Elusive Isabel
by
Jacques Futrelle
Part 2 out of 3
"Thirty-six, then back to ten."
Mr. Grimm set the dial at thirty-six, and then, with his ear pressed
closely against the polished door, turned the dial slowly back. Senor
Rodriguez stood looking on helplessly, but none the less intently. The
pointer read ten, then nine, eight, seven, five. Mr. Grimm gazed at it
thoughtfully, after which he did it all over again, placidly and without
haste.
"Now, we'll look inside, please," he requested, rising.
Senor Rodriguez unlocked the safe the while Mr. Grimm respectfully
turned his eyes away, then pulled the door wide open. The books had been
piled one on top of another and thrust into various pigeonholes at the
top. Mr. Grimm understood that this disorder was the result of making
room at the bottom for the bulk of gold, and asked no questions.
Instead, he sat down upon the floor again.
"The lock on this private compartment at the top is broken," he remarked
after a moment.
"_Si, Senor_," the diplomatist agreed. "Evidently the robbers were not
content with only fifty thousand dollars in gold--they imagined that
something else of value was hidden there."
"Was there?" asked Mr. Grimm naively. He didn't look around.
"Nothing of monetary value," the senor explained. "There were some
important state papers in there--they are there yet--but no money."
"None of the papers was stolen?"
"No, Senor. There were only nine packets--they are there yet."
"Contents all right?"
"Yes. I personally looked them over."
Mr. Grimm drew out the packets of papers, one by one. They were all
unsealed save the last. When he reached for that, Senor Rodriguez made a
quick, involuntary motion toward it with his hand.
"This one's sealed," commented Mr. Grimm. "It doesn't happen that you
opened it and sealed it again?"
Senor Rodriguez stood staring at him blankly for a moment, then some
sudden apprehension was aroused, for a startled look came into his eyes,
and again he reached for the packet.
"_Dios mio_!" he exclaimed, "let me see, Senor."
"Going to open it?" asked Mr. Grimm.
"Yes, Senor. I had not thought of it before."
Mr. Grimm rose and walked over to the window where the light was better.
He scrutinized the sealed packet closely. There were three red splotches
of wax upon it, each impressed with the legation seal; the envelope was
without marks otherwise. He turned and twisted it aimlessly, and peered
curiously at the various seals, after which he handed it to the frankly
impatient diplomatist.
Senor Rodriguez opened it, with nervous, twitching fingers. Mr. Grimm
had turned toward the safe again, but he heard the crackle of parchment
as some document was drawn out of the envelope, and then came a deep
sigh of relief. Having satisfied his sudden fears for the safety of the
paper, whatever it was, the senor placed it in another envelope and
sealed it again with elaborate care. Mr. Grimm dropped into the swivel
chair at the desk.
"Senor," he inquired pleasantly, "your daughter and Miss Thorne were in
this room yesterday afternoon?"
"Yes," replied the diplomatist as if surprised at the question.
"What time, please?"
"About three o'clock. They were going out driving. Why?"
"And just where, please, did you find that handkerchief?" continued Mr.
Grimm.
"Handkerchief?" repeated the diplomatist. "You mean Miss Thorne's
handkerchief?" He paused and regarded Mr. Grimm keenly. "Senor, what am
I to understand from that question?"
"It was plain enough," replied Mr. Grimm. "Where did you find that
handkerchief?" There was silence for an instant. "In this room?"
"Yes," replied Senor Rodriguez at last.
"Near the safe?" Mr. Grimm persisted.
"Yes," came the slow reply, again. "Just here," and he indicated a spot
a little to the left of the safe.
"And _when_ did you find it? Yesterday afternoon? Last night? This
morning?"
"This morning," and without any apparent reason the diplomatist's face
turned deathly white.
"But, Senor--Senor, you are mistaken! There can be nothing--! A woman!
Two hundred pounds of gold! Senor!"
Mr. Grimm was still pleasant about it; his curiosity was absolutely
impersonal; his eyes, grown listless again, were turned straight into
the other's face.
"If that handkerchief had been there last night, Senor," he resumed
quietly, "wouldn't you have noticed it when you placed the gold in the
safe?"
