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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Jennie Baxter, Journalist, by Robert Barr
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+Title: Jennie Baxter, Journalist
+
+Author: Robert Barr
+
+Release Date: November, 2005 [EBook #9300]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on September 18, 2003]
+[Date last updated: October 14, 2004]
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+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
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+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JENNIE BAXTER, JOURNALIST ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Widger and PG Distributed
+Proofreaders from images generously made available by the Canadian
+Institute for Historical Microreproductions
+
+
+
+
+
+JENNIE BAXTER JOURNALIST
+
+BY
+
+ROBERT BARR
+
+
+Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the
+year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+I. JENNIE MAKES HER TOILETTE AND THE ACQUAINTANCE OF A PORTER
+
+II. JENNIE HAS IMPORTANT CONFERENCES WITH TWO IMPORTANT EDITORS
+
+III. JENNIE INTERVIEWS A FRIGHTENED OFFICIAL
+
+IV. JENNIE LEARNS ABOUT THE DIAMONDS OF THE PRINCESS
+
+V. JENNIE MEETS A GREAT DETECTIVE
+
+VI. JENNIE SOLVES THE DIAMOND MYSTERY
+
+VII. JENNIE ARRANGES A CINDERELLA VISIT
+
+VIII. JENNIE MIXES WITH THE ELITE OF EARTH
+
+IX. JENNIE REALIZES THAT GREAT EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEHIND
+
+X. JENNIE ASSISTS IN SEARCHING FOR HERSELF
+
+XI. JENNIE ELUDES AN OFFER OF MARRIAGE
+
+XII. JENNIE TOUCHES THE EDGE OF A GOVERNMENT SECRET
+
+XIII. JENNIE INDULGES IN TEA AND GOSSIP
+
+XIV. JENNIE BECOMES A SPECIAL POLICE OFFICER
+
+XV. JENNIE BESTOWS INFORMATION UPON THE CHIEF OF POLICE
+
+XVI. JENNIE VISITS A MODERN WIZARD IN HIS MAGIC ATTIC
+
+XVII. JENNIE ENGAGES A ROOM IN A SLEEPING-CAR
+
+XVIII. JENNIE ENDURES A TERRIBLE NIGHT JOURNEY
+
+XIX. JENNIE EXPERIENCES THE SURPRISE OF HER LIFE
+
+XX. JENNIE CONVERSES WITH A YOUNG MAN SHE THINKS MUCH OF
+
+XXI. JENNIE KEEPS STEP WITH THE WEDDING MARCH
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+JENNIE MAKES HER TOILETTE AND THE ACQUAINTANCE OF A PORTER.
+
+
+Miss Jennie Baxter, with several final and dainty touches that put to
+rights her hat and dress--a little pull here and a pat there--regarded
+herself with some complacency in the large mirror that was set before
+her, as indeed she had every right to do, for she was an exceedingly
+pretty girl. It is natural that handsome young women should attire
+themselves with extra care, and although Jennie would have been
+beautiful under any conceivable condition of dress, she nevertheless did
+not neglect the arraying of herself becomingly on that account. All that
+was remarkable on this occasion consisted in the fact that she took more
+than usual pains to make herself presentable, and it must be admitted
+that the effect was as attractive as anyone could wish to have it. Her
+appearance was enough to send a friend into ecstasies, or drive an enemy
+to despair.
+
+Jennie's voluminous hair, without being exactly golden, was--as the
+poets might term it--the colour of ripe corn, and was distractingly
+fluffy at the temples. Her eyes were liquidly, bewitchingly black, of
+melting tenderness, and yet, upon occasion, they would harden into
+piercing orbs that could look right through a man, and seem to fathom
+his innermost thoughts. A smooth, creamy complexion, with a touch of red
+in the cheeks, helped to give this combination of blonde and brunette an
+appearance so charmingly striking that it may be easily understood she
+was not a girl to be passed by with a single glance. Being so favoured
+by nature, Jennie did not neglect the aid of art, and it must be
+admitted that most of her income was expended in seeing that her
+wardrobe contained the best that Paris could supply; and the best in
+this instance was not necessarily the most expensive--at least not as
+expensive as such supplementing might have been to an ordinary woman,
+for Jennie wrote those very readable articles on the latest fashionable
+gowns which have appeared in some of the ladies' weeklies, and it was
+generally supposed that this fact did not cause her own replenishing
+from the _modistes_ she so casually mentioned in her writings to be more
+expensive than her purse could afford. Be that as it may, Miss Baxter
+was always most becomingly attired, and her whole effect was so
+entrancing that men have been known to turn in the street as she passed,
+and murmur, "By Jove!" a phrase that, when you take into account the
+tone in which it is said, represents the furthermost point of admiration
+which the limited vocabulary of a man about town permits him to utter;
+and it says something for the honesty of Jennie's black eyes, and the
+straightforwardness of her energetic walk, that none of these momentary
+admirers ever turned and followed her.
+
+On this occasion Miss Jennie had paid more than usual attention to her
+toilette, for she was about to set out to capture a man, and the man was
+no other than Radnor Hardwick, the capable editor of the _Daily Bugle_,
+which was considered at that moment to be the most enterprising morning
+journal in the great metropolis. Miss Baxter had done work for some
+of the evening papers, several of the weeklies, and a number of the
+monthlies, and the income she made was reasonably good, but hazardously
+fitful. There was an uncertainty about her mode of life which was
+displeasing to her, and she resolved, if possible, to capture an editor
+on one of the morning papers, and get a salary that was fixed and
+secure. That it should be large was a matter of course, and pretty Miss
+Jennie had quite enough confidence in herself to believe she would earn
+every penny of it. Quite sensibly, she depended upon her skill and her
+industry as her ultimate recommendation to a large salary, but she was
+woman enough to know that an attractive appearance might be of some
+assistance to her in getting a hearing from the editor, even though he
+should prove on acquaintance to be a man of iron, which was tolerably
+unlikely. She glanced at the dainty little watch attached to her
+wristlet, and saw that it lacked a few minutes of five. She knew the
+editor came to his office shortly after three, and remained there until
+six or half-past, when he went out to dine, returning at ten o'clock, or
+earlier, when the serious work of arranging next day's issue began. She
+had not sent a note to him, for she knew if she got a reply it would be
+merely a request for particulars as to the proposed interview, and she
+had a strong faith in the spoken word, as against that which is written.
+At five o'clock the editor would have read his letters, and would
+probably have seen most of those who were waiting for him, and
+Miss Baxter quite rightly conjectured that this hour would be more
+appropriate for a short conversation than when he was busy with his
+correspondence, or immersed in the hard work of the day, as he would be
+after ten o'clock at night. She had enough experience of the world to
+know that great matters often depend for their success on apparent
+trivialities, and the young woman had set her mind on becoming a member
+of the _Daily Bugle_ staff.
+
+She stepped lightly into the hansom that was waiting for her, and said
+to the cabman, "Office of the _Daily Bugle_, please; side entrance."
+
+The careful toilette made its first impression upon the surly-looking
+Irish porter, who, like a gruff and faithful watch-dog, guarded the
+entrance to the editorial rooms of the _Bugle_. He was enclosed in a
+kind of glass-framed sentry-box, with a door at the side, and a small
+arched aperture that was on a level with his face as he sat on a high
+stool. He saw to it, not too politely, that no one went up those stairs
+unless he had undoubted right to do so. When he caught a glimpse of Miss
+Baxter, he slid off the stool and came out of the door to her, which
+was an extraordinary concession to a visitor, for Pat Ryan contented
+himself, as a usual thing, by saying curtly that the editor was busy,
+and could see no one.
+
+"What did you wish, miss? To see the editor? That's Mr. Hardwick. Have
+ye an appointment with him? Ye haven't; then I very much doubt if ye'll
+see him this day, mum. It's far better to write to him, thin ye can
+state what ye want, an' if he makes an appointment there'll be no
+throuble at all, at all."
+
+"But why should there be any trouble now?" asked Miss Baxter. "The
+editor is here to transact business, just as you are at the door to do
+the same. I have come on business, and I want to see him. Couldn't you
+send up my name to Mr. Hardwick, and tell him I will keep him but a few
+moments?"
+
+"Ah, miss, that's what they all say; they ask for a few moments an' they
+shtay an hour. Not that there'd be any blame to an editor if he kept you
+as long as he could. An' it's willing I'd be to take up your name, but
+I'm afraid that it's little good it 'ud be after doin' ye. There's more
+than a dozen men in the waitin'-room now, an' they've been there for
+the last half-hour. Not a single one I've sent up has come down again."
+
+"But surely," said Miss Jennie, in her most coaxing tone, "there must be
+some way to see even such a great man as the editor, and if there is,
+you know the way."
+
+"Indade, miss, an' I'm not so sure there is a way, unless you met him in
+the strate, which is unlikely. As I've told ye, there's twelve men now
+waitin' for him in the big room. Beyont that room there's another one,
+an' beyont that again is Mr. Hardwick's office. Now, it's as much as my
+place is worth, mum, to put ye in that room beyont the one where the
+men are waitin'; but, to tell you the truth, miss," said the Irishman,
+lowering his voice, as if he were divulging office secrets, "Mr.
+Hardwick, who is a difficult man to deal with, sometimes comes through
+the shmall room, and out into the passage whin he doesn't want to see
+anyone at all, at all, and goes out into the strate, leavin' everybody
+waitin' for him. Now I'll put ye into this room, and if the editor tries
+to slip out, then ye can speak with him; but if he asks ye how ye got
+there, for the sake of hiven don't tell him I sint ye, because that's
+not my duty at all, at all."
+
+"Indeed, I won't tell him how I got there; or, rather, I'll say I came
+there by myself; so all you need to do is to show me the door, and there
+won't need to be any lies told.
+
+"True for ye, an' a very good idea. Well, miss, then will ye just come
+up the stairs with me? It's the fourth door down the passage."
+
+Miss Jennie beamed upon the susceptible Irishman a look of such melting
+gratitude that the man, whom bribery had often attempted to corrupt in
+vain, was her slave for ever after. They went up the stairs together, at
+the head of which the porter stood while Miss Baxter went down the long
+passage and stopped at the right door; Ryan nodded and disappeared.
+
+Miss Baxter opened the door softly and entered. She found the room not
+too brilliantly lighted, containing a table and several chairs. The door
+to the right hand, which doubtless led into the waiting-room, where the
+dozen men were patiently sitting, was closed. The opposite door, which
+led into Mr. Hardwick's office, was partly open. Miss Baxter sat down
+near the third door, the one by which she had entered from the passage,
+ready to intercept the flying editor, should he attempt to escape.
+
+In the editor's room someone was walking up and down with heavy
+footfall, and growling in a deep voice that was plainly audible where
+Miss Jennie sat. "You see, Alder, it's like this," said the voice. "Any
+paper may have a sensation every day, if it wishes; but what I want is
+accuracy, otherwise our sheet has no real influence. When an article
+appears in the _Bugle_, I want our readers to understand that that
+article is true from beginning to end. I want not only sensation, but
+definiteness and not only definiteness, but absolute truth."
+
+"Well, Mr. Hardwick," interrupted another voice--the owner of which was
+either standing still or sitting in a chair, so far as Miss Baxter could
+judge by the tone, while the editor uneasily paced to and fro--"what
+Hazel is afraid of is that when this blows over he will lose his
+situation--"
+
+"But," interjected the editor, "no one can be sure that he gave the
+information. No one knows anything about this but you and I, and we will
+certainly keep our mouths shut."
+
+"What Hazel fears is that the moment we print the account, the Board of
+Public Construction will know he gave away the figures, because of their
+accuracy. He says that if we permit him to make one or two blunders,
+which will not matter in the least in so far as the general account
+goes, it will turn suspicion from him. It will be supposed that someone
+had access to the books, and in the hurry of transcribing figures
+had made the blunders, which they know he would not do, for he has a
+reputation for accuracy."
+
+"Quite so," said the editor; "and it is just that reputation--for
+accuracy--that I want to gain for the _Daily Bugle_. Don't you think the
+truth of it is that the man wants more money?"
+
+"Who? Hazel?"
+
+"Certainly. Does he imagine that he could get more than fifty pounds
+elsewhere?"
+
+"Oh, no; I'm sure the money doesn't come into the matter at all. Of
+course he wants the fifty pounds, but he doesn't want to lose his
+situation on the Board of Public Construction in the getting of it."
+
+"Where do you meet this man, at his own house, or in his office at the
+Board?"
+
+"Oh, in his own house, of course."
+
+"You haven't seen the books, then?"
+
+"No; but he has the accounts all made out, tabulated beautifully, and
+has written a very clear statement of the whole transaction. You
+understand, of course, that there has been no defalcation, no
+embezzlement, or anything of that sort. The accounts as a whole
+balance perfectly, and there isn't a penny of the public funds wrongly
+appropriated. All the Board has done is to juggle with figures so that
+each department seems to have come out all right, whereas the truth is
+that some departments have been carried on at a great profit, while with
+others there has been a loss. The object obviously has been to deceive
+the public and make it think that all the departments are economically
+conducted."
+
+"I am sorry money hasn't been stolen," said the editor generously, "then
+we would have had them on the hip; but, even as it is, the _Bugle_ will
+make a great sensation. What I fear is that the opposition press will
+seize on those very inaccuracies, and thus try to throw doubt on the
+whole affair. Don't you think that you can persuade this person to let
+us have the information intact, without the inclusion of those blunders
+he seems to insist on? I wouldn't mind paying him a little more money,
+if that is what he is after."
+
+"I don't think that is his object. The truth is, the man is frightened,
+and grows more and more so as the day for publication approaches. He is
+so anxious about his position that he insisted he was not to be paid by
+cheque, but that I should collect the money and hand it over to him in
+sovereigns."
+
+"Well, I'll tell you what to do, Alder. We mustn't seem too eager. Let
+the matter rest where it is until Monday. I suppose he expects you to
+call upon him again to-day?"
+
+"Yes; I told him I should be there at seven."
+
+"Don't go, and don't write any explanation. Let him transfer a little of
+his anxiety to the fear of losing his fifty pounds. I want, if possible,
+to publish this information with absolute accuracy."
+
+"Is there any danger, Mr. Hardwick, that some of the other papers may
+get on the track of this?"
+
+"No, I don't think so; not for three days, anyway. If we appear too
+eager, this man Hazel may refuse us altogether."
+
+"Very good, sir."
+
+Miss Baxter heard the editor stop in his walk, and she heard the
+rustling of paper, as if the subordinate were gathering up some
+documents on which he had been consulting his chief. She was
+panic-stricken to think that either of the men might come out and find
+her in the position of an eavesdropper, so with great quietness she
+opened the door and slipped out into the hall, going from there to the
+entrance of the ordinary waiting-room, in which she found, not the
+twelve men that the porter had expatiated upon, but five. Evidently the
+other seven had existed only in the porter's imagination, or had become
+tired of waiting and had withdrawn. The five looked up at her as she
+entered and sat down on a chair near the door. A moment later the door
+communicating with the room she had quitted opened, and a clerk came in.
+He held two or three slips of paper in his hand, and calling out a name,
+one of the men rose.
+
+"Mr. Hardwick says," spoke up the clerk, "that this matter is in Mr.
+Alder's department; would you mind seeing him? Room number five."
+
+So that man was thus got rid of. The clerk mentioned another name, and
+again a man rose.
+
+"Mr. Hardwick," the clerk said, "has the matter under consideration.
+Call again to-morrow at this hour, then he will give you his decision."
+
+That got rid of number two. The third man was asked to leave his name
+and address; the editor would write to him. Number four was told that
+if he would set down his proposition in writing, and send it in to Mr.
+Hardwick, it would have that gentleman's serious consideration. The
+fifth man was not so easily disposed of. He insisted upon seeing the
+editor, and presently disappeared inside with the clerk. Miss Baxter
+smiled at the rapid dispersion of the group, for it reminded her of the
+rhyme about the one little, two little, three little nigger-boys. But
+all the time there kept running through her mind the phrase, "Board of
+Public Construction," and the name, "Hazel."
+
+After a few minutes, the persistent man who had insisted upon seeing the
+editor came through the general waiting-room, the secretary, or clerk,
+or whoever he was, following him.
+
+"Has your name been sent in, madam?" the young man asked Miss Baxter, as
+she rose. "I think not," answered the girl. "Would you take my card to
+Mr. Hardwick, and tell him I will detain him but a few moments?"
+
+In a short time the secretary reappeared, and held the door open for
+her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+JENNIE HAS IMPORTANT CONFERENCES WITH TWO IMPORTANT EDITORS.
+
+
+Mr. Hardwick was a determined-looking young man of about thirty-five,
+with a bullet head and closely-cropped black hair. He looked like a
+stubborn, strong-willed person, and Miss Baxter's summing up of him was
+that he had not the appearance of one who could be coaxed or driven
+into doing anything he did not wish to do. He held her card between his
+fingers, and glanced from it to her, then down to the card again.
+
+"Good afternoon, Mr. Hardwick," began Miss Baxter. "I don't know that
+you have seen any of my work, but I have written a good deal for some of
+the evening papers and for several of the magazines."
+
+"Yes," said Hardwick, who was standing up preparatory to leaving his
+office, and who had not asked the young woman to sit down; "your name is
+familiar to me. You wrote, some months since, an account of a personal
+visit to the German Emperor; I forget now where it appeared."
+
+"Oh, yes," said Miss Baxter; "that was written for the _Summer
+Magazine_, and was illustrated by photographs."
+
+"It struck me," continued Hardwick, without looking at her, "that it was
+an article written by a person who had never seen the German Emperor,
+but who had collected and assimilated material from whatever source
+presented itself."
+
+The young woman, in nowise abashed, laughed; but still the editor did
+not look up.
+
+"Yes," she admitted, "that is precisely how it was written. I never have
+had the pleasure of meeting William II. myself."
+
+"What I have always insisted upon in work submitted to me," growled the
+editor in a deep voice, "is absolute accuracy. I take it that you have
+called to see me because you wish to do some work for this paper."
+
+"You are quite right in that surmise also," answered Miss Jennie.
+"Still, if I may say so, there was nothing inaccurate in my article
+about the German Emperor. My compilation was from thoroughly authentic
+sources, so I maintain it was as truthfully exact as anything that has
+ever appeared in the _Bugle_."
+
+"Perhaps our definitions of truth might not quite coincide. However, if
+you will write your address on this card I will wire you if I have any
+work--that is, any outside work--which I think a woman can do. The
+woman's column of the _Bugle_, as you are probably aware, is already in
+good hands."
+
+Miss Jennie seemed annoyed that all her elaborate preparations were
+thrown away on this man, who never raised his eyes nor glanced at her,
+except once, during their conversation.
+
+"I do not aspire," she said, rather shortly, "to the position of editor
+of a woman's column. I never read a woman's column myself, and, unlike
+Mr. Grant Allen, I never met a woman who did."
+
+She succeeded in making the editor lift his eyes towards her for the
+second time.
+
+"Neither do I intend to leave you my address so that you may send a wire
+to me if you have anything that you think I can do. What I wish is a
+salaried position on your staff."
+
+"My good woman," said the editor brusquely, "that is utterly impossible.
+I may tell you frankly that I don't believe in women journalists. The
+articles we publish by women are sent to this office from their own
+homes. Anything that a woman can do for a newspaper I have men who will
+do quite as well, if not better; and there are many things that women
+can't do at all which men must do. I am perfectly satisfied with my
+staff as it stands, Miss Baxter."
+
+"I think it is generally admitted," said the young woman, "that your
+staff is an exceptionally good one, and is most capably led. Still, I
+should imagine that there are many things happening in London, society
+functions, for instance, where a woman would describe more accurately
+what she saw than any man you could send. You have no idea how full of
+blunders a man's account of women's dress is as a general rule, and if
+you admire accuracy as much as you say, I should think you would not
+care to have your paper made a laughing-stock among society ladies, who
+never take the trouble to write you a letter and show you where you are
+wrong, as men usually do when some mistake regarding their affairs is
+made."
+
+"There is probably something in what you say," replied the editor, with
+an air of bringing the discussion to a close. "I don't insist that I am
+right, but these are my ideas, and while I am editor of this paper I
+shall stand by them, so it is useless for us to discuss the matter
+any further, Miss Baxter. I will not have a woman as a member of the
+permanent staff of the _Bugle_."
+
+For the third time he looked up at her, and there was dismissal in his
+glance.
+
+Miss Baxter said indignantly to herself, "This brute of a man hasn't the
+slightest idea that I am one of the best dressed women he has ever met."
+
+But there was no trace of indignation in her voice when she said to him
+sweetly, "We will take that as settled. But if upon some other paper,
+Mr. Hardwick, I should show evidence of being as good a newspaper
+reporter as any member of your staff, may I come up here, and, without
+being kept waiting too long, tell you of my triumph?"
+
+"You would not shake my decision," he said.
+
+"Oh, don't say that," she murmured, with a smile. "I am sure you
+wouldn't like it if anyone called you a fool."
+
+"Called me a fool?" said the editor sharply, drawing down his dark
+brows. "I shouldn't mind it in the least."
+
+"What, not if it were true? You know it would be true, if I could do
+something that all your clever men hadn't accomplished. An editor may
+be a very talented man, but, after all, his mission is to see that his
+paper is an interesting one, and that it contains, as often as possible,
+something which no other sheet does."
+
+"Oh, I'll see to that," Mr. Hardwick assured her with resolute
+confidence.
+
+"I am certain you will," said Miss Baxter very sweetly; "but now you
+won't refuse to let me in whenever I send up my card? I promise you that
+I shall not send it until I have done something which will make the
+whole staff of the _Daily Bugle_ feel very doleful indeed."
+
+For the first time Mr. Hardwick gave utterance to a somewhat harsh and
+mirthless laugh.
+
+"Oh, very well," he said, "I'll promise that."
+
+"Thank you! And good afternoon, Mr. Hardwick. I am _so_ much obliged
+to you for consenting to see me. I shall call upon you at this hour
+to-morrow afternoon."
+
+There was something of triumph in her smiling bow to him, and as she
+left she heard a long whistle of astonishment in Mr. Hardwick's room.
+She hurried down the stairs, threw a bewitching glance at the Irish
+porter, who came out of his den and whispered to her,--
+
+"It's all right, is it, mum?"
+
+"More than all right," she answered. "Thank you very much indeed for
+your kindness."
+
+The porter preceded her out to the waiting hansom and held his arm so
+that her skirt would not touch the wheel.
+
+"Drive quickly to the Cafe Royal," she said to the cabman.
+
+When the hansom drew up in front of the Cafe Royal, Miss Jennie Baxter
+did not step put of it, but waited until the stalwart servitor in gold
+lace, who ornamented the entrance, hurried from the door to the vehicle.
+"Do you know Mr. Stoneham?" she asked with suppressed excitement, "the
+editor of the _Evening Graphite_? He is usually here playing dominoes
+with somebody about this hour."
+
+"Oh yes, I know him," was the reply. "I think he is inside at this
+moment, but I will make certain."
+
+In a short time Mr. Stoneham himself appeared, looking perhaps a trifle
+disconcerted at having his whereabouts so accurately ascertained.
+
+"What a blessing it is," said Miss Jennie, with a laugh, "that we poor
+reporters know where to find our editors in a case of emergency."
+
+"This is no case of emergency, Miss Baxter," grumbled Stoneham. "If it's
+news, you ought to know that it is too late to be of any use for us
+to-day."
+
+"Ah, yes," was the quick reply, "but what excellent time I am in with
+news for to-morrow!"
+
+"If a man is to live a long life," growled the disturbed editor, "he
+must allow to-morrow's news to look after itself. Sufficient for the day
+are the worries thereof."
+
+"As a general rule that is true," assented the girl, "but I have a most
+important piece of information for you that wouldn't wait, and in half
+an hour from now you will be writing your to-morrow's leader, showing
+forth in terse and forcible language the many iniquities of the Board of
+Public Construction."
+
+"Oh," cried the editor, brightening, "if it is anything to the discredit
+of the Board of Public Construction, I am glad you came."
+
+"Well, that's not a bit complimentary to me. You should be glad in any
+case; but I'll forgive your bad manners, as I wish you to help me.
+Please step into this hansom, because I have most startling intelligence
+to impart--news that must not be overheard; and there is no place so
+safe for a confidential conference as in a hansom driving through the
+streets of London. Drive slowly towards the _Evening Graphite_ office,"
+she said to the cabman, pushing up the trap-door in the roof of the
+vehicle. Mr. Stoneham took his place beside her, and the cabman turned
+his horse in the direction indicated.
+
+"There is little use in going to the office of the paper," said
+Stoneham; "there won't be anybody there but the watchman."
+
+"I know, but we must go in some direction. We can't talk in front of
+the Café Royal, you know. Now, Mr. Stoneham, in the first place, I want
+fifty golden sovereigns. How am I to get them within half an hour?"
+
+"Good gracious! I don't know; the banks are all closed, but there is a
+man at Charing Cross who would perhaps change a cheque for me; there is
+a cheque-book at the office."
+
+"Then that's all right and settled. Mr. Stoneham, there's been some
+juggling with the accounts in the office of the Board of Public
+Construction."
+
+"What! a defalcation?" cried Stoneham eagerly.
+
+"No; merely a shifting round."
+
+"Ah," said the editor, in a disappointed tone.
+
+"Oh, you needn't say 'Ah.' It's very serious; it is indeed. The accounts
+are calculated to deceive the dear and confiding public, to whose
+interests all the daily papers, morning and evening, pretend to be
+devoted. The very fact of such deception being attempted, Mr. Stoneham,
+ought to call forth the anger of any virtuous editor."
+
+"Oh, it does, it does; but then it would be a difficult matter to prove.
+If some money were gone, now----"
+
+"My dear sir, the matter is already proved, and quite ripe for your
+energetic handling of it; that's what the fifty pounds are for. This
+sum will secure for you--to-night, mind, not to-morrow--a statement
+bristling with figures which the Board of Construction cannot deny. You
+will be able, in a stirring leading article, to express the horror you
+undoubtedly feel at the falsification of the figures, and your stern
+delight in doing so will probably not be mitigated by the fact that no
+other paper in London will have the news, while the matter will be
+so important that next day all your beloved contemporaries will be
+compelled to allude to it in some shape or other."
+
+"I see," said the editor, his eyes glistening as the magnitude of the
+idea began to appeal more strongly to his imagination. "Who makes this
+statement, and how are we to know that it is absolutely correct?"
+
+"Well, there is a point on which I wish to inform you before going any
+further. The statement is not to be absolutely correct; two or
+three errors have been purposely put in, the object being to throw
+investigators off the track if they try to discover who gave the news to
+the Press; for the man who will sell me this document is a clerk in the
+office of the Board of Public Construction. So, you see, you are getting
+the facts from the inside."
+
+"Is he so accustomed to falsifying accounts that he cannot get over the
+habit even when preparing an article for the truthful Press?"
+
+"He wants to save his own situation, and quite rightly too, so he has
+put a number of errors in the figures of the department over which
+he has direct control. He has a reputation for such accuracy that he
+imagines the Board will never think he did it, if the figures pertaining
+to his department are wrong even in the slightest degree."
+
+"Quite so. Then we cannot have the pleasure of mentioning his name, and
+saying that this honest man has been corrupted by his association with
+the scoundrels who form the Board of Public Construction?"
+
+"Oh, dear, no; his name must not be mentioned in any circumstances, and
+that is why payment is to be made in sovereigns rather than by bank
+cheque or notes."
+
+"Well, the traitor seems to be covering up his tracks rather
+effectually. How did you come to know him?"
+
+"I don't know him. I've never met him in my life; but it came to my
+knowledge that one of the morning papers had already made all its plans
+for getting this information. The clerk was to receive fifty pounds for
+the document, but the editor and he are at present negotiating, because
+the editor insists upon absolute accuracy, while, as I said, the man
+wishes to protect himself, to cover his tracks, as you remarked."
+
+"Good gracious!" cried Stoneham, "I didn't think the editor of any
+morning paper in London was so particular about the accuracy of what he
+printed. The pages of the morning sheets do not seem to reflect that
+anxiety."
+
+"So, you see," continued Miss Jennie, unheeding his satirical comment,
+"there is no time to be lost; in fact, I should be on my way now to
+where this man lives."
+
+"Here we are at the office, and I shall just run in and write a cheque
+for fifty pounds, which we can perhaps get cashed somewhere," cried the
+editor, calling the hansom to a halt and stepping out.
+
+"Tell the watchman to bring me a London Directory," said the girl, and
+presently that useful guardian came out with the huge red volume, which
+Miss Baxter placed on her knees, and, with a celerity that comes of long
+practice, turned over the leaves rapidly, running her finger quickly
+down the H column, in which the name "Hazel" was to be found. At last
+she came to one designated as being a clerk in the office of the Board
+of Public Construction, and his residence was 17, Rupert Square,
+Brixton. She put this address down in her notebook and handed back the
+volume to the waiting watchman, as the editor came out with the cheque
+in his hand.
+
+The shrewd and energetic dealer in coins, whose little office stands at
+the exit from Charing Cross Station, proved quite willing to oblige the
+editor of the _Evening Graphite_ with fifty sovereigns in exchange for
+the bit of paper, and the editor, handing to Miss Jennie the envelope
+containing the gold, saw her drive off for Brixton, while he turned, not
+to resume his game of dominoes at the café, but to his office, to write
+the leader which would express in good set terms the horror he felt at
+the action of the Board of Public Construction.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+JENNIE INTERVIEWS A FRIGHTENED OFFICIAL.
+
+
+It was a little past seven o'clock when Miss Baxter's hansom drove up to
+the two-storeyed house in Rupert Square numbered 17. She knocked at the
+door, and it was speedily opened by a man with some trace of anxiety on
+his clouded face, who proved to be Hazel himself, the clerk at the Board
+of Public Construction. "You are Mr. Hazel?" she ventured, on entering.
+
+"Yes," replied the man, quite evidently surprised at seeing a lady
+instead of the man he was expecting at that hour; "but I am afraid I
+shall have to ask you to excuse me; I am waiting for a visitor who is a
+few minutes late, and who may be here at any moment."
+
+"You are waiting for Mr. Alder, are you not?"
+
+"Yes," stammered the man, his expression of surprise giving place to one
+of consternation.
+
+"Oh, well, that is all right," said Miss Jennie, reassuringly. "I have
+just driven from the office of the _Daily Bugle_. Mr. Alder cannot come
+to-night."
+
+"Ah," said Hazel, closing the door. "Then are you here in his place?"
+
+"I am here instead of him. Mr. Alder is on other business that he had to
+attend to at the editor's request. Now, Mr. Hardwick--that's the editor,
+you know----"
+
+"Yes, I know," answered Hazel.
+
+They were by this time seated in the front parlour.
+
+"Well, Mr. Hardwick is very anxious that the figures should be given
+with absolute accuracy."
+
+"Of course, that would be much better," cried the man; "but, you see, I
+have gone thoroughly into the question with Mr. Alder already. He said
+he would mention what I told him to the editor--put my position before
+him, in fact."
+
+"Oh, he has done so," said Miss Baxter, "and did it very effectively
+indeed; in fact, your reasons are quite unanswerable. You fear, of
+course, that you will lose your situation, and that is very important,
+and no one in the _Bugle_ office wishes you to suffer for what you have
+done. Of course, it is all in the public interest."
+
+"Of course, of course," murmured Hazel, looking down on the table.
+
+"Well, have you all the documents ready, so that they can be published
+at any time?"
+
+"Quite ready," answered the man.
+
+"Very well," said the girl, with decision; "here are your fifty pounds.
+Just count the money, and see that it is correct. I took the envelope as
+it was handed to me, and have not examined the amount myself."
+
+She poured the sovereigns out on the table, and Hazel, with trembling
+fingers, counted them out two by two.
+
+"That is quite right," he said, rising. He went to a drawer, unlocked
+it, and took out a long blue envelope.
+
+"There," he said, with a sigh that was almost a gasp. "There are the
+figures, and a full explanation of them. You will be very careful that
+my name does not slip out in any way."
+
+"Certainly," said Miss Jennie, coolly drawing forth the papers from
+their covering. "No one knows your name except Mr. Alder, Mr. Hardwick,
+and myself; and I can assure you that I shall not mention it to anyone."
+
+She glanced rapidly over the documents.
+
+"I shall just read what you have written," she said, looking up at him;
+"and if there is anything here I do not understand you will, perhaps,
+be good enough to explain it now,--and then I won't need to come here
+again."
+
+"Very well," said Hazel. The man had no suspicion that his visitor was
+not a member of the staff of the paper he had been negotiating with. She
+was so thoroughly self-possessed, and showed herself so familiar with
+all details which had been discussed by Alder and himself that not the
+slightest doubt had entered the clerk's mind.
+
+Jennie read the documents with great haste, for she knew she was running
+a risk in remaining there after seven o'clock. It might be that Alder
+would come to Brixton to let the man know the result of his talk with
+the editor, or Mr. Hardwick himself might have changed his mind, and
+instructed his subordinate to secure the papers. Nevertheless, there was
+no sign of hurry in Miss Jennie's demeanour as she placed the papers
+back in their blue envelope and bade the anxious Hazel good-bye.
+
+Once more in the hansom, she ordered the man to drive her to Charing
+Cross, and when she was ten minutes away from Rupert Square she changed
+her direction and desired him to take her to the office of the _Evening
+Graphite_, where she knew Mr. Stoneham would be busy with his leading
+article, and probably impatiently awaiting further details of the
+conspiracy he was to lay open before the public. A light was burning in
+the editorial rooms of the office of the _Evening Graphite_, always a
+suspicious thing in such an establishment, and well calculated to cause
+the editor of any rival evening paper to tremble, should he catch a
+glimpse of burning gas in a spot where the work of the day should be
+finished at latest by five o'clock. Light in the room of the evening
+journalist usually indicates that something important is on hand.
+
+A glance at the papers Miss Baxter brought to him showed Mr. Stoneham
+that he had at least got the worth of his fifty pounds. There would be a
+fluttering in high places next day. He made arrangements before he
+left to have the paper issued a little earlier than was customary,
+calculating his time with exactitude, so that rival sheets could not
+have the news in their first edition, cribbed from the _Graphite_,
+and yet the paper would be on the street, with the newsboys shouting,
+"'Orrible scandal," before any other evening journal was visible.
+And this was accomplished the following day with a precision truly
+admirable.
+
+Mr. Stoneham, with a craft worthy of all commendation, kept back from
+the early issue a small fraction of the figures that were in his
+possession, so that he might print them in the so-called fourth edition,
+and thus put upon the second lot of contents--bills sent out, in huge,
+startling black type, "Further Revelations of the Board of Construction
+Scandal;" and his scathing leading article, in which he indignantly
+demanded a Parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of the Board, was
+recognized, even by the friends of that public body, as having seriously
+shaken confidence in it. The reception of the news by the other evening
+papers was most flattering. One or two ignored it altogether, others
+alluded to it as a rumour, that it "alleged" so and so, and threw doubt
+on its truth, which was precisely what Mr. Stoneham wished them to do,
+as he was in a position to prove the accuracy of his statement.
+
+Promptly, at five o'clock that afternoon a hansom containing Miss Jennie
+Baxter drove up to the side entrance of the _Daily Bugle_ office, and
+the young woman once more accosted the Irish porter, who again came out
+of his den to receive her.
+
+"Miss Baxter?" said the Irishman, half by way of salutation, and half by
+way of inquiry. "Yes," said the girl.
+
+"Well, Mr. Hardwick left strict orders with me that if ye came, or,
+rather, that _whin_ ye came, I was to conduct ye right up to his room at
+once."
+
+"Oh, that is very satisfactory," cried Miss Jennie, "and somewhat
+different from the state of things yesterday."
+
+"Indeed, and that's very true," said the porter, his voice sinking.
+"To-day is not like yesterday at all, at all. There's been great
+ructions in this office, mum; although what it's about, fly away with me
+if I know. There's been ruunin' back and forrad, an' a plentiful deal of
+language used. The proprietor himself has been here, an' he's here now,
+an' Mr. Alder came out a minute ago with his face as white as a sheet of
+paper. They do be sayin'," added the porter, still further lowering his
+voice, and pausing on the stairway, "that Mr. Hardwick is not goin' to
+be the editor any more, but that Mr. Alder is to take his place. Anyway,
+as far as I can tell, Mr. Hardwick an' Mr. Alder have had a fine fall
+out, an' one or other of them is likely to leave the paper."
+
+"Oh, dear, oh, dear!" said Miss Jennie, also pausing on the stairs. "Is
+it so serious as all that?"
+
+"Indeed it is, mum, an' we none of us know where we're standin', at all,
+at all."
+
+The porter led the way to Mr. Hardwick's room, and announced the
+visitor.
+
+"Ask her to come in," she heard the editor say, and the next instant the
+porter left them alone together.
+
+"Won't you sit down, Miss Baxter?" said Mr. Hardwick, with no trace of
+that anger in his voice which she had expected. "I have been waiting for
+you. You said you would be here at five, and I like punctuality. Without
+beating round the bush, I suppose I may take it for granted that the
+_Evening Graphite_ is indebted to you for what it is pleased to call the
+Board of Public Construction scandal?"
+
+"Yes," said the young woman, seating herself; "I came up to tell you
+that I procured for the _Graphite_ that interesting bit of information."
+
+"So I supposed. My colleague, Henry Alder, saw Hazel this afternoon at
+the offices of the Board. The good man Hazel is panic-stricken at the
+explosion he has caused, and is in a very nervous state of mind, more
+especially when he learned that his documents had gone to an unexpected
+quarter. Fortunately for him, the offices of the Board are thronged
+with journalists who want to get statements from this man or the other
+regarding the exposure, and so the visit of Alder to Hazel was not
+likely to be noticed or commented upon. Hazel gave a graphic description
+of the handsome young woman who had so cleverly wheedled the documents
+from him, and who paid him the exact sum agreed upon in the exact way
+that it was to have been paid. Alder had not seen you, and has not the
+slightest idea how the important news slipped through his fingers; but
+when he told me what had happened, I knew at once you were the goddess
+of the machine, therefore I have been waiting for you. May I be
+permitted to express the opinion that you didn't play your cards at all
+well, Miss Baxter?"
+
+"No? I think I played my cards very much better than you played yours,
+you know."
+
+"Oh, I am not instituting any comparison, and am not at all setting
+myself up as a model of strategy. I admit that, having the right cards
+in my hands, I played them exceedingly badly; but then, you understand,
+I thought I was sure of an exclusive bit of news."
+
+"No news is exclusive, Mr. Hardwick, until it is printed, and out in the
+streets, and the other papers haven't got it."
+
+"That is very true, and has all the conciseness of an adage. I would
+like to ask, Miss Baxter, how much the _Graphite_ paid you for that
+article over and above the fifty pounds you gave to Hazel?"
+
+"Oh! it wasn't a question of money with me; the subject hasn't even been
+discussed. Mr. Stoneham is not a generous paymaster, and that is why I
+desire to get on a paper which does not count the cost too closely. What
+I wished to do was to convince you that I would be a valuable addition
+to the _Bugle_ staff; for you seemed to be of opinion that the staff was
+already sufficient and complete."
+
+"Oh, my staff is not to blame in this matter; I alone am to blame in
+being too sure of my ground, and not realizing the danger of delay in
+such a case. But if you had brought the document to me, you would have
+found me by far your best customer. You would have convinced me quite as
+effectually as you have done now that you are a very alert young woman,
+and I certainly would have been willing to give you four or five times
+as much as the _Graphite_ will be able to pay."
+
+"To tell the truth, I thought of that as I stood here yesterday, but I
+saw you were a very difficult man to deal with or to convince, and I
+dared not take the risk of letting you know I had the news. You might
+very easily have called in Mr. Alder, told him that Hazel had given up
+the documents, and sent him flying to Brixton, where very likely the
+clerk has a duplicate set. It would have been too late to get the
+sensation into any other morning paper, and, even if it were not too
+late, you would have had something about the sensation in the _Bugle_,
+and so the victory would not have been as complete as it is now. No, I
+could not take such a risk. I thought it all out very carefully."
+
+"You credit us with more energy, Miss Baxter, than we possess. I can
+assure you that if you had come here at ten or eleven o'clock with the
+documents, I should have been compelled to purchase them from you.
+However, that is all past and done with, and there is no use in our
+saying anything more about it. I am willing to take all the blame for
+our defeat on my shoulders, but there are some other things I am not
+willing to do, and perhaps you are in a position to clear up a little
+misunderstanding that has arisen in this office. I suppose I may take it
+for granted that you overheard the conversation which took place between
+Mr. Alder and myself in this room yesterday afternoon?"
+
+"Well," said Miss Baxter, for the first time in some confusion, "I can
+assure you that I did not come here with the intention of listening to
+anything. I came into the next room by myself for the purpose of getting
+to see you as soon as possible. While not exactly a member of the staff
+of the _Evening Graphite_, that paper nevertheless takes about all the
+work I am able to do, and so I consider myself bound to keep my eyes and
+ears open on its behalf wherever I am."
+
+"Oh, I don't want to censure you at all," said Hardwick; "I merely wish
+to be certain how the thing was done. As I said, I am willing to take
+the blame entirely on my own shoulders. I don't think I should have
+made use of information obtained in that way myself; still, I am not
+venturing to find fault with you for doing so."
+
+"To find fault with me!" cried Miss Jennie somewhat warmly, "that would
+be the pot calling the kettle black indeed. Why, what better were you?
