CHAPTER XXVI
RUE SOLEIL D'OR
Marotte, the butler, in dry clothes, had served luncheon--a silent,respectable, self-respecting man, calm in his fury at the incredibleoutrage perpetrated upon his person.
And now luncheon was over; the Princess at the telephone in herboudoir; Rue in the music-room with Neeland, still excited, anxious,confused.
Astonishment, mortification, anger, had left Neeland silent; and theconvention known as luncheon had not appealed to him.
But very little was said during that formality; and in the silence theserious nature of the episode which so suddenly had deprived thePrincess of the olive-wood box and the papers it contained impressedNeeland more and more deeply.
The utter unexpectedness of the outrage--the helpless figure he hadcut--infuriated him. And the more he reflected the madder he grew whenhe realised that all he had gone through meant nothing now--that everyeffort had been sterile, every hour wasted, every step he had takenfrom Brookhollow to Paris--to the very doorstep where his dutyended--had been taken in vain.
It seemed to him in his anger and humiliation that never had any manbeen so derided, so heartlessly mocked by the gods.
And now, as he sat there behind lowered blinds in the cool half-lightof the music-room, he could feel the hot blood of resentment andchagrin in his cheeks.
"Nobody could have foreseen it," repeated Rue Carew in a pretty,bewildered voice. "And if the Princess Naia had no suspicions, howcould I harbour any--or how could you?"
"I've been sufficiently tricked--or I thought I had been--to be on myguard. But it seems not. I ought never to have been caught in such adisgusting trap--such a simple, silly, idiotic cage! But--good Lord!How on earth was a man to suspect anything so--so naturally plannedand executed--so simply done. It was an infernal masterpiece, Rue.But--that is no consolation to a man who has been made to appear likea monkey!"
The Princess, entering, overheard; and she seated herself and lookedtranquilly at Neeland as he resumed his place on the sofa.
"You were not to blame, Jim," she said. "It was my fault. I hadwarning enough at the railroad terminal when an accident to my car wasreported to me by the control through you." She added, calmly: "Therewas no accident."
"No accident?" exclaimed Neeland, astonished.
"None at all. My new footman, who followed us to the waiting salon forincoming trains, returned to my chauffeur, Caron, saying that he wasto go back to the garage and await orders. I have just called thegarage and I had Caron on the wire. There was no accident; he has notbeen injured; and--the new footman has disappeared!"
"It was a clear case of treachery?" exclaimed Neeland.
"Absolutely a plot. The pretended official at the terminal controlwas an accomplice of my footman, of the taxicab driver, of thepretended street-cleaners--and of whom else I can, perhaps, imagine."
"Did you call the terminal control?"
"I did. The official in charge and the starter had seen no suchaccident; had given no such information. Some masquerader in uniformmust have intercepted you, Jim."
"I found him coming toward me on the sidewalk not far from thekiosque. He was in uniform; I never dreamed he was not the genuinething."
"There is no blame attached to you----"
"Naia, it actually sickens me to discover how little sense I possess.I've been through enough to drive both suspicion and caution into thiswooden head of mine----"
"What have you been through, Jim?" asked the Princess calmly.
"I'll tell you. I didn't play a brilliant role, I'm sorry to admit.Not common sense but sheer luck pulled me through as far as your owndoorstep. And there," he added disgustedly, "the gods no doubt grewtired of such an idiot, and they handed me what was coming to me."
He was so thoroughly and so boyishly ashamed and angry with himselfthat a faint smile flitted over the Princess Naia's lips.
"Proceed, James," she said.
"All right. Only first may I ask--who is Ilse Dumont?"
For a moment the Princess sat silent, expressionless, intent on theman whose clear, inquiring eyes still questioned her.
The Princess finally answered with a question:
"Did _she_ cause you any trouble, Jim?"
"Every bit I had was due to her. Also--and here's a paradox--Ishouldn't be here now if Ilse Dumont had not played square with me.Who is she?"
The Princess Naia did not reply immediately. Instead, she dropped onesilken knee over the other, lighted a cigarette, and sat for a fewmoments gazing into space. Then:
"Ilse Dumont," she said, "is a talented and exceedingly pretty youngwoman who was born in Alsace of one German and one thoroughlyGermanised parent.
"She played two seasons in Chicago in light opera under another name.She had much talent, an acceptable voice and she became a localfavourite."
The Princess looked at her cigarette; continued speaking as thoughaddressing it:
"She sang at the Opera Comique here in Paris the year before last andlast year. Her roles were minor ones. Early this spring she abruptlybroke her contract with the management and went to New York."
Neeland said bluntly:
"Ilse Dumont is an agent in the service of the Turkish Government."
The Princess nodded.
"Did you know it, Naia?"