Senor Rodriguez stared at him a long time.
"I don't know," he said, at last. He dropped back into a chair with his
face in his hands. "Senor," he burst out suddenly, impetuously, after a
moment, "if the gold is not recovered I am ruined. You understand that
better than I can tell you. It's the kind of thing that could not be
explained to my government." He rose suddenly and faced the impassive
young man, with merciless determination in his face. "You must find the
gold, Senor," he said.
"No matter who may be--who may suffer?" inquired Mr. Grimm.
"Find the gold, Senor!"
"Very well," commented Mr. Grimm, without moving. "Do me the favor,
please, to regain possession of the handkerchief you just returned to
Miss Thorne, and to send to me here your secretary, Senor Diaz, and your
servants, one by one. I shall question them alone. No, don't be alarmed.
Unless they know of the robbery they shall get no inkling of it from me.
First, be good enough to replace the packet in the safe, and lock it."
Senor Rodriguez replaced the packet without question, afterward locking
the door, then went out. A moment later Senor Diaz appeared. He remained
with Mr. Grimm for just eight minutes. Senor Rodriguez entered again as
his secretary passed on, and laid a lace handkerchief on the desk. Mr.
Grimm stared at it curiously for a long time.
"It's the same handkerchief?"
"_Si, Senor_."
"There's no doubt whatever about it?"
"No, Senor, I got it by--!"
"It's of no consequence," interrupted Mr. Grimm. "Now the servants,
please--the men first."
The first of the men servants was in the room two minutes; the
second--the butler--was there five minutes; one of the women was not
questioned at all; the other remained ten minutes. Mr. Grimm followed
her into the hall; Senor Rodriguez stood there helpless, impatient.
"Well?" he demanded eagerly.
"I'm going out a little while," replied Mr. Grimm placidly. "No one has
even an intimation of the affair--please keep the matter absolutely to
yourself until I return."
That was all. The door opened and closed, and he was gone.
At the end of an hour he returned, passed on through to the
diplomatist's private office, sat down in front of the locked safe
again, and set the dial at thirty-six. Senor Rodriguez looked on,
astonished, as Mr. Grimm pressed the soft rubber sounder of a
stethoscope against the safe door and began turning the dial back toward
ten, slowly, slowly. Thirty-five minutes later the lock clicked. Mr.
Grimm rose, turned the handle, and pulled the safe door open.
"That's how it was done," he explained to the amazed diplomatist. "And
now, please, have a servant hand my card to Miss Thorne."
XI
THE LACE HANDKERCHIEF
Still wearing the graceful, filmy morning gown, with an added touch, of
scarlet in her hair--a single red rose--Miss Thorne came into the
drawing-room where Mr. Grimm sat waiting. There was curiosity in her
manner, thinly veiled, but the haunting smile still lingered about her
lips. Mr. Grimm bowed low, and placed a chair for her, after which he
stood for a time staring down at one slim, white hand at rest on the arm
of the seat. At last, he, too, sat down.
"I believe," he said slowly, without preliminaries, "this is your
handkerchief?"
He offered the lacy trifle, odd in design, unique in workmanship,
obviously of foreign texture, and she accepted it.
"Yes," she agreed readily, "I must have dropped it again."
"That is the one handed to you by Senor Rodriguez," Mr. Grimm told her.
"I think you said you lost it in his office yesterday afternoon?"
"Yes?" She nodded inquiringly.
"It may interest you to know that Senor Rodriguez's butler positively
identifies it as one he restored to you twice at dinner last evening,
between seven and nine o'clock," Mr. Grimm went on dispassionately.
"Indeed!" exclaimed Miss Thorne.
"The senor identifies it as one he found this morning in his office,"
Mr. Grimm explained obligingly. "During the night fifty thousand dollars
in gold were stolen from his safe."
There was not the slightest change of expression in her face; the
blue-gray eyes were still inquiring in their gaze, the white hands still
at rest, the scarlet lips still curled slightly, an echo of a smile.