+You were bribing a poor man to furnish you with statistics, which he
+was very reluctant to let you have; yet you overcame his scruples with
+money, quite willing that he should risk his livelihood, so long as you
+got the news. If you ask me, I don't see very much difference in our
+positions, and I must say that if two men take the risk of talking aloud
+about a secret, with a door open leading to another room, which may be
+empty or may be not, then they are two very foolish persons."
+
+"Oh, quite so, quite so," answered Hardwick soothingly. "I have already
+disclaimed the critical attitude. The point I wish to be sure of is
+this--you overheard the conversation between Alder and myself?"
+
+"Yes, I did."
+
+"Would you be able to repeat it?"
+
+"I don't know that I could repeat it word for word, but I could
+certainly give the gist of it."
+
+"Would you have any objection to telling a gentleman whom I shall call
+in a moment, as nearly as possible what Alder said and what I said?
+I may add that the gentleman I speak of is Mr. Hempstead, and he is
+practically the proprietor of this paper. There has arisen between Mr.
+Alder and myself a slight divergence of memory, if I may call it so, and
+it seems that you are the only person who can settle the dispute."
+
+"I am perfectly willing to tell what I heard to anybody."
+
+"Thank you."
+
+Mr. Hardwick pressed an electric button, and his secretary came in from
+another room.
+
+"Would you ask Mr. Hempstead to step this way, if he is in his room?"
+
+In a few minutes Mr. Hempstead entered, bowed somewhat stiffly towards
+the lady, but froze up instantly when he heard that she was the person
+who had given the Board of Public Construction scandal to the _Evening
+Graphite_.
+
+"I have just this moment learned, Mr. Hempstead, that Miss Baxter was in
+the adjoining room when Alder and I were talking over this matter. She
+heard the conversation. I have not asked her to repeat it, but sent for
+you at once, and she says she is willing to answer any questions you may
+ask."
+
+"In that case, Mr. Hardwick, wouldn't it be well to have Henry Alder
+here?"
+
+"Certainly, if he is on the premises." Then, turning to his secretary,
+he said, "Would you find out if Mr. Alder is in his room? Tell him Mr.
+Hempstead wishes to see him here."
+
+When Henry Alder came in, and the secretary had disappeared, Miss Baxter
+saw at once that she was in an unenviable situation, for it was quite
+evident the three men were scarcely on speaking terms with each other.
+Nothing causes such a state of tension in a newspaper office as the
+missing of a piece of news that is important.
+
+"Perhaps it would be better," suggested Hardwick, "if Miss Baxter would
+repeat the conversation as she heard it."
+
+"I don't see the use of that," said Mr. Hempstead. "There is only one
+point at issue. Did Mr. Alder warn Mr. Hardwick that by delay he would
+lose the publication of this report?"
+
+"Hardly that," answered the girl. "As I remember it, he said, 'Isn't
+there a danger that some other paper may get this?' Mr. Hardwick
+replied, 'I don't think so. Not for three days, at least'; and then Mr.
+Alder said, 'Very good,' or 'Very well,' or something like that."
+
+"That quite tallies with my own remembrance," assented Hardwick. "I
+admit I am to blame, but I decidedly say that I was not definitely
+warned by Mr. Alder that the matter would be lost to us."
+
+"I told you it would be lost if you delayed," cried Alder, with the
+emphasis of an angry man, "and it _has_ been lost. I have been on the
+track of this for two weeks, and it is very galling to have missed it at
+the last moment through no fault of my own."
+
+"Still," said Mr. Hempstead coldly, "your version of the conversation
+does not quite agree with what Miss Baxter says."
+
+"Oh, well," said Alder, "I never pretended to give the exact words. I
+warned him, and he did not heed the warning."
+
+"You admit, then, that Miss Baxter's remembrance of the conversation is
+correct?"
+
+"It is practically correct. I do not 'stickle' about words."
+
+"But you did stickle about words an hour ago," said Mr. Hempstead, with
+some severity. "There is a difference in positively stating that the
+item would be lost and in merely suggesting that it might be lost."
+
+"Oh, have it as you wish," said Alder truculently. "It doesn't matter in
+the least to me. It is very provoking to work hard for two weeks, and
+then have everything nullified by a foolish decision from the editor.
+However, as I have said, it doesn't matter to me. I have taken service
+on the _Daily Trumpet_, and you may consider my place on the _Bugle_
+vacant"--saying which, the irate Mr. Alder put his hat on his head and
+left the room.
+
+Mr. Hempstead seemed distressed by the discussion, but, for the first
+time, Mr. Hardwick smiled grimly.
+
+"I always insist on accuracy," he said, "and lack of it is one of
+Alder's failings."
+
+"Nevertheless, Mr. Hardwick, you have lost one of your best men. How are
+you going to replace him?" inquired the proprietor anxiously.
+
+"There is little difficulty in replacing even the best man on any staff
+in London," replied Hardwick, with a glance at Miss Baxter. "As this
+young lady seems to keep her wits about her when the welfare of her
+paper is concerned, I shall, if you have no objection, fill Henry
+Alder's place with Miss Baxter?"
+
+Mr. Hempstead arched his eyebrows a trifle, and looked at the girl in
+some doubt.
+
+"I thought you didn't believe in women journalists, Mr. Hardwick," he
+murmured at last.
+
+"I didn't up till to-day, but since the evening papers came out I have
+had reason to change my mind. I should much rather have Miss Baxter for
+me than against me."
+
+"Do you think you can fill the position, Miss Baxter?" asked the
+proprietor, doubtingly.
+
+"Oh, I, am sure of it," answered the girl. "I have long wanted a place
+on a well-edited paper like the _Bugle_." Again Mr. Hardwick smiled
+grimly. The proprietor turned to him, and said, "I don't quite see,
+Mr. Hardwick, what a lady can do on this paper outside of the regular
+departments."
+
+"I hardly think there will be any trouble about that, Mr. Hempstead. For
+example, who could be better equipped to attempt the solution of that
+knotty question about the Princess von Steinheimer's diamonds?"
+
+"By Jove!" cried Hempstead, his eyes glittering with excitement. "That
+is an inspiration. I imagine that if anyone can unravel the mystery, it
+is Miss Baxter."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+JENNIE LEARNS ABOUT THE DIAMONDS OF THE PRINCESS.
+
+
+"What about the diamonds of the Princess?" asked Miss Baxter, her
+curiosity piqued by the remark of the editor.
+
+"That is rather a long story," replied Mr. Hardwick, "and before I begin
+it, I would like to ask you one or two questions. Can you manipulate a
+typewriter?"
+
+"That depends on what make it is. The ordinary typewriter I understand
+very thoroughly."
+
+"Good. Have you any knowledge of shorthand?"
+
+"A workable knowledge; I can write about one hundred words a minute."
+
+"Admirable! admirable! Your coming to this office was indeed an
+inspiration, as Mr. Hempstead remarked. You are just the person I have
+been looking for."
+
+"You didn't seem to think so yesterday, Mr. Hardwick," said the girl
+with a sly glance at him.
+
+"Well, many things have happened since yesterday. We are now dealing
+with to-day, and with the Princess von Steinheimer."
+
+"She is a German princess, of course?"
+
+"An Austrian princess, but an American woman. She was a Miss Briggs of
+Chicago; a daughter of Briggs, the railway millionaire, worth somewhere
+between twenty and twenty-five millions--dollars, of course. A year or
+two ago she married Prince Konrad von Steinheimer; you may remember
+having read about it in the papers?"
+
+"Oh, yes; the usual international match--the girl after the title, he
+after the money."
+
+"I suppose so; but be that as it may, she is the only daughter of old
+Briggs, and had spent a good deal of her time in Europe, but she spent
+more than time; she spent the old man's money as well, so during her
+stay in Europe she accumulated a vast stock of diamonds, some of them
+very notable stones. I don't know what the whole collection is worth,
+some say a million dollars, while others say double that amount. However
+that may be, Miss Briggs became the Princess von Steinheimer, and
+brought to Austria with her a million dollars in gold and the diamonds,
+which her father gave as dowry; but, of course, being an only child, she
+will come in for the rest of his money when the railway magnate dies."
+
+"Is he likely to die soon? I don't suppose the Prince gave himself away
+for a mere million."
+
+"Oh, you forget the diamonds. As to the likelihood of old Briggs's
+death, it didn't strike me as imminent when I had a conversation with
+him yesterday."
+
+"Yesterday? Is he here in London, then?"
+
+"Yes; he has come over to disentangle the mystery about the diamonds."
+
+"And what is the mystery? You take a dreadful long time to tell a story,
+Mr. Hardwick."
+
+"The story is important, and it must be told in detail, otherwise you
+may go on a long journey for nothing. Are you taking down what I say in
+shorthand? That is right, and if you are wise you will not transcribe
+your notes so that anyone can read them; they are safer in that form.
+The von Steinheimer family have two residences, a house in Vienna and an
+ancient castle in the Tyrol, situated on the heights above Meran, a most
+picturesque place, I understand; but very shortly you will know more
+about it than I do, because the _Bugle_ expects you to go there as its
+special correspondent. Here the diamond robbery took place something
+like two months ago, and the affair is still as great a mystery as ever.
+The Princess was to open the season at Meran, which is a fashionable
+resort, by giving a fancy dress ball in Schloss Steinheimer, to which
+all the Austrian and foreign notables were invited. It was just before
+the ball began that the diamonds were first missed--in fact, the
+Princess was about to put them on, she representing some gorgeously
+decorated character from the Arabian Nights, when the discovery was made
+that the diamonds were gone. She was naturally very much upset over her
+loss, and sent at once for the Prince, her husband, insisting that the
+police should be notified immediately and detectives called in, as was
+perfectly natural. Now here comes a strange feature of the affair, and
+this is that the Prince positively forbade any publicity, refusing his
+sanction when she demanded that the police should be informed, and yet
+the Prince knew better than anyone else the very considerable value of
+the stones."
+
+"What reason did he give for his refusal?" asked Miss Baxter, looking up
+from her notes.
+
+"I am not quite certain about that; but I think he said it was _infra
+dig._ for the Steinheimers to call in the police. Anyhow, it was an
+excuse which did not satisfy the Princess; but as guests were arriving,
+and as it was desirable that there should be no commotion to mar the
+occasion, the Princess temporarily yielded to the wish of her husband,
+and nothing was said publicly about the robbery. The great ball was the
+talk of Meran for several days, and no one suspected the private trouble
+that was going on underneath this notable event. During these several
+days the Princess insisted that the aid of the police should be invoked,
+and the Prince was equally strenuous that nothing should be said or done
+about the matter. Then, quite unexpectedly, the Prince veered completely
+round, and proclaimed that he would engage the best detectives in
+Europe. Strange to say, when he announced this decision to his wife, she
+had veered round also, and opposed the calling in of the detectives as
+strenuously as he had done heretofore."
+
+"What reason did she give for her change of front?" asked Miss Jennie.
+
+"She said, I believe, that it was now too late; that the thieves,
+whoever they were, had had time to make away with their plunder, and
+there would merely be a fuss and worry for nothing."
+
+"Do you know, I am inclined to agree with her," asserted the girl.
+
+"Are you? Then tell me what you think of the case as far as you have got."
+
+"What do _you_ think?"
+
+"I sha'n't tell you at this stage, because I know of further particulars
+which I will give you later on. I merely want your opinion now, so that
+I may see whether what I have to tell you afterwards modifies it in any
+way."
+
+"Well, to me the case looks decidedly dark against the Prince."
+
+"That is what Mr. Briggs thinks. He imagines his Highness has the
+jewels."
+
+"Where did you get all these particulars?"
+
+"From Mr. Briggs, who, of course, got them by letter from his daughter."
+
+"Then we have, as it were, a one-sided statement."
+
+"Oh, quite so; but still you must remember the Princess does not in the
+least suspect her husband of the theft."
+
+"Well, please go on. What are the further particulars?"
+
+"The further particulars are that the Prince made some quiet
+investigations among the servants, and he found that there was a man
+who, although he was a friend of his own, was much more the friend of
+the Princess, and this man had, on the day the ball was given, the
+entire freedom of the castle. He is a young officer and nobleman.
+Lieutenant von Schaumberg, and the Prince knew that this young man was
+being hard pressed for some debts of honour which he did not appear to
+be in a position to liquidate. The young man went unexpectedly to Vienna
+the day after the ball, and on his return settled his obligations. The
+Princess, from one of her women, got word of her husband's suspicion.
+She went to the Prince at once, and told him she had come to his
+own opinion with regard to the lost diamonds. She would, in no
+circumstances, have detectives about the place. Then he told her that he
+had also changed his mind, and resolved to engage detectives. So here
+they were at a deadlock again. She wrote to her father with great
+indignation about the Prince's unjust suspicions, saying von Schaumberg
+was a gentleman in every sense of the word. I gather that relations
+between herself and her husband are somewhat strained, so I imagine
+there is much more in this matter than the lost diamonds."
+
+"You imagine, then, that she is shielding the Lieutenant?"
+
+"Candidly, I do."
+
+"And you are of opinion he stole the diamonds?"
+
+"Yes, I am."
+
+"I don't agree with you. I still think it was the Prince, and I think
+besides this, that he dexterously managed to throw suspicion on the
+Lieutenant. Have they called in the detectives yet?"
+
+"No, they are at a deadlock, as I remarked before."
+
+"Well, what am I expected to do?"
+
+"Mr. Briggs cabled to his daughter--he never writes a letter--that
+he would come over and straighten out the tangle in fifteen minutes.
+He is certain the Prince stole the diamonds, but he did not
+tell his daughter so. He informed her he was bringing her a
+present of a new typewriting machine, and also a young woman from
+Chicago who could write shorthand and would look after the Princess's
+correspondence--act as secretary, in fact; for it seems the Princess
+has a larger correspondence than she can reasonably attend to, and she
+appears therefore to yearn for a typewriter. The old man tells me she is
+very careless about her letters, never being able to find anything
+she wants, and leaving them about a good deal, so he thinks she needs
+someone to look after her affairs; and I have a suspicion that her
+father fears she may leave some compromising letter about, so he wishes
+to ward off a divorce case."
+
+"No, I fancy you are mistaken there. The father hasn't the slightest
+idea that there can be anything wrong with his daughter. It is probable
+the Princess has written some libellous statements about her husband,
+and it is quite likely the Prince is a brute and that young von
+Schaumberg is a most charming person."
+
+"Well, as I was saying," continued Hardwick, "the old man cabled his
+daughter that he is bringing her a secretary and a typewriter. He
+engaged a female Pinkerton detective to enter the castle as secretary to
+the Princess and, if possible, to solve the diamond mystery. She is a
+young woman who, when she left Chicago, was very anti-English, but
+she became acquainted on the steamer with a young Englishman who was
+tremendously taken with her, and so at Liverpool she quite calmly broke
+her engagement with the old man and fulfilled a new engagement she had
+made with the young man by promptly marrying him--special license, I am
+told. Old Briggs has therefore a new typewriting machine on his hands,
+and so I was going to propose to you that you take the place of the
+Chicago Pinkerton person. Briggs has become so disgusted with all these
+detective women that he abandoned the idea of sending a female detective
+with the machine, and doesn't imagine that whoever is sent will be
+either a detective or a newspaper woman. I was introduced to him the
+other day by one of those lucky chances which sometimes put interesting
+items of news in our way, and he told me the whole story, requesting me
+to recommend someone who wrote shorthand and understood the typewriter.
+I am to dine with him this evening, and I shall cordially recommend you.
+I may say that Briggs has gone to that celebrated London detective Mr.
+Cadbury Taylor, and has engaged him to solve the diamond mystery. So
+you see you will have a clear field. If you can leave for the castle
+to-morrow night, you may have the pleasure of Mr. Cadbury Taylor's
+company. He isn't visiting the castle, but goes straight to Vienna; so
+if you work your cards rightly, you can be in the same carriage with
+him as far as Munich, and during that time you may find out perhaps what
+he thinks about the case. I know only this much about his theory, and
+that is he thinks the right place to begin is in Vienna, where some, at
+least, of the stones are supposed to have been pawned."
+
+"Oh, this is a delightful case, and I shall enjoy it. Has there been
+anything published yet with reference to the robbery?"
+
+"Not a word; nobody knows anything about it, except the Prince and
+Princess, Briggs, myself and yourself, and perhaps one or two of the
+servants in the castle--oh, yes, and Cadbury Taylor."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+JENNIE MEETS A GREAT DETECTIVE.
+
+
+Miss Baxter was early at the station before the Continental train left.
+She walked up and down the platform, hoping to see Mr. Cadbury Taylor,
+with whose face and form she was familiar. She secured a porter who
+spoke French, and pretended to him that she knew no English.
+
+"I desire," she said, "to get into a first-class compartment with
+a gentleman whom I shall point out to you. I shall give you five
+shillings, so you must let me have your whole attention. My luggage has
+been labelled and registered, therefore you will not need to bother
+about it, but keep your eye on me and follow me into whatever carriage I
+enter, bringing with you the hand-bag and this heavy package."
+
+The heavy package was a typewriter in its case. Shortly before the train
+departed, there sauntered into the station the tall, thin, well-known
+form of the celebrated detective. He wore a light ulster that reached
+almost to his heels, and his keen, alert face was entirely without beard
+or moustache. As he came up the platform, a short, stout man accosted
+him.
+
+"I was afraid you were going to be late," said the detective's friend,
+"but I see you are just in time as usual."
+
+"A railway station," said Mr. Cadbury Taylor, "is not the most inspiring
+place in London for the spending of a spare half hour; besides, I had
+some facts to get together, which are now tabulated in my note-book, and
+I'm quite ready to go, if the train is."
+
+"I have secured a smoking compartment here where we shall be alone."
+
+"That's right, Smith," said Cadbury Taylor. "You are always so
+thoughtful," and the two men entered the compartment together.
+
+Just as the guards were shouting, "Take your seats, please," Miss Baxter
+made a bolt for the compartment in which the detective and his friend
+sat together in opposite corners.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said Smith, "this is a smoking compartment." The
+lady replied to him volubly in French, and next instant the porter
+heaved the typewriter and hand-bag on the seat beside her. Smith seemed
+to resent the intrusion, and appeared about to blame the porter, but the
+man answered rapidly as he banged the door shut, "The lady doesn't speak
+any English," and the next moment the train moved out of the station.
+
+"There was no need," said the detective, "my dear Smith, to depend upon
+the porter for the information that the lady could not speak English.
+She is the secretary to a very rich employer in Chicago, and came from
+that city to New York, where she sailed on the _Servia_ alone, coming to
+England to transact some special business, of which I could here give
+you full particulars, if it were worth while. She came from Liverpool to
+London over the Great Western Railway, and is now on her way to Paris.
+All this, of course, is obvious to the most casual observer, and so, my
+dear Smith, we may discuss our case with as much security as though we
+were entirely alone."
+
+"But, good heavens, Cadbury!" cried Smith in amazement, "how can you
+tell all that?"
+
+"My dear fellow," said the detective wearily, "no one travels with a
+typewriting machine unless that person is a typewriter. The girl, if
+you will notice, is now engaged in filling the leaves of her book with
+shorthand, therefore that proves her occupation. That she is secretary
+to a rich man is evidenced by the fact that she crossed in the _Servia_
+first cabin, as you may see by glancing at the label on the case; that
+she came alone, which is to say her employer was not with her, is
+indicated by the typewriter being marked 'Not Wanted,' so it was put
+down into the hold. If a Chicago business man had been travelling with
+his secretary, the typewriter case would have been labelled instead,
+'Cabin, wanted,' for a Chicago man of business would have to write some
+hundreds of letters, even on the ocean, to be ready for posting the
+moment he came ashore. The typewriter case is evidently new, and is
+stamped with the name and address of its sellers in Chicago. That she
+came by the Great Western is shown by the fact that 'Chester' appears
+on still another label. That she has special business in England we may
+well believe, otherwise she would have crossed on the French line direct
+from New York to Havre. So you see, my dear boy, these are all matters
+of observation, and quite patent to anyone who cares to use his eyes."
+
+"Yes, it all seems very simple now that you have explained it," growled
+Smith.
+
+"I should be a much more mysterious person than I am," remarked the
+detective complacently, "if I did not explain so much. This explanation
+habit is becoming a vice with me, and I fear I must abandon it."
+
+"I hope for my sake you won't," said Smith more good-naturedly, "for if
+left to myself I never could find out how you arrive at your wonderful
+conclusions. Do you expect the Austrian diamond mystery to prove
+difficult?"
+
+"Difficult? Oh, dear no! To tell the truth, I have solved it already,
+but in order to give the American a run for his money--and surely he
+ought not to object to that, because he is a millionaire who has made his
+fortune by giving other people runs for their money, being a railway
+man--I am now on my way to Vienna. If I solved the problem off-hand for
+him in London, he would have no more appreciation of my talent than you
+had a moment ago when I explained why I knew this French girl came from
+Chicago."
+
+"You mustn't mind that, Cadbury," said Smith contritely. "I confess I
+was irritated for a moment because it all seemed so simple."
+
+"My dear fellow, every puzzle in this world is simple except one, and
+that is to find any problem which is difficult."
+
+"Then who stole the diamonds? The lieutenant?"
+
+The detective smiled and gazed upwards for a few tantalizing moments at
+the roof of the carriage.
+
+"Here we have," he said at last, "an impecunious prince who marries an
+American heiress, as so many of them do. The girl begins life in Austria
+on one million dollars, say two hundred thousand pounds, and a case
+of diamonds said to be worth another two hundred thousand at
+least--probably more. Not much danger of running through that very
+speedily, is there, Smith?"
+
+"No, I should think not."
+
+"So the average man would think," continued the detective. "However, I
+have long since got out of the habit of thinking; therefore I make sure.
+The first problem I set to myself is this: How much money have the
+Prince and Princess spent since they were married? I find that the
+repairs on the Schloss Steinheimer, situated in the Tyrol, cost
+something like forty thousand pounds. It is a huge place, and the
+Steinheimers have not had an heiress in the family for many centuries.
+The Prince owed a good deal of money when he was married, and it took
+something like sixty thousand pounds to settle those debts; rather
+expensive as Continental princes go, but if one must have luxuries, one
+cannot save money. Not to weary you with details, I found that the two
+hundred thousand pounds were exhausted somewhat more than two months
+ago; in fact, just before the alleged robbery. The Prince is, of course,
+without money, otherwise he would not have married a Chicago heiress,
+and the Princess being without money, what does she naturally do?"
+
+"Pawns her own diamonds!" cried Smith enthusiastically.
+
+The detective smiled.
+
+"I thought it much more probable she would apply to her father for
+money. I asked him if this was the case, giving him the date, roughly
+speaking, when such a letter had been sent. The old man opened his eyes
+at this, and told me he had received such a letter. 'But you did not
+send the money?' I ventured, 'No,' he said, 'I did not. The fact is,
+money is very tight in Chicago just now, and so I cabled her to run on
+her debts for a while.' This exactly bore out the conclusion at which I
+had already arrived. So now, having failed to get money from her father,
+the lady turns to her diamonds, the only security she possesses. The
+chances are that she did so before her father's cable message came, and
+that was the reason she so confidently wished information to be given to
+the police. She expected to have money to redeem her jewels, and being a
+bright woman, she knew the traditional stupidity of the official police,
+and so thought there was no danger of her little ruse being discovered.
+But when the cable message came saying no money would be sent her, a
+different complexion was put upon the whole affair, for she did not know
+but if the police were given plenty of time they might stumble on the
+diamonds."
+
+"But, my dear Cadbury, why should she not have taken the diamonds openly
+and raised money on them?"
+
+"My dear fellow, there are a dozen reasons, any one of which will
+suffice where a woman is in the case. In the first place, she might fear
+to offend the family pride of the von Steinheimers; in the second place,
+we cannot tell what her relations with her husband were. She may not
+have wished him to know that she was short of money. But that she has
+stolen her own diamonds there is not the slightest question in my mind.
+All that is necessary for me to do now is to find out how many persons
+there are in Vienna who would lend large sums of money on valuable
+jewels. The second is to find with which one of those the Princess
+pawned her diamonds."
+
+"But, my dear Cadbury, the lady is in Meran, and Vienna is some hundreds
+of miles away. How could a lady in the Tyrol pawn diamonds in Vienna
+without her absence being commented on? or do you think she had an agent
+to do it for her?" Again the detective smiled indulgently.
+
+"No, she had no agent. The diamonds never left Vienna. You see, the ball
+had been announced, and immediate money was urgently needed. She pawned
+the diamonds before she left the capital of Austria, and the chances are
+she did not intend anyone to know they were missing; but on the eve of
+the ball her husband insisted that she should wear her diamonds, and
+therefore, being a quick-witted woman, she announced they had been
+stolen. After having made such a statement, she, of course, had to
+stick to it; and now, failing to get the money from America, she
+is exceedingly anxious that no real detective shall be employed in
+investigation."
+
+At Dover Miss Baxter, having notes of this interesting conversation in
+shorthand, witnessed the detective bid good-bye to his friend Smith, who
+returned to London by a later train. After that she saw no more of Mr.
+Cadbury Taylor, and reached the Schloss Steinheimer at Meran without
+further adventure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+JENNIE SOLVES THE DIAMOND MYSTERY.
+
+
+Miss Baxter found life at the Schloss much different from what she had
+expected. The Princess was a young and charming lady, very handsome, but
+in a state of constant depression. Once or twice Miss Baxter came upon
+her with apparent traces of weeping on her face. The Prince was not
+an old man, as she had imagined, but young and of a manly, stalwart
+appearance. He evidently possessed a fiendish temper, and moped about
+the castle with a constant frown upon his brow.
+
+The correspondence of the Princess was in the utmost disorder. There
+were hundreds upon hundreds of letters, and Miss Baxter set to work
+tabulating and arranging them. Meanwhile the young newspaper woman kept
+her eyes open. She wandered about the castle unmolested, poked into odd
+corners, talked with the servants, and, in fact, with everyone, but
+never did she come upon a clue which promised to lead to a solution of
+the diamond difficulty. Once she penetrated into a turret room, and
+came unexpectedly upon the Prince, who was sitting on the window-ledge,
+looking absently out on the broad and smiling valley that lay for miles
+below the castle. He sprang to his feet and stared so fiercely at the
+intruder that the girl's heart failed her, and she had not even the
+presence of mind to turn and run.
+
+"What do you want?" he said to her shortly, for he spoke English
+perfectly. "You are the young woman from Chicago, I suppose?"
+
+"No," answered Miss Baxter, forgetting for the moment the _role_ she was
+playing; "I am from London."
+
+"Well, it doesn't matter; you are the young woman who is arranging my
+wife's correspondence?"
+
+"Yes." The Prince strode rapidly forward and grasped her by the wrist,
+his brow dark with a forbidding frown. He spoke in a hoarse whisper:
+
+"Listen, my good girl! Do you want to get more money from me than you
+will get from the Princess in ten years' service? Hearken, then, to what
+I tell you. If there are any letters from--from--men, will you bring
+them to me?"
+
+Miss Baxter was thoroughly frightened, but she said to the Prince
+sharply,--
+
+"If you do not let go my wrist, I'll scream. How dare you lay your hand
+on me?"
+
+The Prince released her wrist and stepped back.
+
+"Forgive me," he said; "I'm a very miserable man. Forget what I have
+said."
+
+"How can I forget it?" cried the girl, gathering courage as she saw him
+quail before her blazing eyes. "What do you want me to do?"
+
+"I want you to bring to me any letters written by--by----"
+
+"Written by von Schaumberg," cried the girl, noticing his hesitation and
+filling in the blank.
+
+A red wave of anger surged up in the Prince's face.
+
+"Yes," he cried; "bring me a letter to her from von Schaumberg, and I'll
+pay you what you ask."
+
+The girl laughed.
+
+"Prince," she said, "you will excuse me if I call you a fool. There are
+no letters from von Schaumberg, and I have gone through the whole of the
+correspondence."
+
+"What, then, suggested the name von Schaumberg to you? Where did you
+ever hear it before?"
+
+"I heard that you suspected him of stealing the diamonds."
+
+"And so he did, the cowardly thief. If it were not for mixing the
+Princess's name with such carrion as he, I would--"
+
+But the Prince in his rage stamped up and down the room without saying
+what he would do. Miss Baxter quickly brought him to a standstill.
+
+"It is contrary to my duty to the Princess," she began, hesitatingly,
+when he stopped and turned fiercely upon her.
+
+"What is contrary to your duty?"
+
+"There are letters, tied very daintily with a blue ribbon, and they are
+from a man. The Princess did not allow me to read them, but locked them
+away in a secret drawer in her dressing-room, but she is so careless
+with her keys and everything else, that I am sure I can get them for
+you, if you want them."
+
+"Yes, yes, I want them," said the Prince, "and will pay you handsomely
+for them."
+
+"Very well," replied Miss Baxter, "you shall have them. If you will wait
+here ten minutes, I shall return with them."
+
+"But," hesitated the Prince, "say nothing to the Princess."
+
+"Oh, no, I shall not need to; the keys are sure to be on her
+dressing-table."
+
+Miss Baxter ran down to the room of the Princess, and had little
+difficulty in obtaining the keys. She unlocked the secret drawer into
+which she had seen the Princess place the packet of letters, and taking
+them out, she drew another sheet of paper along with them, which she
+read with wide-opening eyes, then with her pretty lips pursed, she
+actually whistled, which unmaidenly performance merely gave sibilant
+expression to her astonishment. Taking both the packet of letters and
+the sheet of paper with her, she ran swiftly up the stair and along the
+corridor to the room where the Prince was impatiently awaiting her.
+
+"Give them to me," he snapped, rudely snatching the bundle of documents
+from her hand. She still clung to the separate piece of paper and said
+nothing. The Prince stood by the window and undid the packet with
+trembling hands. He examined one and then another of the letters,
+turning at last towards the girl with renewed anger in his face.
+
+"You are trifling with me, my girl," he cried.
+
+"No, I am not," she said stoutly.
+
+"These are my own letters, written by me to my wife before we were
+married!"
+
+"Of course they are. What others did you expect? These are the only
+letters, so far as I have learned, that any man has written to her,
+and the only letters she cares for of all the thousands she has ever
+received. Why, you foolish, blind man, I had not been in this castle a
+day before I saw how matters stood. The Princess is breaking her poor
+heart because you are unkind to her, and she cares for nobody on earth
+but you, great stupid dunce that you are."
+
+"Is it true? Will you swear it's true?" cried the Prince, dropping the
+packet and going hastily toward the girl. Miss Jennie stood with her
+back to the wall, and putting her hands behind her, she said,--
+
+"No, no; you are not going to touch me again. Of course it's true, and
+if you had the sense of a six-year-old child, you would have seen it
+long ago; and she paid sixty thousand pounds of your gambling debts,
+too."
+
+"What are you talking about? The Princess has never given me a penny of
+her money; I don't need it. Goodness knows, I have money enough of my
+own."
+
+"Well, Cadbury Taylor said that you--Oh, I'll warrant you, it is like
+all the rest of his statements, pure moonshine."
+
+"Of whom are you speaking? And why did my wife protect that wretch whom
+she knows has stolen her diamonds?"
+
+"You mean von Schaumberg?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I believe the Princess does think he stole them, and the reason the
+Princess protects him is to prevent you from challenging him, for she
+fears that he, being a military man, will kill you, although I fancy she
+would be well rid of you."
+
+"But he stole the diamonds--there was nobody else."
+
+"He did nothing of the kind. Read that!"
+
+The Prince, bewildered, took the sheet that she handed to him and read
+it, a wrinkle of bewilderment corrugating his brow.
+
+"I don't understand what this has to do with the case," he said at last.
+"It seems to be an order on the bank at Vienna for the diamonds, written
+by the Princess herself."
+
+"Of course it is. Well, if the diamonds had been delivered, that paper
+would now be in the possession of the bank instead of in your hands."
+
+"Perhaps she mislaid this order and wrote another."
+
+"Perhaps. Still it might be worth while finding out."
+
+"Take this, then, to the Princess and ask her."
+
+"It is not likely she would remember. The better plan is to telegraph at
+once to the Vienna bank, asking them to send the diamonds to Meran by
+special messenger. No one there knows that the diamonds are missing."
+
+"I will do so at once," cried the Prince, with more animation in his
+voice than Miss Baxter had previously noticed. His Highness was becoming
+interested in the game.
+
+After luncheon the Princess came to Miss Baxter, who was seated at her
+desk, and handed her a letter.
+
+"There is an invitation from the Duchess of Chiselhurst for a grand ball
+she is shortly to give in her London house. It is to be a very swell
+affair, but I don't care enough for such things to go all the way to
+England to enjoy them. Would you therefore send her Grace my regrets?"
+
+"I will do so at once."
+
+At that moment there came a messenger from the Prince asking Miss Baxter
+to meet him in the library. The girl glanced up at the Princess.
+
+"Have I your permission to go?" she said.
+
+The Princess looked at her steadily for a moment, just the faintest
+suspicion of a frown on her fair brow.
+
+"I do not suppose you need my permission." Her Highness spoke with slow
+deliberation. "My husband condescends to take considerable interest in
+you. Passing along the corridor this morning, I heard your voices in
+most animated conversation."
+
+"Had you sufficient interest in our discussion to stop and listen to
+what we said, Princess von Steinheimer?"
+
+"Ah, now you are becoming insolent, and I must ask you to consider your
+engagement with me at an end."
+
+"Surely you will not dismiss me in this heartless way, Princess. I think
+I am entitled to a month's notice, or is it only a week's?"
+
+"I will pay you a year's salary, or two years' if that will content you.
+I have no wish to deal harshly with you, but I desire you to leave at
+once," said the Princess, who had little sense of humour, and thus
+thought the girl was in earnest when she asked for notice.
+
+Miss Baxter laughed merrily, and replied when she was able to control
+her mirth, "I do hate to leave the castle just when things are becoming
+interesting. Still, I don't suppose I shall really need to go away in
+spite of your dismissal, for the Prince this morning offered me ten
+times the amount of money you are paying."
+
+"Did he?"
+
+"Be assured he did; if you don't believe me, ask him. I told him he was
+a fool, but, alas, we live in a cynical age, and few men believe all
+they hear, so I fear my expression of opinion made little impression on
+him."
+
+"I shall not keep you longer from his Highness," said the Princess with
+freezing dignity.
+
+"Thank you so much. I am just dying to meet him, for I know he has
+something most interesting to tell me. Don't you think yourself,
+Princess, that a man acts rather like a fool when he is deeply in love?"
+
+To this there was no reply, and the Princess left the room.
+
+Miss Jennie jumped to her feet and almost ran to the library. She found
+the Prince walking up and down the long room with a telegraph message in
+his hand. "You are a most wonderful young woman," he said; "read that."
+
+"I have been told so by more observing men than you, Prince von
+Steinheimer," said the girl, taking the telegram. It was from the
+manager of the bank in Vienna, and it ran: "Special messenger leaves
+with package by the Meran express to-night."
+
+"Just as I thought," said Miss Jennie; "the diamonds never left the
+bank. I suppose those idiots of servants which the Princess has round
+her didn't know what they took away from Vienna and what they left.
+Then, when the diamonds were missing, they completely lost their
+heads--not that anyone in the castle has much wit to spare. I never saw
+such an incompetent lot."
+
+The Prince laughed.
+
+"You think, perhaps, I have not wit enough to see that my wife cares for
+me, is that it? Is that why you gave me my own letters?"
+
+"Oh, you are well mated! The Princess now does me the honour of being
+jealous. Think of that! As if it were possible that I should take any
+interest in you, for I have seen real men in my time."
+
+The Prince regarded her with his most severe expression.
+
+"Are you not flattering yourself somewhat, young lady?"
+
+"Oh, dear no! I take it as the reverse of flattering to be supposed that
+I have any liking for such a ninny as you are. Flattering, indeed! And
+she has haughtily dismissed me, if you please."
+
+"The Princess has? What have you been saying to her?"
+
+"Oh, I made the most innocent remark, and it was the truth too, which
+shows that honesty is not always the best policy. I merely told her that
+you had offered me ten times the amount of money she is paying me. You
+needn't jump as if somebody had shot off a gun at your ear. You know you
+did make such an offer."
+
+"You confounded little mischief-maker," cried the Prince in anger. "Did
+you tell her what it was for?"
+
+"No. She did not ask."
+
+"I will thank you to apply the cleverness you seem to possess to the
+undoing of the harm you have so light-heartedly caused."
+
+"How can I? I am ordered to leave to-night, when I did _so_ wish to stay
+and see the diamond _dénouement_."
+
+"You are not going to-night. I shall speak to the Princess about it if
+that should be necessary. Your mention of the diamonds reminds me that
+my respected father-in-law, Mr. Briggs, informs me that a celebrated
+detective, whom it seems he has engaged--Taylor, I think the name
+is--will be here to-morrow to explain the diamond mystery, so you see
+you have a competitor."
+
+"Oh, is Cadbury coming? That is too jolly for anything. I simply _must_
+stay and hear his explanation, for he is a very famous detective, and
+the conclusions he has arrived at must be most interesting."
+
+"I think some explanations are due to me as well. My worthy
+father-in-law seems to have commissioned this person without thinking it
+necessary to consult me in the least; in fact, Mr. Briggs goes about the
+castle looking so dark and lowering when he meets me, that I sometimes
+doubt whether this is my own house or not."
+
+"And is it?"
+
+"Is it what?"
+
+"Is it your own house? I was told it was mortgaged up to the tallest
+turret. Still, you can't blame Mr. Briggs for being anxious about the
+diamonds; they belong to his daughter."
+
+"They belong to my wife."
+
+"True. That complicates matters a bit, and gives both Chicago and Vienna
+a right to look black. And now, your Highness, I must take my leave of
+you; and if the diamonds come safely in the morning, remember I intend
+to claim salvage on them. Meanwhile, I am going to write a nice little
+story about them."
+
+In the morning the diamonds arrived by special messenger, who first
+took a formal receipt for them, and then most obsequiously took his
+departure. By the same train came Mr. Cadbury Taylor, as modest as ever,
+but giving some indication in his bearing of the importance of the
+discovery his wonderful system had aided him in making. He blandly
+evaded the curiosity of Mr. Briggs, and said it would perhaps be better
+to reveal the secret in the presence of the Prince and Princess, as his
+investigations had led him to conclusions that might be unpleasant for
+one of them to hear, yet were not to be divulged in their absence.
+
+"Just what I suspected," muttered Mr. Briggs, who had long been
+convinced that the Prince was the actual culprit.
+
+The important gathering took place in the library, the Prince, with the
+diamonds in his coat pocket, seated at the head of the long table, while
+the Princess sat at the foot, as far from her husband as she could
+conveniently get without attracting notice. Miss Baxter stood near a
+window, reading an important letter from London which had reached her
+that morning. The tall, thin detective and the portly Mr. Briggs came in
+together, the London man bowing gravely to the Prince and Princess. Mr.
+Briggs took a seat at the side of the table, but the detective remained
+standing, looking questioningly at Miss Baxter, but evidently not
+recognizing her as the lady who had come in upon him and his friend when
+they had entered the train.
+
+"I beg the pardon of your Highness, but what I have to say had better be
+said with as few hearers as possible. I should be much obliged if this
+young person would read her correspondence in another room."
+
+"The young woman," said the Prince coldly, "is secretary to her
+Highness, and is entirely in her confidence."
+
+The Princess said nothing, but sat with her eyes upon the table,
+apparently taking no note of what was going on. Rich colour came into
+her face, and, as the keen detective cast a swift glance at her, he saw
+before him a woman conscious of her guilt, fearing exposure, yet not
+knowing how to avert it.
+
+"If your Highness will excuse my persistence," began Mr. Taylor blandly.
+
+"But I will not," interrupted the Prince gruffly. "Go on with your story
+without so much circumlocution."
+
+The detective, apparently unruffled by the discourtesy he met, bowed
+profoundly towards the Prince, cleared his throat, and began.
+
+"May I ask your Highness," he said, addressing himself to the Princess,
+"how much money you possessed just before you left Vienna?"
+
+The lady looked up at him in surprise, but did not answer.
+
+"In Heaven's name, what has that to do with the loss of the diamonds?"
+rapped out the Prince, his hot temper getting once more the better of
+him. Cadbury Taylor spread out his hands and shrugged his shoulders in
+protest at the interruption. He spoke with deference, but nevertheless
+there was a touch of reproach in his tone.
+
+"I am accustomed to being listened to with patience, and am generally
+allowed to tell my story my own way, your Highness."
+
+"What I complain of is that you are not telling any story at all, but
+are asking instead a very impertinent question."
+
+"Questions which seem to you irrelevant may be to a trained mind most--"
+
+"Bosh! Trained donkeys! Do you know where the diamonds are?"
+
+"Yes, I do," answered Cadbury Taylor, still imperturbable, in spite of
+the provocation he was receiving.
+
+"Well, where are they?"
+
+"They are in the vaults of your bank in Vienna."
+
+"I don't believe it. Who stole them then?"
+
+"They were put there by her Highness the Princess von Steinheimer,
+doubtless in security for money--"
+
+"What!" roared the Prince, springing to his feet, his stentorian voice
+ringing to the ceiling. "Do you mean to insinuate, you villain, that my
+wife stole her own diamonds?"
+
+"If your Highness would allow me to proceed in my own--"
+
+"Enough of this fooling. There are the diamonds," cried the Prince,
+jerking the box from his pocket and flinging it on the table.