"I began to suspect it recently."
"May I ask how?"
The Princess glanced at Rue and smiled:
"Ruhannah's friend, Colonel Izzet Bey, was very devoted to MinnaMinti----"
"To _whom_!" exclaimed Neeland, astounded.
"To Ilse Dumont. Minna Minti is her stage name," said the Princess.
Neeland turned and looked at Rue, who, conscious of his excitement,flushed brightly, yet never suspecting what he was about to say.
The Princess said quietly:
"Yes, tell her, Jim. It is better she should know. Until now it hasnot been necessary to mention the matter, or I should have done so."
Rue, surprised, still prettily flushed with expectancy, looked withnew curiosity from one to the other.
Neeland said:
"Ilse Dumont, known on the stage as Minna Minti, is the divorced wifeof Eddie Brandes."
At the mention of a name so long hidden away, buried in her memory,and almost forgotten, the girl quivered and straightened up, as thoughan electric shock had passed through her body.
Then a burning colour flooded her face as at the swift stroke of alash, and her grey eyes glimmered with the starting tears.
"You'll have to know it, darling," said the Princess in a low voice."There is no reason why you should not; it no longer can touch you.Don't you know that?"
"Y-yes----" Ruhannah's slowly drooping head was lifted again; heldhigh; and the wet brilliancy slowly dried in her steady eyes.
"Before I tell you," continued Neeland, "what happened to me throughIlse Dumont, I must tell you what occurred in the train on my way toParis.... May I have a cigarette, Princess Naia?"
"At your elbow in that silver box."
Rue Carew lighted it for him with a smile, but her hand stilltrembled.
"First," he said, "tell me what particular significance those papersin the olive-wood box have. Then I can tell you more intelligentlywhat happened to me since I went to Brookhollow to find them."
"They are the German plans for the fortification of the mainlandcommanding the Dardanelles, and for the forts dominating the Gallipolipeninsula."
"Yes, I know that. But of what interest to England or France orRussia----"
"If there is to be war, can't you understand the importance to us ofthose plans?" asked the Princess in a low, quiet voice.
"To--'us'?" he repeated.
"Yes, to _us_. I am Russian, am I not?"
"Yes. I now understand how very Russian you are, Princess. But whathas Turkey----"
"What _is_ Turkey?"
"An empire----"
"No. A German province."
"I did not know----"
"That is
what the Ottoman Empire is today," continued the PrincessMistchenka, "a Turkish province fortified by Berlin, governed fromBerlin through a Germanised Turk, Enver Pasha; the army organised,drilled, equipped, officered, and paid by the Kaiser Wilhelm; everyinternal resource and revenue and development and projecteddevelopment mortgaged to Germany and under German control; and theSultan a nobody!"
"I did not know it," repeated Neeland.
"It is the truth, _mon ami_. It is inevitable that Turkey fights ifGermany goes to war. England, France, Russia know it. Ask yourself,then, how enormous to us the value of those plans--tentative, sketchy,perhaps, yet the inception and foundation of those German-made andGerman-armed fortifications which today line the Dardanelles and theadjacent waters within the sphere of Ottoman influence!"
"So _that_ is why you wanted them," he said with an unhappy glance atRue. "What idiotic impulse prompted me to put them back in the box Ican't imagine. You saw me do it, there in the taxicab."
Ruhannah said:
"The chauffeur saw you, too. He was looking at you in his steeringmirror; I saw his face. But it never entered my mind that anythingexcept idle curiosity possessed him."
"Perhaps," said the Princess to Neeland, "what you did with the paperssaved your life. Had that chauffeur not seen you place them in thebox, he might have shot and robbed you as you left the cab, merely onthe chance of your having them on your person."
There was a silence; then Neeland said:
"This is a fine business! As far as I can see murder seems to be theessence of the contract."
"It is often incidental to it," said the Princess Mistchenka serenely."But you and Ruhannah will soon be out of this affair."
"I?" said the girl, surprised.
"I think so."
"Why, dear?"
"I think there is going to be war. And if there is, France will beconcerned. And that means that you and Ruhannah, too, will have toleave France."
"But you?" asked the girl, anxiously.
"I expect to remain. How long can you stay here, Jim?"
Neeland cast an involuntary glance at Rue as he replied:
"I intended to take the next steamer. Why? Can I be of any service toyou, Princess Naia?"
The Princess Mistchenka let her dark eyes rest on him for a second,then on Rue Carew.
"I was thinking," she said, "that you might take Ruhannah back withyou if war is declared."
"Back to America!" exclaimed the girl. "But where am I to go inAmerica? What am I to do there? I--I didn't think I was quite ready toearn my own living"--looking anxiously at the Princess Naia--"do youthink so, dear?"