"No force was used in opening the safe," Mr. Grimm resumed. "It was
unlocked. It's an old model and I have demonstrated how it could have
been opened either with the assistance of a stethoscope, which catches
the sound of the tumbler in the lock, or by a person of acute hearing."
Miss Thorne sat motionless, waiting.
"All this means--what?" she inquired, at length.
"I'll trouble you, please, to return the money," requested Mr. Grimm
courteously. "No reason appears why you should have taken it. But I'm
not seeking reasons, nor am I seeking disagreeable publicity--only the
money."
"It seems to me you attach undue importance to the handkerchief," she
objected.
"That's a matter of opinion," Mr. Grimm remarked. "It would be useless,
even tedious, to attempt to disprove a burglar theory, but against it is
the difficulty of entrance, the weight of the gold, the ingenious method
of opening the safe, and the assumption that not more than six persons
knew the money was in the safe; while a person in the house _might_ have
learned it in any of a dozen ways. And, in addition, is the fact that
the handkerchief is odd, therefore noticeable. A lace expert assures me
there's probably not another like it in the world."
He stopped. Miss Thorne's eyes sparkled and a smile seemed to be tugging
at the corners of her mouth. She spread out the handkerchief on her
knees.
"You could identify this again, of course?" she queried.
"Yes."
She thoughtfully crumpled up the bit of lace in both hands, then opened
them. There were two handkerchiefs now--they were identical.
"Which is it, please?" she asked.
If Mr. Grimm was disappointed there was not a trace of it on his face.
She laughed outright, gleefully, mockingly, then, demurely:
"Pardon me! You see, it's absurd. The handkerchief the butler restored
to me at dinner, after I lost one in the senor's office, might have been
either of these, or one of ten other duplicates in my room, all given to
me by her Maj--I mean," she corrected quickly, "by a friend in Europe."
She was silent for a moment. "Is that all?"
"No," replied Mr. Grimm gravely, decisively. "I'm not satisfied. I shall
insist upon the return of the money, and if it is not forthcoming I dare
say Count di Rosini, the Italian ambassador, would be pleased to give
his personal check rather than have the matter become public." She
started to interrupt; he went on. "In any event you will be requested to
leave the country."
Then, and not until then, a decided change came over Miss Thorne's face.
A deeper color leaped to her cheeks, the smile faded from her lips, and
there was a flash of uneasiness in her eyes.
"But if I am innocent?" she protested.
"You must prove it," continued Mr. Grimm mercilessly. "Personally, I am
convinced, and Count di Rosini has practically assured me that--"
"It's unjust!" she interrupted passionately. "It's--it's--you have
proved nothing. It's unheard of! It's beyond--!"
Suddenly she became silent. A minute, two minutes, three minutes passed;
Mr. Grimm waited patiently.
"Will you give me time and opportunity to prove my innocence?" she
demanded finally. "And if I _do_ convince you--?"
"I should be delighted to believe that I have made a mistake," Mr. Grimm
assured her. "How much time? One day? Two days?"
"I will let you know within an hour at your office," she told him.
Mr. Grimm rose.
"And meanwhile, in case of accident, I shall look to Count di Rosini for
adjustment," he added pointedly. "Good morning."
One hour and ten minutes later he received this note, unsigned:
"Closed carriage will stop for you at southeast corner of Pennsylvania
Avenue and Fourteenth Street to-night at one."
He was there; the carriage was on time; and my lady of mystery was
inside. He stepped in and they swung out into Pennsylvania Avenue,
noiselessly over the asphalt.
"Should the gold be placed in your hands now, within the hour," she
queried solicitously, "would it be necessary for you to know who was
the--the thief?"
"It would," Mr. Grimm responded without hesitation.
"Even if it destroyed a reputation?" she pleaded.
"The Secret Service rarely destroys a reputation, Miss Thorne, although
it holds itself in readiness to do so. I dare say in this case there
would be no arrest or prosecution, because of--of reasons which appear
to be good."
"There wouldn't?" and there was a note of eagerness in her voice. "The
identity of the guilty person would never appear?"
"It would become a matter of record in our office, but beyond that I
think not--at least in this one instance."