+
+"There!" shouted old man Briggs, bringing his clenched fist down on the
+oak. "What did I tell you? I knew it all along. The Prince stole the
+diamonds, and in his excitement yanks them out of his pocket and proves
+it. That was _my_ opinion all along!"
+
+"Oh, father, father!" moaned the Princess, speaking for the first time.
+"How can you say such a thing? My husband couldn't do a mean action if
+he tried. The idea of him stealing the diamonds! Not if they were worth
+a thousand millions and detection impossible."
+
+The Prince, who had been glaring at Mr. Briggs, and who seemed on the
+point of giving that red-faced gentleman a bit of his mind, turned a
+softened gaze upon his wife, who rested her arms on the table and buried
+her face in them.
+
+"Come, come," cried Miss Jennie Baxter, stepping energetically forward;
+"I imagine everybody has had enough of this. Clear out, Mr. Briggs, and
+take Mr. Taylor with you; I am sure he has not had any breakfast yet,
+and he certainly looks hungry. If you hire detectives, Mr. Briggs, you
+must take care of them. Out you go. The dining-room is ever so much more
+inviting just now than the library; and if you don't see what you want,
+ring for it."
+
+She drove the two speechless men out before her, and, closing the door,
+said to the Prince, who was still standing bewildered at having his hand
+forced in this manner,--
+
+"There! Two fools from four leaves two. Now, my dears--I'm not going to
+Highness either of you--you are simply two lone people who like
+each other immensely, yet who are drifting apart through foolish
+misunderstandings that a few words would put right if either of you had
+sense enough to speak them, which you haven't, and that's why I'm here
+to speak them for you. Now, madame, I am ready to swear that the Prince
+has never said anything to me that did not show his deep love for you,
+and if you had overheard us, you would not need me to tell you so. He
+thinks that you have a fancy for that idiot von Schaumberg--not that I
+ever saw the poor man; but he is bound to be an idiot, or the Prince
+wouldn't be jealous of him. As nobody has stolen the diamonds after all
+this fuss, so no one has stolen the affection of either of you from the
+other. I can see by the way you look at each other that I won't need to
+apologize for leaving you alone together while I run upstairs to pack."
+
+"Oh, but you are not going to leave us?" cried the Princess.
+
+"I should be delighted to stay; but there is no rest for the wicked, and
+I must get back to London."
+
+With that the girl ran to her room and there re-read the letter she had
+received.
+
+"Dear Miss Baxter (it ran),--We are in a very considerable dilemma here,
+so I write asking you to see me in London without delay, going back to
+the Tyrol later on if the investigation of the diamond mystery renders
+your return necessary. The Duchess of Chiselhurst is giving a great ball
+on the 29th. It is to be a very swagger affair, with notables from every
+part of Europe, and they seem determined that no one connected with a
+newspaper shall be admitted. We have set at work every influence to
+obtain an invitation for a reporter, but without success, the reply
+invariably given being that an official account will be sent to
+the press. Now, I want you to set your ingenuity at work, and gain
+admittance if possible, for I am determined to have an account of this
+ball written in such a way that everyone who reads it will know that the
+writer was present. If you can manage this, I can hardly tell you how
+grateful the proprietor and myself will be.--Yours very truly,
+
+"RADNOR HARDWICK."
+
+Miss Jennie Baxter sat for some moments musing, with the letter in her
+hand. She conned over in her mind the names of those who might be able
+to assist her in this task, but she dismissed them one by one, well
+knowing that if Mr. Hardwick and the proprietor of the _Bugle_ had
+petitioned all their influential friends without avail, she could not
+hope to succeed with the help of the very few important personages she
+was acquainted with. She wondered if the Princess could get her an
+invitation; then suddenly her eyes lit up, and she sprang eagerly to her
+feet.
+
+"What a fortunate thing it is," she cried aloud, "that I did not send
+on the refusal of the Princess to the Duchess of Chiselhurst. I had
+forgotten all about it until this moment."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+JENNIE ARRANGES A CINDERELLA VISIT.
+
+
+The room which had been allotted to Jennie Baxter in the Schloss
+Steinheimer enjoyed a most extended outlook. A door-window gave access
+to a stone balcony, which hung against the castle wall like a swallow's
+nest at the eaves of a house. This balcony was just wide enough to give
+ample space for one of the easy rocking-chairs which the Princess had
+imported from America, and which Jennie thought were the only really
+comfortable pieces of furniture the old stronghold possessed, much as
+she admired the artistic excellence of the medićval chairs, tables, and
+cabinets which for centuries had served the needs of the ancient line
+that had lived in the Schloss. The rocking-chair was as modern as this
+morning's daily paper; its woodwork painted a bright scarlet, its arms
+like broad shelves, its rockers as sensitively balanced as a marine
+compass; in fact, just such a chair as one would find dotted round
+the vast verandah of an American summer hotel. In this chair sat Miss
+Jennie, two open letters on her lap, and perplexity in the dainty little
+frown that faintly ruffled the smoothness of her fair brow. The scene
+from the high balcony was one to be remembered; but, although this was
+her last day at the Castle, the girl saw nothing of the pretty town of
+Meran so far below; the distant chalk-line down the slope beyond which
+marked the turbulent course of the foaming Adege; the lofty mountains
+all around, or the further snow-peaks, dazzling white against the deep
+blue of the sky.
+
+One of the epistles which lay on her lap was the letter she had received
+from the editor recounting the difficulties he had met with while
+endeavouring to make arrangements for reporting adequately the Duchess
+of Chiselhurst's ball; the other was the still unanswered invitation
+from the Duchess to the Princess. Jennie was flattered to know that
+already the editor, who had engaged her with unconcealed reluctance,
+expected her to accomplish what the entire staff were powerless to
+effect. She knew that, had she but the courage, it was only necessary to
+accept the invitation in the name of her present hostess, and attend the
+great society function as Princess von Steinheimer. Yet she hesitated,
+not so much on account of the manifest danger of discovery, but because
+she had grown to like the Princess, and this impersonation, if it came
+to the knowledge of the one most intimately concerned, as it was almost
+sure to do, would doubtless be regarded as an unpardonable liberty. As
+she swayed gently back and forth in the gaudy rocking-chair, she thought
+of confessing everything to the Princess and asking her assistance; but
+pondering on this, she saw that it was staking everything on one throw
+of the dice. If the Princess refused, then the scheme became impossible,
+as that lady herself would answer the letter of the Duchess and decline
+the invitation. Jennie soothed her accusing conscience by telling
+herself that this impersonation would do no harm to Princess von
+Steinheimer, or to anyone else for that matter, while it would be of
+inestimable assistance to her own journalistic career. From that
+she drifted to meditation on the inequalities of this life--the
+superabundance which some possess, while others, no less deserving, have
+difficulty in obtaining the scant necessities. And this consoling train
+of thought having fixed her resolve to take the goods the gods scattered
+at her feet, or rather threw into her lap, she drew a long sigh of
+determination as there came a gentle tap at the door of her room, and
+the voice of the Princess herself said, "May I come in?"
+
+Jennie, a rapid blush flaming her cheeks, sprang to her feet, flung the
+letters on a table, and opened the door.
+
+The visitor entered, looking attractive enough to be a princess of
+fairyland, and greeted Miss Baxter most cordially.
+
+"I am so sorry you are leaving," she said. "Cannot you be persuaded to
+change your mind and stay with me? Where could you find a more lovely
+view than this from your balcony here?"
+
+"Or a more lovely hostess?" said the girl, looking at her visitor with
+undisguised admiration and quite ignoring the landscape.
+
+The Princess laughed, and as they now stood together on the balcony she
+put out her hands, pushed Jennie gently into the rocking-chair again,
+seating herself jauntily on its broad arm, and thus the two looked like
+a pair of mischievous schoolgirls, home at vacation time, thoroughly
+enjoying their liberty.
+
+"There! You are now my prisoner, about to be punished for flattery,"
+cried the Princess. "I saw by the motion of the chair that you had just
+jumped up from it when I disturbed you, so there you are, back in it
+again. What were you thinking about? A rocking-chair lends itself
+deliciously to meditation, and we always dream of someone very
+particular as we rock."
+
+"I am no exception to the rule," sighed Jennie; "I was thinking of you,
+Princess."
+
+"How nice of you to say that; and as one good turn deserves another,
+here is proof that a certain young lady has been in my thoughts."
+
+As she spoke, the Princess took from her pocket an embossed case of
+Russian leather, opened it and displayed a string of diamonds, lustrous
+as drops of liquid light.
+
+"I want you to wear these stones in remembrance of our diamond
+mystery--that is why I chose diamonds--and also, I confess, because I
+want you to think of me every time you put them on. See how conceited I
+am! One does not like to be forgotten."
+
+Jennie took the string, her own eyes for a moment rivalling in
+brilliancy the sparkle of the gems; then the moisture obscured her
+vision and she automatically poured the stones from one hand to the
+other, as if their scintillating glitter hypnotized her. She tried once
+or twice to speak, but could not be sure of her voice, so remained
+silent. The Princess, noticing her agitation, gently lifted the necklace
+and clasped it round the girl's white throat, chattering all the while
+with nervous haste.
+
+"There! you can wear diamonds, and there are so many to whom they are
+unbecoming. I also look well in diamonds--at least, so I've been told
+over and over again, and I've come to believe it at last. I suppose the
+young men have not concealed from you the fact that you are a strikingly
+good-looking girl, Jennie. Indeed, and this is brag if you like, we two
+resemble one another enough to be sisters, nearly the same height, the
+same colour of eyes and hair. Come to the mirror, Miss Handsomeness, and
+admire yourself."
+
+She dragged Jennie to her feet and drew her into the room, placing
+her triumphantly before the great looking-glass that reflected back a
+full-length portrait.
+
+"Now confess that you never saw a prettier girl," cried the Princess
+gleefully.
+
+"I don't think I ever did," admitted Jennie, but she was looking at the
+image of the Princess and not at her own. The Princess laughed, but Miss
+Baxter seemed too much affected by the unexpected present to join in the
+merriment. She regarded herself solemnly in the glass for a few moments,
+then slowly undid the clasp, and, slipping the string of brilliants from
+her neck, handed them back to the Princess. "You are very, very kind,
+but I cannot accept so costly a present."
+
+"Cannot? Why? Have I offended you by anything I have said since you
+came?"
+
+"Oh, no, no. It isn't that."
+
+"What, then? Don't you like me, after all?"
+
+"Like you? I _love_ you, Princess!" cried the girl impulsively, throwing
+her arms round the other's neck.
+
+The Princess tried to laugh as she pressed Jennie closely to her, but
+there was a tremour of tears in the laughter.
+
+"You must take this little gift as a souvenir of your visit with me. I
+was really--very unhappy when you came, and now--well, you smoothed away
+some misunderstandings--I'm more than grateful. And it isn't natural for
+a woman to refuse diamonds, Jennie."
+
+"I know it isn't; and I won't quite refuse them. I'll postpone. It is
+possible that something I shall do before long may seriously offend you.
+If it does--then good-bye to the necklace! If it doesn't, when I have
+told you all about my misdeed--I shall confess courageously--you will
+give me the diamonds."
+
+"Dear me, Jennie, what terrible crime are you about to commit? Why not
+tell me now? You have no idea how you have aroused my curiosity."
+
+"I dare not tell you, Princess; not until my project proves a success or
+a failure. We women--some have our way made for us--others have our own
+way to make. I am among the others, and I hope you will remember that,
+if you are ever angry with me."
+
+"Is it a new kind of speculation? A fortune made in a day? Gambling?"
+
+"Something of that sort. I am going to stake a good deal on the turn of
+a card; so please pray that luck will not be against me."
+
+"If pluck will make you win, I am sure you will carry it through, but
+if at first you don't succeed, try, try again; and if you haven't the
+money, I'll supply the capital. I know I should like to gamble. Anyhow,
+you have my best wishes for your success."
+
+"Thank you, Princess. I can hardly fail after that."
+
+The time had come when the two friends must part. The carriage was
+waiting to take Miss Baxter to the station, and the girl bade good-bye
+to her hostess with an uneasy feeling that she was acting disloyally to
+one who had befriended her. In her handbag was the invitation to the
+ball, and also the letter she had written in the Princess's name
+accepting it, which latter she posted in Meran. In due course she
+reached London, and presented herself to the editor of the _Daily
+Bugle_.
+
+"Well, Miss Baxter," he said, "you have been extraordinarily successful
+in solving the diamond mystery, and I congratulate you. My letter
+reached you, I suppose. Have you given any thought to the problem
+that now confronts us? Can you get us a full report of the Duchess of
+Chiselhurst's ball, written so convincingly that all the guests who read
+it will know that the writer was present?"
+
+"It is entirely a question of money, Mr. Hardwick."
+
+"Most things are. Well, we are prepared to spend money to get just what
+we want."
+
+"How much?"
+
+"Whatever is necessary."
+
+"That's vague. Put it into figures."
+
+"Five hundred pounds; seven hundred; a thousand if need be."
+
+"It will not cost you a thousand, and it may come to more than five
+hundred. Place the thousand to my credit, and I shall return what is
+left. I must go at once to Paris and carry out my plans from that city."
+
+"Then you have thought out a scheme. What is it?"
+
+"I have not only thought it out, but most of the arrangements are
+already made. I cannot say more about it. You will have to trust wholly
+to me."
+
+"There is a good deal of money at stake, Miss Baxter, and our reputation
+as a newspaper as well. I think I should know what you propose to do."
+
+"Certainly. I propose to obtain for you an accurate description of the
+ball, written by one who was present."
+
+The editor gave utterance to a sort of interjection that always served
+him in place of a laugh.
+
+"In other words, you want neither interference nor advice."
+
+"Exactly, Mr. Hardwick. You know from experience that little good comes
+of talking too much of a secret project not yet completed."
+
+The editor drummed with his fingers on the table for a few moments
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Very well, then, it shall be as you say. I should have been very glad
+to share the responsibility of failure with you; but if you prefer to
+take the whole risk yourself, there is nothing more to be said. The
+thousand pounds shall be placed to your credit at once. What next?"
+
+"On the night of the ball I should like you to have three or four expert
+shorthand writers here; I don't know how many will be necessary--you
+understand more about that than I do; but it is my intention to dictate
+the report right along as fast as I can talk until it is finished, and
+I don't wish to be stopped or interrupted, so I want the best
+stenographers you have; they are to relieve one another just as if
+they were taking down a parliamentary speech. The men had better be in
+readiness at midnight; I shall be here as soon after that as possible.
+If you will kindly run over their type-written MS. before it goes to
+the compositors, I will glance at the proofs when I have finished
+dictating."
+
+"Then you hope to attend the ball yourself."
+
+"Perhaps."
+
+"You have just returned from the Tyrol, and I fear you don't quite
+appreciate the difficulties that are in the way. This is no ordinary
+society function, and if you think even a thousand pounds will gain
+admittance to an uninvited guest, you will find yourself mistaken."
+
+"So I understood from your letter."
+
+Again the editorial interjection did duty for a laugh.
+
+"You are very sanguine, Miss Baxter. I wish I felt as confident;
+however, we will hope for the best, and if we cannot command success, we
+will at least endeavour to deserve it."
+
+Jennie, with the thousand pounds at her disposal, went to Paris, took
+rooms at the most aristocratic hotel, engaged a maid, and set about the
+construction of a ball dress that would be a dream of beauty. Luckily,
+she knew exactly the gown-making resources of Paris, and the craftsmen
+to whom she gave her orders were not the less anxious to please her when
+they knew that the question of cost was not to be considered. From
+Paris she telegraphed in the name of the Princess von Steinheimer to
+Claridge's Hotel for an apartment on the night of the ball, and asked
+that a suitable equipage be provided to convey her to and from that
+festival.
+
+Arriving at Claridge's, she was well aware her first danger was that
+someone who knew the Princess von Steinheimer would call upon her; but
+on the valid plea of fatigue from her journey she proclaimed that in no
+circumstances could she see any visitor, and thus shipwreck was avoided
+at the outset. It was unlikely that the Princess von Steinheimer was
+personally known to many who would attend the ball; in fact, the
+Princess had given to Jennie as her main reason for refusing the
+invitation the excuse that she knew no one in London. She had been
+invited merely because of the social position of the Prince in
+Vienna, and was unknown by sight even to her hostess, the Duchess of
+Chiselhurst. Critically, she compared the chances of success with the
+chances of failure, and often it seemed that disaster was inevitable,
+unversed as she knew herself to be in the customs of grand society at
+one of its high functions, but nevertheless she was undaunted by the
+odds against her, and resolved to stake a career on the fortunes of a
+night.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+JENNIE MIXES WITH THE ELITE OF EARTH.
+
+
+It is said that a woman magnificently robed is superior to all earthly
+tribulations. Such was the case with Jennie as she left her carriage,
+walked along the strip of carpet which lay across the pavement under a
+canopy, and entered the great hall of the Duke of Chiselhurst's town
+house, one of the huge palaces of Western London. Nothing so resplendent
+had she ever witnessed, or even imagined, as the scene which met her eye
+when she found herself about to ascend the broad stairway at the top of
+which the hostess stood to receive her distinguished guests. Early as
+she was, the stairway and the rooms beyond seemed already thronged.
+Splendid menials in gorgeous livery, crimson the predominant colour,
+stood on each step at either side of the stair. Uniforms of every
+pattern, from the dazzling oriental raiment of Indian princes and
+eastern potentates, to the more sober, but scarcely less rich apparel of
+the diplomatic corps, ministers of the Empire, and officers, naval
+and military, gave the final note of magnificence and picturesque
+decoration. Like tropical flowers in this garden of colour were the
+ladies, who, with easy grace, moved to and fro, bestowing a smile here
+and a whisper there; and yet, despite her agitation, a hurried, furtive
+glance around brought to Jennie the conviction that she was, perhaps,
+the best-gowned woman in that assemblage of well-dressed people, which
+recognition somewhat calmed her palpitating heart. The whole environment
+seemed unreal to her, and she walked forward as if in a dream. She
+heard someone cry, "The Princess von Steinheimer," and at first had a
+difficulty in realizing that the title, for the moment, pertained
+to herself. The next instant her hand was in that of the Duchess of
+Chiselhurst, and Jennie heard the lady murmur that it was good of her
+to come so far to grace the occasion. The girl made some sort of reply
+which she found herself unable afterwards to recall, but the rapid
+incoming of other guests led her to hope that, if she had used any
+unsuitable phrase, it was either unheard or forgotten in the tension of
+the time. She stood aside and formed one of the brilliant group at the
+head of the stairs, thankful that this first ordeal was well done with.
+Her rapidly beating heart had now opportunity to lessen its pulsations,
+and as she soon realized that she was practically unnoticed, her natural
+calmness began to return to her. She remembered why she was there,
+and her discerning eye enabled her to stamp on a retentive memory
+the various particulars of so unaccustomed a spectacle whose very
+unfamiliarity made the greater impression upon the girl's mind. She
+moved away from the group, determined to saunter through the numerous
+rooms thrown open for the occasion, and thus, as it were, get her
+bearings. In a short time all fear of discovery left her, and she began
+to feel very much at home in the lofty, crowded salons, pausing even
+to enjoy a selection which a military band, partly concealed in the
+foliage, was rendering in masterly manner, led by the most famous
+_impressario_ of the day. The remote probability of meeting anyone here
+who knew the Princess reassured her, and there speedily came over her
+a sense of delight in all the kaleidoscopic bewilderment of this great
+entertainment. She saw that each one there had interest in someone
+else, and, to her great relief, found herself left entirely alone with
+reasonable assurance that this remoteness would continue to befriend her
+until the final gauntlet of leave-taking had to be run; a trial still to
+be encountered, the thought of which she resolutely put away from her,
+trusting to the luck that had hitherto not deserted her.
+
+Jennie was in this complaisant frame of mind when she was suddenly
+startled by a voice at her side.
+
+"Ah, Princess, I have been searching everywhere for you, catching
+glimpses of you now and then, only to lose you, as, alas, has been my
+fate on more serious occasion. May I flatter myself with the belief that
+you also remember?"
+
+There was no recognition in the large frightened eyes that were turned
+upon him. They saw a young man bowing low over the unresisting hand he
+had taken. His face was clear-cut and unmistakably English. Jennie saw
+his closely-cropped auburn head, and, as it raised until it overtopped
+her own, the girl, terrified as she was, could not but admire the
+sweeping blonde moustache that overshadowed a smile, half-wistful,
+half-humorous, which lighted up his handsome face. The ribbon of some
+order was worn athwart his breast; otherwise he wore court dress, which
+well became his stalwart frame.
+
+"I am disconsolate to see that I am indeed forgotten, Princess, and so
+another cherished delusion fades away from me."
+
+Her fan concealed the lower part of the girl's face, and she looked at
+him over its fleecy semicircle.
+
+"Put not your trust in princesses," she murmured, a sparkle of latent
+mischief lighting up her eyes.
+
+The young man laughed. "Indeed," he said, "had I served my country as
+faithfully as I have been true to my remembrance of you, Princess, I
+would have been an ambassador long ere this, covered with decorations.
+Have you then lost all recollection of that winter in Washington five
+years ago; that whirlwind of gaiety which ended by wafting you away to a
+foreign country, and thus the eventful season clings to my memory as
+if it were a disastrous western cyclone? Is it possible that I must
+re-introduce myself as Donal Stirling?"
+
+"Not Lord Donal Stirling?" asked Jennie, dimly remembering that she had
+heard this name in connection with something diplomatic, and her guess
+that he was in that service was strengthened by his previous remark
+about being an ambassador.
+
+"Yes, Lord Donal, if you will cruelly insist on calling me so; but this
+cannot take from me the consolation that once, in the conservatory
+of the White House, under the very shadow of the President, you
+condescended to call me Don."
+
+"You cannot expect one to remember what happened in Washington five
+years ago. You know the administration itself changes every four years,
+and memories seldom carry back even so far as that."
+
+"I had hoped that my most outspoken adoration would have left
+reminiscence which might outlast an administration. I have not found
+forgetting so easy."
+
+"Are you quite sure of that, Lord Donal?" asked the girl archly, closing
+her fan and giving him for the first time a full view of her face.
+
+The young man seemed for a moment perplexed, but she went on, giving him
+little time for reflection. "Have your diplomatic duties taken you away
+from Washington?"
+
+"Yes, to the other end of the earth. I am now in St. Petersburg, with
+ultimate hopes of Vienna, Princess. I happened to be in London this
+week, and hearing you were to be here, I moved heaven and earth for an
+invitation."
+
+"Which you obtained, only to find yourself forgotten. How hollow this
+world is, isn't it?"
+
+"Alas, yes. A man in my profession sees a good deal of the seamy side of
+life, and I fully believe that my rapidly lessening dependence on human
+veracity will be shattered by my superiors sending me to Constantinople.
+But let me find you a seat out of this crowd where we may talk of old
+times."
+
+"I don't care so much about the past as I do about the present. Let
+us go up into that gallery, where you shall point out to me the
+celebrities. I suppose you know them all, while I am an entire stranger
+to London Society."
+
+"That is a capital idea," cried the young man enthusiastically. "Yes, I
+think I know most of the people here, at least by name. Ah, here comes
+the Royal party; we shall just be in time to have a good look at them."
+
+The band played the National Anthem, and Lord Donal got two chairs,
+which he placed at the edge of the gallery, well hidden from the
+promenaders by spreading tropical plants.
+
+"Oh, this _is_ jolly," cried Jennie, quite forgetting the dignity of a
+Princess. "You told me why you came to the ball. Do you know why I am
+here?"
+
+"On the remote chance of meeting me whom you pretended to have
+forgotten," replied the young man audaciously.
+
+"Of course," laughed Jennie; "but aside from that, I came to see the
+costumes. You know, we women are libellously said to dress for each
+other. Away from the world, in the Tyrol, I have little opportunity
+of seeing anything fine in the way of dress, and so I accepted the
+invitation of the Duchess."
+
+"Have you the invitation of the Duchess with you?"
+
+"Yes, I am going to make some notes on the back of it. Would you like to
+see it?" She handed him the letter and then leaned back in her chair,
+regarding him closely. The puzzled expression on his face deepened as
+he glanced over the invitation, and saw that it was exactly what it
+purported to be. He gave the letter back to her, saying,--
+
+"So you are here to see the fashions. It is a subject I know little
+about; but, judging by effect, I should say that the Princess von
+Steinheimer has nothing to learn from anyone present. If I may touch on
+a topic so personal, your costume is what they call a creation, is it
+not, Princess?"
+
+"It isn't bad," said the girl, looking down at her gown and then
+glancing up at him with merriment dancing in her eyes. The diplomat had
+his elbow resting on the balustrade, his head leaning on his hand, and,
+quite oblivious to everything else, was gazing at her with such absorbed
+intentness that the girl blushed and cast down her eyes. The intense
+admiration in his look was undisguised. "Still," she rattled on somewhat
+breathlessly, "one gets many hints from others, and the creation of
+to-day is merely the old clothes of to-morrow. Invention has no vacation
+so far as ladies' apparel is concerned. 'Take no thought of the morrow,
+wherewithal ye shall be clothed,' may have been a good motto for the
+court of Solomon, but it has little relation with that of Victoria."
+
+"Solomon--if the saying is his--was hedging. He had many wives, you
+know."
+
+"Well, as I was about to say, you must now turn your attention to
+the other guests, and tell me who's who. I have already confessed my
+ignorance, and you promised to enlighten me."
+
+The young man, with visible reluctance, directed his thoughts from the
+one to the many, and named this person and that, while Jennie, with
+the pencil attached to her card, made cabalistic notes in shorthand,
+economizing thus both space and time. When at last she had all the
+information that could be desired, she leaned back in her chair with a
+little sigh of supreme content. Whatever might now betide, her mission
+was fulfilled, if she once got quietly away. The complete details of the
+most important society event of the season were at her fingers' ends.
+She closed her eyes for a moment to enjoy the satisfaction which success
+leaves in its train, and when she opened them again found Lord Donal in
+his old posture, absorbed in the contemplation of her undeniable beauty.
+
+"I see you are determined I shall have no difficulty in remembering you
+next time we meet," she said with a smile, at the same time flushing
+slightly under his ardent gaze.
+
+"I was just thinking," he replied, shifting his position a little, "that
+the five years which have dealt so hardly with me, have left you five
+years younger."
+
+"Age has many privileges, Lord Donal," she said to him, laughing
+outright; "but I don't think you can yet lay claim to any of them.
+The pose of the prematurely old is not in the least borne out by your
+appearance, however hardly the girl you met in Washington dealt with
+you."
+
+"Ah, Princess, it is very easy for you to treat these serious matters
+lightly. He laughs at scars who never felt a wound. Time, being above
+all things treacherous, often leaves the face untouched the more
+effectually to scar the heart. The hurt concealed is ever the more
+dangerous."
+
+"I fancy it has been concealed so effectually that it is not as deep as
+you imagined."
+
+"Princess, I will confess to you that the wound at Washington was as
+nothing to the one received at London."
+
+"Yes; you told me you had been here for a week."
+
+"The week has nothing to do with it. I have been here for a night--for
+two hours--or three; I have lost count of time since I met you."
+
+What reply the girl might have made to this speech, delivered with all
+the fervency of a man in thorough earnest, will never be known, for at
+that moment their _tęte-ŕ-tęte_ was interrupted by a messenger, who
+said,--
+
+"His Excellency the Austrian Ambassador begs to be permitted to pay his
+regards to the Princess von Steinheimer."
+
+Lord Donal Stirling never took his eyes from the face of his companion,
+and he saw a quick pallor overspread it. He leaned forward and
+whispered,--
+
+"I know the Ambassador; if you do not wish to meet him, I will intercept
+him."
+
+Jennie rose slowly to her feet, and, looking at the young man with a
+calmness she was far from feeling, said coldly,--
+
+"Why should I not wish to meet the Ambassador of my adopted country?"
+
+"I know of no reason. Quite the contrary, for he must be an old friend
+of yours, having been your guest at the Schloss Steinheimer a year ago."
+
+He stepped back as he said this, and Jennie had difficulty in
+suppressing the gasp of dismay with which she received his disquieting
+disclosure, but she stood her ground without wincing. She was face to
+face with the crisis she had foreseen--the coming of one who knew
+the Princess. Next instant the aged diplomat was bending over her
+outstretched hand, which in courtly fashion the old man raised to his
+lips.
+
+"I am delighted to have the privilege of welcoming you to this gloomy
+old city, Princess von Steinheimer, which you illumine with your
+presence. Do you stay long in London?"
+
+"The period of illumination is short, your Excellency. I leave for Paris
+to-morrow."
+
+"So soon? Without even visiting the Embassy? I am distressed to hear
+of so speedy a desertion, and yet, knowing the charms of the Schloss
+Steinheimer, I can hardly wonder at your wish to return there. The
+Prince, I suppose, is as devoted as ever to the chase. I must censure
+his Highness, next time we meet, for not coming with you to London; then
+I am sure you would have stayed longer with us."
+
+"The Prince is a model husband, your Excellency," said Jennie, with a
+sly glance at Lord Donal, whose expression of uncertainty increased
+as this colloquy went on, "and he would have come to London without
+a murmur had his wife been selfish enough to tear him away from his
+beloved Meran."
+
+"A model husband!" said the ancient count, with an unctuous chuckle.
+"So few of us excel in that respect; but there is this to be
+said in our exculpation, few have been matrimonially so fortunate
+as the Prince von Steinheimer. I have never ceased to long for a
+repetition of the charming visit I paid to your delightful home."
+
+"If your Excellency but knew how welcome you are, your visits would not
+have such long intervals between."
+
+"It is most kind of you, Princess, to cheer an old man's heart by such
+gracious words. It is our misfortune that affairs of State chain us to
+our pillar, and, indeed, diplomacy seems to become more difficult as the
+years go on, because we have to contend with the genius of rising young
+men like Lord Donal Stirling here, who are more than a match for old
+dogs that find it impossible to learn new tricks."
+
+"Indeed, your Excellency," said his lordship, speaking for the first
+time since the Ambassador began, "the very reverse of that is the case.
+We sit humbly at your feet, ambitious to emulate, but without hope of
+excelling."
+
+The old man chuckled again, and, turning to the girl, began to make his
+adieux.
+
+"Then my former rooms are waiting for me at the Castle?" he concluded.
+
+"Yes, your Excellency, with the addition of two red rocking-chairs
+imported from America, which you will find most comfortable
+resting-places when you are free from the cares of State."
+
+"Ah! The rocking-chairs! I remember now that you were expecting them
+when I was there. So they have arrived, safely, I hope; but I think you
+had ordered an incredible number, to be certain of having at least one
+or two serviceable."
+
+"No; only a dozen, and they all came through without damage."
+
+"You young people, you young people!" murmured the Ambassador, bending
+again over the hand presented to him, "what unheard-of things you do."
+
+And so the old man shuffled away, leaving many compliments behind him,
+evidently not having the slightest suspicion that he had met anyone but
+the person he supposed himself addressing, for his eyesight was not of
+the best, and an Ambassador meets many fair and distinguished women.
+
+The girl sat down with calm dignity, while Lord Donal dropped into his
+chair, an expression of complete mystification on his clear-cut, honest
+face. Jennie slowly fanned herself, for the heat made itself felt at
+that elevated situation, and for a few moments nothing was said by
+either. The young man was the first to break silence.
+
+"Should I be so fortunate as to get an invitation to the Schloss
+Steinheimer, may I hope that a red rocking-chair will be allotted to me?
+I have not sat in one since I was in the States."
+
+"Yes, one for you; two for the Ambassador," said Jennie, with a laugh.
+
+"I should like further to flatter myself that your double generosity to
+the Ambassador arises solely from the dignity of his office, and is not
+in any way personal."
+
+"I am very fond of ambassadors; they are courteous gentlemen who seem to
+have less distrust than is exhibited by some not so exalted."
+
+"Distrust! You surely cannot mean that I have distrusted you, Princess?"
+
+"Oh, I was speaking generally," replied Jennie airily. "You seem to seek
+a personal application in what I say."
+
+"I admit, Princess, that several times this evening I have been
+completely at sea."
+
+"And what is worse, Lord Donal, you have shown it, which is the one
+unforgivable fault in diplomacy."
+
+"You are quite right. If I had you to teach me, I would be an ambassador
+within the next five years, or at least a minister."
+
+The girl looked at him over the top of her fan, covert merriment lurking
+in her eyes.
+
+"When you visit Schloss Steinheimer you might ask the Prince if he
+objects to my giving you lessons."
+
+Here there was another interruption, and the announcement was made that
+the United States Ambassador desired to renew his acquaintance with
+the Princess von Steinheimer. Lord Donal made use of an impatient
+exclamation more emphatic than he intended to give utterance to, but on
+looking at his companion in alarm, he saw in her glance a quick flash of
+gratitude as unmistakable as if she had spoken her thanks. It was quite
+evident that the girl had no desire to meet his Excellency, which is not
+to be wondered at, as she had already encountered him three times in her
+capacity of journalist. He not only knew the Princess von Steinheimer,
+but he knew Jennie Baxter as well.
+
+She leaned back in her chair and said wearily,--
+
+"I seem to be having rather an abundance of diplomatic society this
+evening. Are you acquainted with the American Ambassador also, Lord
+Donal?"
+
+"Yes," cried the young man, eagerly springing to his feet. "He was a
+prominent politician in Washington while I was there. He is an excellent
+man, and I shall have no difficulty in making your excuses to him if you
+don't wish to meet him."
+
+"Thank you so much. You have now an opportunity of retrieving your
+diplomatic reputation, if you can postpone the interview without
+offending him."
+
+Lord Donal departed with alacrity, and the moment he was gone all
+appearance of languor vanished from Miss Jennie Baxter.
+
+"Now is my chance," she whispered to herself. "I must be in my carriage
+before he returns."
+
+Eager as she was to be gone, she knew that she should betray no haste.
+Expecting to find a stair at the other end of the gallery, she sought
+for it, but there was none. Filled with apprehension that she would meet
+Lord Donal coming up, she had difficulty in timing her footsteps to the
+slow measure that was necessary. She reached the bottom of the stair in
+safety and unimpeded, but once on the main floor a new problem presented
+itself. Nothing would attract more attention than a young and beautiful
+lady walking the long distance between the gallery end of the room and
+the entrance stairway entirely alone and unattended. She stood there
+hesitating, wondering whether she could venture on finding a quiet
+side-exit, which she was sure must exist in this large house, when, to
+her dismay, she found Lord Donal again at her side, rather breathless,
+as if he had been hurrying in search of her. His brows were knit and
+there was an anxious expression on his face.
+
+"I must have a word with you alone," he whispered. "Let me conduct you
+to this alcove under the gallery."
+
+"No; I am tired. I am going home."
+
+"I quite understand that, but you must come with me for a moment."
+
+"Must?" she said, with a suggestion of defiance in her tone.
+
+"Yes," he answered gravely. "I wish to be of assistance to you. I think
+you will need it."
+
+For a moment she met his unflinching gaze steadily, then her glance
+fell, and she said in a low voice, "Very well."
+
+When they reached the alcove, she inquired rather quaveringly--for she
+saw something had happened which had finally settled all the young man's
+doubts--"Is it the American Ambassador?"
+
+"No; there was little trouble there. He expects to meet you later in the
+evening. But a telegraphic message has come from Meran, signed by the
+Princess von Steinheimer, which expresses a hope that the ball will be a
+success, and reiterates the regret of her Highness that she could not be
+present. Luckily this communication has not been shown to the Duchess.
+I told the Duke, who read it to me, knowing I had been with you all the
+evening, that it was likely a practical joke on the part of the Prince;
+but the Duke, who is rather a serious person, does not take kindly
+to that theory, and if he knew the Prince he would dismiss it as
+absurd--which it is. I have asked him not to show the telegram to
+anyone, so there is a little time for considering what had best be
+done."
+
+"There is nothing for me to do but to take my leave as quickly and
+as quietly as possible," said the girl, with a nervous little laugh
+bordering closely on the hysterical. "I was about to make my way out by
+some private exit if I could find one."
+
+"That would be impossible, and the attempt might lead to unexpected
+complications. I suggest that you take my arm, and that you bid farewell
+to her Grace, pleading fatigue as the reason for your early departure.
+Then I will see you to your carriage, and when I return I shall
+endeavour to get that unlucky telegram from the Duke by telling him
+I should like to find out whether it is a hoax or not. He will have
+forgotten about it most likely in the morning. Therefore, all you have
+to do is to keep up your courage for a few moments longer until you are
+safe in your carriage."
+
+"You are very kind," she murmured, with downcast eyes.
+
+"You are very clever, my Princess, but the odds against you were
+tremendous. Some time you must tell me why you risked it."
+
+She made no reply, but took his arm, and together they sauntered through
+the rooms until they found the Duchess, when Jennie took her leave of
+the hostess with a demure dignity that left nothing to be desired. All
+went well until they reached the head of the stair, when the Duke, an
+ominous frown on his brow, hurried after them and said,--
+
+"My lord, excuse me."
+
+Lord Donal turned with an ill-concealed expression of impatience, but he
+was helpless, for he feared his host might not have the good sense to
+avoid a scene even in his own hall. Had it been the Duchess, all would
+have been well, for she was a lady of infinite tact, but the Duke, as he
+had said, was a stupid man, who needed the constant eye of his wife upon
+him to restrain him from blundering. The young man whispered, "Keep
+right on until you are in your carriage. I shall ask my man here to call
+it for you, but please don't drive away until I come."
+
+A sign brought a serving man up the stairs.
+
+"Call the carriage of the Princess von Steinheimer," said his master;
+then, as the lady descended the stair, Lord Donal turned, with no very
+thankful feeling in his heart, to hear what his host had to say.
+
+"Lord Donal, the American Ambassador says that woman is not the Princess
+von Steinheimer, but is someone of no importance whom he has met several
+times in London. He cannot remember her name. Now, who is she, and how
+did you come to meet her?"
+
+"My Lord Duke, it never occurred to me to question the identity of
+guests I met under your hospitable roof. I knew the Princess five years
+ago in Washington, before she was married. I have not seen her in the
+interval, but until you showed me the telegraphic message there was no
+question in my mind regarding her."
+
+"But the American Ambassador is positive."
+
+"Then he has more confidence in his eyesight than I have. If such a
+question, like international difficulties, is to be settled by the
+Embassies, let us refer it to Austria, who held a long conversation with
+the lady in my presence. Your Excellency," he continued to the Austrian
+Ambassador, who was hovering near, waiting to speak to his host, "The
+Duke of Chiselhurst has some doubt that the lady who has just departed
+is the Princess von Steinheimer. You spoke with her, and can therefore
+decide with authority, for his Grace seems disinclined to accept my
+testimony."
+
+"Not the Princess? Nonsense. I know her very well indeed, and a most
+charming lady she is. I hope to be her guest again before many months
+are past."
+
+"There, my Lord Duke, you see everything is as it should be. If you will
+give me that stupid telegram, I will make some quiet inquiries about it.
+Meanwhile, the less said the better. I will see the American Ambassador
+and convince him of his error. And now I must make what excuses I can to
+the Princess for my desertion of her."
+
+Placing the telegram in his pocket, he hurried down the stair and out to
+the street. There had been some delay about the coming of the carriage,
+and he saw the lady he sought, at that moment entering it.
+
+"Home at once as fast as you can," he heard her say to the coachman. She
+had evidently no intention of waiting for him. He sprang forward, thrust
+his arm through the carriage window, and grasped her hand.
+
+"Princess," he cried, "you will not leave me like this. I must see you
+to-morrow."
+
+"No, no," she gasped, shrinking into the corner of the carriage.
+
+"You cannot be so cruel. Tell me at least where a letter will reach you.
+I shall not release your hand until you promise."
+
+With a quick movement the girl turned back the gauntlet of her long
+glove; the next instant the carriage was rattling down the street, while
+a chagrined young man stood alone on the kerb with a long, slender white
+glove in his hand.
+
+"By Jove!" he said at last, as he folded it carefully and placed it
+in the pocket of his coat. "It is the glove this time, instead of the
+slipper!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+JENNIE REALIZES THAT GREAT EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEHIND.
+
+
+Jennie Baxter reached her hotel as quickly as a fast pair of horses
+could take her. She had succeeded; yet a few rebellious tears of
+disappointment trickled down her cheeks now that she was alone in the
+semi-darkness of the carriage. She thought of the eager young man left
+standing disconsolately on the kerb, with her glove dangling in his
+hand, and she bitterly regretted that unkind fortune had made it
+possible for her to meet him only under false pretences. One consolation
+was that he had no clue to her identity, and she was resolved never,
+never to see him again; yet, such is the contrariness of human nature,
+no sooner was she refreshed by this determination than her tears flowed
+more freely than ever.
+
+She knew that she was as capable of enjoying scenes like the function
+she had just left as any who were there; as fitted for them by
+education, by personal appearance, or by natural gifts of the mind, as
+the most welcome of the Duchess's guests; yet she was barred out from
+them as effectually as was the lost Peri at the closed gate. Why had
+capricious fate selected two girls of probably equal merit, and made one
+a princess, while the other had to work hard night and day for the mere
+right to live? Nothing is so ineffectual as the little word "why"; it
+asks, but never answers.
+
+With a deep sigh Jennie dried her tears as the carriage pulled up at
+the portal of the hotel. The sigh dismissed all frivolities, all futile
+"whys"; the girl was now face to face with the realities of life, and
+the events she had so recently taken part in would soon blend themselves
+into a dream.
+
+Dismissing the carriage, and walking briskly through the hall, she said
+to the night porter,--
+
+"Have a hansom at the door for me in fifteen minutes."