The Princess said:
"I wanted you to remain. And you must not worry, darling. Some day Ishall want you back---- But if there is to be war in Europe you cannotremain here."
"Why not?"
"In the first place, only useful people would be wanted in Paris----"
"But, Naia, darling! Couldn't I be useful to you?" The girl jumped upfrom the sofa and came and knelt down by the Princess Mistchenka,looking up into her face.
The Princess laid aside her cigarette and put both hands on Rue'sshoulders, looking her gravely, tenderly in the eyes.
"Dear," she said, "I want James Neeland to hear this, too. For it ispartly a confession.
"When I first saw you, Rue, I was merely sorry for you, and willing tooblige Jim Neeland by keeping an eye on you until you were settledsomewhere here in Paris.
"Before we landed I liked you. And, because I saw wonderfulpossibilities in the little country girl who shared my stateroom, Ideliberately made up my mind to develop you, make use of yourexcellent mind, your quick intelligence, your amazing capacity forabsorbing everything that is best, and your very unusual attractionsfor my own purposes. I meant--to train you--educate you--to aid me."
There was a silence; the girl looked up at her, flushed, intent,perplexed; the Princess Mistchenka, her hands on the girl's shoulders,looked back at her out of grave and beautiful dark eyes.
"That is the truth," said the Princess. "My intention was to developyou along the lines which I follow as a--profession; teach you toextract desirable information through your wit, intelligence, andbeauty--using your youth as a mask. But I--I can't do it----" Sheshook her head slightly. "Because I've lost my heart to you.... Andthe business I follow is a--a rotten game."
Again silence fell among those three; Rue, kneeling at the elderwoman's feet, looked up into her face in silence; Neeland, his elbowsresting on his knees, leaned slightly forward from the sofa, watchingthem.
"I'll help you, if you wish," said Rue Carew.
"Thank you, dear. No."
"Let me. I owe you everything since I have been here----"
"No, dear. What I said to you--and to James--is true. It's amerciless, stealthy, treacherous business; it's dangerous to a woman,body and soul. It is one long lifetime of experience with treachery,with greed, with baser passions, with all that is ignoble in mankind.
"There is no reason for you to enter such a circle; no excuse for it;no duty urges you; no patriotism incites you to such self-sacrifice;no memory of wrong done to your nearest and dearest inspires you todedicate your life to aiding--if only a little, in the downfall anddestruction of the nation and the people who encompassed it!"
The Princess Mistchenka's dark eyes began to gleam, and her beautifulface lost its colour; and she took Rue's little hands in both of hersand held them tightly against her breast.
"Had I not lost my heart to you, perhaps I should not have hesitatedto develop and make use of you.
"You are fitted for the role I might wish you to play. Men arefascinated by you; your intelligence charms; your youth and innocence,worn as a mask, might make you invaluable to the Chancellerie which isinterested in the information I provide for it.
"But, Rue, I have come to understand that I cannot do this thing. No.Go back to your painting and your clever drawing and your music; anyone of these is certain to give you a living in time. And in thatdirection alone your happiness lies."
She leaned forward and kissed the girl's hair where it was fine andblond, close to the snowy forehead.
"If war comes," she said, "you and James will have to go home, liketwo good children when the curfew rings."
She laughed, pushed Rue away, lighted another cigarette, and, castinga glance partly ironical, partly provocative, at the good-lookingyoung man on the sofa, said:
"As for you, James, I don't worry about you. Impudence will alwayscarry you through where diplomacy fails you. Now, tell me all aboutthese three unpleasant sporting characters who occupied the train withyou."
Neeland laughed.
"It seems that a well-known gambler in New York, called Captain Quint,is backing them; and somebody higher up is backing Quint----"
"Probably the Turkish Embassy at Washington," interposed the Princess,coolly. "I'm sorry, Jim; pray go on."
"The Turkish Embassy?" he repeated, surprised that she should guess.
"Yes; and the German Embassy is backing that. There you are, Jim. Thatis the sequence as far as your friend, Captain Quint. Now, who comesnext in the scale?"
"This man--Brandes--and the little chalk-faced creature, Stull; andthe other one, with the fox face--Doc Curfoot."
"I see. And then?"
"Then, as I gathered, there are several gentlemen wearing Teutonicnames--who are to go into partnership with them--one named Kestner,one called Theodore Weishelm, and an exceedingly oily Eurasiangentleman with whom I became acquainted on the _Volhynia_--one KarlBreslau----"
"Breslau!" exclaimed the Princess. "_Now_ I understand."
"Who is he, Princess?"
"He is the most notorious international spy in the world--a proteanindividual with aliases, professions, and experiences sufficient foran entire jail full of criminals. His father was a German Jew; hismother a Circassian girl; he was educated in Germany, France, Italy,and England. He has been a member of the socialist group in theReichstag under one name, a member of the
British Parliament underanother; he did dirty work for Abdul Hamid; dirtier for Enver Bey.
