. All the time she was +watching him. Then she threw herself back among the cushions with a +little laugh. + +"A week or so ago," she murmured, "I had a fancy that if I had +tried--well, that perhaps you were not so different from other men. I +should have loathed my conquest, I should probably have loathed you, +but I think that I should have expected it. At the present moment," she +went on, glancing into a little gold mirror which she had picked up +from a heap of trifles lying on the table before her, "at the present +moment I am disillusioned. My vanity is wounded though my relief is +great. Nevertheless, Sir Julien, tell me what has happened to you +during the last few days?" + +"Work," Julien replied, "the sort of work I was craving for." + +"Not only that," she insisted, setting down the mirror with a sigh. +"There is something else." + +"If there is," Julien assured her, "I am not yet conscious of it." + +They had emerged from the country lane along which they had been +traveling and were returning now to Paris along the broad highroad. +They were going at a fair speed when suddenly a huge racing car came +flashing by them, covered with dust, and with all the indications of +having come a great distance. Madame Christophor leaned forward in her +seat and clutched her companion's arm. Her eyes were fixed upon the +figure of the man leaning back by the side of the driver. + +"You see?" she muttered. + +"Herr Freudenberg!" Julien gasped. + +She nodded. Already the car had vanished in a cloud of dust. + +"He is just from Germany or from the frontier. He very seldom comes all +the way by rail. The car is always waiting." + +"I shall see him, then, to-night," Julien declared. "Already, without a +doubt, he knows. Already he is my enemy. What about you, Madame +Christophor?" + +"My friend," she promised, "you will have nothing to fear from me. So +long as I can forget your sex, I rather like you." + +"Are you going to answer my question about the little girl who sent me +to you?" he asked. + +"I will tell you, if you like," she said. "Mademoiselle Senn was once +in my service. She occasionally executes commissions for me in London. +She knows everybody. It was in obedience to my wishes that she gave you +that message." + +"But why?" Julien demanded. "What interest had you in me?" + +"None," she answered a little coldly,--"no personal interest. I sent +that message because I discovered that the individual who has just +passed us in the automobile was framing certain schemes in connection +with you if you should come to Paris. Politically as well as personally +he and I are enemies. He hates America and the whole Anglo-Saxon race. +It has amused me more than once to thwart his schemes. I intended to +set you upon your guard. You see, it is very simple. Mademoiselle Senn +wrote me at first that she did not know you and that she feared you +were inaccessible. Then she wired me of an accidental meeting and that +she had delivered my message. The whole affair is simpler than it +seemed, is it not so?... Now listen. I have satisfied your curiosity. +You now shall answer a question. Who is Miss Clonarty?" + +Julien gazed at her in astonishment. + +"Miss Clonarty?" he repeated. + +Madame Christophor nodded. + +"The name seems to surprise you. A young English woman called on me +to-day in answer to my advertisement for a secretary who could write +and speak English. She said that her name was Miss Anne Clonarty and +she referred me to you." + +"If she is the lady whom I suppose she is," Julien replied, "you will +be perfectly safe in engaging her." + +Madame Christophor looked at him from underneath the lids of her eyes. + +"Do you think that I do not know?" she asked, with a shade of contempt +in her tone,--"that I do not sometimes read the papers? Do you think +that I have not seen that Lady Anne Clonarty, the girl whom you were +engaged to marry, disappeared from her home the other day, on the eve +of her marriage to another man? It is this girl who comes to me for my +situation, is it not so?" + +Julien was silent. + +"I knew nothing of her coming. I did not even know that you wanted a +secretary." + +"I wonder why she came to Paris," Madame Christophor remarked. "Is she +in love with you?" + +"There was never any question of anything of the sort," Julien declared +fervently. + +"You have seen her since she arrived in Paris?" + +"Entirely by accident. I saw her alight from the train. I was at the +Gare du Nord to meet Kendricks." + +Madame Christophor leaned back in her seat. + +"Is it your wish that I engage her?" + +"Certainly," Julien replied. "I am sure that you will find her +competent. At the same time, I don't know how long she will keep this +thing up." + +"As a rule I do not care for handsome women around me," Madame +Christophor said composedly. "Lady Anne is much too good-looking to +please me. She has all the freshness and vitality," she added, dropping +her voice a little, "which seem to have left me forever." + +"You have experience," Julien reminded her. "Experience in itself is +wonderful, even though one has to pay for it." + +They were in the streets of Paris now. Madame Christophor shrugged her +shoulders and sat up. + +"It is one of the misfortunes of my sex," she said, a little bitterly, +"that without experience we lack charm--in the eyes of you men, that is +to say. It is your own folly.... Are you coming home with me, my +friend, or shall I set you down somewhere?" + +"As near the Gare du Nord as possible, if you please," Julien begged. +"I have wearied you enough for one afternoon." + +Madame Christophor looked at him thoughtfully. There was a slight frown +upon her forehead. + +"Somewhere near the Gare du Nord!" she repeated. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +THE FIRST ARTICLE + + +Julien found Lady Anne in a small, stuffy apartment on the third floor +of the house in the Rue St. Antoine. Before her was a sewing-machine, +and the floor of the room was littered with oddments of black calico. +She herself was seated apparently deep in thought before an untrimmed +hat. + +"What on earth, my dear Anne," he exclaimed, "are you doing?" + +She merely glanced up at his entrance. Her eyes were still far away. + +"Don't interrupt," she begged. "I am seeking for an inspiration. In my +younger days I used to trim hats. I don't suppose anything I could do +would be of any use here, but one must try everything." + +"But I thought," he protested, "that you were going to be a lady's +secretary, or something of that sort?" + +"I have applied for a situation," she admitted. "I am not engaged yet. +By the bye, I gave your name as a reference. I wonder if there is any +chance for me." + +"As a matter of fact," he told her, "I have just left the lady whose +advertisement you answered." + +"Madame Christophor?" + +"Madame Christophor. If you are really anxious for that post, I can +assure you that it is yours." + +She flung the hat to the other end of the room. + +"Good!" she exclaimed. "I don't think this sort of thing is in my line +at all. Tell me, is Madame Christophor half as charming as she looks?" + +"I have known her only a short time," Julien replied, "but she is +certainly a very wonderful woman." + +"What does she do," Lady Anne asked, "to require a secretary?" + +"She is a woman of immense wealth, I believe," Julien answered, "and +she has many charities. She is married, but separated from her husband. +I think, on the whole, that she must have led a rather unhappy life." + +"I think it is very extraordinary," Lady Anne remarked, "that she +should be willing to take a secretary who knows nothing of typewriting +or shorthand. I told her how ignorant I was, but she didn't seem to +mind much." + +Julien sat down by the side of the sewing-machine. + +"Anne," he began, "do you really think you're going to care for this +sort of thing?" + +"What sort of thing?" she demanded. + +"Why, life on your own. You have been so independent always and a +person of consequence. You know what it means to be a servant?" + +"Not yet," Lady Anne admitted. "I think, though, that it is quite time +I did. I am rather looking forward to it." + +Julien was a little staggered. She looked over at him and laughed +scornfully. + +"After all," she said, "I am not sure, Julien, whether you are a person +of much understanding. You proposed to me because I happened to be the +sort of girl you were looking for. My connections were excellent and my +appearance, I suppose, satisfactory. You never thought of me myself, me +as an independent person, in all your life. Do you believe that I am +simply Lady Anne Clonarty, a reasonable puppet, a walking doll to +receive some one's guests and further his social ambitions? Don't you +think that I have the slightest idea of being a woman of my own? What's +wrong with me, I wonder, Julien, that you should take me for something +automatic?" + +"You acted the part," he reminded her. + +"With you, yes!" she replied scornfully. "I should like to know how +much you encouraged me to be anything different. A sawdust man I used +to think you. Oh, we matched all right! I am not denying that. I was +what I had to be. I sometimes wonder if misfortune will not do you +good." + +"Misfortune is lending you a tongue, at any rate," he retorted. + +"As yet," she objected, "I know nothing of misfortune. The impulse +which led me to chuck things was just the most wonderful thing that +ever came to me in life. I awoke this morning feeling like a freed +woman. I sang while I got up. It seemed to me that I had never seen +anything so beautiful as the view of Paris from my poky window. And I +got up without a maid, too, Julien. I had no perfectly equipped +bathroom to wander into. Not much luxury about these rooms of +Janette's." + +He glanced at her admiringly. + +"You certainly look as though the life agreed with you," he answered. +"Put on your hat and come out to dinner." + +She rose to her feet at once. + +"I have been praying for that," she confessed. "You know, Julien, I +should starve badly. The one thing I can't get rid of is my appetite. +You don't expect me to make a toilette, because I can't?" + +"Nothing of the sort," he assured her. "Come as you are." + +She kept him waiting barely five minutes. She was still wearing her +smart traveling suit and the little toque which she had worn when she +left home. She walked down the street with him, humming gayly. + +"Have you read the English papers this morning, Julien?" she asked. + +"Not thoroughly," he admitted. + +"Columns about me," she declared blithely. "The general idea is that I +am suffering from a lapse of memory. They have found traces of me in +every part of England. Not a word about Paris, thank goodness!" + +"But do you mean to say that no one has an idea of where you are? Won't +your mother be anxious?" + +"Not a bit of it," Lady Anne laughed. "I left a note for her, just to +say that she wasn't to worry. She knows I'll take care of myself all +right. Julien, don't you love these streets and their crowds of people? +Every one looks as though they were on a holiday." + +"So they are," Julien replied. "Life is only a holiday over here. In +England we go about with our eyes fixed upon the deadliest thing in +life we can imagine. Over here, depression is a crime. They call into +their minds the most joyous thing they can think of. It becomes a +habit. They think only of the pleasantness of life. They keep their +troubles buried underneath." + +"It is the way to live," she murmured. + +"This, at any rate," he answered, leading the way into Henry's "is the +place at which to dine. Just fancy, we were engaged for three months +and not once did I dine with you alone! Now we are not engaged and we +think nothing of it." + +"Less than nothing," she agreed, "except that I am frightfully hungry." + +They found a comfortable table. Julien took up the menu and wrote out +the dinner carefully. + +"In this country," he said, leaning back, "we are spared the barbarity +of table d'hote dinners. Therefore we must wait, but what does it +matter? There is always something to talk about." + +"I am glad to hear that you feel like that, Julien. I remember +sometimes when we were alone together in England, we seemed to find it +a trifle difficult." + +"Since then," he replied, "we have both burst the bonds--I of +necessity, you of choice." + +"I don't believe," she declared, helping herself to _hors +d'oeuvres_, "that we are either of us going to be sorry for it." + +"One can never tell. So far as you are concerned, I haven't got over +the wonder of it yet. You never showed me so much of the woman +throughout our engagement as you have shown me during the last few +days." + +"My dear Julien," she protested, "you didn't know where to look for it. +Why does this funny little man with the mutton-chop whiskers hover +around our table all the time?" + +"He is distressed," Julien explained, "to see you eating so much bread +and butter. He fears that you will not have an appetite for the very +excellent dinner which I have ordered." + +"He is right," she decided. "Never mind, I will leave the rolls alone. +I am still, I can assure you, ravenous." + +She leaned back and, looking out into the room, began to laugh. People +who passed never failed to notice her. She was certainly a +striking-looking girl and she had, above all, the air. + +"Julien," she cried, "this is really too amusing! Did you see who went +by just then? It was Lord Athlington--my venerable uncle--with the lady +with the yellow hair. He saw you here with me--saw us sitting together +alone, having dinner--me unchaperoned, a runaway! Isn't it delicious?" + +Julien looked after his companion's elderly relative with a smile. + +"I wonder," he remarked, "whether your uncle's magnificent +unconsciousness is due to defective eyesight or nerve?" + +"Nerve, without a doubt," she insisted. "We all have it. Besides, don't +you see he's changed their table so as to be out of sight? I wonder +what he really thinks of me! If we'd belonged even to the really smart +set in town, it wouldn't have been half so funny. They do so many +things that seem wrong that people forget to be shocked." + +"I can conceive," he murmured, "that your mother's ambitions would +scarcely lead her in that direction." + +Lady Anne shrugged her shoulders. + +"I don't think she could get in if she tried. The really disreputable +people in Society are so exclusive. I wonder, Julien, if I shall be +allowed to come out and dine with you when I am Madame Christophor's +secretary?" + +"Once a week, perhaps," he suggested,--"scarcely oftener, I am afraid." + +"Ah! well," she declared, "I shall like work, I am convinced. Julien, +you are spoiling me. I am sure this is a _cuisine de luxe_. I told +you to take me to a cheap restaurant." + +"We will try them all in time," he answered. "I had to start by taking +you to my favorite place." + +"You really mean, then," she asked, "that you are going on being nice +to me? Of course, I haven't the slightest claim on you. I suppose, as a +matter of fact, I treated you rather badly, didn't I?" + +"Not a bit of it," he assured her. "I was a failure, that was all. But +of course I am going on being nice to you. There aren't too many people +over here whom one cares to be with. There aren't very many just now," +he continued, "who care to be with me." + +"Idiotic!" she replied. "Tell me about this work of yours?" + +He explained Kendricks' idea. Her eyes glistened. + +"It's really splendid," she declared. "How I should love to have seen +your first article!" + +"You shall read it afterwards," he told her. "I have a copy of _Le +Grand Journal_ in my overcoat pocket." + +She beckoned to the _vestiaire_. + +"I will not wait a moment," she insisted. "I shall read it while dinner +is being served. It's a glorious idea, this, to fight your way back +with your pen. There are those nowadays who tell us, you know, Julien, +that there is more to be done through the Press than in Parliament. +Your spoken words can influence only a small number of people. What you +write the world reads." + +She explained what she desired to the _vestiaire_. He reappeared a +minute or two later with the newspaper. She spread it out before her. +Julien read it over her shoulder. He himself had seen it before, but +his own eyes were the brighter as he reread it. When she had finished +she said very little. They ate the first course of their dinner almost +in silence. Then she laid her hand suddenly upon his. + +"Julien, dear," she said, "I have done you a wrong. I am sorry." + +"A wrong?" he repeated. + +She looked at him almost humbly. There was something new in her eyes, +something new in her expression. + +"I am afraid," she continued, "that I never looked upon you as anything +more than the ordinary stereotyped politician, a skilful debater, of +course, and with the chessboard brains of diplomacy. This,"--she +touched the newspaper with her forefinger--"this is something very +different." + +"Do you like it, then?" + +"Like it!" she repeated scornfully. "Can't you feel yourself how +different it is from those precise, cynical little speeches of yours? +It is as though a smouldering bonfire had leapt suddenly into flame. +There is genius in every line. Go on writing like that, Julien, and you +will soon be more powerful than ever you were in the House of Commons." + +He laughed. It was absurd to admit it, but nothing had pleased him so +much since the coming of his misfortune! She was thoughtful for some +time, every now and then glancing back at the newspaper. Over their +coffee she broke into a little reminiscent laugh. + +"Did I tell you about Mrs. Carraby?" she asked. "Mother and I met her +at Wumbledon House, two or three days after her husband's appointment +had been confirmed. I can see her now coming towards us. There were so +many people around that she had to risk everything. Oh, it was a great +moment for mother! She never troubled even to raise her lorgnettes. She +never attempted any of that glaring-through-you sort of business. She +just looked up at Mrs. Carraby's hand and looked up at her eyes and +walked by without changing a muscle. Of course I did the same--very +nearly as well, too, I believe. Cat!" + +Julien frowned slightly. + +"You can imagine," he said, "that I am not very keen about discussing +Mrs. Carraby. Yet, after all, her husband and his career were, I +suppose, the most important things in life to her." + +"Then she's going to have a pretty rocky time," Lady Anne decided. "I +don't understand much about politics, but I know it's no use putting a +tradesman into the Foreign Office. He's wobbly already, and as for Mrs. +Carraby--well, I don't know if she ever went on with you like it, +Julien, but you remember Bob Sutherland--the one in the Guards, I +mean?--well, she's going an awful pace with him." + +"I think," he declared, "that Mrs. Carraby can take care of herself." + +"Perhaps," Lady Anne replied, looking thoughtfully at her cigarette. +"You see, the woman knows in her heart that she's impossible. She +copies all our bad tricks. She sees that we all flirt as a matter of +course, and she tries to outdo us. It's the old story. What one person +can do with impunity, another makes an awful hash of. We can go to the +very gates because when we get there we know how to shrug our shoulders +and turn away. I am not sure that Mrs. Carraby has breeding enough for +that. She'll go through, if Bob has his way." + +"You are becoming rather an advanced young person," Julien remarked, as +he paid the bill. + +"My dear Julien," she said, "I've told you before that you never knew +me. If you had appreciated me as I deserved, when you came that cropper +you wouldn't have called on me to say good-bye. You'd have left that +red-headed friend of yours at home and told me that the empty place in +the taxicab was mine." + +He laughed and then suddenly became grave. + +"Supposing I had?" he whispered. + +She looked at him, startled. In that moment he seemed to see a new +thing in her face, a new and marvelous softness. It passed like a +flash--so swiftly that it left him wondering whether it was not indeed +a trick of his imagination. + +"Absurd!" she murmured. "Tell me, what is there we can do now? Must I +go home?" + +"On the contrary," he declared, "you are engaged to me for the evening. +Only I must call at my rooms. Do you mind?" + +"I mind nothing," she assured him. "Let us take a carriage and drive +about the streets. Julien, what a yellow moon!" + +They clambered into a little _voiture_, and with a hoarse shout +and a crack of the whip from the _cocher_, they started off. Lady +Anne leaned back with an exclamation of content. + +"If only it weren't so theatrical!" she sighed. "The streets seem so +clean and the buildings so white and the sky so blue and the people so +gay. Yet I suppose the bitterness of life is here as in the other +places. Why do you want to call at your rooms, Julien?" + +"There is just a chance," he explained, "that there may be a telegram +from Kendricks. I want to know what they think of my article." + +She laughed scornfully. + +"I can tell you that. There is only one thing they can think. How these +people will hate you who are trying to make mischief between France and +England!" + +Julien smiled grimly. + +"I shouldn't be surprised," he admitted. "It may come to a tussle +between us yet." + +They pulled up before the door of his rooms. She, too, alighted. + +"I want to see what your quarters are like," she said calmly. "I may +come up, mayn't I?" + +"By all means," he assented. + +She followed him up the dark stairs and into his room. He turned on the +lights. She looked around at his little salon, with its French +furniture, its open windows with the lime trees only a few feet away, +and threw herself into an easy-chair with a sigh of content. + +"Julien, how delightful!" she exclaimed. "Is there anything for you?" + +He walked to the mantelpiece. There was a telegram and a note for him. +The former he tore open and his eyes sparkled as he read it aloud. + +Magnificent. Be careful. Am coming over at once. + +KENDRICKS. + +He passed it on to her. Then he opened the note. + +I am coming to your rooms for my answer to-night. + +CARL FREUDENBERG. + +Even as he read it there was a knocking at the door. She looked up +doubtfully. + +"Who is that?" + +"It may be the man who writes me here," he told her. + +She rose softly to her feet and pointed to the door which divided the +apartments. He nodded and she passed through into the inner room. +Julien went to the outside door and threw it open. It was indeed Herr +Freudenberg who stood there. + +"Come in," he invited. + +Herr Freudenberg removed his hat and entered. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +FALKENBERG FAILS + + +Herr Freudenberg was dressed for the evening with his usual fastidious +neatness. He had the air of a man who had been engaged for many nights +in some arduous occupation. There were dark rims under his eyes, the +lines upon his forehead were deeper. Nevertheless, he smiled with +something of his old gayety as he accepted the chair which Julien +placed for him. + +"My dear Sir Julien," he said, "I have come a good many hundred miles +at a most inconvenient moment for the sake of a brief conversation with +you." + +Julien raised his eyebrows. + +"You surprise me!" he exclaimed. "I had no idea that the mission you +spoke of was so urgent." + +"Nor is it," Herr Freudenberg replied. "As a matter of fact, it +scarcely exists at all, or if it did exist, it was created simply as a +means of removing you from within the reach of practical politics for +some months. I have foresight, you see, Sir Julien. I saw what was +coming. Permit me to tell you that I do not like your letter in _Le +Grand Journal_ yesterday, a letter which I understand appeared also +in the London _Post_." + +"I am sorry," Julien said calmly. "Still, to be perfectly frank, it +wasn't written with a view of pleasing or displeasing you. It was +written in a strenuous attempt to preserve the friendship between +France and England." + +"It is to be followed, I presume, by others?" Herr Freudenberg asked. + +"It is the first of a series," Julien admitted. + +"You know," Herr Freudenberg remarked, glancing at his finger-nails for +a moment, "that it is most diabolically clever?" + +"You flatter me," Julien murmured. + +"Not at all. I have spoken the truth. I am here to know what price you +will take to suppress the remainder of the series." + +Julien considered. + +"I will take," he replied, "the exact amount of the last war indemnity +which was paid to you by France." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. + +"A mere trifle to the war indemnity we shall be asking from England +before very long." + +"I am not avaricious," Julien declared. "Those are my terms." + +Herr Freudenberg sighed. + +"My friend," he said, "it would be better if you talked of this matter +reasonably. There are other ways of securing the non-continuance of +those letters than by purchase." + +"Precisely," Julien answered, "but Paris, in its beaten thoroughfares, +at any rate, is a law-abiding city. I don't fancy that I shall come to +much grief here." + +"A brave man," Herr Freudenberg remarked, "seldom believes that he will +come to grief." + +"If the blow falls, nevertheless, it is at least considerate of you +that you bring me warning!" + +"Rubbish!" Herr Freudenberg interposed. "Listen, Sir Julien, I ask you +to consider this matter as a reasonable person. We don't want war. We +don't mean to have war. But the desire of my Ministers--my own +desire--really is to inflict a crushing diplomatic humiliation upon the +present Government of Great Britain. It is composed of incompetent and +objectionable persons. We desire to humiliate them. Yet who is it that +we find taking up the cudgels on their behalf? You--the man whom they +drove out, the man whom from sheer jealousy they ousted from their +ranks. Why, you should be with us, not against us." + +"I have no grudge whatever against my party," Julien said. "You seem to +have been misinformed upon that subject. Besides, I am an Englishman +and a patriot. The whole series of my articles will be written, and I +shall do my best to point out exactly the means by which this present +coolness between our two countries has been engineered." + +"I will give you," Herr Freudenberg offered, "a million francs not to +write those articles." + +Julien pointed to the door. + +"You are becoming offensive!" + +Herr Freudenberg rose slowly to his feet. There was a little glitter in +his eyes. + +"I have gone out of my way," he declared, "to be friendly with you, +most obstinate of Englishmen. That now is finished. You shall not write +those articles." + +"You threaten me?" + +"I do!" + +"There are times," Julien remarked quietly, "when I scarcely know +whether to take you seriously. There is surely a little of the +burlesque about such a statement?" + +Herr Freudenberg shrugged his shoulders slightly. + +"You think so? Nevertheless, no man whom I have ever threatened has +done the thing against which I have warned him." + +Julien turned towards the door to open it. Herr Freudenberg, with +footsteps like a cat, came up behind him. Suddenly he threw his long, +sinewy arm around the other's neck. Taken utterly unprepared, Julien +was powerless. Herr Freudenberg swung him round upon his back and knelt +upon his chest. + +"This," he said calmly, "distresses me extremely. Yet what am I to do?" + +He whistled softly. The door was opened. Estermen came in with +suspicious alacrity. There was scarcely any need of words. In a moment +Julien's legs and arms were bound and a gag thrust between his teeth. +Herr Freudenberg moved before the door and listened. + +"Estermen has reported to me," he remarked, "that you keep no +manservant. Any intrusion here, therefore, is scarcely to be feared. +You will permit me?" + +He took one of the tumblers from the tray, rinsed it out with +soda-water, and poured the contents of a small phial into it. Then he +came and stood over Julien. + +"My obstinate Englishman," he proceeded, "this tumbler contains the +waters of forgetfulness. Let me assure you upon my honor that the +liquid is harmless. Its one effect is to reduce those who take it to +such a state that for the space of a week or two their mental faculties +are impaired. You will drink this in a few minutes. You will awake +feeling weak, languid, indisposed for exercise, incapable of mental +effort. The doctor will prescribe a tonic, you will go away, but it +will be months before you are able to set yourself to any task +requiring the full use of your faculties. At the end of that time, I +trust that you will have found wisdom. Will you swallow the draught?" + +Julien shook his head violently. Herr Freudenberg sighed. + +"I was hoping," he continued, "that you would not force me to mention +the alternative. I should dislike exceedingly having to inflict any +more lasting injury upon you, but you stand in my path and I permit no +one to do that. Drink, and in a month or two all will be as it is now. +Refuse, and I shall leave Estermen to deal with you, and let me warn +you that his methods are not so gentle as mine. More men than one who +have been foolish have disappeared in Paris." + +"If you move a step this way," a calm voice said from the other end of +the room, "I shall shoot." + +Herr Freudenberg turned his head. Estermen, whose nerves were less +under control, gave a little cry. Lady Anne was standing upon the +threshold of the doorway between the two rooms, and in her very steady +hand was grasped a small revolver. The two men were speechless. + +"It has taken me some time to find this," Lady Anne went on, "and +longer still to find the cartridges. I do not understand in the least +what has happened, but I am perfectly serious when I tell you that I +shall shoot either of you two if you move a step towards me." + +Herr Freudenberg looked into the revolver, looked at Lady Anne and made +her a little bow. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "who you may be I do not, alas! know. Sir +Julien, however, is indeed to be congratulated that he possesses +already so charming and courageous a friend with the entree to his +bedroom." + +Lady Anne lifted the revolver a few inches and fired. The bullet struck +the wall barely a foot over Herr Freudenberg's head. A faint puff of +blue smoke floated up towards the ceiling. + +"I do not like impertinence," she remarked. "If you have any more such +speeches to make--" + +"Mademoiselle, I have none," Herr Freudenberg interrupted, bowing. +"Allow me, on the contrary, to offer you my apologies and to express my +admiration for your bearing. I must, alas! acknowledge myself, for the +moment, vanquished. I shall leave you to release our dear friend, Sir +Julien. But, if you are wise, mademoiselle, if you are really his +friend, you will advise him to obey the injunction which I have sought +to lay upon him to-day. A little affair like this which goes wrong, is +nothing. I have a dozen means of enforcing my words, not one of which +has ever failed." + +"I do not know who you are," Lady Anne said calmly, "or what it is +against which you are warning Sir Julien, but I am perfectly certain of +one thing. He will do what is right and what he conceives to be his +duty, without fear of threats from you or any one." + +Herr Freudenberg bowed low. Estermen, who had been glancing more than +once uneasily towards the revolver, was already at the door. + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg declared, "bravery is a splendid gift, +discretion a finer. Sir Julien knows who I am and he knows that I have +yet to admit myself vanquished in any scheme in which I engage. He will +use his judgment. Meanwhile, mademoiselle!" + +He bowed low, turned and left the room. Lady Anne listened to his +retreating footsteps. Then she crossed the room quickly and bent over +Julien. + +"Are you hurt?" she asked breathlessly. + +He shook his head. She fumbled for a few minutes with the gag and +removed it. + +"Not a bit," he assured her. "Don't put the revolver down yet, but +fetch me a knife. You'll find one on the mantelpiece in the bedroom." + +She did as he told her. In a few minutes he was free. He stood up, +gasping. + +"The fellow came up behind me," he explained, "while I was walking to +the door. Anne, what a brick you are!" + +He held out his hand. She took it, laughing frankly. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "what else could any one do? I heard +the row and,--shall I admit it?--peeped through the keyhole. I couldn't +see anything, so I opened the door softly and heard something of what +was going on. This old revolver was lying on your dressing-table, but I +had an awful hunt for the cartridges. Whoever were those men?" + +Julien smiled. + +"When I tell you," he said, "you will think that I am mad. Yet this is +the truth. The man with whom you talked was Prince von Falkenberg." + +"What, the German Minister?" + +Julien nodded. + +"It seems incredible, doesn't it? Falkenberg is a man possessed of one +idea--to upset the relations between France and England. For that +purpose he has been paying secret visits to Paris for the last year. He +has corrupted the Press here. He has wormed his way into the confidence +of one or two of the Ministers. The thing is a perfect mania with him. +He has taken it into his head that the articles which Kendricks has +made me promise to write, and the first one of which appeared in _Le +Grand Journal_ yesterday--the one you read at dinner-time--are going +to be exploited as an exposure of his methods. For that reason he came +ostensibly to confirm an offer which he made me some time ago. When I +refused, he offered me a large sum of money--anything to get rid of me +and to stop my writing these articles. Of course I declined, and there +you are." + +Lady Anne began to laugh once more. + +"Well," she said, "I suppose I'm not dreaming. It sounds like a page +out of an opera-bouffe. That man who was here, whom I threatened to +shoot, was really Prince Falkenberg?" + +"There's no doubt whatever about it," Julien assured her. "The very +first night I was in Paris he sent for me. Anne," he went on, turning +once more towards her, "I haven't thanked you half enough. What a nerve +you have! You were splendid!" + +"Don't talk rubbish, Julien," she protested. "The stroke of luck was +that I happened to be there. It must have been quite a surprise for him +to see an apparently respectable young woman step out of your bedroom. +I am inclined to fear, Julien, that I am compromised. Anyhow, mother +would say so!" + +"Between ourselves," Julien remarked, "I don't think that Falkenberg +will mention the occurrence. Just wait while I put on another collar +and we'll go to that music-hall." + +She glanced at the clock. + +"I think you shall take me home instead." + +He looked at her quickly. + +"This affair has upset you!" + +"My dear Julien," she said dryly, "what an absurd idea! Of course I am +quite used to these little affairs, to seeing you lie bound and gagged, +and pointing a revolver at that unpleasant-looking Prince, with a +horrible fear inside me all the time that if I did aim at anything I +shouldn't hit it! Nevertheless, I think I'll go home, if you don't +mind." + +They descended the stairs and he called a little _voiture_. + +"I suppose it would sound silly," he ventured, after a time, "if I said +anything more about thanking you?" + +"Ridiculous!" she replied. "But what are you going to do? Are you going +to the police?" + +He shook his head. + +"I think that Herr Freudenberg, as he calls himself, would be too +clever for me if I tried anything of that sort. You see, I have put +this revolver into my pocket. I am going to avoid the lonely places, +and have Kendricks with me as much as possible." + +She nodded. + +"Take care of yourself," she advised, in a matter-of-fact tone, as they +turned into the street where Mademoiselle Rignaut lived. "I don't want +to hear of any tragedies." + +"When shall I see you again?" Julien asked. + +"It depends upon what reply I get from Madame Christophor," she +answered. "She may want me at once, and I don't know yet whether I'll +get an evening out or not! I shall have to leave you to discover that. +Good night!" + +She vanished within the dark doorway. Julien stepped back into the +carriage more than a little puzzled. To him Anne had always seemed the +prototype of all that was serene and matter-of-fact. To-night he had +found her unrecognizable. There was something, too, in her face as she +had turned away, a slight tremble in her voice, that bewildered him. As +he drove back to his rooms through the lighted streets, it was strange +that, notwithstanding the exciting adventure through which he had +passed, his thoughts were chiefly concerned with the problem of this +unfamiliar Lady Anne! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +LADY ANNE DECLINES + + +"My dear Julien!" + +The Duchess was very impressive indeed. From the depths of an +easy-chair in her sitting-room at the Ritz Hotel she held out both her +hands, and in her eyes was that peculiar strained look which Julien had +only been privileged to observe once or twice in his life. It +indicated, or rather it was the Duchess's substitute for, emotion. +Julien at once perceived, therefore, that this was an occasion. + +"First of all," she went on, motioning him to a chair, "first of all, +before I say a single word about this strange thing which has brought +me to Paris, let me congratulate you. I always knew, dear Julien, that +you would do something, that you would not allow yourself to be +altogether crushed by the machinations of that hateful woman." + +"Really," Julien began, "I am not quite sure--" + +"I mean your letters, of course," she interrupted. "The Duke, when he +finished the first one, said only one thing--'Wonderful!' That is just +how we all feel about them, Julien. I met Lord Cardington only a few +hours before I left London, and he was absolutely enthusiastic. 'If one +thing,' he said, 'will save the country, it is this splendid attack +upon the new diplomacy!'--as you so cleverly called it. The Duke tells +me that that first article of yours is to be printed as a leaflet and +distributed throughout the country." + +"I am very glad," Julien said, "to hear all this. Tell me, what brings +you to Paris? Is the Duke with you?" + +The Duchess smiled at him reproachfully. + +"You ask me what brings me to Paris, Julien? Come, come! You and I +mustn't begin like that. I want you to tell me at once where she is." + +"Where who is?" + +"Anne, of course! Please don't play with me. Consider what a terrible +time we have all been through." + +Julien did not at once reply. His very hesitation seemed to afford the +Duchess a lively satisfaction. + +"There!" she declared. "You are not going to pretend, then, that you +don't know? That is excellent. Julien, tell me at once where to find +her. Take me to her." + +"I am afraid I can't do that," Julien objected. + +"My dear--my dear Julien!" the Duchess protested. "This is all so +foolish. Why should there be any mystery about Anne's whereabouts? I am +not angry. I ought to be, perhaps, but you see I have guessed my dear +girl's secret. I've felt for her terribly during the last few weeks, +but it was so hard to know what to do. It seemed shocking at the time, +but perhaps, after all, the course which she adopted was the wisest." + +"I am very glad to hear that you are taking it like that," Julien +remarked, "and I am sure Anne will be. I think the best thing I can do +is to go and see her and tell her that you are here--" + +"She does not know, then?" the Duchess interrupted. + +"Why, of course not," Julien replied. "I received your note early this +morning--before I was up, in fact--and you begged me so earnestly to +come round at once that I came straight here without calling anywhere." + +The Duchess coughed. + +"Very well, Julien, I will leave you to go and fetch Anne whenever you +like. I shall await you here impatiently. Tell me how it was that you +both managed to deceive us so completely?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"I haven't the slightest notion what you mean." + +The Duchess shrugged her shoulders. + +"For my part," she said, "I always looked upon dear Anne as the most +unemotional, unsentimental person. Naturally I thought that she was a +little attracted towards you, but on the other hand I had no idea that +she looked upon marriage as anything but a reasonable and necessary +part of life. I had no idea, even, that she had any real affection for +you." + +"Affection for me!" + +Julien looked up. The Duchess was regarding him as a mother might look +at a naughty child whom she intended to pardon. + +"I did notice," she continued, "that Anne seemed very silent for some +time after your departure, and there was a curious lack of enthusiasm +about her preparations for the wedding with Mr. Samuel Harbord. She +scarcely looked, even, at the pearls he gave her. You know that I found +them on the floor of her bedroom after she had gone away? Well, well, +never mind that," the Duchess went on. "When I got her hurried note and +understood the whole affair, I must say that on the whole it was a +relief to me. Dear Anne--she is only like what I was at her age, before +I married the Duke. You ought to be very proud and happy, Julien." + +"I should be very happy," Julien declared, "to understand in the least +what you are talking about." + +The Duchess stared at him. + +"My good man," she cried, "my own daughter runs away on the eve of her +marriage, throws all Society into a commotion, comes to Paris to join +the man whom she cares for--you--you, Julien--and then you affect to +misunderstand!" + +Julien was speechless for several moments. He was conscious of a little +wave of strange emotion. The walls of the hotel sitting-room fell away. +He was standing on the edge of the wood behind the shrubbery of +laurels. The smell of the country gardens, the distant music, the +delicious stillness, the queer, troubled look in Anne's eyes, her +suddenly quickened breath, that moment which had passed so soon! It +came back to him with a peculiar insistence during those few seconds! + +Then he brushed it away. + +"My dear Duchess," he said slowly, "you are laboring under some +extraordinary mistake. Anne and I were very good friends and I think +that we should have made a reasonably contented couple. That, however, +was naturally broken off at once owing to my misfortune. Anne's visit +to Paris, her sudden flight from London, had nothing whatever to do +with me. I met her here entirely by accident. No word has passed +between us which would suggest for a single moment that she looked upon +this matter any differently!" + +The Duchess listened to him steadily. At first there were signs of a +coming storm. Like a skilful general, however, she abandoned her +position and changed her tactics. She got up and walked to the window, +produced a handkerchief from her pocket, and stood dabbing her eyes. +She looked out over the Place Vendome. Julien, who had not the least +idea what to say, kept silent. + +"Julien," she said at last, turning around, "this--this is a blow to +me. If what you say is true, and of course it is, dear Anne's life is +ruined. At present every one sympathizes with her. You know, Samuel +Harbord, notwithstanding his enormous wealth--you have no idea, Julien, +how horrid he was about the settlements--is very unpopular. There wasn't +a soul except his own people who didn't thoroughly enjoy his position. +Anne had run away to Paris, they all said, because she declined to give +up her old sweetheart. You know what they will all say now? She came +and you would have none of her! I ask you, Julien, as a man of the +world, isn't that the view people are bound to take?" + +"It is a very stupid view," Julien declared. "Anne cares no more for me +than for any other man. She isn't that sort. Even if I were in a +position to marry any one, I am quite sure that she would refuse me." + +The Duchess began to see her way. She tried, however, to banish the +look of relief from her face. + +"My dear Julien," she said very gently, "you men, however well you +mean, sometimes make such mistakes. I want to show you what I am sure +you will see to be your duty. Things, of course, can never be as we had +once hoped. On the other hand, I am a mother, Julien, and I want to see +my daughters happy. We are very, very poor, but a little privation is +good for all of us. The Duke will settle two thousand a year upon Anne, +and I am quite sure that you can earn money with that wonderful pen of +yours, and then, of course, there is your own small income." + +"Anne doesn't want to marry me, and," he added, after a moment's +hesitation, "I don't want to marry Anne. You forget that I am an +outcast from life. I have to start things all over again. What should I +do with a wife who has been used to the sort of life Anne has always +led?" + +"Dear Julien," the Duchess repeated, "I want to show you your duty. If +you do not marry Anne, every one in London will say that she came to +you and you refused her. It is your duty at least to give her the +opportunity. It is unfortunate that she came here, perhaps, but we have +finished with all that. She is here, every one knows that she is here, +and you have been seen together." + +Julien rose from his chair and walked up and down the room. + +"I haven't talked very much with Anne," he said, pausing after a while, +"but it seems to me that she is making a bid for liberty. She is an +independent sort of girl, you know, after all, although she was very +well content, up to a certain point, to take things as they came. I +don't believe for a moment that she would marry me." + +"At least," the Duchess persisted, "do your duty and ask her. If +necessary, even let people know that you have asked her. It is your +duty, Julien." + +Julien hesitated no longer. + +"Very well," he decided, "since you put it like that I will ask Anne, +but I warn you, I think she will refuse me." + +"She will do nothing of the sort," the Duchess declared; "but oh! +Julien, it would make me so happy if you would take me to her, if I +could have just a few minutes' talk with her first, before you said +anything serious." + +Julien smiled. + +"Dear Duchess, I think not. I will go to see Anne alone. I will ask her +to marry me in my own way. I will tell her that you are here, and +whether she consents to marry me or not, I will bring her to see you. +But my offer shall be made before you and she meet." + +"You are a little hard, dear Julien," the Duchess murmured, "but let it +be so. Only remember that the poor dear child may be feeling very +sensitive--she must know that she has placed herself so completely in +your power. Be nice to her, Julien." + +The Duchess offered him a tentative but somewhat artificial embrace, +which Julien with great skill evaded. + +"We shall see," he remarked, "what happens. I shall find you here, I +suppose?" + +The Duchess nodded. + +"I have traveled all night," she said, half closing her eyes. "Directly +I saw that it was my duty, I came here without waiting a single second. +I shall lie down and rest and hope, Julien, until I see you both. I +shall hope and pray that you will bring Anne here to luncheon with me +and that we shall have a little family gathering." + +Anne was seated before the wide-open window in the little back room +leading from Mademoiselle Rignaut's workshop. A sewing-machine was on +the table in the middle of the apartment, the floor was strewn with +fragments of material. Anne, in a perfectly plain black gown, similar +to those worn by the other young ladies of the establishment, was +making bows. She looked at Julien, as he entered, in blank amazement. +Then a shadow of annoyance crossed her face. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "fancy letting you climb these four +flights of stairs! Besides, these are my working hours. I am not +receiving visitors." + +"Rubbish!" Julien interposed. "There's surely no need for you to pose +as a seamstress?" + +She laughed. + +"Don't be foolish! Why not a seamstress? I am absolutely determined to +do work of some sort. I am tired of living on other people and other +people's efforts. Until I hear from Madame Christophor, or find another +post, I am doing what I am fit for here. Don't make me any more annoyed +than I am at present. I am cross enough with Janette because she will +make me sit in here instead of with the other girls." + +He came across the room and stood by her side before the window. The +slight haze of the midsummer morning rested over the city with its +tangled mass of roofs and chimneys, its tall white buildings with funny +little verandas, the sweep of boulevards and statelier buildings in the +distance. She looked up and followed his eyes. + +"Don't you like my view?" she asked. "One misses the roar of London. Do +you notice how much shriller and less persistent all the noises are? +Yet it has its own inspiration, hasn't it?" + +"Without a doubt," Julien answered. "Of course, you can guess what I +came for?" + +"If it were to ask me to lunch," she said, composedly threading her +needle, "I am sorry, but I can't come. I have to make twenty-five of +these bows and I am rather slow at it." + +"Luncheon might have followed as an after-thought," he replied. "My +real mission was to suggest that you should marry me." + +Lady Anne's fingers paused for a moment in the air. She sat quite +still. Her eyes were half closed. There was a curious little quiver at +her heart, a little throb in her ears. On the whole, however, she kept +her self-control marvelously. + +"Whatever put that into your head?" she inquired, going on with her +work. + +He hesitated. It was in his mind to tell her of that evening at +Clonarty, to speak of it, to recall that one wave of emotion on which, +indeed, they might have floated into a completer understanding. He +looked at her steadfastly. She was very graceful, very good to look +upon. She sat upright in her poor cane chair, bending over her foolish +little task. But he missed any inspiration which might have guided his +tongue. She looked so thoroughly self-possessed, so splendidly superior +to circumstances. + +"Isn't it natural?" he asked. "You and I were always good friends. We +have come together here and we are both a little lonely. I have never +known any one else in the world, Anne," he continued, "with whom I have +been able to think of marriage with more--more content. One might live +quite a pleasant life here. We should not be paupers. At any rate, +there would be no reason for you to sit in this stuffy room making +bows, or to go and write Madame Christophor's letters." + +"Is that all?" + +Again he was tempted. For a single moment she had raised her eyes and +he had fancied that in that swift upward glance he had seen the light +of an almost eager questioning, an almost pathetic search. He bent +towards her, but she refused obstinately to look at him again. + +"Dear Anne," he said, "I have always been fond of you." + +Again her fingers were idle. An idea seemed to have occurred to her. +She asked him a question. + +"How long is it since you have seen my mother?" + +He did not at once reply. She raised her head and looked at him. Then +she knew the truth. She set her teeth and fought. A little sob was +strangled in her throat. + +"I left your mother a few minutes ago," he told her. "She arrived in +Paris this morning and sent for me." + +Lady Anne worked for a time in silence. Then she laid the bow, which +she had finished, upon the table, and leaned back in her chair, +clasping her right knee with her hands. + +"You really are the queerest person, Julien," she declared. "How you +were ever a success as a diplomatist I can't imagine! You came in with +the air of one charged with a high and holy mission. It was so obvious +and yet for a moment it puzzled me. How I would love to have been with +you this morning--with you and my mother, I mean--somewhere behind a +curtain! Never mind, you've done the really right and honorable +thing--you have given me my chance. I am very grateful, Julien." + +She looked frankly enough into his face now and laughed. Julien +remained silent. + +"Can't you see, both of you," Anne went on, "you silly people, that +something quite alien to us and our set has found its way into my +life--a sort of middle-class complaint--Heaven knows what you would call +it!--but it came just in time to place me in a most awkward position. I +still haven't any doubt that marriage is a very respectable and +desirable institution, but to me the idea of it as a matter of +convenience has suddenly become--well, a little worse than the thing +which we all shudder at so righteously when we pass along the streets +of Paris. Of course, I know," she added, "that's a shocking point of +view. My mother would hold, and you, too, that a legalized sale is no +sale at all, that matrimony is a perfectly hallowed institution, a +perfectly moral state, and all the rest of it. You see, I very nearly +admitted it myself--I very nearly sold myself!" + +She shuddered. Then she rose to her feet, straight and splendid, with +all the grace of her beautiful young womanhood. + +"Men don't think just as we do about this," she continued. "You are all +much too Oriental. But a woman has at least a right to keep what she +doesn't choose to sell, even if in the end she chooses to give it." + +Julien moved a step nearer to her. + +"Anne," he said, "supposing one cared?" + +Every fibre of her body was set in an effort of resistance. The mocking +laugh rose readily enough to her lips, the words were crushed back in +her throat. Only the faintest shadow shone for a moment in her eyes. + +"Ah, Julien," she murmured lightly, "if one cared! But does that really +come, I wonder? Not to such men as you. Not often, I am afraid, to such +women as I." + +The door was suddenly opened. Little Mademoiselle Rignaut was covered +with confusion. + +"But, miladi," she exclaimed, "a thousand pardons--" + +"Janette," Anne interrupted, "if I hear that once more I leave--I seek +another situation." + +"But, mademoiselle, then," Mademoiselle Rignaut corrected, "a thousand +pardons indeed! I had no idea--" + +"My dear Janette," Lady Anne protested, "why do you apologize for +entering your own workshop? It is foolish, this. I go now, dear Julien, +to put on my hat. You shall drive me to where my mother is staying--the +Ritz, I suppose? Afterwards you shall leave us. Wait in the street +below. I shall be less than two minutes." + +Mademoiselle Rignaut was still apologetic as she conducted Julien down +the narrow stairs. + +"But indeed," she declared, "there never was a young lady so strange, +with such charming manners, so sweet, as dear Miladi Anne. All the time +she smiles, inconveniences are nothing, one would imagine that she were +happy. And yet at night--" + +"At night what?" Julien asked. + +Mademoiselle shook her head. + +"Miladi Anne is not quite so cheerful as she seems. At night I fancy +that she does not sleep too well. One hears her, and, alas! Monsieur +Sir Julien, last night I heard her sobbing quietly." + +"Lady Anne sobbing?" Julien exclaimed. "It seems impossible." + +"Indeed, but women are strange!" Mademoiselle Rignaut sighed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE + + +Lady Anne came gayly down to the street a few minutes later. She was +still wearing the plain black gown and the simplest of hats. +Nevertheless, she looked charming. Her fresh complexion with its slight +touch of sunburn, her wealth of brown hair, and the distinction of her +carriage, made her everywhere an object of admiration in a city where +the prevailing type of beauty was so different. + +"Poor mother!" she exclaimed, as they crossed the Place de l'Opera. +"Tell me, was she very theatrical this morning, Julien?" + +Julien smiled. + +"I am afraid I must admit that she was," he declared. "I found her very +interesting." + +"I hate to talk about her," Anne continued, "it makes one feel so +unfilial, but really she is the most wonderful marionette that ever +lived the perfect life. You see, I have been behind the scenes so long. +Every now and then a little of the woman's nature crops up. Her cut to +Mrs. Carraby, for instance, was quite one of the events of the season. +It was so perfectly administered, so utterly scathing. I hear that the +poor creature went to bed for a fortnight afterwards. Gracious, I hope +I am not distressing you, Julien!" she added hastily. + +"Not in the least," Julien assured her grimly. "I have no interest in +Mrs. Carraby." + +Lady Anne sighed. + +"That's how you men talk when your little feeling has evaporated. +Julien, you're a selfish crowd! You make the world a very difficult +place for a woman." + +"I think," he said, "that your sex avenges itself.' + +"I am not sure," she replied. "Men so often place the burden of their +own follies upon a woman's shoulders." + +"You rebuke me rightly," Julien declared bitterly. + +"I was not thinking of you," she told him reproachfully. "I am sorry, +Julien. I should not have said that." + +"It was the truth," he confessed, "absolutely the truth. Still, I have +never blamed Mrs. Carraby for my disasters. It was my own asinine +simplicity. Tell me, when shall I see you again? I think I ought to +leave you here." + +She laughed. + +"You want to know about my interview with mother? Well, you shall know +all about that, I promise you, because I have changed my mind. I intend +to make you an auditor. Don't desert me, Julien, please. Remember, this +is really a trying moment for me. I have to face an irate and obstinate +parent. If friendship is worth anything, come and help me." + +"I can't help thinking," he objected, "that your mother would rather +talk to you alone." + +"Then you will please to consider me and not my mother," Anne insisted, +as they drew up before the door of the hotel. "I wish you to remain." + +The Duchess received them perfectly. She did not attempt anything +emotional. She simply held out both her hands a little apart. + +"You dear, sensible people!" she cried. "Anne, how dared you give us +such a shock!" + +Anne leaned over and kissed her mother. + +"Mother," she announced, "I am not going to marry Julien." + +The Duchess started. The expression which flashed from her eyes was +unmistakably genuine. + +"Don't talk nonsense, Anne!" she exclaimed sharply. + +"No nonsense about it," Anne retorted. "I can't bear to talk when any +one is standing up. Sit down, and in a few sentences I'll let you know +how hopeless it all is." + +There was real fear in the Duchess's eyes. + +"Anne," she gasped, "is there a man, then?" + +"You idiotic person, of course there isn't!" Anne replied. "Why on +earth you should all talk about a man directly a girl breaks away for a +time, I can't imagine. Now sit down there and listen. I brought Julien +along because if you bully me too much I shall make him take me away. +We are excellent friends, Julien and I, and he has been very kind to me +since I came here; but I met him entirely by accident, and if I hadn't +I am quite sure that we might have lived here for years and never come +across one another." + +"But I have told every one in London!" the Duchess protested. "I have +explained everything! I have told them how you always loved Julien, +what a terrible blow his troubles were, and how you suddenly found that +it was impossible for you to marry any other man, and like a dear, +romantic child that you are you ran away to him." + +"Yes," Lady Anne said dryly, "that's a very pretty story! That's just +what I imagined you would tell everybody when you knew that I'd come +here. That is just," she continued slowly, "what you have been rubbing +into poor Julien this morning before he came to see me. Very well, +mother, up to a certain point it came off, you see. Julien called most +dutifully, found me sitting in an attic--'attic' is the correct word, +isn't it?--and made his declaration. No, I don't think he declared +anything, on second thoughts! He effectually concealed any feelings he +might have had. It was a suggestion which he made." + +"My manner of expressing myself," Julien began a little stiffly-- + +"Your manner of expressing yourself was perfect," Anne interrupted. "It +was a great deal too perfect, my _preux chevalier_. Only you see, +Julien, only you see, mother, Julien offered me exactly what I left +home to escape from. I have come to the conclusion," she went on, +smoothing her skirt about her knees, "that it is most indecent and +wholly improper even to think of marrying a man who does not love you +and whom you do not love." + +The Duchess closed her eyes. + +"Anne, what have you been reading?" she murmured. + +"Not a thing," Anne went on. "I never did read half enough. I'm simply +acting by instinct. Julien and I were engaged for three months and at +the end of that time we were complete strangers. The idea of marrying a +stranger was not attractive to me. Let that go. Julien went. Along came +Samuel--" + +"We will not talk about Mr. Harbord," the Duchess interposed hastily. + +"Oh, yes, we will! Now so far as Julien was concerned," Anne continued, +"I dare say I should have smothered my feelings because there is +nothing revolting about him. He is quite an attractive person, and +physically everything to be desired. But when it came to a man who was +not a gentleman, whose manners were odious, who offended my taste every +time he opened his mouth--why, you see, the thing couldn't be thought +of! Day by day it got worse. Towards the end he began to try and put +his hands on me. That made me think. That's why I came to Paris." + +"Anne," the Duchess declared severely, "you are indecent!" + +"On the contrary," Anne insisted, "I think it was the most decent thing +I ever did. Now please listen. I will not come back to England, I will +not marry Julien, I will not think of or discuss the subject of +marriage with any one. I am a free person and I haven't the least +intention of spending my life moping. I am going to have a pleasant +time and I am going to have it in my own way. You have two other +daughters, mother--Violet and Lucy. Unless they change, they are +exactly what you would have them. Be satisfied. Devote your energies to +them and count me a black sheep. You can make me a little allowance, if +you like--a hundred a year or so--but whether I have it or not, I am +either going to make bows in Mademoiselle Rignaut's workshop, or I am +going to be secretary to a very delightful lady--a Mrs. Christophor, or +something of the sort." + +The Duchess rose--she had an idea that she was more dignified standing. + +"Anne," she said, "I am your mother. Not only that, but I ask you to +remember who you are. The women of England look for an example to us. +They look to us to live regular and law-abiding lives, to be dutiful +wives and mothers. You are behaving like a creature from an altogether +different world. You speak openly of things I have never permitted +mentioned. I ask you to reflect. Do you owe nothing to me? Do you owe +nothing to your father, to our position?" + +"A great deal, mother," Anne replied, "but I owe more to myself than to +any one else in the world." + +The Duchess felt hopeless. She looked toward Julien. + +"There is so much of this foolish sort of talk about," she complained. +"It all comes of making friends with socialists and labor people, and +having such terrible nonsense printed in the reviews. What are we to +do, Julien? Can't you persuade Anne? I am sure that she is really fond +of you." + +"I wouldn't attempt to influence her for a single moment," Julien +declared. "I won't say whether I think she is right or wrong. On the +whole, I am inclined to think that she is right." + +"You, too, desert me!" the Duchess exclaimed. + +"Well, it all depends upon one's conception of happiness, of course," +Julien replied, "but so far as I am concerned, let me tell you that the +idea of a girl like Anne married to an insufferable bounder like +Harbord, just because he's got millions of money, simply made me boil." + +Anne, for some reason or other, was looking quite pleased. + +"I am so glad to know you felt like that, Julien. It's really the +nicest thing you've said to me all the morning. Well, that's over now. +Mother, why don't you give us some lunch and take the four o'clock +train back? It's the Calais train, which I know you always prefer." + +The Duchess reflected for a moment. There were advantages in lunching +at the Ritz with Julien on one side of her and Anne on the other. She +gave a little sigh and consented. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +FOOLHARDY JULIEN + + +The luncheon in the beautiful restaurant of the Ritz was a meal after +the Duchess's own heart. She was at home here and received the proper +amount of attention. Not only that, but many acquaintances--mostly +foreign, but a few English--paused at her table to pay their respects. +To every one of these she carefully introduced her daughter and Sir +Julien. The situation was not without its embarrassments. Lady Anne, +however, dissipated them by an unaffected fit of laughter. + +"Mother thinks she is putting everything quite right by lending us the +sanctity of her presence," she declared. "We have been seen lunching at +the Ritz. After this, who shall say that I ran away from home to meet a +riding master in Paris, or some other disreputable person? I may +perhaps be pitied as the victim of a hopeless infatuation for you, +Julien, but for the rest, if we only sit here long enough I shall be +whitewashed." + +The Duchess was a little uneasy. + +"I must say, Anne," she protested, "that you seem to have developed a +great deal of levity during the last few days. It's not a subject to be +alluded to so lightly. Ah! now let me tell you who this is. A +wonderfully interesting person, I can assure you. She was born in Paris +of American parents, very wealthy indeed, married when quite young to +Prince Falkenberg, and separated from him within two years. They say +that she lives a queer, half Bohemian sort of life now, but she is +still a great person when she chooses. My dear Princess!" + +Madame Christophor, who had entered the room on her way to a luncheon +party, paused for a moment and shook hands. Then she recognized Julien. + +"Really," she murmured, "this is most unexpected. My dear Duchess, you +have quite deserted Paris. Is this your daughter--Lady Anne? I scarcely +remember her. And yet--" + +"We met yesterday," Lady Anne interrupted promptly. "You know, I want +to be your secretary, Madame Christophor, if you will let me. My mother +has entirely cast me off, so it doesn't matter." + +The Duchess made a most piquant gesture. It was really an insufferable +position, but she was determined to remain graceful. + +"My dear Madame Christophor," she said, "you have no grown-up children, +of course, so I cannot ask for your sympathy. But I have a daughter +here who is giving me a great deal of trouble. I flatter myself that I +have modern views of life, but Anne--well, I won't discuss her." + +Madame Christophor smiled. + +"Young people are different nowadays, Duchess," she remarked. "If Lady +Anne really wants to come into life on her own, why not? She can be my +secretary if she chooses. I shall pay her just as much as I should any +one else, and I shall send her away if she is not satisfactory. There +are a great many young people nowadays, Duchess," she continued, "in +very much your daughter's position, who do these odd things. I always +think that it is better not to stand in their way. Sir Julien, I want +to speak to you before you leave this restaurant. I have something +important to say." + +The Duchess was a little taken aback. To her it seemed a social +cataclysm, something unheard of, that her daughter should propose to be +any one's secretary. Yet this woman, who was certainly of her own +order, had accepted the thing as entirely natural--had dismissed it, +even, with a few casual remarks. Julien, who since Madame Christophor's +arrival had been standing in his place, was somewhat perplexed. + +"You are lunching here?" he asked. + +"With the Servian Minister's wife. I shall excuse myself early. It is a +vital necessity that we talk for a few minutes before you leave here. +Five minutes ago I sent a note to your rooms." + +"I shall be at your service," Julien replied slowly. + +"I shall expect you in the morning," Madame Christophor said, smiling +at Lady Anne. "Don't be later than ten o'clock. I am always at home +after four, Duchess, if you are spending any time in Paris," she added. + +They watched her as she passed to the little group who were awaiting +her arrival. She was certainly one of the most elegant women in the +room. Lady Anne looked after her with a faint frown. + +"I wonder," she murmured, "if I shall like Madame Christophor?" + +"I had no idea, Julien," the Duchess remarked, "that you were friendly +with her." + +Julien evaded the question. + +"At any rate," he said, turning to Anne, "this will be better for you +than making bows." + +"I suppose so," she assented. "All the same, I am very much my own +mistress in that dusty little workshop. If Madame Christophor--isn't +that the name she chooses to be called by?--becomes exacting, I am not +even sure that I shan't regret my bow-making." + +"Tell me exactly how long you have known her, Julien!" the Duchess +persisted. + +"Since my arrival in Paris this time," Julien answered. "I had--well, a +sort of introduction to her." + +"She is received everywhere," the Duchess continued, "because I know +she visits at the house of the Comtesse Deschelles, who is one of the +few women in Paris of the old faction who are entirely exclusive. At +the same time, I am told that she leads a very retired life now, and is +more seen in Bohemia than anywhere. I am not at all sure that it is a +desirable association for Anne." + +"Well, you can leave off troubling about that," Anne said. "Remember, +however much we make believe, I have really shaken the dust of +respectability off my feet. Hamilton Place knows me no longer. I am a +dweller in the byways. Even if I come back, it will be as a stranger. +People will be interested in me, perhaps, as some one outside their +lives. 'That strange daughter of the poor dear Duchess, you know,' they +will say, 'who ran away to Paris! Some terrible affair. No one knows +the rights of it.' Can't you hear it all? They will be kind to me, of +course, but I shan't belong. Alas!" + +The Duchess was studying her bill and wondering how much to tip the +waiter. She only answered absently. + +"My dear Anne, you are talking quite foolishly. I wish I knew," she +added plaintively, a few minutes later, "what you have been reading or +whom you have been meeting lately." + +"Don't bother about me," Anne begged. "What you want to do now is to +tell Parkins to pack up your things and I'll come and see you off by +the four o'clock train. Julien must wait outside for my future +employer. What I really think is going to happen is that she's going to +ask for my character. Julien, be merciful to me! Remember that above +all things I have always been respectable. Remind her that if I were +too intelligent I should probably rob her of her secrets or money or +something. I am really a most machine-like person. Nature meant me to +be secretary to a clever woman, and my handwriting--don't forget my +handwriting. Nothing so clear or so rapid has ever been seen." + +The Duchess signed her bill, slightly undertipped the waiter and +accepted his subdued thanks with a gracious smile. + +"I can see," she said, as they left the room, "that I shall have to +wash my hands of you. Nevertheless, I shall not lose hope." + +She shook hands solemnly with Julien, and he performed a like ceremony +with Lady Anne. + +"When shall I see you again?" he asked the latter. + +"You had better question Madame Christophor concerning my evenings +out," she replied. "It is not a matter I know much about. I am sure you +are quite welcome to any of them." + +Julien found a seat in the broad passageway. Several acquaintances +passed to and fro whom so far as possible he avoided. Madame +Christophor came at last. She was the centre of the little party who +were on their way into the lounge. When she neared Julien, however, she +paused and made her adieux. He rose and waited for her expectantly. + +"We are to talk here?" he asked. + +She nodded. + +"In that corner." + +She pointed to a more retired spot. He followed her there. + +"Order some coffee," she directed. + +He obeyed her and they were promptly served. She waited, chatting idly +of their luncheon party, of the coincidence of meeting with the +Duchess, until they were entirely freed from observation. Then she +leaned towards him. + +"Sir Julien," she said, "I have read your articles, the first and the +second. You are a brave man." + +He smiled. + +"Are you going to warn me once more against Herr Freudenberg?" he +asked. + +She shook her head. + +"If you do not know your danger," she continued, "you would be too +great a fool to be worth warning. Remember that Freudenberg came from +Berlin as fast as express trains and his racing-car could bring him, +the moment he read the first." + +"I have already had a brief but somewhat unpleasant interview with +him," Julien remarked. + +"I congratulate you," she went on. "Unpleasant interviews with Herr +Freudenberg generally end differently. Now listen to me. I have a +proposition to make. There is one house in Paris where you will be +safe--mine. I offer you its shelter. Come there and finish your work." + +Julien made no reply. He sipped his coffee for a moment. Then he turned +slowly round. + +"Madame Christophor," he said, "once you told me that you disliked and +distrusted all men. Why, then, should I trust you?" + +She winced a little, but her tone when she answered him was free of +offense. + +"Why should you, indeed?" she replied. "Yet you should remember that +the man against whose cherished schemes your articles are directed is +the man whom I have more cause to hate than any other in the world." + +"Herr Freudenberg," he murmured. + +"Prince Adolf Rudolf von Falkenberg," she corrected him. "Do you know +the story of my married life?" + +"I have never heard it," he told her. + +"I will spare you the details," she continued. "My husband married me +with the sole idea of using my house, my friends, my social position +here for the furtherance of his schemes. Under my roof I discovered +meetings of spies, spies paid to suborn the different services in this +country--the navy, the army, the railway works. When I protested, he +laughed at me. He made no secret of his ambitions. He is the sworn and +inveterate enemy of your country. His feeling against France is a +slight thing in comparison with his hatred of England. For the last ten +years he has done nothing but scheme to humiliate her. When I +discovered to what purpose my house was being put, I bade him leave it. +I bade him choose another hotel, and when he saw that I was in earnest, +he obeyed. It is one of the conditions of our separation that he does +not cross my threshold. That is why I say, Sir Julien, that you have +nothing to fear in accepting the shelter of my roof." + +"Madame Christophor," Julien said earnestly, "I am most grateful for +your offer. At the same time, I honestly do not believe that I have +anything to fear anywhere. Herr Freudenberg has made one attempt upon +me and has failed. I do not think that he is likely to risk everything +by any open assaults. In these civilized days of the police, the +telephone and the law courts, one is not so much at the mercy of a +strong man as in the old days. I do not fear Herr Freudenberg." + +Madame Christophor shrugged her shoulders. + +"My friend," she admitted, "I admire your courage, but listen. You say +that one attempt has already been made to silence you. For every letter +you write, there will be another made. At each fresh one, these +creatures of Herr Freudenberg's will have learned more cunning. In the +end they are bound to succeed. Why risk your life? I offer my house as +a sanctuary. There is no need for you to pass outside it. You could +take the exercise you require in my garden, which is bounded by four of +the highest walls in Paris. You can sit in a room apart from the rest +of the house, with three locked doors between you and the others. You +may write there freely and without fear." + +Julien smiled. + +"I am afraid it is my stupidity," he said, "but I cannot possibly bring +myself to believe in the existence of any danger. I will promise you +this, if I may. If any further attempt should be made upon me, any +attempt which came in the least near being successful, I will remember +your offer. For the present my mind is made up. I shall remain where I +am." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"Ingrate!" + +"Not that, by any means," he assured her heartily. "You know that I am +grateful. You know that if I refuse for the moment your offer it is not +because I mistrust you. I simply feel that I should be taking elaborate +precautions which are quite unnecessary." + +"I might even spare you," she remarked, smiling, "Lady Anne for your +secretary." + +"Even that inducement," he answered steadily, "does not move me." + +She sighed. + +"You will have your own way," she said, "and yet there is something +rather sad about it. I know so much more of this Paris than you. I know +so much more of Herr Freudenberg. Remember that there are a quarter of +a million Germans in this city, and of that quarter of a million at +least twenty thousand belong to one or the other of the secret +societies with which the city abounds. All of them are different in +tone, but they all have at the end of their programme the cause of the +Fatherland. By this time you will have been named to them as its enemy. +Twenty thousand of them, my friend, and not a scruple amongst the lot!" + +He moved in his place a little restlessly. + +"One does not fight in these ways nowadays," he protested. + +"Pig-headed Englishman!" she murmured. "You to say that, too!" + +His thoughts flashed back to those few moments of vivid life in his own +rooms. He thought of Freudenberg's calm perseverance. An uncomfortable +feeling seized him. + +"I do not know," she went on, leaning a little towards him, "why I +should interest myself in you at all." + +"Why do you, then?" he asked, looking at her suddenly. + +She played with the trifles that hung from her chatelaine. He watched +for the raising of her eyes, but he watched in vain. She did not return +his inquiring look. + +"Never mind," she said, "I have warned you. It is for you to act as you +think best. If you change your mind, come to me. I will give you +sanctuary at any time. Take me to my automobile, please." + +He obeyed her and watched her drive off. Then he went slowly and +unmolested back to his rooms. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE SECOND ATTEMPT + + +The concierge of Julien's apartments issued with a somewhat mysterious +air from his little lodge as his tenant passed through the door. He was +a short man with a fierce, bristling moustache. He wore a semi-military +coat, always too short for him, and he was so stout that he was seldom +able to fasten more than two of the buttons of his waistcoat. + +"Monsieur!" + +"What is it, Pierre?" Julien asked. "Any callers for me?" + +"There have been callers, indeed, monsieur," Pierre replied, "callers +whose errand I do not quite understand. They asked many questions +concerning monsieur. When they had finished, the man--bah! he was a +German!--he thrust into my hand a hundred franc note. He said, 'No word +of this to Monsieur Sir Julien!' I put the note into the bottom of my +trousers pocket, but I made no response. I am not dishonorable. I keep +the note because these men should think me craven enough to give them +information, to hear their questions, and to say nothing to monsieur, +one of my own lodgers! It was an insult, that. Therefore I keep the +hundred franc note. Therefore I tell monsieur all that these two men +did ask." + +"You showed," Julien declared, "a rare and excellent discretion. +Proceed." + +"They asked questions, monsieur, on every conceivable subject," Pierre +continued. "Their interest in your doings was amazing. They asked what +meals you took in the house, at what hour you went out and at what hour +you returned. Then the shorter of the two wished to take the room above +yours. I asked him more than double the price, but he would have +engaged it. Then I told him that I was not sure. There was a gentleman +to whom it was offered. They come back this afternoon to know the +result." + +"If they find a lodging in this house," Julien said, "I fear that I +must leave." + +"It shall be," Pierre decided, "as monsieur wishes. I am not to be +tempted with money when it comes to a question of retaining an old +tenant. The room is let to another. It is finished." + +Julien climbed the stairs thoughtfully to his apartments, locked +himself in and sat down before his desk. For an hour or more he worked. +Then there came a timid knock at the door. He looked around, frowning. +After a moment's hesitation he affected not to notice the summons, and +continued his work. The knocking came again, however, low but +persistent. Julien rose to his feet, turned the key and opened the +door. + +"Mademoiselle!" he exclaimed, genuinely surprised. + +It was Mademoiselle Ixe who glided past him into the room. She signed +to him to close the door. He did so, and turning slowly faced her. She +was standing a few yards away, her lips a little parted, pale +notwithstanding the delicately artistic touch of coloring upon her +cheeks. Her hands were crossed upon the jade top of her lace parasol. +In her muslin gown and large hat she formed a very effective picture as +she stood there with her eyes now fixed upon Julien. + +"Mademoiselle," he began, "I do not quite understand." + +"Look outside," she begged. "See that there is no one there. I am so +afraid that I might have been followed." + +Julien stepped out onto the landing and returned. + +"There is no one about at all," he assured her. + +She drew a little sigh. + +"But it is rash, this! Monsieur Sir Julien, you are glad--you are +pleased to see me? Make me one of your pretty speeches at once or I +shall go." + +"But, mademoiselle," Julien said, wheeling a chair towards her, "who +indeed could be anything but glad to see you at any time? Yet forgive +me if I am stupid. Tell me why you have come to see me this afternoon +and why you are afraid that you are followed?" + +"Why?" she murmured, looking up into his eyes. "Ah, Monsieur Sir +Julien, it is hard indeed to tell you that!" + +Mademoiselle Ixe was without doubt an extraordinarily pretty young +woman. She was famous even in Paris for her figure, her looks, the +perfection of her clothes, the daintiness and distinction of those +small adjuncts to her toilette so dear to the heart of a Parisienne. +Julien looked at her and sighed. + +"Perhaps, mademoiselle," he said, "you will find it hard also to tell +me whether you come of your own accord or at the instigation of Herr +Freudenberg?" + +She looked genuinely hurt. Julien, however, was merciless. + +"It is, perhaps, because Herr Freudenberg has told you that I once lost +great things through trusting a woman that you think to find me an easy +victim?" he went on. "Come, am I to give you those sheets over there," +he added, pointing to his writing-table, "and promise for your sake +never to write another line, or have you more serious designs?" + +"Monsieur Julien," she faltered,-- + +He suddenly changed his tone. + +"Am I cruel?" he asked. "Forgive me, mademoiselle--forgive me, +Marguerite." + +She held out her delicately gloved hand towards him; her face she +turned a little away and one gathered that there were tears in her eyes +which she did not wish him to see. + +"Take off my glove, please," she whispered. "I did not think you would +be so cruel even for a moment." + +He took her fingers in his, fingers which promptly returned his +pressure. His right arm stole around her. + +"Monsieur Sir Julien," she continued very softly, "please promise that +you will speak to me no more now of Herr Freudenberg. Tell me that you +are glad I have come. Say some more of those pretty things that you +whispered to me in the Rat Mort." + +His arm tightened about her. She was powerless. + +"Julien!" she murmured. + +He laughed quietly. Suddenly she struggled to escape from him. + +"Let me go!" she cried. "Sir Julien, but you are rough. Monsieur!" + +He flung her from him back into the chair. In his left hand he held the +pistol he had taken from the bosom of her gown--a dainty little affair +of ivory and silver. He turned it over curiously. She lay back in the +chair where he had thrown her, gripping its sides with tremulous +fingers, her eyes deep-set, distended, staring at him. He thrust the +weapon into his pocket. + +"Really," he said, "I thought better of Herr Freudenberg. Why doesn't +he come himself?" + +"Oh, he will come!" she answered. + +"Will he?" Julien replied. "I should have thought better of him if he +had come first, instead of sending a woman to do his work." + +She sat up in the chair. Julien had known well how to rouse her. + +"You do not think that he is afraid?" she cried. "Afraid of you? Bah! +For the rest, it was I who insisted on coming. He was troubled. I knew +why. I said to myself, 'It is a risk I will take. I will go to Sir +Julien's rooms. I will shoot him. I will pretend that it was a love +affair. I will go into court all with tears, I will wear my prettiest +clothes, nothing indeed will happen. An affair of jealousy--a moment of +madness. One takes account of these things. Then Herr Freudenberg +himself has great friends here, friends in high places. He will see +that nothing happens.'" + +"A very pretty scheme," Julien remarked sarcastically. "Supposing, +however, I turn the tables upon you, mademoiselle. You are here and I +have taken away this little plaything. Would Herr Freudenberg be +jealous if he knew, I wonder?" + +She glanced at the door. + +"Locked," Julien continued grimly. "Do you still wish me to come and +make pretty speeches to you?" he added. "You are certainly looking +very charming, mademoiselle. Your gown is exquisite. What can I do more +than echo what all Paris has said--that there is no one of her +daughters more bewitching? Can you wonder if I lose my head a little +when I find you here with me in my rooms--a visit, too, of pure +affection?" + +She rose to her feet. The patch of color upon her cheeks had become +more vivid. + +"You will let me go?" she faltered. + +Julien unlocked the door. + +"Mademoiselle," he answered, "I shall most certainly let you go. Permit +me to thank you for the pleasure which your brief visit has afforded +me." + +The door was opened before her. Julien stood on one side. The smile +with which he dismissed her was half contemptuous, half kindly. Upon +the threshold she hesitated. + +"Sir Julien!" + +"Mademoiselle Ixe?" + +"If there were no Herr Freudenberg," she whispered, "if it were not my +evil fortune, Monsieur Sir Julien, to love him so foolishly, so +absolutely, so that every moment of separation is full of pain, every +other man like a figure in a dream--if it were not for this, Monsieur +Sir Julien, I do not think that I should like to leave you so easily!" + +Julien made no reply. She passed out with a little sigh. He heard the +flutter of her laces and draperies as she crossed the passage and +commenced the descent of the stairs. Julien was closing the door when +he heard a familiar voice and a heavy footstep. Kendricks, with a +Gladstone bag in his hand, came bustling up. + +"Julien, you dog," he exclaimed savagely, "you're at it again! Why the +devil can't you keep these women at arm's length? What has that pretty +little creature of Herr Freudenberg's been doing here?" + +Julien laughed as he closed the door. + +"Don't be a fool, David! She wasn't here at my invitation." + +"Tears in her eyes!" Kendricks muttered. "Sobbing to herself as she +went down the steps! Crocodile's tears, I know. These d--d women, +Julien! Out with it. What did she come for?" + +Julien produced the pistol from his pocket. + +"It was," he explained, "her amiable intention to please her lord and +master at the slight expense of my life. Fortunately, the game was a +new one to her and she kept on feeling the bosom of her gown to see +whether the pistol was there still." + +"What did you do?" Kendricks demanded. + +"What was there for me to do?" Julien replied. "I took her little toy +away and told her to run off. This is the second time, David. Estermen +and Freudenberg have had a shy at me here themselves, and they'd have +gotten me all right but for an accident. I won't tell you what the +accident was, for the moment, owing to your peculiar prejudices. How +are things in London?" + +Kendricks threw himself into an easy-chair and began to fill his pipe. + +"Julien," he declared, "you've done the trick! I'm proud of my advice, +proud of the result. There isn't a club or an omnibus or a tube or a +public-house where that letter of yours isn't being talked about. They +tell me it's the same here. Have you seen the German papers?" + +"Not one." + +"Never was such a thunderbolt launched," Kendricks continued. "They are +all either stupefied or hysterical. Freudenberg left Berlin an hour +after he saw the article. You tell me you've met him already?" + +"Yes, he's been here," Julien replied. "He offered to make me a Croesus +if I'd stop the letters. When I refused, well, we had a scuffle, and by +Jove, they nearly got me! He means to wipe me out." + +"We'll see about that!" Kendricks muttered. "I'm not going to leave +your side till we're through with this little job." + +"Madame Christophor suggested that I should go there and finish," +Julien said. "What do you think of that?" + +"Madame Fiddlesticks!" Kendricks retorted angrily. "The wife of +Falkenberg! Do you want to walk into the lion's jaws?" + +"She is separated from her husband," Julien reminded him. "My own +impression is that she hates him." + +"I'd never believe it," Kendricks insisted. "The fellow has the devil's +own way with these women. Look at that little wretch I met on the +stairs. A harmless, flirting little opera singer a year ago. Now she'd +come here and murder a man against whom she hasn't the slightest +grudge, for his sake. I tell you the fellow's got an unwholesome +influence over every one with whom he comes in contact." + +"Have you read to-day's letter?" Julien asked abruptly. + +"Read it! Man alive, it made the heart jump inside me! I tell you it's +set the war music dancing wherever a dozen men have come together. I +always thought you had a pretty gift as a maker of phrases, Julien, but +I never knew you dipped your pen in the ink of the immortals. I tell +you no one doubts anything you have written. That's the genius of it. +No one denies it, no one attempts arguments, every one in England and +France whose feelings have been ruffled is already wanting to shake +hands all over again. One sees that giant figure, the world's +mischief-maker, suddenly caught at his job. It's gorgeous! How about +number four?" + +"Half written," Julien declared, pointing to his table. + +Kendricks went to the door and locked it, went to the cupboard and +brought out the whiskey and soda, undid his Gladstone bag, buttoned a +life preserver on his left wrist, and laid a Mauser pistol on the table +by the side of him. + +"Julien," he said, "I feel like the biggest ass unhung, but I am here +with my playthings to be watchdog. Get to your desk and write, man. One +drink first. Come." + +They raised their glasses. + +"What have you called number three?" Kendricks asked. + +"'A Maker of Toys!'" Julien replied. + +"Here's damnation to him!" Kendricks said, raising the glass to his +lips. "Now get to work, Julien." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +BY THE PRINCE'S ORDERS + + +Once more mademoiselle sat beneath a canopy of pink roses, surrounded +by obsequious waiters, with the murmur of music in her ears, opposite +the man she adored. Yet without a doubt mademoiselle was disturbed. Her +fixed eyes were riveted upon the newspaper which Herr Freudenberg had +passed into her hand. She was suddenly very pale. + +"Send some of these people away," she begged. "I am frightened." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. With a wave of his hand they were alone. + +"Dear Marguerite," he said quietly, "compose yourself. All those who +stand in my way and the way of my country must be swept aside, but +remember this. They have all received their warning. I lift my hand +against no one who has not first received a chance of escape." + +"He was a man so gallant," she faltered, "so _comme il faut_. +Listen to me, please." + +She laid the newspaper upon the table and kept the flat of her hand +still upon it. Then she leaned towards him. + +"You will not be angry with me?" she implored. "Indeed I did it to +please you, to win, if I could, a little more of your love. I knew that +this man Sir Julien stood in your path and that you found it difficult +to remove him. An impulse came to me. We had talked together gayly as a +man of gallantry may talk to a woman like myself. It might easily pass +for flirting, those things that he has said. Although you, dear one," +she added, looking across the table, "know how it is with me when such +words are spoken. Well, I bought cartridges for my little pistol that +you gave me, I thrust it into the bosom of my gown, I wore my prettiest +clothes, and yesterday I went to his rooms." + +Herr Freudenberg's cold eyes were suddenly fixed upon her face. His +fingers stopped their drumming upon the tablecloth. + +"Proceed!" + +"I meant to shoot him," she confessed. "I thought that if I could not +escape afterwards it was so easy for people to believe that he was my +lover, that it was a crime of jealousy, a moment's passion. I said to +myself, too, that you would help so that after all my punishment would +be a very small affair. In no other way it seemed to me could he have +been disposed of so easily." + +"Sweet little fool!" Herr Freudenberg murmured. "Did it never enter +into your little brain that you are known as my companion?" + +She shook her head. + +"That would have counted for nothing. People would not have believed +that I had any other motive. I should have declared that it was a love +affair." + +"What happened?" + +"He was too quick for me," mademoiselle admitted. "He saw me feel the +spot where the pistol lay concealed. He--he snatched it away." + +"And afterwards?" Herr Freudenberg inquired, with the ghost of a smile +upon his lips. + +She raised her eyes. + +"He let me go," she replied. "He threw open the door and he laughed at +me. Forgive me, please, if I am sad, if indeed I weep. He was a gallant +gentleman." + +Herr Freudenberg sighed. Slowly he raised his glass to his lips and +drank. + +"It is an amiable epitaph," he declared. "Many a man has gone up to +Heaven with a worse. Cheer up, my little Marguerite. A year or two more +or less in a man's life is no great matter, and after all it was not +one warning which this rash man received. You have not yet read the +account of the affair." + +Mademoiselle slowly withdrew the palm of her hand from the paper. The +paragraph was headed: + +SHOCKING EXPLOSION IN THE RUE DE MONTPELIER. + +She looked up. + +"I cannot read it," she murmured. "Tell me." + +"It is simple," he replied. "This afternoon an unfortunate explosion +occurred in the house in the Rue de Montpelier where Sir Julien had his +apartments. The whole of the front of the premises was blown away. It +is regrettable," he added, with a little shrug of the shoulders, "that +in all seven people perished, including the concierge. Mr. Kendricks, +an English journalist, was taken away alive, but terribly injured, to +the hospital. His companion, who seems to have been within a few feet +of him when the explosion occurred, was unfortunately blown to pieces. +The details as to his fate might perhaps interfere with your appetite, +but let me at least assure you, my dear Marguerite," Herr Freudenberg +continued, "that such a death is entirely painless. I regret the +necessity for such means, but the man had his chance. I regret, also, +the fate of the other poor people who lost their lives. Unfortunately, +it was necessary to remove Sir Julien in such a way that no suspicion +should be cast upon any one person. The death of the concierge, for +instance, was absolutely essential. He was suspicious about some of my +men who had been making inquiries." + +"But it is horrible!" she gasped. + +"Little one," he went on, "life is like that. To succeed one has to +cultivate indifference. Sir Julien Portel had many warnings. He knew +very well that if he persisted in writing those articles, he was +braving my defiance. Already he has done mischief enough. The whole +series would have undone the work of the last two years. To-night," +Herr Freudenberg continued, with a sigh of relief, "we may open the +Journal without apprehensions. There are no more secrets disclosed, no +more of these marvelously written appeals to--" + +Herr Freudenberg stopped short. His eyebrows had drawn closer together. +He was gazing at the sheet which he held in his hand with more +expression in his face than mademoiselle had ever seen there before. + +"My God!" he muttered. + +She, too, bent forward. She, too, saw the article with its heading: "A +Maker of Toys!" + +Herr Freudenberg waved her back. Line by line he read the article. When +he had finished, his face was almost ghastly. He drained his glass and +called for the _sommelier_. + +"Serve more wine," he ordered briefly. + +"What is it that you have seen?" she asked. + +"I was a fool not to have been prepared," he answered. "There is +another article in to-night's paper, but of course he would have sent +it off before--before the explosion happened. It is worse than the +others!" he went on hoarsely. "Thank Heaven, that man is out of the +way! I would give a million marks to be able to destroy every copy of +this paper that was ever issued. It is not fair fighting!... It is +barbarous! No longer can I hope for any privacy in this country. You +see--you see, Marguerite? He has written of me openly. 'The Toymaker +from Leipzig!'--that is what he has called me! These two, Kendricks and +he, they saw through me from the first. They knew what it was that I +desired. Damn them!" + +Mademoiselle crossed herself instinctively. Once she had been +religious. + +"Poor Sir Julien!" + +Herr Freudenberg sighed. + +"To-morrow night, at any rate," he said, "there will be no article. We +have made sure of that. I pray to Heaven that it may not be too late!" + +She shuddered. The service of dinner was resumed. + +"Put the paper away," she begged. "Don't let us think of it any more. +After all, as you say, he was warned. Nothing that one feels now can do +any good. Give me some wine. Talk to me of other things." + +Estermen came in to them presently. Herr Freudenberg insisted upon his +taking a chair. Once more he dismissed the waiters. + +"All goes well," Estermen announced. "There is not an idea at +headquarters as to the source of the explosion. I have been round with +the newspaper men." + +"How is Kendricks?" Herr Freudenberg asked. + +"Alive, but barely conscious." + +"It is a pity," Herr Freudenberg said coldly. "Kendricks is responsible +for a good deal of the trouble. Did you see that to-night's article is +here?" + +Estermen nodded. + +"He must have been a day ahead," he explained. "It was probably a later +one of the series upon which he was engaged when the thing occurred." + +"This one will do sufficient harm," Herr Freudenberg remarked grimly. + +Estermen shrugged his shoulders. + +"It is true, and yet we have a great start. Public opinion is +thoroughly unsettled. Even those who accepted the _entente_ as the +most brilliant piece of diplomacy of the generation, are beginning to +wonder what really has been gained by it. If I were at Berlin," +Estermen continued, with a covert glance up at his master, "now is the +time I should choose. To-morrow _Le Grand Journal_ will be silent. +To-morrow I should send a polite notification to the English Government +that owing to the unsettled condition of the country, and the +nervousness of certain German residents, His Imperial Majesty has +thought it wise to send a warship to Agdar." + +"The German subjects are a trifle hypothetical," Herr Freudenberg +muttered. "We had the utmost difficulty in persuading an ex-convict to +go out there." + +"What does it matter?" Estermen asked. "He is there. He represents the +glorious liberties of the Fatherland. Millions have been spent before +now for the blood of one man." + +Marguerite sighed. She was leaning back in her place, watching the +boughs of the lime trees swinging gently back and forth in the night +breeze, the cool moonlight outside, refreshing in its contrast to the +over-lit and overheated auditorium of the music-hall. On the stage a +Revue was in full swing. Mademoiselle Ixe glanced at it but seldom. Her +eyes seemed to be always outside. + +"Tell me," she demanded almost passionately, "why cannot one leave the +world alone? It is great enough and beautiful enough. Will Germany be +really the happier, do you think, if she triumphs against England? It +doesn't seem worth while. Life is so short, the joy of living is so +hard to grasp. Don't you think," she added, leaning towards her +companion, her beautiful eyes full of entreaty, "that for one night at +least, all thoughts of your country and of her destinies might pass +away? Let us live in the world that amuses itself, that takes the +pleasures that grow ready to its hand, whose arms are not rapacious, +and whose sword lies idle. Forget for a little time, dear friend. Let +us both forget!" + +Herr Freudenberg smiled as he finished his wine. + +"Ah! dear Marguerite," he said, "you preach the great philosophy. We +will try humbly to follow in your footsteps. Lead on and we will +follow--up to the Montmartre, if you will, or down to the Rue Royale. +What does it matter, sweetheart, so long as we are together?" + +She shivered a little as his fingers touched hers, although her eyes +still besought him. The _vestiaire_ was standing by with her lace +coat. She rose slowly to her feet. + +"To the Rue Royale," she decided. "To-night I have no fancy for the +Montmartre." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +DISTRESSING NEWS + + +Mrs. Carraby advanced into the library of the great house in Grosvenor +Square. Her husband had risen from his desk and was standing with his +hands in his pockets upon the hearth-rug. His dress was as neat and +correct as ever, his hair as accurately parted, his small moustache as +effectually twirled. Yet there was a frown upon his face, an expression +of gloomy peevishness about his expression. His wife stood and looked +at him, looked at him and thought. + +"You are back early," he said. "What is the matter? You don't look +radiantly happy. I thought you were looking forward so much to this +bazaar." + +"I was," she replied. "I am disappointed." + +He saw then that her silence was not a matter of indifference but of +anger. + +"What's wrong?" he asked quickly. + +Her lips parted for a moment. One saw that her teeth were firmly +clenched. There was a wicked light in her strange-colored eyes. + +"It was that woman again," she muttered,--"the Duchess!" + +"What about her?" Carraby demanded. "She's bound to be civil to you +now, anyway." + +"Is she?" Mrs. Carraby replied. "Is she, indeed! Well, her civility +this afternoon has been such that I shall have to give up my stall. I +can't stay there." + +"What do you mean?" he demanded. + +"Nothing except that before everybody she once more cut me dead, cut me +wickedly," Mrs. Carraby declared. "You don't understand the tragedy of +this to a woman. You are not likely to. She did it in such a way this +time that there isn't a person worth knowing in London who isn't +laughing about it at the present moment." + +"Beast of a woman!" he muttered. + +Mrs. Carraby came a little further into the room. She sank into an +easy-chair and sat there. Her hands were tightly clenched, her face was +hard and cold, her tone icy. Yet one felt that underneath a tempest was +raging. + +"You know, Algernon," she went on, "we had some hard times when you +first began to make your way a little. When we first took this house, +even, things weren't altogether easy. Americans can come from nowhere, +do the most outrageous things in the world, and take London by storm. +London, on the other hand, is cruel to English people who have only +their money. She was cruel to us, Algernon, but with all the snubs and +all the difficulties I ever had, nothing has ever happened to me like +to-day." + +"You'll get over it." + +"Get over it!" she repeated. "Yes, but I thought that that sort of +thing was at an end. I thought that when you were a Cabinet Minister no +one would dare to treat me as though I were a social nobody." + +"You must remember that the Duchess has a special reason," he reminded +her. "I suppose it's that Portel affair." + +"Yes," Mrs. Carraby agreed, "it is the Portel affair." + +They were both silent. There wasn't much to be said, for the moment. + +"Have you heard," he inquired presently, "whether Lady Anne is with him +in Paris?" + +"No," she replied. "Somehow or other, people don't seem to talk scandal +about Lady Anne. They say that she is staying for a time with an old +friend there. Algernon!" + +"Yes?" + +"Is it true that you are doing so badly at the Foreign Office?" she +asked bluntly. + +A little flush mounted almost to his forehead. + +"I have had the devil's own luck," he muttered. + +"I can't take up a newspaper," she continued bitterly, "without finding +it full of abuse of you. They say that during six weeks the _entente +cordiale_ has vanished. They say that you have lost the friendship +of France, that she trusts us no longer, and that Germany's tone +becomes more threatening and more bullying every day, solely on account +of your weakness." + +"We can't afford to risk a war," Carraby explained. "I am a Radical +Minister. I have represented a Radical constituency ever since I came +into Parliament. What the devil should I have to say to my people if +within a couple of months of taking office we were plunged into war?" + +"I do not pretend," Mrs. Carraby remarked, "to be an active politician, +but I have heard it said that the best way to avoid war is to show that +you are not afraid of it. They say that that is where Sir Julien Portel +was so splendid. Do you know that the leading article of one of your +own papers this morning declares that Germany would never have dared to +have said so much to us if she had not known that she had only a puppet +to deal with in the Cabinet? You know what all the other papers are +hinting at? Is it true, Algernon, that you gave two hundred thousand +pounds to the party?" + +"Whether it is true or not," Carraby retorted, "it makes no difference. +I wanted this post, wanted it for your sake as much as my own, and I +wish to Heaven that it was at the bottom of the sea! I'd resign +to-morrow if I could do so with dignity. I can't now, of course. Every +one would say I was chucked. To make things worse," he went on +savagely, "there come these infernal letters of Portel's!" + +Mrs. Carraby raised her eyebrows. + +"Why, I've heard it said that those letters are the one hope this +country has! I have heard it said that but for those letters France and +England would be as far apart to-day as they ever were. I heard it said +only this afternoon that those letters were our only hope of peace. +They were compared with the letters of Junius, whoever he was. Lord +Cardington told me himself that they were the most splendid political +prose he had ever read in his life." + +"That may be true enough," Carraby growled, "but they make it all the +harder for me. No doubt Portel was a good Minister. No doubt he was +doing very well in his post. Now he writes these letters every one +remembers it, every one is asking for him back again. It's hell, Mabel! +I wish to God we'd let the man alone!" Mrs. Carraby looked at her +husband steadfastly. She was a little taller than he. She looked at +him, from his well-brushed hair to the trim patent boots which adorned +his small feet. She looked at him and in those strange-colored eyes of +hers were unmentionable things. She turned away and walked to the +window. In imagination she was back again in Julien's rooms. She lived +again through those few minutes. If he had answered differently! + +Outside in the square the newsboys were shouting. She had stood before +the window for some time when a familiar name fell upon her ears. She +turned around and touched the bell. + +"What is it that you want?" her husband asked. + +"A paper," she replied. + +A very correct butler brought her the _Pall Mall Gazette_ a moment +or two later. She scanned it eagerly. Then it slipped from her +shuddering fingers. She turned upon her husband. + +"He is dead!" she cried. "Can't you read it? 'Death of an Englishman in +an explosion in Paris. Mr. Kendricks, a journalist, seriously injured; +Sir Julien Portel, the ex-Cabinet Minister,--dead!'" + +She stood as though turned to stone. Then something in her husband's +face seemed to bring her back to the present. She turned upon him. Her +face was suddenly lit with some strange, quivering fire. It was one of +the moments of her life. + +"You miserable worm!" she shrieked. "You dare to stand there and smile +because a man is dead! You!" + +He tried to draw himself up, tried to rebuke her. He might as well have +tried to stem a torrent. + +"I've done my best to share your rotten, scheming life," she cried, "to +help you in your dirty ways, and to crawl up into the places we +coveted! Once I saw the truth. Once a real man was kind to me and I saw +the difference. I've felt it in my heart ever since. For your sake and +my own, for the sake of our rotten, miserable ambitions, I ruined him +and sent him to his death. He is dead, do you hear? You and I did it! +We are murderers! And to think that I did it for you! That you--such a +creature as you--might take his place!" + +She threw up her hands high above her head. There had been people who +had doubted her good looks. No one at that instant would have denied +her beauty. Carraby's eyes were fixed upon her and he was afraid. Even +when she had cast herself face downward upon the couch, and lay with +her head buried in her hands, he dared not go near. He stood there +gazing at her across the room. Perhaps he, too, though his +understanding was less, tasted a little of the poison! + +In the splendid library of his palace in Berlin, the maker of toys +leaned back in his chair after a long and successful day's work. There +lingered upon his lips still the remnants of a grim smile, which the +dictation of a dispatch to London had just evoked. His secretary +gathered up his papers. His master was disposed to be genial. + +"My young friend," he remarked, "those letters from Paris--they were +stopped just in time, eh?" + +"Just in time, indeed, Highness," the young man replied. "I have +friends who write me from there. They assure me that their effect was +tremendous. The cessation of them was indeed an act of Providence." + +Prince Falkenberg's lips relaxed. There were hard lines at the corners +of his mouth. Yet if this were indeed a smile, it was no pleasant thing +to look upon! + +"An act of Providence, without a doubt!" he exclaimed,--"Providence +which watches always over the destinies of our dear Fatherland!" + +"I shall bring you now, Highness, the foreign papers?" the young man +suggested. + +"If you please," his master replied. "I read them now, thank Heaven, +with an easier feeling." + +The young man retreated and reappeared in a few minutes with a pile of +newspapers. Prince Falkenberg rose and stretched himself, lit a long +black cigar and threw himself into a comfortable chair before the high +window. + +"Your Highness will take some coffee, perhaps?" the young man asked. + +"Presently." + +The great Minister unfolded his newspapers. A reference in the English +_Times_ perplexed him. He turned to the journal which only a few +days ago he had opened with almost a shudder. He undid the wrapper, +shook it open and looked at it. Then suddenly he sat like a man turned +to stone. The cigar burnt out between his teeth, his eyes were riveted +upon that page, the black letters seemed to have become lurid. The +sentences stabbed, he was face to face with the impossible. The paper +which he read was dated on the preceding day. Before him was a fourth +article, dated from Paris, dated less than forty-eight hours ago, +signed "Julien Portel." The title of the article was "The World's Great +Mischief-Maker!" He read on, read from that first sentence to the last, +read the naked truth about himself, saw his motives exposed, his +secret visits to Paris derided, his foibles photographed. He saw +himself the laughing stock of Europe. Then he leaned over and rang the +bell. + +"Neudheim," he said, "let it be given out that I leave to-night for +Falkenberg as usual. Let the automobile be prepared for a long journey. +I leave in half an hour." + +The young man stared. He had fancied that those flying visits of his +master's for a time were to be discontinued. + +"Your Highness goes south?" he asked. + +"I drive all night," Prince Falkenberg replied. "See that the Count +Rudolf is prepared to accompany me. Quick! Give the orders." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +ESTERMEN'S DEATH-WARRANT + + +In the untidy salon of his bachelor apartments in the Boulevard +Maupassant Estermen awaited the coming of his master in veritable fear +and trembling. In all his experience he had never been compelled to +face a crisis such as this. There had been small failures, punished, +perhaps, by a sarcastic word or biting sentence. There had been no +failure to compare with this one! Herr Freudenberg deliberately, and of +his own free choice, was accustomed to take huge risks. When they came +he accepted them, but when they were not inevitable he as sedulously +avoided them. The wrecking of Julien's apartments in the Rue de +Montpelier was by far the most hazardous enterprise which had been +attempted since the days of the toymaker's first secret visits to +Paris. Half a dozen human beings had been done to death in a manner +which invited and even challenged the attentions of the French police. +A terrible risk had been run and run in vain. The blow had been struck +at the very moment when its object was unattainable! Estermen shivered +as he tried to imagine for himself the coming interview. Gone, he +feared, was his life of pleasant luxury among the flesh-pots and easy +ways of Paris; his bachelor apartments, occupied in name by him but of +which the real tenant was his dreaded master. And behind all this +apprehension lurked another grisly and terrible fear! For the twentieth +time during the last few minutes he peered through the closely drawn +Venetian-blind, and his blood ran cold. On the pavement opposite, +before the small table of a cafe, a man was sitting--the same man! For +two days he had been there--a gaunt and silent person with a wonderful +trick of gazing away into space from the columns of his newspaper. But +Estermen knew all about that! He knew, even, the man's name! He knew +that he was one of the most persistent and successful of French +detectives. His name was Jean Charles and he had never known failure. +Estermen looked at him through the blind and his pale face was ugly +with fear. + +The moment arrived. The long, gray traveling car, covered with dust, +swung around the corner and stopped below. Herr Freudenberg was +travel-stained and almost unrecognizable in his motor clothes as he +stepped out and passed into the block of apartments. Contrary to his +usual custom, he did not at once present himself before the man who +awaited him in fear and trembling. Estermen heard him enter his own +suite of rooms on the other side of the stairway and give a few brief +orders. Then there was a peremptory knock at the door. Herr Freudenberg +was announced and entered. + +To the man who had been waiting for his sentence there was something +terrible in the grim impassivity of Prince Falkenberg's features. His +face was set and white and sphinx-like. Only his eyes shone with a +fierce, unusual fire. + +"What have you to say, Estermen?" he demanded. + +"It was a miracle," Estermen faltered. "Sir Julien descended the stairs +with the copy in his hand to speak to a caller. For seventeen hours he +had been in his rooms, for the following seventeen hours he would +probably have been there, too. For the intervening thirty seconds he +happened to be upon the pavement. It was a miracle!" + +This was the end of all the specious story which Estermen had gone over +so often to himself! Yet he had done his cause no harm, for the few +sentences he spoke were the truth. + +"You have discovered his present whereabouts?" his master demanded. + +Estermen hesitated. He feared that this was another blow which he was +about to deal. + +"He is at the house of Madame Christophor in the Rue de St. Paul," he +faltered. + +His news, however, did not discompose Prince Falkenberg. On the +contrary, he seemed, if anything, to find the intelligence agreeable. + +"Have you made any inquiries as to his condition?" + +Estermen shrugged his shoulders. + +"The household of Madame Christophor," he replied, "is, as you know, +outside my sphere of influence. It is, besides, incorruptible. I myself +am personally obnoxious to Madame. I could do nothing but wait for your +coming." + +Prince Falkenberg stood with his hands behind him, thinking. He had +relapsed into his former grim and impenetrable silence. And while he +waited the sweat stood out in beads upon Estermen's forehead. Greatly +he feared that the worst was to come! + +"Have you anything else to say to me?" his master asked. + +"Nothing!" Estermen replied, with faltering lips. + +Prince Falkenberg's eyes were fierce orbs of light and his servant +quailed before him. + +"Have you any reason to believe that the origin of the crime is +suspected?" + +It was the question which above all others he had dreaded! Estermen was +a coward and a fluent liar. The latter gift, however, availed him +nothing. He felt as though the nerves of his tongue were being +controlled by some other agency. Against his will he told the truth. + +"Jean Charles is watching these apartments!" + +"Ah!" + +Prince Falkenberg's single exclamation was the death sentence of his +agent. Estermen knew it and his knees knocked one against the other. + +"For six years," Prince Falkenberg said, after a moment's pause, "you +have lived an easy and a comfortable life, Estermen,--a life, I dare +say, spent among the gutter vices which would naturally appeal to a +person of your temperament; a life, apart from the small services which +I have required of you, directed altogether by your own inclinations. +Be thankful for those six years. As you well know, but for me they +would have been spent either in prison or in the problematical future +world--a matter entirely at the discretion of the judge who tried you. +It pleased me to rescue you for my own purpose. You were possessed of a +certain amount of low cunning and a complete absence of all ordinary +human qualities, a combination which made you a useful servant of my +will. My one condition has been always before you. The present case +demands your fulfillment of it." + +Estermen began to tremble. + +"The man may be there by accident," he faltered. "There is no certainty +as yet that I am even suspected. I'm--I'm horribly afraid to die!" he +added, with an ugly little laugh. + +"So are most men of your kidney," Prince Falkenberg replied composedly. +"Nevertheless, die you must, and to-night. Write your confession. Make +it clear that one of the victims was your personal enemy. I'll dictate +it, if you like." + +"I can do it myself," Estermen muttered. "Let me--let me write the +confession first and then make an attempt to escape," he pleaded. "If I +am taken, the confession shall be found upon me. It will make no +difference. Let me have a chance! I know the secret places of the city. +I have friends who might help me to escape." + +Prince Falkenberg watched his agent for a moment in contemptuous +curiosity. Estermen was walking restlessly up and down the few feet of +carpet, his fingers and the muscles of his face twitching. His words +had come with difficulty, as though he had suddenly developed an +impediment in his speech. His sallow complexion had become yellow. His +carefully waxed moustache was drooping, a speck of saliva was issuing +from his lips. + +"The request which you make to me," Prince Falkenberg replied, "I +absolutely refuse. I know you and your cowardly temperament too well to +allow you to come alive into the hands of the French police." + +"You value your own life highly enough!" Estermen snarled. + +"It is not so," Prince Falkenberg asserted. "If I had ever valued my +own life highly, there would have been no Herr Freudenberg; and if the +whole history of Herr Freudenberg is discovered, I follow you, my +friend, post haste. If I seem to be taking any pains to hold my own, +remember that mine is a life which is valuable to the Fatherland. You +have been and you are only a feeder at the troughs. One more or less +such as you in the world makes just the difference of a speck of +dust--that is all." + +Estermen shrank cowering into his seat. + +"I'd rather live--in torture--in prison or in chains--anywhere!" he +gasped. "I can't think of death!" + +Prince Falkenberg was becoming impatient. + +"My dear Estermen," he exclaimed, "what prison do you suppose remains +open for the murderer of seven men! You shrink from death. Yet let me +assure you that the guillotine, with the certain prospect of it before +you day after day through a long trial, is no pleasant outlet from the +world for a sybarite. Be a philosopher. Go and die as you have lived. +Write your confession, summon your dearest friend by telephone, give a +little supper--you'll have plenty of time--but see that the affair is +over before midnight! This is my advice to you, Estermen; these are +also my orders, my final orders. If I find you alive when I return, or +the confession unwritten, I will show you how death may be made more +horrible than anything you have yet conceived." + +Prince Falkenberg turned on his heel and left the apartment. Estermen +remained for several moments shrinking back in the chair upon which he +had collapsed. Then he rose and with trembling footsteps stole to the +window, peering out from behind the blind. The man at the cafe opposite +was still there! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +SANCTUARY + + +"This afternoon," Madame Christophor declared, looking thoughtfully at +Julien, "I am going to send you a new secretary." + +He turned a little eagerly in his easy-chair. + +"Lady Anne!" he exclaimed. + +"Are you glad?" she asked. + +Julien hesitated. His eyes sought his companion's face. She was seated +at the small writing-table drawn up close to his side, her head resting +upon her left hand, the pen in her right fingers sketching idle figures +at the bottom of the sheet which she had just written. She was wearing +a dress of strange-colored muslin, a shade between gray and silver, but +from underneath came a shimmer of blue, and there were turquoises about +her neck. Her large, soft eyes were fixed steadfastly upon his. There +was a sort of question in them which he seemed to have surprised there +more than once during the last few days. A sudden uneasiness seized +him. His brain was crowded with unwilling fancies. There were, without +doubt, symptoms of coquetry in her appearance. He had spoken of blue as +the one sublime color. As she leaned a little back in her chair, +resting from her labors, he could scarcely help noticing the blue silk +stockings and suede shoes which matched the hidden color of her skirt, +the ribbon which gleamed from the dusky masses of her hair. Madame +Christophor was always a very beautiful and a very elegant woman, and +it seemed to have pleased her during these last few days to appear at +her best. Julien gripped for a moment at his bandaged arm. + +"You are in pain? You would like me to change the bandage?" she +suggested almost eagerly. + +"Not yet," he replied. "It is still quite comfortable." + +She looked at him thoughtfully. + +"You have the air of wanting something," she remarked. "Is there +anything that displeases you?" + +"Displeases me! If you knew how strange that sounded!" he exclaimed. "I +do not think that any one ever lived with such luxury, or was treated +with so much kindness, as I during the last few days. You make every +second perfect." + +Madame Christophor sighed. Almost as Julien finished his speech he +regretted its conclusion. Madame Christophor, on the other hand, +although she sighed, seemed vaguely content. + +"You see, the fates against whom you have so great a grievance have +done something to atone," she declared. "No doubt you hated to leave +your work to come and speak to me in the street that afternoon. No +doubt your red-headed journalist friend hated me also. Yet if you had +not come, if my automobile had been detained a few minutes on the +way--ah! it is terrible indeed to think what might not have happened!" + +She shivered. A moment later she raised her eyes and continued. + +"I think," she said, "you must abandon a little of your hostility +against my sex. It was a woman who worked this mischief in your life +and a woman who was fortunate enough to save it. I think you can almost +cry quits with us, Sir Julien." + +He smiled. He was struggling to lead back their conversation to a +lighter level. A certain change in this woman's tone and manner, a +change which was reflected even in her appearance, disturbed him +painfully. + +"The balance is already on my side, dear hostess," he assured her. "You +have left me an eternal debtor to your sex. I shall never again indulge +in generalities or wholesale condemnation. It is, after all, foolish. +But tell me why you are sending Lady Anne to help me to-day?" + +She watched for any trace of disappointment in his tone. There was +none. On the contrary, his mention of Lady Anne was accompanied by a +slight eagerness which puzzled her. + +"I have a few social duties to attend to," she explained a little +vaguely. "Lady Anne is quite efficient. I like her handwriting, too. It +is like herself--clean-cut, legible. There are no hidden pools about +Lady Anne." + +"Yet," he said, "a woman always keeps some part of herself concealed." + +"You think that Lady Anne, too, has her secret?" Madame Christophor +asked, raising her eyes. + +"I think that if she has, she is quite capable of keeping it," he +replied. + +There was a knock at the door. Lady Anne entered. She came a few yards +into the room with a slight smile upon her lips, and nodded pleasantly +to Julien. In her slim stateliness, the untroubled serenity of youth +reflected in her smiling face, she represented perfectly the other type +of womanhood. Madame Christophor rose deliberately to her feet. For one +swift moment she measured the things between them. She herself was +conscious of a greater intellectual maturity, a more subtle quality in +her looks, a beauty less describable, more exotic, perhaps, but also +more provocative. The arts of her sex were at her finger-tips, the +small arts disdained by this well-looking and perfectly healthy young +woman. She turned her head quickly towards Sir Julien. It was the idle +impulse of the man or woman who plucks the petals from a flower. Julien +was gazing steadfastly at Lady Anne.... Madame Christophor picked up +her belongings and moved towards the door. + +"Be merciless today, my friend!" she exclaimed, pausing upon the +threshold,--"virulent, if you will! _Le Jour_ was screaming at you +last night. Jesen has lost his head a little; or is it the lash of his +master which he feels? How can one tell?" + +"After tonight," Julien remarked, with a smile, "who will read _Le +Jour_? I shall tell the story of the purchase of that paper by Herr +Freudenberg. French people will not love to think that the pen of Jesen +has been guided by the hand of Germany." + +Madame Christophor made a little grimace. + +"My friend," she declared, "my house is, I believe, the safest spot in +Paris, yet there are limits. Remember that you have become a celebrity. +There is an agitation in England to have you back at the Foreign +Office. All Paris is divided upon the subject of your life or death. +And there are men here in the city who seek for you night and day with +death in their hands. My house is sanctuary, but no one can write such +things as you are writing and deem himself secure against any risk." + +He smiled at her confidently. + +"Yet you would not have me leave out one single line, you would not +have me lower the torch for one second! You suggest caution!--you, who +haven't the word 'fear' in your vocabulary! It is your house, not mine. +There are more bombs to be bought in Paris. Yet tell me, would you have +me spare a single word of the truth?" + +She flashed back her answer across the room. For the moment she forgot +Lady Anne. They two were on another plane. + +"Not one word," she assured him, with soft yet vibrant earnestness. "I +would have you write the truth in letters of fire upon the clouds, for +all Paris to see. You have a message. See that it goes out." + +Madame Christophor closed the door softly behind her. Julien remained +looking at the spot from which she had disappeared. Then he drew a +little breath. + +"She is wonderful!" he muttered. + +Lady Anne took up her pen. She avoided looking at him. + +"Let us begin," she said.... + +They wrote for hours. Julien was in the mood for this final and fierce +attack upon _Le Jour_ and all the powers that stood behind it. He +held up Falkenberg to derision--the charlatan of modern politics, the +Puck of Berlin, whose one sincerity was his hatred for England, and one +capacity, the giant capacity for mischief! He wound up his article with +a scathing and personal denunciation of Falkenberg, and a splendidly +worded appeal to the French nation not for one moment to be deceived as +to the character of this tireless and ambitious schemer after his +country's welfare. All the time Anne took down his words in fluent and +flowing writing. When at last he had finished, he looked at the sheets +which surrounded her with something like amazement. + +"Why, what a pig I've been, Anne!" he exclaimed, glancing from the +table to the clock. "You must have been writing for nearly three +hours!" + +She was busy picking up the sheets. + +"Quite, I should say," she answered, "but I loved it. Now I am going to +ring for tea, and afterwards you must read it through. We might get the +manuscript down to the office to-night." + +"I shall need you when I read it through," he reminded her. "There will +be corrections." + +"Either Madame Christophor or I will be here," she replied. "Madame +Christophor may have some other work for me." + +He looked at her curiously. + +"Even you are different," he murmured. + +"Tell me at once what you mean?" she begged. + +"I wish I knew," he confessed. "To tell you the truth, Anne, a curious +feeling of detachment seems to have come over me--during the last few +days especially. It is such a short time since I was living the +ordinary sort of mechanical life in London, engaged to be married to +you, and my doings day by day all mapped out--a life interesting, of +course, but without any real variation. And now here I am, hanging on +to life by the thin edge of nothing, writing such things as I should +never have dared to have said from my seat in the House, practically +an adventurer. Do you wonder that sometimes I am not quite sure that it +isn't all a nightmare? I am actually hiding here in Paris from +assassins--in Paris, the most civilized city in the world--the guest of +a woman whose acquaintance I made only because a little manicurist in +Soho insisted upon it. And you, Anne, are here by my side, a +professional secretary, the friend of a milliner, more intimate and on +better terms with me than you were in the days when we were engaged to +be married! What has happened to us, Anne? How did we get here?" + +She laughed at him tolerantly. + +"We've come a little into our own, I suppose," she remarked. "As for +me, I feel a different woman since I stepped out of the made-to-order +world. And you--well, don't be angry, but you're not nearly so much of +a prig, are you, Julien? You're less starched and more human. Of course +we are more companionable. We are both more human." + +He nodded. + +"I suppose that so far as I am concerned Kendricks had something to do +with it--he was always trying to make me look at things differently. +But it seems such a short time for such an absolute change." + +She was balancing her pen upon the inkpot--keeping her eyes turned from +him. + +"It isn't always a matter of time, you know, Julien," she said +thoughtfully. "You were never really a prig--I was never really a +machine for wearing a ready-made smile and a few smart frocks. It took +a shock to make us see things, but neither of us remained wilfully +blind. You'll be back in your world before long and a better man than +ever." + +"And you?" + +"I have hopes some day of becoming a perfect secretary," she confessed. +"If I fail, I will at least make more bows than any one else in a day." + +He leaned towards her, showing a sudden and dangerous forgetfulness of +his bandaged arm. + +"Anne," he said firmly, "if I go back, you go back. Sometimes I think +that I shall never regret anything that has happened if--" + +The door was softly opened. It was Madame Christophor who entered with +a little pile of letters in her hand. Lady Anne, with slightly +heightened color, rose to her feet. There was something in Madame +Christophor's eyes which was almost fiercely questioning. + +"I am not disturbing you, I trust?" she asked slowly. "I bring Sir +Julien some letters." + +He caught up the sheets which lay by his side. + +"I will not even look at them until I have corrected my article," he +declared. + +Madame Christophor settled herself composedly in an easy-chair. + +"Lady Anne shall read it aloud," she proposed calmly, "and I will +assist in the corrections. For the French edition I may be able to +suggest. The papers today are most amusing," she continued. "The German +press is almost unreadable. No wonder that there is a price upon your +head, my friend!" + +Julien moved restlessly in his place. + +"I have had the most extraordinary luck," he remarked. "No other man, +naturally, knew so much of Anglo-German and Anglo-French relations. And +instead of being at home in Downing Street, and muzzled, I happened to +be here on the spot, to run up against Falkenberg, discover his little +schemes, and with my own special knowledge to see through them at once. +No one else ever had such an opportunity." + +Madame Christophor smiled enigmatically. She was looking thoughtfully +across at her guest. + +"It is not every opportunity in life," she murmured, "which a man knows +how to embrace!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +NEARING A CRISIS + + +That night, for the first time since his arrival in the house as a +guest, Julien dined downstairs. To his surprise, when he presented +himself in the smaller salon to which he had been directed, he found +the table laid for two only. Madame Christophor, who was standing on +the threshold of the winter-garden opening out from the apartment, read +his expression and frowned. + +"You expected Lady Anne to dine?" she asked bluntly. + +Julien was taken a little aback. + +"It seemed natural to expect her," he admitted. + +Madame Christophor moved towards the bell, but Julien intercepted her. +He remembered all that he owed to this woman. He was ashamed of his +lack of tact. + +"Dear Madame Christophor," he pleaded, "forgive me if for a moment I +forgot how altered things are. Indeed, it was not a matter of choice +with me. Of course, it will give me the greatest pleasure to dine +tete-a-tete with you!" + +He was, perhaps, a shade too impressive, but Madame Christophor, as all +women who greatly desire to read in a man's words what they choose to +find there, hesitated. Finally, with a shrug of the shoulders, she +turned away from the bell. + +"Three is such an impossible number," she declared, with well-assumed +carelessness. "Lady Anne has her own salon adjoining her apartment. She +dines there always. If I am without company, I enjoy the rest of being +alone. She is very delightful in her own way, your dear Lady Anne, but +she and I have not much in common. Come and see my roses." + +She led the way into the conservatory, a dome-shaped building with +colored glass at the top, fragrant, almost faint with the perfume of +roses and drooping exotics. A little fountain was playing in the +middle. When the butler announced the service of dinner and they +returned to take their places, she left the door open. + +"Tonight," she announced, as they sat side by side at the small round +table, "I am going to take advantage of the situation. I am your +hostess and you are an invalid. It is my opportunity to talk. Are you a +good listener, Sir Julien?" + +She had dropped her voice almost to a whisper. Those beautiful deep-set +eyes were challenging his. She seemed to have made up her mind that for +that night, at any rate, her beauty should be unquestioned. She wore a +dress of black net, fitting very closely, a wonderful background for +her white skin and the ropes of pearls which were twined about her +neck. He had never seen her _decolletee_, but he remembered +reading in a ladies' fashion paper that a famous sculptor had once +declared her neck and bust to be the most beautiful in Paris. She had +even added the slightest touch of color to her cheeks. There was no +longer any sign of the wrinkles at the sides of her eyes. She read the +half ingenuous, half unwilling admiration in his face, and she laughed +at him. + +"Ah, my friend," she murmured, "I can see that you object to the role +of listener! Very well, then, you shall talk. You shall tell me of your +life in England. You shall tell me what dreams have come to you for the +days when once more you shall help to shape the destinies of your +nation. Tell me how you mean to live! Shall you be again--what was it +Lady Anne thought you?--a prig?" + +"I am like many other and more famous men," he remarked. "I have +learned much in adversity." + +"I read the English papers," she continued presently. "I have also a +large correspondence. Do you know that there is nearly a rebellion in +your party? Questions have been asked about you in the House. Both +sides want you back. There is a feeling that you were allowed to go +much too easily, that the indiscretion of which you were guilty was a +trifle. This man Carraby is what you call--a cad! That does not do in +the high places. Nationality cannot conceal a lack of breeding." + +"I have thought over many things," Julien admitted. "If the way is made +clear for me, I shall go back. Why not? I believe that I can serve my +country, and it is the life for which I am best fitted. Carraby may +have his good points, but his ambitions have been a little too +extensive. He would have made a better mayor of the town where he was +born." + +"You are right," she declared. "There is no place for such men in the +great world. You will go back. It is written. See--I drink to England's +future Prime Minister!" + +She raised her glass, which the butler had just filled with champagne. +She looked into his eyes as she drank and Julien was conscious of a +passing uneasiness. She set the glass down, empty. Her hand lay for a +moment near his. + +"You will go back," she murmured. "You will forget. The people whom you +have met in your brief period of adversity will seem to you like +shadows. Is it not so?" + +He took her hand and raised it boldly to his lips. + +"It will never be like that with you, dear hostess," he assured her. +"There are things which one does not forget." + +She did not withdraw her hand. Its pressure upon his fingers was faint +but insistent. + +"Do you remember when we first met," she said softly, "how bitter we +were against the others--even at first against one another? You had +been betrayed by that unimportant woman and the whole sex was hateful +to you. I had just come from seeing the tragedy caused by a man's crass +selfishness. I, too, was wearing the fetters. To me the whole of your +sex seemed abominable.... You see," she went on, "my marriage was a +terrible disappointment. I fancied that I was marrying a great man, a +genius, an inspired statesman, and I found myself allied to a political +machine. My wealth--have I told you, I wonder, that I am very +wealthy?--helped him. For the rest, I was a puppet by his side. I +lived in Berlin for one year. Official life in Berlin for an American +woman, even though she be Princess von Falkenberg, is still +intolerable. The men were bad enough, the women worse. I could not +breathe. I was no part of my husband's life. I was no part of any one's +life. The German women did not understand me. My husband--oh, he is +very German in his heart!--only laughed at my complaints. He would have +been perfectly willing to see me become as those others--_hausfrauen_, +bearers of children, a domestic article. So we separated--divorce at that +moment was impossible. I came back to Paris." + +"You had no children?" Julien asked. + +"One boy," she answered, her eyes becoming very soft. "Do not let us +speak of him for a moment." + +The service of dinner continued. Outside, the water from the fountain +fell into the basin with a gentle, monotonous sound. The perfume of the +roses stole through the open doorway. One softly-shaded lamp had been +lit, but the rest of the lofty room remained in shadowy obscurity. The +light from that one lamp seemed to fall full upon Madame Christophor's +beautiful face. + +"I loved my boy," she went on. "It was part of my husband's cruelty to +detach him from me. He has the law on his side. I may not even see +Rudolf. Very well, I do my best to steel my heart. I come here to live. +I have many friends, but Falkenberg is the only man to whom I have ever +belonged, and he has treated me as he would have treated one of those +others--his companions for the moment. I have occupied myself here in +work of different sorts. I have tried in my way to do good among women +less happy, even, than I. Wherever I went I saw that every woman who +has sinned, every woman who is miserable, every woman who has become a +blot upon the earth, is what she is by reason of man's selfishness. +Can you wonder that I have grown a little bitter?" + +"I wonder at nothing in the woman who has been Falkenberg's wife," +Julien replied. "He seems to me the most unscrupulous person who ever +breathed. Yet in his way he is marvelously attractive." + +"He is," she admitted. "I fell in love with him against my will. +Directly my reason intervened, the madness was over. How old do you +think I am, Sir Julien?" + +Julien was a little startled. + +"How old?" he repeated. + +"A foolish question, of course," she continued. "How could you be +honest! I am twenty-nine years old. I believe that I am the richest +woman in Paris. I am tired of being called brilliant and cynical, of +showing fortune-hunters to the door, of living my life in loneliness. +Falkenberg has sworn that if I take any steps to make a divorce +possible, I shall never see my boy again. I have not seen him, as it +is, for nearly two years. The threat is losing its terrors.... You are +listening, my friend?" + +"Of course!" + +She turned to the butler. The other servants had already left the room. + +"Bring coffee into the winter-garden," she ordered. "Come, Sir Julien." + +She lit a cigarette and threw it away almost immediately. Her eyes were +gleaming like stars. She laid her fingers upon his arm as they passed +out into the perfumed air of the conservatory, and he seemed to feel +some touch of the fire that was burning in her veins. She swayed a +little towards him. The color in her cheeks was brilliant. Her bosom +was rising and falling quickly. She was splendidly handsome, nerved up +to great things, a woman inspired by a purpose. Julien was afraid. He, +too, felt something of the excitement of the moment, but his brain +seemed numbed. There was nothing he could say. She threw herself back +into a low chair and drew him down to her side. With her other hand she +caught hold of a cluster of pink roses and pressed their cool blossoms +to her cheek. + +"Sir Julien," she murmured, "I have looked so steadfastly into life, I +have striven so hard to find a place there. I have something to give. I +do not come empty-handed. I can place offerings upon the altar of the +great god. I have myself, my brains such as they are, and the golden +key which unlocks the wonderful doors. Can you wonder that I ask for +something in return? I have stood in the marketplace of life, I have +passed down between the stalls, and I am humiliated. There is no life, +there is no career upon this world for a woman. It is a strange +doctrine, perhaps, to preach in these days, but I have searched and I +know it to be the truth. Nature meant woman for man, and if she rebels +there is no seat for her alone among the mighty places. Alone I can win +none of the things I desire. You see, I talk to you like this, nakedly, +because we are of the order of those who understand. You very nearly +married a duke's daughter and became a middle-class politician. Don't +do it. Don't think of it any more, Julien. You were meant for the great +places, and I think--I think--that I was meant to hold the torch to +light you there!" + +"Madame Christophor!" + +She started at his tone. In the splendid arrogance of her assured +position, her brilliant gifts, her almost inspired individuality, +failure had never occurred to her. Even now she refused to read the +message in his set face. + +"You feel, perhaps," she went on, leaning towards him, "that you are +pledged to Lady Anne. Dear Sir Julien, rub your eyes! I want you to +see--all the way to the skies. Lady Anne is a sweet girl who will look +nice at the head of any one's table. She will read the papers and take +an intelligent interest in her husband's work, and ask him trite and +obvious questions to prove that she understands all about it. She will +give you phenacetin when you have a headache, she will fill your house +with the right sort of people. She will be very amiable and very +satisfied. She'll always read the debates and she'll sit up for you at +night in a pretty dressing-gown. And all the time the wall will grow, +brick by brick, and you will look up to the skies and find them empty, +and listen for the music and hear none, and a web will be spun about +your heart, and your brain will be clogged, and the fine thoughts will +go, and you'll never be anything but a successful politician. You +know very well that all the paths to the great pit of unhappiness are +crowded with men who have been successful in their profession." + +She swayed even closer towards him, her head a little thrown back, her +eyes inviting him. He scrambled to his feet. Still she held out her +hands. + +"Won't you trust me?" she begged. "Believe me that I know the way into +the great places, Julien." + +"Listen!" he cried hoarsely. "You have offered me everything except +your love. Thank Heaven you did not offer me that! I love Lady Anne." + +"Everything _except_ my love!" she exclaimed, with the first note +of trouble in her tone. "Everything _except_ my love! Are you mad?" + +"I love Lady Anne!" he repeated, setting his teeth. + +They stood facing one another. She tore a handful of the blossoms from +a syringa tree and commenced crushing them in her fingers. The sound of +footsteps scarcely disturbed her. The butler appeared, followed by Lady +Anne. The former excused himself with a grave face. + +"Madame," he announced, "the Prince von Falkenberg is here." + +Madame Christophor turned slowly around. + +"The Prince von Falkenberg! Where?" + +"In the waiting-room, madame." + +She moved away. She did not glance towards Julien. + +"I come," she announced. + + +Lady Anne had some letters in her hand, which she handed to Julien. He +threw them hastily aside and drew her suddenly into his arms and into +the shadow of the giant palm. + +"Anne," he pleaded, "not because of your mother, not because you would +make me a suitable wife, but because I love you, will you marry me?" + +He felt her relax in his arms. + +"Julien!" she murmured. + +"I didn't finish the sentence," he went on,--"to-morrow at the +Embassy?" + +"Absurd!" + +"It's the only way," he insisted confidently. "We couldn't be married +in London. All the tribe of Harbord would come and boo, and it would +save no end of gossip and bother when we got back. Anne--I love you +very much and I want you just as soon as I can get you!" + +"Of course, if you put it like that," she said softly,-- + +"Well?" + +"This is the only frock I have." + +"The Rue de la Paix is at our gates," he reminded her. + +"Be sensible," she begged. "You can't show your-self about Paris. +Something terrible will happen." + +"Not it!" he replied confidently. "It's too late." + +His arm crept a little further around her waist, he drew her even +further back among the drooping palms. + +"I think that I like this better than the last time you asked me!" she +whispered. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +FALKENBERG'S LAST EFFORT + + +"Madame," Prince Falkenberg declared, with a formal bow, "I owe you a +thousand apologies for this visit." + +Madame Christophor looked at him across the room, and in her eyes there +was no welcome nor any anger--only surprise. + +"You break," she reminded him, "the word of a prince!" + +Falkenberg smiled icily. + +"There are cataclysms in life," he said, "whirlpools into which one may +sometimes be drawn. One's will is overborne. I myself am in that +unfortunate position." + +Madame Christophor looked steadfastly at her visitor. Was it her fancy +or was he really growing older, this man of iron? The story of the last +few weeks was written into his face, there were shadows under his eyes, +a deep line across his forehead. + +"Since you are here, be seated," she invited, sinking herself wearily +into a chair. "Tell me as quickly as you can what has brought you?" + +"Portel has brought me," Falkenberg answered grimly. "They tell me that +he has taken shelter under the shadow of your petticoats." + +"Shelter from your assassins!" + +"Precisely!" Falkenberg admitted. + +"I do not admire your methods," Madame Christophor remarked. "They seem +to me not only brutal but clumsy. You killed seven men and injured +several others, to no purpose." + +"Madame," Falkenberg declared, "to secure the death of that man I would +have destroyed a whole quarter of Paris and every person in it." + +Madame Christophor shivered. + +"Thorough, as usual, my dear Prince," she murmured. "Nevertheless, I +find such statements loathsome. We should have outlived the days of +barbarity. I do not understand men who deal in such fashion with their +enemies." + +Falkenberg frowned. + +"There is something between us greater than personal enmity," he +retorted fiercely. "My personal enemy I would deal with in such a +manner as I make no doubt would commend itself to your scruples. Julien +Portel is more than that. He is the enemy of my country. Upon him, +therefore, I shall have no mercy." + +"I will not argue with you," she replied. "There is a plainer issue +before us. In passing my threshold you have broken your word of honor. +What do you want?" + +"I want Julien Portel!" + +Madame Christophor shrugged her shoulders. + +"You have wanted him for some little time." + +"Never so badly as at this instant," Falkenberg declared bitterly. "He +has set all Europe in a ferment with those infernal letters. He knows +too much. He knows whence came the money which bought _Le Jour_. +He knows every detail of my campaign here." + +"There are surely others," she objected, "who must have guessed--" + +"But there was no one else," he interrupted, "who had the special +knowledge which Portel has. He came from the Foreign Office, with the +records of the last two years in his mind. At Berlin he and I crossed +swords. He is the only Englishman who has ever caused me a moment's +uneasiness." + +"Are you sure," she asked, "that your campaign here has been a wise +one?" + +"The wisdom of Solomon," he replied grimly, "can be made to look like +folly by the accident of failure. There is no doubt as to its wisdom. +No one has studied these matters as I have studied them. No one has +seen the truth more clearly. An alliance between England and America is +a matter of a few years only, and when it comes the progress of Germany +is set back for a generation. The one absolute necessity before me was +to cut the bonds between England and France and to settle with England +alone and quickly--diplomatically, if possible; by force of arms as a +last resource. We don't seek war, Henriette. We are not really a +bloodthirsty nation. We seek territory. We need new lands--fruitful +lands, trade, the command of the seas. If we cannot get what we want +by peaceful means, then it must be war. England for the present is +weakly governed. She is in the throes of labor troubles. Her political +parties are ill-balanced. There is a puppet at the Foreign Office. Now +is the time to strike." + +"Is it wise to tell me your secrets?" she inquired coldly. "I have no +sympathy for you or your country." + +"I have a bargain to strike with you and you must understand," he +answered. "Twenty-four hours ago we dispatched a gunboat to a certain +neutral port which comes under the influence of England. We paid a +German to go there and send us word that he was in danger. We have sent +an intimation to the French and English Governments. To England it is +an insult. I have taken the chance that France has had enough of this +_entente_. Now you understand why I must have Julien Portel before +they can get him back to the Foreign Office, before he can do more +mischief. A strong man in Downing Street at this juncture might upset +everything." + +"I understand well enough why you need Julien Portel," she admitted. "I +am still in the dark, however, as to why you imagine that I shall give +him up?" + +"Because I am going to buy him from you," Falkenberg asserted. + +She glanced across the room at him, half curiously, half scornfully. + +"Buy him! You!" + +"Exactly," he replied. "You smile because you do not understand. I +offer you a dispensation for your divorce, and your son." + +A little tremor seemed to pass through her whole frame. For a moment +she closed her eyes. Then she sprang to her feet and stood quivering +before him. + +"This is one of your traps!" she exclaimed. "You don't mean it!" + +"To prove that I do," he insisted, "I have brought Rudolf with me to +Paris. He can be in your arms in a few minutes. Look into the street, +if you will." + +She crossed the room hastily and lifted the curtain. A low cry broke +from her lips. In the tonneau of the great touring car outside a little +boy was lying back amongst the cushions, asleep. + +"He is tired," Falkenberg said slowly, with his eyes fixed upon the +woman. "He has come all the way from Berlin without an hour's rest. Am +I to take him back to-morrow? It is for you to decide." + +Madame Christophor turned toward the door. Falkenberg barred the way. + +"Not yet!" he declared. "Do you accept my terms?" + +"But he is hungry!" she cried. "I can see that he is hungry! And he is +so pale--let me fetch him in." + +"Of course he is hungry," his father agreed. "He has also been asking +me questions about you all the way. He believes that he is going to see +you. I, too, believe that. You consent?" + +"Tell me exactly what it is that you require?" she demanded. + +"Take me to Portel," he answered swiftly. "Inform him that you cannot +any longer permit him the shelter of your roof." + +She sat down and began to laugh, softly but in unnatural fashion. +Falkenberg watched her with grim curiosity. + +"And then?" she inquired. + +He hesitated. + +"I have made some plans," he said slowly. "If he passes outside your +doors to-night, he will write no more articles!" + +"But the whole of the English Press is clamoring for his return to +power! There will be no need for his pen--he will take up his old +position." + +"Precisely!" Falkenberg assented. "It is not my intention that he shall +return to that position!" + +Madame Christophor sat with her eyes fixed upon the wall. Then she +began to laugh once more in the same strange manner. Falkenberg was +curious. + +"You find my intentions amusing?" he asked. + +"I find the situation amusing," she replied. "Half an hour ago I +offered Sir Julien Portel what is left of my life." + +Falkenberg stood perfectly still, watching her closely. Then his eyes +filled with a sudden bright light. + +"You!" he exclaimed. "You--Princess von Falkenberg--offered yourself to +this man and were refused?" + +"You are indeed a genius," she admitted. "I was refused." + +There was a brief silence. Falkenberg waited. Madame Christophor +remained silent. Her attitude puzzled him a little. He was afraid to +speak for fear of striking the wrong note. Nevertheless, the onus of +speech was thrust upon him. + +"Madame," he said at last, "I anticipate your reply. This man has put +an intolerable insult upon you. While he lives you could never forget +it. There are some privileges still belonging to me. I claim the right +of avenging that affront." + +"It comes conveniently--the affront!" she remarked, through her +clenched teeth. + +"Conveniently or not, the affront exists!" he cried. "You cannot refuse +me now! You would not have him go unpunished!" + +"I am not sure that he was to blame." + +"Not to blame?" Falkenberg repeated, with emphasis. "Would you have me +believe that you threw yourself at his head unasked, without +encouragement--you, the proudest woman in France? One does not believe +such folly!" + +"Nevertheless, it is the truth," Madame Christophor declared. + +Falkenberg smiled incredulously, but he said nothing. Madame +Christophor had found her way once more to the window. She stood there, +looking down into the car. The boy was still asleep. She gripped the +window-curtains with both her hands. He was so pale, so tired, and how +he had grown! + +"I give you even his heritage," Falkenberg promised. "Make of him a +Frenchman or an American, if you will. He is your own son. Take him. I +give my firstborn for my country. You will not refuse what I offer?" + +Madame Christophor made no answer. Falkenberg, however, saw the longing +in her face. It was enough! He suddenly changed his tactics. + +"This Julien Portel," he said,--"it is another woman he prefers." + +He saw her bosom heave. The storm against which she had been struggling +all the time seemed on the point of bursting. The hot blood was singing +in her ears, her eyes were aflame. She crossed the room and rang the +bell. Falkenberg was content to wait. He felt that he had won! The +butler appeared almost immediately. + +"You will conduct the Prince von Falkenberg into the winter-garden," +she directed. "He desires to speak to Sir Julien Portel." + +"And you?" Falkenberg asked, turning towards her. + +A swift gesture showed him her disordered countenance. It was +reasonable. + +"I follow," she announced. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +DEFEAT FOR FALKENBERG + + +Among the palms of Madame Christophor's conservatory, Julien and Lady +Anne were living through a brief new chapter of their history. The +wonderful thing had come to them. It was amazing--almost unrealizable! +A new glamor enveloped the merest trifles. They spoke in halting +sentences, they were at times almost incoherent. The marvel of it was +so great! + +Lady Anne was the first to hear the sound of approaching footsteps. She +listened. It was not Madame Christophor who returned. She laid her hand +upon Julien's arm. + +"It is Jean, the butler, who comes," she whispered. "He conducts some +one." + +On the threshold of the winter-garden, only a short distance away, they +heard Jean's voice. + +"Monsieur le Prince will find Sir Julien Portel a few steps further +on." + +"Monsieur le Prince!" Anne faltered, with whitening face. "Julien, what +does it mean?" + +Julien rose to his feet. The footsteps were close at hand now upon the +tessellated pavement. Then through the drooping palm boughs they saw +him. Julien was standing tense and prepared, his uninjured arm was +ready to strike. Falkenberg was there. + +"You!" Julien exclaimed. "Well?" + +The iron prince had disappeared. It was Herr Freudenberg, maker of +toys, suave, genial, fascinating, who bowed before them. + +"Why so surprised, Sir Julien?" he asked. "You forget that this is my +wife's house. The little difficulties which have existed between us +have to-day, I am happy to say, been removed. I have restored her son +to Madame la Princesse. We are reunited. Henceforth my wishes are the +wishes also of madame. You will present me? It is Lady Anne Clonarty, I +believe?" + +They were both bewildered. For the moment Falkenberg was supreme. He +bowed low upon the hesitating words of introduction. + +"Dear Lady Anne," he murmured, "do not be prejudiced against me. Sir +Julien believes that I am his enemy. I am not. I am his sincere and +heartfelt admirer." + +Lady Anne's eyebrows were slowly raised. + +"You have surely," she remarked, "a strange manner of showing such +sentiments!" + +Falkenberg smiled whimsically. He had the expression of a penitent boy +who has misbehaved. + +"It is at least consistent," he pleaded. "I admire Sir Julien's talents +to such an extent that I am perhaps a trifle too anxious that he should +not use them against my country." + +"You haven't forced your way in here to bandy phrases," Julien asserted +a little harshly. "What is it that you want?" + +"You!" Falkenberg answered softly. "You, my friend! Madame la +Princesse--my wife, whom you have known as Madame Christophor--finds it +impossible, against my wishes, to offer you any longer the shelter of +her roof. I am here to escort you, if you will, to your new +quarters--to follow you, if I cannot reconcile you to my company." + +Julien was startled, Lady Anne incredulous. + +"I do not believe," the former declared, "that Madame Christophor +intends any such act of inhospitality." + +"As to that," Falkenberg replied pleasantly, "my wife will be here +herself in a few moments. You shall hear what she has to say from her +own lips. You must remember that I have paid a price. I have given up +the guardianship of my son. You yourself," he continued, looking +steadfastly at Julien, "may know if any other cause exists likely to +have influenced my wife in granting my request." + +Julien set his teeth, but he did not flinch. + +"What is it that you want with me, Prince Falkenberg?" he demanded. +"Another brutal attempt at massacre? I owe you this," he added, raising +his bandaged arm. "Do you imagine that you can continue to use the +methods of other generations with impunity? The thing is absurd. There +are too many who know already the secret of Herr Freudenberg, maker of +toys! There are too many who will know, also, before long, the secret +of the explosion in the Rue de Montpelier!" + +Falkenberg nodded gravely. + +"I understand," he admitted. "One moves, of course, always, with the +knife at one's heart. Yet, until now, I, personally, am safe. Another +man dies to-night, even as we talk here, and confesses himself guilty +of the Rue de Montpelier affair. But let that pass. We have crossed +swords, Sir Julien, and I frankly admit, although I have gained my end +to-night, that I am worsted. The money I spent to purchase _Le +Jour_ has been thrown away. The months of careful intrigue, the +sacrifices and efforts I have made to destroy the _entente_, have +been rendered almost futile by your diabolical pen. Very well, for what +you have done I will accept defeat--I will accept defeat without +malice. But there is the future." + +"What of it?" Julien asked. + +"I do not intend," Falkenberg declared, in a low, firm tone, "to have +you back, a member of any English Government. I prefer Carraby and such +as he." + +"You flatter me!" Julien remarked grimly. + +"Not in the least," Falkenberg objected. "You know the position as well +as I. The political party of which you are a member is in power for a +long time. You have got hold of the middle class, you've bought the +Irish vote, you've bought labor. In the ranks of your party there isn't +a man whom I fear--only you. I will not have you go back." + +"But as it happens," Julien announced, "I am going back. I have heard +from England this evening. Your friend Carraby is resigning." + +Falkenberg shook his head. He remained calm, but there was an ominous +flash in his eyes. + +"You would make a mistake," he asserted. "No one ever goes +back--successfully. Do I not know--I who am twenty years your senior, I +who have felt my way into all the corners and crevices of life? Listen +to me, please." + +He drew a chair towards them and sat down, crossing his knees and +looking towards them both in friendly fashion. + +"Sir Julien," he said, "and you, my dear young lady, your entire future +depends upon this little conversation. Can you not put it out of your +minds for a few moments that I am the dangerous Falkenberg, the +mischief-maker, the ogre of all respectable Britons? Can you not +remember only that I am a well-meaning, not unkindly old gentleman who +has some good advice to offer? You at least will listen to me, Lady +Anne. Do I look like an assassin by choice? Do I seem like the sort of +person to indulge in these dangerous exercises for mere amusement? You +are both young, you have both your lives before you. Why do you, Sir +Julien, voluntarily put the yoke about your neck? Why do you, my +gracious young lady, suffer the man with whom your life is to be linked +to deliver himself over voluntarily into a state of bondage? Politics +lose all glamor to those who have dwelt within the walls. Sir Julien +has dwelt there and so have I. He knows in his heart whether it is +worth while. One lives always amidst a clamor of evil tongues, a +pestilent trail of poisonous suspicions. One gives up one's life to be +flouted and misunderstood, to be accused of evil motives and every +imaginable crime. When it is all over, when one has time to think of +all that one has missed, one feels that all one has done could have +been done just as well by the next man in the street. That is the end +of it. And against all that, you two have the world before you. You can +be rich--very rich indeed. You can make an idyll of this love of yours. +You can travel around the world in your own yacht, you can visit all +strange countries, you can wander where you will, and all the time +affairs in the world will go on very much the same as if you had stayed +and given the best hours of your life to the dusty treadmill. I am an +old man, Lady Anne, and I have an evil name in your country. They call +me greedy, subtle, and ambitious. I may be all these things, but let me +assure you that if I had my time over again my master could find +another servant and my country another toiler. There are fairer flowers +in life to be plucked than any which can be reached from the high +places in Downing Street or Berlin.... Let me, at least, Lady Anne, +make sure of your support? Mind, I am not threatening now--I plead." + +Lady Anne looked at him gravely. + +"Sir Julien," she declared, "will answer you for himself." + +"But I want your own decision," Falkenberg insisted. "I want you to see +the truth as I see it. I want you to tell me that you agree with me." + +She shook her head. + +"But I do not!" she exclaimed. "To me you have spoken like a sophist. +One does not gain happiness by seeking it. You may be honest in some +part of what you say--I cannot tell. Only I think that you have +mistaken Sir Julien's ideas--and mine." + +"You disappoint me!" Falkenberg murmured. + +Sir Julien smiled. + +"Not very much, I think," he said. "You always did believe in trying +the hundredth chance. Let us come back to the reasonable part of our +discussion. Do you propose, then, that I should leave this house at +this moment with you?" + +"My car is entirely at your service," Falkenberg suggested. + +"Do I seem to you so ingenuous?" Julien inquired. "I am wondering what +resources are open to me. I might propose to Lady Anne here that she +telephone for the gendarmes. Why should I not have an escort to take me +to an hotel?" + +Falkenberg shrugged his shoulders. + +"I like the idea," he admitted. "By all means, do as you say. Only do +me the favor to remember that this is my wife's house and with her +authority I request that you leave it immediately." + +"I wonder," Julien asked, "what may be in store for me?--what pleasant +schemes you have hatched?" + +Falkenberg shrugged his shoulders. + +"Listen," he said,--"if you listen attentively you will hear the murmur +of Paris calling you back. Almost you can hear the falling of a +thousand feet upon the pavements of the boulevards, the voice of life. +You may find an asylum there. Who can tell?" + +They heard the soft swirl of a woman's gown passing over the marble +floor. They all turned. It was Madame Christophor who stood there. + +"Still here?" she remarked. + +Julien frowned. + +"It is not my intention to linger," he assured her. "Prince von +Falkenberg has given me your message. I am prepared to go." + +Lady Anne moved hastily forward. + +"Do you know," she cried, "that they will kill him? Do you know that +this man," she added, pointing to Falkenberg, "has admitted it? Would +you dare to send him out to be butchered in the streets?" + +"The young lady exaggerates," Falkenberg protested. "This is a +perfectly respectable neighborhood. What possible harm can come to an +English gentleman? Besides, I have offered him, if he will, the +protection of my car." + +Madame Christophor sighed. She waved back Sir Julien. + +"Alas!" she exclaimed, "there has been a slight misunderstanding." + +She touched a bell which stood on the table by her side. Almost +immediately a tall, pale-faced man in dark clothes appeared, followed +by Jean, the butler. + +"My dear Prince," she said to her husband, "I do assure you that you +need have no special anxiety. Let me present to you Monsieur Bourgan of +the French Detective Service. Monsieur Bourgan--the Prince von +Falkenberg--Sir Julien Portel!" + +Monsieur Bourgan saluted. The two men looked at him,--as yet they +scarcely understood. + +"I suppose," Madame Christophor continued, "that I am a somewhat +nervous woman, but you see I can always plead the privilege of my sex. +I was delighted to have Sir Julien here with me, but in a sense it was +a responsibility. It occurred to me then to send a message to the +Minister of the Police, who happens to be a great friend of mine, and +at his suggestion Monsieur Bourgan here, who is, as I have no doubt you +both well know, very distinguished in the Service, has taken up his +residence in my house. He has occupied, as a matter of fact, the next +room to Sir Julien's. Forgive me," she added, smiling at them all, "if +I kept this little matter secret, but I know that men hate a fuss. I +propose, dear Prince," she added, turning to her husband, "that +Monsieur Bourgan accompanies you to your rooms. You need not fear then +any molestation." + +There was an absolute silence. It was broken at last by the Prince von +Falkenberg. + +"I must confess," he said slowly, "that I do not altogether +understand." + +Madame Christophor faced him with a faint smile upon her lips. The +smile itself told him all that he desired to know. + +"But, my dear Prince," she declared, "it is my anxiety for your safety +which induces me to propose this. Only a few minutes ago you were +telling me that you feared that you had become an extremely unpopular +person in Paris, and that the very streets were not safe for you. Under +the circumstances, one can scarcely wonder at it! The French +Government, however, is above all small feelings. A private citizen in +Paris, even though he be an enemy of France, is a person to be +respected. The protection of the detective force of Paris is at your +service. Monsieur Bourgan, you will do me the great favor of conducting +my husband to his rooms. Afterwards you will return here to continue +your watch over Sir Julien." + +"I am entirely at your command, madame," Monsieur Bourgan replied. + +Falkenberg hesitated for one single moment. He seemed to be measuring +the distance between Julien and himself. Under the pretense of picking +up a match, Monsieur Bourgan was almost between them. Falkenberg +laughed softly, then most graciously he made his adieux. + +"Lady Anne," he said, bowing, "one is permitted to wish you every +happiness? Sir Julien, let me assure you," he continued, "that it has +been a pleasure to renew our acquaintance. Dear Henriette," he added, +"this care for my safety touches me! And the boy?" + +"He is safe in my room," she assured him. "It is absurd of me, no +doubt, but I have turned the key upon him and placed a footman outside +the door. Take care of yourself, dear Rudolf. Monsieur Bourgan, I know, +will watch over you well. Yet you are one of those who take risks +always." + +Falkenberg raised her fingers to his lips. + +"Almost, dear Henriette," he murmured, "you make me regret that I ever +have to leave Paris at all." + +She leaned a little towards him. + +"I bear you no ill-will, Rudolf," she said softly. "Take my advice. +Leave Paris quickly." + +His eyes held hers as though seeking for some meaning to her words. She +only shook her head. He turned and followed Jean. Monsieur Bourgan +brought up the rear. Madame Christophor shrugged her shoulders. + +"Really," she declared, with a sigh, "life is becoming altogether too +complicated. Never mind, I have got rid of Prince Falkenberg for you, +Sir Julien. Between ourselves, I think that he will receive a hint to +leave Paris, and before very long. Listen--there goes his car." + +"Dear Madame Christophor," Lady Anne whispered, "you are wonderful!" + +Madame Christophor was already moving away. + +"Not really wonderful," she replied. "Only a little human. I must go to +my boy." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +THE ONE WAY OUT + + +Estermen started up from his chair. In the unlit room the figure of +his master seemed to have assumed a portentous, almost a threatening +shape. + +"Who's that?" he cried out. + +Falkenberg calmly turned on the electric light. + +"Still here, my friend?" he remarked significantly. + +Estermen began to tremble. + +"There is plenty of time," he faltered. "I am not sure about the man +opposite. It may be some one else he is watching." + +Falkenberg walked to the window and stood there in the full glare of +the light. The man opposite was still sipping his eternal coffee. He +glanced casually at Falkenberg and back at his paper. + +"You fool!" the latter said to Estermen. "Can't you see that he is +waiting only to draw the others in? Do you know that I--I, Von +Falkenberg, Chancellor of Germany, have received what they are pleased +to call a hint from the French Minister of Police that it would be +advisable for me to leave Paris? This is your blundering, Estermen!" + +"Not mine only," the man muttered. "Do you know that there are those +who wait for you in your rooms?" + +Falkenberg turned away. + +"Stay here till I return," he ordered. + +He turned the key of his own apartments and entered. His servant +hurried up to him. + +"There waits for Your Highness," he announced, "the Baron von +Neudheim." + +Falkenberg started. + +"Here?" he exclaimed. + +"In His Excellency's private apartment. There waits also--" + +Falkenberg had already departed. He opened the door of his room. His +secretary rose hastily to his feet. + +"What do you here, Neudheim?" Falkenberg demanded. "What has happened?" + +"Excellency," the young man replied, "there is trouble. Within half an +hour of your leaving, I had important news. I dared not telegraph. I +have followed you. I took a special train from the frontier." + +"Go on," Falkenberg said calmly. "It is something serious?" + +"Indeed, yes, Your Excellency!" the Baron continued. "It is concerning +the Agdar matter." + +Falkenberg's face lit up. + +"An ultimatum!" he exclaimed. "So much the better!" + +Baron von Neudheim shook his head. + +"For once, I am afraid," he said, "we have been trapped. His Excellency +himself sent for me. The reply from Downing Street has been received." + +"Well?" Falkenberg interrupted impatiently. + +"Your Excellency, the reply to our note is exceedingly courteous. It +states that the unrest referred to had already been reported to the +British Government, and a warship which left Portsmouth under sealed +orders some months ago was instructed to proceed to the port last week. +The note goes on to state that no intimation was given to Germany, as +the British Government was not aware that Germany had any interests, +but it further contains an assurance that the welfare of all white men +will receive equal attention." Falkenberg set his teeth. + +"What battleship was sent?" he asked. + +"The 'Aida,'" the young man replied slowly,--"a first-class cruiser, +twenty-six thousand tons." + +Falkenberg was silent for a moment. His face had grown dark. + +"And ours," he muttered, "was a third-rate gunboat! Who in all Downing +Street could have planned a coup like this?" + +"It was Sir Julien Portel--his last official action," the Baron +answered. "The papers to-morrow will be full of this. The Press of +Germany and England and France have the whole story." + +"Which is to say," Falkenberg exclaimed, "that we are to be the +laughing-stock of Europe! Anything else?" + +"There is an imperial summons commanding your presence at Potsdam at +once," Neudheim acknowledged reluctantly. + +"I start for the frontier in a quarter of an hour," Falkenberg decided. +"I shall drive to Chalons and telegraph for a special train from +there." + +"You will let me accompany you?" the young man begged. + +Falkenberg hesitated, then he shook his head. + +"No, it is my wish that you return by train. Take a day's holiday, if +you will. You will be back in time." + +The young man's expression was clouded. He was obviously disappointed. + +"But, Excellency," he pleaded, "there is trouble in Berlin. It is best, +indeed, that I should be by your side." + +Falkenberg held out his hand. + +"My dear Fritz," he replied, "you will obey my orders, as you always +have done. It is my wish that you return by the ordinary train +to-morrow night." + +"There is nothing I can do--no message--" + +"Nothing!" Falkenberg interrupted. "Look after yourself. Leave me now, +if you please." + +The young man moved reluctantly towards the door. + +"Excellency," he protested, "I do not desire a day's holiday. Things in +Berlin are bad. Let us talk together on our way north. You have never +yet known defeat. We can plan our way through, or fight it. Don't tell +me to leave you, dear master!" he wound up, with a sudden change of +tone. "There are still ways." + +Falkenberg laid his hand upon the young man's shoulder. + +"Fritz," he said, "my orders, if you please! Remember that I never +suffer them to be disputed. Goodbye!" + +The young man left the room. As he passed down the stairs he shivered. +Falkenberg passed into an inner apartment. Already he had guessed who +it was waiting for him. Mademoiselle rose to her feet with a little +cry. + +"At last!" she exclaimed. "Dear maker of toys, how long you have been! +How weary it has been to wait!" + +She came into his arms. He patted her head gently. + +"Dear little one!" + +"You are taking me to supper?" she begged. + +He shook his head. Her face fell, the big tears were already in her +eyes. + +"But you are troubled!" she cried. "Oh, come and forget it all for a +time! Isn't that what you told me once was my use in the world--that I +could chatter to you, or sing, or lead you through the light paths, so +that your brain could rest? Let me take you there, dear one. To-night, +if ever, you have the look in your face. You need rest. Come to me!" + +He looked at her steadfastly, looked at her feeling as one far away +gazing down upon some strange element in life. Then a thought came to +him. + +"Little one," he whispered, "you are irresistible. Wait, then. It may +be as you desire. Only, after supper I pass on." + +"And I with you?" she implored. + +He shook his head. + +"Wait here." + +Once more he returned to Estermen's apartments. Estermen was still +there, smoking furiously. The room was blue with tobacco smoke. +Falkenberg regarded him with distaste. + +"Make yourself presentable, man," he ordered. "We sup in the Montmartre +and we leave in a few minutes." + +"What, I?" Estermen exclaimed, springing up. + +"You and I and mademoiselle," Falkenberg told him. "I have made plans. +You may perhaps escape--who can tell?" + +Estermen, with a little sob of relief, hurried into his sleeping +apartment. Soon they were all three in the big car, gliding through the +busy streets. It was getting towards midnight and they took their place +among the crowd of vehicles climbing the hill, only wherever the street +was broad enough they passed always ahead. At the Rat Mort they came to +a stand-still. Falkenberg led the way up the narrow stairs, greeted +Albert with both hands, nodded amiably to the _chef d'orchestre_, +the flower girl and the head waiter, who crowded around him. + +"For as many as choose to come!" he declared. "The round table! The +best supper in France! It is a gala night, Albert. Serve us of your +best. Mademoiselle will sing. We are here to taste the joys of life." + +Albert led the way. + +"Ah, monsieur," he said, "it is good, indeed, to hear your voice! There +is no one who comes here who enters more splendidly into the spirit of +the place. When you are here I know that it will be a joyful evening +for all. They catch it, too, those others," he explained. "Sometimes +they come here stolid, British. They look around them, they eat, they +drink, they sit like stuffed animals. Then comes monsieur--dear +monsieur! He talks gayly, he laughs, he waves salutes, he drinks wine, +he makes friends. The thing spreads. It is the spirit--the real spirit. +Behold! Even the dull, once they catch it, they enjoy." + +Falkenberg took the cushioned seat in the corner. Close to his side was +mademoiselle, her hand already clasping his. Estermen, gaunt, red-eyed, +still haggard with fear, sat a few feet away. + +"Wine!" Falkenberg ordered. "Pommery--bottles of it! Never mind if we +cannot drink it. Let us look at it. Let us imagine the joys that come, +added to those we feel." + +Already the wine was rushing into their glasses. Falkenberg raised his +glass. + +"To our last supper, dear Marguerite!" he whispered. + +She shivered all over. She looked at him, her face was suddenly +strained. + +"You jest!" + +"Jest? But is it not a night for jests!" he answered. "Why not? Ah, +Marguerite, I take it back! To our first supper! Let us say to +ourselves that to-night we stand upon the threshold of life. Let us say +to ourselves that never before have I seen how blue your eyes shine, +how sweet your mouth, how soft your fingers, how dear the thrill which +passes from you to me. Close to me, Marguerite--close to me, little +one! Our first evening!" + +"Dearest," she whispered, "first or last, there could never be another. +It is you who make my life. It is you who, when you go, leave it +desolate." + +He held her hand more tightly. + +"Ah, little friend," he murmured, "you spoil me with your sweet +phrases! You set the music playing in my heart--the witch music, I +think. Come, we must speak to Estermen," he continued, looking +resolutely away from her. "We cannot have him sitting there glum, a +death's-head at our feast. Estermen, drink, man! Is this a funeral +party? Wake up. Mademoiselle who dances there looks towards you. Why +not? You see, she waves her hand. You have waltzed with her before. Ask +her to sit down with us. I have ordered supper. See, mademoiselle +approaches, Estermen. More glasses, waiter. Open more wine. There is +champagne here for everybody. Mademoiselle does us great honor. Permit +me!" + +The little dancing girl obeyed his invitation. She sat by Estermen's +side, but she cast a longing glance at Falkenberg. Their glasses were +filled. Estermen drank quickly, all the time looking about him with the +furtive air of a whipped dog. + +"To-night," Falkenberg cried, as he lifted his glass, "I have but one +command--be joyful. Why not? To-night I have Marguerite by my side, and +you--you can choose from the world of Marguerites. There is nothing in +life like this--the hour of midnight, the music of the moment, the wine +of the hour, the woman we love. Drink, Estermen, once more. Fix your +thoughts upon the present. Mademoiselle looks around her. She finds you +dull. She will seek for another admirer. Ah, mademoiselle!" he added, +leaning across the table, "if the sweetest girl in Paris were not here +already by my side, do you think that I would permit you to be for an +instant the companion of a dumb admirer?" + +Mademoiselle laughed back into his eyes. + +"If monsieur's friend were but as gallant as monsieur himself!" + +"He is depressed," Falkenberg declared, "but it passes. Behold! Another +glass like that, Estermen! Drink till you feel it bubbling in your +veins. Look at him now!" + +Falkenberg leaned back in his place and pressed his companion's arm. +Indeed, the wine was working its magic. The terror was passing from +Estermen's face. Already he was becoming more natural. + +"Leave them alone," Falkenberg said softly. "He will have no relapse. +The wine is in his blood. Ah, Marguerite! never did you seem so sweet +to me as tonight, when my face is set for the cold north! Have you joy +in remembering, little one? Have you sentiment enough for that?" + +"I have sentiment enough," she whispered, "to suffer every time you +leave me. To-night I am afraid to let you go. Oh! dear--my dear--take +me with you! I have begged you before, but to-night I beg you in a +different manner. I am afraid to be left alone. I care not where or +whatever the end of your journey may be. Take me with you, dear one. It +is because I love that I ask this!" + +He looked at her for a moment and there were wonderful things in his +eyes. + +"Ah, little girl," he murmured, "you teach one so much! One passes +through life too often with one's eyes closed, one finds the great +things in strange places, the rarest flowers even by the roadside. +Drink your wine, press my fingers--like that. See, it is the _chef +d'orchestre_ who approaches. You shall sing--sing to me, little +one." + +He motioned to the musician, who with a smile of delight held up his +hand to the orchestra. Mademoiselle hummed a few bars. The man who +listened nodded his head. Then he raised his violin, he passed his bow +across the strings. With the touch of his fingers he drew from them a +little melody. Mademoiselle assented. Her head was back against the +wall, her eyes half closed. Then she began to sing; sang so that in a +few moments the passionate words which streamed from her lips held the +room breathless. It was no ordinary music. It was the love prayer of a +woman, starting in sadness, passing on to passion, ending in wild +entreaty. As she finished she turned her head towards her companion. + +"You shall not go alone!" she cried, and her words might well have been +the text of her song. + +Falkenberg shook his head. + +"Something gayer," he begged,--"something more like the wine which +foams in our glasses." + +She obeyed him after only a moment's hesitation, yet in the first few +bars her song came to an abrupt end, her voice choked. She leaned +suddenly forward in her place, her face was hidden between her hands. +They all gazed at her curiously. + +"Nerves!" one declared. + +"Hysterics!" another echoed. + +"It is the life they lead, these women," an American explained to a +little party of guests. "They weep or they laugh always. Life with them +quivers all the time. They pass from one emotion to another--they +seldom know which. Look, it is over with her." + +It was over, indeed. She raised her head and sang, sang ravishingly, +charmingly, a gay love-song. Falkenberg was the first to applaud her. + +"To-night, dear," he murmured, "you are wonderful. You sing from the +heart, your voice has feeling, you bring to one the exquisite +moments.... Behold, the supper arrives! Estermen has made friends now +with his little _danseuse_. Sit closer to me, dear. These are the +golden hours. Give me your hand, look into my eyes, drink with me.... +How the minutes pass! There is magic in this place." + +Towards four o'clock Falkenberg and his companions came down the narrow +stairs, out into the morning. A fine rain was falling, the pavements +were already wet. Falkenberg was still gay, still laughing and talking. +Behind, a little company--the _chef d'orchestre_, the chief +_maitre d'hotel_, the flower girl--wondering at his generosity, +stood at the head of the stairs to bid him godspeed. He gave a louis to +the _commissionaire_ and called for a special carriage. He had +almost to lift Marguerite inside. + +"Dear child," he said, holding her hands, "here we must part for a +time--not for so long, perhaps. Who can tell? It is a comfortable +carriage, this. Here is a handful of money for the fare. It is of no +use to me." + +He emptied his pockets into her lap as she sat there. She made no +effort to pick up the shower of gold and silver. + +"What do you mean--that it is of no use to you?" + +"We drive for home," he answered. "We shall need no money to take us +there. Listen." + +He drew her face very close to his. + +"When you arrive at your apartment," he said, "you will find there a +little packet from me. Be wise, dear. If chance will have it that we do +not meet again very soon, may it help you to take all out of life that +you can find. Only sometimes when the heart is joyous, when the wine +flows and your feet are keeping time to the music of life, think for a +moment--of one who dwells, alas! in a quieter country. Dear +Marguerite!" + +He kissed her, first upon the lips and then lightly on the forehead. +Then gently he thrust away the arms which she had wound around his +neck. He waved to the coachman to drive off. With a little shrug of the +shoulders he took his own place in the great touring car. Estermen, +too, clambered into the tonneau. + +"You have supped well, I trust, Henri?" the Prince asked the chauffeur. + +"Without a doubt, Excellency," the man replied. + +"Then drive for the frontier," Falkenberg ordered. "We will stop you +when we need a rest." + +They left Paris in the semi-darkness. They were away in the country +before the faintest gleam of daylight broke through the eastern clouds. +Even then the way was still obscured. It was a stormy morning, and +banks of murky clouds were piled up where the sun should have risen. +The rain still fell. Soon they commenced to ascend a range of hills. At +the summit Falkenberg pulled the check-string. + +"Henri," he said, "come in behind here. I will drive for a time--it +will amuse me." + +The man descended. Falkenberg took his place at the wheel. Estermen, +obeying his gesture, scrambled into the seat by his side. + +"Go to the signpost," his master ordered the chauffeur. "Tell me +exactly, how many miles to Rheims?" + +The man clambered up the bank. The gray morning twilight was breaking +now through a sea of clouds. From where they were the vineyards sloped +down to the bank. A thin, curving line of silver marked the course of +the river. Here and there a little gleam of sunlight fell upon the +country below them. Estermen closed his eyes. + +"It makes me giddy," he muttered. "I hope that you will drive slowly +down the hill!" + +Falkenberg glanced to the left--the chauffeur was still peering at the +milestone. He slipped in the clutch and the car glided off, gathering +speed as though by magic. + +"You have left Henri!" Estermen cried. "He is running after us. Stop +the car! Can't you stop it?" + +Falkenberg turned his head only once. The stone walls now on either +side seemed flying past them. Estermen looked into his face and quaked +with fear. + +"This ride is for you and me alone, my friend!" Falkenberg replied. +"Sit tight and say your prayers, if it pleases you. This is better, +after all, than poison, or the cold muzzle of a revolver at your +forehead. Close your eyes if you are afraid; or open them, if you have +the courage, and see the world spin by. We start on the great journey." + +Estermen shrieked. He half rose to his feet, but Falkenberg, holding +the wheel with his right hand, struck him across the face with his left +so that he fell back in his place. + +"If you try to leave the car," he said, "I swear that I will stop and +come back. I will shoot you where you lie, like a dog. Be brave, man! +Be thankful that you are going to your death in honorable company and +in honorable fashion! It's better, this, than the guillotine, isn't it? +Look at the country below, like patchwork, coming up to us. Listen to +the wind rushing by. You see the trees, how they bend? You feel the +rain stinging your cheeks? Sit still, man, and fix your thoughts where +you will. Think of mademoiselle _la danseuse_, think of her +kisses, think of the perfume of the violets at her bosom! You see, we +arrive. Watch that corner of the viaduct." + +They were traveling now at a terrific speed, falling fast to the level +country. Before them was a high bridge, crossing the river. On the +left, a portion of it was being repaired and a few boards alone were up +for protection. Falkenberg, recognizing the spot for which he had been +looking, settled down in his seat. A grim smile parted his lips. + +"Jean Charles will never place his hand upon your shoulder now!" he +cried. "Can you hear the wind sob, Estermen? Soon you'll hear the water +in your ears! Hold fast. Don't spoil the end!" + +They were going at sixty miles an hour, and with the slightest swerve +of the steering wheel they turned to the left on entering the bridge +and struck the boards. Henri, in his account of the accident, declared +that although the car turned over before it reached the river, +Falkenberg never left his seat. Estermen, on the other hand, was thrown +violently out, and struck the water head foremost. From the condition +of his body it would seem that death was instantaneous. Falkenberg was +found with his arms locked around the steering wheel, his head bent +forward. He, too, seemed to have been drowned almost immediately. The +steering wheel was jammed, the car wrecked.... + +The authorities, who had left only a temporary protection while they +repaired the viaduct on the bridge, were severely censured. The makers +of the car were subjected to a very searching cross-examination. The +brakes and the uncertain light were blamed. Henri, who from the +hillside a mile or more back had watched with ghastly face, was the +only one who understood the accident, and he kept silent! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +ALL ENDS WELL + + +The Duchess of Clonarty was famous for doing the right thing. Three +weeks after the return of Julien and Lady Anne to London, she gave a +large dinner-party in their honor. At a quarter past eight, a +telephone message from the House of Commons was received, explaining +that Sir Julien would be ten minutes late, owing to his having to speak +at greater length than he had first intended upon the Agdar question. +Lady Anne was waiting for him, and they would arrive together certainly +within a quarter of an hour. The Duchess made every use of her +opportunity. She was at her very best during that brief period which +ensued while they waited for the delayed guests. + +"You know, my dear Lady Cardington," she explained, raising her voice a +little to indicate that this was not entirely a confidence, "I never +dreamed that dear Anne had so much self-confidence and resolution. Even +now I have scarcely given up wondering at it. If she had only told me +that she was so sincerely attached to Julien, I would never have +listened for one moment to that Harbord affair. It was a mistake, of +course," she rippled on, "but then one learns so much by one's +mistakes. Notwithstanding their wealth, they were most terrible and +impossible people. I am sure the association would have been most +distasteful to the Duke. Poor Henry used to lock himself in his study +when any of them were about the place, and what it would have been if +they were really able to call themselves connections, I cannot imagine. +You were speaking of the Carraby woman a few minutes ago. My dear Eva! +Of course, you have heard about her? Her husband, when he resigned, +gave out that he was obliged to go abroad for his wife's health. My +dear, his wife had already left him, three days before! She was seen in +Paris with Bob Sutherland. I hear the divorce suit is filed. What a +terrible woman!" + +"A great escape, I am sure, for Sir Julien," Lady Cardington declared. + +The Duchess drew a little breath. + +"Poor Julien was always so chivalrous," she murmured. "How thankful +your dear husband must be to think that at last he has one person in +his Cabinet who does command some sort of a following in the country!" + +The Duchess delivered her little shaft and moved to the door. Sir +Julien and Lady Anne Portel had just been announced. It was almost a +family dinner. The Duchess took Julien's arm and drew him into a corner +while the others filed past. + +"Is it true," she whispered, "that the Carraby woman has bolted?" + +Julien nodded. + +"I am afraid there isn't a doubt about it," he admitted. + +"How are things to-night? Anything new?" she asked. + +"Quite calm again," he replied. "The trouble seems to have passed over. +Falkenberg's death upset the whole scheme which was brewing against us, +whatever it may have been. All the notes which are being interchanged +at the present moment are perfectly pacific." + +The Duchess sighed. + +"After all," she said, "my little visit to Paris was +not so wild. I don't think you would ever have found out about Anne +but for me." + +Julien smiled. + +"If I really believed that," he assured her, "and I shall try to, then +I should feel that I owed you more than any person upon the earth." + +The dinner was a success. Lady Anne seemed certainly to have developed. +She was looking wonderfully handsome, and though her eyes strayed more +than once to the end of the table where her husband was sitting, she +carried on her share of the conversation with just that trifle of +assurance which marks the transition from girlhood to the dignity of +marriage. After the women had left, conversation for a few moments was +necessarily political. The Duke, who read the _Times_ and the +_Spectator_, and attended every debate in the House of Lords, +spoke with some authority. + +"I believe," he said firmly, "that we have passed through a crisis +greater than any one, even those in power, know of. It is my opinion +that Falkenberg was the bitter enemy of this country--that it was he, +indeed, who kept alive all that suspicious and jealous feeling of which +we have had constant evidences from Berlin. He was dying all the time +to make mischief. I am sorry, of course, for his tragical end. On the +other hand, I am inclined to believe that his departure from the sphere +of politics was the best thing that has happened to this country for +many years." + +"There is no doubt," Lord Cardington declared, "that he was working +hard to estrange France and England. Your letters, Sir Julien, made +that remarkably evident." + +"'The good that men do lives after them,'" some one quoted, "also the +evil. I am afraid it will be some time before France and England are on +exactly the same terms." + +"I would not be so sure," Julien interposed, setting down his glass. +"The politics of Paris are the politics of France, and the spirit of +the Parisian is essentially mercurial. Besides, the days of the great +alliance draw nearer--the next step forward after the arbitration +treaty. Who can doubt that when that is completed, France will embrace +the chance of permanent peace?" + +The Duke rose to his feet. + +"Five minutes only I am allowed, gentlemen," he said. "My wife wants +some of us, some of us have to go back to Westminster. I shall ask you, +therefore, before we separate, as this is in some respects an occasion, +to drink to the health of my son-in-law, Sir Julien Portel. Though a +politician of the old type, I do not fail to appreciate what we owe to +the new school. I am a reader of the old-fashioned newspapers, but I +recognize the fact that the modern Press sometimes exercises a new and +wonderful function in politics. It is my opinion that by means of this +modern journalism Sir Julien Portel has maintained the peace of the +world. I ask you, therefore, not only as my private friends and +relatives, but as politicians, to drink to-night to the health of my +son-in-law." + +They all rose. + +"And with that toast," Lord Cardington added, as he bowed toward +Julien, "let me associate the fervent pleasure felt by all of us in +welcoming back once more the colleague to whom we have so many reasons +to be thankful." + +The party broke up soon afterwards. Lady Anne drove back with her +husband to Westminster. She sat by his side in the closed car which had +been her father's wedding present. Her hands, linked together, were +passed through his arm. She was a very well satisfied woman. + +"Julien," she declared, "it's lovely to be back here, but I wouldn't +have been without those few weeks in Paris for anything in the world. I +don't think we can ever get back down into the bottom of the ruts, do +you?" + +"If ever we feel like it," he answered, smiling, "we'll cross the +Channel again, and take Mademoiselle Janette with us and seek for more +adventures." + +"Lovely!" she exclaimed. "I shall hold you to that, mind." + +"No need," he replied. "Kendricks is going to stay there as +correspondent for the _Post_. We must go and see him occasionally. +There is no one who understands better the temperament of the Parisian +than he." + +"There will be no more Herr Freudenberg to circumvent," she remarked. + +"Paris always has its problems," he answered. "Kendricks realizes that. +The plotting of the world takes place within a mile of Montmartre." + +They were nearing Westminster. Julien drew his wife towards him and +kissed her. + +"I shall only be about twenty minutes, dear," he suggested. "Why not +wait?" + +"Of course," she replied. "I have a little electric lamp here, and a +book. I'd love to." + +Julien walked blithely into the House. Lady Anne turned on the lamp, +drew out her book, and leaned back among the cushions with a deep sigh +of content. + + * * * * * + +That same night, wandering around Paris, Kendricks met Monsieur, +Madame, and Mademoiselle. + +"It is the gallant Englishman!" mademoiselle exclaimed. + +"It is the gentleman who ate both portions of chicken!" madame cried, +clapping her hands. + +It was a veritable meeting. Kendricks willingly joined their little +party and sat down with them in the brightly-lit cafe. Monsieur ordered +wine. + +"The business affairs of monsieur are prospering, I trust?" he said. +"After all, the _entente_ remains." + +Kendricks lifted his glass. + +"I drink to it!" he exclaimed. "It is the sanest thing to-day in +European politics. Drink to it yourself, monsieur, and you, madame, and +you, mademoiselle. You shall accuse us no longer, we English, of +selfishness or stupidity. For what reason, think you, did we order a +warship to Agdar and brave the whole wrath of Germany?" + +Monsieur held out his hand. + +"My friend," he declared, "it was a stroke of genius, that. It was what +we none of us expected from any English Minister. It was magnificent. I +confess it--it has altered my opinions. I drink with you now, cordially +and heartily. I drink to the _entente_. I believe in it. I am a +convert." + +Kendricks shook hands with every one solemnly. He shook hands last with +mademoiselle, and forgot to release her little fingers for several +moments. + +"Tell us of your friend, monsieur?" madame asked politely. + +But Kendricks did not hear! He was whispering in mademoiselle's ear. +Her dark eyes were fixed upon the tablecloth, her pretty lips were +parted, a most becoming flush of color was in her cheeks. Monsieur +looked at madame and winked. Madame smiled, well pleased. + +"_L'entente!_" monsieur murmured. + +Madame nodded. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE MISCHIEF MAKER *** + +This file should be named 7msmk10.txt or 7msmk10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7msmk11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7msmk10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Mischief Maker + +Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim + +Release Date: September, 2005 [EBook #8878] +[This file was first posted on August 19, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE MISCHIEF MAKER *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + + +THE MISCHIEF-MAKER + +BY + +E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM + +AUTHOR OF "THE LIGHTED WAY," "THE TEMPTING OF TAVERNAKE," "HAVOC," ETC. + +WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HANSON BOOTH + +1913 + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + +BOOK ONE + + + +CHAPTER + + + I SYMPATHY AND SELFISHNESS + + II AN INDISCREET LETTER + + III A RUINED CAREER + + IV A BUNCH OF VIOLETS + + V A SENTIMENTAL EPISODE + + VI AT THE CAFÉ L'ATHÉNÉE + + VII COFFEE FOR THREE + + VIII IN PARIS + + IX MADAME CHRISTOPHOR + + X BETTER ACQUAINTANCE + + XI THE TOYMAKER FROM LEIPZIG + + XII AT THE RAT MORT + + XIII POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM + + XIV THE MORNING AFTER + + XV BEHIND CLOSED DOORS + + XVI "HAVE YOU EVER LOVED?" + + XVII KENDRICKS IS HOST + +XVIII A MEETING OF SOCIALISTS + + XIX AN OFFER + + XX FALKENBERG ACTS + + + + +BOOK TWO + + + +CHAPTER + + + + I THE FLIGHT OF LADY ANNE + + II "TO OUR NEW SELVES" + + III WORK FOR JULIEN + + IV A STARTLING DISCLOSURE + + V THE FIRST ARTICLE + + VI FALKENBERG FAILS + + VII LADY ANNE DECLINES + + VIII A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE + + IX FOOLHARDY JULIEN + + X THE SECOND ATTEMPT + + XI BY THE PRINCE'S ORDERS + + XII DISTRESSING NEWS + + XIII ESTERMEN'S DEATH WARRANT + + XIV SANCTUARY + + XV NEARING A CRISIS + + XVI FALKENBERG'S LAST REPORT + + XVII DEFEAT FOR FALKENBERG + +XVIII THE ONE WAY OUT + + XIX ALL ENDS WELL + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +"Really," he said, "I thought better of Herr Freudenberg" + +"At least," she reminded him, "you are going to see Madame +Christophor?" + +"Splendid!" he muttered, rising to his feet. "If only I can do it!" + +"Let me present to you Monsieur Bourgan of the French Detective +Service" + + + + + +BOOK ONE + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +SYMPATHY AND SELFISHNESS + + +The girl who was dying lay in an invalid chair piled up with cushions +in a sheltered corner of the lawn. The woman who had come to visit her +had deliberately turned away her head with a murmured word about the +sunshine and the field of buttercups. Behind them was the little +sanitarium, a gray stone villa built in the style of a château, +overgrown with creepers, and with terraced lawns stretching down to the +sunny corner to which the girl had been carried earlier in the day. +There were flowers everywhere--beds of hyacinths, and borders of purple +and yellow crocuses. A lilac tree was bursting into blossom, the breeze +was soft and full of life. Below, beyond the yellow-starred field of +which the woman had spoken, flowed the Seine, and in the distance one +could see the outskirts of Paris. + +"The doctor says I am better," the girl whispered plaintively. "This +morning he was quite cheerful. I suppose he knows, but it is strange +that I should feel so weak--weaker even day by day. And my cough--it +tears me to pieces all the time." + +The woman who was bending over her gulped something down in her throat +and turned her head. Although older than the invalid whom she had come +to visit, she was young and very beautiful. Her cheeks were a trifle +pale, but even without the tears her eyes were almost the color of +violets. + +"The doctor must know, dear Lucie," she declared. "Our own feelings so +often mean nothing at all." + +The girl moved a little uneasily in her chair. She, also, had once been +pretty. Her hair was still an exquisite shade of red-gold, but her +cheeks were thin and pinched, her complexion had gone, her clothes fell +about her. She seemed somehow shapeless. + +"Yes," she agreed, "the doctor knows--he must know. I see it in his +manner every time he comes to visit me. In his heart," she added, +dropping her voice, "he must know that I am going to die." + +Her eyes seemed to have stiffened in their sockets, to have become +dilated. Her lips trembled, but her eyes remained steadfast. + +"Oh! madame," she sobbed, "is it not cruel that one should die like +this! I am so young. I have seen so little of life. It is not just, +madame--it is not just!" + +The woman who sat by her side was shaking. Her heart was torn with +pity. Everywhere in the soft, sunlit air, wherever she looked, she +seemed to read in letters of fire the history of this girl, the history +of so many others. + +"We will not talk of death, dear," she said. "Doctors are so wonderful, +nowadays. There are so few diseases which they cannot cure. They seem +to snatch one back even from the grave. Besides, you are so young. One +does not die at nineteen. Tell me about this man--Eugène, you called +him. He has never once been to see you--not even when you were in the +hospital?" + +The girl began to tremble. + +"Not once," she murmured. + +"You are sure that he had your letters? He knows that you are out here +and alone?" + +"Yes, he knows!" + +There was a short silence. The woman found it hard to know what to say. +Somewhere down along the white, dusty road a man was grinding the music +of a threadbare waltz from an ancient barrel-organ. The girl closed her +eyes. + +"We used to hear that sometimes," she whispered, "at the cafés. At one +where we went often they used to know that I liked it and they always +played it when we came. It is queer to hear it again--like this.... +Oh, when I close my eyes," she muttered, "I am afraid! It is like +shutting out life for always." + +The woman by her side got up. Lucie caught at her skirt. + +"Madame, you are not going yet?" she pleaded. "Am I selfish? Yet you +have not stayed with me so long as yesterday, and I am so lonely." + +The woman's face had hardened a little. + +"I am going to find that man," she replied. "I have his address. I want +to bring him to you." + +The girl's hold upon her skirt tightened. + +"Sit down," she begged. "Do not leave me. Indeed it is useless. He +knows. He does not choose to come. Men are like that. Oh! madame, I +have learned my lesson. I know now that love is a vain thing. Men do +not often really feel it. They come to us when we please them, but +afterwards that does not count. I suppose we were meant to be +sacrificed. I have given up thinking of Eugène. He is afraid, perhaps, +of the infection. I think that I would sooner go out of life as I lie +here, cold and unloved, than have him come to me unwillingly." + +The woman could not hide her tears any longer. There was something so +exquisitely fragile, so strangely pathetic, in that prostrate figure by +her side. + +"But, my dear," she faltered,-- + +"Madame," the girl interrupted, "hold my hand for a moment. That is the +doctor coming. I hear his footstep. I think that I must sleep." + +Madame Christophor--she had another name, but there were few occasions +on which she cared to use it--was driven back to Paris, in accordance +with her murmured word of instruction, at a pace which took little heed +of police regulations or even of safety. Through the peaceful lanes, +across the hills into the suburbs, and into the city itself she passed, +at a speed which was scarcely slackened even when she turned into the +Boulevard which was her destination. Glancing at the slip of paper +which she held in her hand, she pulled the checkstring before a tall +block of buildings. She hurried inside, ascended two flights of stairs, +and rang the bell of a door immediately opposite her. A very +German-looking manservant opened it after the briefest of delays--a man +with fair moustache, fat, stolid face and inquisitive eyes. + +"Is your master in," she demanded, "Monsieur Estermen?" + +The man stared at her, then bowed. The appearance of Madame Christophor +was, without doubt, impressive. + +"I will inquire, madame," he replied. + +"I am in a hurry," she said curtly. "Be so good as to let your master +know that." + +A moment later she was ushered into a sitting-room--a man's apartment, +untidy, reeking of cigarette smoke and stale air. There were +photographs and souvenirs of women everywhere. The windows were +fast-closed and the curtains half-drawn. The man who stood upon the +hearthrug was of medium height, dark, with close-cropped hair and a +black, drooping moustache. His first glance at his visitor, as the door +opened, was one of impertinent curiosity. + +"Madame?" he inquired. + +"You are Monsieur Estermen?" + +He bowed. He was very much impressed and he endeavored to assume a +manner. + +"That is my name. Pray be seated." + +She waved away the chair he offered. + +"My automobile is in the street below," she said. "I wish you to come +with me at once to see a poor girl who is dying." + +He looked at her in amazement. + +"Are you serious, madame?" + +"I am very serious indeed," she replied. "The girl's name is Lucie +Rénault." + +For the moment he seemed perplexed. Then his eyebrows were slowly +raised. + +"Lucie Rénault," he repeated. "What do you know about her?" + +"Only that she is a poor child who has suffered at your hands and who +is dying in a private hospital," Madame Christophor answered. "She has +been taken there out of charity. She has no friends, she is dying +alone. Come with me. I will take you to her. You shall save her at +least from that terror." + +It was the aim of the man with whom she spoke to be considered modern. +A perfect and invincible selfishness had enabled him to reach the +topmost heights of callousness, and to remain there without +affectation. + +"If the little girl is dying," he said, "I am sorry, for she was pretty +and companionable, although I have lost sight of her lately. But as to +my going out to see her, why, that is absurd. I hate illness of all +sorts." + +The woman looked at him steadfastly, looked at him as though she had +come into contact with some strange creature. + +"Do you understand what it is that I am saying?" she demanded. "This +girl was once your little friend, is it not so? It was for your sake +that she gave up the simple life she was living when you first knew +her, and went upon the stage. The life was too strenuous for her. She +broke down, took no care of herself, developed a cough and alas! +tuberculosis." + +The man sighed. He had adopted an expression of abstract sympathy. + +"A terrible disease," he murmured. + +"A terrible disease indeed," Madame Christophor repeated. "Do you not +understand what I mean when I tell you that she is dying of it? Very +likely she will not live a week--perhaps not a day. She lies there +alone in the garden of the hospital and she is afraid. There are none +who knew her, whom she cares for, to take her into their arms and to +bid her have no fear. Is it not your place to do this? You have held +her in your arms in life. Don't you see that it is your duty to cheer +her a little way on this last dark journey?" + +The man threw away his cigarette and moved to the mantelpiece, where he +helped himself to a fresh one from the box. + +"Madame," he said, "I perceive that you are a sentimentalist." + +She did not speak--she could not. She only looked at him. + +"Death," he continued, lighting his cigarette, "is an ugly thing. If it +came to me I should probably be quite as much afraid--perhaps +more--than any one else. But it has not come to me just yet. It has +come, you tell me, to little Lucie. Well, I am sorry, but there is +nothing I can do about it. I have no intention whatever of making +myself miserable. I do not wish to see her. I do not wish to look upon +death, I simply wish to forget it. If it were not, madame," he added, +with a bow and a meaning glance from his dark eyes, "that you bring +with you something of your own so well worth looking upon, I could +almost find myself regretting your visit." + +She still regarded him fixedly. There was in her face something of that +shrinking curiosity with which one looks upon an unclean and horrible +thing. + +"That is your answer?" she murmured. + +The man had little understanding and he replied boldly. + +"It is my answer, without a doubt. Lucie, if what you tell me is true, +as I do not for a moment doubt, is dying from a disease the ravages of +which are hideous to watch, and which many people believe, too, to be +infectious. Let me advise you, madame, to learn also a little wisdom. +Let me beg of you not to be led away by these efforts of sentiment, +however picturesque and delightful they may seem. The only life that is +worth considering is our own. The only death that we need fear is our +own. We ought to live like that." + +The woman stood quite still. She was tall and she was slim. Her figure +was exquisite. She was famous throughout the city for her beauty. The +man's eyes dwelt upon her and the eternal expression crept slowly into +his face. He seemed to understand nothing of the shivering horror with +which she was regarding him. + +"If it were upon any other errand, madame," he continued, leaning +towards her, "believe, I pray you, that no one would leave this room to +become your escort more willingly than I." + +She turned away. + +"You will not leave me already?" he begged. + +"Monsieur," she declared, as she threw open the door before he could +reach it, "if I thought that there were many men like you in the world, +if I thought--" + +She never finished her sentence. The emotions which had seized her were +entirely inexpressible. He shrugged his shoulders. + +"My dear lady," he said, "let me assure you that there is not a man of +the world in this city who, if he spoke honestly, would not feel +exactly as I do. Allow me at least to see you to your automobile." + +"If you dare to move," she muttered, "if you dare--" + +She swept past him and down the stairs into the street. She threw +herself into the corner of the automobile. The chauffeur looked around. + +"Where to, madame?" he inquired. + +She hesitated for a moment. She had affairs of her own, but the thought +of the child's eyes came up before her. + +"Back to the hospital," she ordered. "Drive quickly." + +They rushed from Paris once more into the country, with its spring +perfumes, its soft breezes, its restful green, but fast though they +drove another messenger had outstripped them. From the little chapel, +as the car rolled up the avenue, came the slow tolling of a bell. +Madame Christophor stood on the corner of the lawn alone. The invalid +chair was empty. The blinds of the villa were being slowly lowered. She +turned around and looked toward the city. It seemed to her that she +could see into the rooms of the man whom she had left a few minutes +ago. A lark was singing over her head. She lifted her eyes and looked +past him up to the blue sky. Her lips moved, but never a sound escaped +her. Yet the man who sat in his rooms at that moment, yawning and +wondering where to spend the evening, and which companion he should +summon by telephone to amuse him, felt a sudden shiver in his veins. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +AN INDISCREET LETTER + + +The library of the house in Grosvenor Square was spacious, handsome and +ornate. Mr. Algernon H. Carraby, M.P., who sat dictating letters to a +secretary in an attitude which his favorite photographer had rendered +exceedingly familiar, at any rate among his constituents, was also, in +his way, handsome and ornate. Mrs. Carraby, who had just entered the +room, fulfilled in an even greater degree these same characteristics. +It was acknowledged to be a very satisfactory household. + +"I should like to speak to you for a moment, Algernon," his wife +announced. + +Mr. Carraby noticed for the first time that she was carrying a letter +in her hand. He turned at once to his secretary. + +"Haskwell," he said, "kindly return in ten minutes." + +The young man quitted the room. Mrs. Carraby advanced a few steps +further towards her husband. She was tall, beautifully dressed in the +latest extreme of fashion. Her movements were quiet, her skin a little +pale, and her eyebrows a little light. Nevertheless, she was quite a +famous beauty. Men all admired her without any reservations. The best +sort of women rather mistrusted her. + +"Is that the letter, Mabel?" her husband asked, with an eagerness which +he seemed to be making some effort to conceal. + +She nodded slowly. He held out his hand, but she did not at once part +with it. + +"Algernon," she said quietly, "you know that I am not very scrupulous. +We both of us want success--a certain sort of success--and we have both +of us been content to pay the price. You have spent a good deal of +money and you have succeeded very well indeed. Somehow or other, I feel +to-day as though I were spending more than money." + +He laughed a little uncomfortably. + +"My dear Mabel!" he protested. "You are not going to back out, are +you?" + +"No," she replied, "I do not think that I shall back out. There is +nothing in the whole world I want so much as to have you a Cabinet +Minister. If there had been any other way--" + +"But there is no other way," her husband interrupted. "So long as +Julien Portel lives, I should never get my chance. He holds the post I +want. Every one knows that he is clever. He has the ear of the Prime +Minister and he hates me. My only chance is his retirement." + +Mrs. Carraby looked at the letter. + +"Well," she said, "I have played your game for you. I have gone even to +the extent of being talked about with Julien Portel." + +Her husband moved uneasily in his chair. + +"That will all blow over directly," he declared. "Besides, if--if +things go our way, we shan't see much more of Portel. Give me the +letter." + +Still she hesitated. It was curious that throughout the slow evolution +of this scheme to break a man's life, for which she was mainly +responsible, she had never hesitated until this moment. Always it had +been fixed in her mind that Algernon was to be a Cabinet Minister; she +was to be the wife of a Cabinet Minister. That there were any other +things greater in life than the gratification of so reasonable an +ambition had never seemed possible. Now she hesitated. She looked at +her husband and she saw him with new eyes. He seemed suddenly a mean +little person. She thought of the other man and there was a strange +quiver in her heart--a very unexpected sensation indeed. There was a +difference in the breed. It came home to her at that moment. She found +herself even wondering, as she swung the letter idly between her thumb +and fore-finger, whether she would have been a different woman if she +had had a different manner of husband. + +"The letter!" he repeated. + +She laid it calmly on the desk before him. + +"Of course," she said coldly, "if you find the contents affectionate +you must remember that I am in no way responsible. This was your +scheme. I have done my best." + +The man's fingers trembled slightly as he broke the seal. + +"Naturally," he agreed, pausing for an instant and looking up at her. +"I knew that I could trust you or I would never have put such an idea +into your head." + +She laughed; a characteristic laugh it was, quite cold, quite +mirthless, apparently quite meaningless. Carraby turned back to the +letter, tore open the envelope and spread it out before them. He read +it out aloud in a sing-song voice. + +_Downing Street. Tuesday_ + +MY DEAREST MABEL, + +I had your sweet little note an hour ago. Of course I was disappointed +about luncheon, as I always am when I cannot see you. Your promise to +repay me, however, almost reconciles me. + +The man looked up at his wife. + +"Promise?" he repeated hoarsely. "What does he mean?" + +"Go on," she said, with unchanged expression. "See if what you want is +there." + +The man continued to read: + +I am going to ask you a very great favor, Mabel. When we are alone +together, I talk to you with absolute freedom. To write you on matters +connected with my office is different. I know very well how deep and +sincere your interest in politics really is, and it has always been one +of my greatest pleasures, when with you, to talk things over and hear +your point of view. Without flattery, dear, I have really more than +once found your advice useful. It is your understanding which makes our +companionship always a pleasure to me, and I rely upon that when I beg +you not to ask me to write you again on matters to which I have really +no right to allude. You do not mind this, dear? And having read you my +little lecture, I will answer your question. Yes, the Cabinet Council +was held exactly as you surmise. With great difficulty I persuaded +B---- to adopt my view of the situation. They are all much too +terrified of this war bogey. For once I had my own way. Our answer to +this latest demand from Berlin was a prompt and decisive negative. +Nothing of this is to be known for at least a week. + +I am sorry your husband is such a bear. Perhaps on Monday we may meet +at Cardington House? + +Please destroy this letter at once. + +Ever affectionately yours, + +JULIEN. + +The man's eyes, as he read, grew brighter. + +"It is enough?" the woman asked. + +"It is more than enough!" + +Slowly he replaced it in its envelope and thrust it into the +breast-pocket of his coat. + +"What are you going to do with it?" she inquired. + +"I have made my plans," he answered. "I know exactly how to make the +best and most dignified use of it." + +He rose to his feet. Something in his wife's expression seemed to +disturb him. He walked a few steps toward the door and came back again. + +"Mabel," he said, "are you glad?" + +"Naturally I am glad," she replied. + +"You have no regrets?" + +Again she laughed. + +"Regrets?" she echoed. "What are they? One doesn't think about such +things, nowadays." + +They stood quite still in the centre of that very handsome apartment. +They were almost alien figures in the world in which they moved, +Carraby, the rankest of newcomers, carried into political life by his +wife's ambitions, his own self-amassed fortune, and a sort of subtle +cunning--a very common substitute for brains; Mrs. Carraby, on whom had +been plastered an expensive and ultra-fashionable education, although +she was able perhaps more effectually to conceal her origin, the +daughter of a rich Yorkshire manufacturer, who had secured a paid +entrance into Society. They were purely artificial figures for the very +reason that they never admitted any one of these facts to themselves, +but talked always the jargon of the world to which they aspired, as +though they were indeed denizens therein by right. At that moment, +though, a single natural feeling shook the man, shook his faith in +himself, in life, in his destiny. There was Jewish blood in his veins +and it made itself felt. + +"Mabel," he began, "this man Portel--you've flirted with him, you say?" + +"I have most certainly flirted with him," she admitted quietly. + +"He hasn't dared--" + +A flash of scorn lit her cold eyes. + +"I think," she said, "that you had better ask me no questions of that +sort." + +Carraby went slowly out. Already the moment was passing. Of course he +could trust his wife! Besides, in his letter was the death warrant of +the man who stood between him and his ambitions. Mrs. Carraby listened +to his footsteps in the hall, heard his suave reply to his secretary, +heard his orders to the footman who let him out. From where she stood +she watched him cross the square. Already he had recovered his alert +bearing. His shoes and his hat were glossy, his coat was of an +excellent fit. The woman watched him without movement or any change of +expression. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +A RUINED CAREER + + +Sir Julien Portel stood in the middle of his bedroom, dressed in shirt +and trousers only. The sofa and chairs around him were littered with +portions of the brilliant uniform which he had torn from his person a +few minutes before with almost feverish haste. His perplexed servant, +who had only just arrived, was doing his best to restore the room to +some appearance of order. + +"You needn't mind those wretched things for the present, Richards," his +master ordered sharply. "Bring the rest of the tweed traveling suit +like the trousers I have on, and then see about packing some clothes." + +The man ceased his task. He looked around, a little bewildered. + +"Do I understand that you are going out of town tonight, Sir Julien?" +he asked. + +"I am going on to the continent by the nine o'clock train," was the +curt reply. + +Richards was a perfectly trained servant, but the situation was too +much for him. + +"You will excuse me, Sir Julien," he said, "but there is Lord +Cardington's dinner tonight, and the reception afterwards at the +Foreign Office. I have your court clothes ready." + +His master laughed shortly. + +"I am not attending the dinner or the reception, Richards. You can put +those things back again and get me the traveling clothes." + +The man seemed a little dazed, but turned automatically towards the +wardrobe. + +"Shall you require me to accompany you, sir?" he inquired. + +"Not at present," Sir Julien replied. "You will have to come on with +the rest of my luggage when I have decided what to do." + +Richards was not more than ordinarily inquisitive, but the +circumstances were certainly unusual. + +"Do you mean, sir, that you will not be returning to London at +present?" he ventured to ask. + +"I shall not be returning to London for some time," Sir Julien answered +sharply. "Get on with the packing as quickly as you can. Put the +whiskey and soda on the table in the sitting-room, and the cigarettes. +Remember, if any one comes I am not at home." + +"Too late, my dear fellow," a voice called out from the adjoining room. +"You see, I have found my way up unannounced--a bad habit, but my +profession excuses everything." + +The man stood on the threshold of the room opening out from the +bedroom--tall, florid, untidily dressed, with clean-shaven, humorous +face, ungloved hands, and a terribly shabby hat. He looked around the +room and shrugged his shoulders. + +"What an infernal mess!" he exclaimed. "Come along out into the +sitting-room, Julien. I want to talk to you." + +"I should like to know how the devil you got in here!" Sir Julien +muttered. "I told the fellow downstairs that no one was to be allowed +up." + +"He did try to make himself disagreeable," the newcomer replied. +"However, here I am--that's enough." + +Sir Julien turned to his servant. + +"Get on with your packing, Richards," he directed, "and let me know +when you have finished." + +Sir Julien followed his visitor into the sitting-room, closing the door +behind him. His manner was not in the least cordial. + +"Look here, Kendricks, old fellow," he said, "I don't want to be rude, +but I am not in the humor to talk to any one. I have had a rotten week +of it and just about as much as I can stand. Help yourself to a whiskey +and soda, say what you have to say and then go." + +The newcomer nodded. He helped himself to the whiskey and soda, but he +seemed in no hurry to speak. On the contrary, he settled himself down +in an easy-chair with the appearance of a man who had come to stay. + +"Julien," he remarked presently, "you are up against it--up against it +rather hard. Don't trouble to interrupt me. I know pretty well all +about it. I said from the first you'd have to resign. There wasn't any +other way out of it." + +"Quite right," Julien agreed. "There wasn't. I've finished up +everything to-day--resigned my office, applied for the Chiltern +Hundreds, and I am going to clear out of the country to-night." + +"And all because you wrote a foolish letter to a woman!" Kendricks +murmured, half to himself. "By the bye, there's no doubt about the +letter, I suppose?" + +"None in the world," Julien replied. + +"There's nothing that the Press can do to set you right?" + +"Great heavens, no!" Julien declared. "No one can help me. I've no one +to blame but myself. I wrote the letter--there the matter ends." + +"And she passed it on to that shocking little bounder of a husband of +hers! What a creature! Did it ever occur to you that it was a plot?" + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"It makes so little difference." + +"You were in Carraby's way," Kendricks continued, producing a pipe from +his pocket and leisurely filling it. "There was no getting past you and +you were a young man. It's a dirty business." + +"If you don't mind," Julien said coldly, "we won't discuss it any +further. So far as I am concerned, the whole matter is at an end. I was +compelled to take part in to-day's mummery. I hated it--that they all +knew. I suppose it's foolish to mind such things, David," he went on +bitterly, taking up a cigarette and throwing himself into a chair, "but +a year ago--it was just after I came back from Berlin and you may +remember it was the fancy of the people to believe that I had saved the +country from war--they cheered me all the way from Whitehall to the +Mansion House. To-day there was only a dull murmur of voices--a sort of +doubting groan. I felt it, Kendricks. It was like Hell, that ride!" + +Kendricks nodded sympathetically. + +"I suppose you know that a version of the letter is in the evening +papers?" he asked. + + +"My resignation will be in the later issues," Julien told him. "It was +pretty well known yesterday afternoon. I leave for the continent +to-night." + +There was a short silence between the two men. In a sense they had been +friends all their lives. Sir Julien Portel had been a successful +politician, the youngest Cabinet Minister for some years. Kendricks had +never aspired to be more than a clever journalist of the vigorous type. +Nevertheless, they had been more than ordinarily intimate. + +"Have you made any plans?" Kendricks inquired presently. "Of course, +you would have to resign office, but don't you think there might be a +chance of living it down?" + +"Not a chance on earth," Julien replied. "As to what I am going to do, +don't ask me. For the immediate present I am going to lose myself in +Normandy or somewhere. Afterwards I think I shall move on to my old +quarters in Paris. There's always a little excitement to be got out of +life there." + +Kendricks looked at his friend through the cloud of tobacco smoke. + +"It's excitement of rather a dangerous order," he remarked slowly. + +"I shall never be likely to forget that I am an Englishman," Julien +said. "Perhaps I may be able to do something to set matters right +again. One can't tell. By the bye, Kendricks," he went on, "do you +remember when we were at college how you hated women? How you used to +try and trace half the things that went wrong in life to their +influence?" + +The journalist nodded. He knocked the ashes from his pipe deliberately. + +"I was a boy in those days," he declared. "I am a man now, getting on +toward middle age, and on that one subject I am as rabid as ever. I +hate their meddling in men's affairs, shoving themselves into politics, +always whispering in a man's ear under pretence of helping him with +their sympathy. They're in evidence wherever you go--women, women, +women! The place reeks with them. You can't go about your work, hour by +hour or day by day, without having them on every side of you. It's like +a poison, this trail of them over every piece of serious work we +attempt, over every place we find our way into. They bang the +typewriters in our offices, they elbow us in the streets, they smile at +us from the next table at our workaday luncheon, they crowd the tubes +and the cars and the cabs in the streets. Why the deuce, Julien, can't +we treat them like those sage Orientals, and dump them all in one place +where they belong till we've finished our work?" + +Julien lifted his tumbler of whiskey and soda to his lips and set it +down empty. + +"In a way, you're right, Kendricks," he agreed. "You go too far, of +course, but I do believe that women hold too big a place in our lives. +I am one of the poor fools who goes to the wall to gratify the vanity +of one of them." + +The journalist muttered a word under his breath which he would have +been very sorry to have seen in the pages of his paper. Julien had +moved to the open window. There had been a little break in his voice. +No one knew better than Kendricks that a very brilliant career was +broken. + +"I think you're wise to go away for a time, Julien," he decided. "Look +here, it's six o'clock now. I have a taxicab waiting downstairs. Come +round to my rotten little restaurant in Soho and dine with me. Your +fellow can meet us at Charing-Cross with your things. You won't see a +soul you know where I'm going to take you." + +Julien turned slowly away from the window. He was looking for the last +time from those rooms at the London which he had loved. The setting sun +had caught the dome of St. Paul's, was flashing from the dark, placid +water of the Thames. The roar of the great city was passing from +eastwards to westwards. + +"You're a good chap, Kendricks," he declared. "I'll come along, with +pleasure. I shall have enough solitude later on. But listen, before we +go--listen, David, to a speech after your own heart." + +Julien stood quite still for a moment. His pale face seemed suddenly +whiter, his eyes were full of fire. + +"David," he said, "if ever the time comes in the future when I find +that a woman is beginning to claim a minute of my thoughts, a single +one of my emotions, to govern the slightest throb of my pulses, I'll +take her by the throat and I'll throw her out of what's left of my life +as I would a rat that had crept into my room. I've done with them. +Curse all women!" + +There was a silence. Kendricks leaned over to the fireplace and knocked +his pipe against the hearth. Then he suddenly paused. + +"What's that?" he asked abruptly. + +There was a soft knocking at the outside door. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +A BUNCH OF VIOLETS + + +Kendricks rose slowly to his feet. Julien was looking toward the door +with a frown upon his face. While they stood there the knocking was +repeated, still soft but a little more insistent. Julien hesitated no +longer. + +"I think," Kendricks said dryly, "that you had better see who is +there." + +The door was already opened. Julien seemed suddenly transformed into a +graven image. He said nothing, merely gazing at the woman who walked +calmly past him into the room. Kendricks, who also recognized her, +withdrew his pipe from his mouth. This was a situation indeed! The +woman, with her hands inside her muff, looked from one to the other of +the two men. + +"Am I interrupting a very important interview?" she asked calmly. "If +not, perhaps you could spare me five minutes of your time, Sir Julien?" + +Kendricks recovered himself at once. + +"I'll wait for you downstairs, Julien," he declared. + +He caught up his hat and departed, closing the door after him. Julien +was still motionless. + +"Well?" she began. + +He drew a little breath. He was beginning to regain his +self-possession. + +"My dear Mrs. Carraby," he said, "with your wonderful knowledge of the +world and its ways, will you permit me to point out that your presence +here is a little embarrassing to me and might, under certain +circumstances, be a good deal more embarrassing to you?" + +Mrs. Carraby smiled. She stood where the sunlight touched her brown +hair and her quiet, pale face. She was one of those women who are never +afraid of the light. Her face was of that strange, self-contained +nature, colorless, apparently, yet capable of strange and rapid +changes. Just now the last glow of sunlight seemed to have found a +skein of gold in her hair, a queer gleam of light in her eyes. She +stood there looking at the man whom she had come to visit. + +"Julien," she said, "I wanted a few words with you." + +It was impossible for him to remain altogether unmoved. Whatever else +might be the truth, she had risked most of the things that were dear to +her in life by this visit. + +"Mrs. Carraby," he declared, "I am entirely at your service. If you +think that any useful purpose can be served by words between you and +me, I would only point out, for your own sake, that your visit is, to +say the least of it, unwise. These are bachelor chambers." + +"You know very well," she replied calmly, "that it was my only chance +of speaking with you. If I had sent for you, you would not have come. +If I had spoken to you in the street, you would have passed me +by--quite rightly. This was my only chance. That is why I have come to +you." + +"If you think it worth the risk," he remarked gravely, "pray continue." + +She shrugged her shoulders very slightly. + +"Who can tell what is worth the risk?" + +"You have at least excited my curiosity," he admitted, leaning a little +towards her. "I cannot conceive what it is that you want to say to me." + +She lifted her eyes to his, and though there was nothing unusual about +them--there were few people, indeed, who could tell you what color they +were--men seldom forgot it when Mrs. Carraby looked at them steadily. + +"I do not know, myself," she said. "I do not know why I have come." + +Julien laughed unnaturally. + +"Pray be seated," he begged. "Would you like to examine my curios or my +photographs? I must apologize for the condition of my room. You see, +you happen to be the first woman who has ever crossed its threshold." + +"That," she remarked, "rather interests me. Still, it is only what I +should have expected. No, I do not think that I will sit down. I am +trying to ask myself exactly why I have come." + + +"If you can answer that question," Julien said grimly, "you will +appease a very natural curiosity on my part. It is not like you." + +"Quite true," she assented. "It is not like me. I have run a great risk +in coming here and it is not my métier to run risks. And now that I am +here I do not know why I have come. This has been an impulse and this +is an hour outside my life. I am trying to understand it. Come here, +Julien." He came unwillingly to her side. She held out her hand, but +he shook his head. + +"Mabel," he said, "you and I do not need to mince words. To-night I am +celebrating the ruin of my career. I am leaving England within a few +hours. I have you to thank for what has happened. Yet you come to me, +you hold out your hand. You must forgive me--I am afraid I am dull." + +"No," she replied, "you are not dull. Your feelings towards me are +obvious and very natural. Mine towards you I am not so sure of. It is +not because I did not understand you that I came here to-night. It is +because I did not understand myself. May I go on?" + +"Why not?" he answered. "I am at your service." + +"From the days of my boarding-school," she continued, "I have known +only one Mabel. In her girlhood she had all that she could get out of +life and turned everything she could to her own ends. A marriage was +arranged for her--you see, I was half a Jewess and my husband was half +a Jew, and things are done like that with us. The marriage opened the +door to a fresh set of ambitions. For the last few years I have trodden +a well-worn path. It was I who advised my husband to refuse a +baronetcy. It was I who won his first election. I see that my +photographs are in all the illustrated papers, that his speeches are +properly recorded, that my visiting list moves within the correct +limits. These things have spelt life. To the fulfillment of my +husband's ambitions there was one obstacle. That obstacle was you. In +life one schemes. It was my husband's wish that I should make myself +agreeable to you, even to the extent of a flirtation." + +She raised her eyes. + +"Your obedience to your husband is most touching," he said. + +"It is true, I suppose," she went on, "that we have flirted. I looked +upon it as the means to an end. The end came. I played my cards quite +ruthlessly, I gathered in the reward. I got your letter, I handed it to +my husband. Your career was finished, my husband's begun." + +"This is most interesting," Julien muttered. + +"Is it?" she answered. "I suppose it should have been an hour of +triumph with me. It simply isn't. I have come to a place in my life +which I don't understand. When I told myself that it was over, that I +had flirted with you, that I had won your friendship and your +confidence, betrayed you, ruined you for a peerage and that my husband +should take office, I should surely have been satisfied! It was for +that I had worked. I gave my husband the letter and I watched him walk +off in triumph. Since then I have not been myself. I have come to you, +Julien, to ask if there is no other end possible to this?" + +Once more she raised her eyes. Julien came a step nearer to her. They +were standing now face to face. + +"All of a sudden," she murmured, "I looked back and I saw the way I +have lived and the way I am living and the life that spreads itself out +before me. I saw myself a peeress, I saw myself receiving my husband's +guests, I saw the gratification of all those ambitions which have +seemed to me so wonderful. And I locked the door and I shrieked and it +seemed to me that there was a new thing and a new thought in my life. I +have done you a hideous wrong, Julien. There is only one way I can set +it right. There is only one moment in which it can be done, and that +moment is now. Tomorrow I shall be back again. For this one hour I see +the truth. I am a very rich woman, Julien. My husband's future, indeed, +is largely bound up with my wealth. Remember that in all I have done I +have been his agent. He hates you, has hated you from the first because +you were a gentleman and he never was. This is my one moment of madness +in a perfectly well-ordered life." + +One of her hands stole from her muff, stole out half-hesitatingly +towards him. Julien took it in his and raised it to his lips. Then he +looked her in the eyes. + +"Dear Mabel," he said, "you are forgiven. I understand perfectly the +reasons for your coming. Go back to your husband, wear your coronet and +receive his guests with a free conscience. I forgive you." + +Her hand slipped back into her muff. She began to tremble a little. + +"As for me," he went on, "I played the fool and I pay willingly. I was +engaged to marry a very charming girl who believed in me and whom I +cared for as much as it was possible for me to care for anything +outside my career. I flirted with you because it was a piquant thing to +do. You were a woman whom other men found difficult, you were the wife +of a man whom I despised and who was trying all the time to undermine +my position. I sacrificed my self-respect every time I crossed your +threshold. To-day I pay. I am willing. As for you, Mabel, your visit +here shall square things between us. I wish you the best of luck. You +must let me ring for my servant. He will find you a taxicab." + +He moved toward the bell. Mrs. Carraby, with her hands inside her muff, +stood exactly as though she were part of the furniture of the room. +With his finger upon the ivory disc, he hesitated. She was not looking +towards him and her eyes were half closed. + + +"Perhaps," he suggested, "you would rather find your way out alone? I +will not offer my escort, for obvious reasons." + +She turned slowly round. + +"Do not ring," she ordered sharply. "Come here." + +He came at once towards her. She took both his hands in hers, she +leaned towards him. She was a tall woman and they were very nearly the +same height. + +"Julien," she whispered, "is this all that you have to say to me?" + +"It is more," Julien replied frankly, "than I expected ever to have to +say to you again in this world. What do you expect? You don't think +that I am the kind of man to--but that is absurd! Come. We'll part +friends, if you like. Here's my hand." + +"We must part, then?" she said. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Unless a walking tour in Normandy for a month appeals to you. You see, +I am going to take a holiday, and I have a fancy that our ideas on the +subject of holidays might not exactly agree." + +"A holiday," she repeated. "I am not sure--do you know, Julien, I +sometimes believe that I have never had a holiday in my life?" + +He looked at her doubtingly. + +"After all," she continued, "can't you see that I have come here to ask +you one question? You are different from the people I have known +intimately and the people with whom I have been brought up, different +from my husband. You know what my life has been. I have told you just +now that the great doubt has come to me within the last few days. Won't +you tell me what I want to know? Is there anything better, anything +greater, anything more wonderful in life than these things which I have +known, these ambitions, this social struggle? Tell me, Julien, is there +anything else? Can you tell me how and where to find it?" + +Once more her fingers had crept out of her muff. + +Her hands were upon his shoulders, she seemed to be drawing him to +her. Julien kissed her lightly on the forehead. + +"For you, my dear Mabel," he decided, "I should say that there was +nothing better. A leopard cannot change its spots. The life into which +you have been brought and for which you have qualified so admirably, is +the only life which would suit you. If you fancy sometimes in your +dreams, or in your waking hours, that you hear cries and calls from +another country, don't listen to them. You would never be happy outside +the world you know of. You see, one who has made such a failure of life +himself is yet well able to advise. Forgive me." + +The telephone on his writing table was ringing. He turned aside to +answer it. It was a question regarding the whereabouts of some papers +at the office and it took him a few minutes to explain. When he set the +receiver back and turned around, he was alone. There was nothing to +remind him of her visit but a bunch of violets which seemed to have +fallen from her muff, and the faint perfume from them. He took them up, +smelt them for a moment, and flung them lightly into the hearth. Then +he touched his bell. + +"My hat, stick and gloves, Richards," he ordered. "Bring my things to +Charing-Cross at half-past eight. Have them registered only to +Boulogne. You understand?" + +"Perfectly, sir," the man replied. + +Julien glanced once more around his sitting-room. The little bunch of +violets was smouldering upon the hearth. In a sense they seemed to him +symbolical. + +"Kendricks is right," he muttered. "It is the women who play the devil +with our lives!" + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +A SENTIMENTAL EPISODE + + +Kendricks was waiting below in the taxicab, leaning back in the corner +with his feet upon the opposite seat, and smoking his very disreputable +pipe with an air of serene content. + +"Sorry to have turned you out into the street like this," Julien +remarked. + +"Thank you," Kendricks replied, "under the circumstances I preferred +the street." + +Julien hesitated for a moment and glanced at his watch. + +"There is one more call that I must pay, David," he said. "You won't +mind, will you? We've plenty of time." + +"Mind? Of course not," Kendricks answered, stretching himself out in +the cab. "Do what you please with me, only leave an hour or an hour and +a half for dinner. I am the best-tempered person in the world so long +as no one interferes with my regular meal hours." + +"It's just a little farewell call," Julien explained, "that I want to +pay. I've told the man where to go." + +Kendricks nodded silently. He knew all about that little call, but if +he felt any sympathy he was careful not to show it. They drew up in a +few minutes before a large and solemn-looking house at the corner of +Hamilton Place. + +"Don't hurry," Kendricks advised, stretching himself out once more in +the cab. "I'll smoke another pipe and thank heaven we are not in New +York! You wait an hour there and take your choice of paying the fare or +buying the taxicab!" + +Julien ascended the steps and rang the bell at the door of the house. +It was immediately opened by a manservant, who recognized him with a +bow and a smile, for which, somehow or other, he felt thankful. + +"Is Lady Anne in, Robert?" he inquired. + +The man stood on one side. + +"Please to walk in, Sir Julien," he invited. "Lady Anne is with some +young people in the drawing-room. Will you go in there to them, or +would you prefer that I announce you?" + +"Is there any one in the waiting-room?" Julien asked. + +"No one at present, sir." + +"Let me go in there, then. I want to speak to Lady Anne alone for a +moment. You might let her know that I am here." + +"Certainly, sir." + +Julien walked restlessly up and down the small, uncomfortable +apartment, the room which he had always hated. There were illustrated +papers arranged in a row upon a leather-topped table, two stiff +horsehair easychairs, and various views of Clonarty, the country seat +of the Duke of Clonarty, around the walls. Presently he heard the +laughter in the drawing-room cease. There was a short silence, then the +sound of footsteps across the hall and the abrupt opening of the door +of the room in which he was waiting. Julien looked up quickly. It was, +after all, what he had expected! A somewhat vivacious-looking little +lady in a muslin gown and elaborate hat held out both her hands to him. +In the darkened light of the room she might very well have passed for a +younger and less serious edition of her own daughter. + +"My dear Julien!" she exclaimed, in a tone which was manifestly +sympathetic. "This is terrible news we are hearing about you. But what +an odd time you have chosen to come and tell us all about it!" + +"I have not come to tell you all about it, Duchess," Julien assured +her. "The newspapers will tell you everything that is worth knowing. +They are so much better informed." + +"The newspapers sometimes exaggerate," she objected. + +"In my case," he replied, "I do not think that exaggeration is +possible. Everything has happened to me that could possibly happen to +any one in my unfortunate position." + +"You mean that these stories are all true, then?" + +"Every one of them. I really don't suppose that I ought to show my face +here at all. I have simply come to say good-bye. There is just a single +word that I want to say to Anne." + +"Tell me, Julien," she demanded, "you really did write that letter to +Mrs. Carraby?" + +"I did." + +"And she gave it to her husband?" + +"Yes!" + +For once the Duchess was perfectly and delightfully natural. + +"That woman," she declared, "is a detestable cat! Mind, Julien," she +added, "I don't mean by that that you were not hideously and entirely +to blame. I can't feel that you deserve a single grain of sympathy. All +the same, a woman who can do a thing like that should not be +tolerated." + +Julien smiled grimly. He was perfectly well aware that at that moment +Mrs. Carraby was passing from the list of the Duchess's acquaintances. +It was all so inconsequent. + +"Can I have that one word with Anne?" he begged. + +The Duchess looked doubtful. + +"Why?" + +"I am going abroad to-night. I should like to say good-bye to her." + +"Isn't it a little foolish?" she asked. "I don't mean your going +abroad--that, I suppose, is almost necessary--but why do you want to +see Anne? I can give her all the proper messages." + +Julien laughed bitterly. + +"There are some things," he said, "which can scarcely be altogether +ignored. It may have escaped your memory that Anne was to have been my +wife." + +"Not at all," the Duchess replied. "The only thing I do not understand +is why, as any such arrangement is of course now ridiculous, you should +want to see her again. What can you possibly have to say to her?" "An +affair of sentiment," he explained. "I have a fancy to say good-bye." + +The Duchess shook her head. + +"Those sort of things don't belong to us," she declared. "You ought to +know better, my dear Julien. I can see no possible object in it. I will +give her any message you like, and so far as she is concerned I can +assure you that she has not the slightest ill-feeling. She is really +quite angelic about it." + +"Duchess," Julien said steadily, "I came here expecting that these +would be your views. You are Anne's mother and of course you are in +authority, but when two people of our age are engaged to marry one +another, they pass just a little beyond the sphere of their parents' +influence. Anne and I have been in that position. Don't think for a +moment that I wish to dispute your authority when I say that I intend +to see her before I leave." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"Ah! my dear Julien," she murmured, "if you had only been as firm with +that foolish woman. Still, if you have really made up your mind, I am +sure I don't want to be disagreeable. Perhaps it would be just as well +to get the thing over." + +She touched the bell. + +"Ask Lady Anne to step this way," she told the servant. + +The man withdrew and the door was closed again. The Duchess showed no +signs of being about to take her leave. + +"This matter has already, I presume, been fully discussed between you +and Anne?" Julien remarked. "It will not be necessary for you even to +give her a parting word of advice?" + +"You amusing person!" she laughed. "There are no words of advice of +mine needed in a case like this. To tell you the truth, Julien, +although I always liked you, as you know, I hated your engagement to +Anne. You were a very charming young man to have about the house and I +was always pleased to see my girls flirt with you, but as a son-in-law +I ranked you from the first amongst the undesirables. Your income, so +far as I know, is a little less than nothing at all, and politics, as +you are discovering to-day, are a precarious form of livelihood. Anne +hasn't a copper and never will have. She ought to marry a rich man, and +I intend now that she shall. Here she is. Now do get this stupid affair +over quickly." + +The door was opened and Lady Anne came in. She was taller than her +mother, of more serious aspect, and her hair was a shade darker. There +was something of the same expression about the eyes. She came straight +over to Julien and gave him both her hands. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "this is shocking! Run away, if you +please, mother. I must see Julien for a moment alone." + +The Duchess left the room. They both waited until the door was closed. +Then she turned and faced him. + +"I suppose it's all true?" she asked. + +"Every word of it, Anne," he answered. "Please don't misunderstand the +reason of my coming. I am absolutely a ruined man and I absolutely +deserve everything that has come to me. But there was one thing I +wanted to say to you before I went." + +"There was also one thing," she remarked, looking at him intently, +"which I intended to ask you, provided you gave me the opportunity." + +"It is about Mrs. Carraby," he said firmly. + +"So was my question," she murmured. + +"The friendship between Mrs. Carraby and myself," Julien continued, +"has been patent to every one for a great many years. I knew her long +before I did you. It began, in fact, when we were little more than +children. It finished--to-day. There is only one thing I want to say to +you about it, and that is this. Our friendship was of that sort which +is fairly well recognized and even approved of by the world in which we +live. It contained, of course, certain elements of flirtation--I am not +denying that. There was never at any time, however, anything in that +friendship which made it an error even of taste on my part to ask you +to become my wife." + +She took his face between her hands and deliberately kissed him. + +"That's just what I wanted to know, Julien," she declared. "Now shake +hands, be off, and do the best you can for yourself. I wish you the +best of luck, the very best. That's all we can say to one another, +isn't it?" + +"Quite all," he admitted. + +"You are a dear, good fellow," she went on, "and I have been quite fond +of you, although I think that I bored you now and then. I should have +made you an excellent wife, perhaps a better one than I shall the next +man who comes along. Don't stay any longer, there's a dear, because +although I never pretended to have much heart, this sort of thing does +upset one, you know, and I want to look my best to-night. Write me +sometimes, if you will. I'd love to hear that you'd found some interest +in life to help you gather up the threads. And here--this is for luck." + +She took a little turquoise pin from her waistband and stuck it in his +black tie. Then, before he could stop her, she touched the bell with +one hand and gave him the other. + +"Please kiss my fingers, Julien, and tell me I've behaved nicely." + + +He looked steadily into her eyes and then away out of the window, +across the square. It was such a natural ending, this. It was foolish +that his heart should shake, even for a second. And yet there had been +one occasion--at Clonarty--when she had lain very close to him in his +arms, and the moonlight had been falling through the pine trees in +little dappled places around them, and the wind had been making faint +music among the swinging boughs--for these few moments, at any rate, +the other things had shone in her face. Were they illusions really, +those moments of agitation, he wondered--simply one long, sensuous +period passing like breath from a looking-glass and leaving nothing +behind? He looked into her face. There was no sign there. Then he +dropped the fingers which he had been holding. Women were wonderful! + +"Do write," she begged, as she walked into the hall with him. "Dear me, +what a strange-looking person you have with you in the taxicab!" + +"He is a friend," Julien said quietly, "a journalist. I might say the +same of the young man who is watching us from the drawing-room, Anne! +Who is he?" + +She made a little face at him and whispered in his ear. + +"Semitic, as you see, and positively appalling. He is entirely mother's +choice. He arrived ten minutes after the evening papers were out, but +somehow or other I don't fancy that we shall make anything of him. It's +young Harbord, you know." + +Julien made his effort. He touched her fingers once more in +conventional fashion. He leaned towards her earnestly. + +"My dear Anne," he said, "that young man has an income of at least a +hundred thousand a year. Have you ever considered what a wonderful +thing it is to possess an income like that? You could surround yourself +with it like a halo. You could eat it, wear it, and breathe it every +second of your life. You could even use it as a means of escaping as +often as possible from the somewhat inevitable but highly objectionable +adjunct who seems now to be peering at us through the door. Be a wise +girl, Anne. An income like that doesn't depend upon discretions or +indiscretions. Besides, as a matter of fact, I really do not think that +that young man knows what it is to be indiscreet. Remember, I am quite +serious. A hundred thousand a year should lift any man beyond the pale +of criticism." + +"Yes!" the girl replied, looking at him as he walked down the steps. "I +shall remember. Good-bye!" + +"We are getting on," Julien declared lightly, as he took his place in +the taxicab. "Really, it is astonishing how much a man can get through +in a day if he sets his mind to it. Is there any place where we could +get a drink, do you think, Kendricks? I have just passed through a +trying and affecting interview. I have said farewell to the lady who +was to have been my wife. That sort of thing upsets one." + +"You are behaving, my dear Julien," Kendricks admitted, "like a man of +sense. In a moment or two we shall pass Véry's, on our way to the +restaurant where I am going to entertain you at dinner. It will +probably be such a dinner as you have never eaten before in your life! +You will not need an _apéritif_. I am not sure, indeed, that it is not +tempting providence and inviting indigestion to offer you a mixed +vermouth here. However, come along. One experience more or less in such +a day will not disturb you." + +They entered the café and sat down at a small, marble-topped table. +Julien lit a cigarette and Kendricks affected not to notice that the +hand which held the match was shaking. A crowd of people, mostly +foreigners, were sitting about the place. Julien, as he sipped his +vermouth, noticed a familiar face nearly opposite him--a young, +somewhat sandy-complexioned man, quietly dressed, insignificant, and +yet with some sort of personality. + +"I wonder who that fellow is?" he remarked. "I seem to know his face." + +Kendricks looked incuriously across the room. + +"One knows every one by sight in London," he said. "The fellow is +probably a clerk in some office where you have been, or a salesman +behind the counter at one of the shops you patronize. It's odd +sometimes how a face will pursue you like that. That's a pretty little +girl with whom he's shaking hands." + +Julien watched the two idly for a moment. The man had risen to greet +his newly-arrived companion, who was chattering to him in fluent +French. All the time Julien was aware that now and then the former's +eyes strayed over towards him. It was odd that, notwithstanding his +somewhat disturbed state of mind, he was conscious of a distinct +curiosity as to this young man's identity. + +"Come along," Kendricks suggested. "We shan't get a table at all at the +place where I am going to take you to dine, unless we are punctual." + +They finished their vermouth and left the café. Kendricks knocked out +the ashes from his pipe and leaned a little forward in the taxicab. + +"We go now," he continued, "into a foreign land--foreign, at least, to +you, my young Exquisite--the land of journalists, of foreigners, of +hairdressers and anarchists, and cutthroats of every description. +Nevertheless, we shall dine well, and if you will only drink enough of +the chianti which I shall order, I can promise you a nap on your way to +Dover. You look as though you could do with it." + +Julien suddenly remembered that his eyes were hot, and almost +simultaneously he felt the weight that was dragging down his heart. He +laughed desperately. + +"I'll eat your dinner, David," he promised, "and I'll do justice to +your chianti. From what you tell me about our expedition, I should +imagine that we are going into the land to which I shall soon belong." + +"It's a wonderful country," Kendricks muttered, looking out of the +window. "It may not be flowing exactly with milk and honey, but its +sinews are supple and its blood is red. For absolute vitality, I'd back +the Café l'Athénée against the Carlton any day. Here we are." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +AT THE CAFÉ L'ATHÉNÉE + + +The Café L'Athénée was in a narrow back street and consisted of a +ground floor apartment of moderate size, and a number of small rooms, +most of which were already crowded with diners. There were no +smooth-faced _maîtres d'hôtel_ to conduct new arrivals to a table, no +lift to the upper rooms, no palm-lined stairways, or any of the modern +appurtenances of restaurant life. Kendricks, taking the lead as an +habitué, pushed his way up to the first floor, pushed his way past the +hurrying and perspiring waiters, who did not even stop to answer +questions, and finally pounced upon a table which was just being +vacated by three other people. The two men sat down before the débris +and waited patiently for its removal. + +"Don't turn your nose up yet," Kendricks begged. "Wait till you've +tasted the spaghetti. And don't look at the tablecloth as though it +would bite you. They'll put a clean napkin over it directly and you'll +forget all about those stains. This is where one takes off the kid +gloves and deals with the realities of eating and drinking. I am +inclined to think sometimes, Julien, as a humble admirer from a long +way off, that you've worn those kid gloves a little too long." + +Julien looked across at his friend. Kendricks was still smoking his +pipe and he was evidently in earnest. It was obvious, too, that he had +more to say. + +"You know," he continued, loudly summoning a waiter and pointing to the +table before them, "you know, Julien, I have always had this feeling +about you. I think that life has been made a trifle too easy for you. +You have slipped with so little effort into the polished places. You +never had to take your coat and waistcoat off and try a +rough-and-tumble struggle with life. No man is the worse for it. +Prosperity and smooth-traveling along the easy ways, even though they +come to one as the reward of brainwork, lead to a certain flabbiness in +life, lead to many moments when you have to stop and ask whether things +are worth while, lead sometimes, I think, to that curious neuroticism +from which clever, successful people suffer as well as the butterflies +of fashion. You are up against it now, Julien, real and hard. You don't +feel that you've got a day to live that you care a snap of the fingers +about. You look at what you think are the pieces of your life and you +imagine yourself a gaunt spectator of what has been, gazing down at +them, and you've quite made up your mind that it isn't a bit of good +trying to collect the fragments. Such d----d nonsense, Julien! You may +have made a jolly hash of things as a Cabinet Minister, but that isn't +any reason why you shouldn't make a success of life as a man. Look +here, Carlo," he added, addressing the waiter, "the table d'hôte +dinner--everything, and serve it hot. Bring us fresh butter with our +spaghetti, and a flask of chianti." + +"Si, signor!" the man replied, gazing for a moment in wonder at this +shock-headed individual who spoke his own language so perfectly. + +Kendricks laid down the menu and glanced across the table at Julien's +face with its slightly weary smile. + +"Of course, I know how you're feeling now," he went on,--"rotten!--so +would any one. Try and forget it, try and forget yourself. Look about +you. What do these people do for a living, do you think? They weren't +born with a title. There's no one in this room who went to Eton and +Oxford, played cricket for their university, and lolled their way into +life as you did. Look at them all. The thin chap in the corner is a +barber, got a small shop of his own now. I go there sometimes for a +shave. He lived on thirteen shillings a week for six years, while he +saved the money to start for himself. It was touch and go with him +afterwards. In three months he'd nearly lost the lot. He'd married a +little wife who stood behind the counter and had worked almost as hard +as he, but somehow or other the customers wouldn't come. Then she had a +baby, was laid up for a time, he had to engage some one to take her +place, and at that time he had about fifteen shillings left in the +world. I used to be shaved there every day then. I knew all about it. I +used to hear him, when he thought no one was listening, go and call a +cheerful word up the stairs--'Shop full of customers!' 'Sold another +bottle of hair restorer!' or something of that sort. Then some one lent +him a fiver, and, by Jove, he turned the corner! He's doing well now. +That's his wife--the plump little woman who's straightening his tie. +They come here every Wednesday night and they can afford it. Yet he was +up against it badly once, Julien. That's right, look at him, be +interested. He's a common-looking little beast, isn't he?