+
+"A hansom, my lady?" gasped the astonished man.
+
+"Yes." She slipped a sovereign into his hand and ran lightly up the
+stairs. The porter was well accustomed to the vagaries of great ladies,
+although a hansom at midnight was rather beyond his experience. But if
+all womankind tipped so generously, they might order an omnibus, and
+welcome; so the hansom was speedily at the door.
+
+Jennie roused the drowsy maid who was sitting up for her.
+
+"Come," she said, "you must get everything packed at once. Lay out my
+ordinary dress and help me off with this."
+
+"Where is your other glove, my lady?" asked the maid, busily unhooking,
+and untying.
+
+"Lost. Don't trouble about it. When everything is packed, get some
+sleep, and leave word to be called in time for the eight o'clock express
+for Paris. Here is money to pay the bill and your fare. It is likely I
+shall join you at the station; but if I do not, go to our hotel in Paris
+and wait for me there. Say nothing of our destination to anyone, and
+answer no questions regarding me, should inquiries be made. Are you sure
+you understand?"
+
+"Yes, my lady." A few moments later Jennie was in the cab, driving
+through the nearly deserted streets. She dismissed her vehicle at
+Charing Cross, walked down the Strand until she got another, then
+proceeded direct to the office of the _Daily Bugle_, whose upper windows
+formed a row of lights, all the more brilliant because of the intense
+darkness below.
+
+She found the shorthand writers waiting for her. The editor met her at
+the door of the room reserved for her, and said, with visible anxiety on
+his brow, "Well, what success?"
+
+"Complete success," she answered shortly.
+
+"Good!" he replied emphatically. "Now I propose to read the typewritten
+sheets as they come from the machine, correct them for obvious clerical
+errors, and send them right away to the compositors. You can, perhaps,
+glance over the final proofs, which will be ready almost as soon as you
+have finished."
+
+"Very well. Look closely to the spelling of proper names and verify
+titles. There won't be much time for me to go carefully over the last
+proofs."
+
+"All right. You furnish the material, and I'll see that it's used to the
+best advantage."
+
+Jennie entered the room, and there at a desk sat the waiting
+stenographer; over his head hung the bulb of an electric light, its
+green circular shade throwing the white rays directly down on his open
+notebook. The girl was once more in the working world, and its bracing
+air acted as a tonic to her overwrought nerves. All longings and regrets
+had been put off with the Paris-made gown which the maid at that moment
+was carefully packing away. The order of nature seemed reversed; the
+butterfly had abandoned its gorgeous wings of gauze, and was habited in
+the sombre working garb of the grub. With her hands clasped behind her,
+the girl paced up and down the room, pouring forth words, two hundred to
+the minute, and sometimes more. Silently one stenographer, tiptoeing in,
+replaced another, who as silently departed; and from the adjoining room,
+the subdued, nervous, rapid click, click, click of the typewriting
+machine invaded, without disturbing, her consciousness. Towards three
+o'clock the low drone of the rotaries in the cellar made itself felt
+rather than heard; the early edition for the country was being run off.
+Time was flying--danced away by nimble feet in the West End, worked away
+by nimble fingers in Fleet Street (well-named thoroughfare); play and
+work, work and play, each supplementing the other; the acts of the
+frivolous recorded by the industrious.
+
+When a little more than three hours' dictating was finished, the voice
+of the girl, now as hoarse as formerly it had been musical, ceased; she
+dropped into a chair and rested her tired head on the deserted desk,
+closing her wearied eyes. She knew she had spoken between 15,000 and
+20,000 words, a number almost equal in quantity to that contained in
+many a book which had made an author's fame and fortune. And all for the
+ephemeral reading of a day--of a forenoon, more likely--to be forgotten
+when the evening journals came out!
+
+Shortly after the typewriter gave its final click the editor came in.
+
+"I didn't like to disturb you while you were at work, and so I kept at
+my own task, which was no light one, and thus I appreciate the enormous
+strain that has rested on you. Your account is magnificent, Miss Baxter;
+just what I wanted, and never hoped to get."
+
+"I am glad you liked it," said the girl, laughing somewhat dismally at
+the croaking sound of her own voice.
+
+"I need not ask you if you were there, for no person but one who was
+present, and one who knew how to describe, could have produced such a
+vivid account of it all. How did you get in?"
+
+"In where?" murmured Jennie drowsily. She found difficulty in keeping
+her mind on what he was saying.
+
+"To the Duchess of Chiselhurst's ball."
+
+"Oh, getting in was easy enough; it was the getting out that was the
+trouble."
+
+"Like prison, eh?" suggested the editor. "Now, will you have a little
+wine, or something stronger?"
+
+"No, no. All I need is rest."
+
+"Then let me call a cab; I will see you home, if you will permit me."
+
+"I am too tired to go home; I shall remain here until morning."
+
+"Nonsense. You must go home and sleep for a week if you want to. Rouse
+up; I believe you are talking in your sleep now."
+
+"I understand perfectly what you are saying and what I am doing. I have
+work that must be attended to at eight. Please leave orders that someone
+is to call me at seven and bring a cup of coffee and biscuits, or rolls,
+or anything that is to be had at that hour. And please don't trouble
+further. I am very thankful to you, but will express myself better later
+on."
+
+With this the editor had to be content, and was shortly on his way to
+his own well-earned rest. To Jennie it seemed but a moment after he had
+gone, that the porter placed coffee and rolls on the desk beside her
+saying, "Seven o'clock, miss!"
+
+The coffee refreshed the girl, and as she passed through the editorial
+rooms she noted their forlorn, dishevelled appearance, which all places
+show when seen at an unaccustomed hour, their time of activity and
+bustle past. The rooms were littered with torn papers; waste-baskets
+overflowing; looking silent, scrappy, and abandoned in the grey morning
+light which seemed intrusive, usurping the place of the usual artificial
+illumination, and betraying a bareness which the other concealed. Jennie
+recognized a relationship between her own up-all-night feeling and the
+spirit of the deserted rooms.
+
+At the railway station she found her maid waiting for her, surrounded by
+luggage.
+
+"Have you got your ticket?"
+
+"Yes, my lady."
+
+"I have changed my mind, and will not go to Paris just now. Ask a porter
+to put those trunks in the left-luggage office, and bring me the keys
+and the receipt."
+
+When this was done and money matters had been adjusted between them,
+Jennie gave the girl five pounds more than was due to her, and saw
+her into the railway carriage, well pleased with the reward. A hansom
+brought Jennie to her flat, and so ended the exhausting episode of the
+Duchess of Chiselhurst's ball.
+
+Yet an event, like a malady, leaves numerous consequences in its train,
+extending, who shall say, how far into the future? The first symptom of
+these consequences was a correspondence, and, as there is no reading
+more dreary than a series of letters, merely their substance is given
+here. When Jennie was herself again, she wrote a long letter to
+the Princess von Steinheimer, detailing the particulars of her
+impersonation, and begging pardon for what she had done, while giving
+her reasons for doing it; but, perhaps because it did not occur to her,
+she made not the slightest reference to Lord Donal Stirling. Two answers
+came to this--one a registered packet containing the diamonds which the
+Princess had previously offered to her; the other a letter from the
+Princess's own hand. The glitter of the diamonds showed Jennie that she
+had been speedily forgiven, and the letter corroborated this. In fact,
+the Princess upbraided her for not letting her into the secret earlier.
+"It is just the jolly kind of thing I should have delighted in," wrote
+her Highness. "And then, if I had known, I should not have sent that
+unlucky telegram. It serves you right for not taking me into your
+confidence, and I am glad you had a fright. Think of it coming in at
+that inopportune moment, just as telegrams do at a play! But, Jennie,
+are you sure you told me everything? A letter came from London the day
+before yours arrived, and it bewildered me dreadfully at first. Don
+Stirling, whom I used to know at Washington (a conceited young fellow he
+was then--I hope he has improved since), wrote to say that he had met a
+girl at the Duchess of Chiselhurst's ball who had a letter inviting the
+Princess von Steinheimer to the festivity. He thought at first she was
+the Princess (which is very complimentary to each of us), but found
+later that she wasn't. Now he wants to know, you know, and thinks, quite
+reasonably, that I must have some inkling who that girl was, and he begs
+me, by our old friendship, etc., etc., etc. He is a nice young man, if a
+trifle confident (these young diplomatists think they hold the reins of
+the universe in their hands), and I should like to oblige him, but I
+thought first I would hear what you had to say about it. I am to address
+him care of the Embassy at St. Petersburg; so I suppose he's stationed
+there now. By the way, how did he get your glove, or is that merely brag
+on his part? He says that it is the only clue he has, and he is going to
+trace you from that, it seems, if I do not tell him who you are and
+send him your address. Now, what am _I_ to say when I write to St.
+Petersburg?"
+
+In reply to this, Jennie sent a somewhat incoherent letter, very
+different from her usual style of writing. She had not mentioned the
+young man in her former communication, she said, because she had been
+trying to forget the incident in which he was the central figure. In no
+circumstances could she meet him again, and she implored the Princess
+not to disclose her identity to him even by a hint. She explained the
+glove episode exactly as it happened; she was compelled to sacrifice
+the glove to release her hand. He had been very kind in helping her to
+escape from a false position, but it would be too humiliating for her
+ever to see him or speak with him again.
+
+When this letter reached the Schloss at Meran, the Princess telegraphed
+to London, "Send me the other glove," and Jennie sent it. A few days
+later came a further communication from the Princess.
+
+"I have puzzled our young man quite effectually, I think, clever as
+he imagines himself to be. I wrote him a semi-indignant letter to St.
+Petersburg, and said I thought all along he had not really recognized
+me at the ball, in spite of his protestations at first. Then I saw how
+easily he was deluded into the belief that I was some other woman, and
+so the temptation to cozen him further was irresistible. Am I not a good
+actress? I asked him. I went on to say, with some show of anger, that a
+quiet flirtation in the gallery was all very well in its way, but when
+it came to a young man rushing in a frenzy bare-headed into the street
+after a respectable married woman who had just got into her carriage and
+was about to drive away, it was too much altogether, and thus he came
+into possession of the glove. As the remaining glove was of no use to
+me, I had great pleasure in sending it to him, but warned him that if
+the story of the gloves ever came to the ears of my husband, I should
+deny having either owned or worn them. I should like to see Don's amazed
+look when the other glove drops out of my letter, which was a bulky
+package and cost ever so much in postage. I think the sending of the
+glove was an inspiration. I fancy his lordship will be now completely
+deluded, and that you need have no further fear of his finding you."
+
+Jennie read this letter over once or twice, and in spite of her friendly
+feeling for the Princess, there was something in the epistle that jarred
+on her. Nevertheless she wrote and thanked the Princess for what she had
+done, and then she tried to forget all about everything pertaining to
+the ball. However, she was not allowed to erase all thought of Lord
+Donal from her mind, even if she could have accomplished this task
+unimpeded. There shortly arrived a brief note from the Princess
+enclosing a letter the young diplomatist at St. Petersburg had written.
+
+"DEAR PRINCESS" (it ran),--"I am very much obliged to you for the
+companion glove, as I am thus enabled to keep one and use the other as a
+clue. I see you not only know who the mysterious young lady is, but that
+you have since met her, or at least have been in correspondence with
+her. If the glove does not lead me to the hand, I shall pay a visit to
+you in the hope that you will atone for your present cruelty by telling
+me where to find the owner of both glove and hand."
+
+With regard to this note the Princess had written, "Don is not such a
+fool as I took him to be. He must have improved during the last few
+years. I wish you would write and tell me exactly what he said to you
+that evening."
+
+But with this wish Jennie did not comply. She merely again urged the
+Princess never to divulge the secret.
+
+For many days Jennie heard nothing more from any of the actors in the
+little comedy, and the episode began to take on in her thoughts that air
+of unreality which remote events seem to gather round them. She went
+on with her daily work to the satisfaction of her employers and the
+augmentation of her own banking account, although no experience worthy
+of record occurred in her routine for several weeks. But a lull in a
+newspaper office is seldom of long duration.
+
+One afternoon Mr. Hardwick came to the desk at which Jennie was at work,
+and said to her,--
+
+"Cadbury Taylor called here yesterday, and was very anxious to see you.
+Has he been in again this afternoon?"
+
+"You mean the detective? No, I haven't seen him since that day at the
+Schloss Steinheimer. What did he want with me?"
+
+"As far as I was able to understand, he has a very important case
+on hand--a sort of romance in high life; and I think he wants your
+assistance to unravel it; it seems to be baffling him."
+
+"It is not very difficult to baffle Mr. Cadbury Taylor," said the girl,
+looking up at her employer with a merry twinkle in her eye.
+
+"Well, he appears to be in a fog now, and he expressed himself to me
+as being very much taken with the neat way in which you unravelled the
+diamond mystery at Meran, so he thinks you may be of great assistance
+to him in his present difficulty, and is willing to pay in cash or in
+kind."
+
+"Cash payment I understand," said the girl, "but what does he mean by
+payment in kind?"
+
+"Oh, he is willing that you should make a sensational article out of the
+episode. It deals entirely, he says, with persons in high life--titled
+persons--and so it might make an interesting column or two for the
+paper."
+
+"I see--providing, of course, that the tangled skein was unravelled by
+the transcendent genius of Mr. Cadbury Taylor," said the girl cynically.
+
+"I don't think he wants his name mentioned," continued the editor; "in
+fact, he said that it wouldn't do to refer to him at all, for if people
+discovered that he made public any of the cases intrusted to him, he
+would lose his business. He has been working on this problem for several
+weeks, and I believe has made little progress towards its solution. His
+client is growing impatient, so it occurred to the detective that you
+might consent to help him. He said, with a good deal of complacency,
+that he did not know you were connected with the _Bugle_, but he put his
+wits at work and has traced you to this office."
+
+"How clever he is!" said Jennie, laughing; "I am sure I made no secret
+of the fact that I work for the _Daily Bugle_."
+
+"I think Mr. Taylor will have no hesitation in agreeing with you that
+he is clever; nevertheless, it might be worth while to see him and to
+assist him if you can, because nothing so takes the public as a romance
+in high life. Here is his address; would you mind calling on him?"
+
+"Not at all," replied the young woman, copying the street and number in
+her note-book.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+JENNIE ASSISTS IN SEARCHING FOR HERSELF.
+
+
+Next day Jennie Baxter drove to the address the editor had given her,
+and she found Mr. Cadbury Taylor at home, in somewhat sumptuous offices
+on the first floor. Fastened to his door was a brass plate, which
+exposed to public view the carven words--
+
+  CADBURY TAYLOR,
+  Private Enquiry Agent.
+
+The detective was quite evidently very glad to see her.
+
+"I intended calling to-day at the office of the _Bugle_ on the chance of
+finding you," he said; "but I am delighted to meet you here, because we
+can talk without fear of interruption. Has the editor told you anything
+of this case?"
+
+"Very little; he didn't seem to know much about it himself."
+
+"It was impossible for me to go into full particulars with him. I could
+only give him a hint or two in order to convey to him some idea of the
+interest which the mystery, when solved, might have from a newspaper
+standpoint. Of course I wished to gain his assistance so that he might,
+perhaps, persuade you to help me in this matter."
+
+"He seems to be quite willing that I should lend what aid I can," said
+Jennie; "but I must have full details before I promise. I have a good
+deal of work on hand, and, unless this case is interesting from a
+newspaper point of view, as you have just said, I don't think that I
+should care to touch it."
+
+"Oh, you will find it of great interest," the detective assured her with
+much eagerness. "It relates to the sudden and hitherto unexplained
+disappearance of a woman. That of itself is absorbing, for I may tell
+you, as one having a large experience, that there is nothing more
+difficult in this world than for any person, and more especially for a
+woman, to disappear entirely and leave no trace behind."
+
+"I should have thought it quite easy," said Jennie, "especially in a
+large city like London."
+
+"You have given expression to the universal opinion, but I pledge you my
+word that a completely successful disappearance is one of the most
+rare events that we detectives have to meet with in our line of
+investigation."
+
+"Please tell me the story," said the girl; "then we can speak more
+understandingly about it."
+
+The detective selected a packet of papers, one of many which occupied
+the end of his table. He slipped from it a rubber band which held the
+documents together.
+
+"The first act of the drama, if we may call it so, began at the Duchess
+of Chiselhurst's ball."
+
+"The Duchess of Chiselhurst's ball!" echoed Jennie, with a shudder. "Oh,
+dear!"
+
+The detective looked up at her.
+
+"Why do you say 'Oh, dear'?" he asked.
+
+"Because," said the girl wearily, "I am tired hearing of the Duchess of
+Chiselhurst's ball; there seems to have been nothing else in the papers
+for weeks past."
+
+"It has excited a great deal of comment," assented the detective; "and,
+by the way, the _Daily Bugle_ had one of the best accounts of it that
+was printed in any newspaper."
+
+"So I have heard," said Jennie carelessly, "but I most confess that I
+didn't read that copy of the _Bugle_."
+
+"You amaze me! I should have thought that would have been the first part
+of the paper to which any lady would turn. However, the report of the
+ball has nothing to do with what we have in hand. Now, you remember the
+Princess von Steinheimer, at whose castle I first had the pleasure of
+meeting you?"
+
+"You had the pleasure of meeting me before that," said Jennie, speaking
+without giving thought to what she said.
+
+"Really!" cried the detective, dropping his papers on the table; "and
+where was that?"
+
+"Oh, well, as you have just said--it has nothing to do with this
+case. Perhaps I was wrong in saying you saw me; it would be more
+correct to say that I saw you. You must remember that you are a
+public character, Mr. Taylor."
+
+"Ah, quite so," said the detective complacently, turning to his
+documents again. "Now, the Princess von Steinheimer was invited to the
+Duchess of Chiselhurst's ball, but she did not attend it."
+
+"Are you sure of that?" said the girl. "I thought her name was among the
+list of those present."
+
+"It was in the list, and that is just where our mystery begins. Someone
+else attended the ball as the Princess von Steinheimer; it is this
+person that I wish to find."
+
+"Ah, then you are employed by the Duke of Chiselhurst?"
+
+"No, I am not, for, strangely enough, I believe the Duke thinks it was
+actually the Princess who attended the ball. Only one man knows that the
+Princess was not present, one man and two women. Of the latter, one is
+the Princess von Steinheimer, and the other, the lady who impersonated
+her. The one man is Lord Donal Stirling, of the Diplomatic Service,
+whose name is no doubt familiar to you. Lord Donal has done me the
+honour to place the case in my hands."
+
+"Why does his lordship wish to find this--this--fraudulent person?"
+asked Jennie, speaking slowly and with difficulty.
+
+"Because," said the detective, with the air of a man who knows whereof
+he speaks, "he is in love with her."
+
+"What makes you think that?"
+
+"I don't think it, I know it. Listen to his description of her."
+
+The detective chose a paper from among his pile of documents, folded,
+labelled, and docketed for reference.
+
+"'The girl is of average height, or perhaps a trifle taller than the
+average; carries herself superbly, like a born duchess. Her eyes are of
+a deep, velvety black--'"
+
+"Dear me!" cried the girl, "he describes her as if she were a cat!"
+
+"Wait a moment," said the detective.
+
+"I don't see much trace of love in that," continued Jennie breathlessly.
+
+"Wait a moment," repeated the detective. "'They light up and sparkle
+with merriment, and they melt into the most entrancing tenderness.'"
+
+"Good gracious!" cried Jennie, rising, "the conceit of the man is
+illimitable. Does he mean to intimate that he saw tenderness for himself
+in the eyes of a woman he had met for an hour or two?"
+
+"That's just it," said the detective, laughing. "You see the man is head
+over ears in love. Please sit down again, Miss Baxter, and listen. I
+know this sentimental kind of writing must be irksome to a practical
+woman like yourself, but in our business we cannot neglect even the
+slightest detail. Let's see, where was I?--'tenderness,' oh, yes. 'Her
+hair is of midnight darkness, inclined to ripple, with little whiffs of
+curls imperiously defying restraint about her temples. Her complexion is
+as pure as the dawn, touched now and then with a blush as delicate as
+the petal of a rose.'"
+
+"Absurd!" cried Jennie impatiently. "The complexion of a woman at a
+ball! Of course, she put it on for the occasion."
+
+"Of course," agreed the detective. "But that merely shows you how deeply
+in love he is. Lord Donal is quite a young man. He came up to this room
+to consult with me, and certainly he doesn't know the difference between
+a complexion developed in a Surrey lane and one purchased in New Bond
+Street."
+
+"Still, the blushing would seem to indicate that the complexion was
+genuine," retorted Jennie, apparently quite unflattered by Mr. Taylor's
+agreement with the theory she herself had put forward.
+
+"Oh, I don't know about that. I believe modern science enables an
+enamelled woman to blush at will; I wouldn't be sure of it, because it
+is outside of my own line of investigation, but I have understood such
+is the case."
+
+"Very likely," assented Jennie. "What is that you have at the bottom of
+your packet?"
+
+"That," said the detective, drawing it forth and handing it to the girl,
+"is her glove."
+
+Jennie picked up the glove--which, alas! she had paid for and only
+worn on one occasion--and smoothed it out between her fingers. It was
+docketed "G; made by Gaunt et Cie, Boulevard Hausmann; purchased in
+Paris by one alleging herself to be the Princess von Steinheimer."
+
+"You have found out all about it," said Jennie, as she finished reading
+the label.
+
+"Yes, it is our business to do so; but the glove has not been of much
+assistance to us."
+
+"How did he say he became possessed of the glove?" asked the girl
+innocently. "Did she give it to him?"
+
+"No; he tore it from her hand as she was leaving him in the carriage. It
+seemed to me a most ungentlemanly thing to do, but of course it was not
+my business to tell Lord Donal that."
+
+"So the glove has not been of much assistance to you. Tell me, then,
+what you have done, and perhaps I shall be the better able to advise
+you."
+
+"We have done everything that suggested itself. We traced the alleged
+Princess from the Hotel Bristol in Pans to Claridge's in London. I have
+a very clever woman in Paris who assisted me, and she found where the
+gloves were bought and where the dress was made. Did I read you Lord
+Donal's description of the lady's costume?"
+
+"No, never mind that; go on with your story."
+
+"Well, Claridge's provided carriage, coachman and footman to take her to
+the ball, and this returned with her sometime about midnight. Now, here
+a curious thing happened. The lady ordered a hansom as she passed the
+night-porter and shortly after packed off her maid in the cab."
+
+"Her maid!" echoed Jennie.
+
+"Yes. The maid came down in ordinary street dress shortly after, deeply
+veiled, and drove away in the hansom; the lady paid her bill next
+morning and went to the eight o'clock Paris express, with carriage and
+pair, coachman and footman. Of course it struck me that it might be the
+lady herself who had gone off in the cab, but a moment's reflection
+showed me that she was not likely to leave the hotel in a cab at
+midnight, and allow her maid to take the carriage in state next
+morning."
+
+"That doesn't appear reasonable," murmured Jennie. "You made no attempt,
+then, to trace the maid?"
+
+"Oh yes, we did. We found the cabman who took her from Claridge's,
+and he left her at Charing Cross Station, but there all trace of her
+vanishes. She probably left on one of the late trains--there are only a
+few after midnight--to some place out in the country. The lady took a
+first-class ticket to Paris, and departed alone next morning by the
+eight o'clock Continental express. My assistant discovered her and took
+a snapshot of her as she was walking down the boulevard; here is the
+picture."
+
+The detective handed Miss Baxter an instantaneous view of one of the
+boulevards taken in bright sunshine. The principal figure in the
+foreground Jennie had no difficulty in recognizing as her own maid,
+dressed in that _chic_ fashion which Parisian women affect.
+
+"She seems to answer the description," said Jennie.
+
+"So I thought," admitted the detective, "and I sent the portrait to Lord
+Donal. See what he has written on the back."
+
+Jennie turned the picture over, and there under the inscription, "H.
+Supposed photo of the missing woman," was written in a bold hand, "Bosh!
+Read my description of the girl; this is evidently some Paris lady's
+maid."
+
+"Well, what did you do when you got this picture back?" asked Jennie.
+
+"I remembered you, and went to the office of the _Daily Bugle_. This
+brings us to the present moment. You have now the whole story, and I
+shall be very pleased to listen to any suggestions you are good enough
+to offer."
+
+The girl sat where she was for a few moments and pondered over the
+situation. The detective, resting his elbow on the table and his chin in
+his hand, regarded her with eager anticipation. The more Jennie thought
+over the matter, the more she was amazed at the man before her, who
+seemed unable to place two and two together. He had already spoken of
+the account of the ball which had appeared in the _Daily Bugle_; of
+its accuracy and its excellence; he knew that she was a member of the
+_Bugle_ staff, yet it had never occurred to him to inquire who wrote
+that description; he knew also that she had been a guest at the Schloss
+Steinheimer when the invitation to the ball must have reached the
+Princess. These facts were so plainly in evidence that the girl was
+afraid to speak lest some chance word would form the connecting link
+between the detective's mind and the seemingly palpable facts. At last
+she looked up, the colour coming and going in her cheeks, as Lord Donal
+had so accurately described it.
+
+"I don't think I can be of any assistance to you in this crisis, Mr.
+Taylor. You have already done everything that human ingenuity can
+suggest."
+
+"Yes, I have--everything that _my_ human ingenuity can suggest. But does
+nothing occur to you? have you no theory to put forward?"
+
+"None that would be of any practical advantage. Is Lord Donal certain
+that it was not the Princess herself whom he met? Are you thoroughly
+convinced that there was really an impersonation?"
+
+"What do you mean, Miss Baxter?"
+
+"Well, you met Prince von Steinheimer; what do you think of him?"
+
+"I thought him an overbearing bully, if you ask me. I can't imagine
+what English or American girls see in those foreigners to cause them
+to marry. It is the titles, I suppose. The Prince was very
+violent--practically ordered me out of the Castle, spoke to his
+father-in-law in the most peremptory manner, and I could easily see the
+Princess was frightened out of her wits."
+
+"A very accurate characterization of his Highness, Mr. Taylor. Now, of
+course, the Princess being a woman--and a young woman--would naturally
+be very anxious to attend the Duchess of Chiselhurst's ball, wouldn't
+she?"
+
+"One would think so."
+
+"And, as you have just said, she has a bear of a husband, a good deal
+older than herself, who does not in the least care for such functions as
+that to which the Princess was invited. Is it not quite possible that
+the Princess actually attended the ball, but, for reasons of her own,
+desired to keep the fact of her presence there a secret; and you must
+remember that Lord Donal Stirling had not seen the Princess for five
+years."
+
+"For five years?" said the detective sharply. "How did you learn that,
+Miss Baxter?"
+
+"Well, you know," murmured the girl, with a gasp, "he met her last in
+Washington, and the Princess has not been in America for five years; so
+you see--"
+
+"Oh, I was not aware that he had met her in America at all; in fact,
+Lord Donal said nothing much about the Princess--all his talk had
+reference to this lady who impersonated her."
+
+Jennie leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes for a moment, and
+breathed quickly.
+
+"I am afraid," she said at last, "that I do not remember with sufficient
+minuteness the details you have given me, to be able to advise. I can
+only suggest that Lord Donal met the Princess herself at the Duchess of
+Chiselhurst's ball. The Princess, naturally, would wish to mislead
+him regarding her identity; and so, if he had not met her for some
+time--say two years, or three years, or five years, or whatever the
+period may be--it is quite possible that the Princess has changed
+greatly in the interval, and perhaps she was not reluctant to carry on
+a flirtation with the young man--your client. Of course, she could not
+allow it to go further than the outside of the door of the Duke of
+Chiselhurst's town house, for you must remember there was her husband
+in the background--a violent man, as you have said; and Lord Donal must
+have thoroughly angered the Princess by what you term his rudeness in
+tearing off her glove; and now the Princess will never admit that she
+was at the ball, so it seems to me that you are wasting your time in a
+wild goose chase. Why, it is absurd to think, if there had been a real
+disappearing woman, that you, with all your experience and all your
+facilities, should not have unearthed her long ago. You said at the
+beginning that nothing was more difficult than to disappear. Very well,
+then--why have you been baffled? Simply because the Princess herself
+attended the ball, and there has been no disappearing lady at all."
+
+The detective, with great vehemence, brought down his fist on the table.
+
+"By Jove!" he cried, "I believe you are right. I have been completely
+blinded, the more so that I have the clue to the mystery right here
+under my own eyes."
+
+He fumbled for a moment and brought forth a letter from his pile of
+documents.
+
+"Here is a note from St. Petersburg, written by Lord Donal himself,
+saying the Princess had sent him the companion glove to the one you
+now have in your hand. He says he is sure the Princess knows who her
+impersonator was, but that she won't tell; and, although I had read this
+note, it never struck me that the Princess herself was the woman. Miss
+Baxter, you have solved the puzzle!"
+
+"I should be glad to think so," replied the girl, rising, "and I am very
+happy if I have enabled you to give up a futile chase."
+
+"It is as plain as daylight," replied the detective. "Lord Donal's
+description fits the Princess exactly, and yet I never thought of her
+before."
+
+Jennie hurried away from the detective's office, happy in the belief
+that she had not betrayed herself, although she was not blind to the
+fact that her escape was due more to good luck than to any presence of
+mind of her own, which had nearly deserted her at one or two points in
+the conversation. When Mr. Hardwick saw her, he asked how much space he
+should have to reserve for the romance in high life; but she told him
+there was nothing in the case, so far as she could see, to interest any
+sane reader.
+
+Here matters rested for a fortnight; then the girl received an urgent
+note from Cadbury Taylor, asking her to call at his office next day
+promptly at four o'clock. It was very important, he said, and he hoped
+she would on no account disappoint him. Jennie's first impulse was not
+to go, but she was so anxious to learn what progress the detective had
+made in the case, fearing that at last he might have got on the right
+track, that she felt it would be unwise to take the risk of not seeing
+him. If his suspicions were really aroused, her absence might possibly
+serve to confirm them. Exactly at four o'clock next afternoon she
+entered his office and found him, to her relief, alone. He sprang up
+from his table on seeing her, and said in a whisper, "I am so glad you
+have come. I am in rather a quandary. Lord Donal Stirling is in London
+on a flying visit. He called here yesterday."
+
+The girl caught her breath, but said nothing.
+
+"I explained to him the reasons I have for believing that it was
+actually the Princess von Steinheimer whom he met at the Duchess of
+Chiselhurst's ball. He laughed at me; there was no convincing him. He
+said that theory was more absurd than the sending him a picture of
+a housemaid as that of the lady he met at the ball. I used all the
+arguments which you had used, but he brushed them aside as of no
+consequence, and somehow the case did not appear to be as clear as when
+you propounded your theory."
+
+"Well, what then?" asked the girl.
+
+"Why, then I asked him to come up here at four o'clock and hear what an
+assistant of mine would say about the case."
+
+"At four o'clock!" cried the girl in terror; "then he may be here at any
+moment."
+
+"He is here now; he is in the next room. Come in, and I will introduce
+you, and then I want you to tell him all the circumstances which lead
+you to believe that it was the Princess herself whom he met. I am sure
+you can place all the points before him so tersely that you will succeed
+in bringing him round to your own way of thinking. You will try, won't
+you, Miss Baxter? It will be a very great obligement to me."
+
+"Oh, no, no, no!" cried the girl; "I am not going to admit to anyone
+that I have been acting as a detective's assistant. You had no right to
+bring me here. I must go at once. If I had known this I would not have
+come."
+
+"It won't take you five minutes," pleaded Cadbury Taylor. "He is at this
+moment waiting for you; I told him you would be here at four."
+
+"I can't help that; you had no right to make an appointment for me
+without my knowledge and consent."
+
+Taylor was about to speak when the door-handle of the inner room turned.
+
+"I say, detective," remarked Lord Donal, in a voice of some irritation,
+"you should have assistants who are more punctual. I am a very busy man,
+and must leave for St. Petersburg to-night, so I can't spend all my time
+in your office, you know."
+
+"I am sure I beg your pardon, my lord," said the detective with great
+obsequiousness. "This young lady has some objections to giving her
+views, but I am sure you will be able to persuade her--"
+
+He turned, but the place at his side was vacant. The door to the hall
+was open, and the girl had escaped as she saw the handle of the inner
+door turn. Taylor looked blankly at his client with dropped jaw. Lord
+Donal laughed.
+
+"Your assistant seems to have disappeared as completely as did the lady
+at the ball. Why not set your detectives on _her_ track? Perhaps she
+will prove to be the person I am in search of."
+
+"I am very sorry, my lord," stammered the detective.
+
+"Oh, don't mention it. I am sure you have done all that could be done
+with the very ineffective clues which unfortunately are our only
+possession, but you are quite wrong in thinking it was the Princess
+herself who attended the ball, and I don't blame your assistant for
+refusing to bolster up an impossible case. We will consider the search
+ended, and if you will kindly let me have your bill at the Diplomatic
+Club before six o'clock to-night, I will send you a cheque. Good
+afternoon, Mr. Taylor."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+JENNIE ELUDES AN OFFER OF MARRIAGE.
+
+
+As Jennie rapidly hurried away from the office of Mr. Cadbury Taylor,
+there arose in her mind some agitation as to what the detective would
+think of her sudden flight. She was convinced that, up to the moment of
+leaving him so abruptly, he had not the slightest suspicion she herself,
+to whom he was then talking, was the person he had been searching for up
+and down Europe. What must he think of one who, while speaking with him,
+suddenly, without a word of leave-taking, disappeared as if the earth
+had opened and swallowed her, and all because the handle of the door to
+the inner room had turned? Then the excuse she had given for not wishing
+to meet Lord Donal must have struck him as ridiculously inadequate.
+When she reached her desk and reflected with more calmness over
+the situation, she found no cause to censure herself for her hasty
+departure; although she had acted on impulse, she saw there had been
+nothing else to do; another moment and she would have been face to face
+with Lord Donal himself.
+
+Next day brought a note from the detective which went far to reassure
+her. He apologized for having made the appointment without her
+permission, and explained that Lord Donal's unexpected arrival in
+London, and his stubborn unbelief that it had been the Princess herself
+whom he met at the ball, seemingly left the detective no alternative out
+to call on the person who had so persistently advanced the theory, to
+explain it to the one most intimately concerned. It had not occurred
+to him at the time to think that Miss Baxter might object to meet Lord
+Donal, who was an entire stranger to her; but now he saw that he was
+wrong, etc., etc., etc. This note did much to convince Jennie that,
+after all, the detective had not seen the clues which appeared to be
+spread so plainly before his eyes. Cadbury Taylor, however, said nothing
+about the search being ended, and a few days later Jennie received a
+disquieting letter from the Princess von Steinheimer.
+
+"My dear Jennie," her Highness wrote, "I am sure the detectives are
+after you, and so I thought it best to send you a word of warning. Of
+course it is only surmise on my part, but for days there has been a
+woman hovering about the castle, trying to get information from my
+servants. My maid came directly to me and told me what she knew. The
+woman detective had spoken to her. This inquisitive person, who had come
+from Paris, wished particularly to know whether I had been seen about
+the castle during the week in which the Duchess of Chiselhurst's ball
+took place; and so this leads me to suppose that some one is making
+inquiries for you. It must be either Lord Donal Stirling or the Duke
+of Chiselhurst, but I rather think it is the former. I have written an
+indignant letter to Lord Donal, accusing him of having caused detectives
+to haunt the castle. I have not yet received a reply, but Lord Donal is
+a truthful person, and in a day or two I expect to find out whether or
+not he has a hand in this business. Meanwhile, Jennie, be on your guard,
+and I will write you again as soon as I have something further to tell."
+
+The reading of this letter greatly increased Jennie's fears, for she
+felt assured that, stupid as the men undoubtedly were, they verged so
+closely on the brink of discovery, they were almost certain to stumble
+upon the truth if the investigation was continued. She wrote a
+hurried note to the Princess, imploring her to be cautious, and not
+inadvertently give any clue that would lead to her discovery. Her
+letter evidently crossed one from the Princess herself. Lord Donal had
+confessed, said the letter, and promised never, never to do it again.
+"He says that before my letter was received he had stopped the
+detectives, who were doing no good and apparently only annoying innocent
+people. He says the search is ended, as far as the detective is
+concerned, and that I need fear no more intrusions from inquiry agents,
+male or female. He apologized very handsomely, but says he has not given
+up hopes of finding the lady who disappeared. And now, Jennie, I trust
+that you will admit my cleverness. You see that I had only a word or
+two from my maid as a clue, but I unravelled the whole plot and at once
+discovered who was the instigator of it, so I think I wouldn't make a
+bad detective myself. I am tremendously interested in episodes like
+this. I believe if I had known nothing of the impersonation, and if the
+case had been put in my hands, I should have discovered you long ago.
+Can't you think of some way in which my undoubted talent for research
+may be made use of? You don't know how much I envy you in your newspaper
+office, always with an absorbing mystery on hand to solve. It must be
+like being the editor of a puzzle department. I wish you would let me
+help you next time you have anything important to do. Will you promise?
+
+"When you write again, please send your letter to Vienna, as we are
+going into residence there, my husband having been unexpectedly called
+to the capital. He holds an important position in the Government, as
+perhaps you remember."
+
+Jennie was delighted to know that all inquiry had ceased, and she wrote
+a long letter of gratitude to the Princess. She concluded her epistle by
+saying: "It is perfectly absurd of you to envy one who has to work as
+hard as I. You are the person to be envied. It is not all beer and
+skittles in a newspaper office, which is a good thing, for I don't like
+beer, and I don't know what skittles is or are. But I promise you that
+the next time I have an interesting case on hand I shall write and
+give you full particulars, and I am sure that together we shall be
+invincible."
+
+But one trouble leaves merely to give place to another in this life.
+Jennie was disturbed to notice that Mr. Hardwick was becoming more and
+more confidential with her. He sat down by her desk whenever there was
+a reasonable excuse for doing so, and he consulted her on matters
+important and on matters trivial. An advance of salary came to her,
+and she knew it was through his influence with the board of directors.
+Although Mr. Hardwick was sharp and decisive in business matters, he
+proved an awkward man where his affections were concerned, and he often
+came and sat by the girl's desk, evidently wishing to say something, and
+yet quite as evidently having nothing to say; and thus the situation
+became embarrassing. Jennie was a practical girl and had no desire to
+complicate the situation by allowing her employer to fall in love with
+her, yet it was impossible to go to him and ask that his attentions
+might be limited strictly to a business basis. The crisis, however,
+was brought on by Mr. Hardwick himself. One day, when they were alone
+together, he said abruptly,--
+
+"That romance in high life which you were investigating with Mr. Cadbury
+Taylor did not come to anything?"
+
+"No, Mr. Hardwick."
+
+"Then don't you think we might enact a romance in high life in this very
+room; it is high enough from the street to entitle it to be called a
+romance in high life," and the editor grinned uneasily, like an unready
+man who hopes to relieve a dilemma by a poor joke.
+
+Jennie, however, did not laugh and did not look up at him, but continued
+to scribble shorthand notes on the paper before her.
+
+"Ah, Mr. Hardwick!" she said with a sigh, "I see you have discovered my
+secret, although I had hoped to conceal it even from your alert eyes.
+I am, indeed, in the situation of _Ralph Rackstraw_ in 'Pinafore,' 'I
+love, and love, alas! above my station,' and now that you know half, you
+may as well know all. It arose out of that unfortunate ball given by the
+Duchess of Chiselhurst which will haunt me all the rest of my life, I
+fear," said Jennie, still without looking up. Mr. Hardwick smothered an
+ejaculation and was glad that the girl's eyes were not upon him. There
+was a pause of a few moments' duration between them. He took the path
+which was left open to him, fondly flattering himself that, while he
+had stumbled inadvertently upon her romance, he had kept his own secret
+safe.
+
+"I--I have no right to intrude on your confidences, Miss Baxter,"
+he said finally with an effort, "and I hope you will excuse me
+for--for------"
+
+"Oh! I have been sure for some days you knew it," interrupted the girl,
+looking up, but not at him. "I have been neglecting my work, I fear, and
+so you were quite right in speaking."
+
+"No, your work is all right; it wasn't that exactly--but never mind, we
+won't speak of this any more, for I see it embarrasses you."
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Hardwick," said Jennie, again bending her eyes on the
+desk before her.
+
+The man saw the colour come and go in her cheeks, and thought he had
+never beheld anyone so entrancing. He rose quickly, without making
+further attempt at explanation, and left the room. One or two tear drops
+stained the paper on which the girl was scribbling. She didn't like
+giving pain to anyone, but could not hold herself to blame for what
+had happened. She made up her mind to leave the _Daily Bugle_ and seek
+employment elsewhere, but next day Mr. Hardwick showed no trace of
+disappointment, and spoke to her with that curt imperiousness which had
+heretofore been his custom.
+
+"Miss Baxter," he said, "have you been reading the newspapers with any
+degree of attention lately?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Hardwick."
+
+"Have you been watching the drift of foreign politics?"
+
+"Do you refer to that speech by the Prime Minister of Austria a week or
+two ago?"
+
+"Yes, that is what I have in my mind. As you know, then, it amounted
+almost to a declaration of war against England--almost, but not quite.
+It was a case of saying too much or of not saying enough; however, it
+was not followed up, and the Premier has been as dumb as a graven image
+ever since. England has many enemies in different parts of the world,
+but I must confess that this speech by the Austrian Premier came as a
+surprise. There must have been something hidden, which is not visible
+from the outside. The Premier is too astute a man not to know exactly
+what his words meant, and he was under no delusion as to the manner in
+which England would take them. It is a case, then, of, 'When I was so
+quickly done for, I wonder what I was begun for'--that is what all
+Europe is asking."