"He is here, there, everywhere; he turns up in Brazil one day, and isnext in evidence in Moscow. What he is so eternally about God onlyknows: what Chancellery he serves, which he betrays, is a questionthat occupies many uneasy minds this very hour, I fancy.
"But of this I, personally, am now satisfied; Karl Breslau isresponsible for the robbery of your papers today, and the entireaffair was accomplished under his direction!"
"And yet I know," said Neeland, "that after he and Kestner tried toblow up the captain's cabin and the bridge aboard the _Volhynia_yesterday morning at a little after two o'clock, he and Kestner musthave jumped overboard in the Mersey River off Liverpool."
"Without doubt a boat was watching your ship."
"Yes; Weishelm had a fishing smack to pick them up. Ilse Dumont musthave gone with them, too."
"All they had to do was to touch at some dock, go ashore, andtelegraph to their men here," said the Princess.
"That, evidently, is what they did," admitted Neeland ruefully.
"Certainly. And by _this_ time they may be here, too. They could doit. I haven't any doubt that Breslau, Kestner, and Ilse Dumont arehere in Paris at this moment."
"Then I'll wager I know where they are!"
"Where?"
"In the Hotel des Bulgars, rue Vilna. That's where they are to operatea gaming house. That is where they expect to pluck and fleece thecallow and the aged who may have anything of political importanceabout them worth stealing. That is their plan. Agents, officials,employees of all consulates, legations, and embassies are what they'rereally after. I heard them discussing it there in the train today."
The Princess had fallen very silent, musing, watching Neeland'sanimated face as he detailed his knowledge of what had occurred.
"Why not notify the police?" he added. "There might be a chance torecover the box and the papers."
The Princess shook her pretty head.
"We have to be very careful how we use the police, James. It seemssimple, but it is not. I can't explain the reasons, but we usually pitspy against spy, and keep very clear of the police. Otherwise," sheadded, smiling, "there would be the deuce to pay among the embassiesand legations." She added: "It's a most depressing situation; I don'texactly know what to do.... I have letters to write, anyway----"
She rose, turned to Rue and took both her hands:
"No; you must go back to New York and to your painting and music ifthere is to be war in Europe. But you have had a taste of what goes onin certain circles here; you have seen what a chain of consequencesensue from a chance remark of a young girl at a dinner table."
"Yes."
"It's amusing, isn't it? A careless and innocent word to that oldbusybody, Ahmed Mirka Pasha, at my table--that began it. Then anotherword to Izzet Bey. And I had scarcely time to realise what hadhappened--barely time to telegraph James in New York--before theirentire underground machinery was set in motion to seize those wretchedpapers in Brookhollow!"
Neeland said:
"You don't know even yet, Princess, how amazingly fast that machineryworked."
"Tell me now, James. I have time enough to write my warning since itis already too late." And she seated herself on the sofa and drewRuhannah down beside her.
"Listen, dear," she said with pretty mockery, "here is a most worthyyoung man who is simply dying to let us know how picturesque a man canbe when he tries to."
Neeland laughed:
"The only trouble with me," he retorted, "is that I've a ratherhopeless habit of telling the truth. Otherwise there'd be some chancefor me as a hero in what I'm going to tell you."
And he began with his first encounter with Ilse Dumont in Rue Carew'shouse at Brookhollow. After he had been speaking for less than aminute, Rue Carew's hands tightened in the clasp of the Princess Naia,who glanced at the girl and noticed that she had lost her colour.
And Neeland continued his partly playful, partly serious narrative of"moving accidents by flood and field," aware of the girl's deep,breathless interest, moved by it, and, conscious of it, the moreinclined to avoid the picturesque and heroic, and almost ashamed totalk of himself at all under the serious beauty of the girl's cleareyes.
But he could scarcely tell his tale and avoid mentioning himself; hewas the centre of it all, the focus of the darts of Fate, and therewas no getting away from what happened to himself.
So he made the melodrama a comedy, and the moments of deadly peril hetreated lightly. And one thing he avoided altogether, and that washow he had kissed Ilse Dumont.
When he finished his account of his dreadful situation in thestateroom of Ilse Dumont, and how at the last second her unerringshots had shattered the bomb clock, cut the guy-rope, and smashed thewater-jug which deluged the burning fuses, he added with a verygenuine laugh:
"If only some photographer had taken a few hundred feet of film for meI could retire on an income in a year and never do another stroke ofhonest work!"
The Princess smiled, mechanically, but Rue Carew dropped her whiteface on the Princess Naia's shoulder as though suddenly fatigued.