--but he's got +a stout heart." + +"I think," Julien said, "that I could guess the name of the man who +lent him the fiver." + +"You'd be a mug if you couldn't," Kendricks retorted. "It's doing that +sort of thing that helps you to smile sometimes when the knocks come. I +tell you, Julien, some of the people--these small shopkeepers, +especially--do have the devil of a fight to get their ounce of pleasure +out of life. Nothing's made easy for them. They don't know anything +about that big west-end world, with pleasures tuned up to the latest +pitch, where you do even your work with every luxury at hand to make it +easy. There's a little chap there--an Italian. See him? He's sitting by +the side of the old man with the gray beard. That man's his father. +They both landed over here with scarcely a copper. The young fellow +worked like a slave--sixteen shillings a week I think he was getting, +and he kept the old man on it. Then he lost his job, couldn't get +another. The old man had to go to the workhouse, the young man slept on +the Embankment, ate free soup, picked up scraps, lived on the garbage +heap of life. He pulled himself together, though, got another job, +improved it, saved a few shillings, drove up in a cab and took the old +man out. Look at them now. He's got a little tailor's shop not a +hundred yards from here, and somehow or other one or two people on the +stage--they're a good-hearted lot--have taken him up He gets lots of +work and brings the old man here now and then for a treat. How are you, +Pietro?" he called across the room. "When are you going to send me that +coat along?" + +The young man grinned. + +"Too many orders to make you that coat, sir," he declared. + +Kendricks smiled. + +"No one can deny that I need a new coat," he said. "I told Pietro when +things were slack that he could make me one, but he gets lots of orders +now. See the little girl in the corner? She's going out--no, she's +going to stay here; they've found her room at that table. I suppose +you'd turn your nose up at her because she has a lot too much powder on +her cheeks, and you don't like that lace collar around her neck. It +isn't clean, I know, and the make-up on her face is clumsy. Must be +uncomfortable, too, but she's done her best. She's been dancing at the +_Hippodrome_ this afternoon, probably rehearsing afterwards. She's got +an hour now before she goes back to the evening performance. She's +taking the eighteenpenny dinner, you see. She'll get a glass of chianti +free with it. I am in luck to-night. I can tell you about nearly all +these people. Her name is Bessie Hazell--Sarah Ann Jinks, very likely, +but that's what she calls herself, anyway. She married an acrobat two +years ago and they started doing quite well. Then he got a cough, had +to give up work, the doctors all shook their heads at him, wanted to +tell him it was consumption. Bless you, she wouldn't listen to it! She +got him down to Bournemouth somehow and they patched him up. He came +back and started again, caught cold, and had another bad spell. Still, +she wouldn't have it that there was anything serious the matter with +him! He'd be all right, she said, if it weren't for the climate, and +every night she danced, mind--danced twice a day. She's quite clever, +they say--might have done well if she'd only herself to think of and +could spare a little of her money for lessons. Not she! She sent him to +Davos, paid for it somehow. He's back again now. He can't go on the +stage, but he's got a light job somewhere. I don't know that he's +earning anything particular. They've got a baby to keep, but they do it +all right between them. She isn't pleasant to look at, is she? What's +that matter? She's a bit of real life, anyhow." + +"Why didn't you bring me here before, Kendricks?" Julien asked. + +The man leaned back and laughed. + +"Ask yourself that question, not me," he replied. "You--Sir Julien +Portel, caricatured as the best-dressed man in the House of Commons, +member of the most fashionable clubs, brilliant debater, successful +politician, future Prime Minister, and all that sort of twaddle. You +were living too far up in the clouds, my friend, to come down here. You +see, I am not offering you much sympathy, Julien. I don't think you +need it. You were soaring up to the skies just because of your gifts +and your position and your opportunities. You are down now. Well, +you're thundering sorry for yourself. I don't know that I'm sorry for +you. I'll tell you in ten years' time. By Jove, here's your +sandy-headed little friend!" + +The man, with the girl upon his arm, had entered the room and had taken +seats at a table in the corner, for which, apparently, they had been +waiting. Julien looked at them curiously. + +"Why," he exclaimed suddenly, leaning across the table, "I remember him +now! He's at the shop--I mean he's an Intelligence man." + +Kendricks nodded. + +"Just the sort of inconspicuous-looking person who could go anywhere +without being noticed." + +"I recollect him quite well," Julien continued. "It's not in my +department, of course, but I remember being told he was a very useful +little beggar." + +"I should say, without a doubt," Kendricks declared, "that he was at +present working hard for the safety and welfare of the British Empire. +If you've suddenly recognized the man, I'll tell you who the girl is. +She's a manicurist at the Milan." + +Julien looked round and watched them for a moment curiously. Again he +noticed that his interest in the young man was at least reciprocated. + +"The fellow has recognized me, of course," he said. "You know, +Kendricks, I remember two or three years ago a most amazing item of +news was brought to us--one that made a real difference, too--through a +manicurist." + +"Shouldn't be a bit surprised," Kendricks replied. + +"Things drop out in the most unexpected places, as you'd find out if +you'd been a journalist." + +"She was sent for into the room of some princess--at Claridge's, I +think it was, or one of the west-end hotels--and while she was there a +man came from one of the inner rooms and said a few words in Russian. +The girl had been in St. Petersburg and understood. It made quite a +difference. I remember the story." + +"Might have been the same man and the same manicurist," Kendricks +remarked. + +Julien shook his head. + +"There was trouble about the manicurist," he said, "and she had to +leave the country. She's in South Africa now." + +"I can't say that I like the appearance of the fellow," Kendricks +declared. "Don't funk the soup, Julien--it's better than it looks. He's +a slimy-looking sort of chap. I have a theory that the modern sort of +Secret Service agent ought to be a person like myself--breezy and +obvious. Julien, if that girl doesn't stop gazing at you sideways, +you'll be in trouble with your late employee." + +Julien looked across at the opposite table. The girl, as he had noticed +before, was stealing frequent glances at him. For some reason or other, +she seemed anxious to attract his attention. + +"Quite a conquest!" Kendricks murmured. "Drink some more of that +chianti, man, and bring some color to your cheeks. There's a charming +little manicurist wants to flirt with you. What teeth and what a +smile!" + +"Considering that she has been listening to my history for the last +quarter of an hour, I imagine that her interest is of a less +sentimental nature," Julien said. "I have probably been pointed out to +her as the biggest fool in Christendom." + +"Not you," Kendricks declared. "I assure you that I am a critic in such +matters. She looks when the young man who is with her is engaged upon +his dinner, or speaking to the waiter. I am not positive, even, that +she wants to flirt, Julien. I think she wants to say something to you." + +Julien laughed. + +"What shall I do? Present myself? Bah!" he added, almost fiercely. "I +wish the girl would keep her black eyes to herself. I want to tell you +this, Kendricks. You've talked some splendid common sense to me without +going out of your way to do it. I am not going to whine, now or at any +other time, but as long as I live I never want anything more to do with +a woman. That sounds about the most futile and empty-headed thing a man +can say--I know that. But there it is. I tell you the very thought of +them makes me shudder. They're like pampered, highly-groomed animals, +with their mouths open for the tit-bits of life. They have to be fed +with whatever food it may be they crave for, and that's the end of it." + +Kendricks motioned with his head across the room to where the little +woman with the blackened eyebrows was eating her dinner. + +"What about that?" he asked. + +"I don't know anything about that sort," Julien admitted. "What you +told me sounded like one of the things you read of in newspapers and +never believe. I don't believe it. Mind you, I don't say it's false, +but I don't believe it because I have never spoken to the woman whom I +could imagine capable of such unselfishness. If I patch up the pieces +again, Kendricks," he added, and his face was suddenly very dark and +very set--the face of an older man, "whatever cement I use, it won't be +the cement of love or any sentiment whatsoever connected with women." + +Kendricks nodded. + +"It's my belief," he began, then he stopped short. "Julien," he +continued kindly, "you're nothing but a big baby. You think you've +moved in the big places. So you have, in a way. But there was a hideous +mistake about your life. You've never had to build. No one can climb +who doesn't build first. These ready-made ladders don't count. Now," he +added, dropping his voice and glancing quickly across the room, "you +will have an opportunity to put into force your new and magnificent +principles of misogyny. Our little sandy-headed friend has been +summoned from the room. I saw the _commissionaire_ come up and whisper +in his ear. Mademoiselle is writing a note. A hundred to one it is to +you!" + +Julien frowned. He, too, turned his head, and he met the girl's eyes. +She was looking at him curiously. It was not the look of the woman who +invites so much as the look of the woman who appeals for an +understanding, who has something to say. She smiled ever so faintly and +touched with her finger the scrap of paper which she thrust into the +waiter's hand. Then she bent once more over her plate. The man came +across to Julien. + +"For you, monsieur," he announced, and laid it by the side of Julien's +plate. + +"Read it," Kendricks whispered across the table, for he had been quick +to see his companion's first impulse. + +"Why should I?" Julien said coldly. "I have no desire to have anything +to do with that young person. What can she have to say to me?" + +"Nevertheless, read it," Kendricks repeated. + +Julien unrolled the scrap of paper with reluctant fingers. There were +only a few words written there in hasty pencil: + +Monsieur, there is a friend of mine whom you must see. Call at number +17, Avenue de St. Paul and ask for Madame Christophor. Do not attempt +to speak to me. This is for your good. + +Julien's fingers were upon the note to destroy it, but again Kendricks +stopped him. + +"Julien," he insisted, "don't be an idiot. The little girl knows who +you are. She can't imagine that you are in the humor just now for +flirtations. Put the note in your pocket and call. One can't tell. Your +life has been so artificial that you've probably left off believing in +any adventures outside story-books. My life leads me into different +places and I never neglect an opportunity like that." + +"A sister manicurist, I expect," Julien replied scornfully; "a palmist, +or some creature of that sort." + +Kendricks hammered upon the table for the waiter. + +"One takes one's chances," he agreed, "but I do not think that the +little girl over there would send you upon a fool's errand. There are +other things in life, you know, Julien. You carry in your head +political secrets which would be worth a great deal. There may be +danger in that call." + +Julien looked at him with faintly curling lip. + +"Tell me exactly what you mean?" he asked. + +Kendricks shrugged his shoulders. The waiter had arrived and he gave +him a vociferous order. + +"Listen," he said, "I could hand you out a hundred surmises and each +one of them ought to be sufficient to induce you to keep that +appointment. You leave here--shall we say under a cloud?--presumably +disgusted with life, with the Government which gives you no second +chance, with your country which discards you. And you have been +Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Can't you conceive that +this woman on whom you are to call might make suggestions to you which +would at least be amusing? Don't look so incredulous, Julien. Remember +you've lived in the stilted places. I haven't. I believe in the +underground world. You must know for yourself that a great deal of the +truth leaks up through the gratings." + +"That is true enough," Julien admitted, "but somehow or other--" + +"Let it go at that," Kendricks interrupted. "Promise me that you will +call at that address." + +Julien laughed. + +"Yes, I'll call!" he promised. + +"Then look across at the little girl and nod," Kendricks suggested. +"She's watching you all the time anxiously. The man hasn't come back +yet." + +Julien turned his head half unwillingly. The girl was leaning across +the table, her eyes fixed steadfastly upon his. Her lips were parted, +her eyebrows were slightly raised, as though in question. She had been +holding a menu before her face to shield her from the casual observer, +but the moment Julien turned his head she lowered it. He inclined his +head slowly. A curious expression of relief took the place of that +appearance of strained anxiety. Her face became natural once more. She +laid down the menu and took a sip of wine from her glass. Kendricks +looked across at Julien and raised his glass to his lips. + +"We will drink, my dear Julien," he said, "to your visit to Madame +Christophor, and what may come of it!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +COFFEE FOR THREE + + +"Admit," Kendricks insisted, "that you have dined well?" + +"I have dined amply," Julien replied. + +Kendricks frowned. + +"I am not satisfied," he declared. + +"The _entrecôte_ was wonderful, also the omelette," Julien admitted. "I +will supplement 'amply' with 'well,' if you wish, but the insistent +note about this dinner is certainly its amplitude. I have not eaten so +much for ages." + +Kendricks was filling his pipe. + +"Cigars or cigarettes you must order for yourself," he said. "I know +nothing of them. The coffee is before you. I will be frank with you--it +is not good. The brandy, however, is harmless." + +Julien lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair. Just then the +sandy young man re-entered the room. He hastened to his place, but +instead of resuming it stood by the side of the girl, talking. He +seemed to be suggesting some course of which she disapproved, pointing +to her unfinished dinner. Kendricks nodded his head slowly. + +"The young man has to leave," he remarked. "He wishes mademoiselle to +accompany him. She declines. He is annoyed. Behold, a lover's tiff! He +has placed the money for the dinner upon the table. He shakes her hand +very politely. Behold, he goes! Mademoiselle shrugs her shoulders. She +orders from the menu. She remains alone. My dear Julien, if you will +you can prosecute your conquest. The young man has departed." + +Julien glanced across the room. He met the girl's eyes and once again +he saw in them that curious, almost impersonal invitation. + +"She wants something," Kendricks declared. "I am going over to see what +it can be. Carlo!" + +He summoned the waiter and asked him a question quickly in Italian. + +"The man says that her companion is not returning," he remarked, +rising. "I am going to interview the young lady." + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"As you will." + +Kendricks crossed the room, his pipe still in his hand. The girl +watched him come, for a moment, and then looked down upon the +tablecloth. She was at the end of a table laid for four or five people, +but only two men were left at the extreme end. + +"Mademoiselle," Kendricks said, "my friend thanks you for your message. +His curiosity, however, is piqued. Is there not an opportunity now for +explaining further?" + +She regarded her questioner a little doubtfully. + +"Who are you?" she asked. + +Kendricks sighed. + +"My dear young lady," he answered, "I flattered myself that I possessed +a personality which no one could mistake. Furthermore, I am a constant +patron here." + +"I have never been here in my life before," the girl told him. + +"Then your ignorance shall be pardoned," Kendricks declared. "My name +is David Kendricks. I am a journalist. I ought to be an editor, but the +fact remains that I am a mere collector of news, a bringer together of +those trifles which go to make such prints as these," he added, +touching her evening paper, "interesting." + +"A journalist," she repeated, glancing up at him. "Yes! I might have +guessed that. Are you a friend of Sir Julien Portel?" + +"I think I may call myself a friend," Kendricks admitted. "We were at +college together." + +She rose composedly to her feet. + +"Then I will take my coffee at your table," she decided. "You may +present me. I am Mademoiselle Senn." + +Kendricks hesitated. + +"You may not find my friend in the most amiable of moods," he began. + + +The girl waved her hand. + +"It is to be explained," she declared. "To tell you the truth, I was +surprised to see him even in so out of the way a restaurant as this." + +"He leaves to-night for the Continent," Kendricks told her. + +"So I heard," the girl replied. "Come." + +Sir Julien watched their approach and the frown upon his aristocratic +forehead, though thin, was distinct. Kendricks, however, took no notice +of it, and the girl pretended that she had not seen. + +"Julien," the former announced, holding a chair for mademoiselle, "I am +permitted the pleasure of presenting you to Mademoiselle Senn, who +already knows your name. Mademoiselle sent you a message a few minutes +ago. If she is good-natured, she may choose to explain it. If not, what +does it matter? Mademoiselle will take her coffee with us." + +Julien rose to his feet and bowed very slightly. + +"We have only a moment or two to spare," he said, "as I am leaving +London to-night." + +She looked at him and smiled oddly. She was a very typical young +Frenchwoman of her class--round-faced, with trim little figure, black +eyes, and smart but simple hat; not really good-looking except for the +depth of her clear eyes, and yet with a command of her person and +movements which was not without its charm. + +"Monsieur is not too gallant," she murmured, "but one is inclined to +forgive him. If I may take my coffee, I will go. Monsieur has promised +me that he will call and see Madame?" + +"Your friend in Paris?" Julien remarked, a little doubtfully. + +"Ah! I dare not call her that," the girl continued. "Madame is +different. But I know that it is her wish that you call, and I know +that it would be for your welfare." + +"Is it necessary," Julien asked coldly, "that you should be so +mysterious? After all, you know, the thing, on the face of it, is +impossible. Madame probably does not know of my existence, and why +should you take it for granted that I am going abroad?" + +"Oh, la, la!" the girl interrupted. "But you amuse one! Madame knows +everything which she desires to know. As to your going to France, +monsieur over there," she added, moving her head backwards, "told me so +some minutes ago." + +"And how the dickens did he know, and what right had he to talk about +my affairs?" Julien demanded, with all an Englishman's indignation at +his movements having been discussed by strangers. + +"I suppose that it is his business to know those things," she replied, +sipping her coffee. "He is a very mysterious young man. He takes a room +sometimes at the Milan Hotel and he sends for me to manicure his hands. +Then he asks me very clever questions and I look down and I give +him--very clever answers. Then he thinks, perhaps, that his methods are +not quite the best, and he sends me a great box of chocolates, some +stalls for the theatre, some flowers--why not? Then he comes again to +be manicured and he asks more questions, but I know so little. Then +sometimes, not very often, he brings me out to dine. Imagine for +yourself, monsieur," she went on, with a wave of the hand, "the +excitement, the wonder of all this to a poor French girl! And again he +asks questions, but again I know so little. And then, in the midst of +our dinner, his employer has sent for him. He has to go on a journey. +It is sad, is it not? He would like me to go with him to the station, +to see him off, but I--" she shrugged her shoulders. "Why should I +leave before I have finished my dinner? In truth, he wearies me, that +young man. I do not think, Sir Julien Portel, that Englishmen are very +clever." + +"As a race," Julien declared grimly, "I agree with you. I think that +most men are unutterable fools. But this young admirer of yours--what +are these questions which he asks you so often, and what business is he +in that he should be compelled to leave you to hurry away?" + +"Ah, monsieur!" she answered, "it is you now who ask questions. Why +should I tell you, indeed, more than I tell him?" + +Julien smiled. + +"Perhaps because it was a matter of moment to him whether you replied +or not, whereas, frankly, I only ask you these questions out of the +idlest curiosity." + +"Also a little," she remarked, "to make conversation, is it not so? +Very well, then, Sir Julien Portel, let me tell you this. If you do not +know who that young man is, I do not wonder that you find it necessary +to catch the nine o'clock train to the Continent to-night and to give +up that delightful work of yours, where you try to keep the peace +between all these wicked nations, and to get the lion's share of +everything for your great, greedy country. If you do not know who that +young man is, you have not the head for detail, the memory, which goes +to the making of politicians." + +Julien leaned back in his chair and laughed, softly but genuinely. Even +Kendricks seemed a little taken aback. + +"Upon my word!" the latter exclaimed. "This is an interesting young +person! Mademoiselle, I congratulate you. You have the gifts." + +"Interesting, indeed!" Julien agreed, sitting up in his place. +"Mademoiselle, to save my reputation with you I must confess. I do know +who the young man is. He is in the Intelligence Branch of the Secret +Service of the British Foreign Office--Number 3 Department." + +The girl nodded several times. + +"What you call it I do not know," she said. "He is just one of those +ordinary people who go about to collect little items of information for +your Government. That is why I have received from him four pounds of +chocolate, at least a sovereign's worth of roses, four stalls for the +theatre--which I do believe that he had given to him because they were +for plays that no one goes to see, and to-night a dinner--such a +dinner, messieurs, with chianti that burned my tongue!" + +"This," Kendricks declared, "is quite a bright young lady! +Mademoiselle, I trust that we shall become better acquainted." + +"And in the meantime," Julien inquired, "what are these wonderful items +of information which you carry with you, and which this unfortunate +young man fails so utterly to elicit?" + +"Ah! well," she sighed, "I am by profession a manicurist, but some +freak of nature gave me the power of keeping my mouth closed, of +looking as though I knew a good deal, but of saying so little. Now, +messieurs, what could a poor girl know in the way of secrets for which +that young man would get credit if he had succeeded in eliciting them? +What could I know, indeed? I sit on my little stool and sometimes there +are great people who give me their hands, and they are thoughtful. And +sometimes I ask questions and they answer me absently, because, after +all, what does it matter?--a manicurist from the shop downstairs, +earning her thirty shillings a week, and anxious to be agreeable for +the sake of her tip! And then sometimes while I am there they dictate +letters, or a caller comes, or the telephone rings. One does not think +of the manicure girl at such a time. Fortunately, there are some like +me who know so well how to keep silent, to say nothing, to be dumb." + +"The methods of that young man," Kendricks asserted, "were crude. Now, +young lady, consider my position. I represent a power greater than the +power of Governments. I represent a Press which is greedy for personal +news. Have you trimmed lately the nails of a duchess? If so, tell me +what she wore, her favorite oath, any trifling expression likely to be +of interest to the British public! And instead of roses I will send +you carnations; instead of dead-head tickets I will take you myself to +the _Gaiety_; instead of a dinner at the Café l'Athénée, I will take +you to supper at the Milan." + +"Your friend," mademoiselle declared, smiling at Julien, "is quite an +intelligent person. I like him very much. But I wish he would not smoke +that pipe and I should like to buy him a necktie." + +"Julien," Kendricks sighed, "the Bohemian has no chance against such a +model as you." + +"I do not think," she remarked, looking Julien in the eyes, "that Sir +Julien Portel cares very much for women--just now, at any rate." + +Julien frowned. He absolutely declined to answer the challenge in her +dark eyes. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "when I present myself to this Madame +Christophor, do I deliver any message from you? Do I explain my visit?" + +The girl shook her head slowly. + +"It will not be necessary," she told him. "Madame Christophor will know +all about you. She will be expecting you." + +He smiled scornfully. + +"It would be a pity to disappoint a lady with such a remarkable knack +of foretelling things. Supposing, however, I change my mind and visit +St. Petersburg instead?" + +She raised her hands--an expressive gesture. + +"There is no Madame Christophor in St. Petersburg. I think that you +will be very ill-advised if you go there. Many of the elements which go +to the making of life wait for you in Paris. In St. Petersburg you +would be a stranger. The life is not there." + +She rose to her feet briskly. + +"Good night, Monsieur le Bohemian!" she said. "Remember that you have +only to accept my little gift of a necktie, to let me take you to a +coiffeur whom I know of, and I will dine with you when you choose. Good +night, Sir Julien! I think I envy you." + +Julien laughed. The idea seemed odd to him. + +"I fancy you would be in a minority, mademoiselle," he declared. + +"At least," she reminded him, "you are going to see Madame +Christophor!" + +She nodded and left them a little abruptly. Kendricks paid their bill +and they descended into the street a few minutes later. The +_commissionaire_ called a taxi for them and they drove toward +Charing-Cross. + +"My friend," Kendricks said, "if I had you here for another week, cut +off from your old life, I'd show you some things that would astonish +you. It's good fortune and these well-ordered ways that keep a man a +prig, even after he's finished with Oxford. The man who lives in the +clouds of Mayfair knows nothing of the real life of this city." + +"Some day I'll come back and be your pupil," Julien promised. "You're a +good fellow, David. You've given me something to think about, at any +rate, something to think about besides my own misfortunes." + +"That's just what I set out to do," Kendricks declared. "There are +plenty of bigger tragedies than yours loose in the world. Watch the +people, Julien--the people whom such men as you glance over or through +as of no account, the common people, the units of life. Strip them bare +and they aren't so very different, you know. Try and feel for a moment +what they feel. Look at the little dressmaker there, going over to +Paris to buy models, hanging on to her husband's arm. She's probably +got a shop in the suburbs and this trip is a daring experiment. See how +earnestly they are talking about it. I don't think that they have too +easy a time to make ends meet. Do you see that old lady there, clinging +to her daughter? How she hates to part with her! She is going to a +situation, without a doubt, and Paris isn't too easy a place for a girl +with hair and eyes like hers. In her heart I think that the old lady is +remembering that. Then look at that little old man with the tired eyes, +carrying his two valises himself to save the hire of a porter. Can't +you tell by the air of him that he has had an unsuccessful business +journey? Poor fellow! It's a hard struggle for life, Julien, if you get +in the wrong row. You've no one dependent upon you, you don't know the +worst agony that can wring a man's heart.... Got your ticket and +everything, eh? And that looks like your servant. Are you taking him +with you?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"I shall have to do without a manservant. I never had much money, you +know, David." + +"So much the better," Kendricks declared heartily. "It gives you a +final chance. The gutters of the world are full of good fellows who +have been ruined through stepping into a sufficient income." + +They found a carriage and arranged Julien's few belongings. Presently +mademoiselle's companion came hurrying up the platform, followed by a +porter carrying his dressing-case. A short distance behind, +mademoiselle, too, was walking, humming to herself. + +"Company to Boulogne for you, Julien," Kendricks pointed out. "Your +little man from Number 3 Branch is on your track." + +Julien smiled. The young man never glanced towards their carriage as he +passed, but mademoiselle, who was still a few steps behind, made a wry +face at Kendricks. + +"I believe she knew that he was going across," the latter declared. + +"I wonder if he, too," Julien murmured, "has to call on Madame +Christophor?" + +The whistle sounded. Kendricks put out his great hands. + +"Good luck to you, Julien, old fellow!" he said. "Stand up to life like +a man and look it in the face. I tell you I haven't been gassing +to-night. I'd hate to pose as a moralist, but I do believe that +misfortunes are often blessings in disguise. And I tell you I've a sort +of faith in that little French girl. She gives one to think, as she +herself remarked. Look up Madame Christophor. Don't be surprised to see +me at any moment. I generally turn up in Paris every few weeks or so. +Good luck to you!" + +Julien leaned out of the window and waved his hand to Kendricks as the +train moved slowly around the curve. The last face he saw upon the +platform, however, was the face of mademoiselle. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +IN PARIS + + +For exactly a month Julien disappeared. At the end of that time, +looking very brown, a shade thinner, and possessed of a knowledge of +the older towns of Normandy which would not have disgraced a guidebook, +he arrived one cold, gray morning at the Gare du Nord. During all this +time he had scarcely seen one familiar face. It was an unpleasant shock +for him, as he waited for his baggage in the Customs House, to realize +that he was being watched from behind a pile of trunks by the little +man who had shown so much interest in him at the Café l'Athénée on the +night he had left England. The sight somehow annoyed him. He crossed +the room and accosted his late subordinate. + +"What is your name?" he asked coldly. "You are in the Intelligence +Department, I believe?" + +"My name is Foster, Sir Julien," the young man replied, after a +moment's hesitation. + +"What are you doing over here?" + +The young man hesitated. + +"You will excuse me, Sir Julien," he said slowly, "but I am responsible +only to the permanent officials in control of my office. Besides,--" + +"You can tell me at least how long you have been in Paris?" Julien +interrupted. + +"Since the night, Sir Julien, when you came as far as Boulogne." + +"May I ask," Julien demanded, "whether I am going to be subject to your +espionage?" + +The young man whose name was Foster looked blandly at a pile of luggage +which was just arriving. + +"I am not at liberty, Sir Julien," he said, "to explain my +instructions." + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"Do as you like, of course. At the same time, let me tell you that you +irritate me. Keep out of my sight as much as possible. It will be +better for you." + +Julien turned and left him there, declared his luggage, and was driven +to a quiet hotel in the Rue de Rivoli. There he had a bath, changed his +clothes, and strolled up the Champs Élysées towards the Bois. The sun +had come out and the avenue was crowded with automobiles and carriages. +He walked steadily on until he reached the first of the cafés in the +Bois. He took a chair and watched the crowd. A peculiar sensation of +loneliness oppressed him, a loneliness of which he had been scarcely +conscious during this last month's wanderings among the quiet places. +Paris had seemed so different to him on his last visit. He was +surrounded by friends and people who were anxious to become his +friends. He was in charge of a difficult mission which he was conscious +of conducting with skill. Everywhere he was meeting English people of +his own order, all delighted to see him, all pleased with his notice. +His few days in Paris were merely a change in the kaleidoscope from +London. The life--everything else--was the same. This time he was like +a man cast upon a desert island. He sat at his little table, sipping a +glass of vermouth, and conscious that no man in Paris had fewer +friends. The clubs were closed to him, there were no official visits to +pay, no calls to make, no familiar faces to look for. He was a man who +had had his day, a man disgraced, a man in whom the people had lost +faith, who was dead politically and socially. He thought his position +over carefully from every point of view. It was ruin, utter and +complete. He had disclosed a valuable political secret to a woman who +had not hesitated to make use of it. Nothing could be more ignoble. He +tried to fancy for himself some new life under altered conditions, but +everywhere he seemed to run up against some possibility, some +combination of circumstances which included a share in things which +were absolutely finished. His brain refused to fashion for him the +thought of any life which could leave outside everything which had been +of account to him up till now. Even in London, among the working +classes, it might have been easier. He remembered those few vivid +speeches of Kendricks'. What a gift the man had! Always he seemed to +see big things in life smouldering underneath the lives of these +ordinary people--big things unsuspected, invisible. There was nothing +of the sort to be found here. The only Paris Julien had ever known was +closed to him. Paris the vicious repelled him instinctively. He was +here, he had even looked forward to coming, but now that he had arrived +there was nothing for him to do. After all, he had better have found +some far distant corner in Switzerland or Italy. There was no club for +him to go to, no interest in perusing the newspapers, no visits from +ambassadors to think about. The puzzles of his daily life were ended. +There was nothing for him to do where he was but to eat and to drink +and to sleep! + +He lunched at a restaurant of which he had never heard before, and +there, to his anger, almost at the next table, he found Foster. With a +trace of his former imperiousness of manner, he summoned him. The young +man rose, after a moment's hesitation, and obeyed the mandate. + +"What are you doing here?" Julien demanded. + +"Lunching, sir," the young man replied. "The place has been recommended +to me. I do not know Paris well." + +"You lie," Julien declared. "Unless you knew Paris well, you wouldn't +be here for Number 3 Branch. Tell me, are you still watching me?" + +"That is a question, Sir Julien, which, as I said before, I am not at +liberty to answer." + +Julien drew a little breath between his teeth. + +"Look here," he continued, "I want to warn you that I am a bad-tempered +man. You can write home if you like and tell them that you met me +coming out of the German Embassy and the Russian Embassy and the +Italian Embassy, with a list of prices in my hands for different pieces +of information. Is that what you're afraid of, eh?" + +"Sir Julien," the young man answered, "I have to make reports only. It +is not my business to question the necessity for them." + +Julien laughed. After all, the little man was right. + +"Well, perhaps I do need looking after. Is there any particular place +where you would like me to dine? I don't want to bring you out into the +byways if I can help it." + +The young man excused himself politely. Julien finished his luncheon +and then took a carriage back to his hotel. He found half-a-dozen +visiting cards in his box and glanced at them eagerly. Every one of +them was from the representative of a newspaper. He tore them into +pieces, left a curt message for their bearers, and went up to his room. +A telegram was lying upon his bureau. He tore it open and read: + +Call on Madame Christophor this afternoon. + +He frowned and threw the unsigned telegram into a wastepaper-basket. + +"That decides it," he muttered to himself. "I will not call upon Madame +Christophor." + +Nevertheless, he changed into calling attire and presently strolled out +once more into the sunshine. From habit he turned into the Champs +Élysées. The sight of a group of acquaintances drove him into a side +street. He walked for a short distance and then paused to see his +whereabouts. He was in the Avenue de St. Paul. He studied the numbers. +Exactly opposite was Number 17. He stood there, gazing at the house, +and at that moment a large automobile glided up to the front door. The +footman sprang down and a lady descended, passing within a few feet of +him. She was tall, very elegant, and her eyes, gaining, perhaps, a +little color from the pallor of her cheeks, were the most beautiful +shade of violet-blue which he had ever seen. She was a woman whom it +was impossible not to notice. Julien stood quite still, watching her. +The footman who had stepped down in advance had rung the bell, and the +postern door already stood open. The lady did not at once enter. She +was looking at Julien. This, then, was Madame Christophor! He was aware +at that moment of two distinct impressions--one was that she knew +perfectly well who he was; the other that at any cost, however _gauche_ +it might seem, it was better for him to ignore the faint gleam of +recognition which already lent the dawn of a gracious smile to her +lips. + +The woman was certainly expecting him to speak. Every second her +hesitation seemed more purposeful. Julien, however, with an effort +which was almost savage, set his teeth and walked on. She looked after +him for a moment and began to laugh softly to herself. Julien walked +steadily on till he had reached the corner of the street. Then he +turned away abruptly and without glancing around. He was angry with +himself, angry at the sound of that faint, musical laugh. He had quite +made up his mind not to call upon Madame Christophor. It would, in +fact, now be impossible. He would never be able to explain his +avoidance of her. + +He was in a part of Paris of which he knew nothing, but he walked on +aimlessly, anxious only to escape the vicinity of the clubs and of the +fashionable thoroughfares. Suddenly he was conscious that an automobile +had drawn up close to the curbstone by his side. The footman sprang +lightly down and accosted him. + +"Monsieur," he announced, "Madame Christophor has sent her automobile. +She would be happy to receive you at once." + +Julien glanced inside the automobile. It was daintily upholstered in +white. A pile of cushions lay on the seat, there was a glove upon the +floor, the faint fragrance of roses seemed to steal out. Almost he +fancied that the woman's face was there, leaning a little towards him, +with the curious smile about the lips, the wonderful eyes glowing into +his. Then he set his teeth. + +"You had better inform your mistress," he said, "that there is some +mistake. I have not the honor of the acquaintance of Madame +Christophor. You have followed the wrong person." + +The man hesitated. He seemed perplexed. + +"But, monsieur," he persisted, "madame pointed you out herself. It was +only because of a block in the roadway that we were not able to catch +you up before. We have, indeed, never lost sight of you." + +Julien shook his head. "Pray assure madame," he said, "of my most +respectful regrets. I have not the honor of her acquaintance." + +He walked on. The two men sat for a moment on the box of the car, +watching him. Then they turned around and the car disappeared. Julien +jumped into a little carriage and drove back to his hotel. As he passed +through into the office, the clerk leaned forward. + +"Monsieur is desired upon the telephone," he announced. + +Julien frowned. + +"Who is it?" + +The man shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the booth. Julien +hesitated. Then he stepped inside and held the receiver to his ear. + +"Who is this?" he asked. + +A very slow, musical voice answered him. He never for a moment had a +doubt as to whose it might be. + +"Is this Sir Julien Portel?" + +"This is Julien Portel," he answered. "Who is it speaking?" + +"I am Henriette Christophor," the voice replied. "I had word from +England, Sir Julien Portel, that you were coming to see me." + +"I shall do myself that honor," Julien assured her, "before I leave +Paris." + +"You were not polite," the voice continued, "that you did not come this +afternoon." + +"Madame," Julien said, "I am not here to make acquaintances. It is true +that I promised to call upon you; I do not know why, I do not know whom +I promised, I do not know for what reason I was asked to come. Since I +have promised, however, and you are kind enough to desire it, I will +come." + +"And why not now?" the voice persisted. "You are alone in Paris, are +you not? I have something to say to you, something which is best said +quickly." + +Julien hesitated. + +"You will come?" the voice begged. "My automobile will be at your hotel +in ten minutes. You shall come, and if you dislike, after all, to make +that call, you shall drive with me, if you prefer it. Monsieur, if you +please!" + +"I will be ready," Julien answered. + +He hung up the receiver and walked out into the hall. He was angry with +himself because only an hour ago he had told himself that he would not +make that call. He was angry, too, because the fact of his making it or +not making it had assumed a ridiculous importance in his eyes. + +He walked to the bar and filled his case with cigarettes. Then he took +up a monthly magazine and read. His own official resignation was dealt +with in a political article of some significance. It interested him +curiously. One sentence in particular he read several times: + +It is not our desire to play the alarmist, but we would point out to +Great Britain that she may at any time within the next few weeks be +called upon to face a situation of great gravity, and we cannot help +expressing our regret that when that time comes the country should be +deprived of the advice, sound judgment and experience of a man who, +notwithstanding his youth, has already made his mark in European +politics. + +Julien flung the paper down. What that situation might be he knew, +perhaps, better than any man! + +The porter hurried up to him. + +"There is a lady outside who inquires for monsieur," he announced. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +MADAME CHRISTOPHOR + + +She held out an ungloved hand to him as he stepped up to the +automobile. Having gained her ends, she was disposed to be merciful. + +"This is very kind of you, Sir Julien," she murmured. "I really was +most anxious to have you visit me. Will you step in, please, and drive +with me a little way? One converses so easily and it would perhaps +amuse you more than to sit in my rooms." + +"You are very thoughtful," Julien replied. "I will come, with pleasure, +if I may." + +He seated himself by her side. + +"You must put your stick and gloves in the rack there," she continued, +"and make yourself quite comfortable. We drive a short distance into +the country, if you do not mind." + +"I am entirely at your service," he answered. + +He was firmly determined to remain wholly unimpressed by whatever she +said or did, yet, even in those first few moments, the sweetness of her +voice and the delicate correctness of her English sounded like music to +him. There was a suspicion of accent, too, which puzzled him. + +"We are not altogether strangers, you know," she went on. "I have seen +you before several times. I think the last time that you were in Paris +you sat in a box at Auteuil with some friends of mine." + +Somehow or other, he was conscious of a certain embarrassment. He was +not at his best with this woman, and he found it hard, almost +impossible, to escape from commonplaces. + +"It was my misfortune that I did not see you," he remarked. "My visit +was rather a momentous one. I dare say I paid less attention than usual +to my surroundings." + +"Tell me," she asked, "it was my little friend Emilie, was it not, who +persuaded you to come and see me?" + +"It was a little girl with whose name, even, I was unacquainted," +Julien replied. "I must admit that I scarcely took her request +seriously. I could not conceive anything which you might have to say +which could justify the intrusion of a perfect stranger." + +"But you," she reminded him, "are not a perfect stranger. You have been +a public man. You see, I am not afraid of hurting you because I think +that you will soon get over that little sensitiveness. I know all about +you--everything. You trusted a woman. Ah! monsieur, it is dangerous, +that." + +"Madame," he said, looking into her wonderful eyes, "one makes that +mistake once, perhaps, in a lifetime--never again." + +"The woman who deceives," she sighed, "makes it so difficult for all +those who come after! I suppose already in your mind I figure as a sort +of adventuress, is it not so?" + +"Certainly, madame," he answered calmly. "It never occurred to me to +doubt but that you were something of the sort." + +She half closed her eyes and laughed softly to herself, moving her head +like a child, as though from sheer pleasure. + +"It is delicious, this frankness!" she exclaimed. "Ah! what a pity that +you did not come before that other woman had destroyed all your faith! +We might, perhaps, have been friends. Who can tell?" + +"It is possible," he assented. + +"So you believe that I am an adventuress," she continued. "You think +that I sent for you probably to try and steal one by one all those +wonderful secrets which I suppose you have stored up at the back of +your head. One cannot be Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs +without knowing things. Keep them to yourself, Sir Julien. I ask you no +questions." + +"Then why," he demanded, "did you insist upon this visit from me, and +why did the little manicurist, who is a perfect stranger to me, insist +also that I should come to you?" + +She smiled, and looked down at her hands for a moment. + +"Now if I answer all your questions, Sir Julien," she said, "you will +have no more curiosity left, and when your curiosity is gone, perhaps +some measure of your interest may go, too. Can you not bring yourself +to believe that I may have had personal reasons for desiring your +acquaintance?" + +"Madame," he answered, "no! I cannot bring myself to believe that." + +Again she laughed. + +"I think," she declared, "that it is your candor which makes you +Englishmen so attractive. Do you believe that I am a dangerous person, +Sir Julien?" + +He looked at her coldly and dispassionately. + +"I think," he decided, "that you might be very dangerous indeed to a +susceptible person." + +"But not to you?" + +"Certainly not to me," he admitted. "As you have already told me, it is +within your knowledge that I am paying the price for having trusted a +woman." + +She nodded. + +"It is a fine sort of ruin, after all. Not to trust is generally proof +of a mean and doubting disposition." + +"You are probably right, madame," he agreed. "Is it permitted to remind +you that we have been together for some time and you have not yet +enlightened me as to your reasons for seeking my acquaintance?" + +"Can't you believe that it was a whim?" she asked. + +"No!" + +"Remember that I saw you when you were here before," she persisted. + +"I have no recollection of having met you." + +"Yet I can tell you nearly all that you did on that last visit of +yours. You dined one night at the Embassy, one night at the Travelers' +Club with a party of four, one night with the Minister--Courcelles. You +were two hours with him on the afternoon of the day you dined with him. +You managed to snatch an hour at the races and to lunch at the Pré +Catelan on your way. You lunched, I believe, with Monsieur le Duc de +St. Simon and his friends." + +"Your knowledge of my movements," he declared, "is very flattering. It +suggests an interest in me, I admit, but I have yet to be convinced +that that interest is in any way personal." + +She looked at him from under the lids of her eyes. + +"What is it, Sir Julien, that you possess, then, which you fear that I +might steal?" + +He returned her gaze boldly. "I am a discarded Minister," he said. "I +might reasonably be supposed to be suffering from a sense of wrong. Why +should it not occur to a clever woman like you that it might be a +favorable moment to obtain a little information concerning one or two +political problems of some importance? Are you interested in such +matters, madame?" + +She leaned back in her seat and laughed. He sat and watched her. +Distinctly she was, in certain ways, the most beautiful woman he had +ever seen. It was true that she was pale and that her neck was a trifle +thin, but her face was so aristocratic and yet so piquant, the color of +her eyes so delightful, her mouth so soft and yet so humorous. She laid +her hand upon his arm. + +"Oh! my dear, dear Englishman," she exclaimed, "Heaven indeed has sent +you to me that I should not die of ennui! You do not know who I am--I, +Madame Christophor?" + +"I have no idea who you are," he assured her. "I have never seen you +before. I know of no other name than the one by which I was told to ask +for you." + +She leaned a little closer to him. + +"Come," she said, "you see me for what I am. I shall not rob you, I +shall not drug you, I shall not try to tear secrets out of your throat +by any medieval methods. We are neither of us of the order of those who +seek adventures in vulgar fashion and expect always a vulgar +termination. Can't we be friends for a time--companions? Paris is an +empty city for me just now. And for you--you must avoid those whom you +know. It follows that you must be lonely. Let me show you my Paris." + +Julien looked steadfastly out at the country, at the flying hedges, the +tall avenues of poplar trees in the distance, the clumsy farm wagon +coming across the hayfield, the blue-petticoated women who marched by +its side--anywhere to escape for a moment or two from her eyes. It was +absurd that he should feel even this faint interest in her proposition! +It was only a month since the blow had fallen, only a month since the +girl to whom he had been engaged had sent him away with a sigh and a +little handshake. It was only a month since life lay in splinters +around him. It was much too soon to feel the slightest interest in the +things which she was proposing! + +"Madame Christophor," he said, "you are very kind, but I tell you +frankly that I should accept your proposition with more pleasure if you +had been of my own sex." + +"You have become a woman-hater?" + +"I cannot trust a woman," he answered coldly. "All the time I have the +feeling of insecurity. I fear that it must sound ungallant if I tell +you what is the sober truth--that your sex for the present has lost all +charm for me." + +She closed her eyes. Perhaps from behind the mask of her still face she +was laughing at him! + +"Do you think I don't understand that a little?" she murmured. "Never +mind, for to-night, at least, I will be sexless. You can believe that I +am a man. I think you will find that I can talk to you about most of +the things that men know of. Politics we will leave alone. You would +mistrust me at once. Art--I can tell you of our modern French painters; +I can tell you about these two wonderful Russians who are painting in +their studio here; I can tell you what to look for at the new +exhibitions, what studios to visit--I can take you to them, if you +will. Or old Paris--does that interest you? Have you ever seen it +properly? I know my old Paris very well indeed. Or would you rather +talk of books? There have been many years when I have done little else +but read. Tell me that we may be companions for a time. You have +nothing to lose, indeed, and I have so much to gain." + +"Madame," Julien replied, "I do not trust you. You are doubtless an +agreeable companion, and as such I am willing to spend a short time +with you. This is an ungracious acceptance of your suggestion, but it +is the best I am capable of." + +She clapped her hands. + +"It is something, after all," she declared, "and let me tell you this, +my friend," she added, leaning over. "You have been frank with me. You +have told me that you hated my sex, that you distrusted us all. Very +well, I will share your frankness. I will tell you this. Neither am I +any friend of your sex. I, too, have my grievance. I, too, have +something in my heart of which I cannot speak, which, when I think of +it, makes me hate every male creature that walks the earth. Perhaps +with that in my heart and what you have in yours, we may meet and pass +and meet again and pass, and do one another no harm. Is that finished?" + +"By all means," he agreed. + +Her expression changed. + +"Come," she said, "now you shall see that I have begun my plots. I have +brought you away from Paris into the country places. For what, I +wonder? Are you terrified?" + +"Not in the least," he assured her. + + +"Brave fellow! Perhaps when you know the truth, your heart will shake +with fear. You are going to dine in a country restaurant." + +"That does not terrify me in the least," he replied, smiling. "I think +that it will be charming." + +"It is a tiny place," she told him, "not very well known as yet; soon, +I fear, likely to become fashionable. One sits at little tables on a +lawn of the darkest green. If the sun shines, an umbrella of pink and +white holland shades us. Quite close is the river and a field of +buttercups. There are flowers in the garden, and so many shrubs that +one can be almost alone. And behind, an old inn. They cook simply, but +the trout comes from the river, and it is cool." + +"It sounds delightful," Julien admitted; "but, madame, indeed it is I +who must be host." + +She shook her head. + +"On the contrary, it is by subtlety that I have brought you here and +that I claim to be the giver of the feast. You see, you dine with me +to-night. You must ask me back again. It is the custom of your country, +is it not?" + +He smiled. The automobile had turned in now up a short drive, and +stopped before a long, low building. Down in the gardens they could see +fairylights swinging in the faint breeze. A short man, with +close-cropped hair and a fierce black moustache and imperial, came +hastening out to greet them. When he recognized Madame Christophor, he +bowed low. + +"Monsieur Léon," she said, "I bring an Englishman to try your river +trout. You must give me a table near that great tree of lilac that +smells so sweetly. I order nothing--you understand? But you must +remember that monsieur is English. He will want his champagne dry and +his brandy very old. Is it not so, my friend? Now I will give you into +charge of _monsieur le propriétaire_ here. He shall show you where you +can drink a little _apéritif_, if you will. He shall show you, too, +where to find me presently." + +A trim maid came hurrying up and took possession of Madame Christophor. +Julien followed his guide into a small reception room, all pink and +white. + +"If monsieur desires to wash," the proprietor explained, "he passes +beyond there. And for an _apéritif?_" + +"I will take anything you send me," Julien declared. "What is the name +of this place, monsieur?" + +"They call it the Maison Léon d'Or, monsieur," the man replied. "It is +my own idea--a country house I purchased once for myself, but found it +too far, alas! from Paris. In the fine weather we could, if we chose, +have half Paris here. When the cold days come, there is nobody. +Monsieur permits?" + +He departed and Julien strolled to the window. In the portion of the +gardens over which he looked were smaller tables, set out simply for +those who desired to take their coffee and liqueurs or _apéritif_ out +of doors. Julien glanced out idly enough at the little group of people +dotted about here and there. Then his face suddenly darkened. At a +table within a few yards of where he stood were seated Foster and a man +whose back was turned towards him. + +Julien's first impulse was to retire out of sight, for the window was +open and he himself imperfectly concealed by the muslin blind. Then, as +he was on the point of retiring, he distinctly heard the sound of his +own name. The two men were speaking in a low tone, but a slight breeze +was blowing into the room. Julien stood still and listened. The man who +was a stranger to him was speaking to Foster. + +"The woman is first, it is true," he muttered. "She will pump him dry, +no doubt. But what matter? She may even put him on his guard, but I say +again, what matter? There is a price for everything, a price or--" + +The man's voice died away and Julien heard nothing for some time. Then +he saw Foster shake his head. + +"Our service," Foster declared, "does not protect us in such a +position. It does not allow us to go to extremes. I am supposed to be +here to watch him, but I am really powerless. He might become your man +or hers or any one else's. I could do nothing but report." + +His companion leaned across the table. + +"What you call your Secret Service," Julien heard him say, "is a farce. +You have no authority, no scope. You are too proud to ferret about as +the others do. You sit in dignified ease and wait for information to be +brought to you. My good Foster, you must learn to be a man. We must +teach you." + +Again their voices became inaudible. Julien drew back into the room. +His heart was beating faster, his brain was full of new thoughts. From +a place where he was absolutely secure he sat and gazed at Foster and +his companion. Presently the waiter entered with the _apéritif_. Julien +gave him five francs. + +"Listen," he said, "you see those two gentlemen sitting there?" + +"_Parfaitement_, monsieur," the man replied. + +"Have you ever seen the elder one before--the dark one with the +glasses?" + +The waiter hesitated. + +"Monsieur," he said, looking at the five francs in his hand, "_monsieur +le propriétaire_ here has strange notions. He objects that we mention +ever the name of any of his clients." + +"Why is that?" Julien asked. + +"How should one know, monsieur?" the waiter answered. "Only it seems +that this place is a little distance from Paris, it is retired, one +finds seclusion here. People meet, I think, in these gardens who do not +care to be seen in Paris. There are some come here who whisper at the +door to _monsieur le propriétaire_ that their names must never be +mentioned." + +"One can understand that, perhaps," Julien agreed, "but these are +surely affairs of gallantry? It is when the gentlemen bring ladies, +perhaps?" + +The man shook his head and gesticulated an emphatic negative. + +"Monsieur," he declared, "there are other things. There are other +things, indeed. This place is well-known because there meet here often +men who are interested in discussing serious matters. I can tell +monsieur, alas! the name of no one among the guests here. If I +attempted it, it would mean my dismissal, and there is no place in +Paris, monsieur, where the salaries are so good as here." Julien +hesitated. Then he drew a louis from his pocket. + +"Listen," he said, "you may rely upon my word. No mention of it shall +go outside this room. Take this louis for just the name of that +gentleman with his back to you." + +The waiter took the louis. + +"His name, monsieur, I cannot tell you, but I will tell you what +perhaps will do for monsieur as well. The German Ambassador comes +sometimes here with a party of friends; somewhere in the distance you +will find the gentleman about whom you ask. The German Ambassador rides +through the streets when Paris is troubled; somewhere close at hand you +will find monsieur there. The German Ambassador he attends the races; +feeling, perhaps, is running a little high. Somewhere amongst the crowd +who watch the races, and very close to _Monsieur l'Ambassadeur_, you +will find monsieur there with the shoulders." + +Julien drank his _apéritif_ thoughtfully. + +"Thank you," he said to the waiter. "You have earned your money. You +need have no fear." + +There was a knock at the door. _Monsieur le propriétaire_ presented +himself. + +"Monsieur," he announced, "it is my honor to conduct you to the table +reserved for madame and yourself. Madame awaits you." + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +BETTER ACQUAINTANCE + + +The gardens of the Maison Léon d'Or were, in their way, unique. There +was no extent of open space, but the walks threaded everywhere a large +shrubbery, and in all sorts of corners and quiet places little dining +tables had been placed. Scarcely any one was in sight of any other +person, although they were so close together that all the time there +was a hum of voices. In the distance, down by the river, a large +gondola was passing slowly backwards and forwards, on which an +orchestra played soft music. Julien and Madame Christophor crossed the +narrow strip of lawn together and followed Monsieur Léon into the +graveled path bordered with fairy lamps. + +"I have arranged for madame and monsieur," he announced, looking +backwards, "a table near the lilac tree of which madame is so fond. The +perfume, indeed, is exquisite. If madame pleases!" + +They turned from the path on to another strip of lawn, which they +gained by rounding a large lilac bush. Here a small table was laid with +the whitest of cloths and the most dazzling of silver. An attentive +waiter was already arranging an ice-pail in a convenient spot. From +here the gardens sloped gently to the river, which was barely forty +yards distant. Although it was scarcely twilight, the men on the +gondola were lighting the lamps. + +"Madame and monsieur will find this table removed from all chance +visitors," the proprietor declared. "If the dinner is not perfect, +permit that I wait upon you again. A word to the waiter and I arrive. +Madame! Monsieur!" + +He retreated, with a bow to each. Julien, with a little laugh, took his +place at the table. + +"Madame," he said, "your entertainment is charming." + +"The entertainment is nothing," Madame replied, "but here at least is +one advantage--we are really alone. I do not know how you feel, but the +greatest rest in life to me is sometimes the solitude. There is no one +overlooking us, there is no one likely to pass whom we know. We are +virtually cut off from all those who know us or whom we know. My +friend, I would like you to remember this our first evening. Talk, if +you will, or be silent. For me it is equal. I, too, have thoughts which +I can summon at any time to bear me company. And there is the river. Do +you hear the soft flow of it, and the rustle of the breeze in the +shrubs, the perfumes, and--listen--the music? Ah! Sir Julien, I think +that we give you over here some things which you do not easily find in +your own country." + +"You are right," he agreed slowly. "You give us a better climate, more +sympathetic companionship, a tenderer chicken, a more artistic salad." + +"At heart you are a materialist, I perceive," she declared. + +"We all are," he admitted. "Everything depends upon our power of +concealment." + +The service of dinner commenced almost at once. There was something +excessively peaceful in the scene. The tables were so arranged that one +heard nothing of the clatter of crockery. The murmur of voices came +like a pleasant undernote. They talked lightly for some time of the +English theatres, of the stage generally, some recent memoirs--anything +that came into their heads. Then Julien was silent for several minutes. +He leaned slightly across the table. Their own lamp was lit now and +through the velvety dusk her eyes seemed to glow with a new beauty. + +"Tell me," he begged, "you spoke of yourself a little time ago as +though you might have a personality at which I ought to have guessed. +Are you a woman of Society, or an artist, or merely an idler?" + +"I have known something of Society," she replied. "I believe I may say +that I am something of an artist. It is very certain that I am not an +idler. Why ask me these questions? Let us forget to be serious tonight. +Let us remember only that we are companions, and that the hours, as +they pass, are pleasant." + +"It is a philosophy," he murmured, "which brings its own retribution." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"All happiness is lost," she declared, "the moment you begin to try and +define it. It is a sensation, not a state of being. Let us drift. The +waters are not dangerous for you or for me." + +Her words chilled him with a sudden memory. Then, in the act of helping +himself to wine, he paused. Some one had taken the table nearest to +them, dimly visible through the laurel bushes. He heard the voice of +the man who had been with Foster, giving the orders. + +"Listen!" + +There was no need for him to have spoken. Curiously enough, Madame + + +Christophor seemed also to have recognized the voice. Her hand fell +upon Julien's. He looked at her in surprise. Her cheeks were blanched, +her eyes blazing. + +"You hear that voice?" she whispered. + +Julien nodded. + +"It is the voice of the only person in the world," she continued, "whom +I absolutely hate." + +"You know whose it is, then?" + +"Of course!" she replied. + +"So do I," he muttered. "I have never seen the man's face, but I know a +little about him." + +She shivered. + +"Come," she said, "let us have our coffee later. We have finished +dinner and the moon is coming up. If we walk to the bottom there, we +shall see it from the bend of the river, and we shall escape from those +men." + +He rose hastily to his feet. She led the way down the path. Here and +there they caught a glimpse of other tables as they passed--little +parties of two or four, all very gay. Madame breathed more freely as +they progressed. Presently they passed through an iron gate into a +field, already half-mown. The perfume of the fresh-cut grass came to +them with an almost overpowering sweetness. Her hand fell upon his arm. + +"Forgive me," she begged, "I am not really a weak woman. I do not think +that there is any other sound in life which I hate so much as the sound +of that voice." + +They walked in silence along the narrow path. Soon they reached the +edge of the river. A few steps further on was a seat, of which they +took possession. In the distance the gondola, on fire now with lamps, +was playing a waltz. A bat flew for a moment about their heads. +Somewhere in the woods a long way down the river a nightingale was +singing. + +"I am not often so foolish," she murmured. "Once--let me tell you +this--once I had a dear little friend. She was very sweet, but a little +too trusting, too simple for the life here. She found a lover. She +thought she had found the happiness of her life. Poor child! For a +month, perhaps, she was happy. Then he forced her to give up her little +home and her savings and go upon the stage. He preferred a mistress +from the theatres. She worked hard, but, sweetly pretty though she was, +she was not very successful. Then she caught cold. She began to lose +her health--and she lost her lover." + +"Brute!" + +"The child got worse," madame went on. "Presently they told her that it +was consumption. She went to a hospital and she wrote a pathetic little +note to the man. He tore it up. There had been an article in the papers +a few weeks before proving that consumption was among the diseases +which were more or less infectious. He sent her a few brutal lines and +a trifle of money, with a warning that there was to be no more. He +never went to see her. The child grew worse. I used to sit with her +sometimes. I saw her look down upon the river, almost as we are looking +now, and her eyes would grow soft and wet with tears, and she would +tell me in whispers of the evenings she had spent with him, when the +love had first come, and how sweet and tender he was. There must be +something wrong, she was sure. He did not understand, he could not know +how ill she really was. She prayed for the sight of him. I put her off +with one excuse after another, but one day the fear of death was in her +eyes, the terror came to her, she was afraid. She was afraid of dying +alone, of going into a strange country, no one to hold her. I went to +the man, I begged him to come and see her. He scoffed at me. If she had +consumption, she was better dead. He would have flirted with me if I +had let him. I can hear his voice now--brutal, jeering, hideous! It was +the voice, Sir Julien, which we heard ten minutes ago at the next +table. Do you wonder that I hate it?" + +"And the little girl?" he asked. + +"When I returned without him," she answered, "the little girl was +dead." + +They were both silent, listening to the splash of the water and to the +distant music. + +"Life is like that," she went on. "We pass through it lightly enough, +but Heaven only knows the number of little tragedies against which our +skirts must brush. Sometimes they leave impressions, sometimes we grow +callous, but the horror of that man's voice will stay with me +always.... Shall we go back now? You would like your coffee." + +"Sit here for five minutes more," he begged. "Tell me, did you know +that the man was a spy?" + +She looked at him curiously. + +"How is it that you know so much about him?" + +"He is sitting there with an Englishman who comes from our Intelligence +Department," Julien explained. "They were speaking together of some +one--I believe it was myself--speaking in none too friendly terms. +There was a woman, too, whose name they coupled with mine, but I could +not hear that. I made some inquiries about the man. I was told that he +was in the suite of the German Ambassador." + +She nodded. + +"Whoever or whatever he is," she said, "he is something to be abhorred. +Hush! There is some one coming down the footpath." + +They sat quite silent. Some instinct seemed to tell them who it was. +Suddenly they heard the voice--rasping, unpleasant. + +"You have bungled the affair, Foster. It is not well-managed; it is not +clever. You were to have brought him to me, to have let me know the +instant he reached Paris. I would have seen him. Just as he was, I +should have succeeded. Now it may be that this woman has warned him +already. She is very clever. If she has him, he will not escape." + +Foster's voice was inaudible, but whatever he said seemed to anger his +companion. + +"Thunder and lightning!" they heard the man exclaim. "Am I a fool that +you talk to me like this? Yes, I go to him--I go to him to-night, but I +tell you that it is too late! If it is too late, there is but one thing +to be done. You are a coward, Foster!" + +They came out into the open, on the path which fringed the river, and +they were immediately silent. They came strolling along and noticed for +the first time the two figures upon the seat. Instantly they began to +talk upon some local subject. No escape was possible. In a few minutes +they were opposite the bench. Foster started a little. The other man's +face darkened. He ventured upon a bow. Madame Christophor looked at him +as one might look upon some strange animal. Foster hesitated for a +moment, but his companion pushed him along. + +"I think," she whispered, "that that man would like to do me an +injury." + +Julien was watching their retreating forms. + +"I don't understand what Foster is doing there, or what the dickens +they were talking about," he said thoughtfully. "I think if you don't +mind," he added, "we will return." + +"Why are you so suddenly uneasy?" she asked. + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"Apparently," he answered, "you know who I am and everything about me. +I, on the other hand, am ignorant almost of your very name. There are +certain circumstances connected with my late career which make it +inadvisable--" + +"Oh, I know all that you are going to say!" she interrupted. "But ask +yourself. Have I made any attempt whatever to ask you a single +unbecoming question?" + +"You certainly have not," he confessed. + +"Your little friend returns," she whispered. "See!" + +Foster came back to them, slowly, with reluctant footsteps. He had the +appearance of a man bent upon a mission which he dislikes. + +"Sir Julien," he said, as he drew near, "would you grant me a moment's +interview?" + +Julien looked at him. + +"You probably know my address," he replied coldly. "You can call there +and see me. At present I am engaged." + +"Sir Julien, the matter is of some importance," Foster persisted. "I +have a friend who is anxious to meet you. It would be an affair of a +few words only, and perhaps an appointment afterwards." + +"Is the friend to whom you refer the person with whom you were walking +just now?" Julien inquired. + +"Yes!" Foster admitted. "If you can spare me a moment I can explain--" + +"You need explain nothing," Julien interrupted. "Understand, please, +that I decline absolutely to make that person's acquaintance." + +Foster looked away from Sir Julien to the woman who stood by his side. + +"Am I to take this as final?" he asked. + +Julien turned on his heel. + +"Absolutely," he said. "The little I know of the person with whom you +seem to be spending the evening makes me feel more inclined to pitch +him into the river than to make his acquaintance. As a matter of fact, +Foster, I don't know, of course, under what instructions you are acting +over here, but I should not have considered him exactly a companion for +you." + + +Foster started. A new fear had suddenly broken in upon him. + +"I am doing my best to carry out instructions, sir," he declared. "I do +not understand why you should take so prejudiced a view of my friend." + +"It is, perhaps," Julien replied, "because I know more about him than +you seem to. Good night!" + +They walked slowly back to the gardens. The woman was thoughtful. + +"I am sorry," she said, "that those people came along to spoil our +first evening together. I am glad, though, that you refused to meet the +German. All that he would have done would have been to try and fill +your mind with suspicions of me. Haven't you found me harmless?" + +"I am not sure," he answered. + +She laughed softly. + +"Ah, me!" she exclaimed, "I gave you an opening, didn't I, and one must +remember that of late years the men of your nation have established a +reputation over here for gallantry. Harmless, at least, so far as +regards tearing political secrets from your bosom?" + +"As a matter of fact," Julien remarked, "there are not so many secrets +between France and England, are there?" + +"Thanks in some measure to you," she reminded him. "You take it for +granted, I notice, that I am a Frenchwoman." + +He looked at her in great surprise. + +"Why, indeed, yes! Is there any doubt about it?" + +"My mother was an American," she told him. + +"Tell me your real name?" he asked suddenly. + +"On the contrary, I am going to beg you not to try and discover it. Let +us remain as we are for a little time. You are lonely here and you need +companionship, and I am very much in the same position. You are a hater +of women and I have sworn eternal enmity against all men. We are so +safe, and solitude is bad for us." + +He smiled. + +"You are very kind," he said, "but as for me, I am only starting my +wanderings. I want to go on through Algiers to Morocco, to Egypt, and +later to the east. I never meant to stay long in Paris." + +"I do not blame you," she declared. "Sooner or later you must find your +way where the battle is. Paris is not a city for men. One loiters here +for a time, but one passes on always. Never mind, while you stay here I +shall claim you." + +They drove back to Paris through the perfumed stillness of the long +spring night. Madame had instructed her chauffeur to drive slowly, and +more than one automobile rushed past them, with flaring lights and +sounding horn. In one they caught a glimpse of Foster and his +companion, whispering together as they raced by. Madame half closed her +eyes with a little shiver. + +"Those men again!" she exclaimed, "They say that Estermen never +abandons a chase. You may still find him waiting for you in your +hotel!" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +THE TOYMAKER FROM LEIPZIG + + +In the front row of balcony tables at the Café des Ambassadeurs was one +which had been transformed into a veritable bower of pink roses. The +florists had been at work upon it since early in the afternoon, and +their labors were only just concluded as the guests of the restaurant +were beginning to arrive. Henri, the chief _maître d'hôtel_, had +personally superintended its construction. He stood looking at the +result of their labors now with a well-satisfied aspect. + +"But it is perfect," he declared. "The orders of Monsieur Freudenberg +have indeed been delightfully carried out. You will present the account +as usual, mademoiselle," he directed the florist, who in her black +frock, a little hot and flushed with her labors, was standing by his +side. "Remember monsieur is well able to pay." + +"It is, perhaps, a prince who dines in such state?" the girl inquired. + +The _maître d'hôtel_ smiled. + +"It is, on the contrary," he told her, "a maker of toys from Germany." + +She made a little grimace. + +"And to think that my back aches, that I have pricked myself so," she +exclaimed, showing the scarred tips of her fingers, "for the sake of a +toymaker from Germany! But it is not like you, Henri, to disturb +yourself so for anything less than a prince." + +Henri, who was a sleek and handsome man, with black moustache and +imperial, shook his head sadly. + +"Ah! mademoiselle," he said, "when you have lived as long as I, you +will know that the times indeed have changed. It is no longer the +princes of the world to whom one gives one's best service. It is those +who carry the heaviest money bags who command it." + +"Well, well," she replied, "that is perhaps true. Yet in our little +shop in the Rue de la Paix we do not always find that it is those with +the heaviest money bags who pay us most generously for our flowers. I +would sooner serve a bankrupt aristocrat than a wealthy shopkeeper. If +they pay at all, these aristocrats, they pay well." + +Henri stretched out his hands. + +"Mademoiselle, there are shopkeepers who are also princes. My client of +this evening is one of those. Behold, he comes! Pardon!" + +The man for whom these great preparations had been made stood in the +entrance of the restaurant, waiting for the woman who was giving her +cloak to the _vestiaire_. He was tall and thin, dressed rather +severely, with a black tie and short coat, a monocle which hung from +his neck with a black ribbon. His face was unusually long, his eyes +deep-set, his mouth set firm on a somewhat protuberant jaw, with lines +at the corners which somehow suggested humor. When he saw Henri he +nodded. + +"Once more, Henri," he remarked, with a little smile, "once more in my +beloved Paris!" + +"Monsieur is always welcome," Henri declared, bowing to the ground. +"Paris is the gayer for his coming." + +"You are indeed a nation of courtiers!" Herr Carl Freudenberg +exclaimed. "What German _Oberkellner_ would have thought of a speech +like that to a Frenchman finding himself in Berlin! Ah! Henri, you try, +all of you, to spoil me here. Is it not so, mademoiselle?" he added, +turning with a bow and a smile to the girl who stood now by his side. +"Henri here speaks honied words to me always. The wonder to me is that +I am ever able to tear myself away from this city of fascination." + +"If we could keep monsieur," the girl murmured, smiling at Henri, "I +think that we should all be very well content." + +Herr Freudenberg made a little grimace. + +"But my toys!" he cried. "Who is there in Germany could make such toys +as I and my factory people? The world would be sad indeed--the world of +children, I mean--if my factory were to close down or my designers +should lose their cunning." + +"Is it the greatest ambition of monsieur," the girl asked, "to amuse +and make happy the world of children? Have not the world of grown +people some claims?" + +"Monsieur will, I trust, and madame," Henri declared, as they moved +slowly forward, "find much to admire in the table which has been +prepared for them this evening. It is by the orders of monsieur so +enclosed that here one may talk without fear of observation. And the +perfume of these roses, every one of which has been selected, is a +wonderful thing. It is indeed a work of art." + +Herr Freudenberg turned deliberately on one side where the little +flower girl was still lingering. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "something tells me that it is you whom we +have to thank for this adorable creation. It is indeed a work of +supreme art. If mademoiselle would permit!" + +He slipped a crumpled note into her fingers, so quietly and +unostentatiously that it was there and in her pocket before any one had +time to notice it. She went out murmuring to herself. + +"He is a prince, this monsieur--a veritable prince!" + +"For your dinner," Henri announced, as they seated themselves in their +places, "I have no word to tell you. I spare you, as you see, the +barbarity of a menu. What will come to you, monsieur and madame, is at +least of our best. I can promise that. And the wine is such as I myself +have selected, knowing well the taste of monsieur." + +"And of madame also, I trust?" Herr Freudenberg remarked. + +"Ah! monsieur," Henri continued, "when monsieur is not in Paris, madame +is invisible. Not once since I last had this pleasure of waiting upon +you, have I had the joy of seeing her." + +Herr Freudenberg looked across the table at his companion with +twinkling eyes. + +"This is a city of conspirators," he declared. "You make a man vain and +happy and joyous at the same time. Let your dinner be served, then, +Henri. Since I was in Paris last I have eaten many times, but I have +not dined." + +The _maître d'hôtel_ departed, but for the next hour or so his eyes +were seldom far away from the table where sat his most esteemed client. +Once or twice, others of the diners sent for him. + +"Henri," one asked, and then another, "tell us, who is it that dines +like a prince under the canopy of pink roses?" + +Henri smiled. + +"Monsieur," he replied, "it is Herr Carl Freudenberg of Leipzig." + +"Herr Carl Freudenberg of Leipzig--but who is he?" + +"He is a great manufacturer of toys, monsieur." + +"A German!" one muttered. + +"It is they who are spoiling Paris," another grumbled. + +"They have at least the money!" + +One woman alone shook her head. + +"It is not money only," she murmured, "which buys these things here +from Henri."... + +The companion of Herr Carl Freudenberg was, without doubt, as charming +as she appeared, for Herr Freudenberg certainly enjoyed his dinner as a +man should. Nor were those lines of humor engraven about his mouth for +nothing, to judge by the frequent peals of laughter from mademoiselle. +Towards the close of dinner, Henri himself carried to them a superb +violet ice, with real flowers around the dish and an electric light +burning in the middle. + +"For two days, madame," he announced, "our chef has dreamed of this. It +is a creation." + +"It is exquisite!" mademoiselle cried, with a gesture of delight. +"Never in my life have I seen anything so wonderful." + +"Henri," Herr Freudenberg said in an aside, "you will present my +compliments to the chef. You will shake him by the hand from me. You +will double the little affair which passes between us. Tell him that it +comes from one who appreciates the work of a great artist, even though +his French thickens a little in his throat." + +Henri bowed low. + +"If monsieur's body is German," he declared, "his soul at least belongs +to the land of romance." + +They were alone again and the girl leaned across the table. + +"Monsieur," she murmured, "it is cruel of you to come so seldom. You +see what you do? You spoil the keepers of our restaurants, you steal +away the hearts of your poor little companions, and then--one night or +two, perhaps, and it is over. Monsieur Freudenberg has gone. The earth +swallows him." + +"Back to my toys, mademoiselle," he whispered. "One has one's work." + +She looked at him long and tenderly. + +"Monsieur," she said, "it is two months, a week and three days since +you were in Paris. Since then I have sung and danced, night by night, +but my heart has never been gay. Come oftener, monsieur, or may one not +sometimes cross the frontier and learn a little of your barbarous +country?" + +For the first time the faintest shadow of gravity crossed his face. + +"Mademoiselle," he replied, "alas! The world is full of hard places. +Behold me! When I am here, I am your devoted and admiring slave, but +believe me that when I leave Paris and set my face eastwards, I do not +exist. Dear Marguerite, it hurts me to repeat this--I do not exist." + +She looked down into her plate. + +"I understand," she murmured. "You said it to me once before. Have I +not always been discreet? Have I ever with the slightest word disobeyed +you?" + +"Nor will you ever, dear Marguerite," he declared confidently, "for if +you did it would be the end. In the city where I make my toys, life as +we live it here is not known. It is not recognized. And there is one's +work in the world." + +She looked up from her plate. Her expression had changed. + +"It was foolish of me," she whispered. "To-night is one of those nights +in Heaven for which I spend all my days longing. I think no more of the +future. You are here. Tell me, from here--where?" + +"To the Opera. I have engaged the box that you prefer. We arrive for +the last act of 'Samson et Dalila' and for the ballet." + +"And afterwards?" + +"To the Abbaye. After that, there is the Rat Mort--Albert must not be +disappointed--and a new place, they tell me. One must see all these new +places." + +"And we leave here soon?" + +"You are impatient!" + +"Only to be alone with you," she answered. "Even those few moments in +the automobile are precious." + +He smiled at her across the table. She was very pretty with her fair +hair and dark eyes, very Parisian, and yet with a shade of graceful +seriousness about her eyes and mouth. + +"Dear Marguerite," he said, "I wait only for one of my agents who comes +to speak to me on a matter of business. He is due almost at this +moment. After he has been here, then we go. Cannot you believe," he +whispered, dropping his voice a little and leaning slightly across the +table, "that I, too, will love to feel your dear fingers in mine, your +lips, perhaps, for a moment, as we pass to the Opera?" + +"It is a joy one must snatch," she murmured. + +"There is no joy in life," he replied, "which is not the sweeter for +being snatched, and snatched quickly." + +"And you a German!" she sighed. + +Henri appeared once more, and after him Estermen. Herr Freudenberg, +with a word of excuse to his companion, turned to greet the newcomer. + +"Well?" + +Estermen stood quite close to the table. He was distinctly ill at ease. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he said, "I have done my best. It was impossible +for me to obtain an introduction to this customer." + +"Impossible?" Herr Freudenberg repeated, his face suddenly becoming +stony. + +"Let me explain," Estermen continued hastily. "This customer arrived in +Paris last night or early this morning. He was called upon at once by a +lady who lives in the Avenue de St. Paul. She has told him a little +story about me--I am sure of it. He has refused to make my +acquaintance." + +"And you were content?" + +Estermen spread out his pudgy hands. + +"What can one do?" he muttered. "The man is quick-tempered. He dined +tonight in the country at the Maison Léon d'Or with madame. It was +there that I sought an introduction with him. It was impossible for me +to force myself." + +"You know where to find him, I suppose?" + +"I know the hotel at which he is staying." + +"Make it your business to find him," Herr Freudenberg ordered. "Bring +him with you, if before one o'clock to the Abbaye Thelème; if +afterwards, to the Rat Mort." + +Estermen looked stolidly puzzled. + +"Am I to mention the subject of the toys of Herr Freudenberg's +manufacture?" + +Herr Freudenberg tore a corner from the programme which lay on the +table between them, and wrote a single word upon it. + +"Study that at your leisure, my friend," he said. "Pay attention to the +task I impose upon you. Nothing is more important in my visit to Paris +than that I should make the acquaintance of this person. Much depends +upon it. I rely upon you, Estermen." + +Estermen thrust the morsel of paper into his waist-coat pocket. Then he +leaned a little closer to this man who seemed to be his master. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he began, "I spoke of a lady in the Avenue de St. +Paul, the companion to-night of the person whose acquaintance you are +anxious to make." + +"What of her?" Herr Freudenberg asked calmly. "There are many ladies, +without a doubt, who live in the Avenue de St. Paul." + +"The name of this one," Estermen continued slowly, "is Madame +Christophor." + +Herr Freudenberg sat quite still in his place. His eyes seemed fixed +upon a cluster of the roses which hung down from the other side of the +sweet-smelling barrier by which they were surrounded. Yet something had +gone out of his face, something fresh had arrived. The half +contemptuous curl of the lips was finished. His mouth now was straight +and hard, his eyes set, the deep lines upon his forehead and around his +mouth were suddenly insistent. He sat so motionless that his face for a +moment seemed as though it were fashioned in wax. Then his lips moved, +he spoke in a whisper which was almost inaudible. + +"Henriette!" + +From across the table his companion watched him. At first she was +puzzled. When she heard the woman's name which came so softly from his +lips, she turned pale. Herr Freudenberg recovered from his fit of +abstraction almost as quickly as he had lapsed into it. + +"I thank you, Estermen," he declared. "It is a coincidence, this. I am +obliged for your forethought in mentioning it. Until later, then." + +The man made a somewhat clumsy bow, glanced admiringly at Herr +Freudenberg's companion, and departed. Herr Freudenberg was shaking his +head slowly. + +"I fear," he said softly to himself, "sometimes I fear that I am not so +well served as might be in Paris. However, we shall see. For the moment +let us banish these dull cares. If you are ready, Marguerite, I think I +might suggest that the nearer way to the Opera is by the Champs +Élysées." + +She rose to her feet and gave him her hand for a moment as she passed. + +"If one could only find as easily the way to your heart, dear maker of +toys!" she murmured. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +AT THE RAT MORT + + +Julien had been back in the hotel about half an hour and in his room +barely ten minutes when he was disturbed by a knock at the door. +Immediately afterwards, to his amazement, Estermen entered. + +"What the devil are you doing up here?" Julien asked angrily. "How dare +you follow me about!" + +"Sir Julien," his visitor answered, "I beg that you will not make a +commotion. It was perfectly easy for me to gain admission here. It will +be perfectly easy for me, if it becomes necessary, to leave without +trouble. I ask you to be reasonable. I am here. Listen to what I have +to say. You are prejudiced against me. It is not fair. You have spoken +with a woman who is my enemy. Give me leave, at least, to address a few +words to you. You will not be the loser." + +Julien was angry, but underneath it all he was also curious. + +"Well, go on, then." + +"You are reasonable," said Estermen, laying his hat and stick upon the +bed. "Listen. Your story is known at Berlin as well as in Paris. There +is only one opinion concerning it and that is that you have been +shamefully treated." + +"I am not asking for sympathy, sir," Julien answered coldly. + +"Nor am I offering it," the other returned. "I am stating facts. There +are many who do not hesitate to say that you have been made the victim +of a political plot, conceived among the members of your own party; +that you are suffering at the present moment from your masterly efforts +on behalf of peace." + +"Pray go on," Julien invited. "I consider all this grossly impertinent, +but I am willing to listen to what you have to say." + +"The greatest man in Germany," Estermen continued, "when he heard of +your misfortune, declared at once that the peace of Europe was no +longer assured. I am here to-night, Sir Julien, without credentials, it +is true, but I am the spokesman of a very great person indeed. He is +anxious to know your plans." + +"I have no plans." + +"Your political future, then--" + +"I have no political future," Julien interrupted. "That is finished for +me." + +"But the thing is absurd!" protested Estermen. "There is no other man +but you capable of dealing tactfully and diplomatically with my +country. Your blundering predecessors brought us twice within an ace of +war. If the man takes your place to whom rumor has already given it, I +give Europe six weeks' peace--no more. We are a sensitive nation, as +you know. You learned how to humor us. No one before you tried. You +kept your alliance with France, but you were not afraid to show us the +open hand. There are those in Berlin, Sir Julien, who consider you the +greatest statesman England ever possessed." + +"I listen," Julien said. "Pray proceed." + +"It cannot be," Estermen went on, "that you mean to accept the +situation?" + +"I have no alternative," Julien answered. + +"It is not, then, a question of money?" Estermen ventured slowly. "The +Press tell us that you are poor." + +"Money, in this case, would scarcely help," Julien remarked. + +"There is no man in the world who can afford to despise the power of +money," Estermen said quietly. + +"Are you here to offer me any?" + +"I am not. Have you anything to give in exchange for it?" + +Julien laughed a little shortly. + +"I imagined," he declared, "that with your first remarks you had +climbed to the dizziest heights of impertinence. I perceive that I was +mistaken. I am a discarded minister,"--dryly. "I may be supposed to +have in my possession secrets for which your country would pay. Is it +not to those facts that I am indebted for the honor of this visit?" + +"Not in the least," answered Estermen. "Our own Secret Service keeps us +supplied with such information as we desire. My object in seeking you +is this. The Prince von Falkenberg is in Paris for a few hours only. He +wants to meet you. I have been ordered to arrange this meeting, if +possible." + +Julien did not attempt to conceal his interest. + +"Why on earth didn't you say so at once?" he exclaimed. "What does he +want of me?" + +Estermen shrugged his shoulders. + +"Who knows? Who knows what Falkenberg ever wants? He is here, there and +everywhere--today in Paris, tomorrow in Berlin, next week in Moscow. +Yet it is he, as you know well, who shapes the whole destinies of my +country. It is he alone in whom the Emperor has blind and absolute +confidence. If he holds up his hand, it is war. If he holds it down, it +is peace." + +"What does he do in Paris?" Julien inquired. + +Estermen shook his head. + +"He arrived this morning and disappeared. Tonight he sent me orders +that I was to search for you." + +"Where is he now?" Julien asked. + +"At eight o'clock tonight," Estermen said, "he declared himself to be +Herr Carl Freudenberg, dealer in German toys. He dressed, dined at the +Ambassadeurs with Mademoiselle Ixe from the Opera, sent for me, learned +that I was at the Maison Léon d'Or, telephoned there, and all for this +one thing--that I should bring you to him without a moment's delay." + +"But where is he now?" Julien asked again. + +Estermen glanced at the clock and at a piece of paper which he took +from his pocket. + +"It is one o'clock within a few minutes," he remarked. "Herr +Freudenberg is either at the Abbaye Thelème or the Rat Mort." + +Julien scarcely hesitated. + +"When you first came in," he admitted, "I felt like throwing you out. +How you got here I don't know. I suppose it is no use complaining to +the hotel people. But there is no man on the face of this earth in whom +I am more interested than Falkenberg. I shall change my clothes, and in +a quarter of an hour I am at your service. Wait for me downstairs." + +Estermen drew a little sigh of relief. "I shall await you, Sir +Julien," he declared. + +All Paris seemed to be seeking distraction as they drove in the +automobile along the Boulevard des Italiens. Julien sat with folded +arms in the corner of the automobile. He had no fancy for his +companion. He was anxious so far as possible to avoid speech with him. +Estermen, on the contrary, seemed only too desirous of removing the +impression of dislike of which he was acutely conscious. He talked the +whole of the time of the cafés and the women, of everything he thought +might be interesting to his companion. Julien listened in grim silence. +Only once he interrupted. + +"What brings Herr Freudenberg to Paris?" he inquired once more. + +Estermen was suddenly reticent. + +"He has affairs here," he said. "He is also like us others--a man who +loves his pleasure. You will find him tonight with a most charming +companion--Mademoiselle Ixe of the Opera. Before the coming of Herr +Freudenberg, I remember her well--the companion at times of many. +To-day she is changed, _triste_ when he is not here, faithful in a most +un-Parisianlike manner." + +They swung round to the left. + +"Herr Freudenberg," Estermen continued, "is a great lover of the night +life of Paris. He goes from one café to the other. He is untired, +sleepless. He seems to find inspiration where others find fatigue." + +Julien raised his eyebrows, but he said nothing. These were not his +impressions of the man whom they were seeking! + +They drew up presently at the doors of the Abbaye Thelème. There were +crowds of people trying to gain admission. Estermen elbowed his way +through. + +"Herr Freudenberg?" he asked of the man who stood at the door. + +The man's forbidding face changed like magic. + +"Herr Freudenberg left but ten minutes ago for the Rat Mort. Those who +inquired for him were to follow." + +Estermen nodded and touched Julien on the arm. + +"We will walk," he said. "It is at the corner there." + +They presented themselves at the doors of a smaller and dingier café. +Estermen elbowed the way up the narrow stairs. They emerged in a small +room, brilliantly lit and filled with people. The usual little band was +playing gay music. A corpulent _maître d'hôtel_ bowed as they appeared. + +"Herr Freudenberg," Estermen began. + +The waiter's bow by this time was a different affair. + +"Monsieur will follow me," he invited. + +At the corner table at the far end of the room--the most desired of +any--sat Herr Freudenberg with Mademoiselle Ixe by his side. They met +the flower girl coming away with empty arms. The table of Herr +Freudenberg was smothered with roses. There was a shade more color in +the cheeks of Mademoiselle Ixe, in her eyes a light as soft as any +which the eyes of a woman who loved could know. Herr Freudenberg, +unruffled, had still the air of a man who finds life pleasant. As the +two men came up the room, he rose and held out both his hands. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, "it is indeed my friend of Berlin! Welcome, dear +Sir Julien! We meet on neutral ground, is it not so? We meet now in the +city of pleasures. Let us sit for a little time and talk, and forget +that you and I once wrote a chapter together in the history--of +toymaking. But first," he added, turning to Mademoiselle Ixe, +"mademoiselle permits me to introduce a very dear and cherished +acquaintance to an equally dear and cherished friend. This gentleman, +dear Marguerite, and I make toys in different countries, and there was +a time when it was necessary for us to consult together. So he came to +Berlin and I have never forgotten his visit. For the present, join us, +dear Julien. You permit that I call you by your first name? It is after +midnight, and after midnight in Paris one permits everything. Now we +drink together, we three, for Estermen must leave us, I know. We drink +together to the making of toys, the building of toy palaces, and the +love of one another. Come, Monsieur Albert, see that your _sommelier_ +opens that bottle that you have chosen for us so carefully," he +continued, turning to the manager who was hovering close at hand. "This +is a meeting and we need the best wine that ever came from the +vineyards of France. A dear friend, Albert. Bow low to him, indeed, for +he is worthy of it. Afterwards we will perhaps eat something. Send your +waiter. But above all, monsieur, see to it that mademoiselle with the +fair curls dances once more. My friend, I think, would like to see her. +And we must have music. Let the band never cease playing. Ah! it is +here, dear Albert, that one learns to forget how strenuous life really +is. It is here that one may unbend. The wine!" + +While Herr Freudenberg talked the _sommelier_ had gravely served the +champagne in some tall and wonderful glasses brought from a private +cabinet by Monsieur Albert himself to honor his most treasured +visitors. Herr Freudenberg raised his glass, clinked it against the +glass of mademoiselle, clinked it against Julien's glass. + +"Come," he cried, "to our better acquaintance, to our better +understanding! Mademoiselle," he added, lowering his tone, "to the +eternal continuance of those things which lie between you and me!" + +Estermen had departed and Julien breathed the freer for it. +Mademoiselle Ixe chattered to him for a few moments, and Herr +Freudenberg whispered in the ears of Albert, who withdrew at once. + +"One must eat," Herr Freudenberg declared. "Albert has some peaches, +wonderful peaches from the gardens where the sun always shines. Peaches +and macaroons--afterwards coffee. Ah! my friend, you remember those +somber banquets when we all hated one another because we all fancied +that the other wanted what we had a right to? Ugh! When I think of +Berlin in those days, when no one smiled, when one's sense of humor was +there only to be kept down with an iron hand, why, it gives one to +weep! Mademoiselle, I have a prayer to make." + +"It is granted," she assured him softly. + +"Presently the orchestra shall play the music of Faust. You will sing +to us? Tonight is one of my nights, never really perfect unless some +minutes of it move to the music of your voice." + +She laughed softly. + +"Yes, monsieur, I will sing," she answered, "but not the Jewel Song +tonight. Send the _chef d'orchestre_ to me." + +At the merest signal he was there with his violin under his arm. +Mademoiselle whispered a word in his ear and he departed, all smiles. +The selection which they were playing suddenly ceased. _Monsieur le +chef_ alone played some Italian air, which no one wholly recognized but +every one found familiar. Slowly he walked around the tables, playing +still, always with his eyes upon Mademoiselle Ixe, and when at last he +stood before her, she threw her head back and sang. + +The clatter of crockery diminished, the waiters paused in their tasks +or crept on tiptoe about the place. Men and women stood up at their +tables that they might see the singer better; conversation ceased. And +all the time the _chef d'orchestre_ drew music from his violin, and +mademoiselle, with half-closed eyes, her head thrown back, filled the +whole room with melody. Even she herself knew that she was singing as +she never sang at the Opera, as she had never sung when a great +impressario had come to try her voice, as one sings only when the heart +is shaking a little, and as she finished, the fingers of her left hand +slowly crept across the table into the hand of Herr Freudenberg, the +toymaker, and her last notes were sung almost in a whisper into his +ears. The room rose up to applaud. The _chef d'orchestre_ went back to +his place, bowing right and left. Herr Freudenberg raised the fingers +that lay between his hand to his lips. + +"Ah, mademoiselle," he murmured, "I have no longer words!" + +Albert came back. Scarcely more than a look passed between him and Herr +Freudenberg. Then the latter rose to his feet. + +"Come," he said, "a little surprise for you. You, too, dear Julien. I +insist. This way." + +They passed from the room. As mademoiselle rose to her feet, people +began once more to applaud. + +"Mademoiselle will sing again presently, perhaps," Herr Freudenberg +answered a man who leaned forward. "We do not depart." + +He led the way to the head of the staircase and they passed into the +back regions of the place--dim, ill-lit, mysterious. Albert, who had +preceded them, threw open the door of a room. There was a small supper +table laid for three, more flowers, more wine. + +"It is that one may talk for five minutes," Herr Freudenberg explained. +"Mademoiselle!" + +But mademoiselle had already flitted away. The door somehow was closed, +the two men were alone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +POLITICS AND PATRIOTISM + + +Herr Freudenberg shrugged his shoulders and glanced at the +softly-closed door. + +"Mademoiselle is a paragon," he declared. "Always she understands. Sir +Julien, will you not sit down for a moment? Let me confess that this +little supper-party is a pretense. For five minutes I wish to talk to +you." + +Julien seated himself without hesitation. + +"My dear host," he said, "I left Berlin a year ago with only one +hope--or rather two. The first was that I might never have to visit +Berlin again! The second was that I might have the pleasure of meeting +you as speedily and as often as possible." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled--a quiet, reminiscent smile. + +"Even now," he remarked, "when I would speak to you for a moment on +more serious subjects, the strange humor of that round-table conference +comes home to me. There were you and I and our big friend from Austria, +and that awful dull man from here, and the Russian. Shall you ever +forget that speechless Russian, who never opened his lips except to +disagree? Sometimes I caught your eye across the table. And, Sir +Julien, you know, I presume, whose was the triumph of those days?" + +Julien smiled doubtfully. + +"Yours, of course," Herr Freudenberg continued. "The Press even +ventured to find fault with me. England, as usual, they declared, had +gained all she desired and had given the very minimum. However, we will +not waste time in reminiscences. To-day the only pleasure I have in +thinking of that conference is the fact that you and I came together. +When you left Berlin--I saw you off, you remember--I told those who +stood around that there went the future Prime Minister of England. I +believed it, and I am seldom mistaken. Tell me, what piece of +transcendental ill-fortune is this which brings you here an exile?" + +"I committed an act of transcendental folly," Julien replied. "I have +no one to blame but myself. I not only wrote an indiscreet letter, but +I put my name to it. I was deceived, too, in the character of the woman +to whom it was sent." + +"It is so trifling an error," Herr Freudenberg said thoughtfully, "made +by many a man without evil results. One learns experience as one passes +on in life. It is a hard price that you are paying for yours. Come, +that is finished. Now answer me. What are you going to do?" + +Julien laughed, a little bitterly. + +"My friend," he answered, stretching out his hand and taking a +cigarette from the open box upon the table, "you ask rather a hard +question. My resignation was accepted, was even required of me. +Politics and diplomacy are alike barred to me. There is no return. What +is there left? I may write a book. So far as my means permit, I may +travel. I may play games, take a walk in the morning, play bridge in +the afternoon, eat heavily and sleep early. What is there left, Herr +Freudenberg--tell me of your wisdom--for a man about whose ears has +come crashing the scaffolding of his life?" + +Herr Freudenberg looked across at his companion, and in that dimly-lit +room his eyes were bright and his lips firm. + +"To rebuild, my friend," he declared. "Choose another foundation and +rebuild." + +"You recognize, I presume," Julien said, "that I require a few more +details if your advice is to be of value?" + +"The details are here in this room," Herr Freudenberg replied firmly. +"Be my man. I cannot offer you fame, because fame comes only, nowadays, +to the man who serves his own country. You see, I make no pretense at +deceiving you, but I offer you a life of action, I offer you such +wealth as your imagination can have conceived, and I offer you +revenge." + +"Revenge," Julien repeated, a little vaguely. + +"Upon the political party by whose scheming that letter was first of +all elicited from you and then made public," Herr Freudenberg said +slowly. "Do you imagine that it was a thoughtless act of that woman's? +Do you know that her reward is to be a peerage for her husband?" + +"You, too, believe that it was a trap, then?" Julien remarked. + +"Of course. Don't you know yourself that you were a thorn in the flesh +to your own party? They hated you because you were not afraid to preach +war when war might have saved your country from what is to come. They +hated you because you were a strong man in a strong place, and because +the people believed in you. They hated you because the policy which +would have been yours in the four or five years to come, would have +been the policy which would have brought the country around you, which +alone would have kept your party in power. You were the only figure in +politics which the imperialist party in England had to fear. Mrs. +Carraby--I believe that was the lady's name--is ill-paid enough with +that peerage. Leave out the personal element--or leave it in, if you +will, for when I speak of my country I know no friendships--but, my +dear friend, let me tell you that I myself would have given more than a +peerage--I would have given a principality--to the person who threw you +out of English politics." + +Julien's eyes were bright. Somehow or other, his old dreams, his old +faith in himself had returned for a moment. And then the bitterness all +swept in upon him. + +"I think, Herr Freudenberg," he said, "that you are talking a little in +the skies. At any rate, it makes no difference. Those things have +passed." + +"Those things have passed," Herr Freudenberg assented. "There is no +future for you in England. That is why I wish to rescue you from the +ignominy of which you yourself have spoken. I repeat my offer. Be my +man. You shall taste life and taste it in such gulps as you wish." + +Julien shook his head slowly. + +"My friend," he said, "it is the cruel part of our profession that one +man's life can be given to one country alone." + +"Wrong!" Herr Freudenberg declared briskly. "I am not going to decry +patriotism. The welfare of my country is the religion which guides my +life. But you--you have no country. There is no England left for you. +She has thrown you out. You are a wanderer, a man without ties or home. +That is why I claim you as my man. I want to show you the way to +revenge." + +"You puzzle me," Julien admitted. "You talk about revenge. I know you +far too well to believe that you would propose to me any scheme which +would involve the raising even of my little finger against the country +which has turned me out." + +"Naturally," Herr Freudenberg agreed. "You do me no less than justice, +my dear Sir Julien. What I do hope that you have firmly fixed in your +mind is that I, despite your halfpenny papers, your novelists seeking +for a new sensation, and your weird middle class, I, Carl Freudenberg, +maker of toys, am the honest and sincere friend of England. The work +which I ask you to do for me would be as much in the interests of your +country as of my own, only when I say your country, I mean your country +governed by the political party in which I have faith and confidence. I +tell you frankly that an England governed as she is at present is a +country I loathe. If I raise my hand against her--not in war, mind, but +in diplomacy--if I strive to humble her to-day, it is because I would +cover if I could the political party who are in power at this moment +with disrepute and discredit. Why should you yourself shrink from +aiding me in this task? They are the party in whose ranks--high in +whose ranks, I might say--are those who stooped with baseness, with +deceit unmentionable, to rid themselves of you. Therefore, I say +strike. Come with me and you shall help. And when the time comes, I +think I can promise you that I can show you a way back, a way which you +have never guessed." + +Julien looked across the table long and earnestly. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he said, "if I answer you in the negative, it is +because of your own words. The love of your country, you told me not +long ago, is your religion. For her good you would make use even of +those you call your friends. Now I am sincere with you. I do not know +whether to trust you or not. For that reason I cannot attempt to +discuss this matter with you. I do not ask even that you explain +yourself." + +"You mean that at any rate you cannot trust me entirely?" Herr +Freudenberg replied. "Well, if you had, I should have been disappointed +in you. Still, I have said things that were in my heart to say to you. +We send now for Mademoiselle Ixe. Before very long we talk together +again." + +Herr Freudenberg touched the bell. A waiter appeared almost +immediately. + +"Find mademoiselle," he ordered. "Tell her that we wait impatiently." + +Mademoiselle was not far away. Herr Freudenberg passed his arm through +hers. + +"We return, I think," he said. "This little room has served its +purpose." + +Julien on the landing tried to make his adieux, but his host only +laughed at him. Mademoiselle Ixe held out her hand and led him into the +room by her side. + +"He wishes it," she murmured softly. "He has so few nights here, one +must do as he desires." + +The little party returned to their table in the corner. Somehow or +other, their coming seemed to enliven the room. There was more spirit +in the music, more animation in the conversation. Albert walked with a +sprightlier step. Then Julien, in his passage down the room, received a +distinct shock. He stopped short. + +"Kendricks, by Jove!" he exclaimed. + +Kendricks, sitting alone at a small table, with a bottle of champagne +in front of him and a huge cigar in his mouth, waved his hand joyfully. +Then he glanced at his friend's companions, frowned for a moment, and +gazed fixedly at Herr Freudenberg. + +"Julien, by all that's lucky!" he called out. "And I haven't been in +Paris four hours! I called at your hotel and they told me you were out. +Sit down." + +"I am not alone," Julien began to explain,-- + +Herr Freudenberg turned round. + +"You must present your friend," he declared. "He must join us." + +Julien hesitated for a moment. + +"Kendricks," he said, "this is my friend, Herr Freudenberg." + +The two men shook hands. Kendricks as yet had scarcely taken his eyes +off Herr Freudenberg's face. + +"I am glad to meet you, sir," he remarked. "It is odd, but your face +seems familiar to me." + +Herr Freudenberg leaned over the table. + +"My friend, Mr. Kendricks," he said, "you are, I believe, a newspaper +man, and you should know the world. When you see a face that is +familiar to you in Paris, and in this Paris, it goes well that you +forget that familiarity, eh?" + +Kendricks nodded. + +"It is sound," he agreed. "I will join you, with pleasure." + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg continued, "permit me to introduce my +new friend, Mr. Kendricks. Mr. Kendricks--Mademoiselle Ixe. We will now +begin, if it is your pleasure, to spend the evening. There is room in +our corner, Mr. Kendricks. Come there, and presently Mademoiselle Ixe +will sing to us, mademoiselle with the yellow hair there will dance, +the orchestra shall play their maddest music. This is Paris and we are +young. Ah, my friends, it comes to us but seldom to live like this!" + +They all sat down together. Herr Freudenberg gave reckless orders for +more wine. The _chef d'orchestre_ was at his elbow, Albert hovered +in the background. Kendricks leaned over and whispered in his friend's +ear. + +"Julien, who is our friend?" + +"A manufacturer of toys from Leipzig," Julien answered grimly. + +"The toys that giants play with!" Kendricks muttered. "I have never +forgotten a face in my life." + +"Then forget this one for a moment," Julien advised him quickly. "This +is not a night for memories. I have lived with the ghosts of them long +enough." + +Their party became larger. The little dancing girl came to drink wine +with them and remained to listen to Herr Freudenberg. A friend of +Mademoiselle Ixe--a tall, fair girl in a blue satin gown--detached +herself from her friends and joined them. Herr Freudenberg, with his +arm resting lightly around Mademoiselle Ixe's waist, talked joyously +and incessantly. It was not until some one lifted the blind and +discovered that the sun was shining that they spoke of a move. Then, as +the _vestiaire_ came hurrying up with their coats and wraps, Herr +Freudenberg lifted his glass. + +"One last toast!" he cried. "Dear Marguerite, my friends, all of +you--to the sun which calls us to work, to the moon which calls us to +pleasure, to the love that crowds our hearts!" + +He raised his companion's hand to his lips and drew her arm through +his. + +"Come," he cried, "to the streets! We will take our coffee from the +stall of Madame Huber." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +THE MORNING AFTER + + +Kendricks and Julien drove down from the hill in a small open +victoria. The sun had risen, but here and there were traces of a fading +twilight. A faint mauve glow hung over the sleeping streets. The +sunlight as yet was faint and the morning breeze chilly. As they passed +down the long hill, tired-looking waiters were closing up the night +cafés. Bedraggled revelers crept along the pavements with weary +footsteps. + +With every yard of their progression, the meeting between the two +extremes of life seemed to become more apparent. The children of the +night--the weary, unwholesome products of dissipation, rubbed shoulders +with the children of the morning--girls, hatless, in simple clothes, +walking with brisk footsteps to their work; market women, brown-cheeked +and hearty, setting out their wares upon the stalls; the youth of +Paris, blithe and strenuous, walking light-footed to the region of +warehouses and factories. Julien and Kendricks looked out upon the +little scene with interest. Both had been sleepy when they had left the +café, but there was something stimulating in the sight of this thin but +constant stream of people. Kendricks sat up and began to talk. + +"Julien," he declared, "this Paris never alters. It's a queer little +world and a rotten one. We are here just at the ebbing of the tide. +Don't you feel the hatefulness of it--the thin-blooded scream for +pleasure which needs the lash of these painted women, these gaudy +cafés, this yellow wine all the time? My God! and they call it +pleasure! Look at these people going to their work, Julien. There's +where the red blood flows. They're the people with the taste of life +between their teeth. Can't you see them at their pleasures--see them +sitting in a beer-garden with a girl and a band, their week's money in +their pocket, and the knowledge that they've earned it? Perhaps +sometimes they look up the hill and wonder at the craze for it all. Did +you see the stream coming up to-night--automobiles, victorias, +carriages of every sort; pale-faced men who had lunched too well, dined +too well, flogging their tired systems in the craze for more +excitement, more pleasure; eating at an unwholesome hour, smoking +sickly cigarettes, kissing rouged lips, listening to the false music of +that hard laughter? Look at those girls arm in arm, off to their little +milliner's shop. Hear them laugh! You don't hear anything like that, +Julien, on the top of the hill." + +"Of course," Julien remarked, stifling a yawn, "if you've come to Paris +to be moral--" + +"Not I!" Kendricks broke in roughly. "Bless you, I'm one of the worst. +A wild night in Paris calls me even now from any part of the world. But +Lord, what fools we are! And, Julien, we get worse. It's the old people +who keep these places going." + +"The older we get," Julien replied, "the harder we have to struggle for +our joys." + +Kendricks wheeled suddenly in his place. + +"Tell me how long you have known Herr Freudenberg?" he insisted. "How +many times have you been seen with him? Is it the truth that you met +him to-night for the first time?" + +Julien laughed. + +"My dear David!" he protested,-- + +"To tell you the truth, Julien," Kendricks interrupted, "there's some +hidden trouble, some mysterious influence at work which seems to be +upsetting the relations just now between France and England. To be +frank with you, I know that Carraby, at a Cabinet meeting yesterday, +suggested that you were at the bottom of it." + +Julien's eyes suddenly flashed fire. + +"D--n that fellow!" he muttered. "Does anybody believe it?" + +Kendricks shrugged his shoulders. + +"Scarcely. And yet, Julien, it pays to be careful. You can't afford to +be seen in public places with the enemies of your country." + +"Is Carl Freudenberg an enemy of my country?" + +Kendricks leaned back in his seat and laughed scornfully. + +"Julien," he exclaimed, "there are times when you are very simple! Do +you indeed mean that you would try to deceive even me? You would +pretend that I, David Kendricks, of the _Post_, don't know that +Herr Freudenberg and the Prince von Falkenberg, ruler of Germany, are +one and the same person? Maker of toys, he calls himself! Maker of +fools' palaces, if you like, builder of prison houses, if you will. No +man was ever born with less of a conscience, more solely and wholly +ambitious both for his country and for himself, than the man with whom +you talked to-night. You knew him?" + +"Naturally," Julien answered. "We met at Berlin." + +"The man is a great genius," Kendricks continued. "No one will deny him +that. They speak of his weaknesses. They talk of his drinking bouts, of +his plunges into French dissipation. The man hasn't a single dissipated +thought in his mind. He moves through this world--this little Paris +world--with one idea only. He gets behind the scenes. He comes here +secretly, drops hints here and there as a private person, lets himself +be considered a Parisian of Parisians. All the time he listens and he +drops his cunning words of poison and he works. What are his ambitions? +Do you know, Julien?" + +"Do you?" Julien asked. + +"It seems to me that I have some idea," Kendricks answered. "This is +your hotel, isn't it?" + +Julien nodded. + +"Are you going to stay here?" + +Kendricks shook his head. + +"I stay at a little hotel in the Rue Taitbout. I stay there because it +is full of the weirdest set of foreigners you ever knew. This morning +we breakfast together?" + +"Come and see me when you will," Julien invited, "or I will come to +you; not to breakfast, though--I am engaged." + +"To Herr Freudenberg?" Kendricks asked quickly. + +"To the lady whom your little friend, the manicurist, sent me to +visit," Julien replied. "Perhaps now you will tell me that she is an +ambassadress in disguise?" + +"I'll tell you nothing about her this morning," Kendricks said. "I'll +tell you nothing which you ought not to find out for yourself." + +"Do you think I may breakfast with her safely?" Julien inquired. + +"Heaven knows--I don't!" Kendricks replied. "No man is safe with such a +woman as Madame Christophor. But let it go. We dine together to-night. +I'll tell you some news then. I'm going to unroll a plan of campaign. +There's work for you, if you like it;--nothing formulated as yet, but +it's coming--perhaps hope--who knows?" + +The sun rose higher in the heavens, the mauve light faded from the sky. +Morning had arrived in earnest and Paris settled herself down to the +commencement of another day. Julien, for the first time since he had +left England, was asleep five minutes after his head had touched the +pillow. Herr Freudenberg, on the contrary, made no attempt at all to +retire. In the sitting-room of his apartments in the Boulevard +Maupassant he sat in his dressing-gown, carefully studying some letters +which had arrived by the night mail. Opposite to him was a secretary; +by his side Estermen, who appeared to be there for the purpose of +making a report. + +"Not a document," Estermen was saying, "not a line of writing of any +sort in his trunk, his bureau, or anywhere about his room." + +Herr Freudenberg nodded thoughtfully. + +"But these Englishmen are the devil to deal with!" he said. "The +luncheon is ordered to-day in the private room at the Armenonville?" + +"Everything has been attended to," Estermen replied. + +Herr Freudenberg was thoughtful for several moments. Then with a wave +of his hand he dismissed Estermen. + +"You, too, can go, Fritz," he said to his secretary. "You have had a +long night's work." + +"You yourself, Excellency, should sleep for a while," his secretary +advised. + +Herr Freudenberg shook his head. + +"Sleep," he declared, "is a waste of time. I need no sleep. As you go, +you can tell my servant to prepare a warm bath. I will rest then for an +hour and walk in the Champs Elysées." + +The secretary withdrew and Herr Freudenberg was alone. He picked up a +crumpled rose that lay upon the table and twirled it for a moment or +two in his fingers. The action seemed to be wholly unconscious. His +eyes were set in a fixed stare, his thoughts were busy weaving out his +plans for the day. It was not until he was summoned to his bath that he +rose and glanced at the withered flower. Then he smiled. + +"Poor little Marguerite!" he murmured. "What a pity!" + +He touched the rose with his lips, abandoned his first intention, which +seemed to have been to throw it into the fireplace, and put it back +carefully upon the table, side by side with an odd white glove. + +"Queer little record of the froth of life," he said softly to himself. +"One soiled evening glove, a faded rose, a woman's tears,--they pass. +What can one do--we poor others who have to drive the wheels of life?" + +He sighed, shrugged his high shoulders, and passed out. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +BEHIND CLOSED DOORS + + +Very soon after mid-day on the same morning, Herr Carl Freudenberg was +the host at a small luncheon party given in a private room of the most +famous restaurant in the Bois. His morning attire was a model of +correctness, his eyes were clear, his manner blithe, almost joyous. +There was no possible indication in his appearance of his misspent +hours. He was at once a genial and courteous host. Monsieur Décheles +sat at his right hand; Monsieur Felix Brant on his left; Monsieur +Pelleman opposite to him. The three men had arrived in an automobile +together and had entered the restaurant by the private way, but that +they were guests of some distinction was obvious from their reception +by the manager himself. + +The luncheon was worthy of the great reputation of the place. It was +swiftly and well served. With the coffee and liqueurs the waiters +withdrew. Herr Freudenberg, with a smile, rose up and tried the door. +Then he returned to his place, lit a cigarette, and leaned back in his +chair. + +"My dear friends," he announced, "now we can talk." + +Monsieur Pelleman smiled. + +"Yes," he admitted, "we can talk. In this excellent brandy, Monsieur +Carl Freudenberg, I drink your very good health. Long may these little +visits of yours continue." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled his thanks. + +"Monsieur Pelleman," he said, "and you, too, my dear friends, let me +assure you that there is nothing in the world which I enjoy so much as +these brief visits of mine to your delightful capital. No more I think +of the pressures and cares of office. I let myself go, and on these +occasions, as you know, I speak to you not in the language of +diplomacy, but as good friends who meet together to enjoy an hour or +two of one another's company, and who, because there is no harm to be +done by it, but much good, open their hearts and speak true words with +one another." + +Monsieur Décheles smiled. + +"It is a pleasure which we all share," he declared. "It is more +agreeable, without a doubt, to take lunch with Monsieur Carl +Freudenberg, and to speak openly, than to exchange long-winded +interviews, the true meaning of which is too much concealed by +diplomatic verbiage, with the excellent gentleman to whose good offices +are intrusted the destinies of Herr Freudenberg's great nation." + +"Monsieur," Herr Freudenberg said, "to-day shall be no exception. +To-day I speak to you, perhaps, more openly than ever before. To-day I +perhaps risk much--yet why not speak the things which are in my heart?" + +Monsieur Felix Brant took a cigarette from the box by his elbow, but he +felt for it only. His eyes never left the face of his host. Of the +three men, he seemed the one least in sympathy with the state of +affairs to which Herr Freudenberg had alluded so cheerfully. He watched +the man at the head of the table all the time as though every energy of +which he was possessed was devoted to the task of reading underneath +that suave but impenetrable face. + +"Gentlemen," Herr Freudenberg continued, "there have been many +misapprehensions between your country and mine. Ten years ago we seemed +indeed on the highroad to friendship. It was then--I speak frankly, +mind--that your country made the one fatal mistake of recent years. +Great Britain, isolated, left behind in the race for power, a weakened +and decaying nation, having searched the world over for allies, held +out the timorous hand of friendship to you. What evil genius was with +your statesmen that day! When the history of these times comes to be +written, it is my firm belief that it will be then acknowledged that +the genius of the man who reigned over Great Britain at that time was +alone responsible for the commencement of what has become a veritable +alliance." + +Herr Freudenberg paused. + +"There is no doubt," Monsieur Décheles asserted calmly, "that the +influence of the late king was immense among the people of France. He +appealed somehow to their imaginations, a great monarch who was also a +_bon viveur_, who had lived his days in Paris as the others." + +Herr Freudenberg nodded thoughtfully. + +"He is dead," he said, "and history will write him down as a great +king. Do you know that it is one of my theories that morals have +nothing to do with government? I doubt whether a more sagacious monarch +has ever reigned over that unfortunate country than the one we speak +of. So sagacious was he that he even saw the beginning of the end, he +saw the things that must come when he looked across the North Sea; and +notwithstanding his descent, notwithstanding all the ties which should +have allied him with Germany, he hated our people and he hated our +country with a prophetic hatred. But we gossip a little, gentlemen. Let +me proceed. I want you to realize that the policy of Germany for the +last five years has been wholly directed towards securing the +friendship of your country. I want you to realize that but for the +continual interference of Great Britain you would even now be in a far +more favorable position with us than you are to-day. Germany wants +nothing in Morocco. Germany's first and greatest wish is for a rich and +prosperous France. On the other hand, Germany is loyal to her +friendships, and fervent in her hatreds. The country whose humiliation +is a solemn charge upon my people is Great Britain and not France." + +Monsieur Décheles leaned back in his chair. Monsieur Felix Brant never +moved. + +"I want," Herr Freudenberg continued, "to have you think and consider +and weigh this matter. Why do you, a great and prosperous country, link +yourselves with a decaying power, against whom, before very long, +Germany is pledged to strike? These are the plainest words that have +ever been spoken by a citizen of one country to three citizens of +another. Herr Freudenberg, the maker of toys, speaks to his three +French friends as a thoughtful merchant of his country who has had +unusual facilities for imbibing the spirit of her politicians. +Gentlemen, you do not misunderstand me?" + +"It is impossible, Herr Freudenberg," Monsieur Décheles said, "to +misunderstand you for a single moment. Your hand is too clear and your +methods too sagacious." + +"Then let me repeat," Herr Freudenberg declared, "that before many +years are passed--perhaps, indeed, before many months--it is the +intention of my country either to inflict a scathing diplomatic +humiliation upon Great Britain, or to engage in this war the fear of +which has kept her in a state of panic for the last ten years. Keep +that in your minds, my friends. Friendship is a great thing, honor is a +great thing, generosity is a great thing, but I would speak to you +three citizens of France to-day as I would speak to her rulers had I +access to them, and I would say, 'Do you dare, for the sake of an +alliance out of which you have procured no single benefit, do you dare +to drag your country into unnecessary, fruitless and bloody war?' You +have nothing to gain by it, you have everything to lose. Let Germany +deal with her traditional enemy in her own way. And as for France, let +France believe what is, without doubt, the truth--that she has nothing +whatever to fear from Germany. I will not speak of the past, but the +greatest thinkers in Germany to-day regret nothing so much in the +history of her splendid rise as that unfortunate campaign of +Bismarck's. It is the one blot upon her magnificent history. Let that +go--let that go and be buried. I bring you timely warning. I come to +the city I love, for her own sake, for the sake of her people whom I +also love. I beg you to listen to these words of mine, to adjust your +policy so that little by little you weaken the joints which bind you to +England, so that when the time comes you yourself may not be dragged +into a hopeless and pitiless struggle." + +There was a moment's silence. Then Monsieur Décheles spoke. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he began, "what you have said we have been in some +measure prepared for. The more amicable tone of all the correspondence +between our two countries has been marked of late. Yet there have been +times, and not long ago, when your country has shown wonderful +readiness to treat with a rough hand the claims of France in many +quarters of the world. The more powerful your country, the greater she +is to be feared. Supposing France stood on one side while Great Britain +fell before your arms, what then would be the relations between France +and Germany?" + +Monsieur Brant spoke for the first time. + +"Herr Freudenberg, you remind me of the fable of the Persian who had +two men to fight, both as strong as himself. To the one he sent +ambassadors, with the key of his favorite gardens; the other he fought. +It is a great policy to deal with your enemies one at a time." + +Herr Freudenberg stretched out his arms across the table. + +"My friend," he pronounced, "without faith there is no genius. Without +genius there is no government. I only ask you to believe this one +thing. Germany is not and never has been the traditional enemy of +France. I ask you to study the whole question for but one single +half-hour, I ask you to read the commercial records of these days. Help +yourself to all the statistics that throw light upon this question, and +I swear that you will find that whereas Great Britain and Germany stand +opposed to one another under every condition and in every quarter of +the world, there is no single bone of contention anywhere between +France and Germany. Their aims are different, their destinies are +written. I ask you to apply only a reasonable measure of philosophy and +common sense, a reasonable measure of faith, to the things I say." + +There was a cautious tap at the door, a whispered message. Monsieur +Pelleman rose. + +"It is my secretary," he announced. "I fear, gentlemen, that we are due +elsewhere." + +"Herr Freudenberg, your luncheon has been delightful," Monsieur +Décheles declared, holding out his hand. "You have given us, as usual, +something to think of. These informal meetings between citizens of two +great countries will do, I am sure, more than anything else in the +world, to ripen our budding friendship." + +"Your words," Herr Freudenberg replied, grasping the hand which had +been offered to him, "are a happy augury. When we meet again, I shall +be able to prove the coming of the things of which I have spoken." + +They left him on the threshold of the room. The giver of the feast was +alone. Very slowly he retraced his steps and stood for a moment with +folded arms, looking down on the table at which they had lunched. His +natural urbanity, the smile half persuasive, half humorous, which had +parted his lips, had gone. His face seemed to have resolved itself into +lines of iron. As he stood there, one seemed suddenly to realize the +presence of a great man--a greater, even, than Carl Freudenberg, maker +of toys! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +"HAVE YOU EVER LOVED?" + + +Nothing which he had heard or imagined of Madame Christophor had +prepared Julien for the subdued yet manifest magnificence of her +dwelling. He passed through that small postern gate beneath the watch +of a butler who relieved him of his stick and gloves and handed him +over to a sort of major-domo. Afterwards he was conducted across a +beautiful round hall, lit with quaint fragments of stained-glass +window, through a picture gallery which almost took Julien's breath +away, and into a small room, very daintily furnished, entirely and +characteristically French of the Louis Seize period. A round table was +laid for two in front of an open window, which looked out upon a lawn +smooth and velvety, with here and there little flower-beds, and in the +middle a gray stone fountain. Madame Christophor came in almost at the +same moment from the garden. She was wearing a long lace coat over the +thinnest of muslin skirts, and a hat with some violets in it which +seemed to match exactly the color of her eyes. + +"So you have come, my friend of a few hours," she said, smiling at him. +"The fear has not seized you yet? You are not afraid that over my +simple luncheon table I shall ask you compromising questions?" + +"I am neither afraid of your asking questions, madame," he assured her, +"nor of my being tempted to reply to them." + +"That," she murmured, "is ungallant. Meanwhile, we lunch." + +Such a meal as he might have expected from such surroundings was +swiftly and daintily served. There was cantaloup, cut in halves, with +the faintest suspicion of liqueur, and a great globule of ice; an +omelette, even for Paris a wonderful omelette,--a _mousse_ of +chicken, some asparagus, a bowl of peaches, and coffee. After the +latter had been served, madame, with a little wave of her hand, +dismissed the servants from the room. + +"Sir Julien," she said, "I am not pleased with you." + +He sighed. + +"I regret your displeasure the more," he declared, "because I find +myself indebted to you for a new gastronomic ideal." + +"You are really beginning to wake up," she laughed. "When you first +arrived here, less than twenty-four hours ago, you thought yourself a +broken-spirited and broken-hearted man. You were very dull. Soon you +will begin to realize that life is a matter of epochs, that no blow is +severe enough to kill life itself. It is only the end of an epoch. But +I am displeased with you, as I said, because you have told me nothing. +This morning I have letters from London. I learn that through a single +indiscretion not only were you forced to relinquish a great political +career, but that you were forced also to give up the lady for whom you +cared." + +"You have ingenious correspondents," he remarked. + +"Truthful ones, are they not?" + +"I was engaged to marry Lady Anne Clonarty," he admitted. "It was, if I +may venture to say so, an alliance." + +Madame Christophor's eyes twinkled. + +"Once," she declared, "I met the Duke of Clonarty. I also met the +Duchess, I also saw Lady Anne. They were traveling in great state +through Italy. It was in Rome that I came across them. The Duchess was +very affable to me. I think you have rightly expressed your affair of +the heart, my friend. It was to have been an alliance!" + +Julien was thoughtful. Madame Christophor in a moment continued. + +"You know, my friend," she said, tapping the ash from her cigarette +into her saucer, "your misfortune came just in time to save you from +becoming what in English you call a great, a colossal prig." + +His eyebrows went up. Suddenly he smiled. + +"Perhaps," he admitted. "To be a successful politician one must of +necessity be a prig." + +"Not in the least," she reminded him swiftly. "There is the Prince von +Falkenberg." + +"The maker of toys," he murmured. + +"The maker, alas! of toys which the world were better without," she +replied. "But never mind that. For the sake of your ambitions you were +content, were you not, to marry a young woman with whom you had not the +slightest sympathy, in order that she might receive your guests, might +add the lustre of her name to the expansion of her husband's genius?" + +"Madame," he said, "we live a very short time. We live only one life. +Only certain things are possible to us. The man who tries to crowd +everything into that life fails. He is a dilettante. He may find +pleasure but he reaches no end. He strikes no long sustained note. In +the eyes of those who come after him, he is a failure." + +"This," she murmured, "is interesting. Please go on." + +"The man who means to succeed," he continued, "to succeed in any one +position, must sacrifice everything else--temperament, if necessary +character--for that one thing. When I left college, the study of +politics was almost chosen for me. It became a part of my life. As my +interest developed, it is true that my outlook upon life was narrowed. +I was content to forget, perhaps, that I was a man, I strove fervently +and desperately to develop into the perfect political machine. From +that point of view, nobody in England would have made me a better wife +than Lady Anne Clonarty." + +She nodded. + +"What a blessing that you wrote that letter!" + +"I don't know," he replied. "I still think it was a great misfortune. +Frankly, I have no idea what to make of my life. I don't know how to +start again, to deal with the pieces in any intelligent fashion. Now +that I am outside the thing, I see the narrowness of it all, I see that +I was giving up many things which are interesting and beautiful, many +friendships that might have been delightful, but on the other hand +there was always the pressing on, the big, vital side, the great throb +of life. I miss it. I feel to myself as a great factory sounds on +Sundays and holidays, when the engine that drives all the machinery of +the place is silent. I wander among the empty, quiet places, and I am +lonely." + +"Have you ever loved a woman?" she asked. + +Her voice had suddenly dropped. He looked across the table. Her lips +were slightly parted, her eyes fixed upon his. There was something +shining out of them which he did not wholly understand. He only knew +that the question seemed to have stirred him in some new way. An +intense sense of pleasurable content, a feeling as though he were +listening to music, stole through his senses. This was a new thing. He +was bewildered. He leaned a little further across the table. He found +himself watching the faint blue veins of her delicate fingers, noticing +the curious perfume of roses that seemed to come to him from the +flutter of the lace around her neck. + +"You are a man, Sir Julien. You must be thirty-five--perhaps older. Yet +somehow you have the look to me of one who has never cared at all." + +"It is true," he admitted. + +"Life," she declared, "is a strange place. A few months ago your whole +career was one of ambition. Misfortune came, or what you counted a +misfortune. You reckoned yourself ruined. It is simply a change of +poise. You turn now naturally to the other things in life. Do you know +that you will find them greater?" + +He shook his head. + +"It is too early for me to believe that," he said. "I will admit that +now and then in my forced solitude I have sometimes realized that one +may become too engrossed in a career of ambition. One may shut out many +things in life that are sweet and wholesome. But it is too early yet +for me to look back upon what has happened with equanimity and say that +I am glad to be a wanderer on the face of the earth, a homeless man, a +waif." + + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"You know that people are talking about you in London?" she asked +abruptly. + +He looked a little startled. + +"I know nothing of the sort," he replied. "I have scarcely looked at a +newspaper for weeks. Kendricks is over here with some story--" + +"Who is Kendricks?" she interrupted. + +"A journalist, an old friend of mine. What he told me, though, I looked +upon as simply a little more malice from my friend Carraby." + +"Tell me exactly his news?" + +"He told me," Julien continued, "that there is a good deal of unrest +over in London concerning our relations with France. The absolute +candor and completely good understanding which existed a short time ago +seems to have become clouded. Carraby is trying to suggest in English +circles that I have been using my influence over here against the +present government. The absurd part of it is that although I have been +in France for a month, I arrived in Paris only yesterday." + +"I was not alluding to that at all," she said. "It is in the country +places, at the by-elections, and twice in the House itself lately, that +things have been said which point to a certain impatience at your +having been dropped so completely. You know Brentwood?" + +"A strong, firm man," Julien replied, "but scarcely a friend of mine." + +"Well, in your House of Parliament, the night before last," she +continued, "he said that your country needed men at the Foreign Office +who, however great might be their love of peace, still were not afraid +of war, and your name was mentioned." + +Julien smiled. + +"They used to call me the fire-brand. I suppose I am in a great +minority. I have never been able to see that a wholesome war, in +defense of one's territory and one's honor, is an unmixed curse. It is +the natural blood-letting of a strong country." + +"No wonder you are unpopular in radical circles," she remarked, raising +her eyebrows; "but anyhow, what I really want to say to you is this. +Don't do anything rash. You have made the acquaintance of the most +dangerous man in Europe. Don't let him control your actions, don't let +him influence you. I want you always, whatever you do, to leave the way +open for your return." + +He shook his head. + +"I do not think that my return is ever possible." + +"Have you talked with your friend Kendricks?" she asked. + +"Not yet," he replied. + +"Hear what he has to say," she continued. "Bring him to see me if you +will." + +"I will try," he promised. + +They were silent for a moment, listening to the splashing of the +fountain outside and the distant hum of the city. + +"Do you know that you are very kind to me?" he said. + +"You were very much afraid of me yesterday," she reminded him. + +"Had I any cause?" + +She smiled. + +"I shall not tell you my secrets. You must find them out. I have +dabbled in politics, I have dabbled in diplomacy. I have not as a rule +very much sympathy with your sex, as I think you know. It has never +interested me before even to give good advice to a man. If I were you, +Sir Julien, beyond a certain point I would not trust Madame +Christophor, for when the time comes I have always the feeling that if +a man's career lay within my power, I would sooner wreck it than help +him." + +"Of course you are talking nonsense," he declared. + +"Am I?" she replied. "Well, I don't know. I can look back now to a +half-hour of my life when I loathed every creature that could call +itself a man." + +"But it was a single person," he reminded her, "who sinned." + +"His crime was too great to be the crime of a single man," she +asserted, with a quiver of passion in her tone. "It was the culmination +of the whole abominable selfishness of his sex. One man's life is too +light a price to pay for the tragedy of that half-hour. I have never +spared one of your sex since. I never shall." + +"So far you have been kind to me," he persisted. + +"Up to a certain point. Beyond that, I warn you, I should have no pity. +If you were a wise man, I think even now that you would thank me for my +luncheon and take my hand and bid me farewell." + +"Instead of which," he answered, smiling, "I am waiting only to know +when you will do me the honor to come and dine with me?" + +She shook her head. + +"I will make no appointment," she said. "Send me your telephone number +directly you move into your rooms. If I am weary of myself I may call +for you, but I tell you frankly that you must not expect it. If I see a +way of making use of you, that will be different." + +"May I come and see you again?" he begged. "You are dismissing me +rather abruptly." + +She shrugged her shoulders. She was looking weary, as though the heat +of the day had tried her. + +"I care very little, after all," she answered, "whether I ever see you +again. I wish I could care, although if I did the result would be the +same." + +"You asked me a question a short time ago," he remarked. "Let me ask +you the same. Have you never cared for any one?" + +"I cared once for my husband." + +"You have been married?" + +"Most certainly. I lived with my husband for two years." + +"And now?" he persisted. + +"We are separated. You really do not know my other name?" + +"I have never heard you called anything but Madame Christophor." + +"Well, you will hear it in time," she assured him. "You will probably +think you have made a great discovery. In the meantime, farewell." + +She gave him her hands. He held them in his perhaps a little longer +than was necessary. She raised her eyes questioningly. He drew them a +little closer. Very quietly she removed the right one and touched a +bell by her side. + +"If my automobile is of any service to you, Sir Julien," she said, +"pray use it. It waits outside and I shall not be ready to go out for +an hour at least." + +"Thank you," he replied. "Your automobile, empty, has no attractions." + +The butler was already in the room. + +"See that Sir Julien makes use of my automobile if he cares to," she +ordered. "This has been a very pleasant visit. I hope we may soon meet +again." + +She avoided his eyes. He had an instinctive feeling that she was either +displeased or disappointed with him. He followed the butler out into +the hall filled with a vague sense of self-dissatisfaction. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +KENDRICKS IS HOST + + +"You are going to spend," Kendricks declared, "a democratic evening. +You are going to mix with common folk. To-night we shall drink no +champagne at forty francs the bottle. On the other hand, we shall +probably drink a great deal more beer than is good for us. How do you +find the atmosphere here?" + +"Filthy!" + +"I was afraid you might notice it," Kendricks remarked. "Never mind, +presently you will forget it. You have never been here before, I +presume?" + +"I have not," Julien agreed. "I daresay I shall find it interesting. +You wouldn't describe it as quiet, would you?" + +"One does not eat quietly here," Kendricks replied. "Four hundred +people, mostly Germans, when they eat are never silent. The service of +four hundred dinners continues at the same time. Listen to them. Close +your eyes and you will appreciate the true music of crockery." + +"If that infernal little band would keep quiet," Julien grumbled, "one +might hear oneself talk!" + +"Let us have no more criticisms," Kendricks begged. "To-night you are +of the working class. You may perhaps be a small manufacturer, the +agent of a manufacturing firm in the country, a clerk with a moderate +salary, or a mechanic in his best clothes. Remember that and do not +complain of the music. You do not hear it every day. Let us hear no +more blasé speeches, if you please.... Good! The dinner arrives. We +dine here, my friend, for two francs. You will probably require another +meal before the evening is concluded. On the other hand, you may feel +that you never require another meal as long as you live. That is a +matter of luck. In any case, you had better squeeze a little further +up. Madame and her two daughters are going to sit next to you, and +opposite there will be monsieur, and I judge the fiancé of one of the +young ladies. It will be a family party. If there is anything in that +dish of _hors d'oeuvres_ which you fancy particularly, help +yourself quickly. In a moment or two there will be no opportunity." + +The two men were seated opposite one another at a long table in a huge +popular restaurant in the heart of the city. It was Kendricks' +plan--Kendricks, in fact, had insisted upon it. + +"You know, my dear Julien," he continued, "a certain education is +necessary for you. If only I had a little more time I should be +invaluable. You have taken all your life too narrow a view. That +wretched Eton training! You would have been better off at a +board-school. We all should." + +"You were at Winchester yourself," Julien reminded him, trying some of +the bread and approving of it. + +"For a short time only," Kendricks admitted, "and then you forget the +years after which I spent in the byways. Oh, I know my people! I know +the common people of America and England and France and Germany. I know +them and love them. I love the middle classes, too, the honestly +vulgar, honestly snobbish, foolishly ambitious, yet over-cautious +middle class. The extreme types of every nation lose their racial +individuality. You find the true thing only among the bourgeoisie. Oh, +if I only knew whether these people," he added, "understood English!" + +"You must not risk it," Julien warned him. "Madame has already her eye +upon you." + +"As a possible suitor for that unmated daughter on her right, I +suspect," Kendricks declared. "The young lady has looked at me twice +and down at her plate. Julien, you must change places." + +"I shall do nothing of the sort," Julien retorted. + +"If I ingratiate myself with this family and trouble comes of it," +Kendricks continued, "the fault will be yours. Madame," he added, +standing up and bowing, "will you permit me?" + +Madame had been looking at the bread. Kendricks gallantly offered it. +Madame's bows and smiles were a thing delightful to behold. +Mademoiselle, too, would take bread, if monsieur was so kind. When +Kendricks sat down again, the way was paved for general conversation. +Julien, however, practically buttonholed his friend. + +"Kendricks," he said, "you have told me nothing about England." + +"There is little to tell," Kendricks replied. "The little there is will +filter from me during the evening. We are spending a long evening +together, you know, Julien." + +"Heavens alive!" Julien groaned. "I am not sure that I am strong +enough." + +"Eat that soup," Kendricks advised him. "That, at least, is sustaining. +Never mind stirring it up to see what vegetables are at the bottom. +Take my word for it, it is good. And leave the pepper-pot alone. How +the people crowd in! You perceive the commercial traveler with a +customer? How they talk about that last order! The fat man facing you +puzzles me. I wish I could know the occupation of our neighbors. I am +curious." + +"I should ask them," Julien suggested dryly. + +"An idea!" Kendricks assented approvingly. "Let us wait until they have +drunk the free wine. You understand, my dear Julien, that you pay +nothing for that flask which stands by your side? It comes with the +dinner. It is free." + +Julien helped himself, and sipped it thoughtfully. + +"At least," he murmured, as he set his glass down, "one is thankful +that we do not pay for it!" + +"There are some," Kendricks remarked, "who prefer beer. Personally, I +like to preserve my local color. _Vin ordinaire_ in Paris, beer in +Germany. Madame!" + +Kendricks had caught madame's eye with the glass at his lips. He rose +at once and bowed. Madame acknowledged his graciousness with a huge +smile, which spread even to her double chin. Monsieur leaned forward +and joined in the ceremony. Mademoiselle, after a timid glance at her +mother, also responded. Kendricks' character as an Englishman of +gallantry was thoroughly established. + +"I am doing our national character good," he declared to Julien, as he +set down his glass empty. "As to my own constitution--but let that +pass. We will drown this stuff in honest beer, later on. How are you +getting on with the fish?" + +"It is excellent--really excellent," Julien proclaimed. "Do you mean to +say seriously that you are going to pay only two francs each for this +repast?" + +"Not a centime more," Kendricks assured him. "Do you know why I brought +you here?" + +"Part of my education, I suppose," Julien replied resignedly. + +"Quite true. Further than that, I am here on business for my paper. I +am here to study the effect of the German invasion of Paris. This place +is being spoken of as being the haunt of Germans. It still seems to me +that I find plenty of the real French people." + +"Do we pursue your investigations elsewhere during the course of the +evening?" Julien inquired. + +"The whole of our evening," Kendricks told him, "is devoted to that +purpose, and incidentally," he added, "to your education. We are going +for red-blooded pleasure to-night, for the real thing,--for the hearty +laughs, for the wholesome appetites; no caviare sandwiches, over-dry +champagne, rouged lips and Rue de la Paix hats for us. If we make love, +we make love honestly. Mademoiselle may permit a clasp of her hand--no +more." + +"So far," Julien remarked, "mademoiselle--" + +"That is for later," Kendricks interrupted briskly. "We shall go to a +singing-hall--a German singing-hall. The mademoiselles whom we meet +will probably have their own sweethearts. Somehow, to-night I fancy +that we shall be lookers-on. What does it matter? We shall at least see +life. We shall catch the shadows of other people's happinesses. It is, +I believe, the sincerest form. The chicken, dear Julien,--what of the +chicken?" + +Julien hesitated. + +"There is little to be said against it," he confessed. "The only +trouble is that it fails to arrive." + +Kendricks summoned a waiter, a task of no inconsiderable difficulty, +for the service was automatic--the dishes were set upon the table and +the waiter disappeared for the next lot. Anything intervening was +almost impossible. Monsieur, Kendricks declared, pointing indignantly +across the table, had not been served with chicken! The waiter shook +his head. It was unheard of! Monsieur had probably had his chicken and +forgotten it. The chicken had been brought, two portions. There was no +doubt about it. But where then had the chicken been hidden? Kendricks +became fluent. He looked under the table. He pointed to his friend's +empty plate. The waiter, only half convinced, departed with a vague +promise. Kendricks sipped his wine. + +"It is a regrettable incident," he declared, "but in the excitement of +conversation, Julien, I ate both portions of chicken." + +He had lapsed into French, the language in which he had argued with the +waiter. Madame was overcome with the humor of the affair. Mademoiselle +tittered as she leaned across and told her fiancé. The unattached +mademoiselle looked her sympathy with Julien. Monsieur saw the joke and +laughed heartily. They looked reproachfully at Kendricks. To them it +was indeed a tragedy! + +"Madame," Kendricks explained, "it is not my custom to be so greedy. +The waiter set both portions before me, meaning, without doubt, that I +should pass one to my friend. Alas! in the pleasure of conversation in +these delightful surroundings,"--he bowed low to mademoiselle--"something, +I don't know what it was, carried me away, and I ate and ate until both +portions were vanished. Ah!" he exclaimed. "Triumph! The waiter returns. +He brings chicken, too, for my friend. Garçon, you have done well. You +shall be rewarded. It is excellent." + +The waiter, still with a protesting air, passed up the chicken. The +little party was convulsed with merriment. They all watched Julien eat +his tardy course. Kendricks, with an air of recklessness, sipped more +wine. + +"I flatter myself," he said, "that before very long I shall have taught +you to forget that you were ever a Cabinet Minister, that you were ever +at Eton, that you were ever at Oxford. One does not live in those +places, you know, Julien. One shrivels instead of expands.... My +friend, we have dined." + +"Is there nothing more?" Julien asked. + +"There is fruit," Kendricks admitted. "It was in my mind to spare you +the fruit. I see it to right and left of us being handed around--nuts, +a banana, apples whose exterior I trust is misleading. Never mind, you +have desired fruit and you shall have it. Waiter, monsieur desires his +fruit." + +The waiter disappeared and in a moment or two Julien was served. + +"Coffee, if you will?" + +"No coffee, thanks," Julien decided. "If we are really going to spend +the evening visiting places of entertainment of a similar class, let us +reserve our coffee. A large cigar, I think." + +Kendricks sighed. + +"I hate to go. Mademoiselle opposite is pleased with me. I have made a +good impression upon madame. Monsieur is ready to extend to me the +right hand of fellowship. One of those pleasing little romances one +dreams about might here find a commencement. In a week's time I might +be accepted as a son-in-law of the house. I see all the signs of assent +already beaming in madame's eye. Perhaps we had better go, Julien!" + +They took their leave, not without the exchange of many smiles and bows +with the little family party they left behind. They walked slowly down +the room, arm in arm. + +"We were fortunate, you see, in our neighbors," Kendricks declared. +"There are Germans everywhere here. One is curious about these people. +One wonders how far they have imbibed the manners and customs of the +people among whom they live. Are they still absolutely and entirely +Teutons, do you suppose? Do they intermarry here, make friends, or do +they remain an alien element?" + +"To judge by appearances," Julien remarked, "they remain an alien +element. It is astonishing how seldom you see mixed parties of French +people and Germans here." + +"It is exactly to make observations upon that point that I am in +Paris," Kendricks asserted. "My people are curious. They want me to +watch and write about it. Do you know that there is a feeling in +London, Julien, that we are reaching the climax?" + +Julien nodded. + +"I can quite believe it," he replied. "Falkenberg seems to show every +desire to force our hand." + +"May the Lord deliver us from a Germanized Paris!" Kendricks prayed. +"They may have the Ritz, if they will, and the Elysées Palace. They may +have all the halls of fashion and gilt and wealth. They may swamp the +Pré Catelan and the Armenonville, so long as they leave us the real +Paris. Come, we take our coffee here. This is a German café, if you +like. Never mind, let us see if by chance any French people have +wandered in." + +They drank coffee at a little table in a huge building, hung with +tobacco smoke, with the inevitable band at one end, and crowded with +people. Kendricks smiled as the waiter brought them sugared cakes with +their coffee. + +"It is Germany," he declared. "Look! An odd Frenchman or two, perhaps; +no French women. Look at the hats, the women's faces. The hats looked +well enough in the shop-windows here. What an ignoble end for them! +From an aesthetic point of view, Julien, nothing is more terrible than +the domesticity of the German. If only he could be persuaded to leave +his wife at home! Think how much more attractive it would make these +places. He would have more money to spend upon himself, upon his own +beer and his own pretzels, and in time, no doubt, a lonely feeling, a +feeling of sentiment, would overpower him, and the vacant chair would +be filled by one of these vivacious little women who might teach him in +time that blood was meant to flow, not to ooze like mud." + +"I shall begin to think," Julien remarked, "that you don't like +Germans." + +"There you are wrong," Kendricks replied. "In their own country I like +them. They have all the good qualities. Germany for the Germans, I +should say always, and me for any other country. We have drunk our +coffee. Let us go." + +They passed on to a music-hall, where they listened to a mixed +performance and drank beer out of long glasses, served to them by a +distinctly Teutonic waiter. Greatly to Kendricks' annoyance, however, +they were surrounded by English and Americans, and were too tightly +packed in to change their seats. On the way out, however, he suddenly +beamed. + +"Behold!" he exclaimed. + +He swept his hat from his head. It was their companions at the dinner +table. Madame was pleased to remember him, also mademoiselle. + +"I shall invite them to supper," Kendricks declared. + +"If you do," Julien retorted, "I shall go home." + +Kendricks heaved a long sigh as he regretfully let them pass by. + +"It's just a touch of Oxford left in you," he complained. "For myself, +I know that madame would be excellent company, and I am perfectly +certain that mademoiselle would let me whisper--discreetly--in her ear. +Alas! it is a lost opportunity, and from here we go--to who knows +what?" + +He was suddenly serious. Julien looked at him in surprise. They were +standing on the pavement outside. Kendricks consulted his watch. + +"You have courage, I know, my friend," he said. "That is one reason why +I choose you for my companion to-night. I have two tickets for a German +socialist gathering here. The tickets were obtained with extraordinary +difficulty. I know that your German is pure and I can trust to my own. +From this minute, not a word in any other language, if you please." + +"I am really not sure," Julien objected, "that I want to go to a German +socialist meeting. In any case, I am hungry." + +"Hungry!" Kendricks exclaimed. "Hungry! What ingratitude! But be calm, +my friend," he added, taking Julien's arm, "there will be sausages and +beer where we are going." + +"In that case," Julien agreed, "I am with you. Which way?" + +"Almost opposite us," Kendricks declared. "Come along." + +They paused outside a brilliantly lit café with a German name. Julien +looked at it doubtfully. + +"Surely they don't hold meetings in a place like this?" he muttered. + +Kendricks lowered his voice. + +"We go into the café first," he said. "The meeting is in a private +room. Come." + +They pushed open the swinging doors and entered the place. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +A MEETING OF SOCIALISTS + + +The _brasserie_ into which the two men pushed their way was +smaller and less ornate than the one which they had last visited. Many +of the tables, too, were laid for supper. The tone of the place was +still entirely Teutonic. Kendricks and his companion seated themselves +at a table. + +"You will eat sausage?" Kendricks asked. + +"I will eat anything," Julien replied. + +"It is better," Kendricks remarked. "Here from the first we may be +watched. We are certainly observed. Be sure that you do not let fall a +single word of English. It might be awkward afterwards." + +"It's a beastly language," Julien declared, "but the beer and sausages +help. How many of the people here will be at the meeting?" + +"Not a hundredth part of them," Kendricks answered. "It was a terrible +job to get these tickets and I wouldn't like to guarantee now that we +have them that we get there. Remember, if any questions are asked, +you're an American, the editor or envoy of _The Coming Age._" + +"The dickens I am!" Julien exclaimed. "Where am I published?" + +"In New York; you're a new issue." + +Julien ate sausages and bread and butter steadily for several minutes. + +"To me," he announced, "there is something more satisfying about a meal +of this description than that two-franc dinner where you stole my +chicken." + +"You have Teutonic instincts, without a doubt," Kendricks declared, +"but after all, why not a light dinner and an appetite for supper? +Better for the digestion, better for the pocket, better for passing the +time. What are you staring at?" + +Julien was looking across the room with fixed eyes. + +"I was watching a man who has been sitting at a small table over +there," he remarked. "He has just gone out through that inner door. For +a moment I could have sworn that it was Carl Freudenberg." + +Kendricks shook his head. + +"Mr. Carl Freudenberg takes many risks, but I do not think he would +care to show himself here." + +"It is no crime that he is in Paris," Julien objected. + +"In a sense it is," Kendricks said. "These incognito visits of his must +soon cease if they were talked too much about. Then there is another +thing. This café is the headquarters of German socialism in Paris, and +Herr Freudenberg is the sworn enemy of socialists. He fights them with +an iron hand, wherever he comes into contact with them. This is a +law-abiding place, without a doubt, and the Germans as a rule are a +law-abiding people, but I would not feel quite sure that he would leave +unmolested if he were recognized here at this minute." + +"You think he knows that?" Julien asked. + +"Knows it!" Kendricks replied scornfully. "There is nothing goes on in +Paris that he does not know. He peers into every nook and corner of the +city. He knows the feelings of the aristocrats, of the bourgeoisie, of +the official classes. Not only that, he knows their feelings towards +England, towards the Triple Alliance, towards Russia. He never seems to +ask questions, he never forgets an answer. He is a wonderful man, in +short; but I do not think that you will see him here to-night." + +The long hand of the clock pointed toward midnight. Kendricks called +for the bill and paid it. + +"We go this way," he announced, "through the billiard rooms." + +They left the café by the swing-door to which Julien had pointed, +passed through a crowded billiard room, every table of which was in +use, down a narrow corridor till they came face to face with a closed +door, on which was inscribed "Number 12." Kendricks knocked softly and +it was at once opened. There was another door a few yards further on, +and between the two a very tall doorkeeper and a small man in +spectacles. + +"Who are you?" the doorkeeper demanded gruffly. + +Kendricks produced his tickets. The tall man, however, did not move. He +scrutinized them, word for word. Then he scrutinized the faces of the +two men. Kendricks he seemed inclined to pass, but he looked at Julien +for long, and in a puzzled manner. + +"Of what nationality is your friend?" he asked Kendricks. + +"I am an American," Julien replied. + +"And your profession?" + +"A newspaper editor. I edit _The Coming Age_." + +"This is not altogether in order," the tall man declared. "The meeting +which we are holding to-night is not one in which the Press is +interested. We are here to discuss one man, and one man only. I do not +think that you would hear anything you could print, and as you do not +belong to our direct association here I think it would be better if you +did not enter." + +Kendricks stood his ground, however. + +"I must appeal," he said, "to your secretary." + +The little man in spectacles came forward. Kendricks stated his case +with much indignation. + +"Here am I," he announced, "editor of the only socialist paper in +London worthy of the title. I come over because I hear of this meeting. +I bring with me my American friend, the editor of _The Coming +Age_. For no other reason have we visited Paris than for this. If +you refuse us admission to this meeting, the whole of the English +branch will consider it an insult." + +"And the American," Julien put in firmly. + +The two men whispered together. The taller one, still grumbling, stood +on one side. + +"Pass in," he directed. "It is not strictly in order, but our secretary +permits." + +The two men passed on. The room in which they found themselves was a +small one and there were not more than fifty people present. It was +very dimly lit and they could barely make out the forms of the row of +men who were sitting upon chairs upon the platform. They contented +themselves with seats quite close to the door. No drinks were being +served here. Although one or two men were smoking, the general aspect +seemed to be one of stern and serious intensity. A man upon the +platform was just finishing speaking as they entered, and he apparently +called upon some one else. A large and heavy German stood up on the +centre of the slightly raised stage. He wore shapeless clothes and +horn-rimmed spectacles. His face was benevolent. He had a double chin +and a soft voice. + +"My brothers," he said, "at these our meetings we have many things to +discuss. We have little time to waste. Why beat about the bush? I am +here to speak to you of the greatest enemy our cause has in the +world--Prince Adolf Rudolf von Falkenberg." + +He paused. There was an ugly little murmur through the room. It was +very easy indeed to understand that the man whose name had been +mentioned was unpopular. + +"The cause of socialism," the speaker continued, "is the one cause we +all have at heart. In our Fatherland it flourishes, but it flourishes +slowly. The reason that we are denied our just and legitimate triumphs +is simply owing to the vigorous opposition, the brutal enmity, of +Prince Adolf Rudolf von Falkenberg. My brothers, this man has been +warned. His only answer has been a fresh and more diabolical measure. +He fights us everywhere with the fierceness of a man who hates his +enemy. It is our duty, brethren, that we do not see our cause retarded +by the enmity of any one man. Therefore, it is my business to say to +you to-night that that man should be removed." + +There was a murmur of voices, one clearer than the others. + +"But how?" + +The man on the platform adjusted his spectacles. + +"My brother asks how? I will tell him. Falkenberg loves war. We others +hate it. We work always to infuse throughout the army our own +principles and theories. Falkenberg falls upon them with all his might +and main. There are orders posted in every barracks in Germany. Our +literature is confiscated. Any man preaching our doctrines is drummed +out upon the streets. I say that these things cannot last. I say that +Falkenberg must go. A friend in the audience has asked how. I will +answer you. There is a body of men whose beliefs are somewhat similar +to ours, but who go further. It is possible they see the truth. But for +us at present it is not possible to accept their general principles. +This case is an exception. The anarchists of Berlin, one of whom, Franz +Kuzman, is here to-night, will dispose of Falkenberg for us if we +provide sufficient funds to make an escape possible, and an annuity for +the executioner should he live, or for his wife should he die." + +There was a slow, ominous murmur of voices. The fat man on the platform +beamed at everybody. + +"Kuzman is here upon the platform," he announced. "Does any one wish to +hear him?" + +Kuzman stood up--an awkward, rawboned, dark-featured man. In a coat +that was too short for him, he stood rather like a puppet upon the +platform. + +"If you delegates of the socialist societies decide that it is just," +he said, in a hoarse, unpleasant tone, "I am willing to see that +Falkenberg meets his reward. I can say no more. I do not fail. I move +against no one save those who deserve death and against whom the death +sentence has been pronounced. But when I do move, that man dies." + +He resumed his seat. The fat man went on. + +"Is it your wish," he asked, "that Kuzman be authorized by you to +arrange this affair?" + +The murmur of voices was scarcely intelligible. + +"Into the hands of every one of you," the fat man continued, "will be +placed a strip of paper. You will write upon it 'Yes' or 'No.' Kuzman +will be instructed according to your verdict." + +Some one on the platform bustled around. Kendricks and Julien were both +supplied with the long strips. In a few minutes these were collected. +The man upon the platform turned up the lights a little higher. He drew +a small table towards him and began sorting out the papers into two +heaps. One was obviously much larger than the other. Towards the end he +came across a slip, however, at which he paused. He read it with +knitted brows, half rose to his feet and stopped. Then he went on with +his counting. Presently he got up. + +"My brothers," he said, "there are forty-two papers here. Of these, +thirty-five agree to the appointment of Kuzman for the purpose we have +spoken of. Six are against it. One paper I will read to you. The writer +has not troubled to put 'Yes' or 'No.' This is what I find: + +"Falkenberg has served his Emperor and his country to the whole extent +of his will and his capacity. He has given his life to make his country +great. If he has been stern upon the cause of socialism, it is because +he does not believe that socialism, as it is at present preached, is +good for Germany. I vote, therefore, that Falkenberg live. + +"We desire to know," the speaker continued, "who wrote those words. +They do not sound like the words of one of our delegates. Johann and +Hesler, stand by the door. Turn up the lights. Let us see exactly who +there is here to-night, unknown to us." + +There was a little murmur. A man who sat only three or four places off +from Kendricks and Julien rose silently to his feet and moved towards +the door. It was as yet locked, however. From the other end of the room +the lights were suddenly heightened. The faces of the men were now +distinctly visible. A light in the body of the hall flared up. A man +was discovered with his hand upon the door handle. There was a hoarse +murmur of voices. + +"Who is he? Hold fast of the door! Let no one pass out!" + +The man turned quickly round. The light flashed upon his face. Julien +was the first to recognize him and he gripped Kendricks by the arm. + +"My God!" he muttered, "it's Falkenberg himself! Who is the man with +the key?" + +Kendricks pointed to him. They crept closer. Then that hoarse murmur of +voices turned suddenly into a low, passionate cry. + +"Falkenberg! Falkenberg himself!" + +The toymaker made no further attempt at concealment. He drew himself up +and faced them. They were creeping towards him now from all corners of +the room--an ugly-looking set of men, men with an ugly purpose in their +faces. + +"Yes, I am Falkenberg!" he cried. "I am here to spy upon you, if you +will. Why not? Kill me, if you choose, but I warn you that if you do +the whole of Germany will rise against you and your cause." + +"Don't let him escape!" some one shouted from the platform. + +"Gag him!" + +"It is fate!" + +"He is ours!" + +"A rope!" + +There was no mistaking the feeling of the men. Julien whispered swiftly +in Kendricks' ear. Simultaneously his right arm shot out. The man who +guarded the door felt his neck suddenly twisted back. Kendricks +snatched the key from his hand and thrust it in the lock. Some one +struck him a violent blow on the head. He reeled, but was still able to +turn the key. They came then with a howl from all parts of the room. +Julien felt a storm of blows. Falkenberg, with one swoop of his long +arm, disposed of their nearest assailant. + +"Get off, man," Kendricks ordered. "You first!" + +The door was wide open now. They half stumbled, half fell into the +outer café. The orchestra stopped playing, people rose to their feet. +Before they well knew what was happening, Falkenberg had slipped +through their midst and passed out of the door. One of the pursuers, +with a howl of rage, sprang after him, but he tripped against an +abutting marble table and fell. Kendricks and Julien stepped quietly to +one side, threading their way among the throng of customers in the +cafe. Loud voices shouted for an explanation. + +"It was a pickpocket," some one called out from among those who came +streaming from the room,--"a tall man with a wound on the forehead. Did +no one see him?" + +They all looked towards the door. + +"He passed out so swiftly," they murmured. + +Several of them had already reached the door of the café and were +rushing down the street in the direction which Falkenberg had taken. + +"There were two others," a grim voice shouted from behind. + +A waiter, who had seen the two men sit down, looked doubtfully towards +them. Kendricks pushed a note into his hand. + +"Serve us with something quickly," he begged. + +The man pocketed the note and set before them the beer which he was +carrying. Kendricks, whose knuckles were bleeding, laid his hand under +the table. Julien took a long drink of the beer and began to recover +his breath. + +"So far," he declared, "I have found your evening with the masses a +little boisterous." + +Kendricks laughed. + +"Wait till my hand has stopped bleeding," he said, "and we will slip +out. That was a narrow escape for Falkenberg. What a pluck the fellow +must have!" + +"It seems almost like a foolhardy risk," Julien muttered. "If those +fellows could have got at him, they'd have killed him. Have they gone +back to their room, I wonder? Let us hear what the people say about the +affair." + +"What was the disturbance?" he asked. + +The man shrugged his shoulders. + +"It was a meeting in one of the private rooms of the café," he +declared, "a meeting of some society. They were taking a vote when they +discovered a pickpocket. He bolted out of the room. They say that he +has got away." + +"Did he steal much?" Julien inquired. + +The man shook his head. + +"A watch and chain, or something of the sort," he told them. "The +excitement is all over now. The gentlemen have gone back to their +meeting." + +Julien smiled and finished his beer. + +"Is our evening at an end, Kendricks?" he asked. + +Kendricks shook his head. + +"Not quite," he replied, binding his handkerchief around his knuckles. +"If you are ready, there is just one other call we might make." + +"More German _brasseries_?" + +Kendricks smiled grimly. + +"Not to-night. We climb once more the hill. We pay our respects to +Monsieur Albert." + +"The Rat Mort?" + +"Exactly!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +AN OFFER + + +Kendricks, as they entered the café, recognized his friends with joy +openly expressed. + +"It is fate!" he exclaimed, striking a dramatic attitude. + +"It is the gentleman who ate both portions of chicken!" mademoiselle +cried. + +"It is the gallant Englishman of the Café Helder," madame laughed, her +double chin becoming more and more evident. + +"And yonder, in the corner, sits Mademoiselle Ixe," Kendricks whispered +to Julien. "For whom does she wait, I wonder?". + +"For Herr Freudenberg?" suggested Julien. + +"For Herr Freudenberg, let us pray," Kendricks replied. + +The husband of madame, the father of mademoiselle, the rightly +conceived future papa-in-law-to-be of the attendant young man, rose to +his feet in response to a kick from his wife. + +"If monsieur is looking for a table," he suggested, "there is room here +adjoining ours. It will incommode us not in the slightest." + +"Of all places in the room," Kendricks declared, with a bow, "the most +desirable, the most charming. Madame indeed permits--and mademoiselle?" + +There were more bows, more pleasant speeches. A small additional table +was quickly brought. Kendricks ignored the more comfortable seat by +Julien's side and took a chair with his back to the room. From here he +leaned over and conversed with his new friends. He started flirting +with mademoiselle, he paid compliments to madame, he suddenly plunged +into politics with monsieur. Julien listened, half in amusement, half +in admiration. For Kendricks was not talking idly. + +"A man of affairs, monsieur," Kendricks proclaimed himself to be. "My +interest in both countries, madame," he continued, knowing well that +she, too, loved to talk of the affairs, "is great. I am one of those, +indeed, who have benefited largely by this delightful alliance." + +Alliance! Monsieur smiled at the word. Kendricks protested. + +"But what else shall we call it, dear friends?" he argued. "Are we not +allied against a common foe? The exact terms of the _entente_, +what does it matter? Is it credible that England would remain idle +while the legions of Germany overran this country?" + +Monsieur was becoming interested. So was madame. It was madame who +spoke--one gathered that it was usual! + +"What, then," she demanded, "would England do?" + +"She would come to the aid of your charming country, madame." + +"But how?" madame persisted pertinently. + +Kendricks was immediately fluent. He talked in ornate phrases of the +resources of the British Empire, the perfection of her fleet, the +wonder of her new guns. Julien, who knew him well, was amazed not only +at his apparent earnestness, but at his insincerity. He was speaking +well and with a wealth of detail which was impressive enough. His +little company of new friends were listening to him with marked +attention; Julien alone seemed conscious that they were listening to a +man who was speaking against his own convictions. + +"Monsieur! Monsieur Julien!" + +It was the voice of Mademoiselle Ixe. She was leaning slightly forward +in her place. Julien turned quickly around and she motioned him to a +seat by her side. He rose at once and accepted her invitation. + +"I do not disturb you?" she asked. "It seemed to me that your friend +was talking with those strange people there and that you were not very +much interested. It is dull when one sits here alone." + +"Naturally," Julien agreed. "My friend talks politics, and for my part +it is very certain that I would sooner talk of other things with +mademoiselle." + +She was a born flirt--a matter of nationality as well as temperament, +and not to be escaped--and her eyes flashed the correct reply. But a +moment later she was gazing wistfully at the door. + +"You expect Herr Freudenberg?" Julien inquired. + +"I cannot tell," she replied. "I must not say that I am expecting him +because he did not ask me to meet him here. But I thought, perhaps, +that he might come--so I risked it. I was restless to-night. I do not +sing this week because Herr Freudenberg is in Paris, and without any +occupation it is hard to control the thoughts. I sat at home until I +could bear it no longer. _Eh bien!