+
+"Is it not generally supposed, Mr. Hardwick, that his object was to
+consolidate Austria and Hungary? I understood that local politics were
+at the bottom of his fiery speech."
+
+"Quite so, but the rousing of the war spirit in Austria and Hungary was
+useless unless that spirit is given something to do. It needs a war, not
+a threat of war, to consolidate Austria and Hungary. If the speech had
+been followed up by hostile action, or by another outburst that would
+make war inevitable, I could understand it. The tone of the speech
+indicates that the Prime Minister meant business at the time he gave
+utterance to it. Something has occurred meanwhile to change the
+situation, and what that something is, all the newspapers in Europe have
+been trying to find out. We have had our regular Vienna representative
+at work ever since the words were uttered, and for the past two weeks
+he has been assisted by one of the cleverest men I could send him from
+London; but up to date, both have failed. Now I propose that you go
+quietly to Vienna; I shall not let either of the men know you are
+investigating the affair at which they have laboured with such little
+success; for both are good men, and I do not want to discourage either
+of them; still, above all things, I wish to have the solution of this
+mystery. So it occurred to me last night that you might succeed where
+others had failed. What do you think of it?"
+
+"I am willing to try," said Miss Baxter, as there flashed across her
+mind an idea that here was a case in which the Princess von Steinheimer
+could be of the greatest assistance to her.
+
+"It has been thought," went on the editor, "that the Emperor is
+extremely adverse to having trouble with England or any other country.
+Still, if that were the case, a new Cabinet would undoubtedly have been
+formed after this intemperate address of the Premier; but this man still
+holds his office, and there has been neither explanation nor apology
+from Court or Cabinet. I am convinced that there is something behind all
+this, a wheel within a wheel of some sort, because, the day after the
+speech, there came a rumour from Vienna that an attempt had been made on
+the life of the Emperor or of the Premier; it was exceedingly vague, but
+it was alleged that a dynamite explosion had taken place in the
+palace. This was promptly contradicted, but we all know what official
+contradictions amount to. There is internal trouble of some kind at
+the Court of Vienna, and if we could publish the full details, such an
+article would give us a European reputation. When could you be ready to
+begin your journey, Miss Baxter?"
+
+"I am ready now."
+
+"Well, in an affair like this it is best to lose no time; you can go
+to-morrow morning, then?"
+
+"Oh, certainly, but I must leave the office at once, and you should get
+someone to finish the work I am on."
+
+"I will attend to that," said the editor.
+
+Thus relieved, Jennie betook herself to a telegraph office. She knew
+that if she wrote a letter to the Princess, who was now in Vienna, she
+would probably herself reach that city as soon as her note, so she
+telegraphed that something important was on hand which would take her to
+Vienna by next day's Orient express, and intimated that it was a matter
+in which she might need the assistance of the Princess. Then she
+hastened to her rooms to pack up. That evening there came an answering
+telegram from Vienna. The Princess asked her to bring her ball dress and
+all the rest of her finery. The lady added that she herself would be at
+the railway station, and asked Jennie to telegraph to her, _en route_,
+the time of her arrival. It was evident that her Highness was quite
+prepared to engage in whatever scheme there was on hand, and this fact
+encouraged Jennie to hope that success perhaps awaited her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+JENNIE TOUCHES THE EDGE OF A GOVERNMENT SECRET.
+
+
+True to her promise, the Princess von Steinheimer was waiting at the
+immense railway station of Vienna, and she received her friend with
+gushing effusion. Jennie left the train as neat as when she had entered
+it, for many women have the faculty of taking long journeys without
+showing the dishevelled effect which protracted railway travelling seems
+to have upon the masculine, and probably more careless, portion of
+humanity.
+
+"Oh, you dear girl!" cried the Princess; "you cannot tell how glad I am
+to see you. I was just yearning for someone to talk English to. I am so
+tired of French and German, although they flatter me by saying that I
+speak those two languages extremely well; yet English is my own tongue,
+and it is so delightful to talk with one who can understand every
+blessed word you say, which you can easily see those who pretend to
+speak English in Vienna do not. What long chats we shall have! And now
+come this way to the carriage. There is a man here to look after your
+luggage. You are coming right home with me and are going to stay with me
+as long as you are in Vienna. Don't say, 'No,' nor make any excuse, nor
+talk of going to an hotel, for a suite of rooms is all ready for you,
+and your luggage will be there before we are. Now let us enter the
+carriage, for I am just pining to hear what it is you have on hand. Some
+delicious scandal, I hope."
+
+"No," answered Jennie; "it pertains to Government matters."
+
+"Oh, dear!" cried the Princess; "how tiresome! Politics are so dull."
+
+"I don't think this case is dull," said Jennie; "because it has brought
+Austria and England to the verge of war."
+
+"What a dreadful idea! I hadn't heard anything of it. When did this
+happen?"
+
+"Less than a month ago," and Jennie related the whole circumstance,
+giving a synopsis of the Premier's speech.
+
+"But I see nothing in that speech to cause war," protested the Princess.
+"It is as mild as new milk."
+
+"I don't pretend to understand diplomacy," continued Jennie, blushing
+slightly as she remembered Lord Donal; and it seemed that the same
+thought struck the Princess at the same moment, for she looked
+quizzically at Jennie and burst out into a laugh.
+
+"You may laugh," cried the girl; "but I tell you that this is a serious
+business. They say it only needed a second 'new milk' speech from the
+Premier to have England answer most politely in words of honey, and next
+instant the two countries would have been at each other's throats."
+
+"Suppose we write to Lord Donal in St. Petersburg," suggested the
+Princess, still laughing, "and ask him to come to Vienna and help us? He
+understands all about diplomacy. By the way, Jennie, did Lord Donal ever
+find out whom he met at the ball that night?"
+
+"No, he didn't," answered Miss Baxter shortly.
+
+"Don't you ever intend to let him know? Are you going to leave the
+romance unfinished, like one of Henry James's novels?"
+
+"It isn't a romance; it is simply a very distressing incident which I
+have been trying to forget ever since. It is all very well for you to
+laugh, but if you ever mention the subject again I'll leave you and go
+to an hotel."
+
+"Oh, no, you won't," chirruped the Princess brightly; "you daren't. You
+know I hold all the trump cards; at any time I can send a letter to
+Lord Donal and set the poor young man's mind at rest. So you see, Miss
+Jennie, you will have to talk very sweetly and politely to me and not
+make any threats, because I am like those dreadful persons in the
+sensational plays who possess the guilty secrets of other people and
+blackmail them. But you are a nice girl, and I won't say anything you
+don't want to hear said. Now, what is it you wish to find out about this
+political crisis?"
+
+"I want to discover why the Premier did not follow up his speech with
+another. He must have known when he spoke how his words would be taken
+in England; therefore it is thought that he had some plans which
+unforeseen circumstances intervening have nullified. I want to know what
+those unforeseen circumstances were, and what these plans were. For the
+past fortnight the _Daily Bugle_ has had two men here in Vienna trying
+to throw some light on the dark recesses of diplomacy. Up to date they
+have failed, but at any moment they may succeed; it was because they
+failed that I am sent here. Now, have you anything to suggest, Madame la
+Princesse?"
+
+"I suggest, Jennie, that we put our heads together and learn all that
+those diplomatists wish to hide. Have you no plans yourself?"
+
+"I have no very definite plan, but I have a general scheme. These men
+I spoke of are trying to discover what other men are endeavouring to
+conceal. All the officials are on their guard; they are highly placed,
+and are not likely to be got at by bribery. They are clever, alert men
+of the world, so hoodwinking them is out of the question; therefore I
+think my two fellow journalists have a difficult task before them."
+
+"But it is the same task that you have before you; why is it not as
+difficult for you, Jennie, as for them?"
+
+"Because I propose to work with people who are not on their guard, and
+there is where you can help me, if you are not shocked at my proposal.
+Each official has a wife, or at least most of them have. Some of these
+wives, in all probability, possess the information that we would like to
+get. Women will talk more freely with women than men will with men. Now,
+I propose to leave the officials severely alone and to interview their
+wives."
+
+The Princess clapped her hands.
+
+"Excellent!" she cried. "The women of Vienna are the greatest gossips
+you ever heard chattering together. I have never taken any interest in
+politics, otherwise I suppose I might have become possessed of some
+important Government secrets. Now, Jennie, I'll tell you what I propose
+doing. I shall give a formal tea next Thursday afternoon. I shall invite
+to that tea a dozen, or two dozen, or three dozen wives of influential
+officials about the Court. My husband will like that, because he is
+always complaining that I do not pay enough attention to the ladies of
+the political circle of Vienna. He takes a great interest in politics,
+you know. If we discover nothing at the first tea-meeting, we will have
+another, and another, and another, until we do. We are sure to invite
+the right woman on one of those occasions, and when we find her I'll
+warrant the secret will soon belong to us. Ah, here we are at home, and
+we will postpone the discussion of our delightful conspiracy until you
+have had something to eat and are rested a bit."
+
+The carriage drew up at the magnificent palace, well known in Vienna,
+which belongs to the Prince von Steinheimer; and shortly afterwards
+Jennie Baxter found herself in possession of the finest suite of rooms
+she had ever beheld in her life. Jennie laughed as she looked round her
+apartment and noted its luxuriant appointments.
+
+"These are not exactly what we should call 'diggings' in London, are
+they?" she said to the Princess, who stood by her side, delighted at the
+pleasure of her friend. "We often read of poor penny-a-liners in their
+garrets; but I don't think any penny-a-liner ever had such a garret as
+this placed at his disposal."
+
+"I knew you would like the rooms," cried the Princess gaily. "I like
+them myself, and I hope they will help to induce you to stay in Vienna
+as long as you can. I have given you my own maid Gretlich, and I assure
+you it isn't every friend I would lend her to; she is a model servant."
+
+"Oh, but you mustn't do that," said Jennie. "I cannot rob you of your
+maid and also be selfish enough to monopolize these rooms."
+
+"You are not robbing me; in fact, I am, perhaps, a little artful in
+giving you Gretlich, for she is down in the dumps this last week or two,
+and I don't know what in the world is the matter with her. I suspect it
+is some love affair; but she will say nothing, although I have asked
+her time and again what is the trouble. Now, you are such a cheery,
+consoling young woman that I thought if Gretlich were in your service
+for a time she might brighten up and be her own self again. So you
+see, instead of robbing me, I am really taking advantage of your good
+nature."
+
+"I am afraid you are just saying that to make it easier for me to be
+selfish; still, you are so generous, Princess, that I am not going to
+object to anything you do, but just give myself up to luxury while I
+stay in Vienna."
+
+"That is right. Ah, here is Gretlich. Now, Gretlich, I want you to help
+make Miss Baxter's stay here so pleasant that she will never want to
+leave us."
+
+"I shall do my best, your Highness," said the girl, with quiet
+deference.
+
+The Princess left the two alone together, and Jennie saw that Gretlich
+was not the least ornamental appendage to the handsome suite of rooms.
+Gretlich was an excellent example of that type of fair women for which
+Vienna is noted; but she was, as the Princess had said, extremely
+downcast, and Jennie, who had a deep sympathy for all who worked, spoke
+kindly to the girl and endeavoured to cheer her. There was something of
+unaccustomed tenderness in the compassionate tones of Jennie's voice
+that touched the girl, for, after a brief and ineffectual effort at
+self-control, she broke down and wept. To her pitying listener she
+told her story. She had been betrothed to a soldier whose regiment was
+stationed in the Burg. When last the girl saw her lover he was to be
+that night on guard in the Treasury. Before morning a catastrophe of
+some kind occurred. The girl did not know quite what had happened. Some
+said there had been a dreadful explosion and her lover had lost his
+life. Neither the soldier's relatives nor his betrothed were allowed to
+see him after the disaster. He had been buried secretly, and it appeared
+to be the intention of the authorities to avoid all publicity. The
+relatives and the betrothed of the dead soldier had been warned to keep
+silence and seek no further information. It was not till several days
+after her lover's death that Gretlich, anxious because he did not keep
+his appointment with her, and not hearing from him, fearing that he was
+ill, began to make inquiries; then she received together the information
+and the caution.
+
+In the presence of death all consolers are futile, and Jennie realized
+this as she endeavoured as well as she could to comfort the girl. Her
+heart was so much enlisted in this that perhaps her intellect was the
+less active; but here she stood on the very threshold of the secret she
+had come to Vienna to discover, and yet had not the slightest suspicion
+that the girl's tragedy and her own mission were interwoven. Jennie had
+wondered at the stupidity of Cadbury Taylor, who failed to see what
+seemed so plainly before him, yet here was Jennie herself come a
+thousand miles, more or less, to obtain certain information, and here a
+sobbing girl was narrating the very item of news that she had come so
+far to learn--all of which would seem to show that none of us are so
+bright and clever as we imagine ourselves to be.
+
+In the afternoon the Princess entered Jennie's sitting-room carrying in
+her hand a bunch of letters.
+
+"There!" she cried, "while you have been resting I have been working,
+and we are not going to allow any time to be lost. I have written
+with my own hand invitations to about two dozen people to our tea on
+Thursday; among others, the wife of the Premier, Countess Stron. I
+expect you to devote yourself to that lady and tell me the result of
+the conversation after it is over. Have you been talking consolation to
+Gretlich? I came up here half an hour ago, and it seemed to me I heard
+the sound of crying in this room."
+
+"Oh, yes," said Jennie, "she has been telling me all her trouble. It
+seems she had a lover in the army, and he has been killed in some
+accident in the Treasury."
+
+"What kind of an accident?"
+
+"Gretlich said there had been an explosion there."
+
+"Dear me! I never heard of it. It is a curious thing that one must come
+from London to tell us our own news. An explosion in the Treasury! and
+so serious that a soldier was killed! That arouses my curiosity, so I
+shall just sit down and write another invitation to the wife of the
+Master of the Treasury."
+
+"I wish you would, because I should like to know something further about
+this myself. Gretlich seems to have had but scant information regarding
+the occurrence, and I should like to know more about it so that I might
+tell her."
+
+"We shall learn all about it from madame, and I must write that note at
+once for fear I forget it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+JENNIE INDULGES IN TEA AND GOSSIP.
+
+
+On Thursday afternoon there was a brilliant assemblage in the spacious
+salon of the Princess von Steinheimer. The rich attire of the ladies
+formed a series of kinetographic pictures that were dazzling, for
+Viennese women are adepts in the art of dress, as are their Parisian
+sisters. Tea was served, not in cups and saucers, as Jennie had been
+accustomed to seeing it handed round, but in goblets of clear, thin
+Venetian glass, each set in a holder of encrusted filigree gold. There
+were all manner of delicious cakes, for which the city is celebrated.
+The tea itself had come overland through Russia from China and had not
+suffered the deterioration which an ocean voyage produces. The decoction
+was served clear, with sugar if desired, and a slice of lemon, and
+Jennie thought it the most delicious brew she had ever tasted.
+
+"I am so sorry," whispered the Princess to Jennie when an opportunity
+occurred, "but the Countess Stron has sent a messenger to say that she
+cannot be present this afternoon. It seems her husband, the Premier,
+is ill, and she, like a good wife, remains at home to nurse him. This
+rather upsets our plans, doesn't it?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know," replied Jennie. "It is more than likely that the
+wife of the Premier would be exceedingly careful not to discuss any
+political question in this company. I have counted more upon the wife of
+a lesser official than upon the Countess Stron."
+
+"You are right," said the Princess. "and now come with me. I want to
+introduce you to the wife of the Master of the Treasury, and from her,
+perhaps, you can learn something of the accident that befell the lover
+of poor Gretlich."
+
+The wife of the Master of the Treasury proved to be a garrulous old lady
+who evidently prided herself on knowing everything that was taking place
+about her. Jennie and she became quite confidential over their goblets
+of tea, a beverage of which the old lady seemed inordinately fond. As
+the conversation between them drifted on, Jennie saw that here was a
+person who would take a delight in telling everything she knew, and
+the only question which now arose was whether she knew anything Jennie
+wished to learn. But before she tried her on high politics the girl
+determined to find out more about the disaster that had made such an
+abrupt ending to Gretlich's young dream.
+
+"I have been very much interested," she said, "in one of the maids here
+who lost her lover some weeks ago in an accident that occurred in the
+Treasury. The maid doesn't seem to know very much about what happened,
+and was merely told that her lover, a soldier who had been on guard
+there that night, was dead."
+
+"Oh, dear, yes!" whispered the old lady, lowering her voice, "what a
+dreadful thing that was, four men killed and eight or nine now in the
+hospital. My poor husband has had hardly a wink of sleep since the
+event, and the Premier is ill in bed through the worry."
+
+"Because of the loss of life?" asked Jennie innocently.
+
+"Oh, no, no! the loss of life wouldn't matter; it is the loss of the
+money that is the serious thing, and how they are going to replace it or
+account for its disappearance I am sure I don't know. The deficiency is
+something over two hundred million florins. Was it not awful?"
+
+"Was the building shattered to such an extent?" inquired Jennie, who did
+not stop to think that such a sum would replace any edifice in Vienna,
+even if it had been wiped off the face of the earth.
+
+"The Treasury was damaged, of course, but the cost of repairs will not
+be great. No, my child, it is a much more disturbing affair than the
+destruction of any state house in the Empire. What has made the Premier
+ill, and what is worrying my poor husband into an untimely grave, is
+nothing less than the loss of the war chest."
+
+"The war chest!" echoed Jennie, "what is that?"
+
+"My dear, every great nation has a war chest. England has one, so has
+France, Germany, Russia--no matter how poor a nation may be, or how
+difficult it is to collect the taxes, that nation must have a war
+chest. If war were to break out suddenly, even with the most prosperous
+country, there would be instant financial panic; ready money would be
+difficult to obtain; a loan would be practically impossible; and what
+war calls for the very instant it is declared is money--not promises
+of money, not paper money, not silver money even, but gold; therefore,
+every nation which is in danger of war has a store of gold coin. This
+store is not composed mainly, or even largely, of the coins of the
+nation which owns the store; it consists of the sovereigns of England,
+the louis of France, the Willems d'or of Holland, the eight-florin
+pieces of Austria, the double-crown of Germany, the half-imperials of
+Russia, the double-Frederics of Denmark, and so on. All gold, gold,
+gold! I believe that in the war chest of Austria there were deposited
+coins of different nations to the value of something like two hundred
+million florins. My husband never told me exactly how much was there,
+but sometimes when things looked peaceable there was less money in the
+war chest than when there was imminent danger of the European outbreak
+which we all fear. The war chest of Austria was in a stone-vaulted room,
+one of the strongest dungeons in the Treasury. The public are admitted
+into several rooms of the Treasury, but no stranger is ever allowed into
+that portion of the building which houses the war chest. This room is
+kept under guard night and day. For what happened, my husband feels that
+he is in no way to blame, and I don't think his superiors are inclined
+to charge him with neglect of duty. It is a singular thing that the day
+before the disaster took place he of his own accord doubled the guard
+that watched over the room and also the approaches to it. The war chest
+was at its fullest. Never, so he tells me, was there so much money in
+the war chest as at that particular time. Something had occurred that in
+his opinion called for extra watchfulness, and so he doubled the guard.
+But about midnight there was a tremendous explosion. The strong door
+communicating with the passage was wrenched from its hinges and flung
+outwards into the hallway. It is said that dynamite must have been used,
+and that in a very large quantity. Not a vestige of the chest remained
+but a few splintered pieces of iron. The four soldiers in the room were
+blown literally to pieces, and those in the passage-way were stunned by
+the shock. The fact that they were unconscious for some minutes seems
+to have given the criminal, whoever he was, his chance of escape. For,
+although an instant alarm was sent out, and none but those who had a
+right to be on the premises were allowed out of or in the Treasury, yet
+no one was caught, nor has anyone been caught up to this day."
+
+"But the gold, the gold?" cried Jennie eagerly.
+
+"There was not a florin of it left. Every piece has disappeared. It is
+at once the most clever and the most gigantic robbery of money that has
+taken place within our knowledge."
+
+"But such a quantity of gold," said Jennie, "must have been of enormous
+weight. Two hundred million florins! Why, that is twenty million pounds,
+isn't it? It would take a regiment of thieves to carry so much away. How
+has that been done? And where is the gold concealed?"
+
+"Ah, my child, if you can answer your own questions the Austrian
+Government will pay you almost any sum you like to name. The police are
+completely baffled. Of course, nothing has been said of this gigantic
+robbery; but every exit from Vienna is watched, and not only that, but
+each frontier is guarded. What the Government wants, of course, is to
+get back its gold, the result of years of taxation, which cannot very
+easily be re-levied."
+
+"And when did this robbery take place?" asked Jennie.
+
+"On the night of the 17th."
+
+"On the night of the 17th," repeated the girl, more to herself than to
+the voluble old woman; "and it was on the 16th that the Premier made his
+war speech."
+
+"Exactly," said the old lady, who overheard the remark not intended
+for her ears; "and don't you think there was something striking in the
+coincidence?"
+
+"I don't quite understand. What coincidence?"
+
+"Well, you know the speech of the Premier was against England. It was
+not a speech made on the spur of the moment, but was doubtless the
+result of many consultations, perhaps with Russia, perhaps with Germany,
+or with France--who knows? We have been growing very friendly with
+Russia of late; and as England has spies all over the world, doubtless
+her Government knew before the speech was made that it was coming; so
+the police appear to think that the whole resources of the British
+Government were set at the task of crippling Austria at a critical
+moment."
+
+"Surely you don't mean, madame, that the Government of England would
+descend to burglary, robbery--yes, and murder, even, for the poor
+soldiers who guarded the treasure were as effectually murdered as if
+they had been assassinated in the street? You don't imagine that the
+British Government would stoop to such deeds as these?"
+
+The old lady shook her head wisely.
+
+"By the time you are my age, my dear, and have seen as much of politics
+as I have, you will know that Governments stop at nothing to accomplish
+their ends. No private association of thieves could have laid such plans
+as would have done away with two hundred millions of florins in gold,
+unless they had not only ample resources, but also a master brain to
+direct them. Nations hesitate at nothing where their interests are
+concerned. It was to the interest of no other Empire but England to
+deplete Austria at this moment, and see how complete her machinations
+are. No nation trusts another, and if Austria had proof that England is
+at the bottom of this robbery, she dare not say anything, because her
+war chest is empty. Then, again, she cannot allow either Germany or
+Russia to know how effectually she has been robbed, for no one could
+tell what either of these nations might do under the circumstances. The
+Government fears to let even its own people know what has happened. It
+is a stroke of vengeance marvellous in its finality. Austria is
+crippled for years to come, unless she finds the stolen gold on her own
+territory."
+
+The old lady had worked herself up into such a state of excitement
+during her recital that she did not notice that most of her companion
+visitors had taken their leave, and when the Princess approached the
+two, she arose with some trepidation.
+
+"My dear Princess," she said, "your tea has been so good, and the
+company of your young compatriot has been so charming, that I have done
+nothing but chatter, chatter, chatter away about things which should
+only be spoken of under one's breath, and now I must hurry away. May I
+venture to hope that you will honour me with your presence at one of my
+receptions if I send you a card?"
+
+"I shall be delighted to do so," replied the Princess, with that
+gracious condescension which became her so well.
+
+The garrulous old lady was the last to take her leave, and when the
+Princess was left alone with her guest, she cried,--
+
+"Jennie, I have found out absolutely nothing, what have you discovered?"
+
+"Everything!" replied the girl, walking up and down the floor in
+excitement over the unearthing of such a bonanza of news.
+
+"You don't tell me so! Now do sit down and let me know the full
+particulars at once."
+
+When Jennie's exciting story was finished she said,--
+
+"You see, this robbery explains why the Premier did not follow up his
+warlike speech. The police seem to think that England has had a hand in
+this robbery, but of course that is absurd."
+
+"I am not so sure of that," replied the Princess, taking as she spoke,
+the Chicago point of view, and forgetting for the moment her position
+among the aristocracy of Europe. "England takes most things it can get
+its hands on, and she is not too slow to pick up a gold mine here and
+there, so why should she hesitate when the gold is already minted for
+her?"
+
+"It is too absurd for argument," continued Jennie calmly, "so we won't
+talk of that phase of the subject. I must get away to England instantly.
+Let us find out when the first train leaves."
+
+"Nonsense!" protested the Princess; "what do you need to go to England
+for? You have seen nothing of Vienna."
+
+"Oh, I can see Vienna another time; I must get to England with this
+account of the robbery."
+
+"Won't your paper pay for telegraphing such an important piece of news?
+
+"Oh, yes; there would be no difficulty about that, but I dare not trust
+either the post or the telegraph in a case like this. The police are on
+the watch."
+
+"But couldn't you send it through by a code? My father always used to do
+his cabling by code; it saved a lot of money and also kept other people
+from knowing what his business was."
+
+"I have a code, but I hesitate about trusting even to that."
+
+"I'll tell you what we'll do," said the Princess. "I want you to stay in
+Vienna."
+
+"Oh, I shall return," said Jennie. "I've only just had a taste of this
+delightful city. I'll come right back."
+
+"I can't trust you to do anything of the kind. When you get to London
+you will stay there. Now here is what I propose, and it will have the
+additional advantage of saving your paper a day. We will run down
+together into Italy--to Venice; then you can take along your code and
+telegraph from there in perfect safety. When that is done you will
+return here to Vienna with me. And another thing, you may be sure your
+editor will want you to stay right here on the spot to let him know of
+any outcome of this sensational _dénouement_."
+
+"That isn't a bad idea," murmured Jennie. "How long will it take us to
+get to Venice?"
+
+"I don't know, but I am sure it will save you hours compared with going
+to London. I shall get the exact time for you in a moment."
+
+Jennie followed the suggestion of the Princess, and together the two
+went to the ever-entrancing city of Venice. By the time they reached
+there, Jennie had her account written and coded. The long message was
+handed in at the telegraph office as soon as the two arrived in Venice.
+Jennie also sent the editor a private despatch giving her address in
+Venice, and also telling him the reason for sending the telegram from
+Italy rather than from Austria or Germany. In the evening she received
+a reply from Mr. Hardwick. "This is magnificent," the telegram said. "I
+doubt if anything like it has ever been done before. We will startle
+the world to-morrow morning. Please return to Vienna, for, as you have
+discovered this much, I am perfectly certain that you will be able to
+capture the robbers. Of course all the police and all the papers of
+Europe will be on the same scent, but I am sure that you will prove a
+match for the whole combination."
+
+"Oh, dear!" cried Jennie, as she handed the message to her friend. "What
+a bothersome world this is; there is no finality about anything. One
+piece of work simply leads to another. Here I thought I had earned at
+least a good month's rest, but, instead of that, a further demand is
+made upon me. I am like the genii in fairy tales: no sooner is one
+apparently impossible task accomplished than another is set."
+
+"But what a magnificent thing it would be if you could discover the
+robber or robbers."
+
+"Magnificent enough, yes; but that isn't to be done by inviting a lot of
+old women to tea, is it?"
+
+"True, so we shall have to set our wits together in another direction.
+I tell you, Jennie, I know I have influence enough to have you made a
+member of the special police. Shall I introduce you as from America, and
+say that you have made a speciality of solving mysteries? An appointment
+to the special police would allow you to have unrestricted entrance to
+the secret portion of the Treasury building. You would see the rooms
+damaged by the explosion, and you would learn what the police have
+discovered. With that knowledge to begin with, we might then do
+something towards solving the problem."
+
+"Madame la Princesse," cried Jennie enthusiastically, "you are inspired!
+The very thing. Let us get back to Vienna." And accordingly the two
+conspirators left Italy by the night train for Austria.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+JENNIE BECOMES A SPECIAL POLICE OFFICER.
+
+
+When Jennie returned to Vienna, and was once more installed in her
+luxurious rooms at the Palace Steinheimer, she received in due time
+a copy of the _Daily Bugle_, sent to her under cover as a registered
+letter. The girl could not complain that the editor had failed to make
+the most of the news she had sent him. As she opened out the paper she
+saw the great black headlines that extended across two columns, and the
+news itself dated not from Venice, but from Vienna, was in type much
+larger than that ordinarily used in the paper, and was double-leaded.
+The headings were startling enough:--
+
+  PHANTOM GOLD.
+
+  THE MOST GIGANTIC ROBBERY OF MODERN TIMES.
+
+  THE AUSTRIAN WAR CHEST DYNAMITED.
+
+  TWENTY MILLION POUNDS IN COIN LOOTED.
+
+  APPALLING DISASTER AT THE TREASURY IN VIENNA.
+
+  FOUR MEN KILLED, AND SIXTEEN OTHERS MORE OR LESS SERIOUSLY
+  INJURED.
+
+"Dear me!" the Princess cried, peering over Jennie's shoulder at these
+amazing headings, "how like home that looks. The _Bugle_ doesn't at all
+resemble a London journal; it reminds me of a Chicago paper's account of
+a baseball match; a baseball match when Chicago was winning, of course,
+and when Anson had lined out the ball from the plate to the lake front,
+and brought three men in on a home run at a critical point in the game."
+
+"Good gracious!" cried Jennie, "what language are you speaking? Is it
+slang, or some foreign tongue?"
+
+"It is pure Chicagoese, Jennie, into which I occasionally lapse even
+here in prim Vienna. I would like to see a good baseball match, with the
+Chicago nine going strong. Let us abandon this effete monarchy, Jennie,
+and pay a visit to America."
+
+"I'll go with pleasure if you will tell me first who robbed the war
+chest. If you can place your dainty forefinger on the spot that conceals
+two hundred million florins in gold, I'll go anywhere with you."
+
+"Oh, yes, that reminds me. I spoke to my husband this morning, and asked
+him if he could get you enrolled as a special detective, and he said
+there would be some difficulty in obtaining such an appointment for a
+woman. Would you have any objection to dressing up as a nice young man,
+Jennie?"
+
+"I would very much rather not; I hope you didn't suggest that to the
+Prince."
+
+The Princess laughed merrily and shook her head.
+
+"No, I told him that I believed that you would solve the mystery if
+anyone could, and, remembering what you had done in that affair of
+my diamonds, my husband has the greatest faith in your powers as an
+investigator; but he fears the authorities here will be reluctant
+to allow a woman to have any part in the search. They have very
+old-fashioned ideas about women in Austria, and think her proper place
+is presiding over a tea-table."
+
+"Well, if they only knew it," said Jennie archly, "some things have been
+discovered over a teacup within our own memories."
+
+"That is quite true," replied the Princess, "but we can hardly give the
+incident as a recommendation to the Austrian authorities. By the way,
+have you noticed that no paper in Vienna has said a single word about
+the robbery of the war chest?"
+
+"It must have been telegraphed here very promptly from London, and yet
+they do not even deny it, which is the usual way of meeting the truth."
+
+While they were talking, a message came from his Highness, asking if
+he might take the liberty of breaking in upon their conference. A few
+moments after, the Prince himself entered the apartment and bowed with
+courtly deference to the two ladies.
+
+"I have succeeded," he said, "beyond my expectations. It seems that a
+newspaper in London has published an account of the whole affair, and
+the police, who were at their wits end before, are even more flustered
+now that the account of the robbery has been made public. By the way,
+how did you learn anything about this robbery? It did not strike me at
+the time you spoke about Miss Baxter's commission this morning, but I
+have been wondering ever since."
+
+"Jennie received a paper from London," said the Princess hurriedly,
+"which said the war chest of Austria had been robbed of two hundred
+million florins, but there is nothing about it in the Vienna Press."
+
+"No," replied the Prince; "nor is there likely to be. The robbery is now
+known to all the world except Austria, and I imagine nothing will be
+said about it here."
+
+"Is there, then, any truth in the report?" asked the Princess
+innocently.
+
+"Truth! It's all truth; that is just where the trouble is. There is
+little use of our denying it, because this London paper is evidently
+well informed, and to deny it we should have to publish something about
+the robbery itself, which we are not inclined to do. It is known,
+however, who the two correspondents of this London paper are, and I
+believe the police are going to make it so interesting for those two
+gentlemen that they will be glad to leave Vienna, for a time at least.
+Of course, nothing can be done openly, because Englishmen make such a
+fuss when their liberties are encroached upon. One of the young men has
+been lured across the frontier by a bogus telegram, and I think the
+authorities will see that he does not get back in a hurry; the other we
+expect to be rid of before long. Of course, we could expel him, but if
+we did, it would be thought that we had done so because he had found out
+the truth about the explosion."
+
+"How did you learn of the explosion?" asked the Princess.
+
+"Oh, I have known all about the affair ever since it happened."
+
+The Princess gave Jennie a quick look, which said as plainly as words,
+"Here was the news that we wanted in our household, and we never
+suspected it." "Why didn't you tell me?" cried the Princess indignantly.
+
+"Well, you see, my dear, you never took much interest in politics, and I
+did not think the news would have any attraction for you; besides," he
+added, with a smile, "we were all cautioned to keep the matter as secret
+as possible."
+
+"And wonderfully well you have managed it!" exclaimed the Princess.
+"That shows what comes of trusting a secret to a lot of men; here it is,
+published to all the world."
+
+"Not quite all the world my dear. As I have said, Austria will know
+nothing regarding it."
+
+"The Princess tells me," said Jennie, "that you were kind enough to
+endeavour to get me permission to make some investigation into this
+mystery. Have you succeeded?"
+
+"Yes, Miss Baxter, as I said, I have succeeded quite beyond my
+expectations, for the lady detective is comparatively an innovation in
+Vienna. However, the truth is, the police are completely in a fog, and
+they are ready to welcome help from whatever quarter it comes. Here is a
+written permit from the very highest authority, which you do not need to
+use except in a case of emergency. Here is also an order from the Chief
+of Police, which will open for you every door in Vienna; and finally,
+here is a badge which you can pin on some not too conspicuous portion
+of your clothing. This badge, I understand, is rarely given out. It is
+partly civil and partly military. You can show it to any guard, who
+will, on seeing it, give you the right-of-way. In case he does not,
+appeal to his superior officer, and allow him to read your police
+permit. Should that fail, then play your trump card, which is this
+highly important document. The Director of the Police, who is a very
+shrewd man, seemed anxious to make your acquaintance before you began
+your investigation. He asked me if you would call upon him, but seemed
+taken aback when I told him you were my wife's friend and a guest at our
+house, so he suggested that you would in all probability wish first to
+see the scene of the explosion, and proposed that he should call here
+with his carriage and accompany you to the Treasury. He wished to know
+if four o'clock in the afternoon would suit your convenience!"
+
+"Oh, yes!" replied Jennie. "I am eager to begin at once, and, of course,
+I shall be much obliged to him if he will act as my guide in the vaults
+of the Treasury, and tell me how much they have already discovered."
+
+"You must not expect much information from the police--in fact, I doubt
+if they have discovered anything. Still, if they have, they are more
+than likely to keep it to themselves; and I imagine they will hold
+a pretty close watch on you, being more anxious to learn what you
+discover, and thus take the credit if they can, than to furnish you with
+any knowledge of the affair they may happen to possess."
+
+"That is quite natural, and only what one has a right to expect. I don't
+wish to rob the police of whatever repute there is to be gained from
+this investigation, and I am quite willing to turn over to them any
+clues I may happen to chance upon."
+
+"Well, if you can convince the Director of that, you will have all the
+assistance he can give you. It wouldn't be bad tactics to let him know
+that you are acting merely in an amateur way, and that you have no
+desire to rob the police of their glory when it comes to the solving of
+the problem." Promptly at four o'clock the Director of the Police put
+in an appearance at the Palace Steinheimer. He appeared to be a most
+obsequious, highly decorated old gentleman, in a very resplendent
+uniform, and he could hardly conceal his surprise at learning that the
+lady detective was a woman so young and so pretty. Charmed as he was
+to find himself in the company of one so engaging, it was nevertheless
+evident to Jennie that he placed no very high estimate on the assistance
+she might be able to give in solving the mystery of the Treasury. This
+trend of mind, she thought, had its advantages, for the Director would
+be less loth to give her full particulars of what had already been
+accomplished by the police.
+
+Jennie accompanied the Director to that extensive mass of buildings of
+which the Treasury forms a part. The carriage drew up at a doorway, and
+here the Director and his companion got out. He led the way into the
+edifice, then, descending a stair, entered an arched corridor, at the
+door of which two soldiers stood on guard, who saluted as the Chief
+passed them.
+
+"Does this lead to the room where the explosion took place?" asked
+Jennie. "Yes." "And is this the only entrance?" "The only entrance,
+madame." "Were the men on guard in this doorway injured by the
+explosion?" "Yes. They were not seriously injured, but were rendered
+incapable for a time of attending to their duties." "Then a person could
+have escaped without their seeing him?" "A whole regiment of persons
+might have escaped. You will understand the situation exactly if I
+compare this corridor to a long cannon, the room at the end being the
+breech-loading chamber. Two guards were inside the room, and two others
+stood outside the door that communicated with this corridor. These four
+men were killed instantly. Of the guards inside the room not a vestige
+has been found. The door, one of the strongest that can be made,
+somewhat similar to the door of a safe, was flung outward and crushed to
+the floor the two guards who stood outside it in the corridor. Between
+the chamber in which the chest lay and the outside entrance were sixteen
+men on guard. Every one of these was flung down, for the blast, if I may
+call it so, travelled through this straight corridor like the charge
+along the inside of the muzzle of a gun. The guards nearest the treasure
+chamber were, of course, the more seriously injured, but those further
+out did not escape the shock, and the door by which we entered this
+corridor, while not blown from its hinges, was nevertheless forced
+open, its strong bolts snapping like matches. So when you see the great
+distance that intervened between the chamber and that door, you will
+have some idea of the force of the explosion."
+
+"There is no exit, then, from the treasure chamber except along this
+corridor?"
+
+"No, madame. The walls at the outside of the chamber are of enormous
+strength, because, of course, it was expected that if an attempt at
+robbery were ever made, it would be made from the outside, and it is
+scarcely possible that even the most expert of thieves could succeed in
+passing two guards at the door, sixteen officers and soldiers along the
+corridor, two outside the Treasury door, and two in the chamber itself.
+Such a large number of soldiers were kept here so that any attempt at
+bribery would be impossible. Among such a number one or two were sure
+to be incorruptible, and the guards were constantly changed. Seldom was
+either officer or man twice on duty here during the month. With such a
+large amount at stake every precaution was taken."
+
+"Are there any rooms at the right or left of this corridor in which the
+thieves could have concealed themselves while they fired the mine?"
+
+"No, the corridor leads to the treasure chamber alone."
+
+"Then," said Jennie, "I can't see how it was possible for a number of
+men to have made away with the treasure in such circumstances as exist
+here."
+
+"Nevertheless, my dear young lady, the treasure is gone. We think that
+the mine was laid with the connivance of one or more officers on duty
+here. You see the amount at stake was so large that a share of it would
+tempt any nine human beings out of any ten. Our theory is that the train
+was laid, possibly electric wires being used, which would be unnoticed
+along the edge of the corridor, and that the bribed officer exploded the
+dynamite by bringing the ends of the wires into contact. We think the
+explosion was a great deal more severe than was anticipated. Probably,
+it was expected that the shock would break a hole from the treasure
+chamber to the street, but so strong were the walls that no impression
+was made upon them, and a cabman who was driving past at the time heard
+nothing of the sound of the explosion, though he felt a trembling of the
+ground, and thought for a moment there had been a shock of earthquake."
+
+"You think, then, that the thieves were outside?"
+
+"That seems the only possible opinion to hold."
+
+"The outside doors were locked and bolted, of course?"
+
+"Oh, certainly; but if they had a confederate or two in the large
+hallway upstairs, these traitors would see to it that there was no
+trouble about getting in. Once inside the large hallway, with guards
+stunned by the shock, the way to the treasure chamber was absolutely
+clear."
+
+"There were sentries outside the building, I suppose?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did they see any vehicle driving near the Treasury?"
+
+"No, except the cab I spoke of, and the driver has accounted
+satisfactorily for his time that night. The absence of any conveyance
+is the strange part of it; and, moreover, the sentries, although pacing
+outside the walls of this building, heard nothing of the concussion
+beyond a low rumble, and those who thought of the matter at all imagined
+an explosion had occurred in some distant part of the city."
+
+"Then the outside doors in the large hall above were not blown open?"
+
+"No; the officer reports that they were locked and bolted when he
+examined them, which was some minutes, of course, after the disaster had
+taken place; for he, the officer in charge, had been thrown down and
+stunned, seemingly by the concussion of air which took place."
+
+As Jennie walked down the corridor, she saw more and more of the
+evidences of the convulsion. The thick iron-bound door lay where it had
+fallen, and it had not been moved since it was lifted to get the two men
+from under it. Its ponderous hinges were twisted as if they had been
+made of glue, and its massive bolts were snapped across like bits of
+glass. All along the corridor on the floor was a thick coating of dust
+and _débris_, finely powdered, growing deeper and deeper until they came
+to the entrance of the room. There was no window either in corridor or
+chamber, and the way was lit by candles held by soldiers who accompanied
+them. The scoria crunched under foot as they walked, and in the chamber
+itself great heaps of dust, sand and plaster, all pulverized into minute
+particles, lay in the corners of the room, piled up on one side higher
+than a man's head. There seemed to be tons of this _débris_, and, as
+Jennie looked up at the arched ceiling, resembling the roof of a vaulted
+dungeon, she saw that the stone itself had been ground to fine dust with
+the tremendous force of the blast.
+
+"Where are the remnants of the treasure chest?" she asked.
+
+The Director shook his head. "There are no remnants; not a vestige of it
+is to be found."
+
+"Of what was it made?"
+
+"We used to have an old treasure chest here made of oak, bound with
+iron; but some years ago, a new receptacle being needed, one was
+especially built of hardened steel, constructed on the modern principles
+of those burglar-proof and fire-proof safes."
+
+"And do you mean to say that there is nothing left of this?"
+
+"Nothing that we have been able to discover."
+
+"Well, I have seen places where dynamite explosions have occurred, but
+I know of nothing to compare with this. I am sure that if dynamite has
+been used, or any explosive now generally obtainable, there would have
+been left, at least, some remnant of the safe. Hasn't this pile of
+rubbish been disturbed since the explosion?"
+
+"Yes, it has been turned over; we made a search for the two men, but we
+found no trace of them."
+
+"And you found no particles of iron or steel?"
+
+"The heap throughout is just as you see it on the surface--a fine,
+almost impalpable dust. We had to exercise the greatest care in
+searching through it, for the moment it was disturbed with a shovel
+it filled the air with suffocating clouds. Of course we shall have it
+removed by-and-by, and carted away, but I considered it better to allow
+it to remain here until we had penetrated somewhat further into the
+mystery than we have already done."
+
+Jennie stooped and picked up a handful from the heap, her action caused
+a mist to rise in the air that made them both choke and cough, and
+yet she was instantly struck by the fact that her handful seemed
+inordinately heavy for its bulk.
+
+"May I take some of this with me?" she asked.
+
+"Of course," replied the Director. "I will have a packet of it put up
+for you."
+
+"I would like to take it with me now," said Jennie. "I have curiosity to
+know exactly of what it is composed. Who is the Government analyst? or
+have you such an official?"
+
+"Herr Feltz, in the Graubenstrasse, is a famous analytical chemist; you
+cannot do better than go to him."
+
+"Do you think he knows anything about explosives?"
+
+"I should suppose so, but if not, he will certainly be able to tell you
+who the best man is in that line."
+
+The Director ordered one of the soldiers who accompanied him to find a
+small paper bag, and fill it with some dust from the treasure chamber.
+When this was done, he handed the package to Jennie, who said, "I
+shall go at once and see Herr Feltz."
+
+"My carriage is at your disposal, madame."
+
+"Oh, no, thank you, I do not wish to trouble you further. I am very much
+obliged to you for devoting so much time to me already. I shall take a
+fiacre."
+
+"My carriage is at the door," persisted the Director, "and I will
+instruct the driver to take you directly to the shop of Herr Feltz; then
+no time will be lost, and I think if I am with you, you will be more
+sure of attention from the chemist, who is a very busy man."
+
+Jennie saw the Director did not wish to let her out of his sight, and
+although she smiled at his suspicion, she answered politely,--
+
+"It is very kind of you to take so much trouble and devote so much
+of your time to me. I shall be glad of your company if you are quite
+certain I am not keeping you from something more important."
+
+"There is nothing more important than the investigation we have on
+hand," replied the Chief grimly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+JENNIE BESTOWS INFORMATION UPON THE CHIEF OF POLICE.
+
+
+A few minutes after leaving the Treasury building the carriage of
+the Chief stopped in front of the shop of Herr Feltz in the wide
+Graubenstrasse. The great chemist himself waited upon them and conducted
+them to an inner and private room.
+
+"I should be obliged to you if you would tell me the component parts
+of the mixture in this package," said Jennie, as she handed the filled
+paper bag to the chemist.
+
+"How soon do you wish to know the result?" asked the man of chemicals.
+
+"As soon as possible," replied Jennie.
+
+"Could you give me until this hour to-morrow?"
+
+"That will do very nicely," replied Jennie, looking up at the Director
+of Police, who nodded his head.
+
+With that the two took their leave, and once more the Director of Police
+politely handed the girl into his carriage, and they drove to the Palace
+Steinheimer. Here she again thanked him cordially for his attentions
+during the day. The Director answered, with equal suavity, that his duty
+had on this occasion been a pleasure, and asked her permission to call
+at the same hour the next afternoon and take her to the chemist. To this
+Jennie assented, and cheerily bade him good-evening. The Princess was
+waiting for her, wild with curiosity to know what had happened.
+
+"Oh, Jennie!" she cried, "who fired the mine, and who robbed the
+Government?"
+
+Jennie laughed merrily as she replied,--
+
+"Dear Princess, what a compliment you are paying me! Do you think that
+in one afternoon I am able to solve a mystery that has defied the
+combined talents of all the best detectives in Austria? I wish the
+Director of Police had such faith in me as you have."
+
+"And hasn't he, Jennie?"
+
+"Indeed he has not. He watched me every moment he was with me, as if he
+feared I would disappear into thin air, as the treasure had done."
+
+"The horrid man. I shall have my husband speak to him, and rid you of
+this annoyance."
+
+"Oh, no, Princess, you mustn't do anything of the kind. I don't mind it
+in the least; in fact, it rather amuses me. One would think he had some
+suspicion that I stole the money myself."
+
+"A single word from the Prince will stop all that, you know."
+
+"Yes, I know. But I really want to help the Director; he is so utterly
+stupid."
+
+"Now, Jennie, take off your hat and sit down here, and tell me every
+incident of the afternoon. Don't you see I am just consumed with
+curiosity? I know you have discovered something. What is it?"
+
+"I will not take off my hat, because I am going out again directly; but,
+if you love me, get me a cup of that delicious tea of yours."
+
+"I shall order it at once, but dinner will be served shortly. You are
+surely not going out alone to-night?"
+
+"I really must. Do not forget that I have been used to taking care of
+myself in a bigger city than Vienna is, and I shall be quite safe. You
+will please excuse my absence from the dinner-table to-night."
+
+"Nonsense, Jennie! You cannot be allowed to roam round Vienna in that
+Bohemian way."
+
+"Then, Princess, I must go to an hotel, for this roaming round is
+strictly necessary, and I don't want to bring the Palace Steinheimer
+into disrepute."
+
+"Jennie, I'll tell you what we will do; we'll both bring it into
+disrepute. The Prince is dining at his club to-night with some friends,
+so I shall order the carriage, and you and I will roam round together.
+You will let me come, won't you? Where are you going?"
+
+"I am going to the Graubenstrasse to see Herr Feltz."
+
+"Oh, I know Herr Feltz, and a dear old man he is; he will do anything
+for me. If you want a favour from Herr Feltz, you had better take me
+with you."
+
+"I shall be delighted. Ah, here comes the tea! But what is the use of
+ordering the carriage? we can walk there in a very few minutes."
+
+"I think we had better have the carriage. The Prince would be wild if he
+heard that we two went walking about the streets of Vienna at night. So,
+Jennie, we must pay some respect to conventionality, and we will take
+the carriage. Now, tell me where you have been, and what you have seen,
+and all about it." Over their belated decoction of tea Jennie related
+everything that had happened.
+
+"And what do you expect to learn from the analysis at the chemist's,
+Jennie?"
+
+"I expect to learn something that will startle the Director of Police."
+
+"And what is that? Jennie, don't keep me on tenterhooks in this
+provoking way. How can you act so? I shall write to Lord Donal and tell
+him that you are here in Vienna, if you don't mind."
+
+"Well, under such a terrible threat as that, I suppose I must divulge
+all my suspicions. But I really don't know anything yet; I merely
+suspect. The weight of that dust, when I picked up a handful of it,
+seemed to indicate that the gold is still there in the rubbish heap."
+
+"You don't mean to say so! Then there has been no robbery at all?"
+
+"There may have been a robbery planned, but I do not think any thief got
+a portion of the gold. The chances are that they entirely underestimated
+the force of the explosive they were using, for, unless I am very much
+mistaken, they were dealing with something a hundred times more powerful
+than dynamite."
+
+"And will the chemical analysis show what explosive was used?"
+
+"No; it will only show of what the _débris_ is composed. It will settle
+the question whether or not the gold is in that dust-heap. If it is,
+then I think the Government will owe me some thanks, because the
+Director of Police talked of carting the rubbish away and dumping it out
+of sight somewhere. If the Government gets back its gold, I suppose the
+question of who fired the mine is merely of academic interest."
+
+"The carriage is waiting, your Highness," was the announcement made to
+the Princess, who at once jumped up, and said,--
+
+"I'll be ready in five minutes. I'm as anxious now as you are to hear
+what the chemist has to say; but I thought you told me he wouldn't have
+the analysis ready until four o'clock to-morrow. What is the use of
+going there to-night?".
+
+"Because I am reasonably certain that the Director of Police will see
+him early to-morrow morning, and I want to get the first copy of the
+analysis myself."
+
+With that the Princess ran away and presently reappeared with her wraps
+on. The two drove to the shop of Herr Feltz in the Graubenstrasse, and
+were told that the chemist could not be seen in any circumstances. He
+had left orders that he was not to be disturbed.
+
+"Disobey those orders and take in my card," said the Princess.
+
+A glance at the card dissolved the man's doubts, and he departed to seek
+his master.
+
+"He is working at the analysis now, I'll warrant," whispered the
+Princess to her companion. In a short time Herr Feltz himself appeared.
+He greeted the Princess with most deferential respect, but seemed
+astonished to find in her company the young woman who had called on him
+a few hours previously with the Director of the Police.
+
+"I wanted to ask you," said Jennie, "to finish your analysis somewhat
+earlier than four o'clock to-morrow. I suppose it can be done?"
+
+The man of science smiled and looked at her for a moment, but did not
+reply. "You will oblige my friend, I hope," said the Princess.
+
+"I should be delighted to oblige any friend of your Highness," answered
+the chemist slowly, "but, unfortunately, in this instance I have orders
+from an authority not to be disputed."
+
+"What orders?" demanded the Princess.
+
+"I promised the analysis at four o'clock to-morrow, and at that hour it
+will be ready for the young lady. I am ordered not to show the analysis
+to anyone before that time."
+
+"Those orders came from the Director of Police, I suppose?" The chemist
+bowed low, but did not speak.
+
+"I understand how it is, Jennie; he came here immediately after seeing
+you home. I suppose he visited you again within the hour after he left
+with this young lady--is that the case, Herr Feltz?"
+
+"Your Highness distresses me by asking questions that I am under pledge
+not to answer."
+
+"Is the analysis completed?"
+
+"That is another question which I sincerely hope your Highness will not
+press."
+
+"Very well, Herr Feltz, I shall ask you a question or two of which you
+will not be so frightened. I have told my friend here that you would do
+anything for me, but I see I have been mistaken."
+
+The chemist made a deprecatory motion of his hands, spreading them out
+and bowing. It was plainly apparent that his seeming discourtesy
+caused him deep regret. He was about to speak, but the Princess went
+impetuously on.
+
+"Is the Director of Police a friend of yours, Herr Feltz? I don't mean
+merely an official friend, but a personal friend?"
+
+"I am under many obligations to him, your Highness, and besides that,
+like any other citizen of Vienna, I am compelled to obey him when he
+commands."
+
+"What I want to learn," continued the Princess, her anger visibly rising
+at this unexpected opposition, "is whether you wish the man well or
+not?"
+
+"I certainly wish him well, your Highness."
+
+"In that case know that if my friend leaves this shop without seeing the
+analysis of the material she brought to you, the Director of Police will
+be dismissed from his office to-morrow. If you doubt my influence with
+my husband to have that done, just try the experiment of sending us away
+unsatisfied."
+
+The old man bowed his white head.
+
+"Your Highness," he said, "I shall take the responsibility of refusing to
+obey the orders of the Director of Police. Excuse me for a moment."
+
+He retired into his den, and presently emerged with a sheet of paper in
+his hand.
+
+"It must be understood," he said, addressing Jennie, "that the analysis
+is but roughly made. I intended to devote the night to a more minute
+scrutiny."
+
+"All I want at the present moment," said Jennie, "is a rough analysis."
+
+"There it is," said the chemist, handing her the paper. She read,----
+
+  Calcium                      29
+  Iron                          4
+  Quartz   ]
+  Feldspar ]                   27
+  Mica     ]
+  Gold                         36-1/2
+  Traces of other substances    3-1/2
+  -------
+  Total                       100
+
+Jennie's eyes sparkled as she looked at the figures before her. She
+handed the paper to the Princess saying,--
+
+"You see, I was right in my surmise. More than one-third of that heap is
+pure gold."
+
+"I should explain," said the chemist, "that I have grouped the quartz,
+feldspar, and mica together, without giving the respective portions of
+each, because it is evident that the combination represents granite."
+
+"I understand," said Jennie; "the walls and the roof are of granite."
+
+"I would further add," continued the chemist, "that I have never met
+gold so finely divided as this is."
+
+"Have you the gold and other ingredients separated?"
+
+"Yes, madame."
+
+"I shall take them with me, if you please."
+
+The chemist shortly after brought her the components, in little glass
+vials, labelled.
+
+"Have you any idea, Herr Feltz, what explosive would reduce gold to such
+fine powder as this?"
+
+"I have only a theoretical knowledge of explosives, and I know of
+nothing that would produce such results as we have here. Perhaps
+Professor Carl Seigfried could give you some information on that point.
+The science of detonation has been his life study, and he stands head
+and shoulders above his fellows in that department."
+
+"Can you give me his address?"
+
+The chemist wrote the address on a sheet of paper and handed it to the
+young woman.
+
+"Do you happen to know whether Professor Seigfried or his assistants
+have been called in during this investigation?"
+
+"What investigation, madame?"
+
+"The investigation of the recent terrible explosion."
+
+"I have heard of no explosion," replied the chemist, evidently
+bewildered.
+
+Then Jennie remembered that, while the particulars of the disaster in
+the Treasury were known to the world at large outside of Austria, no
+knowledge of the catastrophe had got abroad in Vienna.
+
+"The Professor," continued the chemist, noticing Jennie's hesitation,
+"is not a very practical man. He is deeply learned, and has made some
+great discoveries in pure science, but he has done little towards
+applying his knowledge to any everyday useful purpose. If you meet him,
+you will find him a dreamer and a theorist. But if you once succeed in
+interesting him in any matter, he will prosecute it to the very end,
+quite regardless of the time he spends or the calls of duty elsewhere."
+
+"Then he is just the man I wish to see," said Jennie decisively, and
+with that they took leave of the chemist and once more entered the
+carriage.
+
+"I want to drive to another place," said Jennie, "before it gets too
+late."
+
+"Good gracious!" cried the Princess, "you surely do not intend to call
+on Professor Seigfried to-night?"
+
+"No; but I want to drive to the office of the Director of Police."
+
+"Oh, that won't take us long," said the Princess, giving the necessary
+order. The coachman took them to the night entrance of the central
+police station by the Hohenstaufengasse, and, leaving the Princess in
+the carriage, Jennie went in alone to speak with the officer in charge.
+
+"I wish to see the Director of Police," she said.
+
+"He will not be here until to-morrow morning. He is at home. Is it
+anything important?"
+
+"Yes. Where is his residence?"
+
+"If you will have the kindness to inform me what your business is,
+madame, we will have pleasure in attending to it without disturbing Herr
+Director."
+
+"I must communicate with the Director in person. The Princess von
+Steinheimer is in her carriage outside, and I do not wish to keep her
+waiting." At mention of the Princess the officer bestirred himself and
+became tremendously polite.
+
+"I shall call the Director at once, and he will be only too happy to
+wait upon you."
+
+"Oh, have you a telephone here? and can I speak with him myself without
+being overheard?"
+
+"Certainly, madame. If you will step into this room with me, I will call
+him up and leave you to speak with him."
+
+This was done, and when the Chief had answered, Jennie introduced
+herself to him.
+
+"I am Miss Baxter, whom you were kind enough to escort through the
+Treasury building this afternoon."
+
+"Oh, yes," replied the Chief. "I thought we were to postpone further
+inquiry until to-morrow."
+
+"Yes, that was the arrangement; but I wanted to say that if my plans are
+interfered with; if I am kept under surveillance, I shall be compelled
+to withdraw from the search."
+
+A few moments elapsed before the Chief replied, and then it was with
+some hesitation.
+
+"I should be distressed to have you withdraw; but, if you wish to do so,
+that must be a matter entirely for your own consideration. I have my
+own duty to perform, and I must carry it out to the best of my poor
+ability."
+
+"Quite so. I am obliged to you for speaking so plainly. I rather
+surmised this afternoon that you looked upon my help in the light of an
+interference."
+
+"I should not have used the word interference," continued the Chief;
+"but I must confess that I never knew good results to follow amateur
+efforts, which could not have been obtained much more speedily and
+effectually by the regular force under my command."
+
+"Well, the regular force under your command has been at work several
+weeks and has apparently not accomplished very much. I have devoted part
+of an afternoon and evening to the matter, so before I withdraw I should
+like to give you some interesting information which you may impart to
+the Government, and I am quite willing that you should take all the
+credit for the discovery, as I have no wish to appear in any way as your
+competitor. Can you hear me distinctly?"
+
+"Perfectly, madame," replied the Chief.
+
+"Then, in the first place, inform the Government that there has been no
+robbery."
+
+"No robbery? What an absurd statement, if you will excuse me speaking so
+abruptly! Where is the gold if there was no robbery?"
+
+"I am coming to that. Next inform the Government that their loss will
+be but trifling. That heap of _débris_ which you propose to cart away
+contains practically the whole of the missing two hundred million
+florins. More than one-third of the heap is pure gold. If you want to
+do a favour to a good friend of yours, and at the same time confer a
+benefit upon the Government itself, you will advise the Government to
+secure the services of Herr Feltz, so that the gold may be extracted
+from the rubbish completely and effectually. I put in a word for Herr
+Feltz, because I am convinced that he is a most competent man. To-night
+his action saved you from dismissal to-morrow, therefore you should be
+grateful to him. And now I have the honour to wish you good-night."
+
+"Wait--wait a moment!" came in beseeching tones through the telephone.
+"My dear young lady, pray pardon any fault you have to find with me, and
+remain for a moment or two longer. Who, then, caused the explosion, and
+why was it accomplished?"
+
+"That I must leave for you to find out, Herr Director. You see, I am
+giving you the results of merely a few hours' inquiry, and you cannot
+expect me to discover everything in that time. I don't know how the
+explosion was caused, neither do I know who the criminals are or were.
+It would probably take me all day to-morrow to find that out; but as I
+am leaving the discovery in such competent hands as yours, I must curb
+my impatience until you send me full particulars. So, once again,
+good-night, Herr Director."
+
+"No, no, don't go yet. I shall come at once to the station, if you will
+be kind enough to stop there until I arrive."
+
+"The Princess von Steinheimer is waiting for me in her carriage outside,
+and I do not wish to delay her any longer."
+
+"Then let me implore you not to give up your researches."
+
+"Why? Amateur efforts are so futile, you know, when compared with the
+labours of the regular force."
+
+"Oh, my dear young lady, you must pardon an old man for what he said in
+a thoughtless moment. If you knew how many useless amateurs meddle in
+our very difficult business you would excuse me. Are you quite convinced
+of what you have told me, that the gold is in the rubbish heap?"
+
+"Perfectly. I will leave for you at the office here the analysis made by
+Herr Feltz, and if I can assist you further, it must be on the distinct
+understanding that you are not to interfere again with whatever I may
+do. Your conduct in going to Herr Feltz to-night after you had left me,
+and commanding him not to give me any information, I should hesitate
+to characterize by its right name. When I have anything further to
+communicate, I will send for you."
+
+"Thank you; I shall hold myself always at your command." This telephonic
+interview being happily concluded, Jennie hurried to the Princess,
+stopping on her way to give the paper containing the analysis to the
+official in charge, and telling him to hand it to the Director when he
+returned to his desk. This done, she passed out into the night, with the
+comfortable consciousness that the worries of a busy day had not been
+without their compensation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+JENNIE VISITS A MODERN WIZARD IN HIS MAGIC ATTIC.
+
+
+When Jennie entered the carriage in which her friend was waiting, the
+other cried, "Well, have you seen him?" apparently meaning the Director
+of Police.
+
+"No, I did not see him, but I talked with him over the telephone. I wish
+you could have heard our conversation; it was the funniest interview I
+ever took part in. Two or three times I had to shut off the instrument,
+fearing the Director would hear me laugh. I am afraid that before this
+business is ended you will be very sorry I am a guest at your house. I
+know I shall end by getting myself into an Austrian prison. Just think
+of it! Here have I been 'holding up' the Chief of Police in this
+Imperial city as if I were a wild western brigand. I have been
+terrorizing the man, brow-beating him, threatening him, and he the
+person who has the liberty of all Vienna in his hands; who can have me
+dragged off to a dungeon-cell any time he likes to give the order."
+
+"Not from the Palace Steinheimer," said the Princess, with decision.
+
+"Well, he might hesitate about that; yet, nevertheless, it is too funny
+to think that a mere newspaper woman, coming into a city which contains
+only one or two of her friends, should dare to talk to the Chief of
+Police as I have done to-night, and force him actually to beg that I
+shall remain in the city and continue to assist him."
+
+"Tell me what you said," asked the Princess eagerly; and Jennie related
+all that had passed between them over the telephone.
+
+"And do you mean to say calmly that you are going to give that man the
+right to use the astounding information you have acquired, and allow him
+to accept complacently all the _kudos_ that such a discovery entitles
+you to?"
+
+"Why, certainly," replied Jennie. "What good is the _kudos_ to me? All
+the credit I desire I get in the office of the _Daily Bugle_ in London."
+
+"But, you silly girl, holding such a secret as you held, you could have
+made your fortune," insisted the practical Princess, for the principles
+which had been instilled into her during a youth spent in Chicago had
+not been entirely eradicated by residence in Vienna. "If you had gone to
+the Government and said, 'How much will you give me if I restore to you
+the missing gold?' just imagine what their answer would be."
+
+"Yes, I suppose there was money in the scheme if it had really been a
+secret. But you forget that to-morrow morning the Chief of Police would
+have known as much as he knows to-night. Of course, if I had gone alone
+to the Treasury vault and kept my discovery to myself, I might, perhaps,
+have 'held up' the Government of Austria-Hungary as successfully as I
+'held up' the Chief of Police to-night. But with the Director watching
+everything I did, and going with me to the chemist, there was no
+possibility of keeping the matter a secret."
+
+"Well, Jennie, all I can say is that you are a very foolish girl. Here
+you are, working hard, as you said in one of your letters, merely to
+make a living, and now, with the greatest nonchalance, you allow a
+fortune to slip through your fingers. I am simply not going to allow
+this. I shall tell my husband all that has happened, and he will make
+the Government treat you honestly; if not generously. I assure you,
+Jennie, that Lord Donal--no, I won't mention his name, since you protest
+so strenuously--but the future young man, whoever he is, will not think
+the less of you because you come to him with a handsome dowry. But here
+we are at home; and I won't say another word on the subject if it annoys
+you."
+
+When Jennie reached her delightful apartments--which looked even more
+luxuriantly comfortable bathed in the soft radiance that now flooded
+them from quiet-toned shaded lamps than they did in the more garish
+light of day--she walked up and down her sitting-room in deep
+meditation. She was in a quandary--whether or not to risk sending a
+coded telegram to her paper was the question that presented itself to
+her. If she were sure that no one else would learn the news, she would
+prefer to wait until she had further particulars of the Treasury
+catastrophe. A good deal would depend on whether or not the Director of
+Police took anyone into his confidence that night. If he did not, he
+would be aware that only he and the girl possessed this important
+piece of news. If a full account of the discovery appeared in the next
+morning's _Daily Bugle_, then, when that paper arrived in Vienna, or
+even before, if a synopsis were telegraphed to the Government, as it was
+morally certain to be, the Director would know at once that she was the
+correspondent of the newspaper whom he was so anxious to frighten out
+of Vienna. On the other hand, her friendship with the Princess von
+Steinheimer gave her such influence with the Chief's superiors, that,
+after the lesson she had taught him, he might hesitate to make any move
+against her. Then, again, the news that to-night belonged to two persons
+might on the morrow come to the knowledge of all the correspondents in
+Vienna, and her efforts, so far as the _Bugle_ was concerned, would have
+been in vain. This consideration decided the girl, and, casting off all
+sign of hesitation, she sat down at her writing table and began the
+first chapter of the solution of the Vienna mystery. Her opening
+sentence was exceedingly diplomatic: "The Chief of Police of Vienna has
+made a most startling discovery." Beginning thus, she went on to details
+of the discovery she had that day made. When her account was finished
+and codified, she went down to her hostess and said,--
+
+"Princess, I want a trustworthy man, who will take a long telegram to
+the central telegraph office, pay for it, and come away quickly before
+anyone can ask him inconvenient questions."
+
+"Would it not be better to call a Dienstmanner?"
+
+"A Dienstmanner? That is your commissionaire, or telegraph messenger?
+No, I think not. They are all numbered and can be traced."
+
+"Oh, I know!" cried the Princess; "I will send our coachman. He will be
+out of his livery now, and he is a most reliable man; he will not answer
+inconvenient questions, or any others, even if they are asked."
+
+To her telegram for publication Jennie had added a private despatch to
+the editor, stating that it would be rather inconvenient for her if he
+published the account next morning, but she left the decision entirely
+with him. Here was the news, and if he thought it worth the risk,
+he might hold it over; if not, he was to print it regardless of
+consequences.
+
+As a matter of fact, the editor, with fear and trembling, held the news
+for a day, so that he might not embarrass his fair representative, but
+so anxious was he, that he sat up all night until the other papers were
+out, and he heaved a sigh of relief when, on glancing over them, he
+found that not one of them contained an inkling of the information
+locked up in his desk. And so he dropped off to sleep when the day was
+breaking. Next night he had nearly as much anxiety, for although the
+_Bugle_ would contain the news, other papers might have it as well, and
+thus for the second time he waited in his office until the other sheets,
+wet from the press, were brought to him. Again fortune favoured him, and
+the triumph belonged to the _Bugle_ alone.
+
+The morning after her interview with the Director of Police, Jennie,
+taking a small hand-satchel, in which she placed the various bottles
+containing the different dusts which the chemist had separated, went
+abroad alone, and hailing a fiacre, gave the driver the address of
+Professor Carl Seigfried. The carriage of the Princess was always at
+the disposal of the girl, but on this occasion she did not wish to be
+embarrassed with so pretentious an equipage. The cab took her into a
+street lined with tall edifices and left her at the number she had
+given the driver. The building seemed to be one let out in flats and
+tenements; she mounted stair after stair, and only at the very top did
+she see the Professor's name painted on a door. Here she rapped several
+times without any attention being paid to her summons, but at last the
+door was opened partially by a man whom she took, quite accurately,
+to be the Professor himself. His head was white; and his face deeply
+wrinkled. He glared at her through his glasses, and said sharply, "Young
+lady, you have made a mistake; these are the rooms of Professor Carl
+Seigfried."
+
+"It is Professor Carl Seigfried that I wish to see," replied the girl
+hurriedly, as the old man was preparing to shut the door.
+
+"What do you want with him?"
+
+"I want some information from him about explosives. I have been told
+that he knows more about explosives than any other man living."
+
+"Quite right--he does. What then?"
+
+"An explosion has taken place producing the most remarkable results.
+They say that neither dynamite nor any other known force could have had
+such an effect on metals and minerals as this power has had."
+
+"Ah, dynamite is a toy for children!" cried the old man, opening the
+door a little further and exhibiting an interest which had, up to that
+moment, been absent from his manner. "Well, where did this explosion
+take place? Do you wish me to go and see it?"
+
+"Perhaps so, later on. At present I wish to show you some of its
+effects, but I don't propose to do this standing here in the
+passageway."
+
+"Quite right--quite right," hastily ejaculated the old scientist,
+throwing the door wide open. "Of course, I am not accustomed to visits
+from fashionable young ladies, and I thought at first there had been
+a mistake; but if you have any real scientific problem, I shall be
+delighted to give my attention to it. What may appear very extraordinary
+to the lay mind will doubtless prove fully explainable by scientists.
+Come in, come in."
+
+The old man shut the door behind her, and led her along a dark passage,
+into a large apartment, whose ceiling was the roof of the building.
+At first sight it seemed in amazing disorder. Huge as it was, it was
+cluttered with curious shaped machines and instruments. A twisted
+conglomeration of glass tubing, bent into fantastic tangles, stood on
+a central table, and had evidently been occupying the Professor's
+attention at the time he was interrupted. The place was lined with
+shelving, where the walls were not occupied by cupboards, and every
+shelf was burdened with bottles and apparatus of different kinds.
+Whatever care Professor Seigfried took of his apparatus, he seemed to
+have little for his furniture. There was hardly a decent chair in the
+room, except one deep arm-chair, covered with a tiger's skin, in which
+the Professor evidently took his ease while meditating or watching the
+progress of an experiment. This chair he did not offer to the young
+lady; in fact, he did not offer her a seat at all, but sank down on
+the tiger's skin himself, placed the tips of his fingers together, and
+glared at her through his glittering glasses.
+
+"Now, young woman," he said abruptly, "what have you brought for me?
+Don't begin to chatter, for my time is valuable. Show me what you have
+brought, and I will tell you all about it; and most likely a very simple
+thing it is."
+
+Jennie, interested in so rude a man, smiled, drew up the least decrepit
+bench she could find, and sat down, in spite of the angry mutterings
+of her irritated host. Then she opened her satchel, took out the small
+bottle of gold, and handed it to him without a word. The old man
+received it somewhat contemptuously, shook it backward and forward
+without extracting the cork, adjusted his glasses, then suddenly seemed
+to take a nervous interest in the material presented to him. He rose and
+went nearer the light. Drawing out the cork with trembling hands, he
+poured some of the contents into his open palm. The result was startling
+enough. The old man flung up his hands, letting the vial crash into a
+thousand pieces on the floor. He staggered forward, shrieking, "Ah, mein
+Gott--mein Gott!"
+
+Then, to the consternation of Jennie, who had already risen in terror
+from her chair, the scientist plunged forward on his face. The girl had
+difficulty in repressing a shriek. She looked round hurriedly for a bell
+to ring, but apparently there was none. She tried to open the door and
+cry for help, but in her excitement could neither find handle nor latch.
+It seemed to be locked, and the key, doubtless, was in the Professor's
+pocket. She thought at first that he had dropped dead, but the continued
+moaning as he lay on the floor convinced her of her error. She bent over
+him anxiously and cried, "What can I do to help you?"
+
+With a struggle he muttered, "The bottle, the bottle, in the cupboard
+behind you."
+
+She hurriedly flung open the doors of the cupboard indicated, and found
+a bottle of brandy, and a glass, which she partly filled. The old man
+had with an effort struggled into a sitting posture, and she held the
+glass of fiery liquid to his pallid lips. He gulped down the brandy, and
+gasped, "I feel better now. Help me to my chair."
+
+Assisting him to his feet, she supported him to his arm-chair, when he
+shook himself free, crying angrily, "Let me alone! Don't you see I am
+all right again?"
+
+The girl stood aside, and the Professor dropped into his chair, his
+nervous hands vibrating on his knees. For a long interval nothing was
+said by either, and the girl at last seated herself on the bench she had
+formerly occupied. The next words the old man spoke were, "Who sent you
+here?"
+
+"No one, I came of my own accord. I wished to meet someone who had a
+large knowledge of explosives, and Herr Feltz, the chemist, gave me your
+address."
+
+"Herr Feltz! Herr Feltz!" he repeated. "So he sent you here?"
+
+"No one sent me here," insisted the girl. "It is as I tell you. Herr
+Feltz merely gave me your address."
+
+"Where did you get that powdered gold?"
+
+"It came from the _débris_ of an explosion."
+
+"I know, you said that before. Where was the explosion? Who caused it?"
+
+"That I don't know."
+
+"Don't you know where the explosion was?"
+
+"Yes, I know where the explosion was, but I don't know who caused it."
+
+"Who sent you here?"
+
+"I tell you no one sent me here."
+
+"That is not true, the man who caused the explosion sent you here. You
+are his minion. What do you expect to find out from me?"
+
+"I expect to learn what explosive was used to produce the result that
+seemed to have such a remarkable effect on you."
+
+"Why do you say that? It had no effect on me. My heart is weak. I am
+subject to such attacks, and I ward them off with brandy. Some day they
+will kill me. Then you won't learn any secrets from a dead man, will
+you?"
+
+"I hope, Professor Seigfried, that you have many years yet to live, and
+I must further add that I did not expect such a reception as I have
+received from a man of science, as I was told you were. If you have no
+information to give to me, very well, that ends it; all you have to do
+is to say so."
+
+"Who sent you here?"
+
+"No one, as I have repeated once or twice. If anyone had, I would give
+him my opinion of the errand when I got back. You refuse, then, to tell
+me anything about the explosive that powdered the gold?"
+
+"Refuse? Of course I refuse! What did you expect? I suppose the man who
+sent you here thought, because you were an engaging young woman and I
+an old dotard, I would gabble to you the results of a life's work. Oh,
+no, no, no; but I am not an old dotard. I have many years to live yet."
+
+"I hope so. Well, I must bid you good morning. I shall go to someone
+else."
+
+The old man showed his teeth in a forbidding grin.
+
+"It is useless. Your bottle is broken, and the material it contained is
+dissipated. Not a trace of it is left."
+
+He waved his thin, emaciated hand in the air as he spoke.
+
+"Oh, that doesn't matter in the least," said Jennie. "I have several
+other bottles here in my satchel."
+
+The Professor placed his hands on the arms of his chair, and slowly
+raised himself to his feet.
+
+"You have others," he cried, "other bottles? Let me see them--let me see
+them!"
+
+"No," replied Jennie, "I won't."
+
+With a speed which, after his recent collapse, Jennie had not expected,
+the Professor ambled round to the door and placed his back against
+it. The glasses over his eyes seemed to sparkle as if with fire. His
+talon-like fingers crooked rigidly. He breathed rapidly, and was
+evidently labouring under intense excitement.
+
+"Who knows you came up to see me?" he whispered hoarsely, glaring at
+her.
+
+Jennie, having arisen, stood there, smoothing down her perfectly fitting
+glove, and answered with a calmness she was far from feeling,--
+
+"Who knows I am here? No one but the Director of Police."
+
+"Oh, the Director of Police!" echoed the Professor, quite palpably
+abashed by the unexpected answer. The rigidity of his attitude relaxed,
+and he became once more the old man he had appeared as he sat in a heap
+in his chair. "You will excuse me," he muttered, edging round towards
+the chair again; "I was excited."
+
+"I noticed that you were, Professor. But before you sit down again,
+please unlock that door."
+
+"Why?" he asked, pausing on his way to the chair.
+
+"Because I wish it open."
+
+"And I," he said in a higher tone, "wish it to remain locked until we
+have come to some understanding. I can't let you go out now; but I shall
+permit you to go unmolested as soon as you have made some explanation to
+me."
+
+"If you do not unlock the door immediately I shall take this machine and
+fling it through the front window out on the street. The crashing glass
+on the pavement will soon bring someone to my rescue, Professor, and, as
+I have a voice of my own and small hesitation about shouting, I shall
+have little difficulty in directing the strangers where to come."
+
+As Jennie spoke she moved swiftly towards the table on which stood the
+strange aggregation of reflectors and bent glass tubing.
+
+"No, no, no!" screamed the Professor, springing between her and the
+table. "Touch anything but that--anything but that. Do not disturb it an
+inch--there is danger--death not only to you and me, but perhaps to the
+whole city. Keep away from it!"
+
+"Very well, then," said Jennie, stepping back in spite of her endeavour
+to maintain her self-control; "open the door. Open both doors and
+leave them so. After that, if you remain seated in your chair, I
+shall not touch the machine, nor shall I leave until I make the
+explanations you require, and you have answered some questions that
+I shall ask. But I must have a clear way to the stair, in case you
+should become excited again."
+
+"I'll unlock the doors; I'll unlock both doors," replied the old man
+tremulously, fumbling about in his pockets for his keys. "But keep away
+from that machine, unless you want to bring swift destruction on us
+all."
+
+With an eagerness that retarded his speed, the Professor, constantly
+looking over his shoulder at his visitor, unlocked the first door, then
+hastily he flung open the second, and tottered back to his chair, where
+he collapsed on the tiger skin, trembling and exhausted.
+
+"We may be overheard," he whined. "One can never tell who may sneak
+quietly up the stair. I am surrounded by spies trying to find out what I
+am doing."
+
+"Wait a moment," said Jennie.
+
+She went quickly to the outer door, found that it closed with a spring
+latch, opened and shut it two or three times until she was perfectly
+familiar with its workings, then she closed it, drew the inner door
+nearly shut, and sat down.
+
+"There," she said, "we are quite safe from interruption, Professor
+Seigfried; but I must request you not to move from your chair."
+
+"I have no intention of doing so," murmured the old man. "Who sent you?
+You said you would tell me. I think you owe me an explanation."
+
+"I think you owe me one," replied the girl. "As I told you before,
+no one sent me. I came here entirely of my own accord, and I shall
+endeavour to make clear to you exactly why I came. Some time ago there
+occurred in this city a terrific explosion--"
+
+"Where? When?" exclaimed the old man, placing his hands on the arms of
+his chair, as if he would rise to his feet.
+
+"Sit where you are," commanded Jennie firmly, "and I shall tell you all
+I can about it. The Government, for reasons of its own, desires to keep
+the fact of this explosion a secret, and thus very few people outside
+of official circles know anything about it. I am trying to discover the
+cause of that disaster."
+
+"Are you--are you working on behalf of the Government?" asked the old
+man eagerly, a tremor of fear in his quavering voice.
+
+"No. I am conducting my investigations quite independently of the
+Government."
+
+"But why? But why? That is what I don't understand."
+
+"I would very much rather not answer that question."
+
+"But that question--everything is involved in that question. I must know
+why you are here. If you are not in the employ of the Government, in
+whose employ are you?"
+
+"If I tell you," said Jennie with some hesitation, "will you keep what I
+say a secret?"
+
+"Yes, yes, yes!" cried the scientist impatiently.
+
+"Well, I am in the service of a London daily newspaper."
+
+"I see, I see; and they have sent you here to publish broadcast over
+the world all you can find out of my doings. I knew you were a spy the
+moment I saw you. I should never have let you in."
+
+"My dear sir, the London paper is not even aware of your existence. They
+have not sent me to you at all. They have sent me to learn, if possible,
+the cause of the explosion I spoke of. I took some of the _débris_ to
+Herr Feltz to analyze it, and he said he had never seen gold, iron,
+feldspar, and all that, reduced to such fine, impalpable grains as was
+the case with the sample I left with him. I then asked him who in Vienna
+knew most about explosives, and he gave me your address. That is why I
+am here."
+
+"But the explosion--you have not told me when and where it occurred!"
+
+"That, as I have said, is a Government secret."
+
+"But you stated you are not in the Government employ, therefore it can
+be no breach of confidence if you let me have full particulars."
+
+"I suppose not. Very well, then, the explosion occurred after midnight
+on the seventeenth in the vault of the Treasury."
+
+The old man, in spite of the prohibition, rose uncertainly to his feet.
+
+Jennie sprang up and said menacingly, "Stay where you are!"
+
+"I am not going to touch you. If you are so suspicious of every move
+I make, then go yourself and bring me what I want. There is a map of
+Vienna pinned against the wall yonder. Bring it to me."
+
+Jennie proceeded in the direction indicated. It was an ordinary map of
+the city of Vienna, and as Jennie took it down she noticed that across
+the southern part of the city a semi-circular line in pencil had been
+drawn. Examining it more closely, she saw that the stationary part of
+the compass had been placed on the spot where stood the building which
+contained the Professor's studio. She paid closer attention to the
+pencil mark and observed that it passed through the Treasury building.
+
+"Don't look at that map!" shrieked the Professor, beating the air with
+his hands. "I asked you to bring it to me. Can't you do a simple action
+like that without spying about?"
+
+Jennie rapidly unfastened the paper from the wall and brought it to him.
+The scientist scrutinized it closely, adjusting his glasses the better
+to see, then deliberately tore the map into fragments, numerous and
+minute. He rose--and this time Jennie made no protest--went to the
+window, opened it, and flung the fluttering bits of paper out into the
+air, the strong wind carrying them far over the roofs of Vienna. Closing
+the casement, he came back to his chair.
+
+"Was--was anyone hurt at this explosion?" he asked presently.
+
+"Yes, four men were killed instantly, a dozen were seriously injured and
+are now in hospital."
+
+"Oh, my God--my God!" cried the old man, covering his face with his
+hands, swaying from side to side in his chair like a man tortured with
+agony and remorse. At last he lifted a face that had grown more pinched
+and yellow within the last few minutes.
+
+"I can tell you nothing," he said, moistening his parched lips.
+
+"You mean that you _will_ tell me nothing, for I see plainly that you
+know everything."
+
+"I knew nothing of any explosion until you spoke of it. What have I to
+do with the Treasury or the Government?"
+
+"That is just what I want to know."
+
+"It is absurd. I am no conspirator, but a man of learning."
+
+"Then you have nothing to fear, Herr Seigfried. If you are innocent, why
+are you so loth to give me any assistance in this matter?"
+
+"It has nothing to do with me. I am a scientist--I am a scientist. All
+I wish is to be left alone with my studies. I have nothing to do with
+governments or newspapers, or anything belonging to them."