_ I sent for a little carriage +and I ventured here. There is a chance that he may come." + +"Mademoiselle permits that I offer her some supper?" Julien suggested. + +She hesitated and glanced at the clock. + +"You are very kind, Sir Julien," she answered. "I have waited because I +have thought that there was a chance that he might come, and to sup +alone is a drear thing. If monsieur really--Ah! Behold! After all, it +is he! It is he who comes. What happiness!" + +It was indeed Herr Freudenberg who had mounted the stairs and was +yielding now his coat to the attentive _vestiaire_--Herr +Freudenberg, unruffled and precisely attired in evening clothes. He +showed not the slightest signs of his recent adventure. He chatted +gayly to Albert and waved his hand to mademoiselle. He came towards +them with a smile upon his face, walking lightly and with the footsteps +of a young man. Yet mademoiselle shivered, her lip drooped. + +"He is not pleased," she murmured. "I have done wrong." + +There was nothing apparent to others in Herr Freudenberg's manner to +justify her conviction. He raised her fingers to his lips with charming +gayety. + +"Dear Marguerite," he exclaimed, "this is indeed a delightful surprise! +And Sir Julien, too! I am enchanted. Once more let us celebrate. Let us +sup. I am in time, eh?" + +"With me, if you please," Julien insisted, taking up the menu. + +Herr Freudenberg smiled genially. + +"Host or guest, who cares so long as we are joyous?" he cried, sitting +on mademoiselle's other side. "Although to-night," he added, with a +humorous glance at Julien, "it should surely be I who entertains! Dear +Marguerite!" + +He patted her hand. She looked at him pathetically and he smiled back +again. + +"Be happy, my child," he begged. "It is gone, that little twinge. It +was perhaps jealousy," he whispered in her ear. "Sir Julien has +captured many hearts." + +She drew a sigh of content. She raised his hand to her lips. Then she +dabbed at her eyes with the few inches of perfumed lace which she +called a handkerchief. It was passing, that evil moment. + +"There is no man in the world," she told him softly, "who should be +able to make you jealous. In your heart you know." + +He laughed lightly. + +"You will make me vain, dear one. Give me your little fingers to hold +for a moment. There--it is finished." + +He looked around the room with the light yet cheerful curiosity of the +pleasure-seeker. Then he leaned over towards Julien. + +"What does our shock-headed friend the journalist do in that company?" +he asked, with a backward motion of his head. + +Julien smiled. + +"He is devoted to madame with the double chin. He is apparently also +devoted to mademoiselle, the daughter of madame with the double chin. +He is contemplating, I believe, an alliance with the bourgeoisie." + +Herr Freudenberg watched the group for a moment with a slight frown. + +"They are types," he said under his breath, "absolute types. Kendricks +is studying them, without a doubt." + +He continued his scrutiny of the room. Then he leaned towards +mademoiselle. + +"Dear Marguerite!" + +"Yes?" + +"There is Mademoiselle Soupelles there," he pointed out, "sitting with +an untidy-looking man in a morning coat and a red tie. You see them?" + +"But certainly," mademoiselle agreed. "They are together always. It is +an alliance, that." + +"It would please me," Herr Freudenberg continued, still speaking almost +under his breath, "to converse with the companion of Mademoiselle +Soupelles. From you, dear Marguerite, I conceal nothing. I made no +appointment with you to-night because it was my intention to speak with +that person, and I could not tell where he would be. All has happened +fortunately. We spend our evening together, after all. See what you can +do to help me. Go and talk to your friend, Mademoiselle Soupelles. +Bring them here if you can. Sir Julien thinks he is ordering the +supper, but he is too late; I ordered it from Albert as I entered." + +Mademoiselle rose at once and shook out her skirts. She kissed her hand +across the room to her friend. + +"I go to speak to her," she promised. "What I can do I will. You know +that, dear one. But he is a strange-looking man, this companion of +hers. You know who he is? His name is Jesen. If I were Susanne, I would +see to it that he was more _comme-il-faut_." + +Herr Freudenberg laughed. + +"Never mind his appearance," he said. "He can drive the truth into the +hearts of this people as swiftly and as surely as any man who ever took +up a pen. Bring him here, little sweetheart, and to-morrow we visit +Cartier together." + +She glanced at him almost reproachfully. + +"As if that mattered!" she murmured, as she glided away. + +Julien turned discontentedly to his companion. + +"This fellow will take no order from me," he objected. "Do you own this +place, Herr Freudenberg, that you must always be obeyed here?" + +"By no means," Herr Freudenberg replied. "To-night is an exception. I +ordered supper as I entered. You see, there are others whom I may ask +to join. You shall have your turn when you will and I will be a very +submissive guest, but to-night--well, I have even at this moment +charged mademoiselle with a message to her friend and her friend's +companion. I have begged them to join us. On these nights I like +company--plenty of company!" + +"In that case, perhaps," Julien suggested, "I may be _de trop_." + +Freudenberg laid his hand upon his companion's shoulder. + +"My friend," he said earnestly, "it is not for you to talk like that, +to-night of all nights. If I say little, it is because we are both men +of few words, and I think that we understand. You know very well what +you and your shock-headed friend have done for me. Not that I believe," +he went on, "that it would ever come to me to be hounded to death by +such a gang. I am too fervent a believer in my own star for that. But +one never knows. It is well, anyhow, to escape with a sound skin." + +"Why did you run such a risk?" Julien asked him. + +"Partly," Freudenberg answered, "because I was really curious to know +what those fellows were driving at; and partly," he added, "because, +alas! I am possessed of that restless spirit, that everlasting craving +for adventures, which drives one on into any place where life stirs. I +knew that these people were plotting something against me. I wanted to +hear it with my own ears, to understand exactly what it was against +which I must be prepared. But now, Sir Julien, I question you. As for +me, my presence there was reasonable enough; but what were you doing in +such a place? What interests have you in German socialism?" + +Julien shrugged his shoulders. + +"I cannot say that I have any," he admitted. "It was Kendricks who took +me. He is showing me Paris--Paris from his own point of view. He took me +first to a restaurant, where we dined for two francs and sat at the +same table with those people to whom he is now making himself so +agreeable. Kendricks has democratic instincts. His latest fad is to try +and instil them into me." + +Herr Freudenberg looked thoughtfully across at the journalist, still +deep in argument with his friends. + +"I am not sure that I understand that man," he declared. "In a sense he +impresses me. I should have put him down as one of those who do nothing +without a set and fixed purpose. But enough of other people. Listen. I +wish to speak with you--of yourself. I am glad that we have met +to-night. I have another and altogether a different proposition to make +to you." + +Julien remained silent for several moments. Herr Freudenberg watched +him. + +"A proposition to make to me," Julien repeated at last. "Well, let me +hear it?" + +Herr Freudenberg leaned towards him. + +"Sir Julien," he said, "there has happened to you, as to many of us, a +little slip in your life. It is a wise thing if for a few months you +pass off the stage of European affairs. You are of an adventurous +spirit. Will you undertake a commission for me? Listen. I will +guarantee that it is something which does not, and could not ever, by +any chance, affect in the slightest degree the interests of your +country. It is a commission which will take you a year to execute, and +it will lead you into a new land. It will require tact, diplomacy and +some courage. If you succeed, your reward will be an income for life. +If you fail, the worst that can happen to you is that you will have +passed a year of your life without effective result. Still, you will at +least have traveled, you will at least have seen new phases of life." + +Julien was puzzled. + +"You cannot seriously propose to me," he protested, "to undertake a +diplomatic errand for a country which has absolutely no claims upon +me--to which I am not even attracted?" he added. + +Herr Freudenberg tapped with his forefinger upon the table. Upon his +lips was a genial and tolerant smile. He had the air of a preceptor +devoting special pains upon the most backward member of his +kindergarten class. + +"My friend," he said, "there is no political question involved +whatever. The mission which I ask you to undertake would lead you into +a remote part of Africa, where neither your country nor mine has at +present any interests. More than this I cannot tell you unless you show +signs of accepting my invitation. The negotiations which you would have +to conduct are simply these. Four years ago a distinguished German +scientist who was in command of a somewhat rash expedition, was +captured by the ruler of the country to which I wish you to travel. For +some time the question of a mission to ascertain his fate has been upon +the carpet. It is true that we have received letters from him. He +professes to be happy and contented, to have been kindly treated, and +to have accepted a post in the army of his captor. We wish to know +whether these letters are genuine or not. If they are genuine, all is +well, but a suspicion still remains among some of us that the person in +question is being held in torture as an example to other white men who +might penetrate so far. This is the first object in the journey which I +propose to you. There is nothing political about it at all, as you +perceive. It is purely a matter of humanity.... Ah! I see that our +party is to be increased. Here are some new friends who arrive." + +Mademoiselle Ixe had succeeded. She returned now to her place, followed +by the girl with the chestnut-colored hair and her companion. At close +quarters the latter, at any rate, was scarcely prepossessing. He was a +man of middle age, untidily dressed, whose clothes were covered with +cigar ash and recent wine stains, whose linen was none of the cleanest, +and whose eyes behind his pince-nez were already bloodshot. Herr +Freudenberg, however, seemed to notice none of these unpleasant +defects. He grasped him vigorously by the hand. + +"It is Monsieur Jesen!" he exclaimed. "Often you have been pointed out +to me, and I have long wished to have the pleasure of making your +acquaintance. Sit down and join us, monsieur. Your little friend, +too,--ah, mademoiselle!" + +He bent low over the girl's hand and placed a seat for her. The party +was now arranged. Their host beamed upon them all. + +"Come," he continued, "this is perhaps my last night in Paris for some +time! We have had adventures, too, within these few hours. You find us +celebrating. My English friend here is one of us. I will not introduce +him by name. Why should we trouble about names? We are all friends, all +good fellows, here to pass the time agreeably, to drink good wine, to +look into beautiful eyes, mademoiselle, to amuse ourselves. It is the +science of life, that. Monsieur Jesen, mademoiselle, dear Marguerite, +my English friend here, let me be sure that your glasses are filled. To +the very brim, garçon--to the very brim! Let us drink together to the +joyous evenings of the past, to the joyous evenings of the future, to +these few present hours that lie before us when we shall sit here and +taste further this very admirable vintage. To the wine we drink, to the +lips we love, to this hour of life!" + +For the moment there was no more serious conversation. Herr Freudenberg +had started a vein of frivolity to which every one there was quick to +respond. Only every now and then he himself, the giver of the feast, +had suddenly the look of a different man as he sat and whispered in the +ear of Monsieur Jesen. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + +FALKENBERG ACTS + + +At two o'clock, with obvious reluctance, Kendricks' new friends +departed. Their leave-taking was long and ceremonious. Kendricks, +indeed, insisted upon escorting mademoiselle to the door. Madame left +the place with the assured conviction that a prospective son-in-law was +soon to present himself--it could be for no other reason that the +English gentleman had so sedulously attached himself to their party. +Monsieur, having less sentiment, was not so sure. Mademoiselle had both +hopes and fears. They discussed the matter fully on their homeward +drive. + +Kendricks strolled over to the table where Julien was and touched him +on the shoulder. + +"Is this to be another all-night sitting?" he asked. + +Herr Freudenberg was deep in conversation with Monsieur Jesen--the +friend of mademoiselle's friend. He glanced up, but his greeting was +almost perfunctory. Kendricks looked keenly at the man who was leaning +back in his padded seat. The eyes of Monsieur Jesen were a little more +bloodshot now. He had spilt wine down the front of his waistcoat, cigar +ash upon his coat-sleeve. He was by no means an inviting person to look +at. Yet about his forehead and mouth there was an expression of power. +Herr Freudenberg, with obvious regret, abandoned his conversation for a +moment. + +"You are taking your friend away?" he remarked suavely. "We shall part +from him with regret. Sir Julien," he added, whispering in his ear, "I +must have your answer to my proposition. I will put it into absolutely +definite shape, if you like, within the next few days." + +"I move into my old rooms--number 17, Rue de Montpelier--to-morrow +morning, or rather this morning," Julien replied. "You might telephone +or call there at any time." + +"Tell me, is what I have proposed in any way attractive to you?" Herr +Freudenberg asked, still speaking in an undertone. + +"In a sense it is," Julien answered. "It needs further consideration, +of course. I must also consult my friend." + +Herr Freudenberg glanced at Kendricks and shrugged his shoulders. He +had the air of one slightly annoyed. Kendricks was bending over +Mademoiselle Ixe. Herr Freudenberg whispered in Julien's ear. + +"You take too much advice from your boisterous friend, dear Sir +Julien," he asserted. "Mark my words, he will try to keep you here, +cooling your heels upon the mat. He will prevent you from raising your +hand to knock upon the door of destiny. These men who write are like +that. They do not understand action." + +Kendricks turned from mademoiselle. + +"You are ready, Julien?" he asked. + +"Quite," Julien answered. + +They made their adieux. Herr Freudenberg watched them leave the room. +The man by his side--Monsieur Jesen--also watched a little curiously. + +"An English journalist," Herr Freudenberg remarked, "some say a man of +ability. I find him a trifle boisterous and uncouth. Monsieur Jesen, +our conversation interests me immensely. I feel sure--" + +Jesen looked suspiciously around. + +"We have talked enough of business," he declared. "It is an idea, this +of yours. For the rest, I cannot tell. A wonderful idea!" he continued. +"And as for me, am I not the man to embrace it?" + +"You have but to say a single word," Herr Freudenberg reminded him +softly, "and all is arranged." + +Monsieur Jesen puffed furiously at a cigarette. The fingers which had +held the match to it were shaking. The man himself seemed unsteady on +his seat. Yet it was obvious that his brain was working. + +"Herr Freudenberg," he said, "there is but one weak point in all your +chain of arguments. To do as you ask, it will be necessary that I--I, +Paul Jesen, so well-known, whose opinions are followed by millions of +my country people--it would be necessary for me to abandon my +convictions, to turn a right-about-face. Ask yourself, is it not like +selling one's honor when one writes the things one does not believe?" + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. + +"My friend, you ask me a question the reply to which is already spoken. +I tell you that behind, at the back of your brain, you know and realize +the truth of all these things. Think, man! Call to mind the arguments I +have used. Remember, I have lifted the curtain, I have shown you the +things that arrive, the things that are inevitable." + +Mademoiselle, the companion of Monsieur Jesen, had had enough of this. +It was her weekly holiday. She yawned and tapped her friend upon the +arm. + +"My dear Paul," she protested, "while you and Herr Freudenberg talk as +two men who have immense affairs, Marguerite and I we weary ourselves. +If I am to be alone like this, very good. I speak to my friends. There +is Monsieur de Chaussin there. He throws me a kiss. Do you wish that I +sit with him? He looks, indeed, as though he had plenty to say! Or +there is the melancholy Italian gentleman, who raises his glass always +when I look. And the two Americans--" + +"You have reason, little one," Monsieur Jesen interrupted. "Herr +Freudenberg, this is no place for such a discussion." + +"Agreed!" Herr Freudenberg exclaimed. "We owe our apologies to +mademoiselle, your charming friend, and mademoiselle, my adored +companion," he added, turning to Marguerite. "Come, let us drink more +wine. Let us talk together. What is your pleasure, mademoiselle, the +friend of my good friend, Monsieur Jesen? Will you have them dance to +us? Is there music to which you would listen? Or shall we pray +Marguerite here that she sings? Let us, at any rate, be gay. And for +the rest, Monsieur Jesen, time has no count for us who live our lives. +When we leave here, you and I will talk more." + +It was daylight before they left. The whole party got into Herr +Freudenberg's motor. + +"I drive you first to your rooms, Monsieur Jesen," he said. "I take +then the liberty of entering with you. The little conversation which we +have begun is best concluded within the shelter of four walls." + +Monsieur Jesen was excited yet nervous. + +"It is too late," he muttered, "to talk business." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. + +"Ah!" he cried, "you jest, my friend. Look out of that window. You see +the sunshine in the streets, you breathe the fresh, clear air? Too +late, indeed! It is morning, and the brain is keenest then. Don't you +feel the fumes of the hot room, of the wine, of the tobacco smoke, all +pass away with the touch of that soft wind?" + +Monsieur Jesen stared. He was conscious of a very bad headache, an +uncomfortable sense that he had, as usual on his weekly holiday, eaten +and drunk and smoked a great deal more than was good for him. He gazed +with wonder at this tall, spare-looking man, who had drunk as much and +smoked as much and eaten as much as any one else, and yet appeared +exactly as he had done four hours ago. Even his linen was still +spotless. His eyes were bright, his manner buoyant. + +"Monsieur," he murmured, "you are marvelous. I have never before met a +German merchant like you." + +Herr Freudenberg sat quite still for a moment. He looked at +mademoiselle, the friend of Monsieur Jesen, and he realized that theirs +was no casual acquaintance. In both he recognized the characteristics +of fidelity. As he had always the genius to do, he took his risks. + +"Monsieur Jesen," he announced, "I am no German maker of toys. Let me +ascend with you to your room and you shall hear who I am and why I have +said these things to you." + +Monsieur Jesen held his hand to his head. Something in the manner of +this new friend of his was, in a sense, mesmeric. + +"You shall ascend, monsieur," he said. "I do not know who you are, but +you are evidently a very wonderful person. We will ascend and you shall +wait while I place my head in cold water and Susanne mixes me some +absinthe. Then I will listen." + +The automobile came to a standstill about halfway down a shabby street +in a somewhat shabby neighborhood. Herr Freudenberg noticed this fact +without change of countenance, but with secret pleasure. He turned to +Marguerite. + +"Dear Marguerite," he whispered, "for an hour or so I must leave you. +You will permit that my man takes you to your apartments and returns +for me here?" + +"May I not wait for you here in the automobile?" she asked timidly. + +Herr Freudenberg shook his head kindly. + +"Dear little one," he murmured, "not this morning. Indeed, I have +important affairs on hand. As soon as I am free, I will telephone. +Sleep well, little girl." + +He stepped out on to the pavement. The postern door in front of them +was opened, in response to Monsieur Jesen's vigorous knocking, from +some invisible place by a string. The three of them climbed four +flights of rickety stairs. They reached at last a stone landing. +Monsieur Jesen threw open a door and led the way into an untidy-looking +salon. + +"Monsieur will forgive the fact," he begged, "that I am not better +housed. If it were not for little Susanne here," he added, patting her +upon the shoulder, "I doubt whether I should keep a roof above my head +at all." + +"It is not like this," Herr Freudenberg declared, "that genius should +be treated." + +"Indeed," Mademoiselle Susanne intervened, "it is what I tell him +always. Monsieur, they pay him but a beggarly three hundred francs a +month--he, who writes all the editorials; he, who is the spirit of the +papers! It is not fair. I tell dear Paul that it is wicked, and, as he +says, the money, if it were not for me, he would squander it in a +minute. I have even to go with him to the office, for there are many +who know when Paul draws his little cheque." + +Herr Freudenberg set down his hat upon the table. He looked around at +all the evidences of unclean and sordid life. Then he looked at the +man. It was a queer housing, this, for genius! His face remained +expressionless. Of the disgust he felt he showed no sign. In the +building of houses one must use many tools! + +"Monsieur Jesen," he said, "and mademoiselle--I speak to you both, for +I recognize that between you there is indeed a union of sympathy and +souls. Mademoiselle, then, I address myself to you. On certain terms I +have offered to purchase for Monsieur Paul here a two-thirds share of +the newspaper upon which he works, that two-thirds share which he and I +both know is in the market at this moment. I am willing at mid-day +to-morrow, or rather to-day, to place within his hands the sum +required. I am willing to send my notary with him to the office, and +the affair could be arranged at half-past twelve. From then he +practically owns _Le Jour_. Its politics are his to control. I +make him this offer, mademoiselle, and it is a greater one than it +sounds, for the money which I place in his hands to make this +purchase--five hundred thousand francs--is his completely and +absolutely. You move at once into apartments befitting your new +position. Monsieur Paul Jesen is no longer a struggling and ill-paid +journalist. He is the proprietor of an important journal, through whose +columns he shall help to guide the policy of your nation." + +Monsieur Jesen sat down. His fingers were clutching one another. +Mademoiselle stared at Herr Freudenberg. Her color was coming and +going. + +"Monsieur, I do not understand!" she cried. "Are you a prince in +disguise? Why do you do this?" + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg replied, "your question is the +question of an intelligent woman. Why do I do this? Not for nothing, I +assure you. It is my custom to make bargains, indeed, but I make them +so that those with whom I deal shall never regret the day they met Herr +Freudenberg. I offer you this splendid future, you and Monsieur Jesen +there, on one condition, and it is a small one, for already the truth +has found its way a little into his brain. _Le Jour_ has supported +always, wholly and entirely, the _entente_ between Great Britain +and your country. I have tried to point out to Paul Jesen here what all +far-seeing people must soon appreciate--that the _entente_ is +doomed." + +The girl glanced at Jesen. Jesen was looking away out of the dusty +window. + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg continued, "I will not weary you at +this hour in the morning with politics. I have talked long with +Monsieur Jesen and I think that I have shown him something of the +truth. You came to the rescue of Great Britain when she lay friendless +and powerless. You saved her prestige; you saved her, without doubt, +from invasion. What have you gained? Nothing! What can you ever gain? +Nothing! Her army of toy soldiers would be of less use to you than a +single corps from across the Elbe. Her fleet--you have no possessions +to guard. It is for herself only that she maintains it. I ask you to +think quietly for yourself and ask yourself on whose side is the +balance of advantage. You can reply to that question in one way, and +one way only. France has been carried away on a wave of enthusiasm, a +wave of sentiment--call it what you will. But France is a far-seeing +people. The moment is ripe. I propose to Paul Jesen that his should be +the hand and _Le Jour_ the vehicle which shall bring the French +people to a proper understanding of the political situation." + +"Who, then, are you?" Mademoiselle Susanne persisted. + +Herr Freudenberg barely hesitated. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "we speak of great things, we three, in this +little chamber of yours. I, who have often talked of great things +before, have learned in life one lesson at least, and that is when one +may trust. It is not my desire that many people should know who I am. +It suits my purpose better to move in Paris as a private citizen, but +to you two let me tell the truth. I am Prince Falkenberg." + +There was a silence. The man looked at him, sober enough now, in +amazement. The girl's hands were clasped together. She was watching the +man--her man. She crept to his side, her arm was around his neck. + +"Dear Paul," she whispered, "think! Think how sweet life might be. +There is so much truth in all this. I know little of politics, but +think of the hard times we have lived through. Think how glorious to +have you ride in your automobile to the offices of your newspaper, to +see you pass into the editor's sanctum instead of waiting outside, to +have me call for you, perhaps, and take you out to lunch--no, never at +Drevel's any more--at the Café de Paris, or Henry's, or Paillard's, or +out in the Bois! And the excursions, dear Paul. Think of them! The +country--how we both love the country! You remember when we first went +out together to the little town on the river, where no one ever seemed +to have come from Paris before? How sleepy and quiet the long +afternoon, when we lay in the grass and heard the birds sing, and the +murmur of the river, and we had only a few francs for our dinner, and +we had to leave the train and walk that last four miles because you had +drunk one more _bock_. Dear Paul, think what life might be if one +were really rich!" + +The man's eyes flashed. + +"It is true," he muttered. "All my life I have been a straggler." + +"You have done your genius an ill turn, my friend," Herr Freudenberg +said slowly. "No man can be at his best who knows care. I, Prince +Falkenberg, I promise you that it is the truth which I have spoken, the +truth which I shall show you. You lose no shadow of honor or +self-respect. There will come a day when the millions of readers whom +you shall influence will say to themselves--'Paul Jesen, he is the man +who saw the truth. It is he who has saved France.' You accept?" + +"Monsieur le Prince," Susanne cried, "he accepts!" + +Jesen rose to his feet. He had become a little unsteady again. He +struck the table with his fist. + +"I accept!" he declared. + + + + + + +BOOK TWO + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +THE FLIGHT OF LADY ANNE + + +It was exactly nine forty-five in the evening, about three weeks +later, when the two-twenty from London steamed into the Gare du Nord. +Julien, from his place among the little crowd wedged in behind the +gates, gazed with blank amazement at the girl who, among the first to +leave the train, was presenting her ticket to the collector. At that +moment she recognized him. With a purely mechanical effort he raised +his hat and held out his hand. + +"Lady Anne!" he exclaimed. "Why--I had no idea you were coming to +Paris," he added weakly. + +She laughed--the same frank, good-humored laugh, except that she seemed +to lack just a little of her usual self-possession. + +"Neither did I," she confessed, "until this morning." + +He looked at her blankly. She was carrying her own jewel-case. He could +see no signs of a maid or any party. + +"But tell me," he asked, "where are the rest of your people?" + +She shook her head. + +"Nowhere. I am quite alone." + +Julien was speechless. + +"You must really forgive me," he continued, after a moment's pause, "if +I seem stupid. It is scarcely a month ago since I read of your +engagement to Harbord. The papers all said that you were to be married +at once." + +She nodded. + +"That's exactly it," she said. "That's why I am here." + +"What, you mean that you are going to be married here?" asked Julien. + +"I am not going to be married at all," she replied cheerfully. "Between +ourselves, Julien," she added, "I found I couldn't go through with it." + +"Couldn't go through with it!" he repeated feebly. + +Lady Anne was beginning to recover herself. + +"Don't be stupid," she begged. "You used to be quick enough. Can't you +see what has happened? I became engaged to the little beast. I stood it +for three weeks. I didn't mind him at the other end of the room, but +when he began to talk about privileges and attempt to take liberties, I +found I couldn't bear the creature anywhere near me. Then all of a +sudden I woke up this morning and remembered that we were to be married +in a week. That was quite enough for me. I slipped out after lunch, +caught the two-twenty train, and here I am." + +"Exactly," Julien agreed. "Here you are." + +"With my luggage," she continued, swinging the jewel-case in her hand +and laughing in his face. + +"With your luggage," Julien echoed. "Seriously, is that all that you +have brought?" + +"Every bit," she answered. "You know mother?" + +"Yes, I know your mother!" he admitted. + +"Well, I didn't exactly feel like taking her into my confidence," Lady +Anne explained, smiling. "Under those circumstances, I thought it just +as well to make my departure as quietly as possible." + +"Then they don't know where you are?" + +"Really," she assured him, "you are becoming quite intelligent. They do +not." + +"In other words, you've run away?" + +"Marvelous!" she murmured. "I suppose it's the air over here." + +A sudden idea swept into Julien's mind. Of course, it was ridiculous, +yet for a moment his heart gave a little jump. Perhaps she divined his +thought, for her next words disposed of it effectually. + +"Of course, I knew that you were in Paris, but I had no idea that we +should meet, certainly not like this. I have a dear friend to whose +apartments I shall go at once. She is a milliner." + +"She is a what?" Julien asked blankly. + +A smile played about Lady Anne's lips. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "you know, you never did understand +me! I repeat that she is a milliner and that she is a dear friend of +mine, and I am going just as I am to tell her that I have come to spend +the night. She will have to find me rooms, she will have to help me +find employment." + +Kendricks, who had come by the same train, and whom Julien was there to +meet, was hovering in the background. Julien, seeing him, could do no +more than nod vaguely. + +"Lady Anne," he began,-- + +"You needn't bother about that," she interrupted. "We were always good +friends, weren't we?" she added carelessly. "Besides, to call me 'Lady' +anything would be rather ridiculous under the present circumstances." + +"Well, Anne, then," he said, "please let me get my bearings. I +understand that you were engaged to Harbord--you weren't forced into +it, I suppose?" + +"Not at all. I tried to run along the usual groove, but I came up +against something too big for me. I don't know how other girls do it. I +simply found I couldn't. Samuel Harbord is rather by way of being +something outrageous, you know." + +"Of course he is," Julien agreed, with sudden appreciation of the fact. + +"You needn't be so vigorous about it. I remember your almost forcing +him on to me the day you called to say good-bye." + +"I was talking rubbish," Julien asserted. "You see, I was in rather an +unfortunate position myself that day, wasn't I? No one likes to feel +like a discarded lover. I can understand your chucking Harbord all +right, but I can't quite see why it was necessary for you to run away +from home to come and stay with a little milliner." + +She laughed. + +"My dear Julien, you don't know those Harbords! There are hordes of +them, countless hordes--mothers and sisters and cousins and aunts. +They've besieged the place ever since our engagement was announced. If +the merest whisper were to get about among them that I was thinking of +backing out, there's nothing they wouldn't do. They'd make the whole +place intolerable for me--follow me about in the street, weep in my +bedroom, hang around the place morning, noon and night. Besides, mother +would be on their side and the whole thing would be impossible." + +"I have no doubt," Julien admitted, "that the situation would be a +trifle difficult, but to talk about earning your own living--you, Lady +Anne--" + +"Lady fiddlesticks!" she interrupted. "What a stupid old thing you are, +Julien! You never found out, I suppose, that at heart I am a Bohemian?" + +"No, I never did!" he assented vigorously. + +"Ah, well," she remarked, "you were too busy flirting with that Carraby +woman to discover all my excellent qualities. We mustn't stay here, +must we? Are you very busy, or do you want to drive me to my friend's +house? Of course, meeting you here will be the end of me if any one +sees us. Still, I don't suppose you object to a little scandal, and the +more I get the happier I shall be." + +"I'll take you anywhere," Julien promised. "You don't mind waiting +while I speak to the man whom I have come to meet?" + +"Not at all," she replied. "You are sure he won't object?" + +"Of course not," Julien assured her. "Kendricks is an awfully good +sort." + +The two men gripped hands. Kendricks was carrying his own bag and +smoking his accustomed pipe. He had apparently been asleep in the +carriage and was looking a little more untidy than usual. + +"I got your wire all right," Julien said, "and I am thundering glad to +see you. Are you just in search of the ordinary sort of copy, or is +there anything special doing?" + +"Something special," Kendricks answered, "and you're in it. When can we +talk? No hurry, as long as I see you some time to-night." + +"I am entirely at your service," Julien declared. "I have been bored to +death for the last few weeks and I am only too anxious to have a talk. +You don't mind if I see this young lady to her friend's house first? I +don't know exactly where it is, but it won't take very long. She is all +alone, and as long as we have met I feel that I ought to look after +her." + +"Naturally," Kendricks agreed. "I can go to my hotel and meet you +anywhere you say for supper." + +Julien glanced at his watch. + +"It is ten o'clock within a minute or two," he announced. "Supposing we +make it half-past eleven at the Abbaye?" + +Kendricks nodded. + +"That'll suit me. So long!" + +He strode away in search of a cab. Julien returned to Lady Anne and +took the jewel-case from her fingers. + +"It's all arranged," he said. "You are quite sure that you have no more +luggage?" + +She laughed. + +"Not a scrap! Have you ever traveled without luggage, Julien? It makes +you feel that you are really in for adventures." + +"Does it!" he replied a little weakly. Somehow or other, he had never +associated a love for adventures with Lady Anne. + +"Isn't it fun to be in Paris once more?" she continued. "I want a real +rickety little _voiture_ and I want the man to have a white hat, +if possible, and I want to drive down into Paris over those cobbles." + +"Any particular address?" + +She handed him a card. He called an open victoria and directed the man. +Together they drove out of the station yard. Lady Anne leaned forward, +looking around her with keen pleasure. + +"Julien," she cried, "this is delightful, meeting you! I hope I shan't +be a bother to you, but really it is rather nice to feel that I have +one friend here." + +"You couldn't possibly be a bother to me," he declared. "I'm rather a +waif here myself, you know, and I am honestly glad to see you." + +She looked at him quickly and breathed a little sigh of relief. + +"Now that's sweet of you," she said. "Of course, I don't see why you +shouldn't be. We were always good friends, weren't we? and it makes me +feel so much more comfortable to remember that we never went in for the +other sort of thing." + +"There was just one moment," he murmured ruminatingly,-- + +She turned her head. + +"Stop at once," she begged. "That moment passed, as you know. If it +hadn't, things might have been different. If it hadn't, I should feel +differently about being with you now. We are forgetting that moment, if +you please, Julien. Do, there's a good fellow. If you wanted to be +good-natured, you could be so nice to me until I get used to being +alone." + +"Forgotten it shall be, by all means," he promised cheerfully. "Do you +know that the address you gave me is only a few yards away?" + +"Oh, bother!" she exclaimed. "I knew that it was somewhere up by the +Gare du Nord." + +They turned off from the Rue Lafayette and pulled up opposite a +milliner's shop. + +"Mademoiselle Rignaut lives up above," Lady Anne said, alighting. "It's +sweet of you to have brought me, Julien." + +"I am going to wait and see that you are all right," he replied, +ringing the bell. + +There was a short delay, then the door was opened. A young woman peered +out. + +"Who is it?" she asked quickly. + +A little of Lady Anne's confidence for the moment had almost deserted +her. The girl's face was invisible and the interior of the passage +looked cheerless. Nevertheless, she answered briskly. + +"Don't you remember me, Mademoiselle Janette? I am Lady Anne--Lady Anne +Clonarty, you know." + +There was a wondering scream, an exclamation of delight, and Julien +stood on the pavement for fully five minutes. Then Lady Anne +reappeared, followed by her friend. + +"Sir Julien," she said, "this is Mademoiselle Rignaut. I am awfully +lucky. Mademoiselle Rignaut has a room she can let me have and we are +going to raid her shop and get everything I want. She has costumes as +well as hats." + +Julien shook hands with the little Frenchwoman, who had not yet +recovered from her amazement. + +"But this is wonderful, monsieur, is it not," she cried, "to see dear +Lady Anne like this? Such a surprise! Such a delight! But, miladi," she +added suddenly, "you must be hungry--starving!" + +"I am," Lady Anne admitted frankly. + +The little woman's face fell. + +"But only this afternoon," she explained, "my servant was taken away to +the hospital! What can we--" + +"What you will both do," Julien interrupted, "is to come and have +supper with me." + +"Do you really mean it?" Lady Anne asked doubtfully. "What about your +friend?" + +"He won't mind," Julien assured her. "You shall take your first step +into Bohemia, my dear Anne. We had arranged to sup in the Montmartre. +You and Mademoiselle Rignaut must come. I can give you half an hour to +get ready--more, if you want it." + +"What larks!" Lady Anne exclaimed. "Can I come in a traveling dress?" + +"You can come just as you are," Julien replied. "One visits these +places just as one feels disposed. I'll be off and get a taximeter +automobile instead of this thing, and come back for you whenever you +say." + +"You are a brick," Lady Anne declared. "I shall love to go." + +"Monsieur is too kind," Mademoiselle Rignaut agreed, "but as for me, it +is not fitting--" + +"Rubbish!" Lady Anne interrupted briskly. "You've got to get all that +sort of stuff out of your head, Janette, and to start with you must +come to supper with us. Bless you, I couldn't go alone with Sir Julien! +I was engaged to be married to him three months ago." + +Mademoiselle shook her head feebly. + +"But indeed, Miladi Anne," she protested, "you are a strange people, +you English! I do not understand." + +Lady Anne took her by the arm and turned towards the open door. + +"Don't bother about that. We'll be ready in half an hour, Julien." + +Julien returned to the Gare du Nord and treated himself to a whiskey +and soda. He was surprised at the pleasurable sense of excitement which +this meeting had given him. During the last few weeks in Paris he had +found little to interest or amuse him. He had been, in fact, very +distinctly bored. The newspapers and illustrated journals, although +they were always full of interest to him, had day by day brought their +own particular sting. Although his affection for Lady Anne had been of +a distinctly modified character, yet he had found it curiously +unpleasant to read everywhere of her engagement, of her plans for the +future, and to look at the photographs of her and her intended +bridegroom which seemed to stare at him from every page. Somehow or +other, although he told himself that personally it was of no +consequence to him, he yet found the present situation of affairs far +more to his liking. + +He lounged about the Gare du Nord, smoking a cigarette and thinking +over what she had told him. There was a good deal in the present +situation to appeal to his sense of humor. He thought of the Duke and +the Duchess when they discovered the flight of their daughter,--their +efforts to keep all details from the papers; of Harbord and his horde +of relations--Harbord, who had neither the dignity nor the breeding to +accept such a reverse in silence. He could imagine the gossip at the +clubs and among their friends. He himself was immensely surprised. He +had considered himself something of a judge of character, and yet he +had looked upon Lady Anne as a good-natured young person, brimful of +common sense, without an ounce of sentiment--a perfectly well-ordered +piece of the machinery of her sex. The whole affair was astonishing. +Perhaps to him the most astonishing part was that he found himself +continually looking at the clock, counting almost the minutes until it +was possible for him to start on this little expedition! + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +"TO OUR NEW SELVES" + + +Julien found a taximeter automobile and, punctually at the time +appointed, drove to the little milliner's shop in the Rue St. Antoine. +Lady Anne and her companion were waiting for him and they drove off +together in high good humor. The manager at the Abbaye bowed before +them with special deference. He recognized Julien as an occasional +customer, and Lady Anne, even in her traveling gown, was a person to +inspire attention. + +They chose a table and ordered supper for four. Kendricks had not yet +arrived, but it was barely half-past eleven and the place was almost +empty. Lady Anne was in high spirits and chattering all the time. +Julien looked at her occasionally in amazement. They had seldom been +alone together in London, but on those few occasions when the +conventions had demanded it, he had been inclined to find her rather +stupid. She was certainly nothing of the sort this evening! + +"I suppose I am a baby," she exclaimed, laughing, "but to-night I feel +as though I were beginning a new life! Tell me, mademoiselle, have you +a place for me as a seamstress? Or will you have me for a model? My +figure is good enough, isn't it?" + +"Miladi," Mademoiselle Rignaut declared deprecatingly, "there is no +girl in my shop with a figure like yours, but it is not well for you to +talk so, indeed. It is shocking." + +Lady Anne laughed gayly. + +"Now, my little friend," she said, "let us understand one another. +There is no more 'miladi.' I am Anne--Anne to you and Anne to Julien +here. I've finished with the 'miladi' affair. I dare say I shouldn't +care about being a model, but all the same I am going to earn my own +living." + +"Earn your own living!" Mademoiselle Rignaut echoed, in something like +horror. + +She had met the Duke and the Duchess--she had traveled even to London +and had passed the night beneath the ducal roof. Lady Anne's mother had +very sound ideas of economy, and Mademoiselle Rignaut was cheap and yet +undoubtedly French. + +"Earn my own living, without a doubt," Lady Anne repeated, helping +herself to a roll. "You don't mind my eating some bread and butter, do +you, Julien? I couldn't lunch--I was much too excited, and the tea on +the train was filthy. Why, of course I am going to earn my own living," +she continued. "I've only got a few thousand francs with me, and some +jewelry. I believe I have got a small income, but Heaven knows whether +they will let me have it!" + +Julien's eyes were suddenly lit with humor. + +"Why, the Duke will be here for you to-morrow," he exclaimed, "to take +you back!" + +She leaned back in her seat with an air of deliberation. + +"I'm free," she insisted. "I'm twenty-six years old, thank Heaven! +Twenty-six years I've had of it--enough to crush any one. No more! You +know, I like this sense of freedom," she went on. "It's perfectly +amazing how young I feel. Julien, do you remember when mother wouldn't +let us lunch together at the Ritz without a chaperon?" + +"I do," he assented. "I'm sure we didn't need one, either." + +She smiled reminiscently. + +"What sticks we were! What a silly life! I really have the most +delightful feeling, as though I were starting things all over again, as +though there were all sorts of wonderful adventures before me." + +Julien looked at her quickly. There was no woman in the place half so +good-looking or with any pretensions to such style. He was conscious of +an odd twinge of jealousy. + +"You'll have no trouble in finding adventures," he remarked a little +grimly. + +Her eyes flashed back an answer to his thought. + +"Bless you, I don't want anything to do with men! Fancy having been +engaged to you and to Samuel Harbord! What further thrills could +possibly be in store for me?" + +"Well, I don't know," Julien retorted. "I suppose if I was a stick, +there must have been something about you which induced me to be one." + +"Not a bit of it," she objected. "You were a solemn, studious, +gentlemanly, well-behaved, well-conducted prig--very much a male +edition of what I was myself. What a life we should have lived +together!... Here's your friend. You know, I rather like the look of +him. He's so delightfully untidy. I should think he belongs round about +the new world, doesn't he?" + +"He's a working journalist," Julien answered, "a very clever fellow and +a good friend of mine." + +"Then I shall adore him," Lady Anne decided,--"not because he is a good +friend of yours, but because he is a working journalist. Why, I saw him +sitting waiting for you the day you came and wished me that touching +good-bye," she added. "I liked him even then. It seemed so sweet of him +to come and help you through that terrible ordeal." + +She held out her hand to Kendricks very charmingly when he was +presented. + +"Don't be terrified at finding us here, please," she begged. "I know +you have some business to talk over with Julien, but you see we were +starving, and Julien had to be polite to me because we were once +engaged to be married. I promise you that when we have eaten we will go +home." + +Kendricks looked at her for a moment and smiled. + +"You know," he said, "I believe you've run away." + +She laughed. + +"I felt sure that I was going to like your friend, Julien!" she +exclaimed. "He understands things so quickly." + +"I am a newspaper man, you see," he told her. "Just as I left, I was +reading all sorts of things about your wedding, and the presents, and +the rest of it. I saw you in the train and recognized you." + +"Don't think I've come over after Julien," she continued cheerfully. "I +never dreamed of seeing him--not just yet, at any rate. I had no idea +where to run to, but Paris seemed to me so easy and so natural, and +somehow or other it must be more difficult to worry any one into going +back from a foreign country. Not that I've any idea of going back," she +broke off. "I think I'm going to enjoy life hugely out here." + +"But it is most astonishing!" Mademoiselle Rignaut declared with a +gasp. + +"My little friend here," Lady Anne went on, "hasn't got over it all +yet. She doesn't understand the sheer barbarity of being a duke's +daughter. The worst of it is she'll never have an opportunity of trying +it for herself. Heaven save the others! Julien, I hope we are going to +have some champagne. Mother never liked me to drink champagne at a +restaurant. You see," she explained, "we weren't rich enough to be in +really the smart set, or else I should have been allowed to do any +mortal thing, and if you aren't in the very smart set, it is best to +turn up your nose at them and to ape propriety. That's what we did. It +suited father because it was cheap, and mother because she said it went +with my style." + +"Champagne, by all means," Julien agreed. "I ordered it some time ago. +And here comes the lobster." + +"Julien, tell him to give me some wine," Lady Anne begged. "I am +thirsty." + +Julien gave the order to the _sommelier_. She raised the glass to +her lips and looked at him. + +"To our new selves," she exclaimed, laughing, "and to the broken +bonds!" + +Julien raised his glass at once. + +"To our new selves!" he echoed. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +WORK FOR JULIEN + + +The new Anne had not forgotten her natural stubbornness. At half-past +twelve she rose from the supper table and declined absolutely to allow +Julien to escort her home. + +"My dear Julien," she declared, "the thing is ridiculous. We have +finished with all that. I am a Bohemian. I expect to walk about these +streets when and where and at what hour I choose. You have business +with Mr. Kendricks and I am glad of it. You certainly shall not waste +your time gallivanting around with me. Janette and I together could +defy any sort of danger." + +"But, my dear Anne," Julien protested, "you cannot make these changes +so suddenly. To drive you home would take, at the most, half an hour." + +"I shall enjoy the drive immensely," Lady Anne answered coolly, "but we +shall take it alone. Don't be foolish, Julien. Come and find us a +little carriage and say good night nicely." + +He was forced to obey. He found a carriage and helped her in. She even +stopped him when he would have paid for it. + +"For the present," she said, "I prefer to arrange these matters for +myself. Thanks ever so much for the supper," she added, "and come and +see me in a day or two, won't you?" + +She gave him her hand and smiled her farewells at him. The lamplight +flashed upon her as she leaned forward to say good-bye, and Julien for +the first time realized that her hair was a beautiful shade of brown, +and that there was a quiet but very effective beauty about her face +which he had never appreciated. She waved her hand and laughed at him +in frank good-fellowship which he somehow felt vaguely annoying. The +carriage rolled away and he went back to Kendricks. + +"My friend," the latter exclaimed, "pay your bill and let us depart! I +am in no humor for the cafés to-night. Let us go to your rooms and sit +quietly, or drive--whichever you choose." + +"You have news?" Julien remarked. + +"I have news and a proposition for you," Kendricks replied. "I am not +sure that we do ourselves much good by being seen about Paris together +just now. I am not sure, even, whether it is safe." + +Julien stared at him. + +"You are making fun of me!" + +"Not I," Kendricks assured him. "We are both being drawn into a queer +little cycle of events, events which perhaps we may influence. When we +get back to your rooms, I will tell you about it. Until then, not a +word." + +They drove down the hill, talking of Lady Anne. + +"Somehow," Kendricks remarked, "she doesn't fit in, in the least, with +your description of her. I imagined a cold, rather stupid young woman, +of very moderate intelligence, and certainly no sense of humor. Do you +know that your Lady Anne is really a very charming person?" + +"She puzzles me a little," Julien confessed. "Something has changed +her." + +Kendricks nodded. + +"Whatever has done it has done a good thing. She gave you your congé +quite calmly, didn't she?" + +"Absolutely," Julien admitted. "She brushed me away as though I had +been a misbehaving fly." + +"After all," Kendricks said, "you were of the same kidney--a prig of +the first water, you know, Julien. I am never tired of telling you so, +am I? Never mind, it's good for you. Have you seen Herr Freudenberg +this week?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"Not since we were all at the Rat Mort together nearly a month ago. Did +I tell you that he made me an offer then?" + +"No, you told me nothing about it," Kendricks replied, leaning forward +with interest. "What sort of an offer? Go on, tell me about it?" + +"He wanted me," Julien continued, "to undertake the command of an +expedition to some place which he did not specify, to discover whether +a German who was living there was being held a prisoner--" + +"Oh, là, là!" Kendricks interrupted. "Tell me what your reply was?" + +"I told him that I must consult you first. As a matter of fact, I never +thought seriously about it at all. The whole affair seemed to me so +vague, and it didn't attract me in the least. I don't know whether you +can understand what I mean, but to me it appeared to be an entirely +artificial suggestion. If such a thing had been reasonable at all, I +should have said that it was an offer invented on the spur of the +moment by Herr Freudenberg, to get me out of Paris." + +"Really, Julien," declared Kendricks, "I am beginning to have hopes of +you. There are times when you are almost bright." + +"What are you here for?" Julien asked. "Is there anything wrong in +London?" + +"Anything wrong!" Kendricks growled. "You and your foolish letters, +Julien! You left the way open for that little bounder Carraby and he'll +do for us. Lord, how they love him in Berlin!" + +"They are not exactly appreciating him over here, are they?" Julien +remarked. "I don't understand the tone of the Press at all. There's +something at the back of it all." + +"There is," Kendricks agreed grimly. "Sit tight, wait till we are in +your rooms. I'll tell you some news." + +"We are there now," Julien replied, as the little carriage pulled up. +"Follow me, Kendricks, and take care of the stairs. I hope you like the +smell of new bread? You see, the ground floor is occupied by a +confectioner's shop. It keeps me hungry half the time." + +"Delicious!" Kendricks murmured. "Are these your rooms?" + +Julien nodded and turned on the electric light. + +"Not palatial, as you see, but comfortable and, I flatter myself, +typically French. Don't you love the red plush and the gilt mirror? Of +course, one doesn't sit upon the chairs or look into the mirror, but +they at least remind you of the country you're in." + +Kendricks threw open the window. The hum of the city came floating into +the room. They drew up easy-chairs. + +"Whiskey and soda at your side," Julien pointed out. "You can smoke +your filthy pipe to your heart's content. I won't even insult you by +offering you a cigar. Now go ahead." + +Kendricks lit his pipe and smoked solemnly. + +"Your remarks," he declared, "are actuated by jealousy. You haven't the +stomach for a man's smoke. Now listen. There's the very devil of a +mischief abroad and Falkenberg's at the bottom of it. Do you know what +he's doing?" + +"I know nothing." + +"You remember the night that we were up at the Rat Mort? He was talking +with a dirty-looking man in a red tie and pince-nez." + +"I remember it quite well," Julien admitted. + +"Well, he was the leader writer in _Le Jour_,--Jesen--a brilliant +man, an absolutely wonderful writer, but shiftless. Do you know what +Falkenberg has done? The paper was in the market, the controlling share +of it, and he bought it, or rather he put the money into Jesen's hands +to buy it with. The whole tone of the paper with regard to foreign +affairs has turned completely round. Every other day there is a +scathing article in it attacking the _entente_ with England. +You've read them, of course?" + +"So has every one," Julien replied gravely. "The people here talk of +little else." + +"It is known," Kendricks continued, "that Falkenberg has made every use +of his frequent visits to this city to ingratiate himself with certain +members of the French Cabinet, and to impress them with his views. To +some extent there is no doubt that he has succeeded. The German +Press--the inspired portion of it, at any rate--is backing all this up +by articles extremely friendly towards France and deriding her +friendship with England." + +"This, too, I have noticed," Julien admitted. + +"Carraby is in hot water already," Kendricks went on. "He had a chance +on Monday in the House, when he was asked a question about the German +gunboat which is reported to have gone to Agdar. The fool muddled it. +He gave the sort of suave, methodist reply one expected, and the German +Press jeered at him openly. Julien, it's serious. The French people are +honest enough, but they are impressionable. A Liberal Government was +never popular with them. You were the only Liberal Foreign Minister in +whom they believed. This man Carraby they despise. Besides, he has +Jewish blood in his veins and you know what that means over here. +Jesen's articles come thundering out and already other papers are +beginning to follow suit. The poison has been at work for months. You +remember monsieur and madame and mademoiselle, with whom I talked so +earnestly? Well, they were but types. I talked to them because I wanted +to find out their point of view. There are many others like them. They +look upon the _entente_ with good-natured tolerance. They doubt +the real ability of Britain to afford practical aid to France, should +she be attacked. This good-natured tolerance is being changed into +irritation. Falkenberg's efforts are ceaseless. The moment he has the +two countries really estranged, he will strike." + +"Against which?" Julien asked quickly. + +"Heaven only knows!" Kendricks answered. "For my part, I have always +believed that it would be against England. There is no strategic reason +for a war between France and Germany. Germany needs more than France +can give her. She does not need money, she needs territory. Falkenberg +is a rabid imperialist, a dreamer of splendid dreams, a real genius. He +is fighting to-day with the subtlest weapons the mind of man ever +conceived. Now, Julien, listen. I am here with a direct proposition to +you." + +"But what can I do?" Julien exclaimed. + +"This," Kendricks replied. "It is my idea. I saw Lord Southwold this +morning and he agreed. We want you to write for our paper a series of +articles, dated from Paris and signed in your own name, and we want you +to attack Falkenberg and the game he is playing. We will arrange for +them to appear simultaneously in one of the leading journals here. We +want you to write openly of these German spies who infest Paris. We +want you first to hint and then to speak openly of the purchase of +_Le Jour_ by means of German gold. We want you to combat the +popular opinion here that our army is a wooden box affair, and that we +as a nation are too crassly selfish to risk our fleet for the benefit +of France. We want you to strike a great note and tell the truth. +Julien, those articles signed by you and dated from Paris may do a +magnificent work." + +Julien's eyes were already agleam. + +"Splendid!" he muttered, rising to his feet. "If only I can do it!" + +"Of course you can do it," Kendricks insisted firmly. "Before you spoke +so often you used to write for the _Nineteenth Century_ every +month. You haven't forgotten the trick. Some of your sentences I +remember even now. I tell you, Julien, they helped me to appreciate +you. I liked you better when you took up the pen sometimes than I liked +you in those perfect clothes and perfect manner in your office at +Downing Street. Your tongue had the politician's trick of gliding over +the surface of things. Your pen scratched and spluttered its way into +the heart of affairs. Get back to it, Julien. I want your first article +before I leave Paris to-night." + +"I'll do my best," Julien promised. "It's a great scheme. I'm going to +commence now." + +"I hoped you would," Kendricks replied. "You've got the atmosphere +here. You're sitting in the heart of the France that belongs to the +French. It isn't for nothing that I've taken you round a little with me +since we were here. Chance was kind, too, when it brought us up against +Freudenberg. Remember, Julien, journalism isn't the gentlemanly art it +was ten or twenty years ago. You can take up your pen and stab. That's +what we want." + +"It's fine," Julien declared. "It is war!" + +Kendricks rose to his feet. + +"I'm going to bed," he announced. "The last month has been exciting and +there's plenty more to come. I need sleep. Julien, just a word of +caution." + +"Fire away," Julien sighed. He was already gazing steadfastly out of +the window, already the sentences were framing themselves in his mind. + +"The day upon which your first article appears," Kendricks said, +"Freudenberg will strike. Your life here will never be wholly safe. You +will be encompassed with spies and enemies. Why, this wild-cat scheme +of his of sending you off on some expedition was solely because you are +the one man of whom he is afraid. He feared lest Carraby might make +some hideous blunder in a crisis and that the country might demand you +back. That is why he wanted you out of the way." + +"You may be right," Julien admitted. "What's that striking--one +o'clock? Till to-night, David!" + +Kendricks nodded and left the room. Julien sat for a moment before the +open window. It was rather an impressive view of the city with its +millions of lights, the fine buildings of the Place de la Concorde in +clear relief against the deep sky, the Eiffel Tower glittering in the +distance, the subtle perfume of pleasure in the air. Julien stood there +and raised his eyes to the skies. Already his brain was moving to the +grim music of his thoughts. He looked away from the city to the fertile +country. Some faint memory of those once blackened fields and desolate +villages stole into his mind. He turned to his desk, drew the paper +towards him and wrote. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +A STARTLING DISCLOSURE + + +Julien was driving, a few afternoons later, with Madame Christophor. +She had picked him up in the Bois, where he had gone for a solitary +walk. In her luxurious automobile they passed smoothly beyond the +confines of the Park and out into the country. After her brief summons +and the few words of invitation, they relapsed into a somewhat curious +silence. + +"My friend," Madame Christophor remarked at length, glancing +thoughtfully towards him, "I find a change in you. You are pale and +tired and silent. It is your duty to amuse me, but you make no effort +to do so. Yet you have lost that look of complete dejection. You have, +indeed, the appearance of a man who has accomplished something, who has +found a new purpose in life." + +Julien to some extent recovered himself. + +"Dear Madame Christophor," he exclaimed, "it is true! My manners are +shocking. Yet, in a way, I have an excuse. I have been hard at work for +the last few days. I was writing all night until quite late this +morning. It was because I could not sleep that I came out to sit under +the trees--where you found me, in fact." + +"Writing," she repeated. "So you are changing your weapons, are you? +You are going to make a new bid for power?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"It is not that," he answered. "I have no personal ambitions connected +with my present work. It was an idea--a great idea--but it was not my +own. Yet the work has been an immense relief." + +She looked away, relapsing once more into silence. He glanced towards +her. The weariness of her expression was more than ever evident to-day, +the weariness that was not fretful, that seemed, indeed, to give an +added sweetness to her face. Yet its pathos was always there. Her eyes, +which looked steadily down the road in front of them, were full of the +fatigue of unwelcome days. + +"You men so easily escape," she murmured. "We women never." + +Julien was conscious of a certain selfishness in all his thoughts +connected with his companion. He had been so ready always to accept her +society, to accept and profit by the stimulus of her intellect. Yet he +himself had given so little, had shown so little interest in her or her +personal affairs. He sat a trifle more upright in his place. + +"Dear Madame Christophor," he said earnestly, "you have been so kind to +me, you have shown so much interest always in my doings and my +troubles. Why not tell me something of your own life? I have felt so +much the benefit of your sympathy. Is there nothing in the world I +could do for you?" + +She sighed. + +"No person in the world," she declared, "could help me; certainly not +one of your sex. I start with an instinctive and unchanging hatred +towards every one of them." + +"But, madame," Julien protested, "is that reasonable?" + +"It is the truth," she replied. "I do my best when we are together to +forget it so far as you are concerned. I succeed because you do not use +with me any of the miserable devices of your sex to provoke an interest +whether they really desire it or not. You treat me, Sir Julien, as it +pleases me to be treated. It is for that reason, I am sure--it must be +for that reason--that I find some pleasure in being with you, whereas +the society of any other man is a constant irritation to me." + +Julien hesitated. + +"You know," he began, "I am not naturally a curious person. I have +never asked a question of you or about you from the few people with +whom I have come in contact over here. At the same time,--" + +"Do you mean," she interrupted, "do you seriously mean that you are +ignorant as to who I really am, as to any part of my history?" + +"Entirely," Julien assured her. + +She was thoughtful for several moments. + +"Well, that is strange," she declared. "You are upsetting one of my pet +theories. All the men whom I have ever known have been more curious +than women. Are you interested in me, by any chance, Sir Julien?" + +"Immensely," he replied. + +"I am glad to hear it. Do you know, that is a great concession for me +to make, but it is the truth? I like you to be interested in me. Yet I +must confess that your ignorance as to who I really am astonishes me. +Perhaps," she added gravely, "if you knew, you would not be sitting by +my side at the present moment." + +"I cannot believe," he said, smiling, "that you are such a very +terrible person." + +"Terrible? Perhaps that is not the word," she admitted. + +"There is one thing," he went on, "concerning which I have always been +curious." + +"And that?" + +"The little manicure girl whom I met in the Soho restaurant," he +replied promptly, "what on earth was her reason for wishing me to come +and see you? Why did you want me to come?" + +"I thought," she murmured, "that we had agreed not to speak of those +matters for the present." + +"That was some time ago. Things are changing around us every day. It is +possible that within a very short time I may find myself in such a +position here that I am forced to know exactly who are my friends and +who my enemies." + +"Can you believe," she asked, "that you would ever find me among the +latter?" + +Julien thought for several moments. + +"I shall not ask you," he proceeded, "not to be offended with me for +what I am going to say. It was a chance remark I heard--no more. It +certainly, however, did suggest some association. There is a man who +comes often to Paris, who calls himself a maker of toys. He says that +he comes from Leipzig and that his name is Herr Freudenberg." + +She sat as still as a statue. Not a line of her features was changed. +Julien turned a little in his seat. As he watched, he saw that her +bosom underneath the lace scarf which she wore was rising and falling +quickly. Her teeth came suddenly together. He saw the lids droop over +her eyes as though she were in pain. + +"Herr Freudenberg," she repeated, "what of him?" + +"I knew him in the days when I counted for something in the world," +Julien explained. "Don't you remember that on the night when we dined +together at the Maison Léon d'Or he sent one of his emissaries for me? +He was a man in whom I had always felt the greatest, the most complete +interest. I went to him gladly. Since then, as you will know if you +read the papers, events have moved rapidly. I am beginning to realize +now how completely and absolutely that man is the enemy of my country." + +"It is true, that," she murmured. + +"For some reason," Julien continued, "he seemed anxious to remove me +from Paris. He made me a somewhat singular offer. He wanted me to go to +some distant country on a mission--not political and yet for Germany." + +"And do you go?" + +"No," he replied, "I have found other work. I don't think that I +seriously considered it at any time, yet I have always been curious as +to why he should have made such an offer to me." + +She had the air now of a woman who had completely recovered control of +herself. + +"Sir Julien," she asked, "I beg of you to tell me this. If you do not +know who I am, why have you mentioned Herr Freudenberg's name to me?" + +"Madame," Julien answered, "because the man who brought me the message +from Herr Freudenberg, the man who conducted me to him, the man +concerning whom you told me that strange, pathetic little story--he let +fall one word. I asked him no question. I wished for no information +except from you. Yet I am only human. I have had impulses of +curiosity." + +"Herr Freudenberg is my husband," Madame Christophor declared. + +Julien looked at her in amazement. For the moment he was speechless. + +"I say what is perhaps literally but not actually true," she went on. +"He was my husband. We are separated. We are not divorced because we +were married as Roman Catholics. We are separated. There will never be +anything else between us." + +Julien remained silent. It was so hard to say anything. The woman's +tone told him that around her speech hovered a tragedy. + +"Now you know that Herr Freudenberg is my husband," she asked, "are you +not a little afraid to be sitting here by my side?" + +"Why should I be?" + +"Don't you know," she continued, "that he is your enemy?" + +Julien looked grave. + +"No, I have scarcely realized that," he answered. "I think, perhaps, +when he reads yesterday's papers he may be feeling like that. At +present, so far as he knows, what have I done?" + +"You," she said, "were the only man who ever stood up to him, who ever +dealt a blow at his political supremacy. At the Conference of Berlin +you triumphed. German papers politely, and in a very veiled manner, +reminded him of his defeat. It was not a great matter, it is true, but +none the less the Conference of Berlin was the first diplomatic failure +in which he had ever been concerned, and you were responsible for it." + +"You think, then," Julien remarked, "that he still harbors a grudge +against me for that?" + +"Without a doubt. Now tell me what you mean when you speak of +yesterday's papers?" + +"I am writing a series of articles," Julien told her. "They commenced +yesterday. They will appear in a French paper--_Le Grand +Journal_--and in the English _Post_. They are written with the +sole idea of attacking Herr Freudenberg. When he reads the first, he +will understand--he will be my enemy." + +She held out her hand. + +"Then say good-bye to me now, my friend," she murmured, "for you will +die." + +Julien laughed scornfully. + +"We do not live in those days," he reminded her. "We fight with the +pen, with diplomacy, with all the weapons of statecraft and intrigue, +if you will. But this is not now the Paris of Dumas. One does not +assassinate." + +"My friend," she said earnestly, "you do not know Herr Freudenberg. If +indeed you have become during these last few days his enemy, by this +time next week you will surely have passed into some other sphere of +activity. There are no methods too primitive for him, no methods too +subtle or too cruel. He can be the most charming, the most winning, the +most generous, the most romantic person who ever breathed; or he can be +a Nero, a cruel and brutal butcher, a murderer either of reputations or +bodies--he cares little which." + +"Presently," Julien declared, "I shall begin to feel uncomfortable." + +"Oh! you have courage, of course," she admitted, with a scornful little +shrug of the shoulders. "No one has ever denied that to your race. But +you have also the unconquerable stupidity which makes heroes and +victims of your soldiers." + +Julien smiled. + +"Well, I am at least warned, and for that I thank you. Now let me ask +you another question. You have told me this very strange thing about +yourself and Herr Freudenberg. You have told me of your feelings +concerning him. Yet you have not really told me exactly on what terms +you are with him at present? Forgive me if I find this important." + +"I do not receive him," she replied. "I have no interest in his comings +or his goings. I have a solemn promise, a promise to which he has +subscribed upon his honor, that he shall not seek to cross the +threshold of my house. He sent me an ambassador once quite lately to +make me a certain proposition connected with you." + +"With me?" Julien repeated. + +She nodded. + +"He has great faith in my powers," she went on, looking him full in the +face, "also, apparently, some belief in your susceptibility. Is that +unkind of me? Never mind, it is the truth. He imagined, perhaps, that I +might help him to rid Paris of your presence. There was just one thing +he could offer me which I desired. He came to offer it." + +"You refused?" Julien exclaimed. + +Her eyes rested upon his. Her expression was faintly provocative. + +"How could I accept an offer," she asked, "to deal with a thing which +did not belong to me? You have shown no signs at present, Sir Julien, +of becoming my abject slave." + +The car rushed through a straggling village. All the time she was +watching him. Then she threw herself back among the cushions with a +little laugh. + +"A week or so ago," she murmured, "I had a fancy that if I had +tried--well, that perhaps you were not so different from other men. I +should have loathed my conquest, I should probably have loathed you, +but I think that I should have expected it. At the present moment," she +went on, glancing into a little gold mirror which she had picked up +from a heap of trifles lying on the table before her, "at the present +moment I am disillusioned. My vanity is wounded though my relief is +great. Nevertheless, Sir Julien, tell me what has happened to you +during the last few days?" + +"Work," Julien replied, "the sort of work I was craving for." + +"Not only that," she insisted, setting down the mirror with a sigh. +"There is something else." + +"If there is," Julien assured her, "I am not yet conscious of it." + +They had emerged from the country lane along which they had been +traveling and were returning now to Paris along the broad highroad. +They were going at a fair speed when suddenly a huge racing car came +flashing by them, covered with dust, and with all the indications of +having come a great distance. Madame Christophor leaned forward in her +seat and clutched her companion's arm. Her eyes were fixed upon the +figure of the man leaning back by the side of the driver. + +"You see?" she muttered. + +"Herr Freudenberg!" Julien gasped. + +She nodded. Already the car had vanished in a cloud of dust. + +"He is just from Germany or from the frontier. He very seldom comes all +the way by rail. The car is always waiting." + +"I shall see him, then, to-night," Julien declared. "Already, without a +doubt, he knows. Already he is my enemy. What about you, Madame +Christophor?" + +"My friend," she promised, "you will have nothing to fear from me. So +long as I can forget your sex, I rather like you." + +"Are you going to answer my question about the little girl who sent me +to you?" he asked. + +"I will tell you, if you like," she said. "Mademoiselle Senn was once +in my service. She occasionally executes commissions for me in London. +She knows everybody. It was in obedience to my wishes that she gave you +that message." + +"But why?" Julien demanded. "What interest had you in me?" + +"None," she answered a little coldly,--"no personal interest. I sent +that message because I discovered that the individual who has just +passed us in the automobile was framing certain schemes in connection +with you if you should come to Paris. Politically as well as personally +he and I are enemies. He hates America and the whole Anglo-Saxon race. +It has amused me more than once to thwart his schemes. I intended to +set you upon your guard. You see, it is very simple. Mademoiselle Senn +wrote me at first that she did not know you and that she feared you +were inaccessible. Then she wired me of an accidental meeting and that +she had delivered my message. The whole affair is simpler than it +seemed, is it not so?... Now listen. I have satisfied your curiosity. +You now shall answer a question. Who is Miss Clonarty?" + +Julien gazed at her in astonishment. + +"Miss Clonarty?" he repeated. + +Madame Christophor nodded. + +"The name seems to surprise you. A young English woman called on me +to-day in answer to my advertisement for a secretary who could write +and speak English. She said that her name was Miss Anne Clonarty and +she referred me to you." + +"If she is the lady whom I suppose she is," Julien replied, "you will +be perfectly safe in engaging her." + +Madame Christophor looked at him from underneath the lids of her eyes. + +"Do you think that I do not know?" she asked, with a shade of contempt +in her tone,--"that I do not sometimes read the papers? Do you think +that I have not seen that Lady Anne Clonarty, the girl whom you were +engaged to marry, disappeared from her home the other day, on the eve +of her marriage to another man? It is this girl who comes to me for my +situation, is it not so?" + +Julien was silent. + +"I knew nothing of her coming. I did not even know that you wanted a +secretary." + +"I wonder why she came to Paris," Madame Christophor remarked. "Is she +in love with you?" + +"There was never any question of anything of the sort," Julien declared +fervently. + +"You have seen her since she arrived in Paris?" + +"Entirely by accident. I saw her alight from the train. I was at the +Gare du Nord to meet Kendricks." + +Madame Christophor leaned back in her seat. + +"Is it your wish that I engage her?" + +"Certainly," Julien replied. "I am sure that you will find her +competent. At the same time, I don't know how long she will keep this +thing up." + +"As a rule I do not care for handsome women around me," Madame +Christophor said composedly. "Lady Anne is much too good-looking to +please me. She has all the freshness and vitality," she added, dropping +her voice a little, "which seem to have left me forever." + +"You have experience," Julien reminded her. "Experience in itself is +wonderful, even though one has to pay for it." + +They were in the streets of Paris now. Madame Christophor shrugged her +shoulders and sat up. + +"It is one of the misfortunes of my sex," she said, a little bitterly, +"that without experience we lack charm--in the eyes of you men, that is +to say. It is your own folly.... Are you coming home with me, my +friend, or shall I set you down somewhere?" + +"As near the Gare du Nord as possible, if you please," Julien begged. +"I have wearied you enough for one afternoon." + +Madame Christophor looked at him thoughtfully. There was a slight frown +upon her forehead. + +"Somewhere near the Gare du Nord!" she repeated. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +THE FIRST ARTICLE + + +Julien found Lady Anne in a small, stuffy apartment on the third floor +of the house in the Rue St. Antoine. Before her was a sewing-machine, +and the floor of the room was littered with oddments of black calico. +She herself was seated apparently deep in thought before an untrimmed +hat. + +"What on earth, my dear Anne," he exclaimed, "are you doing?" + +She merely glanced up at his entrance. Her eyes were still far away. + +"Don't interrupt," she begged. "I am seeking for an inspiration. In my +younger days I used to trim hats. I don't suppose anything I could do +would be of any use here, but one must try everything." + +"But I thought," he protested, "that you were going to be a lady's +secretary, or something of that sort?" + +"I have applied for a situation," she admitted. "I am not engaged yet. +By the bye, I gave your name as a reference. I wonder if there is any +chance for me." + +"As a matter of fact," he told her, "I have just left the lady whose +advertisement you answered." + +"Madame Christophor?" + +"Madame Christophor. If you are really anxious for that post, I can +assure you that it is yours." + +She flung the hat to the other end of the room. + +"Good!" she exclaimed. "I don't think this sort of thing is in my line +at all. Tell me, is Madame Christophor half as charming as she looks?" + +"I have known her only a short time," Julien replied, "but she is +certainly a very wonderful woman." + +"What does she do," Lady Anne asked, "to require a secretary?" + +"She is a woman of immense wealth, I believe," Julien answered, "and +she has many charities. She is married, but separated from her husband. +I think, on the whole, that she must have led a rather unhappy life." + +"I think it is very extraordinary," Lady Anne remarked, "that she +should be willing to take a secretary who knows nothing of typewriting +or shorthand. I told her how ignorant I was, but she didn't seem to +mind much." + +Julien sat down by the side of the sewing-machine. + +"Anne," he began, "do you really think you're going to care for this +sort of thing?" + +"What sort of thing?" she demanded. + +"Why, life on your own. You have been so independent always and a +person of consequence. You know what it means to be a servant?" + +"Not yet," Lady Anne admitted. "I think, though, that it is quite time +I did. I am rather looking forward to it." + +Julien was a little staggered. She looked over at him and laughed +scornfully. + +"After all," she said, "I am not sure, Julien, whether you are a person +of much understanding. You proposed to me because I happened to be the +sort of girl you were looking for. My connections were excellent and my +appearance, I suppose, satisfactory. You never thought of me myself, me +as an independent person, in all your life. Do you believe that I am +simply Lady Anne Clonarty, a reasonable puppet, a walking doll to +receive some one's guests and further his social ambitions? Don't you +think that I have the slightest idea of being a woman of my own? What's +wrong with me, I wonder, Julien, that you should take me for something +automatic?" + +"You acted the part," he reminded her. + +"With you, yes!" she replied scornfully. "I should like to know how +much you encouraged me to be anything different. A sawdust man I used +to think you. Oh, we matched all right! I am not denying that. I was +what I had to be. I sometimes wonder if misfortune will not do you +good." + +"Misfortune is lending you a tongue, at any rate," he retorted. + +"As yet," she objected, "I know nothing of misfortune. The impulse +which led me to chuck things was just the most wonderful thing that +ever came to me in life. I awoke this morning feeling like a freed +woman. I sang while I got up. It seemed to me that I had never seen +anything so beautiful as the view of Paris from my poky window. And I +got up without a maid, too, Julien. I had no perfectly equipped +bathroom to wander into. Not much luxury about these rooms of +Janette's." + +He glanced at her admiringly. + +"You certainly look as though the life agreed with you," he answered. +"Put on your hat and come out to dinner." + +She rose to her feet at once. + +"I have been praying for that," she confessed. "You know, Julien, I +should starve badly. The one thing I can't get rid of is my appetite. +You don't expect me to make a toilette, because I can't?" + +"Nothing of the sort," he assured her. "Come as you are." + +She kept him waiting barely five minutes. She was still wearing her +smart traveling suit and the little toque which she had worn when she +left home. She walked down the street with him, humming gayly. + +"Have you read the English papers this morning, Julien?" she asked. + +"Not thoroughly," he admitted. + +"Columns about me," she declared blithely. "The general idea is that I +am suffering from a lapse of memory. They have found traces of me in +every part of England. Not a word about Paris, thank goodness!" + +"But do you mean to say that no one has an idea of where you are? Won't +your mother be anxious?" + +"Not a bit of it," Lady Anne laughed. "I left a note for her, just to +say that she wasn't to worry. She knows I'll take care of myself all +right. Julien, don't you love these streets and their crowds of people? +Every one looks as though they were on a holiday." + +"So they are," Julien replied. "Life is only a holiday over here. In +England we go about with our eyes fixed upon the deadliest thing in +life we can imagine. Over here, depression is a crime. They call into +their minds the most joyous thing they can think of. It becomes a +habit. They think only of the pleasantness of life. They keep their +troubles buried underneath." + +"It is the way to live," she murmured. + +"This, at any rate," he answered, leading the way into Henry's "is the +place at which to dine. Just fancy, we were engaged for three months +and not once did I dine with you alone! Now we are not engaged and we +think nothing of it." + +"Less than nothing," she agreed, "except that I am frightfully hungry." + +They found a comfortable table. Julien took up the menu and wrote out +the dinner carefully. + +"In this country," he said, leaning back, "we are spared the barbarity +of table d'hôte dinners. Therefore we must wait, but what does it +matter? There is always something to talk about." + +"I am glad to hear that you feel like that, Julien. I remember +sometimes when we were alone together in England, we seemed to find it +a trifle difficult." + +"Since then," he replied, "we have both burst the bonds--I of +necessity, you of choice." + +"I don't believe," she declared, helping herself to _hors +d'oeuvres_, "that we are either of us going to be sorry for it." + +"One can never tell. So far as you are concerned, I haven't got over +the wonder of it yet. You never showed me so much of the woman +throughout our engagement as you have shown me during the last few +days." + +"My dear Julien," she protested, "you didn't know where to look for it. +Why does this funny little man with the mutton-chop whiskers hover +around our table all the time?" + +"He is distressed," Julien explained, "to see you eating so much bread +and butter. He fears that you will not have an appetite for the very +excellent dinner which I have ordered." + +"He is right," she decided. "Never mind, I will leave the rolls alone. +I am still, I can assure you, ravenous." + +She leaned back and, looking out into the room, began to laugh. People +who passed never failed to notice her. She was certainly a +striking-looking girl and she had, above all, the air. + +"Julien," she cried, "this is really too amusing! Did you see who went +by just then? It was Lord Athlington--my venerable uncle--with the lady +with the yellow hair. He saw you here with me--saw us sitting together +alone, having dinner--me unchaperoned, a runaway! Isn't it delicious?" + +Julien looked after his companion's elderly relative with a smile. + +"I wonder," he remarked, "whether your uncle's magnificent +unconsciousness is due to defective eyesight or nerve?" + +"Nerve, without a doubt," she insisted. "We all have it. Besides, don't +you see he's changed their table so as to be out of sight? I wonder +what he really thinks of me! If we'd belonged even to the really smart +set in town, it wouldn't have been half so funny. They do so many +things that seem wrong that people forget to be shocked." + +"I can conceive," he murmured, "that your mother's ambitions would +scarcely lead her in that direction." + +Lady Anne shrugged her shoulders. + +"I don't think she could get in if she tried. The really disreputable +people in Society are so exclusive. I wonder, Julien, if I shall be +allowed to come out and dine with you when I am Madame Christophor's +secretary?" + +"Once a week, perhaps," he suggested,--"scarcely oftener, I am afraid." + +"Ah! well," she declared, "I shall like work, I am convinced. Julien, +you are spoiling me. I am sure this is a _cuisine de luxe_. I told +you to take me to a cheap restaurant." + +"We will try them all in time," he answered. "I had to start by taking +you to my favorite place." + +"You really mean, then," she asked, "that you are going on being nice +to me? Of course, I haven't the slightest claim on you. I suppose, as a +matter of fact, I treated you rather badly, didn't I?" + +"Not a bit of it," he assured her. "I was a failure, that was all. But +of course I am going on being nice to you. There aren't too many people +over here whom one cares to be with. There aren't very many just now," +he continued, "who care to be with me." + +"Idiotic!" she replied. "Tell me about this work of yours?" + +He explained Kendricks' idea. Her eyes glistened. + +"It's really splendid," she declared. "How I should love to have seen +your first article!" + +"You shall read it afterwards," he told her. "I have a copy of _Le +Grand Journal_ in my overcoat pocket." + +She beckoned to the _vestiaire_. + +"I will not wait a moment," she insisted. "I shall read it while dinner +is being served. It's a glorious idea, this, to fight your way back +with your pen. There are those nowadays who tell us, you know, Julien, +that there is more to be done through the Press than in Parliament. +Your spoken words can influence only a small number of people. What you +write the world reads." + +She explained what she desired to the _vestiaire_. He reappeared a +minute or two later with the newspaper. She spread it out before her. +Julien read it over her shoulder. He himself had seen it before, but +his own eyes were the brighter as he reread it. When she had finished +she said very little. They ate the first course of their dinner almost +in silence. Then she laid her hand suddenly upon his. + +"Julien, dear," she said, "I have done you a wrong. I am sorry." + +"A wrong?" he repeated. + +She looked at him almost humbly. There was something new in her eyes, +something new in her expression. + +"I am afraid," she continued, "that I never looked upon you as anything +more than the ordinary stereotyped politician, a skilful debater, of +course, and with the chessboard brains of diplomacy. This,"--she +touched the newspaper with her forefinger--"this is something very +different." + +"Do you like it, then?" + +"Like it!" she repeated scornfully. "Can't you feel yourself how +different it is from those precise, cynical little speeches of yours? +It is as though a smouldering bonfire had leapt suddenly into flame. +There is genius in every line. Go on writing like that, Julien, and you +will soon be more powerful than ever you were in the House of Commons." + +He laughed. It was absurd to admit it, but nothing had pleased him so +much since the coming of his misfortune! She was thoughtful for some +time, every now and then glancing back at the newspaper. Over their +coffee she broke into a little reminiscent laugh. + +"Did I tell you about Mrs. Carraby?" she asked. "Mother and I met her +at Wumbledon House, two or three days after her husband's appointment +had been confirmed. I can see her now coming towards us. There were so +many people around that she had to risk everything. Oh, it was a great +moment for mother! She never troubled even to raise her lorgnettes. She +never attempted any of that glaring-through-you sort of business. She +just looked up at Mrs. Carraby's hand and looked up at her eyes and +walked by without changing a muscle. Of course I did the same--very +nearly as well, too, I believe. Cat!" + +Julien frowned slightly. + +"You can imagine," he said, "that I am not very keen about discussing +Mrs. Carraby. Yet, after all, her husband and his career were, I +suppose, the most important things in life to her." + +"Then she's going to have a pretty rocky time," Lady Anne decided. "I +don't understand much about politics, but I know it's no use putting a +tradesman into the Foreign Office. He's wobbly already, and as for Mrs. +Carraby--well, I don't know if she ever went on with you like it, +Julien, but you remember Bob Sutherland--the one in the Guards, I +mean?