+
+Jennie sat tracing a pattern on the dusty floor with the point of her
+parasol. She spoke very quietly:--
+
+"The pencilled line which you drew on the map of Vienna passed through
+the Treasury building; the centre of the circle was this garret. Why did
+you draw that pencilled semi-circle? Why were you anxious that I should
+not see you had done so? Why did you destroy the map?"
+
+Professor Seigfried sat there looking at her with dropped jaw, but he
+made no reply.
+
+"If you will excuse my saying so," the girl went on, "you are acting
+very childishly. It is evident to me that you are no criminal, yet if
+the Director of Police had been in my place he would have arrested you
+long ago, and that merely because of your own foolish actions."
+
+"The map proved nothing," he said at last, haltingly, "and besides, both
+you and the Director will now have some difficulty in finding it."
+
+"That is further proof of your folly. The Director doesn't need to find
+it. I am here to testify that I saw the map, saw the curved line passing
+through the Treasury, and saw you destroy what you thought was an
+incriminating piece of evidence. It would be much better if you would
+deal as frankly with me as I have done with you. Then I shall give you
+the best advice I can--if my advice will be of any assistance to you."
+
+"Yes, and publish it to all the world."
+
+"It will have to be published to all the world in any case, for, if I
+leave here without full knowledge, I will simply go to the police office
+and there tell what I have learned in this room."
+
+"And if I do speak, you will still go to the Director of the Police and
+tell him what you have discovered."
+
+"No, I give you my word that I will not."
+
+"What guarantee have I of that?" asked the old man suspiciously.
+
+"No guarantee at all except my word!"
+
+"Will you promise not to print in your paper what I tell you?"
+
+"No, I cannot promise that!"
+
+"Still, the newspaper doesn't matter," continued the scientist. "The
+story would be valueless to you, because no one would believe it. There
+is little use in printing a story in a newspaper that will be laughed
+at, is there? However, I think you are honest, otherwise you would have
+promised not to print a line of what I tell you, and then I should have
+known you were lying. It was as easy to promise that as to say you would
+not tell the Director of Police. I thought at first some scientific
+rival had sent you here to play the spy on me, and learn what I was
+doing. I assure you I heard nothing about the explosion you speak of,
+yet I was certain it had occurred somewhere along that line which I drew
+on the map. I had hoped it was not serious, and begun to believe it was
+not. The anxiety of the last month has nearly driven me insane, and, as
+you say quite truly, my actions have been childish." The old man in his
+excitement had risen from his chair and was now pacing up and down the
+room, running his fingers distractedly through his long white hair, and
+talking more to himself than to his auditor.
+
+Jennie had edged her chair nearer to the door, and had made no protest
+against his rising, fearing to interrupt his flow of talk and again
+arouse his suspicions.
+
+"I have no wish to protect my inventions. I have never taken out a
+patent in my life. What I discover I give freely to the world, but I
+will not be robbed of my reputation as a scientist. I want my name to go
+down to posterity among those of the great discoverers. You talked just
+now of going to the police and telling them what you knew. Foolish
+creature! You could no more have gone to the central police office
+without my permission, or against my will, than you could go to the
+window and whistle back those bits of paper I scattered to the winds.
+Before you reached the bottom of the stairs I could have laid Vienna
+in a mass of ruins. Yes, I could in all probability have blown up the
+entire Empire of Austria. The truth is, that I do not know the limit of
+my power, nor dare I test it."
+
+"Oh, this is a madman!" thought Jennie, as she edged still nearer to the
+door. The old man paused in his walk and turned fiercely upon her.
+
+"You don't believe me?" he said.
+
+"No, I do not," she answered, the colour leaving her cheeks.
+
+The aged wizard gave utterance to a hideous chuckle. He took from one of
+his numerous shelves a hammer-head without the handle, and for a moment
+Jennie thought he was going to attack her; but he merely handed the
+metal to her and said,--
+
+"Break that in two. Place it between your palms and grind it to powder."
+
+"You know that is absurd; I cannot do it."
+
+"Why can't you do it?"
+
+"Because it is of steel."
+
+"That is no reason. Why can't you do it?"
+
+He glared at her fiercely over his glasses, and she saw in his wild eye
+all the enthusiasm of an instructor enlightening a pupil.
+
+"I'll tell you why you can't do it; because every minute particle of
+it is held together by an enormous force. It may be heated red-hot
+and beaten into this shape and that, but still the force hangs on as
+tenaciously as the grip of a giant. Now suppose I had some substance,
+a drop of which, placed on that piece of iron, would release the force
+which holds the particles together--what would happen?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Jennie.
+
+"Oh, yes you do!" cried the Professor impatiently; "but you are like
+every other woman--you won't take the trouble to think. What would
+happen is this. The force that held the particles together would be
+released, and the hammer would fall to powder like that gold you showed
+me. The explosion that followed, caused by the sudden release of the
+power, would probably wreck this room and extinguish both our lives. You
+understand that, do you not?"
+
+"Yes, I think I do."
+
+"Well, here is something you won't understand, and probably won't
+believe when you hear it. There is but one force in this world and but
+one particle of matter. There is only one element, which is the basis of
+everything. All the different shapes and conditions of things that we
+see are caused by a mere variation of that force in conjunction with
+numbers of that particle. Am I getting beyond your depth?"
+
+"I am afraid you are, Professor."
+
+"Of course; I know what feeble brains the average woman is possessed
+of; still, try and keep that in your mind. Now listen to this. I have
+discovered how to disunite that force and that particle. I can, with
+a touch, fling loose upon this earth a giant whose strength is
+irresistible and immeasurable."
+
+"Then why object to making your discovery public?"
+
+"In the first place, because there are still a thousand things and more
+to be learned along such a line of investigation. The moment a man
+announces his discoveries, he is first ridiculed, then, when the truth
+of what he affirms is proven, there rise in every part of the world
+other men who say that they knew all about it ten years ago, and will
+prove it too--at least, far enough to delude a gullible world; in the
+second because I am a humane man, I hesitate to spread broadcast a
+knowledge that would enable any fool to destroy the universe. Then there
+is a third reason. There is another who, I believe, has discovered how
+to make this force loosen its grip on the particle--that is Keely, of
+Philadelphia, in the United States--"
+
+"What! You don't mean the Keely motor man?" cried Jennie, laughing.
+"That arrant humbug! Why, all the papers in the world have exposed his
+ridiculous pretensions; he has done nothing but spend other people's
+money."
+
+"Yes, the newspapers have ridiculed him. Human beings have, since the
+beginning of the world, stoned their prophets. Nevertheless, he has
+liberated a force that no gauge made by man can measure. He has been
+boastful, if you like, and has said that with a teacupful of water he
+would drive a steamship across the Atlantic. I have been silent, working
+away with my eye on him, and he has been working away with his eye on
+me, for each knows what the other is doing. If either of us discovers
+how to control this force, then that man's name will go down to
+posterity for ever. He has not yet been able to do it; neither have I.
+There is still another difference between us. He appears to be able to
+loosen that force in his own presence; I can only do it at a distance.
+All my experiments lately have been in the direction of making
+modifications with this machine, so as to liberate the force within
+the compass, say, of this room; but the problem has baffled me. The
+invisible rays which this machine sends out, and which will penetrate
+stone, iron, wood, or any other substance, must unite at a focus, and
+I have not been able to bring that focus nearer me than something over
+half a mile. Last summer I went to an uninhabited part of Switzerland
+and there continued my experiments. I blew up at will rocks and boulders
+on the mountain sides, the distances varying from a mile to half a mile.
+I examined the results of the disintegration, and when you came in and
+showed me that gold, I recognized at once that someone had discovered
+the secret I have been trying to fathom for the last ten years. I
+thought that perhaps you had come from Keely. I am now convinced that
+the explosion you speak of in the Treasury was caused by myself. This
+machine, which you so recklessly threatened to throw out of the window,
+accidentally slipped from its support when I was working here some
+time after midnight on the seventeenth. I placed it immediately as you
+see it now, where it throws its rays into mid-air, and is consequently
+harmless; but I knew an explosion must have taken place in Vienna
+somewhere within the radius of half a mile. I drew the pencilled
+semi-circle that you saw on the map of Vienna, for in my excitement
+in placing the machine upright I had not noticed exactly where it had
+pointed, but I knew that, along the line I had drawn, an explosion must
+have occurred, and could only hope that it had not been a serious one,
+which it seems it was. I waited and waited, hardly daring to leave my
+attic, but hearing no news of any disaster, I was torn between the
+anxiety that would naturally come to any humane man in my position
+who did not wish to destroy life, and the fear that, if nothing had
+occurred, I had not actually made the discovery I thought I had made.
+You spoke of my actions being childish; but when I realized that I had
+myself been the cause of the explosion, a fear of criminal prosecution
+came over me. Not that I should object to imprisonment if they would
+allow me to continue my experiments; but that, doubtless, they would not
+do, for the authorities know nothing of science, and care less."
+
+In spite of her initial scepticism, Jennie found herself gradually
+coming to believe in the efficiency of the harmless-looking mechanism of
+glass and iron which she saw on the table before her, and a sensation of
+horror held her spellbound as she gazed at it. Its awful possibilities
+began slowly to develop in her mind, and she asked breathlessly,--"What
+would happen if you were to turn that machine and point it towards the
+centre of the earth?"
+
+"I told you what would happen. Vienna would lie in ruins, and possibly
+the whole Austrian Empire, and perhaps some adjoining countries would
+become a mass of impalpable dust. It may be that the world itself would
+dissolve. I cannot tell what the magnitude of the result might be, for
+I have not dared to risk the experiment."
+
+"Oh, this is too frightful to think about," she cried. "You must destroy
+the machine, Professor, and you must never make another."
+
+"What! And give up the hope that my name will descend to posterity?"
+
+"Professor Seigfried, when once this machine becomes known to the world,
+there will be no posterity for your name to descend to. With the present
+hatred of nation against nation, with different countries full of those
+unimprisoned maniacs whom we call Jingoes--men preaching the hatred of
+one people against another--how long do you think the world will last
+when once such knowledge is abroad in it?"
+
+The Professor looked longingly at the machine he had so slowly and
+painfully constructed.
+
+"It would be of much use to humanity if it were but benevolently
+employed. With the coal fields everywhere diminishing, it would supply a
+motive force for the universe that would last through the ages."
+
+"Professor Seigfried," exclaimed Jennie earnestly, "when the Lord
+permits a knowledge of that machine to become common property, it is His
+will that the end of the world shall come."
+
+The Professor said nothing, but stood with deeply wrinkled brow, gazing
+earnestly at the mechanism. In his hand was the hammer-head which he had
+previously given to the girl; his arm went up and down as if he were
+estimating its weight; then suddenly, without a word of warning, he
+raised it and sent it crashing through the machine, whose splintering
+glass fell with a musical tinkle on the floor.
+
+Jennie gave a startled cry, and with a low moan the Professor struggled
+to his chair and fell, rather than sat down, in it. A ghastly pallor
+overspread his face, and the girl in alarm ran again to the cupboard,
+poured out some brandy and offered it to him, then tried to pour it down
+his throat, but his tightly set teeth resisted her efforts. She chafed
+his rigid hands, and once he opened his eyes, slowly shaking his head.
+
+"Try to sip this brandy," she said, seeing his jaws relax.
+
+"It is useless," he murmured with difficulty. "My life was in the
+instrument, as brittle as the glass. I have--"
+
+He could say no more. Jennie went swiftly downstairs to the office of a
+physician, on the first floor, which she had noticed as she came up.
+
+The medical man, who knew of the philosopher, but was not personally
+acquainted with him, for the Professor had few friends, went up the
+steps three at a time, and Jennie followed him more slowly. He met the
+girl at the door of the attic.
+
+"It is useless," he said. "Professor Seigfried is dead; and it is my
+belief that in his taking away Austria has lost her greatest scientist."
+
+"I am sure of it," answered the girl, with trembling voice; "but perhaps
+after all it is for the best."
+
+"I doubt that," said the doctor. "I never feel so like quarrelling with
+Providence as when some noted man is removed right in the midst of his
+usefulness."
+
+"I am afraid," replied Jennie solemnly, "that we have hardly reached a
+state of development that would justify us in criticizing the wisdom of
+Providence. In my own short life I have seen several instances where it
+seemed that Providence intervened for the protection of His creatures;
+and even the sudden death of Professor Seigfried does not shake my
+belief that Providence knows best."
+
+She turned quickly away and went down the stairs in some haste. At the
+outer door she heard the doctor call down, "I must have your name and
+address, please."
+
+But Jennie did not pause to answer. She had no wish to undergo
+cross-examination at an inquest, knowing that if she told the truth she
+would not be believed, while if she attempted to hide it, unexpected
+personal inconvenience might arise from such a course. She ran rapidly
+to the street corner, hailed a fiacre and drove to a distant part of the
+city; then she dismissed the cab, went to a main thoroughfare, took a
+tramcar to the centre of the town, and another cab to the Palace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+JENNIE ENGAGES A ROOM IN A SLEEPING CAR.
+
+
+Jennie had promised Professor Seigfried not to communicate with the
+Director of Police, and she now wondered whether it would be breaking
+her word, or not, if she let that official know the result of her
+investigation, when it would make no difference, one way or the other,
+to the Professor. If Professor Seigfried could have foreseen his own
+sudden death, would he not, she asked herself, have preferred her to
+make public all she knew of him? for had he not constantly reiterated
+that fame, and the consequent transmission of his name to posterity, was
+what he worked for? Then there was this consideration: if the Chief of
+Police was not told how the explosion had been caused, his fruitless
+search would go futilely on, and, doubtless, in the course of police
+inquiry, many innocent persons would be arrested, put to inconvenience
+and expense, and there was even a chance that one or more, who had
+absolutely nothing to do with the affair, might be imprisoned for life.
+She resolved, therefore, to tell the Director of the Police all she
+knew, which she would not have done had Professor Seigfried been alive.
+She accordingly sent a messenger for the great official, and just as she
+had begun to relate to the impatient Princess what had happened, he was
+announced. The three of them held convention in Jennie's drawing-room
+with locked doors.
+
+"I am in a position," began Jennie, "to tell you how the explosion in
+the Treasury was caused and who caused it; but before doing so you must
+promise to grant me two favours, each of which is in your power to
+bestow without inconvenience."
+
+"What are they?" asked the Director of Police cautiously.
+
+"To tell what they are is to tell part of my story. You must first
+promise blindly, and afterwards keep your promise faithfully."
+
+"Those are rather unusual terms, Miss Baxter," said the Chief; "but I
+accede to them, the more willingly as we have found that all the gold is
+still in the Treasury, as you said it was."
+
+"Very well, then, the first favour is that I shall not be called to
+give testimony when an inquest is held on the body of Professor Carl
+Seigfried."
+
+"You amaze me!" cried the Director; "how did you know he was dead? I had
+news of it only a moment before I left my office."
+
+"I was with him when he died," said Jennie simply, which statement
+drew forth an exclamation of surprise from both the Princess and the
+Director. "My next request is that you destroy utterly a machine which
+stands on a table near the centre of the Professor's room. Perhaps the
+instrument is already disabled--I believe it is--but, nevertheless, I
+shall not rest content until you have seen that every vestige of it is
+made away with, because the study of what is left of it may enable some
+other scientist to put it in working order again. I entreat you to
+attend to this matter yourself. I will go with you, if you wish me
+to, and point out the instrument in case it has been moved from its
+position."
+
+"The room is sealed," said the Director, "and nothing will be
+touched until I arrive there. What is the nature of this instrument?"
+
+"It is of a nature so deadly and destructive that, if it got into the
+hands of an anarchist, he could, alone, lay the city of Vienna in
+ruins."
+
+"Good heavens!" cried the horrified official, whose bane was the
+anarchist, and Jennie, in mentioning this particular type of criminal,
+had builded better than she knew. If she had told him that the
+Professor's invention might enable Austria to conquer all the
+surrounding nations, there is every chance that the machine would have
+been carefully preserved.
+
+"The explosion in the Treasury vaults," continued Jennie, "was
+accidentally caused by this instrument, although the machine at the
+moment was in a garret half a mile away. You saw the terrible effect of
+that explosion; imagine, then, the destruction it would cause in the
+hands of one of those anarchists who are so reckless of consequences."
+
+"I shall destroy the instrument with my own hands," asserted the
+Director fervently, mopping his pallid brow.
+
+Jennie then went on, to the increasing astonishment of the Princess and
+the Director, and related every detail of her interview with the late
+professor Carl Seigfried.
+
+"I shall go at once and annihilate that machine," said the Director,
+rising when the recital was finished. "I shall see to that myself. Then,
+after the inquest, I shall give an order that everything in the attic
+is to be destroyed. I wish that every scientific man on the face of the
+earth could be safely placed behind prison bars."
+
+"I am afraid that wouldn't do much good," replied Jennie, "unless you
+could prevent chemicals being smuggled in. The scientists would probably
+reduce your prison to powder, and walk calmly out through the dust."
+
+Mr. Hardwick had told Jennie that if she solved the Vienna mystery she
+would make a European reputation for the _Daily Bugle_. Jennie did more
+than was expected of her, yet the European reputation which the _Bugle_
+established was not one to be envied. It is true that the account
+printed of the cause of the explosion, dramatically completed with the
+Professor's tragically sudden death, caused a great sensation in London.
+The comic papers of the week were full of illustrations showing the uses
+to which the Professor's instrument might be put. To say that any sane
+man in England believed a word of the article would be to cast an
+undeserved slight upon the intelligence of the British public. No one
+paused to think that if a newspaper had published an account of what
+could be done by the Röentgen rays, without being able to demonstrate
+practically the truth of the assertions made, the contribution would
+have been laughed at. If some years ago a newspaper had stated that a
+man in York listened to the voice of a friend at that moment standing in
+London, and was not only able to hear what his friend said, but could
+actually recognize the voice speaking in an ordinary tone, and then
+if the paper had added that, unfortunately, the instrument which
+accomplished this had been destroyed, people would have denounced the
+sensational nature of modern journalism.
+
+Letters poured in upon the editor, saying that while, as a general rule,
+the writers were willing to stand the ordinary lie of commerce daily
+printed in the sheet, there was a limit to their credulity and they
+objected to be taken for drivelling imbeciles. To complete the
+discomfiture of the _Daily Bugle_, the Government of Austria
+published an official statement, which Reuter and the special
+correspondents scattered broadcast over the earth. The statement was
+written in that calm, serious, and consistent tone which diplomatists
+use when uttering a falsehood of more than ordinary dimensions.
+
+Irresponsible rumours had been floating about (the official proclamation
+began) to the effect that there had been an explosion in the Treasury
+at Vienna. It had been stated that a large quantity of gold had been
+stolen, and that a disaster of some kind had occurred in the Treasury
+vaults. Then a ridiculous story had been printed which asserted that
+Professor Seigfried, one of Austria's honoured dead, had in some manner
+that savoured of the Black Art, encompassed this wholesale destruction.
+The Government now begged to make the following declarations: First,
+not a penny had been stolen out of the Treasury; second, the so-called
+war-chest was intact; third, the two hundred million florins reposed
+securely within the bolted doors of the Treasury vaults; fourth,
+the coins were not, as had been alleged, those belonging to various
+countries, which was a covert intimation that Austria had hostile intent
+against one or the other of those friendly nations. The whole coinage
+in this falsely named war-chest, which was not a war-chest at all, but
+merely the receptacle of a reserve fund which Austria possessed, was
+entirely in Austrian coinage; fifth, in order that these sensational and
+disquieting scandals should be set at rest, the Government announced
+that it intended to weigh this gold upon a certain date, and it invited
+representatives of the Press, from Russia, Germany, France, and England
+to witness this weighing.
+
+The day after this troy-weight function had taken place in Vienna, long
+telegraphic accounts of it appeared in the English press, and several
+solemn leading articles were put forward in the editorial columns,
+which, without mentioning the name of the _Daily Bugle_, deplored the
+voracity of the sensational editor, who respected neither the amity
+which should exist between friendly nations, nor the good name of the
+honoured and respected dead, in his wolfish hunt for the daily scandal.
+Nothing was too high-spiced or improbable for him to print. He traded on
+the supposed gullibility of a fickle public. But, fortunately, in the
+long run, these staid sheets asserted, such actions recoiled upon the
+head of him who promulgated them. Sensational journals merited and
+received the scathing contempt of all honest men. Later on, one of the
+reviews had an article entitled "Some Aspects of Modern Journalism,"
+which battered in the head of the _Daily Bugle_ as with a sledge hammer,
+and in one of the quarterlies a professor at Cambridge showed the
+absurdity of the alleged invention from a scientific point of view.
+
+"I swear," cried Mr. Hardwick, as he paced up and down his room, "that I
+shall be more careful after this in the handling of truth; it is a most
+dangerous thing to meddle with. If you tell the truth about a man, you
+are mulcted in a libel suit, and if you tell the truth about a nation,
+the united Press of the country are down upon you. Ah, well, it makes
+the battle of life all the more interesting, and we are baffled to fight
+better, as Browning says."
+
+The editor had sent for Miss Baxter, and she now sat by his desk while
+he paced nervously to and fro. The doors were closed and locked so that
+they might not be interrupted, and she knew by the editor's manner that
+something important was on hand. Jennie had returned to London after
+a month's stay in Vienna, and had been occupied for a week at her old
+routine work in the office.
+
+"Now, Miss Baxter," said the editor, when he had proclaimed his distrust
+of the truth as a workable material in journalism, "I have a plan to set
+before you, and when you know what it is, I am quite prepared to hear
+you refuse to have anything to do with it. And, remember, if you _do_
+undertake it, there is but one chance in a million of your succeeding.
+It is on this one chance that I propose now to send you to St.
+Petersburg--"
+
+"To St. Petersburg!" echoed the girl in dismay.
+
+"Yes," said the editor, mistaking the purport of her ejaculation, "it is
+a very long trip, but you can travel there in great comfort, and I want
+you to spare no expense in obtaining for yourself every luxury that the
+various railway lines afford during your journey to St. Petersburg and
+back."
+
+"And what am I to go to St. Petersburg for?" murmured Jennie faintly.
+
+"Merely for a letter. Here is what has happened, and what is happening.
+I shall mention no names, but at present a high and mighty personage in
+Russia, who is friendly to Great Britain, has written a private letter,
+making some proposals to a certain high and mighty personage in England,
+who is friendly to Russia. This communication is entirely unofficial;
+neither Government is supposed to know anything at all about it. As a
+matter of fact, the Russian Government have a suspicion, and the British
+Government have a certainty, that such a document will shortly be in
+transit. Nothing may come of it, or great things may come of it. Now
+on the night of the 21st, in one of the sleeping cars leaving St.
+Petersburg by the Nord Express for Berlin, there will travel a special
+messenger having this letter in his possession. I want you to take
+passage by that same train and secure a compartment near the messenger,
+if possible. This messenger will be a man in whom the respective parties
+to the negotiation have implicit confidence. I wish I knew his name,
+but I don't; still, the chances are that he is leaving London for St.
+Petersburg about this time, and so you might keep your eyes open on your
+journey there, for, if you discovered him to be your fellow-passenger,
+it might perhaps make the business that comes after easier. You see this
+letter," continued the editor, taking from a drawer in his desk a large
+envelope, the flap of which was secured by a great piece of stamped
+sealing-wax. "This merely contains a humble ordinary copy of to-day's
+issue of the _Bugle_, but in outside appearance it might be taken for a
+duplicate of the letter which is to leave St. Petersburg on the 21st.
+Now, what I would like you to do is to take this envelope in your
+hand-bag, and if, on the journey back to London, you have an opportunity
+of securing the real letter, and leaving this in its place, you will
+have accomplished the greatest service you have yet done for the paper."
+
+"Oh!" cried Jennie, rising, "I couldn't think of that, Mr. Hardwick--I
+couldn't _think_ of doing it. It is nothing short of highway robbery!"
+
+"I know it looks like that," pleaded Hardwick; "but listen to me. If
+I were going to open the letter and use its contents, then you might
+charge me with instigating theft. The fact is, the letter will not be
+delayed; it will reach the hands of the high and mighty personage in
+England quite intact. The only difference is that you will be its bearer
+instead of the messenger they send for it."
+
+"You expect to open the letter, then, in some surreptitious way--some
+way that will not be noticed afterwards? Oh, I couldn't do it,
+Mr. Hardwick."
+
+"My dear girl, you are jumping at conclusions. I shall amaze you when
+I tell you that I know already practically what the contents of that
+letter are."
+
+"Then what is the use of going to all this expense and trouble trying to
+steal it?"
+
+"Don't say 'steal it,' Miss Baxter. I'll tell you what my motive is.
+There is an official in England who has gone out of his way to throw
+obstacles in mine. This is needless and irritating, for generally I
+manage to get the news I am in quest of; but in several instances, owing
+to his opposition, I have not only not got the news, but other papers
+have. Now, since the general raking we have had over this Austrian
+business, quite aside from the fact that we published the exact truth,
+this stupid old official duffer has taken it upon himself to be
+exceedingly sneering and obnoxious to me, and I confess I want to take
+him down a peg. He hasn't any idea that I know as much about this
+business as I do--in fact, he thinks it is an absolute secret; yet, if
+I liked, I could to-morrow nullify all the arrangements by simply
+publishing what is already in my possession, which action on my part
+would create a _furore_ in this country, and no less of a _furore_ in
+Russia. For the sake of amity between nations, which I am accused of
+disregarding, I hold my hand.
+
+"Now, if you get possession of that communication, I want you to
+telegraph to me while you are _en route_ for London, and I will meet you
+at the terminus; then I shall take the document direct to this official,
+even before the regular messenger has time to reach him. I shall say to
+the official, 'There is the message from the high personage in Russia to
+the high personage in England. If you want the document, I will give
+it to you, but it must be understood that you are to be a little less
+friendly to certain other newspapers, and a little more friendly to
+mine, in future.'"
+
+"And suppose he refuses your terms?"
+
+"He won't refuse them; but if he does I shall hand him the envelope just
+the same."
+
+"Well, honestly, Mr. Hardwick, I don't think your scheme worth the
+amount of money it will cost, and, besides, the chance of my getting
+hold of the packet, which will doubtless be locked safely within a
+despatch box, and constantly under the eye of the messenger, is most
+remote."
+
+"I am more than willing to risk all that if you will undertake the
+journey. You speak lightly of my scheme, but that is merely because you
+do not understand the situation. Everything you have heretofore done has
+been of temporary advantage to the paper; but if you carry this off, I
+expect the benefit to the _Bugle_ will be lasting. It will give me a
+standing with certain officials that I have never before succeeded in
+getting. In the first place, it will make them afraid of me, and that of
+itself is a powerful lever when we are trying to get information which
+they are anxious to give to some other paper."
+
+"Very well, Mr. Hardwick, I will try; though I warn you to expect
+nothing but failure. In everything else I have endeavoured to do, I have
+felt confident of success from the beginning. In this instance I am
+as sure I shall fail."
+
+"As I told you, Miss Baxter, the project is so difficult that your
+failure, if you _do_ fail, will merely prove it to have been
+impossible, because I am sure that if anyone on earth could
+carry the project to success, you are that person; and, furthermore, I
+am very much obliged to you for consenting to attempt such a mission."
+
+And thus it was that Jennie Baxter found herself in due time in the
+great capital of the north, with a room in the Hotel de l'Europe
+overlooking the Nevski Prospect. In ordinary circumstances she would
+have enjoyed a visit to St. Petersburg; but now she was afraid to
+venture out, being under the apprehension that at any moment she might
+meet Lord Donal Stirling face to face, and that he would recognize her;
+therefore she remained discreetly in her room, watching the strange
+street scenes from her window. She found herself scrutinizing everyone
+who had the appearance of being an Englishman, and she had to confess to
+a little qualm of disappointment when the person in question proved to
+be some other than Lord Donal; in fact, during her short stay at St.
+Petersburg she saw nothing of the young man.
+
+Jennie went, on the evening of her arrival, to the offices of the
+Sleeping Car Company, to secure a place in one of the carriages that
+left at six o'clock on the evening of the 21st. Her initial difficulty
+met her when she learned there were several sleeping cars on that
+train, and she was puzzled to know which to select. She stood there,
+hesitating, with the plans of the carriages on the table before her.
+
+"You have ample choice," said the clerk; "seats are not usually booked
+so long in advance, and only two places have been taken in the train, so
+far."
+
+"I should like to be in a carriage containing some English people," said
+the girl, not knowing what excuse to give for her hesitation.
+
+"Then let me recommend this car, for one compartment has been taken by
+the British Embassy--Room C, near the centre, marked with a cross."
+
+"Ah, well, I will take the compartment next to it--Room D, isn't it?"
+said Jennie.
+
+"Oh, I am sorry to say that also has been taken. Those are the two
+which are bespoken. I will see under what name Room D has been booked.
+Probably its occupant is English also. But I can give you Room B, on the
+other side of the one reserved by the Embassy. It is a two-berth room,
+Nos. 5 and 6."
+
+"That will do quite as well," said Jennie.
+
+The clerk looked up the order book, and then said,--
+
+"It is not recorded here by whom Room D was reserved. As a usual thing,"
+he continued, lowering his voice almost to a whisper and looking
+furtively over his shoulder, "when no name is marked down, that means
+the Russian police. So, you see, by taking the third room you will not
+only be under the shadow of the British Embassy, but also under the
+protection of Russia. Do you wish one berth only, or the whole room? It
+is a two-berth compartment."
+
+"I desire the whole room, if you please."
+
+She paid the price and departed, wondering if the other room had really
+been taken by the police, and whether the authorities were so anxious
+for the safety of the special messenger that they considered it
+necessary to protect him to the frontier. If, in addition to the natural
+precautions of the messenger, there was added the watchfulness of one or
+two suspicious Russian policemen, then would her difficult enterprise
+become indeed impossible. On the other hand, the ill-paid policemen
+might be amenable to the influence of money, and as she was well
+supplied with the coin of the realm, their presence might be a help
+rather than a hindrance. All in all, she had little liking for the
+task she had undertaken, and the more she thought of it, the less it
+commended itself to her. Nevertheless, having pledged her word to the
+editor, if failure came it would be through no fault of hers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+JENNIE ENDURES A TERRIBLE NIGHT JOURNEY.
+
+
+Jennie went early to the station on the night of the 21st and entered
+the sleeping car as soon as she was allowed to do so. The conductor
+seemed unaccountably flustered at her anxiety to get to her room, and he
+examined her ticket with great care; then, telling her to follow him,
+brought her to Room B, in which were situated berths 5 and 6, upper and
+lower. The berths were not made up, and the room showed one seat, made
+to accommodate two persons. The conductor went out on the platform
+again, and Jennie, finding herself alone in the carriage, walked up and
+down the narrow passage-way at the side, to get a better idea of her
+surroundings.
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF SLEEPING CAR.]
+
+Room C, next to her own, was the one taken by the British Embassy. Room
+D, still further on, was the one that appeared to have been retained by
+the police. She stood for a few moments by the broad plate-glass window
+that lined the passage and looked out at the crowded platform. For a
+time she watched the conductor, who appeared to be gazing anxiously
+towards the direction from which passengers streamed, as if looking for
+someone in particular. Presently a big man, a huge overcoat belted round
+him, with a stern bearded face--looking, the girl thought, typically
+Russian--strode up to the conductor and spoke earnestly with him. Then
+the two turned to the steps of the car, and Jennie fled to her narrow
+little room, closing the door all but about an inch. An instant later
+the two men came in, speaking together in French. The larger man had
+a gruff voice and spoke the language in a way that showed it was not
+native to him.
+
+"When did you learn that he had changed his room?" asked the man with
+the gruff voice.
+
+"Only this afternoon," replied the conductor.
+
+"Did you bore holes between that and the adjoining compartment?"
+
+"Yes, Excellency; but Azof did not tell me whether you wanted the holes
+at the top or the bottom."
+
+"At the bottom, of course," replied the Russian. "Any fool might have
+known that. The gas must rise, not fall; then when he feels its effect
+and tumbles down, he will be in a denser layer of it, whereas, if we put
+it in the top, and he fell down, he would come into pure air, and so
+might make his escape. You did not bore the hole over the top berth, I
+hope?"
+
+"Yes, Excellency, but I bored one at the bottom also."
+
+"Oh, very well, we can easily stop the one at the top. Have you fastened
+the window? for the first thing these English do is to open a window."
+
+"The window is securely fastened, your Excellency, unless he breaks the
+glass."
+
+"Oh, he will not think of doing that until it is too late. The English
+are a law-abiding people. How many other passengers are there in the
+car?"
+
+"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Excellency, the Room B has been taken by an
+English lady, who is there now."
+
+"Ten thousand devils!" cried the Russian in a hoarse whisper. "Why did
+you not say that before?"
+
+The voices now fell to so low a murmur that Jennie could not distinguish
+the words spoken. A moment later there was a rap at her door, and she
+had presence of mind enough to get in the further corner, and say in a
+sleepy voice,--
+
+"Come in!"
+
+The conductor opened the door.
+
+"_Votre billet, s'il vous plaît, madame."_
+
+"Can't you speak English?" asked Jennie.
+
+The conductor merely repeated his question, and as Jennie was shaking
+her head the big Russian looked over the conductor's shoulder and said
+in passable English,--
+
+"He is asking for your ticket, madam. Do you not speak French?" In
+answer to this direct question Jennie, fumbling in her purse for her
+ticket, replied,--
+
+"I speak English, and I have already shown him my ticket." She handed
+her broad-sheet sleeping-car ticket to the Russian, who had pushed the
+conductor aside and now stood within the compartment.
+
+"There has been a mistake," he said. "Room C is the one that has been
+reserved for you."
+
+"I am sure there isn't any mistake," said Jennie. "I booked berths
+5 and 6. See, there are the numbers," pointing to the metallic plates by
+the door, "and here are the same numbers on the ticket."
+
+The Russian shook his head.
+
+"The mistake has been made at the office of the Sleeping Car Company. I
+am a director of the Company."
+
+"Oh, are you?" asked Jennie innocently. "Is Room C as comfortable as
+this one?"
+
+"It is a duplicate of this one, madam, and is more comfortable, because
+it is nearer the centre of the car."
+
+"Well, there is no mistake about my reserving the two berths, is there?"
+
+"Oh, no, madam, the room is entirely at your disposal."
+
+"Well, then, in that case," said Jennie, "I have no objection to making
+a change."
+
+She knew that she would be compelled to change, no matter what her
+ticket recorded, so she thought it best to play the simple maiden
+abroad, and make as little fuss as possible about the transfer. She had
+to rearrange the car in her mind. She was now in Room C, which had been
+first reserved by the British Embassy. It was evident that at the
+last moment the messenger had decided to take Room A, a four-berth
+compartment at the end of the car. The police then would occupy Room B,
+which she had first engaged, and, from the bit of conversation she had
+overheard, Jennie was convinced that they intended to kill or render
+insensible the messenger who bore the important letter. The police were
+there not to protect, but to attack. This amazing complication in the
+plot concentrated all the girl's sympathies on the unfortunate man who
+was messenger between two great personages, even though he travelled
+apparently under the protection of the British Embassy at St.
+Petersburg. The fact, to put it baldly, that she had intended to rob
+him herself, if opportunity occurred, rose before her like an accusing
+ghost. "I shall never undertake anything like this again," she cried
+to herself, "never, never," and now she resolved to make reparation to
+the man she had intended to injure. She would watch for him until he
+came down the passage, and then warn him by relating what she had heard.
+She had taken off her hat on entering the room; now she put it on
+hurriedly, thrusting a long pin through it. As she stood up, there was a
+jolt of the train that caused her to sit down again somewhat hurriedly.
+Passing her window she saw the lights of the station; the train was in
+motion. "Thank Heaven!" she cried fervently, "he is too late. Those
+plotting villains will have all their trouble for nothing."
+
+She glanced upwards towards the ceiling and noticed a hole about an inch
+in diameter bored in the thin wooden partition between her compartment
+and the next. Turning to the wall behind her she saw that another hole
+had been bored in a similar position through to Room B. The car had been
+pretty thoroughly prepared for the work in hand, and Jennie laughed
+softly to herself as she pictured the discomfiture of the conspirators.
+The train was now rushing through the suburbs of St. Petersburg, when
+Jennie was startled by hearing a stranger's voice say in French,--
+
+"Conductor, I have Room A; which end of the car is that?"
+
+"This way, Excellency," replied the conductor. Everyone seemed to be
+"Excellency" with him. A moment later, Jennie, who had again risen to
+her feet, horrified to learn that, after all, the messenger had come,
+heard the door of his room click. Everything was silent save the purring
+murmur of the swiftly moving train. She stood there for a few moments
+tense with excitement, then bethought herself of the hole between her
+present compartment and the one she had recently left. She sprang up
+on the seat, and placing her eye with some caution at the hole, peered
+through. First she thought the compartment was empty, then noticed there
+had been placed at the end by the window a huge cylinder that reached
+nearly to the ceiling of the room. The lamp above was burning brightly,
+and she could see every detail of the compartment, except towards the
+floor. As she gazed a man's back slowly rose; he appeared to have been
+kneeling on the floor, and he held in his hand the loop of a rubber
+tube. Peering downwards, she saw that it was connected with the
+cylinder, and that it was undoubtedly pouring whatever gas the cylinder
+contained through the hole into Room A. For a moment she had difficulty
+in repressing a shriek; but realizing how perfectly helpless she was,
+even if an alarm were raised, she fought down all exclamation. She saw
+that the man who was regulating the escape of gas was not the one who
+had spoken to the conductor. Then, fearing that he might turn his head
+and see her eye at the small aperture, she reached up and covered the
+lamp, leaving her own room in complete darkness. The double covering,
+which closed over the semi-globular lamp like an eyelid, kept every ray
+of light from penetrating into the compartment she occupied.
+
+As Jennie turned to her espionage again, she heard a blow given to the
+door in Room A that made it chatter, then there was a sound of a heavy
+fall on the floor. The door of Room B was flung open, the head of the
+first Russian was thrust in, and he spoke in his own language a single
+gruff word. His assistant then turned the cock and shut off the gas from
+the cylinder. The door of Room B was instantly shut again, and Jennie
+heard the rattle of the key as Room A was being unlocked.
+
+Jennie jumped down from her perch, threw off her hat, and, with as
+little noise as possible, slid her door back an inch or two. The
+conductor had unlocked the door of Room A, the tall Russian standing
+beside him saying in a whisper,--
+
+"Never mind the man, he'll recover the moment you open the door and
+window; get the box. Hold your nose with your fingers and keep your
+mouth shut. There it is, that black box in the corner."
+
+The conductor made a dive into the room, and came out with an ordinary
+black despatch-box.
+
+The policeman seemed well provided with the materials for his
+burglarious purpose. He selected a key from a jingling bunch, tried it;
+selected another; then a third, and the lid of the despatch-box was
+thrown back. He took out a letter so exactly the duplicate of the one
+Jennie possessed that she clutched her own document to see if it were
+still in her pocket. The Russian put the envelope between his knees and
+proceeded to lock the box. His imagination had not gone to any such
+refinement as the placing of a dummy copy where the original had been.
+Quick as thought Jennie acted. She slid open the door quietly and
+stepped out into the passage. So intent were the two men on their work
+that neither saw her. The tall man gave the box back to the conductor,
+then took the letter from between his knees, holding it in his right
+hand, when Jennie, as if swayed by the motion of the car, lurched
+against him, and, with a sleight of hand that would have made her
+reputation on a necromantic stage, she jerked the letter from the amazed
+and frightened man; at the same moment allowing the bogus document to
+drop on the floor of the car from her other hand. The conductor had just
+emerged from Room A, holding his nose and looking comical enough as he
+stood there in that position, amazed at the sudden apparition of the
+lady. The Russian struck down the conductor's fingers with his right
+hand, and by a swift motion of the left closed the door of Compartment
+A, all of which happened in a tenth of the time taken to tell it.
+
+"Oh, pardon me!" cried Jennie in English, "I'm afraid a lurch of the car
+threw me against you."
+
+The Russian, before answering, cast a look at the floor and saw the
+large envelope lying there with its seal uppermost. He quietly placed
+his huge foot upon it, and then said, with an effort at politeness,--
+
+"It is no matter, madam. I fear I am so bulky that I have taken up most
+of the passage."
+
+"It is very good of you to excuse me," said Jennie; "I merely came out
+to ask the conductor if he would make up my berth. Would you be good
+enough to translate that to him?"
+
+The Russian surlily told the conductor to attend to the wants of the
+lady. The conductor muttered a reply, and that reply the Russian
+translated.
+
+"He will be at your service in a few moments, madam. He must first make
+up the berth of the gentleman in Room A."
+
+"Oh, thank you very much," returned Jennie. "I am in no hurry; any time
+within the hour will do."
+
+With that she retired again into her compartment, the real letter
+concealed in the folds of her dress, the bogus one on the floor under
+the Russian's foot. She closed the door tightly, then, taking care that
+she was not observed through either of the holes the conductor had bored
+in the partition, she swiftly placed the important document in a deep
+inside pocket of her jacket. As a general rule, women have inside
+pockets in their capes, and outside pockets in their jackets; but
+Jennie, dealing as she did with many documents in the course of her
+profession, had had this jacket especially made, with its deep and roomy
+inside pocket. She sat on a corner of the sofa, wondering what was to
+be the fate of the unfortunate messenger, for, in spite of the sudden
+shutting of the door by the Russian, she caught a glimpse of the man
+lying face downwards on the floor of his stifling room. She also had
+received a whiff of the sweet, heavy gas which had been used, that
+seemed now to be tincturing the whole atmosphere of the car, especially
+in the long narrow passage. It was not likely they intended to kill
+the man, for his death would cause an awkward investigation, while his
+statement that he had been rendered insensible might easily be denied.