--well, she's going an awful pace with him." + +"I think," he declared, "that Mrs. Carraby can take care of herself." + +"Perhaps," Lady Anne replied, looking thoughtfully at her cigarette. +"You see, the woman knows in her heart that she's impossible. She +copies all our bad tricks. She sees that we all flirt as a matter of +course, and she tries to outdo us. It's the old story. What one person +can do with impunity, another makes an awful hash of. We can go to the +very gates because when we get there we know how to shrug our shoulders +and turn away. I am not sure that Mrs. Carraby has breeding enough for +that. She'll go through, if Bob has his way." + +"You are becoming rather an advanced young person," Julien remarked, as +he paid the bill. + +"My dear Julien," she said, "I've told you before that you never knew +me. If you had appreciated me as I deserved, when you came that cropper +you wouldn't have called on me to say good-bye. You'd have left that +red-headed friend of yours at home and told me that the empty place in +the taxicab was mine." + +He laughed and then suddenly became grave. + +"Supposing I had?" he whispered. + +She looked at him, startled. In that moment he seemed to see a new +thing in her face, a new and marvelous softness. It passed like a +flash--so swiftly that it left him wondering whether it was not indeed +a trick of his imagination. + +"Absurd!" she murmured. "Tell me, what is there we can do now? Must I +go home?" + +"On the contrary," he declared, "you are engaged to me for the evening. +Only I must call at my rooms. Do you mind?" + +"I mind nothing," she assured him. "Let us take a carriage and drive +about the streets. Julien, what a yellow moon!" + +They clambered into a little _voiture_, and with a hoarse shout +and a crack of the whip from the _cocher_, they started off. Lady +Anne leaned back with an exclamation of content. + +"If only it weren't so theatrical!" she sighed. "The streets seem so +clean and the buildings so white and the sky so blue and the people so +gay. Yet I suppose the bitterness of life is here as in the other +places. Why do you want to call at your rooms, Julien?" + +"There is just a chance," he explained, "that there may be a telegram +from Kendricks. I want to know what they think of my article." + +She laughed scornfully. + +"I can tell you that. There is only one thing they can think. How these +people will hate you who are trying to make mischief between France and +England!" + +Julien smiled grimly. + +"I shouldn't be surprised," he admitted. "It may come to a tussle +between us yet." + +They pulled up before the door of his rooms. She, too, alighted. + +"I want to see what your quarters are like," she said calmly. "I may +come up, mayn't I?" + +"By all means," he assented. + +She followed him up the dark stairs and into his room. He turned on the +lights. She looked around at his little salon, with its French +furniture, its open windows with the lime trees only a few feet away, +and threw herself into an easy-chair with a sigh of content. + +"Julien, how delightful!" she exclaimed. "Is there anything for you?" + +He walked to the mantelpiece. There was a telegram and a note for him. +The former he tore open and his eyes sparkled as he read it aloud. + +Magnificent. Be careful. Am coming over at once. + +KENDRICKS. + +He passed it on to her. Then he opened the note. + +I am coming to your rooms for my answer to-night. + +CARL FREUDENBERG. + +Even as he read it there was a knocking at the door. She looked up +doubtfully. + +"Who is that?" + +"It may be the man who writes me here," he told her. + +She rose softly to her feet and pointed to the door which divided the +apartments. He nodded and she passed through into the inner room. +Julien went to the outside door and threw it open. It was indeed Herr +Freudenberg who stood there. + +"Come in," he invited. + +Herr Freudenberg removed his hat and entered. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +FALKENBERG FAILS + + +Herr Freudenberg was dressed for the evening with his usual fastidious +neatness. He had the air of a man who had been engaged for many nights +in some arduous occupation. There were dark rims under his eyes, the +lines upon his forehead were deeper. Nevertheless, he smiled with +something of his old gayety as he accepted the chair which Julien +placed for him. + +"My dear Sir Julien," he said, "I have come a good many hundred miles +at a most inconvenient moment for the sake of a brief conversation with +you." + +Julien raised his eyebrows. + +"You surprise me!" he exclaimed. "I had no idea that the mission you +spoke of was so urgent." + +"Nor is it," Herr Freudenberg replied. "As a matter of fact, it +scarcely exists at all, or if it did exist, it was created simply as a +means of removing you from within the reach of practical politics for +some months. I have foresight, you see, Sir Julien. I saw what was +coming. Permit me to tell you that I do not like your letter in _Le +Grand Journal_ yesterday, a letter which I understand appeared also +in the London _Post_." + +"I am sorry," Julien said calmly. "Still, to be perfectly frank, it +wasn't written with a view of pleasing or displeasing you. It was +written in a strenuous attempt to preserve the friendship between +France and England." + +"It is to be followed, I presume, by others?" Herr Freudenberg asked. + +"It is the first of a series," Julien admitted. + +"You know," Herr Freudenberg remarked, glancing at his finger-nails for +a moment, "that it is most diabolically clever?" + +"You flatter me," Julien murmured. + +"Not at all. I have spoken the truth. I am here to know what price you +will take to suppress the remainder of the series." + +Julien considered. + +"I will take," he replied, "the exact amount of the last war indemnity +which was paid to you by France." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. + +"A mere trifle to the war indemnity we shall be asking from England +before very long." + +"I am not avaricious," Julien declared. "Those are my terms." + +Herr Freudenberg sighed. + +"My friend," he said, "it would be better if you talked of this matter +reasonably. There are other ways of securing the non-continuance of +those letters than by purchase." + +"Precisely," Julien answered, "but Paris, in its beaten thoroughfares, +at any rate, is a law-abiding city. I don't fancy that I shall come to +much grief here." + +"A brave man," Herr Freudenberg remarked, "seldom believes that he will +come to grief." + +"If the blow falls, nevertheless, it is at least considerate of you +that you bring me warning!" + +"Rubbish!" Herr Freudenberg interposed. "Listen, Sir Julien, I ask you +to consider this matter as a reasonable person. We don't want war. We +don't mean to have war. But the desire of my Ministers--my own +desire--really is to inflict a crushing diplomatic humiliation upon the +present Government of Great Britain. It is composed of incompetent and +objectionable persons. We desire to humiliate them. Yet who is it that +we find taking up the cudgels on their behalf? You--the man whom they +drove out, the man whom from sheer jealousy they ousted from their +ranks. Why, you should be with us, not against us." + +"I have no grudge whatever against my party," Julien said. "You seem to +have been misinformed upon that subject. Besides, I am an Englishman +and a patriot. The whole series of my articles will be written, and I +shall do my best to point out exactly the means by which this present +coolness between our two countries has been engineered." + +"I will give you," Herr Freudenberg offered, "a million francs not to +write those articles." + +Julien pointed to the door. + +"You are becoming offensive!" + +Herr Freudenberg rose slowly to his feet. There was a little glitter in +his eyes. + +"I have gone out of my way," he declared, "to be friendly with you, +most obstinate of Englishmen. That now is finished. You shall not write +those articles." + +"You threaten me?" + +"I do!" + +"There are times," Julien remarked quietly, "when I scarcely know +whether to take you seriously. There is surely a little of the +burlesque about such a statement?" + +Herr Freudenberg shrugged his shoulders slightly. + +"You think so? Nevertheless, no man whom I have ever threatened has +done the thing against which I have warned him." + +Julien turned towards the door to open it. Herr Freudenberg, with +footsteps like a cat, came up behind him. Suddenly he threw his long, +sinewy arm around the other's neck. Taken utterly unprepared, Julien +was powerless. Herr Freudenberg swung him round upon his back and knelt +upon his chest. + +"This," he said calmly, "distresses me extremely. Yet what am I to do?" + +He whistled softly. The door was opened. Estermen came in with +suspicious alacrity. There was scarcely any need of words. In a moment +Julien's legs and arms were bound and a gag thrust between his teeth. +Herr Freudenberg moved before the door and listened. + +"Estermen has reported to me," he remarked, "that you keep no +manservant. Any intrusion here, therefore, is scarcely to be feared. +You will permit me?" + +He took one of the tumblers from the tray, rinsed it out with +soda-water, and poured the contents of a small phial into it. Then he +came and stood over Julien. + +"My obstinate Englishman," he proceeded, "this tumbler contains the +waters of forgetfulness. Let me assure you upon my honor that the +liquid is harmless. Its one effect is to reduce those who take it to +such a state that for the space of a week or two their mental faculties +are impaired. You will drink this in a few minutes. You will awake +feeling weak, languid, indisposed for exercise, incapable of mental +effort. The doctor will prescribe a tonic, you will go away, but it +will be months before you are able to set yourself to any task +requiring the full use of your faculties. At the end of that time, I +trust that you will have found wisdom. Will you swallow the draught?" + +Julien shook his head violently. Herr Freudenberg sighed. + +"I was hoping," he continued, "that you would not force me to mention +the alternative. I should dislike exceedingly having to inflict any +more lasting injury upon you, but you stand in my path and I permit no +one to do that. Drink, and in a month or two all will be as it is now. +Refuse, and I shall leave Estermen to deal with you, and let me warn +you that his methods are not so gentle as mine. More men than one who +have been foolish have disappeared in Paris." + +"If you move a step this way," a calm voice said from the other end of +the room, "I shall shoot." + +Herr Freudenberg turned his head. Estermen, whose nerves were less +under control, gave a little cry. Lady Anne was standing upon the +threshold of the doorway between the two rooms, and in her very steady +hand was grasped a small revolver. The two men were speechless. + +"It has taken me some time to find this," Lady Anne went on, "and +longer still to find the cartridges. I do not understand in the least +what has happened, but I am perfectly serious when I tell you that I +shall shoot either of you two if you move a step towards me." + +Herr Freudenberg looked into the revolver, looked at Lady Anne and made +her a little bow. + +"Mademoiselle," he said, "who you may be I do not, alas! know. Sir +Julien, however, is indeed to be congratulated that he possesses +already so charming and courageous a friend with the entrée to his +bedroom." + +Lady Anne lifted the revolver a few inches and fired. The bullet struck +the wall barely a foot over Herr Freudenberg's head. A faint puff of +blue smoke floated up towards the ceiling. + +"I do not like impertinence," she remarked. "If you have any more such +speeches to make--" + +"Mademoiselle, I have none," Herr Freudenberg interrupted, bowing. +"Allow me, on the contrary, to offer you my apologies and to express my +admiration for your bearing. I must, alas! acknowledge myself, for the +moment, vanquished. I shall leave you to release our dear friend, Sir +Julien. But, if you are wise, mademoiselle, if you are really his +friend, you will advise him to obey the injunction which I have sought +to lay upon him to-day. A little affair like this which goes wrong, is +nothing. I have a dozen means of enforcing my words, not one of which +has ever failed." + +"I do not know who you are," Lady Anne said calmly, "or what it is +against which you are warning Sir Julien, but I am perfectly certain of +one thing. He will do what is right and what he conceives to be his +duty, without fear of threats from you or any one." + +Herr Freudenberg bowed low. Estermen, who had been glancing more than +once uneasily towards the revolver, was already at the door. + +"Mademoiselle," Herr Freudenberg declared, "bravery is a splendid gift, +discretion a finer. Sir Julien knows who I am and he knows that I have +yet to admit myself vanquished in any scheme in which I engage. He will +use his judgment. Meanwhile, mademoiselle!" + +He bowed low, turned and left the room. Lady Anne listened to his +retreating footsteps. Then she crossed the room quickly and bent over +Julien. + +"Are you hurt?" she asked breathlessly. + +He shook his head. She fumbled for a few minutes with the gag and +removed it. + +"Not a bit," he assured her. "Don't put the revolver down yet, but +fetch me a knife. You'll find one on the mantelpiece in the bedroom." + +She did as he told her. In a few minutes he was free. He stood up, +gasping. + +"The fellow came up behind me," he explained, "while I was walking to +the door. Anne, what a brick you are!" + +He held out his hand. She took it, laughing frankly. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "what else could any one do? I heard +the row and,--shall I admit it?--peeped through the keyhole. I couldn't +see anything, so I opened the door softly and heard something of what +was going on. This old revolver was lying on your dressing-table, but I +had an awful hunt for the cartridges. Whoever were those men?" + +Julien smiled. + +"When I tell you," he said, "you will think that I am mad. Yet this is +the truth. The man with whom you talked was Prince von Falkenberg." + +"What, the German Minister?" + +Julien nodded. + +"It seems incredible, doesn't it? Falkenberg is a man possessed of one +idea--to upset the relations between France and England. For that +purpose he has been paying secret visits to Paris for the last year. He +has corrupted the Press here. He has wormed his way into the confidence +of one or two of the Ministers. The thing is a perfect mania with him. +He has taken it into his head that the articles which Kendricks has +made me promise to write, and the first one of which appeared in _Le +Grand Journal_ yesterday--the one you read at dinner-time--are going +to be exploited as an exposure of his methods. For that reason he came +ostensibly to confirm an offer which he made me some time ago. When I +refused, he offered me a large sum of money--anything to get rid of me +and to stop my writing these articles. Of course I declined, and there +you are." + +Lady Anne began to laugh once more. + +"Well," she said, "I suppose I'm not dreaming. It sounds like a page +out of an opera-bouffe. That man who was here, whom I threatened to +shoot, was really Prince Falkenberg?" + +"There's no doubt whatever about it," Julien assured her. "The very +first night I was in Paris he sent for me. Anne," he went on, turning +once more towards her, "I haven't thanked you half enough. What a nerve +you have! You were splendid!" + +"Don't talk rubbish, Julien," she protested. "The stroke of luck was +that I happened to be there. It must have been quite a surprise for him +to see an apparently respectable young woman step out of your bedroom. +I am inclined to fear, Julien, that I am compromised. Anyhow, mother +would say so!" + +"Between ourselves," Julien remarked, "I don't think that Falkenberg +will mention the occurrence. Just wait while I put on another collar +and we'll go to that music-hall." + +She glanced at the clock. + +"I think you shall take me home instead." + +He looked at her quickly. + +"This affair has upset you!" + +"My dear Julien," she said dryly, "what an absurd idea! Of course I am +quite used to these little affairs, to seeing you lie bound and gagged, +and pointing a revolver at that unpleasant-looking Prince, with a +horrible fear inside me all the time that if I did aim at anything I +shouldn't hit it! Nevertheless, I think I'll go home, if you don't +mind." + +They descended the stairs and he called a little _voiture_. + +"I suppose it would sound silly," he ventured, after a time, "if I said +anything more about thanking you?" + +"Ridiculous!" she replied. "But what are you going to do? Are you going +to the police?" + +He shook his head. + +"I think that Herr Freudenberg, as he calls himself, would be too +clever for me if I tried anything of that sort. You see, I have put +this revolver into my pocket. I am going to avoid the lonely places, +and have Kendricks with me as much as possible." + +She nodded. + +"Take care of yourself," she advised, in a matter-of-fact tone, as they +turned into the street where Mademoiselle Rignaut lived. "I don't want +to hear of any tragedies." + +"When shall I see you again?" Julien asked. + +"It depends upon what reply I get from Madame Christophor," she +answered. "She may want me at once, and I don't know yet whether I'll +get an evening out or not! I shall have to leave you to discover that. +Good night!" + +She vanished within the dark doorway. Julien stepped back into the +carriage more than a little puzzled. To him Anne had always seemed the +prototype of all that was serene and matter-of-fact. To-night he had +found her unrecognizable. There was something, too, in her face as she +had turned away, a slight tremble in her voice, that bewildered him. As +he drove back to his rooms through the lighted streets, it was strange +that, notwithstanding the exciting adventure through which he had +passed, his thoughts were chiefly concerned with the problem of this +unfamiliar Lady Anne! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +LADY ANNE DECLINES + + +"My dear Julien!" + +The Duchess was very impressive indeed. From the depths of an +easy-chair in her sitting-room at the Ritz Hotel she held out both her +hands, and in her eyes was that peculiar strained look which Julien had +only been privileged to observe once or twice in his life. It +indicated, or rather it was the Duchess's substitute for, emotion. +Julien at once perceived, therefore, that this was an occasion. + +"First of all," she went on, motioning him to a chair, "first of all, +before I say a single word about this strange thing which has brought +me to Paris, let me congratulate you. I always knew, dear Julien, that +you would do something, that you would not allow yourself to be +altogether crushed by the machinations of that hateful woman." + +"Really," Julien began, "I am not quite sure--" + +"I mean your letters, of course," she interrupted. "The Duke, when he +finished the first one, said only one thing--'Wonderful!' That is just +how we all feel about them, Julien. I met Lord Cardington only a few +hours before I left London, and he was absolutely enthusiastic. 'If one +thing,' he said, 'will save the country, it is this splendid attack +upon the new diplomacy!'--as you so cleverly called it. The Duke tells +me that that first article of yours is to be printed as a leaflet and +distributed throughout the country." + +"I am very glad," Julien said, "to hear all this. Tell me, what brings +you to Paris? Is the Duke with you?" + +The Duchess smiled at him reproachfully. + +"You ask me what brings me to Paris, Julien? Come, come! You and I +mustn't begin like that. I want you to tell me at once where she is." + +"Where who is?" + +"Anne, of course! Please don't play with me. Consider what a terrible +time we have all been through." + +Julien did not at once reply. His very hesitation seemed to afford the +Duchess a lively satisfaction. + +"There!" she declared. "You are not going to pretend, then, that you +don't know? That is excellent. Julien, tell me at once where to find +her. Take me to her." + +"I am afraid I can't do that," Julien objected. + +"My dear--my dear Julien!" the Duchess protested. "This is all so +foolish. Why should there be any mystery about Anne's whereabouts? I am +not angry. I ought to be, perhaps, but you see I have guessed my dear +girl's secret. I've felt for her terribly during the last few weeks, +but it was so hard to know what to do. It seemed shocking at the time, +but perhaps, after all, the course which she adopted was the wisest." + +"I am very glad to hear that you are taking it like that," Julien +remarked, "and I am sure Anne will be. I think the best thing I can do +is to go and see her and tell her that you are here--" + +"She does not know, then?" the Duchess interrupted. + +"Why, of course not," Julien replied. "I received your note early this +morning--before I was up, in fact--and you begged me so earnestly to +come round at once that I came straight here without calling anywhere." + +The Duchess coughed. + +"Very well, Julien, I will leave you to go and fetch Anne whenever you +like. I shall await you here impatiently. Tell me how it was that you +both managed to deceive us so completely?" + +Julien shook his head. + +"I haven't the slightest notion what you mean." + +The Duchess shrugged her shoulders. + +"For my part," she said, "I always looked upon dear Anne as the most +unemotional, unsentimental person. Naturally I thought that she was a +little attracted towards you, but on the other hand I had no idea that +she looked upon marriage as anything but a reasonable and necessary +part of life. I had no idea, even, that she had any real affection for +you." + +"Affection for me!" + +Julien looked up. The Duchess was regarding him as a mother might look +at a naughty child whom she intended to pardon. + +"I did notice," she continued, "that Anne seemed very silent for some +time after your departure, and there was a curious lack of enthusiasm +about her preparations for the wedding with Mr. Samuel Harbord. She +scarcely looked, even, at the pearls he gave her. You know that I found +them on the floor of her bedroom after she had gone away? Well, well, +never mind that," the Duchess went on. "When I got her hurried note and +understood the whole affair, I must say that on the whole it was a +relief to me. Dear Anne--she is only like what I was at her age, before +I married the Duke. You ought to be very proud and happy, Julien." + +"I should be very happy," Julien declared, "to understand in the least +what you are talking about." + +The Duchess stared at him. + +"My good man," she cried, "my own daughter runs away on the eve of her +marriage, throws all Society into a commotion, comes to Paris to join +the man whom she cares for--you--you, Julien--and then you affect to +misunderstand!" + +Julien was speechless for several moments. He was conscious of a little +wave of strange emotion. The walls of the hotel sitting-room fell away. +He was standing on the edge of the wood behind the shrubbery of +laurels. The smell of the country gardens, the distant music, the +delicious stillness, the queer, troubled look in Anne's eyes, her +suddenly quickened breath, that moment which had passed so soon! It +came back to him with a peculiar insistence during those few seconds! + +Then he brushed it away. + +"My dear Duchess," he said slowly, "you are laboring under some +extraordinary mistake. Anne and I were very good friends and I think +that we should have made a reasonably contented couple. That, however, +was naturally broken off at once owing to my misfortune. Anne's visit +to Paris, her sudden flight from London, had nothing whatever to do +with me. I met her here entirely by accident. No word has passed +between us which would suggest for a single moment that she looked upon +this matter any differently!" + +The Duchess listened to him steadily. At first there were signs of a +coming storm. Like a skilful general, however, she abandoned her +position and changed her tactics. She got up and walked to the window, +produced a handkerchief from her pocket, and stood dabbing her eyes. +She looked out over the Place Vendôme. Julien, who had not the least +idea what to say, kept silent. + +"Julien," she said at last, turning around, "this--this is a blow to +me. If what you say is true, and of course it is, dear Anne's life is +ruined. At present every one sympathizes with her. You know, Samuel +Harbord, notwithstanding his enormous wealth--you have no idea, Julien, +how horrid he was about the settlements--is very unpopular. There wasn't +a soul except his own people who didn't thoroughly enjoy his position. +Anne had run away to Paris, they all said, because she declined to give +up her old sweetheart. You know what they will all say now? She came +and you would have none of her! I ask you, Julien, as a man of the +world, isn't that the view people are bound to take?" + +"It is a very stupid view," Julien declared. "Anne cares no more for me +than for any other man. She isn't that sort. Even if I were in a +position to marry any one, I am quite sure that she would refuse me." + +The Duchess began to see her way. She tried, however, to banish the +look of relief from her face. + +"My dear Julien," she said very gently, "you men, however well you +mean, sometimes make such mistakes. I want to show you what I am sure +you will see to be your duty. Things, of course, can never be as we had +once hoped. On the other hand, I am a mother, Julien, and I want to see +my daughters happy. We are very, very poor, but a little privation is +good for all of us. The Duke will settle two thousand a year upon Anne, +and I am quite sure that you can earn money with that wonderful pen of +yours, and then, of course, there is your own small income." + +"Anne doesn't want to marry me, and," he added, after a moment's +hesitation, "I don't want to marry Anne. You forget that I am an +outcast from life. I have to start things all over again. What should I +do with a wife who has been used to the sort of life Anne has always +led?" + +"Dear Julien," the Duchess repeated, "I want to show you your duty. If +you do not marry Anne, every one in London will say that she came to +you and you refused her. It is your duty at least to give her the +opportunity. It is unfortunate that she came here, perhaps, but we have +finished with all that. She is here, every one knows that she is here, +and you have been seen together." + +Julien rose from his chair and walked up and down the room. + +"I haven't talked very much with Anne," he said, pausing after a while, +"but it seems to me that she is making a bid for liberty. She is an +independent sort of girl, you know, after all, although she was very +well content, up to a certain point, to take things as they came. I +don't believe for a moment that she would marry me." + +"At least," the Duchess persisted, "do your duty and ask her. If +necessary, even let people know that you have asked her. It is your +duty, Julien." + +Julien hesitated no longer. + +"Very well," he decided, "since you put it like that I will ask Anne, +but I warn you, I think she will refuse me." + +"She will do nothing of the sort," the Duchess declared; "but oh! +Julien, it would make me so happy if you would take me to her, if I +could have just a few minutes' talk with her first, before you said +anything serious." + +Julien smiled. + +"Dear Duchess, I think not. I will go to see Anne alone. I will ask her +to marry me in my own way. I will tell her that you are here, and +whether she consents to marry me or not, I will bring her to see you. +But my offer shall be made before you and she meet." + +"You are a little hard, dear Julien," the Duchess murmured, "but let it +be so. Only remember that the poor dear child may be feeling very +sensitive--she must know that she has placed herself so completely in +your power. Be nice to her, Julien." + +The Duchess offered him a tentative but somewhat artificial embrace, +which Julien with great skill evaded. + +"We shall see," he remarked, "what happens. I shall find you here, I +suppose?" + +The Duchess nodded. + +"I have traveled all night," she said, half closing her eyes. "Directly +I saw that it was my duty, I came here without waiting a single second. +I shall lie down and rest and hope, Julien, until I see you both. I +shall hope and pray that you will bring Anne here to luncheon with me +and that we shall have a little family gathering." + +Anne was seated before the wide-open window in the little back room +leading from Mademoiselle Rignaut's workshop. A sewing-machine was on +the table in the middle of the apartment, the floor was strewn with +fragments of material. Anne, in a perfectly plain black gown, similar +to those worn by the other young ladies of the establishment, was +making bows. She looked at Julien, as he entered, in blank amazement. +Then a shadow of annoyance crossed her face. + +"My dear Julien," she exclaimed, "fancy letting you climb these four +flights of stairs! Besides, these are my working hours. I am not +receiving visitors." + +"Rubbish!" Julien interposed. "There's surely no need for you to pose +as a seamstress?" + +She laughed. + +"Don't be foolish! Why not a seamstress? I am absolutely determined to +do work of some sort. I am tired of living on other people and other +people's efforts. Until I hear from Madame Christophor, or find another +post, I am doing what I am fit for here. Don't make me any more annoyed +than I am at present. I am cross enough with Janette because she will +make me sit in here instead of with the other girls." + +He came across the room and stood by her side before the window. The +slight haze of the midsummer morning rested over the city with its +tangled mass of roofs and chimneys, its tall white buildings with funny +little verandas, the sweep of boulevards and statelier buildings in the +distance. She looked up and followed his eyes. + +"Don't you like my view?" she asked. "One misses the roar of London. Do +you notice how much shriller and less persistent all the noises are? +Yet it has its own inspiration, hasn't it?" + +"Without a doubt," Julien answered. "Of course, you can guess what I +came for?" + +"If it were to ask me to lunch," she said, composedly threading her +needle, "I am sorry, but I can't come. I have to make twenty-five of +these bows and I am rather slow at it." + +"Luncheon might have followed as an after-thought," he replied. "My +real mission was to suggest that you should marry me." + +Lady Anne's fingers paused for a moment in the air. She sat quite +still. Her eyes were half closed. There was a curious little quiver at +her heart, a little throb in her ears. On the whole, however, she kept +her self-control marvelously. + +"Whatever put that into your head?" she inquired, going on with her +work. + +He hesitated. It was in his mind to tell her of that evening at +Clonarty, to speak of it, to recall that one wave of emotion on which, +indeed, they might have floated into a completer understanding. He +looked at her steadfastly. She was very graceful, very good to look +upon. She sat upright in her poor cane chair, bending over her foolish +little task. But he missed any inspiration which might have guided his +tongue. She looked so thoroughly self-possessed, so splendidly superior +to circumstances. + +"Isn't it natural?" he asked. "You and I were always good friends. We +have come together here and we are both a little lonely. I have never +known any one else in the world, Anne," he continued, "with whom I have +been able to think of marriage with more--more content. One might live +quite a pleasant life here. We should not be paupers. At any rate, +there would be no reason for you to sit in this stuffy room making +bows, or to go and write Madame Christophor's letters." + +"Is that all?" + +Again he was tempted. For a single moment she had raised her eyes and +he had fancied that in that swift upward glance he had seen the light +of an almost eager questioning, an almost pathetic search. He bent +towards her, but she refused obstinately to look at him again. + +"Dear Anne," he said, "I have always been fond of you." + +Again her fingers were idle. An idea seemed to have occurred to her. +She asked him a question. + +"How long is it since you have seen my mother?" + +He did not at once reply. She raised her head and looked at him. Then +she knew the truth. She set her teeth and fought. A little sob was +strangled in her throat. + +"I left your mother a few minutes ago," he told her. "She arrived in +Paris this morning and sent for me." + +Lady Anne worked for a time in silence. Then she laid the bow, which +she had finished, upon the table, and leaned back in her chair, +clasping her right knee with her hands. + +"You really are the queerest person, Julien," she declared. "How you +were ever a success as a diplomatist I can't imagine! You came in with +the air of one charged with a high and holy mission. It was so obvious +and yet for a moment it puzzled me. How I would love to have been with +you this morning--with you and my mother, I mean--somewhere behind a +curtain! Never mind, you've done the really right and honorable +thing--you have given me my chance. I am very grateful, Julien." + +She looked frankly enough into his face now and laughed. Julien +remained silent. + +"Can't you see, both of you," Anne went on, "you silly people, that +something quite alien to us and our set has found its way into my +life--a sort of middle-class complaint--Heaven knows what you would call +it!--but it came just in time to place me in a most awkward position. I +still haven't any doubt that marriage is a very respectable and +desirable institution, but to me the idea of it as a matter of +convenience has suddenly become--well, a little worse than the thing +which we all shudder at so righteously when we pass along the streets +of Paris. Of course, I know," she added, "that's a shocking point of +view. My mother would hold, and you, too, that a legalized sale is no +sale at all, that matrimony is a perfectly hallowed institution, a +perfectly moral state, and all the rest of it. You see, I very nearly +admitted it myself--I very nearly sold myself!" + +She shuddered. Then she rose to her feet, straight and splendid, with +all the grace of her beautiful young womanhood. + +"Men don't think just as we do about this," she continued. "You are all +much too Oriental. But a woman has at least a right to keep what she +doesn't choose to sell, even if in the end she chooses to give it." + +Julien moved a step nearer to her. + +"Anne," he said, "supposing one cared?" + +Every fibre of her body was set in an effort of resistance. The mocking +laugh rose readily enough to her lips, the words were crushed back in +her throat. Only the faintest shadow shone for a moment in her eyes. + +"Ah, Julien," she murmured lightly, "if one cared! But does that really +come, I wonder? Not to such men as you. Not often, I am afraid, to such +women as I." + +The door was suddenly opened. Little Mademoiselle Rignaut was covered +with confusion. + +"But, miladi," she exclaimed, "a thousand pardons--" + +"Janette," Anne interrupted, "if I hear that once more I leave--I seek +another situation." + +"But, mademoiselle, then," Mademoiselle Rignaut corrected, "a thousand +pardons indeed! I had no idea--" + +"My dear Janette," Lady Anne protested, "why do you apologize for +entering your own workshop? It is foolish, this. I go now, dear Julien, +to put on my hat. You shall drive me to where my mother is staying--the +Ritz, I suppose? Afterwards you shall leave us. Wait in the street +below. I shall be less than two minutes." + +Mademoiselle Rignaut was still apologetic as she conducted Julien down +the narrow stairs. + +"But indeed," she declared, "there never was a young lady so strange, +with such charming manners, so sweet, as dear Miladi Anne. All the time +she smiles, inconveniences are nothing, one would imagine that she were +happy. And yet at night--" + +"At night what?" Julien asked. + +Mademoiselle shook her head. + +"Miladi Anne is not quite so cheerful as she seems. At night I fancy +that she does not sleep too well. One hears her, and, alas! Monsieur +Sir Julien, last night I heard her sobbing quietly." + +"Lady Anne sobbing?" Julien exclaimed. "It seems impossible." + +"Indeed, but women are strange!" Mademoiselle Rignaut sighed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE + + +Lady Anne came gayly down to the street a few minutes later. She was +still wearing the plain black gown and the simplest of hats. +Nevertheless, she looked charming. Her fresh complexion with its slight +touch of sunburn, her wealth of brown hair, and the distinction of her +carriage, made her everywhere an object of admiration in a city where +the prevailing type of beauty was so different. + +"Poor mother!" she exclaimed, as they crossed the Place de l'Opéra. +"Tell me, was she very theatrical this morning, Julien?" + +Julien smiled. + +"I am afraid I must admit that she was," he declared. "I found her very +interesting." + +"I hate to talk about her," Anne continued, "it makes one feel so +unfilial, but really she is the most wonderful marionette that ever +lived the perfect life. You see, I have been behind the scenes so long. +Every now and then a little of the woman's nature crops up. Her cut to +Mrs. Carraby, for instance, was quite one of the events of the season. +It was so perfectly administered, so utterly scathing. I hear that the +poor creature went to bed for a fortnight afterwards. Gracious, I hope +I am not distressing you, Julien!" she added hastily. + +"Not in the least," Julien assured her grimly. "I have no interest in +Mrs. Carraby." + +Lady Anne sighed. + +"That's how you men talk when your little feeling has evaporated. +Julien, you're a selfish crowd! You make the world a very difficult +place for a woman." + +"I think," he said, "that your sex avenges itself.' + +"I am not sure," she replied. "Men so often place the burden of their +own follies upon a woman's shoulders." + +"You rebuke me rightly," Julien declared bitterly. + +"I was not thinking of you," she told him reproachfully. "I am sorry, +Julien. I should not have said that." + +"It was the truth," he confessed, "absolutely the truth. Still, I have +never blamed Mrs. Carraby for my disasters. It was my own asinine +simplicity. Tell me, when shall I see you again? I think I ought to +leave you here." + +She laughed. + +"You want to know about my interview with mother? Well, you shall know +all about that, I promise you, because I have changed my mind. I intend +to make you an auditor. Don't desert me, Julien, please. Remember, this +is really a trying moment for me. I have to face an irate and obstinate +parent. If friendship is worth anything, come and help me." + +"I can't help thinking," he objected, "that your mother would rather +talk to you alone." + +"Then you will please to consider me and not my mother," Anne insisted, +as they drew up before the door of the hotel. "I wish you to remain." + +The Duchess received them perfectly. She did not attempt anything +emotional. She simply held out both her hands a little apart. + +"You dear, sensible people!" she cried. "Anne, how dared you give us +such a shock!" + +Anne leaned over and kissed her mother. + +"Mother," she announced, "I am not going to marry Julien." + +The Duchess started. The expression which flashed from her eyes was +unmistakably genuine. + +"Don't talk nonsense, Anne!" she exclaimed sharply. + +"No nonsense about it," Anne retorted. "I can't bear to talk when any +one is standing up. Sit down, and in a few sentences I'll let you know +how hopeless it all is." + +There was real fear in the Duchess's eyes. + +"Anne," she gasped, "is there a man, then?" + +"You idiotic person, of course there isn't!" Anne replied. "Why on +earth you should all talk about a man directly a girl breaks away for a +time, I can't imagine. Now sit down there and listen. I brought Julien +along because if you bully me too much I shall make him take me away. +We are excellent friends, Julien and I, and he has been very kind to me +since I came here; but I met him entirely by accident, and if I hadn't +I am quite sure that we might have lived here for years and never come +across one another." + +"But I have told every one in London!" the Duchess protested. "I have +explained everything! I have told them how you always loved Julien, +what a terrible blow his troubles were, and how you suddenly found that +it was impossible for you to marry any other man, and like a dear, +romantic child that you are you ran away to him." + +"Yes," Lady Anne said dryly, "that's a very pretty story! That's just +what I imagined you would tell everybody when you knew that I'd come +here. That is just," she continued slowly, "what you have been rubbing +into poor Julien this morning before he came to see me. Very well, +mother, up to a certain point it came off, you see. Julien called most +dutifully, found me sitting in an attic--'attic' is the correct word, +isn't it?--and made his declaration. No, I don't think he declared +anything, on second thoughts! He effectually concealed any feelings he +might have had. It was a suggestion which he made." + +"My manner of expressing myself," Julien began a little stiffly-- + +"Your manner of expressing yourself was perfect," Anne interrupted. "It +was a great deal too perfect, my _preux chevalier_. Only you see, +Julien, only you see, mother, Julien offered me exactly what I left +home to escape from. I have come to the conclusion," she went on, +smoothing her skirt about her knees, "that it is most indecent and +wholly improper even to think of marrying a man who does not love you +and whom you do not love." + +The Duchess closed her eyes. + +"Anne, what have you been reading?" she murmured. + +"Not a thing," Anne went on. "I never did read half enough. I'm simply +acting by instinct. Julien and I were engaged for three months and at +the end of that time we were complete strangers. The idea of marrying a +stranger was not attractive to me. Let that go. Julien went. Along came +Samuel--" + +"We will not talk about Mr. Harbord," the Duchess interposed hastily. + +"Oh, yes, we will! Now so far as Julien was concerned," Anne continued, +"I dare say I should have smothered my feelings because there is +nothing revolting about him. He is quite an attractive person, and +physically everything to be desired. But when it came to a man who was +not a gentleman, whose manners were odious, who offended my taste every +time he opened his mouth--why, you see, the thing couldn't be thought +of! Day by day it got worse. Towards the end he began to try and put +his hands on me. That made me think. That's why I came to Paris." + +"Anne," the Duchess declared severely, "you are indecent!" + +"On the contrary," Anne insisted, "I think it was the most decent thing +I ever did. Now please listen. I will not come back to England, I will +not marry Julien, I will not think of or discuss the subject of +marriage with any one. I am a free person and I haven't the least +intention of spending my life moping. I am going to have a pleasant +time and I am going to have it in my own way. You have two other +daughters, mother--Violet and Lucy. Unless they change, they are +exactly what you would have them. Be satisfied. Devote your energies to +them and count me a black sheep. You can make me a little allowance, if +you like--a hundred a year or so--but whether I have it or not, I am +either going to make bows in Mademoiselle Rignaut's workshop, or I am +going to be secretary to a very delightful lady--a Mrs. Christophor, or +something of the sort." + +The Duchess rose--she had an idea that she was more dignified standing. + +"Anne," she said, "I am your mother. Not only that, but I ask you to +remember who you are. The women of England look for an example to us. +They look to us to live regular and law-abiding lives, to be dutiful +wives and mothers. You are behaving like a creature from an altogether +different world. You speak openly of things I have never permitted +mentioned. I ask you to reflect. Do you owe nothing to me? Do you owe +nothing to your father, to our position?" + +"A great deal, mother," Anne replied, "but I owe more to myself than to +any one else in the world." + +The Duchess felt hopeless. She looked toward Julien. + +"There is so much of this foolish sort of talk about," she complained. +"It all comes of making friends with socialists and labor people, and +having such terrible nonsense printed in the reviews. What are we to +do, Julien? Can't you persuade Anne? I am sure that she is really fond +of you." + +"I wouldn't attempt to influence her for a single moment," Julien +declared. "I won't say whether I think she is right or wrong. On the +whole, I am inclined to think that she is right." + +"You, too, desert me!" the Duchess exclaimed. + +"Well, it all depends upon one's conception of happiness, of course," +Julien replied, "but so far as I am concerned, let me tell you that the +idea of a girl like Anne married to an insufferable bounder like +Harbord, just because he's got millions of money, simply made me boil." + +Anne, for some reason or other, was looking quite pleased. + +"I am so glad to know you felt like that, Julien. It's really the +nicest thing you've said to me all the morning. Well, that's over now. +Mother, why don't you give us some lunch and take the four o'clock +train back? It's the Calais train, which I know you always prefer." + +The Duchess reflected for a moment. There were advantages in lunching +at the Ritz with Julien on one side of her and Anne on the other. She +gave a little sigh and consented. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +FOOLHARDY JULIEN + + +The luncheon in the beautiful restaurant of the Ritz was a meal after +the Duchess's own heart. She was at home here and received the proper +amount of attention. Not only that, but many acquaintances--mostly +foreign, but a few English--paused at her table to pay their respects. +To every one of these she carefully introduced her daughter and Sir +Julien. The situation was not without its embarrassments. Lady Anne, +however, dissipated them by an unaffected fit of laughter. + +"Mother thinks she is putting everything quite right by lending us the +sanctity of her presence," she declared. "We have been seen lunching at +the Ritz. After this, who shall say that I ran away from home to meet a +riding master in Paris, or some other disreputable person? I may +perhaps be pitied as the victim of a hopeless infatuation for you, +Julien, but for the rest, if we only sit here long enough I shall be +whitewashed." + +The Duchess was a little uneasy. + +"I must say, Anne," she protested, "that you seem to have developed a +great deal of levity during the last few days. It's not a subject to be +alluded to so lightly. Ah! now let me tell you who this is. A +wonderfully interesting person, I can assure you. She was born in Paris +of American parents, very wealthy indeed, married when quite young to +Prince Falkenberg, and separated from him within two years. They say +that she lives a queer, half Bohemian sort of life now, but she is +still a great person when she chooses. My dear Princess!" + +Madame Christophor, who had entered the room on her way to a luncheon +party, paused for a moment and shook hands. Then she recognized Julien. + +"Really," she murmured, "this is most unexpected. My dear Duchess, you +have quite deserted Paris. Is this your daughter--Lady Anne? I scarcely +remember her. And yet--" + +"We met yesterday," Lady Anne interrupted promptly. "You know, I want +to be your secretary, Madame Christophor, if you will let me. My mother +has entirely cast me off, so it doesn't matter." + +The Duchess made a most piquant gesture. It was really an insufferable +position, but she was determined to remain graceful. + +"My dear Madame Christophor," she said, "you have no grown-up children, +of course, so I cannot ask for your sympathy. But I have a daughter +here who is giving me a great deal of trouble. I flatter myself that I +have modern views of life, but Anne--well, I won't discuss her." + +Madame Christophor smiled. + +"Young people are different nowadays, Duchess," she remarked. "If Lady +Anne really wants to come into life on her own, why not? She can be my +secretary if she chooses. I shall pay her just as much as I should any +one else, and I shall send her away if she is not satisfactory. There +are a great many young people nowadays, Duchess," she continued, "in +very much your daughter's position, who do these odd things. I always +think that it is better not to stand in their way. Sir Julien, I want +to speak to you before you leave this restaurant. I have something +important to say." + +The Duchess was a little taken aback. To her it seemed a social +cataclysm, something unheard of, that her daughter should propose to be +any one's secretary. Yet this woman, who was certainly of her own +order, had accepted the thing as entirely natural--had dismissed it, +even, with a few casual remarks. Julien, who since Madame Christophor's +arrival had been standing in his place, was somewhat perplexed. + +"You are lunching here?" he asked. + +"With the Servian Minister's wife. I shall excuse myself early. It is a +vital necessity that we talk for a few minutes before you leave here. +Five minutes ago I sent a note to your rooms." + +"I shall be at your service," Julien replied slowly. + +"I shall expect you in the morning," Madame Christophor said, smiling +at Lady Anne. "Don't be later than ten o'clock. I am always at home +after four, Duchess, if you are spending any time in Paris," she added. + +They watched her as she passed to the little group who were awaiting +her arrival. She was certainly one of the most elegant women in the +room. Lady Anne looked after her with a faint frown. + +"I wonder," she murmured, "if I shall like Madame Christophor?" + +"I had no idea, Julien," the Duchess remarked, "that you were friendly +with her." + +Julien evaded the question. + +"At any rate," he said, turning to Anne, "this will be better for you +than making bows." + +"I suppose so," she assented. "All the same, I am very much my own +mistress in that dusty little workshop. If Madame Christophor--isn't +that the name she chooses to be called by?--becomes exacting, I am not +even sure that I shan't regret my bow-making." + +"Tell me exactly how long you have known her, Julien!" the Duchess +persisted. + +"Since my arrival in Paris this time," Julien answered. "I had--well, a +sort of introduction to her." + +"She is received everywhere," the Duchess continued, "because I know +she visits at the house of the Comtesse Deschelles, who is one of the +few women in Paris of the old faction who are entirely exclusive. At +the same time, I am told that she leads a very retired life now, and is +more seen in Bohemia than anywhere. I am not at all sure that it is a +desirable association for Anne." + +"Well, you can leave off troubling about that," Anne said. "Remember, +however much we make believe, I have really shaken the dust of +respectability off my feet. Hamilton Place knows me no longer. I am a +dweller in the byways. Even if I come back, it will be as a stranger. +People will be interested in me, perhaps, as some one outside their +lives. 'That strange daughter of the poor dear Duchess, you know,' they +will say, 'who ran away to Paris! Some terrible affair. No one knows +the rights of it.' Can't you hear it all? They will be kind to me, of +course, but I shan't belong. Alas!" + +The Duchess was studying her bill and wondering how much to tip the +waiter. She only answered absently. + +"My dear Anne, you are talking quite foolishly. I wish I knew," she +added plaintively, a few minutes later, "what you have been reading or +whom you have been meeting lately." + +"Don't bother about me," Anne begged. "What you want to do now is to +tell Parkins to pack up your things and I'll come and see you off by +the four o'clock train. Julien must wait outside for my future +employer. What I really think is going to happen is that she's going to +ask for my character. Julien, be merciful to me! Remember that above +all things I have always been respectable. Remind her that if I were +too intelligent I should probably rob her of her secrets or money or +something. I am really a most machine-like person. Nature meant me to +be secretary to a clever woman, and my handwriting--don't forget my +handwriting. Nothing so clear or so rapid has ever been seen." + +The Duchess signed her bill, slightly undertipped the waiter and +accepted his subdued thanks with a gracious smile. + +"I can see," she said, as they left the room, "that I shall have to +wash my hands of you. Nevertheless, I shall not lose hope." + +She shook hands solemnly with Julien, and he performed a like ceremony +with Lady Anne. + +"When shall I see you again?" he asked the latter. + +"You had better question Madame Christophor concerning my evenings +out," she replied. "It is not a matter I know much about. I am sure you +are quite welcome to any of them." + +Julien found a seat in the broad passageway. Several acquaintances +passed to and fro whom so far as possible he avoided. Madame +Christophor came at last. She was the centre of the little party who +were on their way into the lounge. When she neared Julien, however, she +paused and made her adieux. He rose and waited for her expectantly. + +"We are to talk here?" he asked. + +She nodded. + +"In that corner." + +She pointed to a more retired spot. He followed her there. + +"Order some coffee," she directed. + +He obeyed her and they were promptly served. She waited, chatting idly +of their luncheon party, of the coincidence of meeting with the +Duchess, until they were entirely freed from observation. Then she +leaned towards him. + +"Sir Julien," she said, "I have read your articles, the first and the +second. You are a brave man." + +He smiled. + +"Are you going to warn me once more against Herr Freudenberg?" he +asked. + +She shook her head. + +"If you do not know your danger," she continued, "you would be too +great a fool to be worth warning. Remember that Freudenberg came from +Berlin as fast as express trains and his racing-car could bring him, +the moment he read the first." + +"I have already had a brief but somewhat unpleasant interview with +him," Julien remarked. + +"I congratulate you," she went on. "Unpleasant interviews with Herr +Freudenberg generally end differently. Now listen to me. I have a +proposition to make. There is one house in Paris where you will be +safe--mine. I offer you its shelter. Come there and finish your work." + +Julien made no reply. He sipped his coffee for a moment. Then he turned +slowly round. + +"Madame Christophor," he said, "once you told me that you disliked and +distrusted all men. Why, then, should I trust you?" + +She winced a little, but her tone when she answered him was free of +offense. + +"Why should you, indeed?" she replied. "Yet you should remember that +the man against whose cherished schemes your articles are directed is +the man whom I have more cause to hate than any other in the world." + +"Herr Freudenberg," he murmured. + +"Prince Adolf Rudolf von Falkenberg," she corrected him. "Do you know +the story of my married life?" + +"I have never heard it," he told her. + +"I will spare you the details," she continued. "My husband married me +with the sole idea of using my house, my friends, my social position +here for the furtherance of his schemes. Under my roof I discovered +meetings of spies, spies paid to suborn the different services in this +country--the navy, the army, the railway works. When I protested, he +laughed at me. He made no secret of his ambitions. He is the sworn and +inveterate enemy of your country. His feeling against France is a +slight thing in comparison with his hatred of England. For the last ten +years he has done nothing but scheme to humiliate her. When I +discovered to what purpose my house was being put, I bade him leave it. +I bade him choose another hotel, and when he saw that I was in earnest, +he obeyed. It is one of the conditions of our separation that he does +not cross my threshold. That is why I say, Sir Julien, that you have +nothing to fear in accepting the shelter of my roof." + +"Madame Christophor," Julien said earnestly, "I am most grateful for +your offer. At the same time, I honestly do not believe that I have +anything to fear anywhere. Herr Freudenberg has made one attempt upon +me and has failed. I do not think that he is likely to risk everything +by any open assaults. In these civilized days of the police, the +telephone and the law courts, one is not so much at the mercy of a +strong man as in the old days. I do not fear Herr Freudenberg." + +Madame Christophor shrugged her shoulders. + +"My friend," she admitted, "I admire your courage, but listen. You say +that one attempt has already been made to silence you. For every letter +you write, there will be another made. At each fresh one, these +creatures of Herr Freudenberg's will have learned more cunning. In the +end they are bound to succeed. Why risk your life? I offer my house as +a sanctuary. There is no need for you to pass outside it. You could +take the exercise you require in my garden, which is bounded by four of +the highest walls in Paris. You can sit in a room apart from the rest +of the house, with three locked doors between you and the others. You +may write there freely and without fear." + +Julien smiled. + +"I am afraid it is my stupidity," he said, "but I cannot possibly bring +myself to believe in the existence of any danger. I will promise you +this, if I may. If any further attempt should be made upon me, any +attempt which came in the least near being successful, I will remember +your offer. For the present my mind is made up. I shall remain where I +am." + +She shrugged her shoulders. + +"Ingrate!" + +"Not that, by any means," he assured her heartily. "You know that I am +grateful. You know that if I refuse for the moment your offer it is not +because I mistrust you. I simply feel that I should be taking elaborate +precautions which are quite unnecessary." + +"I might even spare you," she remarked, smiling, "Lady Anne for your +secretary." + +"Even that inducement," he answered steadily, "does not move me." + +She sighed. + +"You will have your own way," she said, "and yet there is something +rather sad about it. I know so much more of this Paris than you. I know +so much more of Herr Freudenberg. Remember that there are a quarter of +a million Germans in this city, and of that quarter of a million at +least twenty thousand belong to one or the other of the secret +societies with which the city abounds. All of them are different in +tone, but they all have at the end of their programme the cause of the +Fatherland. By this time you will have been named to them as its enemy. +Twenty thousand of them, my friend, and not a scruple amongst the lot!" + +He moved in his place a little restlessly. + +"One does not fight in these ways nowadays," he protested. + +"Pig-headed Englishman!" she murmured. "You to say that, too!" + +His thoughts flashed back to those few moments of vivid life in his own +rooms. He thought of Freudenberg's calm perseverance. An uncomfortable +feeling seized him. + +"I do not know," she went on, leaning a little towards him, "why I +should interest myself in you at all." + +"Why do you, then?" he asked, looking at her suddenly. + +She played with the trifles that hung from her chatelaine. He watched +for the raising of her eyes, but he watched in vain. She did not return +his inquiring look. + +"Never mind," she said, "I have warned you. It is for you to act as you +think best. If you change your mind, come to me. I will give you +sanctuary at any time. Take me to my automobile, please." + +He obeyed her and watched her drive off. Then he went slowly and +unmolested back to his rooms. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +THE SECOND ATTEMPT + + +The concierge of Julien's apartments issued with a somewhat mysterious +air from his little lodge as his tenant passed through the door. He was +a short man with a fierce, bristling moustache. He wore a semi-military +coat, always too short for him, and he was so stout that he was seldom +able to fasten more than two of the buttons of his waistcoat. + +"Monsieur!" + +"What is it, Pierre?" Julien asked. "Any callers for me?" + +"There have been callers, indeed, monsieur," Pierre replied, "callers +whose errand I do not quite understand. They asked many questions +concerning monsieur. When they had finished, the man--bah! he was a +German!--he thrust into my hand a hundred franc note. He said, 'No word +of this to Monsieur Sir Julien!' I put the note into the bottom of my +trousers pocket, but I made no response. I am not dishonorable. I keep +the note because these men should think me craven enough to give them +information, to hear their questions, and to say nothing to monsieur, +one of my own lodgers! It was an insult, that. Therefore I keep the +hundred franc note. Therefore I tell monsieur all that these two men +did ask." + +"You showed," Julien declared, "a rare and excellent discretion. +Proceed." + +"They asked questions, monsieur, on every conceivable subject," Pierre +continued. "Their interest in your doings was amazing. They asked what +meals you took in the house, at what hour you went out and at what hour +you returned. Then the shorter of the two wished to take the room above +yours. I asked him more than double the price, but he would have +engaged it. Then I told him that I was not sure. There was a gentleman +to whom it was offered. They come back this afternoon to know the +result." + +"If they find a lodging in this house," Julien said, "I fear that I +must leave." + +"It shall be," Pierre decided, "as monsieur wishes. I am not to be +tempted with money when it comes to a question of retaining an old +tenant. The room is let to another. It is finished." + +Julien climbed the stairs thoughtfully to his apartments, locked +himself in and sat down before his desk. For an hour or more he worked. +Then there came a timid knock at the door. He looked around, frowning. +After a moment's hesitation he affected not to notice the summons, and +continued his work. The knocking came again, however, low but +persistent. Julien rose to his feet, turned the key and opened the +door. + +"Mademoiselle!" he exclaimed, genuinely surprised. + +It was Mademoiselle Ixe who glided past him into the room. She signed +to him to close the door. He did so, and turning slowly faced her. She +was standing a few yards away, her lips a little parted, pale +notwithstanding the delicately artistic touch of coloring upon her +cheeks. Her hands were crossed upon the jade top of her lace parasol. +In her muslin gown and large hat she formed a very effective picture as +she stood there with her eyes now fixed upon Julien. + +"Mademoiselle," he began, "I do not quite understand." + +"Look outside," she begged. "See that there is no one there. I am so +afraid that I might have been followed." + +Julien stepped out onto the landing and returned. + +"There is no one about at all," he assured her. + +She drew a little sigh. + +"But it is rash, this! Monsieur Sir Julien, you are glad--you are +pleased to see me? Make me one of your pretty speeches at once or I +shall go." + +"But, mademoiselle," Julien said, wheeling a chair towards her, "who +indeed could be anything but glad to see you at any time? Yet forgive +me if I am stupid. Tell me why you have come to see me this afternoon +and why you are afraid that you are followed?" + +"Why?" she murmured, looking up into his eyes. "Ah, Monsieur Sir +Julien, it is hard indeed to tell you that!" + +Mademoiselle Ixe was without doubt an extraordinarily pretty young +woman. She was famous even in Paris for her figure, her looks, the +perfection of her clothes, the daintiness and distinction of those +small adjuncts to her toilette so dear to the heart of a Parisienne. +Julien looked at her and sighed. + +"Perhaps, mademoiselle," he said, "you will find it hard also to tell +me whether you come of your own accord or at the instigation of Herr +Freudenberg?" + +She looked genuinely hurt. Julien, however, was merciless. + +"It is, perhaps, because Herr Freudenberg has told you that I once lost +great things through trusting a woman that you think to find me an easy +victim?" he went on. "Come, am I to give you those sheets over there," +he added, pointing to his writing-table, "and promise for your sake +never to write another line, or have you more serious designs?" + +"Monsieur Julien," she faltered,-- + +He suddenly changed his tone. + +"Am I cruel?" he asked. "Forgive me, mademoiselle--forgive me, +Marguerite." + +She held out her delicately gloved hand towards him; her face she +turned a little away and one gathered that there were tears in her eyes +which she did not wish him to see. + +"Take off my glove, please," she whispered. "I did not think you would +be so cruel even for a moment." + +He took her fingers in his, fingers which promptly returned his +pressure. His right arm stole around her. + +"Monsieur Sir Julien," she continued very softly, "please promise that +you will speak to me no more now of Herr Freudenberg. Tell me that you +are glad I have come. Say some more of those pretty things that you +whispered to me in the Rat Mort." + +His arm tightened about her. She was powerless. + +"Julien!" she murmured. + +He laughed quietly. Suddenly she struggled to escape from him. + +"Let me go!" she cried. "Sir Julien, but you are rough. Monsieur!" + +He flung her from him back into the chair. In his left hand he held the +pistol he had taken from the bosom of her gown--a dainty little affair +of ivory and silver. He turned it over curiously. She lay back in the +chair where he had thrown her, gripping its sides with tremulous +fingers, her eyes deep-set, distended, staring at him. He thrust the +weapon into his pocket. + +"Really," he said, "I thought better of Herr Freudenberg. Why doesn't +he come himself?" + +"Oh, he will come!" she answered. + +"Will he?" Julien replied. "I should have thought better of him if he +had come first, instead of sending a woman to do his work." + +She sat up in the chair. Julien had known well how to rouse her. + +"You do not think that he is afraid?" she cried. "Afraid of you? Bah! +For the rest, it was I who insisted on coming. He was troubled. I knew +why. I said to myself, 'It is a risk I will take. I will go to Sir +Julien's rooms. I will shoot him. I will pretend that it was a love +affair. I will go into court all with tears, I will wear my prettiest +clothes, nothing indeed will happen. An affair of jealousy--a moment of +madness. One takes account of these things. Then Herr Freudenberg +himself has great friends here, friends in high places. He will see +that nothing happens.'" + +"A very pretty scheme," Julien remarked sarcastically. "Supposing, +however, I turn the tables upon you, mademoiselle. You are here and I +have taken away this little plaything. Would Herr Freudenberg be +jealous if he knew, I wonder?" + +She glanced at the door. + +"Locked," Julien continued grimly. "Do you still wish me to come and +make pretty speeches to you?" he added. "You are certainly looking +very charming, mademoiselle. Your gown is exquisite. What can I do more +than echo what all Paris has said--that there is no one of her +daughters more bewitching? Can you wonder if I lose my head a little +when I find you here with me in my rooms--a visit, too, of pure +affection?" + +She rose to her feet. The patch of color upon her cheeks had become +more vivid. + +"You will let me go?" she faltered. + +Julien unlocked the door. + +"Mademoiselle," he answered, "I shall most certainly let you go. Permit +me to thank you for the pleasure which your brief visit has afforded +me." + +The door was opened before her. Julien stood on one side. The smile +with which he dismissed her was half contemptuous, half kindly. Upon +the threshold she hesitated. + +"Sir Julien!" + +"Mademoiselle Ixe?" + +"If there were no Herr Freudenberg," she whispered, "if it were not my +evil fortune, Monsieur Sir Julien, to love him so foolishly, so +absolutely, so that every moment of separation is full of pain, every +other man like a figure in a dream--if it were not for this, Monsieur +Sir Julien, I do not think that I should like to leave you so easily!" + +Julien made no reply. She passed out with a little sigh. He heard the +flutter of her laces and draperies as she crossed the passage and +commenced the descent of the stairs. Julien was closing the door when +he heard a familiar voice and a heavy footstep. Kendricks, with a +Gladstone bag in his hand, came bustling up. + +"Julien, you dog," he exclaimed savagely, "you're at it again! Why the +devil can't you keep these women at arm's length? What has that pretty +little creature of Herr Freudenberg's been doing here?" + +Julien laughed as he closed the door. + +"Don't be a fool, David! She wasn't here at my invitation." + +"Tears in her eyes!" Kendricks muttered. "Sobbing to herself as she +went down the steps! Crocodile's tears, I know. These d--d women, +Julien! Out with it. What did she come for?" + +Julien produced the pistol from his pocket. + +"It was," he explained, "her amiable intention to please her lord and +master at the slight expense of my life. Fortunately, the game was a +new one to her and she kept on feeling the bosom of her gown to see +whether the pistol was there still." + +"What did you do?" Kendricks demanded. + +"What was there for me to do?" Julien replied. "I took her little toy +away and told her to run off. This is the second time, David. Estermen +and Freudenberg have had a shy at me here themselves, and they'd have +gotten me all right but for an accident. I won't tell you what the +accident was, for the moment, owing to your peculiar prejudices. How +are things in London?" + +Kendricks threw himself into an easy-chair and began to fill his pipe. + +"Julien," he declared, "you've done the trick! I'm proud of my advice, +proud of the result. There isn't a club or an omnibus or a tube or a +public-house where that letter of yours isn't being talked about. They +tell me it's the same here. Have you seen the German papers?" + +"Not one." + +"Never was such a thunderbolt launched," Kendricks continued. "They are +all either stupefied or hysterical. Freudenberg left Berlin an hour +after he saw the article. You tell me you've met him already?" + +"Yes, he's been here," Julien replied. "He offered to make me a Croesus +if I'd stop the letters. When I refused, well, we had a scuffle, and by +Jove, they nearly got me! He means to wipe me out." + +"We'll see about that!" Kendricks muttered. "I'm not going to leave +your side till we're through with this little job." + +"Madame Christophor suggested that I should go there and finish," +Julien said. "What do you think of that?" + +"Madame Fiddlesticks!" Kendricks retorted angrily. "The wife of +Falkenberg! Do you want to walk into the lion's jaws?" + +"She is separated from her husband," Julien reminded him. "My own +impression is that she hates him." + +"I'd never believe it," Kendricks insisted. "The fellow has the devil's +own way with these women. Look at that little wretch I met on the +stairs. A harmless, flirting little opera singer a year ago. Now she'd +come here and murder a man against whom she hasn't the slightest +grudge, for his sake. I tell you the fellow's got an unwholesome +influence over every one with whom he comes in contact." + +"Have you read to-day's letter?" Julien asked abruptly. + +"Read it! Man alive, it made the heart jump inside me! I tell you it's +set the war music dancing wherever a dozen men have come together. I +always thought you had a pretty gift as a maker of phrases, Julien, but +I never knew you dipped your pen in the ink of the immortals. I tell +you no one doubts anything you have written. That's the genius of it. +No one denies it, no one attempts arguments, every one in England and +France whose feelings have been ruffled is already wanting to shake +hands all over again. One sees that giant figure, the world's +mischief-maker, suddenly caught at his job. It's gorgeous! How about +number four?" + +"Half written," Julien declared, pointing to his table. + +Kendricks went to the door and locked it, went to the cupboard and +brought out the whiskey and soda, undid his Gladstone bag, buttoned a +life preserver on his left wrist, and laid a Mauser pistol on the table +by the side of him. + +"Julien," he said, "I feel like the biggest ass unhung, but I am here +with my playthings to be watchdog. Get to your desk and write, man. One +drink first. Come." + +They raised their glasses. + +"What have you called number three?" Kendricks asked. + +"'A Maker of Toys!'" Julien replied. + +"Here's damnation to him!" Kendricks said, raising the glass to his +lips. "Now get to work, Julien." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +BY THE PRINCE'S ORDERS + + +Once more mademoiselle sat beneath a canopy of pink roses, surrounded +by obsequious waiters, with the murmur of music in her ears, opposite +the man she adored. Yet without a doubt mademoiselle was disturbed. Her +fixed eyes were riveted upon the newspaper which Herr Freudenberg had +passed into her hand. She was suddenly very pale. + +"Send some of these people away," she begged. "I am frightened." + +Herr Freudenberg smiled. With a wave of his hand they were alone. + +"Dear Marguerite," he said quietly, "compose yourself. All those who +stand in my way and the way of my country must be swept aside, but +remember this. They have all received their warning. I lift my hand +against no one who has not first received a chance of escape." + +"He was a man so gallant," she faltered, "so _comme il faut_. +Listen to me, please." + +She laid the newspaper upon the table and kept the flat of her hand +still upon it. Then she leaned towards him. + +"You will not be angry with me?" she implored. "Indeed I did it to +please you, to win, if I could, a little more of your love. I knew that +this man Sir Julien stood in your path and that you found it difficult +to remove him. An impulse came to me. We had talked together gayly as a +man of gallantry may talk to a woman like myself. It might easily pass +for flirting, those things that he has said. Although you, dear one," +she added, looking across the table, "know how it is with me when such +words are spoken. Well, I bought cartridges for my little pistol that +you gave me, I thrust it into the bosom of my gown, I wore my prettiest +clothes, and yesterday I went to his rooms." + +Herr Freudenberg's cold eyes were suddenly fixed upon her face. His +fingers stopped their drumming upon the tablecloth. + +"Proceed!" + +"I meant to shoot him," she confessed. "I thought that if I could not +escape afterwards it was so easy for people to believe that he was my +lover, that it was a crime of jealousy, a moment's passion. I said to +myself, too, that you would help so that after all my punishment would +be a very small affair. In no other way it seemed to me could he have +been disposed of so easily." + +"Sweet little fool!" Herr Freudenberg murmured. "Did it never enter +into your little brain that you are known as my companion?" + +She shook her head. + +"That would have counted for nothing. People would not have believed +that I had any other motive. I should have declared that it was a love +affair." + +"What happened?" + +"He was too quick for me," mademoiselle admitted. "He saw me feel the +spot where the pistol lay concealed. He--he snatched it away." + +"And afterwards?" Herr Freudenberg inquired, with the ghost of a smile +upon his lips. + +She raised her eyes. + +"He let me go," she replied. "He threw open the door and he laughed at +me. Forgive me, please, if I am sad, if indeed I weep. He was a gallant +gentleman." + +Herr Freudenberg sighed. Slowly he raised his glass to his lips and +drank. + +"It is an amiable epitaph," he declared. "Many a man has gone up to +Heaven with a worse. Cheer up, my little Marguerite. A year or two more +or less in a man's life is no great matter, and after all it was not +one warning which this rash man received. You have not yet read the +account of the affair." + +Mademoiselle slowly withdrew the palm of her hand from the paper. The +paragraph was headed: + +SHOCKING EXPLOSION IN THE RUE DE MONTPELIER. + +She looked up. + +"I cannot read it," she murmured. "Tell me." + +"It is simple," he replied. "This afternoon an unfortunate explosion +occurred in the house in the Rue de Montpelier where Sir Julien had his +apartments. The whole of the front of the premises was blown away. It +is regrettable," he added, with a little shrug of the shoulders, "that +in all seven people perished, including the concierge. Mr. Kendricks, +an English journalist, was taken away alive, but terribly injured, to +the hospital. His companion, who seems to have been within a few feet +of him when the explosion occurred, was unfortunately blown to pieces. +The details as to his fate might perhaps interfere with your appetite, +but let me at least assure you, my dear Marguerite," Herr Freudenberg +continued, "that such a death is entirely painless. I regret the +necessity for such means, but the man had his chance. I regret, also, +the fate of the other poor people who lost their lives. Unfortunately, +it was necessary to remove Sir Julien in such a way that no suspicion +should be cast upon any one person. The death of the concierge, for +instance, was absolutely essential. He was suspicious about some of my +men who had been making inquiries." + +"But it is horrible!" she gasped. + +"Little one," he went on, "life is like that. To succeed one has to +cultivate indifference. Sir Julien Portel had many warnings. He knew +very well that if he persisted in writing those articles, he was +braving my defiance. Already he has done mischief enough. The whole +series would have undone the work of the last two years. To-night," +Herr Freudenberg continued, with a sigh of relief, "we may open the +Journal without apprehensions. There are no more secrets disclosed, no +more of these marvelously written appeals to--" + +Herr Freudenberg stopped short. His eyebrows had drawn closer together. +He was gazing at the sheet which he held in his hand with more +expression in his face than mademoiselle had ever seen there before. + +"My God!" he muttered. + +She, too, bent forward. She, too, saw the article with its heading: "A +Maker of Toys!" + +Herr Freudenberg waved her back. Line by line he read the article. When +he had finished, his face was almost ghastly. He drained his glass and +called for the _sommelier_. + +"Serve more wine," he ordered briefly. + +"What is it that you have seen?" she asked. + +"I was a fool not to have been prepared," he answered. "There is +another article in to-night's paper, but of course he would have sent +it off before--before the explosion happened. It is worse than the +others!" he went on hoarsely. "Thank Heaven, that man is out of the +way! I would give a million marks to be able to destroy every copy of +this paper that was ever issued. It is not fair fighting!... It is +barbarous! No longer can I hope for any privacy in this country. You +see--you see, Marguerite? He has written of me openly. 'The Toymaker +from Leipzig!'--that is what he has called me! These two, Kendricks and +he, they saw through me from the first. They knew what it was that I +desired. Damn them!" + +Mademoiselle crossed herself instinctively. Once she had been +religious. + +"Poor Sir Julien!" + +Herr Freudenberg sighed. + +"To-morrow night, at any rate," he said, "there will be no article. We +have made sure of that. I pray to Heaven that it may not be too late!" + +She shuddered. The service of dinner was resumed. + +"Put the paper away," she begged. "Don't let us think of it any more. +After all, as you say, he was warned. Nothing that one feels now can do +any good. Give me some wine. Talk to me of other things." + +Estermen came in to them presently. Herr Freudenberg insisted upon his +taking a chair. Once more he dismissed the waiters. + +"All goes well," Estermen announced. "There is not an idea at +headquarters as to the source of the explosion. I have been round with +the newspaper men." + +"How is Kendricks?" Herr Freudenberg asked. + +"Alive, but barely conscious." + +"It is a pity," Herr Freudenberg said coldly. "Kendricks is responsible +for a good deal of the trouble. Did you see that to-night's article is +here?" + +Estermen nodded. + +"He must have been a day ahead," he explained. "It was probably a later +one of the series upon which he was engaged when the thing occurred." + +"This one will do sufficient harm," Herr Freudenberg remarked grimly. + +Estermen shrugged his shoulders. + +"It is true, and yet we have a great start. Public opinion is +thoroughly unsettled. Even those who accepted the _entente_ as the +most brilliant piece of diplomacy of the generation, are beginning to +wonder what really has been gained by it. If I were at Berlin," +Estermen continued, with a covert glance up at his master, "now is the +time I should choose. To-morrow _Le Grand Journal_ will be silent. +To-morrow I should send a polite notification to the English Government +that owing to the unsettled condition of the country, and the +nervousness of certain German residents, His Imperial Majesty has +thought it wise to send a warship to Agdar." + +"The German subjects are a trifle hypothetical," Herr Freudenberg +muttered. "We had the utmost difficulty in persuading an ex-convict to +go out there." + +"What does it matter?" Estermen asked. "He is there. He represents the +glorious liberties of the Fatherland. Millions have been spent before +now for the blood of one man." + +Marguerite sighed. She was leaning back in her place, watching the +boughs of the lime trees swinging gently back and forth in the night +breeze, the cool moonlight outside, refreshing in its contrast to the +over-lit and overheated auditorium of the music-hall. On the stage a +Revue was in full swing. Mademoiselle Ixe glanced at it but seldom. Her +eyes seemed to be always outside. + +"Tell me," she demanded almost passionately, "why cannot one leave the +world alone? It is great enough and beautiful enough. Will Germany be +really the happier, do you think, if she triumphs against England? It +doesn't seem worth while. Life is so short, the joy of living is so +hard to grasp. Don't you think," she added, leaning towards her +companion, her beautiful eyes full of entreaty, "that for one night at +least, all thoughts of your country and of her destinies might pass +away? Let us live in the world that amuses itself, that takes the +pleasures that grow ready to its hand, whose arms are not rapacious, +and whose sword lies idle. Forget for a little time, dear friend. Let +us both forget!" + +Herr Freudenberg smiled as he finished his wine. + +"Ah! dear Marguerite," he said, "you preach the great philosophy. We +will try humbly to follow in your footsteps. Lead on and we will +follow--up to the Montmartre, if you will, or down to the Rue Royale. +What does it matter, sweetheart, so long as we are together?" + +She shivered a little as his fingers touched hers, although her eyes +still besought him. The _vestiaire_ was standing by with her lace +coat. She rose slowly to her feet. + +"To the Rue Royale," she decided. "To-night I have no fancy for the +Montmartre." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +DISTRESSING NEWS + + +Mrs. Carraby advanced into the library of the great house in Grosvenor +Square. Her husband had risen from his desk and was standing with his +hands in his pockets upon the hearth-rug. His dress was as neat and +correct as ever, his hair as accurately parted, his small moustache as +effectually twirled. Yet there was a frown upon his face, an expression +of gloomy peevishness about his expression. His wife stood and looked +at him, looked at him and thought. + +"You are back early," he said. "What is the matter? You don't look +radiantly happy. I thought you were looking forward so much to this +bazaar." + +"I was," she replied. "I am disappointed." + +He saw then that her silence was not a matter of indifference but of +anger. + +"What's wrong?" he asked quickly. + +Her lips parted for a moment. One saw that her teeth were firmly +clenched. There was a wicked light in her strange-colored eyes. + +"It was that woman again," she muttered,--"the Duchess!" + +"What about her?" Carraby demanded. "She's bound to be civil to you +now, anyway." + +"Is she?" Mrs. Carraby replied. "Is she, indeed! Well, her civility +this afternoon has been such that I shall have to give up my stall. I +can't stay there." + +"What do you mean?" he demanded. + +"Nothing except that before everybody she once more cut me dead, cut me +wickedly," Mrs. Carraby declared. "You don't understand the tragedy of +this to a woman. You are not likely to. She did it in such a way this +time that there isn't a person worth knowing in London who isn't +laughing about it at the present moment." + +"Beast of a woman!" he muttered. + +Mrs. Carraby came a little further into the room. She sank into an +easy-chair and sat there. Her hands were tightly clenched, her face was +hard and cold, her tone icy. Yet one felt that underneath a tempest was +raging. + +"You know, Algernon," she went on, "we had some hard times when you +first began to make your way a little. When we first took this house, +even, things weren't altogether easy. Americans can come from nowhere, +do the most outrageous things in the world, and take London by storm. +London, on the other hand, is cruel to English people who have only +their money. She was cruel to us, Algernon, but with all the snubs and +all the difficulties I ever had, nothing has ever happened to me like +to-day." + +"You'll get over it." + +"Get over it!" she repeated. "Yes, but I thought that that sort of +thing was at an end. I thought that when you were a Cabinet Minister no +one would dare to treat me as though I were a social nobody." + +"You must remember that the Duchess has a special reason," he reminded +her. "I suppose it's that Portel affair." + +"Yes," Mrs. Carraby agreed, "it is the Portel affair." + +They were both silent. There wasn't much to be said, for the moment. + +"Have you heard," he inquired presently, "whether Lady Anne is with him +in Paris?" + +"No," she replied. "Somehow or other, people don't seem to talk scandal +about Lady Anne. They say that she is staying for a time with an old +friend there. Algernon!" + +"Yes?" + +"Is it true that you are doing so badly at the Foreign Office?" she +asked bluntly. + +A little flush mounted almost to his forehead. + +"I have had the devil's own luck," he muttered. + +"I can't take up a newspaper," she continued bitterly, "without finding +it full of abuse of you. They say that during six weeks the _entente +cordiale_ has vanished. They say that you have lost the friendship +of France, that she trusts us no longer, and that Germany's tone +becomes more threatening and more bullying every day, solely on account +of your weakness." + +"We can't afford to risk a war," Carraby explained. "I am a Radical +Minister. I have represented a Radical constituency ever since I came +into Parliament. What the devil should I have to say to my people if +within a couple of months of taking office we were plunged into war?" + +"I do not pretend," Mrs. Carraby remarked, "to be an active politician, +but I have heard it said that the best way to avoid war is to show that +you are not afraid of it. They say that that is where Sir Julien Portel +was so splendid. Do you know that the leading article of one of your +own papers this morning declares that Germany would never have dared to +have said so much to us if she had not known that she had only a puppet +to deal with in the Cabinet? You know what all the other papers are +hinting at? Is it true, Algernon, that you gave two hundred thousand +pounds to the party?" + +"Whether it is true or not," Carraby retorted, "it makes no difference. +I wanted this post, wanted it for your sake as much as my own, and I +wish to Heaven that it was at the bottom of the sea! I'd resign +to-morrow if I could do so with dignity. I can't now, of course. Every +one would say I was chucked. To make things worse," he went on +savagely, "there come these infernal letters of Portel's!" + +Mrs. Carraby raised her eyebrows. + +"Why, I've heard it said that those letters are the one hope this +country has! I have heard it said that but for those letters France and +England would be as far apart to-day as they ever were. I heard it said +only this afternoon that those letters were our only hope of peace. +They were compared with the letters of Junius, whoever he was. Lord +Cardington told me himself that they were the most splendid political +prose he had ever read in his life." + +"That may be true enough," Carraby growled, "but they make it all the +harder for me. No doubt Portel was a good Minister. No doubt he was +doing very well in his post. Now he writes these letters every one +remembers it, every one is asking for him back again. It's hell, Mabel! +I wish to God we'd let the man alone!" Mrs. Carraby looked at her +husband steadfastly. She was a little taller than he. She looked at +him, from his well-brushed hair to the trim patent boots which adorned +his small feet. She looked at him and in those strange-colored eyes of +hers were unmentionable things. She turned away and walked to the +window. In imagination she was back again in Julien's rooms. She lived +again through those few minutes. If he had answered differently! + +Outside in the square the newsboys were shouting. She had stood before +the window for some time when a familiar name fell upon her ears. She +turned around and touched the bell. + +"What is it that you want?" her husband asked. + +"A paper," she replied. + +A very correct butler brought her the _Pall Mall Gazette_ a moment +or two later. She scanned it eagerly. Then it slipped from her +shuddering fingers. She turned upon her husband. + +"He is dead!" she cried. "Can't you read it? 'Death of an Englishman in +an explosion in Paris. Mr. Kendricks, a journalist, seriously injured; +Sir Julien Portel, the ex-Cabinet Minister,--dead!'" + +She stood as though turned to stone. Then something in her husband's +face seemed to bring her back to the present. She turned upon him. Her +face was suddenly lit with some strange, quivering fire. It was one of +the moments of her life. + +"You miserable worm!" she shrieked. "You dare to stand there and smile +because a man is dead! You!" + +He tried to draw himself up, tried to rebuke her. He might as well have +tried to stem a torrent. + +"I've done my best to share your rotten, scheming life," she cried, "to +help you in your dirty ways, and to crawl up into the places we +coveted! Once I saw the truth. Once a real man was kind to me and I saw +the difference. I've felt it in my heart ever since. For your sake and +my own, for the sake of our rotten, miserable ambitions, I ruined him +and sent him to his death. He is dead, do you hear? You and I did it! +We are murderers! And to think that I did it for you! That you--such a +creature as you--might take his place!" + +She threw up her hands high above her head. There had been people who +had doubted her good looks. No one at that instant would have denied +her beauty. Carraby's eyes were fixed upon her and he was afraid. Even +when she had cast herself face downward upon the couch, and lay with +her head buried in her hands, he dared not go near. He stood there +gazing at her across the room. Perhaps he, too, though his +understanding was less, tasted a little of the poison! + +In the splendid library of his palace in Berlin, the maker of toys +leaned back in his chair after a long and successful day's work. There +lingered upon his lips still the remnants of a grim smile, which the +dictation of a dispatch to London had just evoked. His secretary +gathered up his papers. His master was disposed to be genial. + +"My young friend," he remarked, "those letters from Paris--they were +stopped just in time, eh?" + +"Just in time, indeed, Highness," the young man replied. "I have +friends who write me from there. They assure me that their effect was +tremendous. The cessation of them was indeed an act of Providence." + +Prince Falkenberg's lips relaxed. There were hard lines at the corners +of his mouth. Yet if this were indeed a smile, it was no pleasant thing +to look upon! + +"An act of Providence, without a doubt!" he exclaimed,--"Providence +which watches always over the destinies of our dear Fatherland!" + +"I shall bring you now, Highness, the foreign papers?" the young man +suggested. + +"If you please," his master replied. "I read them now, thank Heaven, +with an easier feeling." + +The young man retreated and reappeared in a few minutes with a pile of +newspapers. Prince Falkenberg rose and stretched himself, lit a long +black cigar and threw himself into a comfortable chair before the high +window. + +"Your Highness will take some coffee, perhaps?" the young man asked. + +"Presently." + +The great Minister unfolded his newspapers. A reference in the English +_Times_ perplexed him. He turned to the journal which only a few +days ago he had opened with almost a shudder. He undid the wrapper, +shook it open and looked at it. Then suddenly he sat like a man turned +to stone. The cigar burnt out between his teeth, his eyes were riveted +upon that page, the black letters seemed to have become lurid. The +sentences stabbed, he was face to face with the impossible. The paper +which he read was dated on the preceding day. Before him was a fourth +article, dated from Paris, dated less than forty-eight hours ago, +signed "Julien Portel." The title of the article was "The World's Great +Mischief-Maker!" He read on, read from that first sentence to the last, +read the naked truth about himself, saw his motives exposed, his +secret visits to Paris derided, his foibles photographed. He saw +himself the laughing stock of Europe. Then he leaned over and rang the +bell. + +"Neudheim," he said, "let it be given out that I leave to-night for +Falkenberg as usual. Let the automobile be prepared for a long journey. +I leave in half an hour." + +The young man stared. He had fancied that those flying visits of his +master's for a time were to be discontinued. + +"Your Highness goes south?" he asked. + +"I drive all night," Prince Falkenberg replied. "See that the Count +Rudolf is prepared to accompany me. Quick! Give the orders." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +ESTERMEN'S DEATH-WARRANT + + +In the untidy salon of his bachelor apartments in the Boulevard +Maupassant Estermen awaited the coming of his master in veritable fear +and trembling. In all his experience he had never been compelled to +face a crisis such as this. There had been small failures, punished, +perhaps, by a sarcastic word or biting sentence. There had been no +failure to compare with this one! Herr Freudenberg deliberately, and of +his own free choice, was accustomed to take huge risks. When they came +he accepted them, but when they were not inevitable he as sedulously +avoided them. The wrecking of Julien's apartments in the Rue de +Montpelier was by far the most hazardous enterprise which had been +attempted since the days of the toymaker's first secret visits to +Paris. Half a dozen human beings had been done to death in a manner +which invited and even challenged the attentions of the French police. +A terrible risk had been run and run in vain. The blow had been struck +at the very moment when its object was unattainable! Estermen shivered +as he tried to imagine for himself the coming interview. Gone, he +feared, was his life of pleasant luxury among the flesh-pots and easy +ways of Paris; his bachelor apartments, occupied in name by him but of +which the real tenant was his dreaded master. And behind all this +apprehension lurked another grisly and terrible fear! For the twentieth +time during the last few minutes he peered through the closely drawn +Venetian-blind, and his blood ran cold. On the pavement opposite, +before the small table of a café, a man was sitting--the same man! For +two days he had been there--a gaunt and silent person with a wonderful +trick of gazing away into space from the columns of his newspaper. But +Estermen knew all about that! He knew, even, the man's name! He knew +that he was one of the most persistent and successful of French +detectives. His name was Jean Charles and he had never known failure. +Estermen looked at him through the blind and his pale face was ugly +with fear. + +The moment arrived. The long, gray traveling car, covered with dust, +swung around the corner and stopped below. Herr Freudenberg was +travel-stained and almost unrecognizable in his motor clothes as he +stepped out and passed into the block of apartments. Contrary to his +usual custom, he did not at once present himself before the man who +awaited him in fear and trembling. Estermen heard him enter his own +suite of rooms on the other side of the stairway and give a few brief +orders. Then there was a peremptory knock at the door. Herr Freudenberg +was announced and entered. + +To the man who had been waiting for his sentence there was something +terrible in the grim impassivity of Prince Falkenberg's features. His +face was set and white and sphinx-like. Only his eyes shone with a +fierce, unusual fire. + +"What have you to say, Estermen?" he demanded. + +"It was a miracle," Estermen faltered. "Sir Julien descended the stairs +with the copy in his hand to speak to a caller. For seventeen hours he +had been in his rooms, for the following seventeen hours he would +probably have been there, too. For the intervening thirty seconds he +happened to be upon the pavement. It was a miracle!" + +This was the end of all the specious story which Estermen had gone over +so often to himself! Yet he had done his cause no harm, for the few +sentences he spoke were the truth. + +"You have discovered his present whereabouts?" his master demanded. + +Estermen hesitated. He feared that this was another blow which he was +about to deal. + +"He is at the house of Madame Christophor in the Rue de St. Paul," he +faltered. + +His news, however, did not discompose Prince Falkenberg. On the +contrary, he seemed, if anything, to find the intelligence agreeable. + +"Have you made any inquiries as to his condition?" + +Estermen shrugged his shoulders. + +"The household of Madame Christophor," he replied, "is, as you know, +outside my sphere of influence. It is, besides, incorruptible. I myself +am personally obnoxious to Madame. I could do nothing but wait for your +coming." + +Prince Falkenberg stood with his hands behind him, thinking. He had +relapsed into his former grim and impenetrable silence. And while he +waited the sweat stood out in beads upon Estermen's forehead. Greatly +he feared that the worst was to come! + +"Have you anything else to say to me?" his master asked. + +"Nothing!" Estermen replied, with faltering lips. + +Prince Falkenberg's eyes were fierce orbs of light and his servant +quailed before him. + +"Have you any reason to believe that the origin of the crime is +suspected?" + +It was the question which above all others he had dreaded! Estermen was +a coward and a fluent liar. The latter gift, however, availed him +nothing. He felt as though the nerves of his tongue were being +controlled by some other agency. Against his will he told the truth. + +"Jean Charles is watching these apartments!" + +"Ah!" + +Prince Falkenberg's single exclamation was the death sentence of his +agent. Estermen knew it and his knees knocked one against the other. + +"For six years," Prince Falkenberg said, after a moment's pause, "you +have lived an easy and a comfortable life, Estermen,--a life, I dare +say, spent among the gutter vices which would naturally appeal to a +person of your temperament; a life, apart from the small services which +I have required of you, directed altogether by your own inclinations. +Be thankful for those six years. As you well know, but for me they +would have been spent either in prison or in the problematical future +world--a matter entirely at the discretion of the judge who tried you. +It pleased me to rescue you for my own purpose. You were possessed of a +certain amount of low cunning and a complete absence of all ordinary +human qualities, a combination which made you a useful servant of my +will. My one condition has been always before you. The present case +demands your fulfillment of it." + +Estermen began to tremble. + +"The man may be there by accident," he faltered. "There is no certainty +as yet that I am even suspected. I'm--I'm horribly afraid to die!" he +added, with an ugly little laugh. + +"So are most men of your kidney," Prince Falkenberg replied composedly. +"Nevertheless, die you must, and to-night. Write your confession. Make +it clear that one of the victims was your personal enemy. I'll dictate +it, if you like." + +"I can do it myself," Estermen muttered. "Let me--let me write the +confession first and then make an attempt to escape," he pleaded. "If I +am taken, the confession shall be found upon me. It will make no +difference. Let me have a chance! I know the secret places of the city. +I have friends who might help me to escape." + +Prince Falkenberg watched his agent for a moment in contemptuous +curiosity. Estermen was walking restlessly up and down the few feet of +carpet, his fingers and the muscles of his face twitching. His words +had come with difficulty, as though he had suddenly developed an +impediment in his speech. His sallow complexion had become yellow. His +carefully waxed moustache was drooping, a speck of saliva was issuing +from his lips. + +"The request which you make to me," Prince Falkenberg replied, "I +absolutely refuse. I know you and your cowardly temperament too well to +allow you to come alive into the hands of the French police." + +"You value your own life highly enough!" Estermen snarled. + +"It is not so," Prince Falkenberg asserted. "If I had ever valued my +own life highly, there would have been no Herr Freudenberg; and if the +whole history of Herr Freudenberg is discovered, I follow you, my +friend, post haste. If I seem to be taking any pains to hold my own, +remember that mine is a life which is valuable to the Fatherland. You +have been and you are only a feeder at the troughs. One more or less +such as you in the world makes just the difference of a speck of +dust--that is all." + +Estermen shrank cowering into his seat. + +"I'd rather live--in torture--in prison or in chains--anywhere!" he +gasped. "I can't think of death!" + +Prince Falkenberg was becoming impatient. + +"My dear Estermen," he exclaimed, "what prison do you suppose remains +open for the murderer of seven men! You shrink from death. Yet let me +assure you that the guillotine, with the certain prospect of it before +you day after day through a long trial, is no pleasant outlet from the +world for a sybarite. Be a philosopher. Go and die as you have lived. +Write your confession, summon your dearest friend by telephone, give a +little supper--you'll have plenty of time--but see that the affair is +over before midnight! This is my advice to you, Estermen; these are +also my orders, my final orders. If I find you alive when I return, or +the confession unwritten, I will show you how death may be made more +horrible than anything you have yet conceived." + +Prince Falkenberg turned on his heel and left the apartment. Estermen +remained for several moments shrinking back in the chair upon which he +had collapsed. Then he rose and with trembling footsteps stole to the +window, peering out from behind the blind. The man at the café opposite +was still there! + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +SANCTUARY + + +"This afternoon," Madame Christophor declared, looking thoughtfully at +Julien, "I am going to send you a new secretary." + +He turned a little eagerly in his easy-chair. + +"Lady Anne!" he exclaimed. + +"Are you glad?" she asked. + +Julien hesitated. His eyes sought his companion's face. She was seated +at the small writing-table drawn up close to his side, her head resting +upon her left hand, the pen in her right fingers sketching idle figures +at the bottom of the sheet which she had just written. She was wearing +a dress of strange-colored muslin, a shade between gray and silver, but +from underneath came a shimmer of blue, and there were turquoises about +her neck. Her large, soft eyes were fixed steadfastly upon his. There +was a sort of question in them which he seemed to have surprised there +more than once during the last few days. A sudden uneasiness seized +him. His brain was crowded with unwilling fancies. There were, without +doubt, symptoms of coquetry in her appearance. He had spoken of blue as +the one sublime color. As she leaned a little back in her chair, +resting from her labors, he could scarcely help noticing the blue silk +stockings and suède shoes which matched the hidden color of her skirt, +the ribbon which gleamed from the dusky masses of her hair. Madame +Christophor was always a very beautiful and a very elegant woman, and +it seemed to have pleased her during these last few days to appear at +her best. Julien gripped for a moment at his bandaged arm. + +"You are in pain? You would like me to change the bandage?" she +suggested almost eagerly. + +"Not yet," he replied. "It is still quite comfortable." + +She looked at him thoughtfully. + +"You have the air of wanting something," she remarked. "Is there +anything that displeases you?" + +"Displeases me! If you knew how strange that sounded!" he exclaimed. "I +do not think that any one ever lived with such luxury, or was treated +with so much kindness, as I during the last few days. You make every +second perfect." + +Madame Christophor sighed. Almost as Julien finished his speech he +regretted its conclusion. Madame Christophor, on the other hand, +although she sighed, seemed vaguely content. + +"You see, the fates against whom you have so great a grievance have +done something to atone," she declared. "No doubt you hated to leave +your work to come and speak to me in the street that afternoon. No +doubt your red-headed journalist friend hated me also. Yet if you had +not come, if my automobile had been detained a few minutes on the +way--ah! it is terrible indeed to think what might not have happened!" + +She shivered. A moment later she raised her eyes and continued. + +"I think," she said, "you must abandon a little of your hostility +against my sex. It was a woman who worked this mischief in your life +and a woman who was fortunate enough to save it. I think you can almost +cry quits with us, Sir Julien." + +He smiled. He was struggling to lead back their conversation to a +lighter level. A certain change in this woman's tone and manner, a +change which was reflected even in her appearance, disturbed him +painfully. + +"The balance is already on my side, dear hostess," he assured her. "You +have left me an eternal debtor to your sex. I shall never again indulge +in generalities or wholesale condemnation. It is, after all, foolish. +But tell me why you are sending Lady Anne to help me to-day?" + +She watched for any trace of disappointment in his tone. There was +none. On the contrary, his mention of Lady Anne was accompanied by a +slight eagerness which puzzled her. + +"I have a few social duties to attend to," she explained a little +vaguely. "Lady Anne is quite efficient. I like her handwriting, too. It +is like herself--clean-cut, legible. There are no hidden pools about +Lady Anne." + +"Yet," he said, "a woman always keeps some part of herself concealed." + +"You think that Lady Anne, too, has her secret?" Madame Christophor +asked, raising her eyes. + +"I think that if she has, she is quite capable of keeping it," he +replied. + +There was a knock at the door. Lady Anne entered. She came a few yards +into the room with a slight smile upon her lips, and nodded pleasantly +to Julien. In her slim stateliness, the untroubled serenity of youth +reflected in her smiling face, she represented perfectly the other type +of womanhood. Madame Christophor rose deliberately to her feet. For one +swift moment she measured the things between them. She herself was +conscious of a greater intellectual maturity, a more subtle quality in +her looks, a beauty less describable, more exotic, perhaps, but also +more provocative. The arts of her sex were at her finger-tips, the +small arts disdained by this well-looking and perfectly healthy young +woman. She turned her head quickly towards Sir Julien. It was the idle +impulse of the man or woman who plucks the petals from a flower. Julien +was gazing steadfastly at Lady Anne.... Madame Christophor picked up +her belongings and moved towards the door. + +"Be merciless today, my friend!" she exclaimed, pausing upon the +threshold,--"virulent, if you will! _Le Jour_ was screaming at you +last night. Jesen has lost his head a little; or is it the lash of his +master which he feels? How can one tell?" + +"After tonight," Julien remarked, with a smile, "who will read _Le +Jour_? I shall tell the story of the purchase of that paper by Herr +Freudenberg. French people will not love to think that the pen of Jesen +has been guided by the hand of Germany." + +Madame Christophor made a little grimace. + +"My friend," she declared, "my house is, I believe, the safest spot in +Paris, yet there are limits. Remember that you have become a celebrity. +There is an agitation in England to have you back at the Foreign +Office. All Paris is divided upon the subject of your life or death. +And there are men here in the city who seek for you night and day with +death in their hands. My house is sanctuary, but no one can write such +things as you are writing and deem himself secure against any risk." + +He smiled at her confidently. + +"Yet you would not have me leave out one single line, you would not +have me lower the torch for one second! You suggest caution!--you, who +haven't the word 'fear' in your vocabulary! It is your house, not mine. +There are more bombs to be bought in Paris. Yet tell me, would you have +me spare a single word of the truth?" + +She flashed back her answer across the room. For the moment she forgot +Lady Anne. They two were on another plane. + +"Not one word," she assured him, with soft yet vibrant earnestness. "I +would have you write the truth in letters of fire upon the clouds, for +all Paris to see. You have a message. See that it goes out." + +Madame Christophor closed the door softly behind her. Julien remained +looking at the spot from which she had disappeared. Then he drew a +little breath. + +"She is wonderful!" he muttered. + +Lady Anne took up her pen. She avoided looking at him. + +"Let us begin," she said.... + +They wrote for hours. Julien was in the mood for this final and fierce +attack upon _Le Jour_ and all the powers that stood behind it. He +held up Falkenberg to derision--the charlatan of modern politics, the +Puck of Berlin, whose one sincerity was his hatred for England, and one +capacity, the giant capacity for mischief! He wound up his article with +a scathing and personal denunciation of Falkenberg, and a splendidly +worded appeal to the French nation not for one moment to be deceived as +to the character of this tireless and ambitious schemer after his +country's welfare. All the time Anne took down his words in fluent and +flowing writing. When at last he had finished, he looked at the sheets +which surrounded her with something like amazement. + +"Why, what a pig I've been, Anne!" he exclaimed, glancing from the +table to the clock. "You must have been writing for nearly three +hours!" + +She was busy picking up the sheets. + +"Quite, I should say," she answered, "but I loved it. Now I am going to +ring for tea, and afterwards you must read it through. We might get the +manuscript down to the office to-night." + +"I shall need you when I read it through," he reminded her. "There will +be corrections." + +"Either Madame Christophor or I will be here," she replied. "Madame +Christophor may have some other work for me." + +He looked at her curiously. + +"Even you are different," he murmured. + +"Tell me at once what you mean?" she begged. + +"I wish I knew," he confessed. "To tell you the truth, Anne, a curious +feeling of detachment seems to have come over me--during the last few +days especially. It is such a short time since I was living the +ordinary sort of mechanical life in London, engaged to be married to +you, and my doings day by day all mapped out--a life interesting, of +course, but without any real variation. And now here I am, hanging on +to life by the thin edge of nothing, writing such things as I should +never have dared to have said from my seat in the House, practically +an adventurer. Do you wonder that sometimes I am not quite sure that it +isn't all a nightmare? I am actually hiding here in Paris from +assassins--in Paris, the most civilized city in the world--the guest of +a woman whose acquaintance I made only because a little manicurist in +Soho insisted upon it. And you, Anne, are here by my side, a +professional secretary, the friend of a milliner, more intimate and on +better terms with me than you were in the days when we were engaged to +be married! What has happened to us, Anne? How did we get here?" + +She laughed at him tolerantly. + +"We've come a little into our own, I suppose," she remarked. "As for +me, I feel a different woman since I stepped out of the made-to-order +world. And you--well, don't be angry, but you're not nearly so much of +a prig, are you, Julien? You're less starched and more human. Of course +we are more companionable. We are both more human." + +He nodded. + +"I suppose that so far as I am concerned Kendricks had something to do +with it--he was always trying to make me look at things differently. +But it seems such a short time for such an absolute change." + +She was balancing her pen upon the inkpot--keeping her eyes turned from +him. + +"It isn't always a matter of time, you know, Julien," she said +thoughtfully. "You were never really a prig--I was never really a +machine for wearing a ready-made smile and a few smart frocks. It took +a shock to make us see things, but neither of us remained wilfully +blind. You'll be back in your world before long and a better man than +ever." + +"And you?" + +"I have hopes some day of becoming a perfect secretary," she confessed. +"If I fail, I will at least make more bows than any one else in a day." + +He leaned towards her, showing a sudden and dangerous forgetfulness of +his bandaged arm. + +"Anne," he said firmly, "if I go back, you go back. Sometimes I think +that I shall never regret anything that has happened if--" + +The door was softly opened. It was Madame Christophor who entered with +a little pile of letters in her hand. Lady Anne, with slightly +heightened color, rose to her feet. There was something in Madame +Christophor's eyes which was almost fiercely questioning. + +"I am not disturbing you, I trust?" she asked slowly. "I bring Sir +Julien some letters." + +He caught up the sheets which lay by his side. + +"I will not even look at them until I have corrected my article," he +declared. + +Madame Christophor settled herself composedly in an easy-chair. + +"Lady Anne shall read it aloud," she proposed calmly, "and I will +assist in the corrections. For the French edition I may be able to +suggest. The papers today are most amusing," she continued. "The German +press is almost unreadable. No wonder that there is a price upon your +head, my friend!" + +Julien moved restlessly in his place. + +"I have had the most extraordinary luck," he remarked. "No other man, +naturally, knew so much of Anglo-German and Anglo-French relations. And +instead of being at home in Downing Street, and muzzled, I happened to +be here on the spot, to run up against Falkenberg, discover his little +schemes, and with my own special knowledge to see through them at once. +No one else ever had such an opportunity." + +Madame Christophor smiled enigmatically. She was looking thoughtfully +across at her guest. + +"It is not every opportunity in life," she murmured, "which a man knows +how to embrace!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +NEARING A CRISIS + + +That night, for the first time since his arrival in the house as a +guest, Julien dined downstairs. To his surprise, when he presented +himself in the smaller salon to which he had been directed, he found +the table laid for two only. Madame Christophor, who was standing on +the threshold of the winter-garden opening out from the apartment, read +his expression and frowned. + +"You expected Lady Anne to dine?" she asked bluntly. + +Julien was taken a little aback. + +"It seemed natural to expect her," he admitted. + +Madame Christophor moved towards the bell, but Julien intercepted her. +He remembered all that he owed to this woman. He was ashamed of his +lack of tact. + +"Dear Madame Christophor," he pleaded, "forgive me if for a moment I +forgot how altered things are. Indeed, it was not a matter of choice +with me. Of course, it will give me the greatest pleasure to dine +tête-à-tête with you!" + +He was, perhaps, a shade too impressive, but Madame Christophor, as all +women who greatly desire to read in a man's words what they choose to +find there, hesitated. Finally, with a shrug of the shoulders, she +turned away from the bell. + +"Three is such an impossible number," she declared, with well-assumed +carelessness. "Lady Anne has her own salon adjoining her apartment. She +dines there always. If I am without company, I enjoy the rest of being +alone. She is very delightful in her own way, your dear Lady Anne, but +she and I have not much in common. Come and see my roses." + +She led the way into the conservatory, a dome-shaped building with +colored glass at the top, fragrant, almost faint with the perfume of +roses and drooping exotics. A little fountain was playing in the +middle. When the butler announced the service of dinner and they +returned to take their places, she left the door open. + +"Tonight," she announced, as they sat side by side at the small round +table, "I am going to take advantage of the situation. I am your +hostess and you are an invalid. It is my opportunity to talk. Are you a +good listener, Sir Julien?" + +She had dropped her voice almost to a whisper. Those beautiful deep-set +eyes were challenging his. She seemed to have made up her mind that for +that night, at any rate, her beauty should be unquestioned. She wore a +dress of black net, fitting very closely, a wonderful background for +her white skin and the ropes of pearls which were twined about her +neck. He had never seen her _décolletée_, but he remembered +reading in a ladies' fashion paper that a famous sculptor had once +declared her neck and bust to be the most beautiful in Paris. She had +even added the slightest touch of color to her cheeks. There was no +longer any sign of the wrinkles at the sides of her eyes. She read the +half ingenuous, half unwilling admiration in his face, and she laughed +at him. + +"Ah, my friend," she murmured, "I can see that you object to the rôle +of listener! Very well, then, you shall talk. You shall tell me of your +life in England. You shall tell me what dreams have come to you for the +days when once more you shall help to shape the destinies of your +nation. Tell me how you mean to live! Shall you be again--what was it +Lady Anne thought you?--a prig?" + +"I am like many other and more famous men," he remarked. "I have +learned much in adversity." + +"I read the English papers," she continued presently. "I have also a +large correspondence. Do you know that there is nearly a rebellion in +your party? Questions have been asked about you in the House. Both +sides want you back. There is a feeling that you were allowed to go +much too easily, that the indiscretion of which you were guilty was a +trifle. This man Carraby is what you call--a cad! That does not do in +the high places. Nationality cannot conceal a lack of breeding." + +"I have thought over many things," Julien admitted. "If the way is made +clear for me, I shall go back. Why not? I believe that I can serve my +country, and it is the life for which I am best fitted. Carraby may +have his good points, but his ambitions have been a little too +extensive. He would have made a better mayor of the town where he was +born." + +"You are right," she declared. "There is no place for such men in the +great world. You will go back. It is written. See--I drink to England's +future Prime Minister!" + +She raised her glass, which the butler had just filled with champagne. +She looked into his eyes as she drank and Julien was conscious of a +passing uneasiness. She set the glass down, empty. Her hand lay for a +moment near his. + +"You will go back," she murmured. "You will forget. The people whom you +have met in your brief period of adversity will seem to you like +shadows. Is it not so?" + +He took her hand and raised it boldly to his lips. + +"It will never be like that with you, dear hostess," he assured her. +"There are things which one does not forget." + +She did not withdraw her hand. Its pressure upon his fingers was faint +but insistent. + +"Do you remember when we first met," she said softly, "how bitter we +were against the others--even at first against one another? You had +been betrayed by that unimportant woman and the whole sex was hateful +to you. I had just come from seeing the tragedy caused by a man's crass +selfishness. I, too, was wearing the fetters. To me the whole of your +sex seemed abominable.... You see," she went on, "my marriage was a +terrible disappointment. I fancied that I was marrying a great man, a +genius, an inspired statesman, and I found myself allied to a political +machine. My wealth--have I told you, I wonder, that I am very +wealthy?--helped him. For the rest, I was a puppet by his side. I +lived in Berlin for one year. Official life in Berlin for an American +woman, even though she be Princess von Falkenberg, is still +intolerable. The men were bad enough, the women worse. I could not +breathe. I was no part of my husband's life. I was no part of any one's +life. The German women did not understand me. My husband--oh, he is +very German in his heart!--only laughed at my complaints. He would have +been perfectly willing to see me become as those others--_hausfrauen_, +bearers of children, a domestic article. So we separated--divorce at that +moment was impossible. I came back to Paris." + +"You had no children?" Julien asked. + +"One boy," she answered, her eyes becoming very soft. "Do not let us +speak of him for a moment." + +The service of dinner continued. Outside, the water from the fountain +fell into the basin with a gentle, monotonous sound. The perfume of the +roses stole through the open doorway. One softly-shaded lamp had been +lit, but the rest of the lofty room remained in shadowy obscurity. The +light from that one lamp seemed to fall full upon Madame Christophor's +beautiful face. + +"I loved my boy," she went on. "It was part of my husband's cruelty to +detach him from me. He has the law on his side. I may not even see +Rudolf. Very well, I do my best to steel my heart. I come here to live. +I have many friends, but Falkenberg is the only man to whom I have ever +belonged, and he has treated me as he would have treated one of those +others--his companions for the moment. I have occupied myself here in +work of different sorts. I have tried in my way to do good among women +less happy, even, than I. Wherever I went I saw that every woman who +has sinned, every woman who is miserable, every woman who has become a +blot upon the earth, is what she is by reason of man's selfishness. +Can you wonder that I have grown a little bitter?" + +"I wonder at nothing in the woman who has been Falkenberg's wife," +Julien replied. "He seems to me the most unscrupulous person who ever +breathed. Yet in his way he is marvelously attractive." + +"He is," she admitted. "I fell in love with him against my will. +Directly my reason intervened, the madness was over. How old do you +think I am, Sir Julien?" + +Julien was a little startled. + +"How old?" he repeated. + +"A foolish question, of course," she continued. "How could you be +honest! I am twenty-nine years old. I believe that I am the richest +woman in Paris. I am tired of being called brilliant and cynical, of +showing fortune-hunters to the door, of living my life in loneliness. +Falkenberg has sworn that if I take any steps to make a divorce +possible, I shall never see my boy again. I have not seen him, as it +is, for nearly two years. The threat is losing its terrors.... You are +listening, my friend?" + +"Of course!" + +She turned to the butler. The other servants had already left the room. + +"Bring coffee into the winter-garden," she ordered. "Come, Sir Julien." + +She lit a cigarette and threw it away almost immediately. Her eyes were +gleaming like stars. She laid her fingers upon his arm as they passed +out into the perfumed air of the conservatory, and he seemed to feel +some touch of the fire that was burning in her veins. She swayed a +little towards him. The color in her cheeks was brilliant. Her bosom +was rising and falling quickly. She was splendidly handsome, nerved up +to great things, a woman inspired by a purpose. Julien was afraid. He, +too, felt something of the excitement of the moment, but his brain +seemed numbed. There was nothing he could say. She threw herself back +into a low chair and drew him down to her side. With her other hand she +caught hold of a cluster of pink roses and pressed their cool blossoms +to her cheek. + +"Sir Julien," she murmured, "I have looked so steadfastly into life, I +have striven so hard to find a place there. I have something to give. I +do not come empty-handed. I can place offerings upon the altar of the +great god. I have myself, my brains such as they are, and the golden +key which unlocks the wonderful doors. Can you wonder that I ask for +something in return? I have stood in the marketplace of life, I have +passed down between the stalls, and I am humiliated. There is no life, +there is no career upon this world for a woman. It is a strange +doctrine, perhaps, to preach in these days, but I have searched and I +know it to be the truth. Nature meant woman for man, and if she rebels +there is no seat for her alone among the mighty places. Alone I can win +none of the things I desire. You see, I talk to you like this, nakedly, +because we are of the order of those who understand. You very nearly +married a duke's daughter and became a middle-class politician. Don't +do it. Don't think of it any more, Julien. You were meant for the great +places, and I think--I think--that I was meant to hold the torch to +light you there!" + +"Madame Christophor!" + +She started at his tone. In the splendid arrogance of her assured +position, her brilliant gifts, her almost inspired individuality, +failure had never occurred to her. Even now she refused to read the +message in his set face. + +"You feel, perhaps," she went on, leaning towards him, "that you are +pledged to Lady Anne. Dear Sir Julien, rub your eyes! I want you to +see--all the way to the skies. Lady Anne is a sweet girl who will look +nice at the head of any one's table. She will read the papers and take +an intelligent interest in her husband's work, and ask him trite and +obvious questions to prove that she understands all about it. She will +give you phenacetin when you have a headache, she will fill your house +with the right sort of people. She will be very amiable and very +satisfied. She'll always read the debates and she'll sit up for you at +night in a pretty dressing-gown. And all the time the wall will grow, +brick by brick, and you will look up to the skies and find them empty, +and listen for the music and hear none, and a web will be spun about +your heart, and your brain will be clogged, and the fine thoughts will +go, and you'll never be anything but a successful politician. You +know very well that all the paths to the great pit of unhappiness are +crowded with men who have been successful in their profession." + +She swayed even closer towards him, her head a little thrown back, her +eyes inviting him. He scrambled to his feet. Still she held out her +hands. + +"Won't you trust me?" she begged. "Believe me that I know the way into +the great places, Julien." + +"Listen!" he cried hoarsely. "You have offered me everything except +your love. Thank Heaven you did not offer me that! I love Lady Anne." + +"Everything _except_ my love!" she exclaimed, with the first note +of trouble in her tone. "Everything _except_ my love! Are you mad?" + +"I love Lady Anne!" he repeated, setting his teeth. + +They stood facing one another. She tore a handful of the blossoms from +a syringa tree and commenced crushing them in her fingers. The sound of +footsteps scarcely disturbed her. The butler appeared, followed by Lady +Anne. The former excused himself with a grave face. + +"Madame," he announced, "the Prince von Falkenberg is here." + +Madame Christophor turned slowly around. + +"The Prince von Falkenberg! Where?" + +"In the waiting-room, madame." + +She moved away. She did not glance towards Julien. + +"I come," she announced. + + +Lady Anne had some letters in her hand, which she handed to Julien. He +threw them hastily aside and drew her suddenly into his arms and into +the shadow of the giant palm. + +"Anne," he pleaded, "not because of your mother, not because you would +make me a suitable wife, but because I love you, will you marry me?" + +He felt her relax in his arms. + +"Julien!" she murmured. + +"I didn't finish the sentence," he went on,--"to-morrow at the +Embassy?" + +"Absurd!" + +"It's the only way," he insisted confidently. "We couldn't be married +in London. All the tribe of Harbord would come and boo, and it would +save no end of gossip and bother when we got back. Anne--I love you +very much and I want you just as soon as I can get you!" + +"Of course, if you put it like that," she said softly,-- + +"Well?" + +"This is the only frock I have." + +"The Rue de la Paix is at our gates," he reminded her. + +"Be sensible," she begged. "You can't show your-self about Paris. +Something terrible will happen." + +"Not it!" he replied confidently. "It's too late." + +His arm crept a little further around her waist, he drew her even +further back among the drooping palms. + +"I think that I like this better than the last time you asked me!" she +whispered. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +FALKENBERG'S LAST EFFORT + + +"Madame," Prince Falkenberg declared, with a formal bow, "I owe you a +thousand apologies for this visit." + +Madame Christophor looked at him across the room, and in her eyes there +was no welcome nor any anger--only surprise. + +"You break," she reminded him, "the word of a prince!" + +Falkenberg smiled icily. + +"There are cataclysms in life," he said, "whirlpools into which one may +sometimes be drawn. One's will is overborne. I myself am in that +unfortunate position." + +Madame Christophor looked steadfastly at her visitor. Was it her fancy +or was he really growing older, this man of iron? The story of the last +few weeks was written into his face, there were shadows under his eyes, +a deep line across his forehead. + +"Since you are here, be seated," she invited, sinking herself wearily +into a chair. "Tell me as quickly as you can what has brought you?" + +"Portel has brought me," Falkenberg answered grimly. "They tell me that +he has taken shelter under the shadow of your petticoats." + +"Shelter from your assassins!" + +"Precisely!" Falkenberg admitted. + +"I do not admire your methods," Madame Christophor remarked. "They seem +to me not only brutal but clumsy. You killed seven men and injured +several others, to no purpose." + +"Madame," Falkenberg declared, "to secure the death of that man I would +have destroyed a whole quarter of Paris and every person in it." + +Madame Christophor shivered. + +"Thorough, as usual, my dear Prince," she murmured. "Nevertheless, I +find such statements loathsome. We should have outlived the days of +barbarity. I do not understand men who deal in such fashion with their +enemies." + +Falkenberg frowned. + +"There is something between us greater than personal enmity," he +retorted fiercely. "My personal enemy I would deal with in such a +manner as I make no doubt would commend itself to your scruples. Julien +Portel is more than that. He is the enemy of my country. Upon him, +therefore, I shall have no mercy." + +"I will not argue with you," she replied. "There is a plainer issue +before us. In passing my threshold you have broken your word of honor. +What do you want?" + +"I want Julien Portel!" + +Madame Christophor shrugged her shoulders. + +"You have wanted him for some little time." + +"Never so badly as at this instant," Falkenberg declared bitterly. "He +has set all Europe in a ferment with those infernal letters. He knows +too much. He knows whence came the money which bought _Le Jour_. +He knows every detail of my campaign here." + +"There are surely others," she objected, "who must have guessed--" + +"But there was no one else," he interrupted, "who had the special +knowledge which Portel has. He came from the Foreign Office, with the +records of the last two years in his mind. At Berlin he and I crossed +swords. He is the only Englishman who has ever caused me a moment's +uneasiness." + +"Are you sure," she asked, "that your campaign here has been a wise +one?" + +"The wisdom of Solomon," he replied grimly, "can be made to look like +folly by the accident of failure. There is no doubt as to its wisdom. +No one has studied these matters as I have studied them. No one has +seen the truth more clearly. An alliance between England and America is +a matter of a few years only, and when it comes the progress of Germany +is set back for a generation. The one absolute necessity before me was +to cut the bonds between England and France and to settle with England +alone and quickly--diplomatically, if possible; by force of arms as a +last resource. We don't seek war, Henriette. We are not really a +bloodthirsty nation. We seek territory. We need new lands--fruitful +lands, trade, the command of the seas. If we cannot get what we want +by peaceful means, then it must be war. England for the present is +weakly governed. She is in the throes of labor troubles. Her political +parties are ill-balanced. There is a puppet at the Foreign Office. Now +is the time to strike." + +"Is it wise to tell me your secrets?" she inquired coldly. "I have no +sympathy for you or your country." + +"I have a bargain to strike with you and you must understand," he +answered. "Twenty-four hours ago we dispatched a gunboat to a certain +neutral port which comes under the influence of England. We paid a +German to go there and send us word that he was in danger. We have sent +an intimation to the French and English Governments. To England it is +an insult. I have taken the chance that France has had enough of this +_entente_. Now you understand why I must have Julien Portel before +they can get him back to the Foreign Office, before he can do more +mischief. A strong man in Downing Street at this juncture might upset +everything." + +"I understand well enough why you need Julien Portel," she admitted. "I +am still in the dark, however, as to why you imagine that I shall give +him up?" + +"Because I am going to buy him from you," Falkenberg asserted. + +She glanced across the room at him, half curiously, half scornfully. + +"Buy him! You!" + +"Exactly," he replied. "You smile because you do not understand. I +offer you a dispensation for your divorce, and your son." + +A little tremor seemed to pass through her whole frame. For a moment +she closed her eyes. Then she sprang to her feet and stood quivering +before him. + +"This is one of your traps!" she exclaimed. "You don't mean it!" + +"To prove that I do," he insisted, "I have brought Rudolf with me to +Paris. He can be in your arms in a few minutes. Look into the street, +if you will." + +She crossed the room hastily and lifted the curtain. A low cry broke +from her lips. In the tonneau of the great touring car outside a little +boy was lying back amongst the cushions, asleep. + +"He is tired," Falkenberg said slowly, with his eyes fixed upon the +woman. "He has come all the way from Berlin without an hour's rest. Am +I to take him back to-morrow? It is for you to decide." + +Madame Christophor turned toward the door. Falkenberg barred the way. + +"Not yet!" he declared. "Do you accept my terms?" + +"But he is hungry!" she cried. "I can see that he is hungry! And he is +so pale--let me fetch him in." + +"Of course he is hungry," his father agreed. "He has also been asking +me questions about you all the way. He believes that he is going to see +you. I, too, believe that. You consent?" + +"Tell me exactly what it is that you require?" she demanded. + +"Take me to Portel," he answered swiftly. "Inform him that you cannot +any longer permit him the shelter of your roof." + +She sat down and began to laugh, softly but in unnatural fashion. +Falkenberg watched her with grim curiosity. + +"And then?" she inquired. + +He hesitated. + +"I have made some plans," he said slowly. "If he passes outside your +doors to-night, he will write no more articles!" + +"But the whole of the English Press is clamoring for his return to +power! There will be no need for his pen--he will take up his old +position." + +"Precisely!" Falkenberg assented. "It is not my intention that he shall +return to that position!" + +Madame Christophor sat with her eyes fixed upon the wall. Then she +began to laugh once more in the same strange manner. Falkenberg was +curious. + +"You find my intentions amusing?" he asked. + +"I find the situation amusing," she replied. "Half an hour ago I +offered Sir Julien Portel what is left of my life." + +Falkenberg stood perfectly still, watching her closely. Then his eyes +filled with a sudden bright light. + +"You!" he exclaimed. "You--Princess von Falkenberg--offered yourself to +this man and were refused?" + +"You are indeed a genius," she admitted. "I was refused." + +There was a brief silence. Falkenberg waited. Madame Christophor +remained silent. Her attitude puzzled him a little. He was afraid to +speak for fear of striking the wrong note. Nevertheless, the onus of +speech was thrust upon him. + +"Madame," he said at last, "I anticipate your reply. This man has put +an intolerable insult upon you. While he lives you could never forget +it. There are some privileges still belonging to me. I claim the right +of avenging that affront." + +"It comes conveniently--the affront!" she remarked, through her +clenched teeth. + +"Conveniently or not, the affront exists!" he cried. "You cannot refuse +me now! You would not have him go unpunished!" + +"I am not sure that he was to blame." + +"Not to blame?" Falkenberg repeated, with emphasis. "Would you have me +believe that you threw yourself at his head unasked, without +encouragement--you, the proudest woman in France? One does not believe +such folly!" + +"Nevertheless, it is the truth," Madame Christophor declared. + +Falkenberg smiled incredulously, but he said nothing. Madame +Christophor had found her way once more to the window. She stood there, +looking down into the car. The boy was still asleep. She gripped the +window-curtains with both her hands. He was so pale, so tired, and how +he had grown! + +"I give you even his heritage," Falkenberg promised. "Make of him a +Frenchman or an American, if you will. He is your own son. Take him. I +give my firstborn for my country. You will not refuse what I offer?" + +Madame Christophor made no answer. Falkenberg, however, saw the longing +in her face. It was enough! He suddenly changed his tactics. + +"This Julien Portel," he said,--"it is another woman he prefers." + +He saw her bosom heave. The storm against which she had been struggling +all the time seemed on the point of bursting. The hot blood was singing +in her ears, her eyes were aflame. She crossed the room and rang the +bell. Falkenberg was content to wait. He felt that he had won! The +butler appeared almost immediately. + +"You will conduct the Prince von Falkenberg into the winter-garden," +she directed. "He desires to speak to Sir Julien Portel." + +"And you?" Falkenberg asked, turning towards her. + +A swift gesture showed him her disordered countenance. It was +reasonable. + +"I follow," she announced. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +DEFEAT FOR FALKENBERG + + +Among the palms of Madame Christophor's conservatory, Julien and Lady +Anne were living through a brief new chapter of their history. The +wonderful thing had come to them. It was amazing--almost unrealizable! +A new glamor enveloped the merest trifles. They spoke in halting +sentences, they were at times almost incoherent. The marvel of it was +so great! + +Lady Anne was the first to hear the sound of approaching footsteps. She +listened. It was not Madame Christophor who returned. She laid her hand +upon Julien's arm. + +"It is Jean, the butler, who comes," she whispered. "He conducts some +one." + +On the threshold of the winter-garden, only a short distance away, they +heard Jean's voice. + +"Monsieur le Prince will find Sir Julien Portel a few steps further +on." + +"Monsieur le Prince!" Anne faltered, with whitening face. "Julien, what +does it mean?" + +Julien rose to his feet. The footsteps were close at hand now upon the +tessellated pavement. Then through the drooping palm boughs they saw +him. Julien was standing tense and prepared, his uninjured arm was +ready to strike. Falkenberg was there. + +"You!" Julien exclaimed. "Well?" + +The iron prince had disappeared. It was Herr Freudenberg, maker of +toys, suave, genial, fascinating, who bowed before them. + +"Why so surprised, Sir Julien?" he asked. "You forget that this is my +wife's house. The little difficulties which have existed between us +have to-day, I am happy to say, been removed. I have restored her son +to Madame la Princesse. We are reunited. Henceforth my wishes are the +wishes also of madame. You will present me? It is Lady Anne Clonarty, I +believe?" + +They were both bewildered. For the moment Falkenberg was supreme. He +bowed low upon the hesitating words of introduction. + +"Dear Lady Anne," he murmured, "do not be prejudiced against me. Sir +Julien believes that I am his enemy. I am not. I am his sincere and +heartfelt admirer." + +Lady Anne's eyebrows were slowly raised. + +"You have surely," she remarked, "a strange manner of showing such +sentiments!" + +Falkenberg smiled whimsically. He had the expression of a penitent boy +who has misbehaved. + +"It is at least consistent," he pleaded. "I admire Sir Julien's talents +to such an extent that I am perhaps a trifle too anxious that he should +not use them against my country." + +"You haven't forced your way in here to bandy phrases," Julien asserted +a little harshly. "What is it that you want?" + +"You!" Falkenberg answered softly. "You, my friend! Madame la +Princesse--my wife, whom you have known as Madame Christophor--finds it +impossible, against my wishes, to offer you any longer the shelter of +her roof. I am here to escort you, if you will, to your new +quarters--to follow you, if I cannot reconcile you to my company." + +Julien was startled, Lady Anne incredulous. + +"I do not believe," the former declared, "that Madame Christophor +intends any such act of inhospitality." + +"As to that," Falkenberg replied pleasantly, "my wife will be here +herself in a few moments. You shall hear what she has to say from her +own lips. You must remember that I have paid a price. I have given up +the guardianship of my son. You yourself," he continued, looking +steadfastly at Julien, "may know if any other cause exists likely to +have influenced my wife in granting my request." + +Julien set his teeth, but he did not flinch. + +"What is it that you want with me, Prince Falkenberg?" he demanded. +"Another brutal attempt at massacre? I owe you this," he added, raising +his bandaged arm. "Do you imagine that you can continue to use the +methods of other generations with impunity? The thing is absurd. There +are too many who know already the secret of Herr Freudenberg, maker of +toys! There are too many who will know, also, before long, the secret +of the explosion in the Rue de Montpelier!" + +Falkenberg nodded gravely. + +"I understand," he admitted. "One moves, of course, always, with the +knife at one's heart. Yet, until now, I, personally, am safe. Another +man dies to-night, even as we talk here, and confesses himself guilty +of the Rue de Montpelier affair. But let that pass. We have crossed +swords, Sir Julien, and I frankly admit, although I have gained my end +to-night, that I am worsted. The money I spent to purchase _Le +Jour_ has been thrown away. The months of careful intrigue, the +sacrifices and efforts I have made to destroy the _entente_, have +been rendered almost futile by your diabolical pen. Very well, for what +you have done I will accept defeat--I will accept defeat without +malice. But there is the future." + +"What of it?" Julien asked. + +"I do not intend," Falkenberg declared, in a low, firm tone, "to have +you back, a member of any English Government. I prefer Carraby and such +as he." + +"You flatter me!" Julien remarked grimly. + +"Not in the least," Falkenberg objected. "You know the position as well +as I. The political party of which you are a member is in power for a +long time. You have got hold of the middle class, you've bought the +Irish vote, you've bought labor. In the ranks of your party there isn't +a man whom I fear--only you. I will not have you go back." + +"But as it happens," Julien announced, "I am going back. I have heard +from England this evening. Your friend Carraby is resigning." + +Falkenberg shook his head. He remained calm, but there was an ominous +flash in his eyes. + +"You would make a mistake," he asserted. "No one ever goes +back--successfully. Do I not know--I who am twenty years your senior, I +who have felt my way into all the corners and crevices of life? Listen +to me, please." + +He drew a chair towards them and sat down, crossing his knees and +looking towards them both in friendly fashion. + +"Sir Julien," he said, "and you, my dear young lady, your entire future +depends upon this little conversation. Can you not put it out of your +minds for a few moments that I am the dangerous Falkenberg, the +mischief-maker, the ogre of all respectable Britons? Can you not +remember only that I am a well-meaning, not unkindly old gentleman who +has some good advice to offer? You at least will listen to me, Lady +Anne. Do I look like an assassin by choice? Do I seem like the sort of +person to indulge in these dangerous exercises for mere amusement? You +are both young, you have both your lives before you. Why do you, Sir +Julien, voluntarily put the yoke about your neck? Why do you, my +gracious young lady, suffer the man with whom your life is to be linked +to deliver himself over voluntarily into a state of bondage? Politics +lose all glamor to those who have dwelt within the walls. Sir Julien +has dwelt there and so have I. He knows in his heart whether it is +worth while. One lives always amidst a clamor of evil tongues, a +pestilent trail of poisonous suspicions. One gives up one's life to be +flouted and misunderstood, to be accused of evil motives and every +imaginable crime. When it is all over, when one has time to think of +all that one has missed, one feels that all one has done could have +been done just as well by the next man in the street. That is the end +of it. And against all that, you two have the world before you. You can +be rich--very rich indeed. You can make an idyll of this love of yours. +You can travel around the world in your own yacht, you can visit all +strange countries, you can wander where you will, and all the time +affairs in the world will go on very much the same as if you had stayed +and given the best hours of your life to the dusty treadmill. I am an +old man, Lady Anne, and I have an evil name in your country. They call +me greedy, subtle, and ambitious. I may be all these things, but let me +assure you that if I had my time over again my master could find +another servant and my country another toiler. There are fairer flowers +in life to be plucked than any which can be reached from the high +places in Downing Street or Berlin.... Let me, at least, Lady Anne, +make sure of your support? Mind, I am not threatening now--I plead." + +Lady Anne looked at him gravely. + +"Sir Julien," she declared, "will answer you for himself." + +"But I want your own decision," Falkenberg insisted. "I want you to see +the truth as I see it. I want you to tell me that you agree with me." + +She shook her head. + +"But I do not!" she exclaimed. "To me you have spoken like a sophist. +One does not gain happiness by seeking it. You may be honest in some +part of what you say--I cannot tell. Only I think that you have +mistaken Sir Julien's ideas--and mine." + +"You disappoint me!" Falkenberg murmured. + +Sir Julien smiled. + +"Not very much, I think," he said. "You always did believe in trying +the hundredth chance. Let us come back to the reasonable part of our +discussion. Do you propose, then, that I should leave this house at +this moment with you?" + +"My car is entirely at your service," Falkenberg suggested. + +"Do I seem to you so ingenuous?" Julien inquired. "I am wondering what +resources are open to me. I might propose to Lady Anne here that she +telephone for the gendarmes. Why should I not have an escort to take me +to an hotel?" + +Falkenberg shrugged his shoulders. + +"I like the idea," he admitted. "By all means, do as you say. Only do +me the favor to remember that this is my wife's house and with her +authority I request that you leave it immediately." + +"I wonder," Julien asked, "what may be in store for me?--what pleasant +schemes you have hatched?" + +Falkenberg shrugged his shoulders. + +"Listen," he said,--"if you listen attentively you will hear the murmur +of Paris calling you back. Almost you can hear the falling of a +thousand feet upon the pavements of the boulevards, the voice of life. +You may find an asylum there. Who can tell?" + +They heard the soft swirl of a woman's gown passing over the marble +floor. They all turned. It was Madame Christophor who stood there. + +"Still here?" she remarked. + +Julien frowned. + +"It is not my intention to linger," he assured her. "Prince von +Falkenberg has given me your message. I am prepared to go." + +Lady Anne moved hastily forward. + +"Do you know," she cried, "that they will kill him? Do you know that +this man," she added, pointing to Falkenberg, "has admitted it? Would +you dare to send him out to be butchered in the streets?" + +"The young lady exaggerates," Falkenberg protested. "This is a +perfectly respectable neighborhood. What possible harm can come to an +English gentleman? Besides, I have offered him, if he will, the +protection of my car." + +Madame Christophor sighed. She waved back Sir Julien. + +"Alas!" she exclaimed, "there has been a slight misunderstanding." + +She touched a bell which stood on the table by her side. Almost +immediately a tall, pale-faced man in dark clothes appeared, followed +by Jean, the butler. + +"My dear Prince," she said to her husband, "I do assure you that you +need have no special anxiety. Let me present to you Monsieur Bourgan of +the French Detective Service. Monsieur Bourgan--the Prince von +Falkenberg--Sir Julien Portel!" + +Monsieur Bourgan saluted. The two men looked at him,--as yet they +scarcely understood. + +"I suppose," Madame Christophor continued, "that I am a somewhat +nervous woman, but you see I can always plead the privilege of my sex. +I was delighted to have Sir Julien here with me, but in a sense it was +a responsibility. It occurred to me then to send a message to the +Minister of the Police, who happens to be a great friend of mine, and +at his suggestion Monsieur Bourgan here, who is, as I have no doubt you +both well know, very distinguished in the Service, has taken up his +residence in my house. He has occupied, as a matter of fact, the next +room to Sir Julien's. Forgive me," she added, smiling at them all, "if +I kept this little matter secret, but I know that men hate a fuss. I +propose, dear Prince," she added, turning to her husband, "that +Monsieur Bourgan accompanies you to your rooms. You need not fear then +any molestation." + +There was an absolute silence. It was broken at last by the Prince von +Falkenberg. + +"I must confess," he said slowly, "that I do not altogether +understand." + +Madame Christophor faced him with a faint smile upon her lips. The +smile itself told him all that he desired to know. + +"But, my dear Prince," she declared, "it is my anxiety for your safety +which induces me to propose this. Only a few minutes ago you were +telling me that you feared that you had become an extremely unpopular +person in Paris, and that the very streets were not safe for you. Under +the circumstances, one can scarcely wonder at it! The French +Government, however, is above all small feelings. A private citizen in +Paris, even though he be an enemy of France, is a person to be +respected. The protection of the detective force of Paris is at your +service. Monsieur Bourgan, you will do me the great favor of conducting +my husband to his rooms. Afterwards you will return here to continue +your watch over Sir Julien." + +"I am entirely at your command, madame," Monsieur Bourgan replied. + +Falkenberg hesitated for one single moment. He seemed to be measuring +the distance between Julien and himself. Under the pretense of picking +up a match, Monsieur Bourgan was almost between them. Falkenberg +laughed softly, then most graciously he made his adieux. + +"Lady Anne," he said, bowing, "one is permitted to wish you every +happiness? Sir Julien, let me assure you," he continued, "that it has +been a pleasure to renew our acquaintance. Dear Henriette," he added, +"this care for my safety touches me! And the boy?" + +"He is safe in my room," she assured him. "It is absurd of me, no +doubt, but I have turned the key upon him and placed a footman outside +the door. Take care of yourself, dear Rudolf. Monsieur Bourgan, I know, +will watch over you well. Yet you are one of those who take risks +always." + +Falkenberg raised her fingers to his lips. + +"Almost, dear Henriette," he murmured, "you make me regret that I ever +have to leave Paris at all." + +She leaned a little towards him. + +"I bear you no ill-will, Rudolf," she said softly. "Take my advice. +Leave Paris quickly." + +His eyes held hers as though seeking for some meaning to her words. She +only shook her head. He turned and followed Jean. Monsieur Bourgan +brought up the rear. Madame Christophor shrugged her shoulders. + +"Really," she declared, with a sigh, "life is becoming altogether too +complicated. Never mind, I have got rid of Prince Falkenberg for you, +Sir Julien. Between ourselves, I think that he will receive a hint to +leave Paris, and before very long. Listen--there goes his car." + +"Dear Madame Christophor," Lady Anne whispered, "you are wonderful!" + +Madame Christophor was already moving away. + +"Not really wonderful," she replied. "Only a little human. I must go to +my boy." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +THE ONE WAY OUT + + +Estermen started up from his chair. In the unlit room the figure of +his master seemed to have assumed a portentous, almost a threatening +shape. + +"Who's that?" he cried out. + +Falkenberg calmly turned on the electric light. + +"Still here, my friend?" he remarked significantly. + +Estermen began to tremble. + +"There is plenty of time," he faltered. "I am not sure about the man +opposite. It may be some one else he is watching." + +Falkenberg walked to the window and stood there in the full glare of +the light. The man opposite was still sipping his eternal coffee. He +glanced casually at Falkenberg and back at his paper. + +"You fool!" the latter said to Estermen. "Can't you see that he is +waiting only to draw the others in? Do you know that I--I, Von +Falkenberg, Chancellor of Germany, have received what they are pleased +to call a hint from the French Minister of Police that it would be +advisable for me to leave Paris? This is your blundering, Estermen!" + +"Not mine only," the man muttered. "Do you know that there are those +who wait for you in your rooms?" + +Falkenberg turned away. + +"Stay here till I return," he ordered. + +He turned the key of his own apartments and entered. His servant +hurried up to him. + +"There waits for Your Highness," he announced, "the Baron von +Neudheim." + +Falkenberg started. + +"Here?" he exclaimed. + +"In His Excellency's private apartment. There waits also--" + +Falkenberg had already departed. He opened the door of his room. His +secretary rose hastily to his feet. + +"What do you here, Neudheim?" Falkenberg demanded. "What has happened?" + +"Excellency," the young man replied, "there is trouble. Within half an +hour of your leaving, I had important news. I dared not telegraph. I +have followed you. I took a special train from the frontier." + +"Go on," Falkenberg said calmly. "It is something serious?" + +"Indeed, yes, Your Excellency!" the Baron continued. "It is concerning +the Agdar matter." + +Falkenberg's face lit up. + +"An ultimatum!" he exclaimed. "So much the better!" + +Baron von Neudheim shook his head. + +"For once, I am afraid," he said, "we have been trapped. His Excellency +himself sent for me. The reply from Downing Street has been received." + +"Well?" Falkenberg interrupted impatiently. + +"Your Excellency, the reply to our note is exceedingly courteous. It +states that the unrest referred to had already been reported to the +British Government, and a warship which left Portsmouth under sealed +orders some months ago was instructed to proceed to the port last week. +The note goes on to state that no intimation was given to Germany, as +the British Government was not aware that Germany had any interests, +but it further contains an assurance that the welfare of all white men +will receive equal attention." Falkenberg set his teeth. + +"What battleship was sent?" he asked. + +"The 'Aida,'" the young man replied slowly,--"a first-class cruiser, +twenty-six thousand tons." + +Falkenberg was silent for a moment. His face had grown dark. + +"And ours," he muttered, "was a third-rate gunboat! Who in all Downing +Street could have planned a coup like this?" + +"It was Sir Julien Portel--his last official action," the Baron +answered. "The papers to-morrow will be full of this. The Press of +Germany and England and France have the whole story." + +"Which is to say," Falkenberg exclaimed, "that we are to be the +laughing-stock of Europe! Anything else?" + +"There is an imperial summons commanding your presence at Potsdam at +once," Neudheim acknowledged reluctantly. + +"I start for the frontier in a quarter of an hour," Falkenberg decided. +"I shall drive to Châlons and telegraph for a special train from +there." + +"You will let me accompany you?" the young man begged. + +Falkenberg hesitated, then he shook his head. + +"No, it is my wish that you return by train. Take a day's holiday, if +you will. You will be back in time." + +The young man's expression was clouded. He was obviously disappointed. + +"But, Excellency," he pleaded, "there is trouble in Berlin. It is best, +indeed, that I should be by your side." + +Falkenberg held out his hand. + +"My dear Fritz," he replied, "you will obey my orders, as you always +have done. It is my wish that you return by the ordinary train +to-morrow night." + +"There is nothing I can do--no message--" + +"Nothing!" Falkenberg interrupted. "Look after yourself. Leave me now, +if you please." + +The young man moved reluctantly towards the door. + +"Excellency," he protested, "I do not desire a day's holiday. Things in +Berlin are bad. Let us talk together on our way north. You have never +yet known defeat. We can plan our way through, or fight it. Don't tell +me to leave you, dear master!" he wound up, with a sudden change of +tone. "There are still ways." + +Falkenberg laid his hand upon the young man's shoulder. + +"Fritz," he said, "my orders, if you please! Remember that I never +suffer them to be disputed. Goodbye!" + +The young man left the room. As he passed down the stairs he shivered. +Falkenberg passed into an inner apartment. Already he had guessed who +it was waiting for him. Mademoiselle rose to her feet with a little +cry. + +"At last!" she exclaimed. "Dear maker of toys, how long you have been! +How weary it has been to wait!" + +She came into his arms. He patted her head gently. + +"Dear little one!" + +"You are taking me to supper?" she begged. + +He shook his head. Her face fell, the big tears were already in her +eyes. + +"But you are troubled!" she cried. "Oh, come and forget it all for a +time! Isn't that what you told me once was my use in the world--that I +could chatter to you, or sing, or lead you through the light paths, so +that your brain could rest? Let me take you there, dear one. To-night, +if ever, you have the look in your face. You need rest. Come to me!" + +He looked at her steadfastly, looked at her feeling as one far away +gazing down upon some strange element in life. Then a thought came to +him. + +"Little one," he whispered, "you are irresistible. Wait, then. It may +be as you desire. Only, after supper I pass on." + +"And I with you?" she implored. + +He shook his head. + +"Wait here." + +Once more he returned to Estermen's apartments. Estermen was still +there, smoking furiously. The room was blue with tobacco smoke. +Falkenberg regarded him with distaste. + +"Make yourself presentable, man," he ordered. "We sup in the Montmartre +and we leave in a few minutes." + +"What, I?" Estermen exclaimed, springing up. + +"You and I and mademoiselle," Falkenberg told him. "I have made plans. +You may perhaps escape--who can tell?" + +Estermen, with a little sob of relief, hurried into his sleeping +apartment. Soon they were all three in the big car, gliding through the +busy streets. It was getting towards midnight and they took their place +among the crowd of vehicles climbing the hill, only wherever the street +was broad enough they passed always ahead. At the Rat Mort they came to +a stand-still. Falkenberg led the way up the narrow stairs, greeted +Albert with both hands, nodded amiably to the _chef d'orchestre_, +the flower girl and the head waiter, who crowded around him. + +"For as many as choose to come!" he declared. "The round table! The +best supper in France! It is a gala night, Albert. Serve us of your +best. Mademoiselle will sing. We are here to taste the joys of life." + +Albert led the way. + +"Ah, monsieur," he said, "it is good, indeed, to hear your voice! There +is no one who comes here who enters more splendidly into the spirit of +the place. When you are here I know that it will be a joyful evening +for all. They catch it, too, those others," he explained. "Sometimes +they come here stolid, British. They look around them, they eat, they +drink, they sit like stuffed animals. Then comes monsieur--dear +monsieur! He talks gayly, he laughs, he waves salutes, he drinks wine, +he makes friends. The thing spreads. It is the spirit--the real spirit. +Behold! Even the dull, once they catch it, they enjoy." + +Falkenberg took the cushioned seat in the corner. Close to his side was +mademoiselle, her hand already clasping his. Estermen, gaunt, red-eyed, +still haggard with fear, sat a few feet away. + +"Wine!" Falkenberg ordered. "Pommery--bottles of it! Never mind if we +cannot drink it. Let us look at it. Let us imagine the joys that come, +added to those we feel." + +Already the wine was rushing into their glasses. Falkenberg raised his +glass. + +"To our last supper, dear Marguerite!" he whispered. + +She shivered all over. She looked at him, her face was suddenly +strained. + +"You jest!" + +"Jest? But is it not a night for jests!" he answered. "Why not? Ah, +Marguerite, I take it back! To our first supper! Let us say to +ourselves that to-night we stand upon the threshold of life. Let us say +to ourselves that never before have I seen how blue your eyes shine, +how sweet your mouth, how soft your fingers, how dear the thrill which +passes from you to me. Close to me, Marguerite--close to me, little +one! Our first evening!" + +"Dearest," she whispered, "first or last, there could never be another. +It is you who make my life. It is you who, when you go, leave it +desolate." + +He held her hand more tightly. + +"Ah, little friend," he murmured, "you spoil me with your sweet +phrases! You set the music playing in my heart--the witch music, I +think. Come, we must speak to Estermen," he continued, looking +resolutely away from her. "We cannot have him sitting there glum, a +death's-head at our feast. Estermen, drink, man! Is this a funeral +party? Wake up. Mademoiselle who dances there looks towards you. Why +not? You see, she waves her hand. You have waltzed with her before. Ask +her to sit down with us. I have ordered supper. See, mademoiselle +approaches, Estermen. More glasses, waiter. Open more wine. There is +champagne here for everybody. Mademoiselle does us great honor. Permit +me!" + +The little dancing girl obeyed his invitation. She sat by Estermen's +side, but she cast a longing glance at Falkenberg. Their glasses were +filled. Estermen drank quickly, all the time looking about him with the +furtive air of a whipped dog. + +"To-night," Falkenberg cried, as he lifted his glass, "I have but one +command--be joyful. Why not? To-night I have Marguerite by my side, and +you--you can choose from the world of Marguerites. There is nothing in +life like this--the hour of midnight, the music of the moment, the wine +of the hour, the woman we love. Drink, Estermen, once more. Fix your +thoughts upon the present. Mademoiselle looks around her. She finds you +dull. She will seek for another admirer. Ah, mademoiselle!" he added, +leaning across the table, "if the sweetest girl in Paris were not here +already by my side, do you think that I would permit you to be for an +instant the companion of a dumb admirer?" + +Mademoiselle laughed back into his eyes. + +"If monsieur's friend were but as gallant as monsieur himself!" + +"He is depressed," Falkenberg declared, "but it passes. Behold! Another +glass like that, Estermen! Drink till you feel it bubbling in your +veins. Look at him now!" + +Falkenberg leaned back in his place and pressed his companion's arm. +Indeed, the wine was working its magic. The terror was passing from +Estermen's face. Already he was becoming more natural. + +"Leave them alone," Falkenberg said softly. "He will have no relapse. +The wine is in his blood. Ah, Marguerite! never did you seem so sweet +to me as tonight, when my face is set for the cold north! Have you joy +in remembering, little one? Have you sentiment enough for that?" + +"I have sentiment enough," she whispered, "to suffer every time you +leave me. To-night I am afraid to let you go. Oh! dear--my dear--take +me with you! I have begged you before, but to-night I beg you in a +different manner. I am afraid to be left alone. I care not where or +whatever the end of your journey may be. Take me with you, dear one. It +is because I love that I ask this!" + +He looked at her for a moment and there were wonderful things in his +eyes. + +"Ah, little girl," he murmured, "you teach one so much! One passes +through life too often with one's eyes closed, one finds the great +things in strange places, the rarest flowers even by the roadside. +Drink your wine, press my fingers--like that. See, it is the _chef +d'orchestre_ who approaches. You shall sing--sing to me, little +one." + +He motioned to the musician, who with a smile of delight held up his +hand to the orchestra. Mademoiselle hummed a few bars. The man who +listened nodded his head. Then he raised his violin, he passed his bow +across the strings. With the touch of his fingers he drew from them a +little melody. Mademoiselle assented. Her head was back against the +wall, her eyes half closed. Then she began to sing; sang so that in a +few moments the passionate words which streamed from her lips held the +room breathless. It was no ordinary music. It was the love prayer of a +woman, starting in sadness, passing on to passion, ending in wild +entreaty. As she finished she turned her head towards her companion. + +"You shall not go alone!" she cried, and her words might well have been +the text of her song. + +Falkenberg shook his head. + +"Something gayer," he begged,--"something more like the wine which +foams in our glasses." + +She obeyed him after only a moment's hesitation, yet in the first few +bars her song came to an abrupt end, her voice choked. She leaned +suddenly forward in her place, her face was hidden between her hands. +They all gazed at her curiously. + +"Nerves!" one declared. + +"Hysterics!" another echoed. + +"It is the life they lead, these women," an American explained to a +little party of guests. "They weep or they laugh always. Life with them +quivers all the time. They pass from one emotion to another--they +seldom know which. Look, it is over with her." + +It was over, indeed. She raised her head and sang, sang ravishingly, +charmingly, a gay love-song. Falkenberg was the first to applaud her. + +"To-night, dear," he murmured, "you are wonderful. You sing from the +heart, your voice has feeling, you bring to one the exquisite +moments.... Behold, the supper arrives! Estermen has made friends now +with his little _danseuse_. Sit closer to me, dear. These are the +golden hours. Give me your hand, look into my eyes, drink with me.... +How the minutes pass! There is magic in this place." + +Towards four o'clock Falkenberg and his companions came down the narrow +stairs, out into the morning. A fine rain was falling, the pavements +were already wet. Falkenberg was still gay, still laughing and talking. +Behind, a little company--the _chef d'orchestre_, the chief +_maître d'hôtel_, the flower girl--wondering at his generosity, +stood at the head of the stairs to bid him godspeed. He gave a louis to +the _commissionaire_ and called for a special carriage. He had +almost to lift Marguerite inside. + +"Dear child," he said, holding her hands, "here we must part for a +time--not for so long, perhaps. Who can tell? It is a comfortable +carriage, this. Here is a handful of money for the fare. It is of no +use to me." + +He emptied his pockets into her lap as she sat there. She made no +effort to pick up the shower of gold and silver. + +"What do you mean--that it is of no use to you?" + +"We drive for home," he answered. "We shall need no money to take us +there. Listen." + +He drew her face very close to his. + +"When you arrive at your apartment," he said, "you will find there a +little packet from me. Be wise, dear. If chance will have it that we do +not meet again very soon, may it help you to take all out of life that +you can find. Only sometimes when the heart is joyous, when the wine +flows and your feet are keeping time to the music of life, think for a +moment--of one who dwells, alas! in a quieter country. Dear +Marguerite!" + +He kissed her, first upon the lips and then lightly on the forehead. +Then gently he thrust away the arms which she had wound around his +neck. He waved to the coachman to drive off. With a little shrug of the +shoulders he took his own place in the great touring car. Estermen, +too, clambered into the tonneau. + +"You have supped well, I trust, Henri?" the Prince asked the chauffeur. + +"Without a doubt, Excellency," the man replied. + +"Then drive for the frontier," Falkenberg ordered. "We will stop you +when we need a rest." + +They left Paris in the semi-darkness. They were away in the country +before the faintest gleam of daylight broke through the eastern clouds. +Even then the way was still obscured. It was a stormy morning, and +banks of murky clouds were piled up where the sun should have risen. +The rain still fell. Soon they commenced to ascend a range of hills. At +the summit Falkenberg pulled the check-string. + +"Henri," he said, "come in behind here. I will drive for a time--it +will amuse me." + +The man descended. Falkenberg took his place at the wheel. Estermen, +obeying his gesture, scrambled into the seat by his side. + +"Go to the signpost," his master ordered the chauffeur. "Tell me +exactly, how many miles to Rheims?" + +The man clambered up the bank. The gray morning twilight was breaking +now through a sea of clouds. From where they were the vineyards sloped +down to the bank. A thin, curving line of silver marked the course of +the river. Here and there a little gleam of sunlight fell upon the +country below them. Estermen closed his eyes. + +"It makes me giddy," he muttered. "I hope that you will drive slowly +down the hill!" + +Falkenberg glanced to the left--the chauffeur was still peering at the +milestone. He slipped in the clutch and the car glided off, gathering +speed as though by magic. + +"You have left Henri!" Estermen cried. "He is running after us. Stop +the car! Can't you stop it?" + +Falkenberg turned his head only once. The stone walls now on either +side seemed flying past them. Estermen looked into his face and quaked +with fear. + +"This ride is for you and me alone, my friend!" Falkenberg replied. +"Sit tight and say your prayers, if it pleases you. This is better, +after all, than poison, or the cold muzzle of a revolver at your +forehead. Close your eyes if you are afraid; or open them, if you have +the courage, and see the world spin by. We start on the great journey." + +Estermen shrieked. He half rose to his feet, but Falkenberg, holding +the wheel with his right hand, struck him across the face with his left +so that he fell back in his place. + +"If you try to leave the car," he said, "I swear that I will stop and +come back. I will shoot you where you lie, like a dog. Be brave, man! +Be thankful that you are going to your death in honorable company and +in honorable fashion! It's better, this, than the guillotine, isn't it? +Look at the country below, like patchwork, coming up to us. Listen to +the wind rushing by. You see the trees, how they bend? You feel the +rain stinging your cheeks? Sit still, man, and fix your thoughts where +you will. Think of mademoiselle _la danseuse_, think of her +kisses, think of the perfume of the violets at her bosom! You see, we +arrive. Watch that corner of the viaduct." + +They were traveling now at a terrific speed, falling fast to the level +country. Before them was a high bridge, crossing the river. On the +left, a portion of it was being repaired and a few boards alone were up +for protection. Falkenberg, recognizing the spot for which he had been +looking, settled down in his seat. A grim smile parted his lips. + +"Jean Charles will never place his hand upon your shoulder now!" he +cried. "Can you hear the wind sob, Estermen? Soon you'll hear the water +in your ears! Hold fast. Don't spoil the end!" + +They were going at sixty miles an hour, and with the slightest swerve +of the steering wheel they turned to the left on entering the bridge +and struck the boards. Henri, in his account of the accident, declared +that although the car turned over before it reached the river, +Falkenberg never left his seat. Estermen, on the other hand, was thrown +violently out, and struck the water head foremost. From the condition +of his body it would seem that death was instantaneous. Falkenberg was +found with his arms locked around the steering wheel, his head bent +forward. He, too, seemed to have been drowned almost immediately. The +steering wheel was jammed, the car wrecked.... + +The authorities, who had left only a temporary protection while they +repaired the viaduct on the bridge, were severely censured. The makers +of the car were subjected to a very searching cross-examination. The +brakes and the uncertain light were blamed. Henri, who from the +hillside a mile or more back had watched with ghastly face, was the +only one who understood the accident, and he kept silent! + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +ALL ENDS WELL + + +The Duchess of Clonarty was famous for doing the right thing. Three +weeks after the return of Julien and Lady Anne to London, she gave a +large dinner-party in their honor. At a quarter past eight, a +telephone message from the House of Commons was received, explaining +that Sir Julien would be ten minutes late, owing to his having to speak +at greater length than he had first intended upon the Agdar question. +Lady Anne was waiting for him, and they would arrive together certainly +within a quarter of an hour. The Duchess made every use of her +opportunity. She was at her very best during that brief period which +ensued while they waited for the delayed guests. + +"You know, my dear Lady Cardington," she explained, raising her voice a +little to indicate that this was not entirely a confidence, "I never +dreamed that dear Anne had so much self-confidence and resolution. Even +now I have scarcely given up wondering at it. If she had only told me +that she was so sincerely attached to Julien, I would never have +listened for one moment to that Harbord affair. It was a mistake, of +course," she rippled on, "but then one learns so much by one's +mistakes. Notwithstanding their wealth, they were most terrible and +impossible people. I am sure the association would have been most +distasteful to the Duke. Poor Henry used to lock himself in his study +when any of them were about the place, and what it would have been if +they were really able to call themselves connections, I cannot imagine. +You were speaking of the Carraby woman a few minutes ago. My dear Eva! +Of course, you have heard about her? Her husband, when he resigned, +gave out that he was obliged to go abroad for his wife's health. My +dear, his wife had already left him, three days before! She was seen in +Paris with Bob Sutherland. I hear the divorce suit is filed. What a +terrible woman!" + +"A great escape, I am sure, for Sir Julien," Lady Cardington declared. + +The Duchess drew a little breath. + +"Poor Julien was always so chivalrous," she murmured. "How thankful +your dear husband must be to think that at last he has one person in +his Cabinet who does command some sort of a following in the country!" + +The Duchess delivered her little shaft and moved to the door. Sir +Julien and Lady Anne Portel had just been announced. It was almost a +family dinner. The Duchess took Julien's arm and drew him into a corner +while the others filed past. + +"Is it true," she whispered, "that the Carraby woman has bolted?" + +Julien nodded. + +"I am afraid there isn't a doubt about it," he admitted. + +"How are things to-night? Anything new?" she asked. + +"Quite calm again," he replied. "The trouble seems to have passed over. +Falkenberg's death upset the whole scheme which was brewing against us, +whatever it may have been. All the notes which are being interchanged +at the present moment are perfectly pacific." + +The Duchess sighed. + +"After all," she said, "my little visit to Paris was +not so wild. I don't think you would ever have found out about Anne +but for me." + +Julien smiled. + +"If I really believed that," he assured her, "and I shall try to, then +I should feel that I owed you more than any person upon the earth." + +The dinner was a success. Lady Anne seemed certainly to have developed. +She was looking wonderfully handsome, and though her eyes strayed more +than once to the end of the table where her husband was sitting, she +carried on her share of the conversation with just that trifle of +assurance which marks the transition from girlhood to the dignity of +marriage. After the women had left, conversation for a few moments was +necessarily political. The Duke, who read the _Times_ and the +_Spectator_, and attended every debate in the House of Lords, +spoke with some authority. + +"I believe," he said firmly, "that we have passed through a crisis +greater than any one, even those in power, know of. It is my opinion +that Falkenberg was the bitter enemy of this country--that it was he, +indeed, who kept alive all that suspicious and jealous feeling of which +we have had constant evidences from Berlin. He was dying all the time +to make mischief. I am sorry, of course, for his tragical end. On the +other hand, I am inclined to believe that his departure from the sphere +of politics was the best thing that has happened to this country for +many years." + +"There is no doubt," Lord Cardington declared, "that he was working +hard to estrange France and England. Your letters, Sir Julien, made +that remarkably evident." + +"'The good that men do lives after them,'" some one quoted, "also the +evil. I am afraid it will be some time before France and England are on +exactly the same terms." + +"I would not be so sure," Julien interposed, setting down his glass. +"The politics of Paris are the politics of France, and the spirit of +the Parisian is essentially mercurial. Besides, the days of the great +alliance draw nearer--the next step forward after the arbitration +treaty. Who can doubt that when that is completed, France will embrace +the chance of permanent peace?" + +The Duke rose to his feet. + +"Five minutes only I am allowed, gentlemen," he said. "My wife wants +some of us, some of us have to go back to Westminster. I shall ask you, +therefore, before we separate, as this is in some respects an occasion, +to drink to the health of my son-in-law, Sir Julien Portel. Though a +politician of the old type, I do not fail to appreciate what we owe to +the new school. I am a reader of the old-fashioned newspapers, but I +recognize the fact that the modern Press sometimes exercises a new and +wonderful function in politics. It is my opinion that by means of this +modern journalism Sir Julien Portel has maintained the peace of the +world. I ask you, therefore, not only as my private friends and +relatives, but as politicians, to drink to-night to the health of my +son-in-law." + +They all rose. + +"And with that toast," Lord Cardington added, as he bowed toward +Julien, "let me associate the fervent pleasure felt by all of us in +welcoming back once more the colleague to whom we have so many reasons +to be thankful." + +The party broke up soon afterwards. Lady Anne drove back with her +husband to Westminster. She sat by his side in the closed car which had +been her father's wedding present. Her hands, linked together, were +passed through his arm. She was a very well satisfied woman. + +"Julien," she declared, "it's lovely to be back here, but I wouldn't +have been without those few weeks in Paris for anything in the world. I +don't think we can ever get back down into the bottom of the ruts, do +you?" + +"If ever we feel like it," he answered, smiling, "we'll cross the +Channel again, and take Mademoiselle Janette with us and seek for more +adventures." + +"Lovely!" she exclaimed. "I shall hold you to that, mind." + +"No need," he replied. "Kendricks is going to stay there as +correspondent for the _Post_. We must go and see him occasionally. +There is no one who understands better the temperament of the Parisian +than he." + +"There will be no more Herr Freudenberg to circumvent," she remarked. + +"Paris always has its problems," he answered. "Kendricks realizes that. +The plotting of the world takes place within a mile of Montmartre." + +They were nearing Westminster. Julien drew his wife towards him and +kissed her. + +"I shall only be about twenty minutes, dear," he suggested. "Why not +wait?" + +"Of course," she replied. "I have a little electric lamp here, and a +book. I'd love to." + +Julien walked blithely into the House. Lady Anne turned on the lamp, +drew out her book, and leaned back among the cushions with a deep sigh +of content. + + * * * * * + +That same night, wandering around Paris, Kendricks met Monsieur, +Madame, and Mademoiselle. + +"It is the gallant Englishman!" mademoiselle exclaimed. + +"It is the gentleman who ate both portions of chicken!" madame cried, +clapping her hands. + +It was a veritable meeting. Kendricks willingly joined their little +party and sat down with them in the brightly-lit cafe. Monsieur ordered +wine. + +"The business affairs of monsieur are prospering, I trust?" he said. +"After all, the _entente_ remains." + +Kendricks lifted his glass. + +"I drink to it!" he exclaimed. "It is the sanest thing to-day in +European politics. Drink to it yourself, monsieur, and you, madame, and +you, mademoiselle. You shall accuse us no longer, we English, of +selfishness or stupidity. For what reason, think you, did we order a +warship to Agdar and brave the whole wrath of Germany?" + +Monsieur held out his hand. + +"My friend," he declared, "it was a stroke of genius, that. It was what +we none of us expected from any English Minister. It was magnificent. I +confess it--it has altered my opinions. I drink with you now, cordially +and heartily. I drink to the _entente_. I believe in it. I am a +convert." + +Kendricks shook hands with every one solemnly. He shook hands last with +mademoiselle, and forgot to release her little fingers for several +moments. + +"Tell us of your friend, monsieur?" madame asked politely. + +But Kendricks did not hear! He was whispering in mademoiselle's ear. +Her dark eyes were fixed upon the tablecloth, her pretty lips were +parted, a most becoming flush of color was in her cheeks. Monsieur +looked at madame and winked. Madame smiled, well pleased. + +"_L'entente!_" monsieur murmured. + +Madame nodded. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE MISCHIEF MAKER *** + +This file should be named 8msmk10.txt or 8msmk10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8msmk11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8msmk10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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