+As she sat there, the silence disturbed only by the low, soothing rumble
+of the train, she heard the ring of the metal cylinder against the
+woodwork of the next compartment. The men were evidently removing
+their apparatus. A little later the train slowed, finally coming to a
+standstill, and looking out of the window into the darkness, she found
+they were stopping at an ill-lighted country station. Covering the light
+in the ceiling again, the better to see outside, herself, unobserved,
+she noted the conductor and another man place the bulky cylinder on the
+platform, without the slightest effort at concealment. The tall Russian
+stood by and gave curt orders. An instant later the train moved on
+again, and when well under way there was a rap at her door. When she
+opened it, the conductor said that he would make up her berth now, if it
+so pleased her. She stood out in the corridor while this was deftly
+and swiftly done. She could not restrain her curiosity regarding the
+mysterious occupant of Room A, and to satisfy it she walked slowly up
+and down the corridor, her hands behind her, passing and repassing the
+open door of her room, and noticing that ever and anon the conductor
+cast a suspicious eye in her direction.
+
+The door of Room A was partly open, but the shaded lamp in the
+ceiling left the interior in darkness. There was now no trace of the
+intoxicating gas in the corridor, and as she passed Room A she noticed
+that a fresh breeze was blowing through the half open doorway, therefore
+the window must be up. Once as she passed her own door she saw the
+conductor engaged in a task which would keep him from looking into the
+corridor for at least a minute, and in that interval she set her
+doubts at rest by putting her head swiftly into Room A, and as swiftly
+withdrawing it. The man had been lifted on to his sofa, and lay with his
+face towards the wall, his head on a pillow. The despatch-box rested on
+a corner of the sofa, where, doubtless, he had left it. He was breathing
+heavily like a man in a drunken sleep; but the air of the room was sweet
+and fresh, and he would doubtless recover.
+
+Jennie still paced up and down, pondering deeply over what had happened.
+At first, when she had secured the important document, she had made up
+her mind to return it to the messenger; but further meditation induced
+her to change her mind. The messenger had been robbed by the Russian
+police; he would tell his superiors exactly what had happened, and yet
+the letter would reach its destination as speedily as if he had brought
+it himself--as if he had never been touched. Knowing the purpose which
+Mr. Hardwick had in his mind, Jennie saw that the letter now was of
+tenfold more value to him than it would have been had she taken it from
+the messenger. It was evident that the British Embassy, or the messenger
+himself, had suspicions that an attempt was to be made to obtain the
+document, otherwise Room C of the sleeping car would not have been
+changed for Room A at the very last moment. If, then, the editor could
+say to the official, "The Russian police robbed your messenger in spite
+of all the precautions that could be taken, and my emissary cozened the
+Russians; so, you see, I have accomplished what the whole power of the
+British Government was powerless to effect; therefore it will be wisdom
+on your part to come to terms with me."
+
+Jennie resolved to relate to Hardwick exactly how she came into
+possession of the document, and she knew his alert nature well enough to
+be sure he would make the most of the trump card dealt to him.
+
+"Your room is ready for you," said the conductor in French.
+
+She had the presence of mind enough not to comprehend his phrase until,
+with a motion of his hand, he explained his meaning. She entered her
+compartment and closed the door.
+
+Having decided what disposal to make of the important document, there
+now arose in her mind the disquieting problem whether or not it would be
+allowed to remain with her. She cogitated over the situation and tried
+to work out the mental arithmetic of it. Trains were infrequent on the
+Russian railways, and she had no means of estimating when the burly
+ruffian who had planned and executed the robbery would get back to St.
+Petersburg. There was no doubt that he had not the right to open the
+letter and read its contents; that privilege rested with some higher
+official in St. Petersburg. The two men had got off at the first
+stopping place. It was quite possible that they would not reach the
+capital until next morning, when the Berlin express would be well on its
+way to the frontier. Once over the frontier she would be safe; but the
+moment it was found that the purloined envelope merely contained a
+copy of an English newspaper, what might not happen? Would the Russian
+authorities dare telegraph to the frontier to have her searched, or
+would the big official who had planned the robbery suspect that she, by
+legerdemain, had become possessed of the letter so much sought for? Even
+if he did suspect her, he would certainly have craft enough not to admit
+it. His game would rather be to maintain that this was the veritable
+document found in the Englishman's despatch-box; and it was more than
+likely, taking into consideration the change of room at the last moment,
+which would show the officials the existence of suspicion in the
+messenger's mind, or in the minds of those who sent him, the natural
+surmise would be that another messenger had gone with the real document,
+and that the robbed man was merely a blind to delude the Russian police.
+In any case, Jennie concluded, there was absolutely nothing to do but
+to remain awake all night and guard the treasure which good luck
+had bestowed upon her. She stood up on her bed, about to stuff her
+handkerchief into the hole bored in the partition, but suddenly paused
+and came down to the floor again. No, discomforting as it was to remain
+in a room under possible espionage, she dared not stop the openings, as
+that would show she had cognisance of them, and arouse the conductor's
+suspicion that, after all, she had understood what had been said;
+whereas, if she left them as they were, the fact of her doing so would
+be strong confirmation of her ignorance. She took from her bag a scarf,
+tied one end round her wrist and the other to the door, so that it could
+not be opened, should she fall asleep, without awakening her. Before
+entrenching herself thus, she drew the eyelids down over the lamp, and
+left her room in darkness. Then, if anyone did spy upon her they would
+not see the dark scarf which united her wrist with the door.
+
+In spite of the danger of her situation she had the utmost difficulty in
+keeping awake. The rumble of the train had a very somnolent effect, and
+once or twice she started up, fearing that she had been slumbering. Once
+she experienced a tightening sensation in her throat, and sprang to the
+floor, seeing the rising gas somehow made visible, the colour of blood.
+The scarf drew her to her knees, and for a moment she thought someone
+clutched her wrist. Panting, she undid the scarf and flooded the room
+with light. Her heart was beating wildly, but all was still, save the
+ever-present rumble of the train rushing through the darkness over the
+boundless plains of Russia. She looked at her tiny watch, it was two
+o'clock in the morning. She knew then that she must have fallen asleep
+in spite of her strong resolutions. The letter was still in the inside
+pocket of her jacket, and all was well at two in the morning. No eye
+appeared at either of the apertures, so she covered up the light once
+more and lay down again, sighing to think how rumpled her dainty costume
+would look in the morning. Now she was resolved not to go to sleep, if
+force of will could keep her awake. A moment later she was startled by
+someone beating down the partition with an axe. She sprang up, and again
+the scarf pulled her back. She untied it from her wrist and noticed
+that daylight flooded the compartment. This amazed her; how could it
+be daylight so soon? Had she been asleep again, and was the fancied
+battering at the door with an axe merely the conclusion of a dream
+caused by the conductor's knock? After a breathless pause there came a
+gentle rap on her door, and the voice of the conductor said,--
+
+"Breakfast at Luga, madame, in three-quarters of an hour."
+
+"Very good," she replied in English, her voice trembling with fear.
+Slowly she untied the scarf from the door and placed it in her handbag.
+She shivered notwithstanding her effort at self-control, for she knew
+she had slept through the night, and far into the morning. In agitation
+she unbuttoned her jacket. Yes; there was the letter, just where she had
+placed it. She dare not take it out and examine it, fearing still that
+she might be watched from some unseen quarter, but "Thank God," she
+said to herself fervently, "this horrible night is ended. Once over the
+frontier I am safe." She smoothed and brushed down her dress as well as
+she was able, and was greatly refreshed by her wash in cold water, which
+is one of the luxuries, not the least acceptable, on a sleeping car.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+JENNIE EXPERIENCES THE SURPRISE OF HER LIFE.
+
+
+At nine o'clock the long train came to a standstill, seventeen minutes
+late at Luga, and ample time was allowed for a leisurely breakfast in
+the buffet of the station. The restaurant was thronged with numerous
+passengers, most of whom seemed hardly yet awake, while many were
+unkempt and dishevelled, as if they had had little sleep during the
+night.
+
+Jennie found a small table and sat down beside it, ordering her coffee
+and rolls from the waiter who came to serve her. Looking round at the
+cosmopolitan company, and listening to the many languages, whose clash
+gave a Babel air to the restaurant, Jennie fell to musing on the strange
+experiences she had encountered since leaving London. It seemed to her
+she had been taking part in some ghastly nightmare, and she shuddered as
+she thought of the lawlessness, under cover of law, of this great and
+despotic empire, where even the ruler was under the surveillance of his
+subordinates, and could not get a letter out of his own dominion in
+safety, were he so minded. In her day-dream she became conscious,
+without noting its application to herself, that a man was standing
+before her table; then a voice which made her heart stop said,--
+
+"Ah, lost Princess!"
+
+She placed her hand suddenly to her throat, for the catch in her
+breath seemed to be suffocating her, then looked up and saw Lord Donal
+Stirling, in the ordinary everyday dress of an English gentleman, as
+well groomed as if he had come, not from a train, but from his own
+house. There was a kindly smile on his lips and a sparkle in his eyes,
+but his face was of ghastly pallor.
+
+"Oh, Lord Donal!" she cried, regarding him with eyes of wonder and fear,
+"what is wrong with you?"
+
+"Nothing," the young man replied, with an attempt at a laugh; "nothing,
+now that I have found you, Princess. I have been making a night of it,
+that's all, and am suffering the consequences in the morning. May I sit
+down?"
+
+He dropped into a chair on the other side of the table, like a man
+thoroughly exhausted, unable to stand longer, and went on,--
+
+"Like all dissipated men, I am going to break my fast on stimulants.
+Waiter," he said, "bring me a large glass of your best brandy."
+
+"And, waiter," interjected Jennie in French, "bring two breakfasts. I
+suppose it was not a meal that you ordered just now, Lord Donal?"
+
+"I have ordered my breakfast," he said; "still, it pleads in my favour
+that I do not carry brandy with me, as I ought to do, and so must drink
+the vile stuff they call their best here."
+
+"You should eat as well," she insisted, taking charge of him as if she
+had every right to do so.
+
+"All shall be as you say, now that I have the happiness of seeing you
+sitting opposite me, but don't be surprised if I show a most
+unappreciative appetite."
+
+"What is the matter?" she asked breathlessly. "You certainly look very
+ill."
+
+"I have been drugged and robbed," he replied, lowering his voice. "I
+imagine I came to close quarters with death itself. I have spent a night
+in Hades, and this morning am barely able to stagger; but the sight of
+you, Princess--Ah, well, I feel once more that I belong to the land of
+the living!"
+
+"Please do not call me Princess," said the girl, looking down at the
+tablecloth.
+
+"Then what am I to call you, Princess?"
+
+"My name is Jennie Baxter," she said in a low voice.
+
+"_Miss_ Jennie Baxter?" he asked eagerly, with emphasis on the first
+word.
+
+"Miss Jennie Baxter," she answered, still not looking up at him.
+
+He leaned back in his chair and said,--
+
+"Well, this is not such a bad world, after all. To think of meeting you
+here in Russia! Have you been in St. Petersburg, then?"
+
+"Yes. I am a newspaper woman," explained Jennie hurriedly. "When
+you met me before, I was there surreptitiously--fraudulently, if
+you like; I was there to--to write a report of it for my paper. I
+can never thank you enough, Lord Donal, for your kindness to me that
+evening."
+
+"Your thanks are belated," said the young man, with a visible attempt at
+gaiety. "You should have written and acknowledged the kindness you are
+good enough to say I rendered to you. You knew my address, and etiquette
+demanded that you should make your acknowledgments."
+
+"I was reluctant to write," said Jennie, a smile hovering round her
+lips, "fearing my letter might act as a clue. I had no wish to interfere
+with the legitimate business of Mr. Cadbury Taylor."
+
+"Great heavens!" cried the young man, "how came you to know about that?
+But of course the Princess von Steinheimer told you of it. She wrote to
+me charging me with all sorts of wickedness for endeavouring to find
+you."
+
+"No, Lord Donal, I did not learn it from her. In fact, if you had opened
+the door of the inner room at Mr. Cadbury Taylor's a little quicker, you
+would have come upon me, for I was the assistant who tried to persuade
+him that you really met the Princess von Steinheimer."
+
+Lord Donal, for the first time, laughed heartily.
+
+"Well, if that doesn't beat all! And I suppose Cadbury Taylor hasn't the
+slightest suspicion that you are the person he was looking for?"
+
+"No, not the slightest."
+
+"I say! that is the best joke I have heard in ten years," said Lord
+Donal; and here, breakfast arriving, Jennie gave him his directions.
+
+"You are to drink a small portion of that brandy," she said, "and then
+put the rest in your coffee. You must eat a good breakfast, and that
+will help you to forget your troubles,--that is, if you have any real
+troubles."
+
+"Oh, my troubles are real enough," said the young man. "When I met you
+before, Princess, I was reasonably successful. We even talked about
+ambassadorships, didn't we, in spite of the fact that ambassadors were
+making themselves unnecessarily obtrusive that night? Now you see before
+you a ruined man. No, I am not joking; it is true. I was given a
+commission, or, rather, knowing the danger there was in it, I begged
+that the commission might be given me. It was merely to take a letter
+from St. Petersburg to London. I have failed, and when that is said, all
+is said."
+
+"But surely," cried the girl, blushing guiltily as she realized that
+this was the man she had been sent to rob, "you could not be expected to
+ward off such a lawless attempt at murder as you have been the victim
+of?"
+
+"That is just what I expected, and what I supposed I could ward off. In
+my profession--which, after all has a great similarity to yours, except
+that I think we have to do more lying in ours--there must be no such
+word as fail. The very best excuses are listened to with tolerance,
+perhaps, and a shrug of the shoulders; but failure, no matter from what
+cause, is fell doom. I have failed. I shall not make any excuses. I will
+go to London and say merely, 'The Russian police have robbed me.' Oh, I
+know perfectly well who did the trick, and how it was done. Then I shall
+send in my resignation. They will accept it with polite words of regret,
+and will say to each other, 'Poor fellow, he had a brilliant career
+before him, but he got drunk, or something, and fell into the ditch.'
+Ah, well, we won't talk any more about it."
+
+"Then you don't despise the newspaper profession, Lord Donal?"
+
+"Despise it! Bless you, no: I look up to it. Belonging myself to a
+profession very much lower down in the scale of morality, as I have
+said. But, Princess," he added, leaning towards her, "will you resign
+from the newspaper if I resign from diplomacy?"
+
+The girl slowly shook her head, her eyes on the tablecloth before her.
+
+"I will telegraph my resignation," he said impetuously, "if you will
+telegraph yours to your paper."
+
+"You are feeling ill and worried this morning, Lord Donal, and so you
+take a pessimistic view of life. You must not resign."
+
+"Oh, but I must. I have failed, and that is enough."
+
+"It isn't enough. You must do nothing until you reach London."
+
+"I like your word _must_, Jennie," said the young man audaciously. "It
+implies something, you know."
+
+"What does it imply, Lord Donal?" she asked, glancing up at him.
+
+"It implies that you are going to leave the 'Lord' off my name."
+
+"That wouldn't be very difficult," replied Jennie.
+
+"I am delighted to hear you say so," exclaimed his lordship; "and now,
+that I may know how it sounds from your dear lips, call me Don."
+
+"No; if I ever consented to omit the title, I should call you Donal. I
+like the name in its entirety."
+
+He reached his hand across the table. "Are you willing then, to accept a
+man at the very lowest ebb of his fortunes? I know that if I were of
+the mould that heroes are made of, I would hesitate to proffer you a
+blighted life. But I loved you the moment I saw you; and, remembering my
+fruitless search for you, I cannot run the risk of losing you again; I
+have not the courage."
+
+She placed her hand in his and looked him, for the first time, squarely
+in the eyes.
+
+"Are you sure, Donal," she said, "that I am not a mere effigy on which
+you are hanging the worn-out garments of a past affection? You thought I
+was the Princess at first."
+
+"No, I didn't," he protested. "As soon as I heard you speak, I knew you
+were the one I was destined to meet."
+
+"Ah, Donal, Donal, at lovers' perjuries they say Jove laughs. I don't
+think you were quite so certain as all that. But I, too, am a coward,
+and I dare not refuse you."
+
+Lord Donal glanced quickly about him; the room was still crowded. Even
+the Berlin Express gave them a long time for breakfast, and was in no
+hurry to move westward. His hurried gaze returned to her and he sighed.
+
+"What an unholy spot for a proposal!" he whispered; "and yet they call
+Russia the Great Lone Land. Oh, that we had a portion of it entirely to
+ourselves!"
+
+The girl sat there, a smile on her pretty lips that Lord Donal thought
+most tantalizing. A railway official announced in a loud voice that the
+train was about to resume its journey. There was a general shuffling of
+feet as the passengers rose to take their places.
+
+"Brothers and sisters kiss each other, you know, on the eve of a railway
+journey," said Lord Donal, taking advantage of the confusion.
+
+Jennie Baxter made no protest.
+
+"There is plenty of time," he whispered. "I know the leisurely nature of
+Russian trains. Now I am going to the telegraph office, to send in my
+resignation, and I want you to come with me and send in yours."
+
+"No, Lord Donal," said the girl.
+
+"Aren't you going to resign?" he asked, in surprise.
+
+"Yes, all in good time; but _you_ are not."
+
+"Oh, I say," he cried, "it is really imperative. I'll tell you all about
+it when we get on the train."
+
+"It is really imperative that you should not send in your resignation.
+Indeed, Donal, you need not look at me with that surprised air. You may
+as well get accustomed to dictation at once. You did it yourself, you
+know. You can't say that I encouraged you. I eluded the vigilant Cadbury
+Taylor as long as I could. But, if there is time, go to the telegraph
+office and send a message to the real Princess, Palace Steinheimer,
+Vienna. Say you are engaged to be married to Jennie Baxter, and ask her
+to telegraph you her congratulations at Berlin."
+
+"I'll do it," replied the young man with gratifying alacrity.
+
+When Lord Donal came out of the telegraph office, Jennie said to him,
+"Wait a moment while I go into the sleeping car and get my rugs and
+handbag."
+
+"I'll go for them," he cried impetuously.
+
+"Oh, no," she said. "I'll tell you why, later. The conductor is a
+villain and was in collusion with the police."
+
+"Oh, I know that," said Lord Donal. "Poor devil, he can't help himself;
+he must do what the police order him to do, while he is in Russia."
+
+"I'll get my things and go into an ordinary first class carriage. When I
+pass this door, you must get your belongings and come and find me. There
+is still time, and I don't want the conductor to see us together."
+
+"Very well," said the young man with exemplary obedience.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+JENNIE CONVERSES WITH A YOUNG MAN SHE THINKS MUCH OF.
+
+
+When the train started, they were seated together in a carriage far
+forward.
+
+"One of my failings," said the girl, "is to act first, and think
+afterwards. I am sorry now that I asked you to send that telegram to the
+Princess."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because I have a great deal to tell you, and perhaps you may wish to
+withdraw from the rash engagement you have undertaken."
+
+"A likely thing!" cried the ardent lover. "Indeed, Miss Princess, if you
+think you can get rid of me as easily as all that, you are very much
+mistaken."
+
+"Well, I want to tell you why I did not allow you to resign."
+
+Slowly she undid the large buttons of her jacket, then, taking it by
+the lapel and holding it so that no one else could see, she drew partly
+forth from the inside pocket the large envelope, until the stamp of the
+Embassy was plainly visible. Lord Donal's eyes opened to their widest
+capacity, and his breath seemed to stop.
+
+"Great heavens!" he gasped at last, "do you mean to say _you_ have it?"
+
+"Yes," she said, buttoning up her jacket again. "I robbed the robbers.
+Listen, and I will tell you all that happened. But, first, are you
+armed?"
+
+"Yes," he replied, "I have a trumpery revolver in my pocket; little good
+it did me last night."
+
+"Very well, we shall be across the frontier by noon to-day. If the
+Russian authorities find before that time how they have been checkmated,
+and if they have any suspicion that I am the cause of it, is it not
+likely that they will have me stopped and searched on some pretence or
+other?" Lord Donal pondered for a moment. "They are quite capable of
+it," he said; "but, Jennie, I will fight for you against the whole
+Russian Empire, and somebody will get hurt if you are meddled with. The
+police will hesitate, however, before interfering with a messenger from
+the Embassy, or anyone in his charge in broad daylight on a crowded
+train. We will not go back into that car, but stay here, where some of
+our fellow-countrymen are."
+
+"That is what I was going to propose," said Jennie. "And now listen to
+the story I have to tell you, and then you will know exactly why I came
+to Russia."
+
+"Don't tell me anything you would rather not," said the young man
+hurriedly.
+
+"I would rather not, but it must be told," answered the girl.
+
+The story lasted a long time, and when it was ended the young man cried
+enthusiastically in answer to her question,--
+
+"Blame you? Why, of course I don't blame you in the slightest. It wasn't
+Hardwick who sent you here at all, but Providence. Providence brought us
+together, Jennie, and my belief in it hereafter will be unshaken."
+
+Jennie laughed a contented little laugh, and said she was flattered at
+being considered an envoy of Providence.
+
+"It is only another way of saying you are an angel, Jennie," remarked
+the bold young man.
+
+They crossed the frontier without interference, and, once in Germany,
+Jennie took the object of so much contention and placed it in the hands
+of her lover.
+
+"There," she whispered, with a tiny sigh, for she was giving up the
+fruits of her greatest achievement, "put that in your despatch box, and
+see that it doesn't leave that receptacle until you reach London. I hope
+the Russians will like the copy of the _Daily Bugle_ they find in their
+envelope."
+
+The two chatted together throughout the long ride to Berlin, and when 11
+p.m. and the Schleischer station came at last, they still seemed only to
+have begun their conversation, so much more remained to be told.
+
+The telegram from the Princess was handed to Lord Donal at Berlin.
+
+"I congratulate you most sincerely," she wired; "and tell Jennie the
+next time you see her"--Lord Donal laughed as he read this aloud--"that
+the Austrian Government has awarded her thirty thousand pounds for her
+share in enabling them to recover their gold, and little enough I think
+it is, considering what she has done."
+
+"Now, I call that downright handsome of the Austrian Government," cried
+Lord Donal. "I thought they were going to fight us when I read the
+speech of their Prime Minister, but, instead of that, they are making
+wedding presents to our nice girls."
+
+"Ah, that comes through the good-heartedness of the Princess, and the
+kindness of the Prince," said Jennie. "He has managed it."
+
+"But what in the world did you do for the Austrian Government, Jennie?"
+
+"That is a long story, Donal, and I think a most interesting one."
+
+"Well, let us thank heaven that we have a long journey for you to tell
+it and me to listen."
+
+And saying this, the unabashed, forward young man took the liberty
+of kissing his fair companion good-night, right there amidst all the
+turmoil and bustle of the Schleischer Bahnhof in Berlin.
+
+It was early in the morning when the two met again in the restaurant
+car. The train had passed Cologne and was now rushing up that
+picturesque valley through which runs the brawling little river Vesdre.
+Lord Donal and Jennie had the car to themselves, and they chose a table
+near the centre of it and there ordered their breakfast. The situation
+was a most picturesque one. The broad, clear plate glass windows on each
+side displayed, in rapid succession, a series of landscapes well worth
+viewing; the densely wooded hills, the cheerful country houses, the
+swift roaring stream lashing itself into fleecy foam; now and then a
+glimpse of an old ruined castle on the heights, and, in the deep valley,
+here and there a water mill.
+
+It was quite evident that Jennie had slept well, and, youth being on her
+side, her rest had compensated for the nightmare of the Russian journey.
+She was simply but very effectively dressed, and looked as fresh and
+pretty and cool and sweet as a snowdrop. The enchanted young man found
+it impossible to lure his eyes away from her, and when, with a little
+laugh, Jennie protested that he was missing all the fine scenery, he
+answered that he had something much more beautiful to look upon; whereat
+Jennie blushed most enticingly, smiled at him, but made no further
+protest. Whether it was his joy in meeting Jennie, or the result of his
+night's sleep, or his relief at finding that his career was not wrecked,
+as he had imagined, or all three together, Lord Donal seemed his old
+self again, and was as bright, witty, and cheerful as a boy home for the
+holidays. They enjoyed their breakfast with the relish that youth and
+a healthy appetite gives to a dainty meal well served. The rolls were
+brown and toothsome, the butter, in thick corrugated spirals, was of a
+delicious golden colour, cold and crisp. The coffee was all that coffee
+should be, and the waiter was silent and attentive. Russia, like an evil
+vision, was far behind, and the train sped through splendid scenery
+swiftly towards England and home.
+
+The young man leaned back in his chair, interlaced his fingers
+behind his head, and gazed across at Jennie, drawing a sigh of deep
+satisfaction.
+
+"Well, this _is_ jolly," he said.
+
+"Yes," murmured Jennie, "it's very nice. I always did enjoy foreign
+travel, especially when it can be done in luxury; but, alas! luxury
+costs money, doesn't it?"
+
+"Oh, you don't need to mind, you are rich."
+
+"That is true; I had forgotten all about it."
+
+"I hope, Jennie, that the fact of my travelling on a _train de luxe_
+has not deluded you regarding my wealth. I should have told you that I
+usually travel third class when I am transporting myself in my private
+capacity. I am wringing this pampered elegance from the reluctant
+pockets of the British taxpayer. When I travel for the British
+Government I say, as _Pooh Bah_ said to _Koko_ in the 'Mikado,' 'Do it
+well, my boy,' or words to that effect."
+
+"Indeed," laughed Jennie, "I am in a somewhat similar situation; the
+newspaper is paying all the expenses of this trip, but I shall insist
+on returning the money to the _Bugle_ now that I have failed in my
+mission."
+
+"Dear me, how much more honest the newspaper business is than diplomacy!
+The idea of returning any money never even occurred to me. The mere
+suggestion freezes my young blood and makes each particular hair to
+stand on end like quills upon the fretful porcupine. Our motto in the
+service is, Get all you can, and keep all you get."
+
+"But then, you see, your case differs from mine; you did your best to
+succeed, and I failed through my own choice; and thus I sit here a
+traitor to my paper."
+
+"Well, Jennie," said the young man, picking up the despatch-box, which
+he never allowed to leave his sight, and placing it on the table,
+"you've only to say the word, and this contentious letter is in your
+possession again. Do you regret your generosity?"
+
+"Oh, no, no, no, no, I would not have it back on any account. Even
+looking at the matter in the most materialistic way, success means far
+more to you than it does to me. As you say, I am rich, therefore I am
+going to give up my newspaper career. I suppose that is why women very
+rarely make great successes of their lives. A woman's career so often is
+merely of incidental interest to her; a man's career is his whole life."
+
+"What a pity it is," mused the young man, "that one person's success
+usually means another person's failure. If I were the generous,
+whole-souled person I sometimes imagine myself to be, I should refuse
+to accept success at the price of your failure. You have actually
+succeeded, while I have actually failed. With a generosity that makes me
+feel small and mean, you hand over your success to me, and I selfishly
+accept it. But I compound with my conscience in this way. You and I are
+to be married; then we will be one. That one shall be heir to all the
+successes of each of us and shall disclaim all the failures of each.
+Isn't that a good idea?"
+
+"Excellent," replied Jennie; "nevertheless, I cannot help feeling just a
+little sorry for poor Mr. Hardwick."
+
+"Who is he--the editor?"
+
+"Yes. He _did_ have such faith in me that it seems almost a pity to
+disappoint him."
+
+"You mustn't trouble your mind about Hardwick. Don't think of him at
+all; think of me instead."
+
+"I am afraid I do, and have done so for some time past; nevertheless, I
+shall get off at Liege and telegraph to him that I am not bringing the
+document to London."
+
+"I will send the telegram for you when we reach there; but, if I
+remember rightly what you told me of his purpose, he can't be very
+deeply disappointed. I understood you to say that he did not intend to
+publish the document, even if he got it."
+
+"That is quite true. He wished to act as the final messenger himself,
+and was to meet me at Charing Cross Station, secure the envelope, and
+take it at once to its destination."
+
+"I must confess," said the young man, with a bewildered expression,
+"that I don't see the object of that. Are you sure he told you the
+truth?"
+
+"Oh, yes. The object was this. It seems that there is in the Foreign
+Office some crusty old curmudgeon who delights in baffling Mr. Hardwick.
+This official--I forget his name; in fact, I don't think Mr. Hardwick
+told me who he was--seems to forget the _Daily Bugle_ when important
+items of news are to be given out, and Mr. Hardwick says that he favours
+one of the rival papers, and the _Bugle_ has been unable, so far, to
+receive anything like fair treatment from him; so Mr. Hardwick wanted
+to take the document to him, and thus convince him there was danger in
+making an enemy of the _Daily Bugle_. As I understood his project, which
+didn't commend itself very much to me, Hardwick had no intention of
+making a bargain, but simply proposed to hand over the document, and ask
+the Foreign Office man to give the _Bugle_ its fair share in what was
+going."
+
+"Do you mean to say that the official in question is the man to whom I
+am to give this letter?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Oh, my prophetic soul, my uncle! Why, that is Sir James Cardiff, the
+elder brother of my mother; he is a dear old chap, but I can well
+understand an outsider thinking him gruff and uncivil. If the editor
+really means what he says, then there will be no difficulty and no
+disappointment. If all that is needed is the winning over of old Jimmy
+to be civil to Hardwick, I can guarantee that. I am the especial
+_protégé_ of my uncle. Everything I know I have learned from him.
+He cannot understand why the British Government does not appoint me
+immediately Ambassador to France; Jimmy would do it to-morrow if he had
+the power. It was through him that I heard of this letter, and I believe
+his influence had a good deal to do with my getting the commission of
+special messenger. It was the chagrin that my uncle Jimmy would have
+felt, had I failed, that put the final drop of bitterness in my cup of
+sorrow when I came to my senses after my encounter with the Russian
+police. That would have been a stunning blow to Sir James Cardiff. We
+shall reach Charing Cross about 7.30 to-night, and Sir James will be
+there with his brougham to take charge of me when I arrive. Now, what
+do you say to our settling all this under the canopy of Charing Cross
+Station? If you telegraph Mr. Hardwick to meet us there, I will
+introduce him to Sir James, and he will never have any more trouble in
+that quarter."
+
+"I think," said the girl, looking down at the tablecloth, "that I'd
+rather not have Mr. Hardwick meet us."
+
+"Of course not," answered the young man quickly. "What was I thinking
+about? It will be a family gathering, and we don't want any outsiders
+about, do we?"
+
+Jennie laughed, but made no reply.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+JENNIE KEEPS STEP WITH THE WEDDING MARCH.
+
+
+They had a smooth and speedy passage across from Calais to Dover, and
+the train drew in at Charing Cross Station exactly on time. Lord Donal
+recognized his uncle's brougham waiting for him, and on handing the
+young lady out of the railway carriage he espied the old man himself
+closely scrutinizing the passengers. Sir James, catching sight of him,
+came eagerly forward and clasped both his nephew's hands.
+
+"Donal," he cried, "I am very glad indeed to see you. Is everything
+right?"
+
+"As right as can be, uncle."
+
+"Then I am glad of that, too, for we have had some very disquieting
+hints from the East."
+
+"They were quite justified, as I shall tell you later on; but meanwhile,
+uncle, allow me to introduce to you Miss Baxter, who has done me the
+honour of promising to be my wife."
+
+Jennie blushed in the searching rays of the electric light as the old
+man turned quickly towards her. Sir James held her hand in his for some
+moments before he spoke, gazing intently at her. Then he said slowly,
+"Ah, Donal, Donal, you always had a keen eye for the beautiful."
+
+"Oh, I say," cried the young man, abashed at his uncle's frankness, "I
+don't call that a diplomatic remark at all, you know."
+
+"Indeed, Sir James," said the girl, laughing merrily, "it is better than
+diplomatic, it is complimentary, and I assure you I appreciate it. The
+first time he met me he took me for quite another person."
+
+"Then, whoever that person is, my dear," replied the old man, "I'll
+guarantee she is a lovely woman. And you mustn't mind what I say; nobody
+else does, otherwise my boy Donal here would be much higher in the
+service than the present moment finds him; but I am pleased to tell
+you that the journey he has now finished will prove greatly to his
+advantage."
+
+"Indeed, uncle, that is true," said the young man, looking at his
+betrothed, "for on this journey I met again Miss Baxter, whom, to my
+great grief, I had lost for some time. And now, uncle, I want you to
+do me a great favour. Do you know Mr. Hardwick, editor of the _Daily
+Bugle_?"
+
+"Yes, I know him; but I don't like him, nor his paper either."
+
+"Well, neither do the Russians, for that matter, by this time, and I
+merely wish to tell you that if it hadn't been for his action, and for
+the promptness of a member of his staff, I should have failed in this
+mission. I was drugged by the Russian police and robbed. Miss Baxter,
+who was on the train, saw something of what was going forward, and
+succeeded, most deftly, in despoiling the robbers. I was lying
+insensible at the time and helpless. She secured the document and handed
+it back to me when we had crossed the frontier, leaving in the hands of
+the Russians a similar envelope containing a copy of the _Daily Bugle_;
+therefore, uncle, if in future you can do anything to oblige Mr.
+Hardwick, you will help in a measure to cancel the obligation which our
+family owes to him."
+
+"My dear boy, I shall be delighted to do so. I am afraid I have been
+rather uncivil to him. If you wish it, I will go at once and apologize
+to him."
+
+"Oh, no," cried Jennie, "you must not do that; but if you can help him
+without jeopardizing the service, I, for one, will be very glad."
+
+"So shall I," said Donal.
+
+The old man took out his card-case, and on the back of his card
+scribbled a most cordial invitation to Hardwick, asking him to call on
+him. He handed this to Jennie, and said,--
+
+"Tell Mr. Hardwick that I shall be pleased to see him at any time."
+
+"And now," said Lord Donal, "you must let us both escort you home in the
+carriage."
+
+"No, no. I shall take a hansom, and will go directly to the office of
+the _Bugle_, for Mr. Hardwick will be there by this time."
+
+"But we can drive you there."
+
+"No, please."
+
+She held out her hand to Sir James and said, with the least bit of
+hesitation before uttering the last word, "Good night--uncle."
+
+"Good night, my dear," said the old man, "and God bless you," he added
+with a tenderness which his appearance, so solemn and stately, left one
+unprepared for.
+
+Lord Donal saw his betrothed into a hansom, protesting all the while at
+thus having to allow her to go off unprotected.
+
+"What an old darling he is," murmured Jennie, ignoring his protests. "I
+think if Mr. Hardwick had allowed me to look after the interests of the
+paper at the Foreign Office, Sir James would not have snubbed me."
+
+"If the Foreign Office dared to do such a thing, it would hear of
+something not to its advantage from the Diplomatic Service; and so,
+goodnight, my dear." And, with additions, the nephew repeated the
+benediction of the uncle.
+
+Jennie drove directly to the office of the _Daily Bugle_, and, for the
+last time, mounting the stairs, entered the editorial rooms. She found
+Mr. Hardwick at his desk, and he sprang up quickly on seeing who his
+visitor was. "Ah, you have returned," he cried. "You didn't telegraph to
+me, so I suppose that means failure."
+
+"I don't know, Mr. Hardwick. It all depends on whether or not your
+object was exactly what you told me it was."
+
+"And what was that? I think I told you that my desire was to get
+possession of the document which was being transmitted from St.
+Petersburg to London."
+
+"No; you said the object was the mollifying of old Sir James Cardiff, of
+the Foreign Office."
+
+"Exactly; that was the ultimate object, of course."
+
+"Very well. Read this card. Sir James gave it to me at Charing Cross
+Station less than half an hour ago."
+
+The editor took the card, turned it over in his hands once or twice, and
+read the cordial message which the old man had scribbled on the back of
+it.
+
+"Then you have succeeded," cried Hardwick. "You got the document; but
+why did you give it to Sir James yourself, instead of letting me hand it
+to him?"
+
+"That is a long story. To put it briefly, it was because the messenger
+carrying the document was Lord Donal Stirling, who is--who is--an old
+friend of mine. Sir James is his uncle, and Lord Donal promised that he
+would persuade the old man to let other newspapers have no advantages
+which he refused to the _Daily Bugle_. I did not give the document to
+Sir James, I gave it back to Lord Donal."
+
+"Lord Donal Stirling--Lord Donal Stirling," mused the editor. "Where
+have I heard that name before?"
+
+"He is a member of the British Embassy at St. Petersburg, so you may
+have seen his name in the despatches."
+
+"No. He is not so celebrated as all that comes to. Ah, I remember now. I
+met the detective the other night and asked him if anything had come of
+that romance in high life, to solve which he had asked your assistance.
+He said the search for the missing lady had been abandoned, and
+mentioned the name of Lord Donal Stirling as the foolish young man who
+had been engaged in the pursuit of the unknown."
+
+Jennie coloured at this and drew herself up indignantly.
+
+"Before you say anything further against Lord Donal," she cried hotly,
+"I wish to inform you that he and I are to be married."
+
+"Oh, I beg your pardon," said the editor icily. "Then, having failed to
+find the other girl, he has speedily consoled himself by--"
+
+"There was no other girl. I was the person of whom Mr. Cadbury Taylor
+was in search. I willingly gave him valuable assistance in the task of
+failing to find myself. Having only a stupid man to deal with, I had
+little difficulty in accomplishing my purpose. Neither Mr. Taylor nor
+Mr. Hardwick ever suspected that the missing person was in their own
+employ."
+
+"Well, I'm blessed!" ejaculated Hardwick. "So you baffled Cadbury Taylor
+in searching for yourself, as you baffled me in getting hold of the
+Russian letter. It seems to me, Miss Baxter, that where your own
+inclinations do not coincide with the wishes of your employers, the
+interests of those who pay you fall to the ground."
+
+"Mr. Cadbury Taylor didn't pay me anything for my services as amateur
+detective, and he has, therefore, no right to grumble. As for the St.
+Petersburg trip, I shall send you a cheque for all expenses incurred as
+soon as I reach home."
+
+"Oh, you mistake me," asserted Mr. Hardwick earnestly. "I had no thought
+of even hinting that you have not earned over and over again all the
+money the _Daily Bugle_ has paid you; besides, I was longing for your
+return, for I want your assistance in solving a mystery that has rather
+puzzled us all. Paris is in a turmoil just now over the--"
+
+Jennie's clear laugh rang out.
+
+"I am going over to Paris in a day or two, Mr. Hardwick, to solve the
+mystery of dressmaking, and I think, from what I know of it already, it
+will require my whole attention. I must insist on returning to you the
+cost of the St. Petersburg journey, for, after all, it proved to be
+rather a personal excursion, and I couldn't think of allowing the paper
+to pay for it. I merely came in to-night to hand you this card from
+Sir James Cardiff, and I also desired to tender to you personally my
+resignation. And so I must bid you good-bye, Mr. Hardwick," said the
+girl holding out her hand; "and I thank you very much indeed for having
+given me a chance to work on your paper."
+
+Before the editor could reply, she was gone, and that good man sat down
+in his chair bewildered by the suddenness of it all, the room looking
+empty and dismal, lacking her presence.
+
+"Confound Lord Donal Stirling!" he muttered under his breath, and then,
+as an editor should he went on impassively with his night's work.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was intended that the wedding should be rather a quiet affair, but
+circumstances proved too strong for the young people. Lord Donal was
+very popular and the bride was very beautiful. Sir James thought it
+necessary to invite a great many people, and he intimated to Lord Donal
+that a highly placed personage desired to honour the function with his
+presence. And thus the event created quite a little flutter in the smart
+set. The society papers affirmed that this elevated personage had been
+particularly pleased by some diplomatic service which Lord Donal had
+recently rendered him; but then, of course, one can never believe what
+one reads in the society press. However, the man of exalted rank was
+there, and so people said that perhaps there might be something in
+the rumour. Naturally there was a great turn-out of ambassadors and
+ministers, and their presence gave colour and dignity to the crush
+at St. George's, Hanover Square. The Princess von Steinheimer made a
+special journey from Vienna to attend, and on this occasion she brought
+the Prince with her. The general opinion was that the bridegroom was a
+very noble-looking fellow, and that the bride, in her sumptuous wedding
+apparel, was quite too lovely for anything.
+
+The Princess was exceedingly bright and gay, and she chatted with her
+old friends the Ambassadors from Austria and America.
+
+"I'm _so_ sorry," she said to the Ambassador from America, "that I did
+not have time to speak with you at the Duchess of Chiselhurst's ball,
+but I was compelled to leave early. You should have come to me sooner.
+The Count here was much more gallant. We had a most delightful
+conversation, hadn't we, Count? I was with Lord Donal, you remember."
+
+"Oh, yes," replied the aged Austrian, bowing low; "I shall not soon
+forget the charming conversation I had with your Highness, and I hope
+you, on your part, have not forgotten the cordial invitation you gave me
+to visit again your castle at Meran."
+
+"Indeed, Count, you know very well how glad I am to see you at any time,
+either in Vienna or at Meran."
+
+The American Ambassador remained silent, and glanced alternately from
+the bride to the Princess with a puzzled expression on his face.
+
+The mystery of the Duchess of Chiselhurst's Ball proved too much for
+him, as the search for the missing lady had proved too much for Mr.
+Cadbury Taylor.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Jennie Baxter, Journalist, by Robert Barr
+
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