Miss Thorne sat silent for a block or more.
"You'll admit, Mr. Grimm, that you have forced me into a most remarkable
position. You seemed convinced of my guilt, and, if you'll pardon me,
without reason; then you made it compulsory upon me to establish my
innocence. The only way for me to do that was to find the guilty one. I
have done it, and I'm sorry, because it's a little tragedy."
Mr. Grimm waited.
"It's a girl high in diplomatic society. Her father's position is an
honorable rather than a lucrative one; he has no fortune. This girl
moves in a certain set devoted to bridge, and stakes are high. She
played and won, and played and won, and on and on, until her winnings
were about eight thousand dollars. Then luck turned. She began to lose.
Her money went, but she continued to play desperately. Finally some old
family jewels were pawned without her father's knowledge, and ultimately
they were lost. One day she awoke to the fact that she owed some nine or
ten thousand dollars in bridge debts. They were pressing and there was
no way to meet them. This meant exposure and utter ruin, and women do
strange things, Mr. Grimm, to postpone such an ending to social
aspirations. I know this much is true, for she related it all to me
herself.
"At last, in some way--a misplaced letter, perhaps, or a word
overheard--she learned that fifty thousand dollars would be in the
legation safe overnight, and evidently she learned the precise night."
She paused a moment. "Here is the address of a man in Baltimore, Thomas
Q. Griswold," and she passed a card to Mr. Grimm, who sat motionless,
listening. "About four years ago the combination on the legation safe
was changed. This man was sent here to make the change, therefore some
one besides Senor Rodriguez _does_ know the combination. I have
communicated with this man to-day, for I saw the possibility of just
such a thing as this instead of your stethoscope. By a trick and a
forged letter this girl obtained the combination from this man."
Mr. Grimm drew a long breath.
"She intended to take, perhaps, only what she desperately needed--but at
sight of it all--do you see what must have been the temptation then? We
get out here."
There were many unanswered questions in Mr. Grimm's mind. He repressed
them for the time, stepped out and assisted Miss Thorne to alight. The
carriage had turned out of Pennsylvania Avenue, and at the moment he
didn't quite place himself. A narrow passageway opened before
them--evidently the rear entrance to a house possibly in the next
street. Miss Thorne led the way unhesitatingly, cautiously unlocked the
door, and together they entered a hall. Then there was a short flight of
stairs, and they stepped into a room, one of a suite. She closed the
door and turned on the lights.
"The bags of gold are in the next room," she said with the utmost
composure.
Mr. Grimm dragged them out of a dark closet, opened one--there were
ten--and allowed the coins to dribble through his fingers. Finally he
turned and stared at Miss Thorne, who, pallid and weary, stood looking
on.
"Where are we?" he asked. "What house is this?"
"The Venezuelan legation," she answered. "We are standing less than
forty feet from the safe that was robbed. You see how easy--!"
"And whose room?" inquired Mr. Grimm slowly.
"Must I answer?" she asked appealingly.
"You must!"
"Senorita Rodriguez--my hostess! Don't you see what you've made me do?
She and Mr. Cadwallader made the trip to Baltimore in his automobile,
and--and--!" She stopped. "He knows nothing of it," she added.
"Yes, I know," said Mr. Grimm.
He stood looking at her in silence for a moment, staring deeply into the
pleading eyes; and a certain tense expression about his lips passed. For
an instant her hand trembled on his arm, and he caught the fragrance of
her hair.
"Where is she now?" he asked.
"Playing bridge," replied Miss Thorne, with a sad little smile. "It is
always so--at least twice a week, and she rarely returns before two or
half-past." She extended both hands impetuously, entreatingly. "Please
be generous, Mr. Grimm. You have the gold; don't destroy her."
Senor Rodriguez, the minister from Venezuela, found the gold in his safe
on the following morning, with a brief note from Mr. Grimm, in which
there was no explanation of how or where it had been found.... And two
hours later Monsieur Boissegur, ambassador from France to the United
States, disappeared from the embassy, vanished!
XII
THE VANISHING DIPLOMATIST
It was three days after the ambassador's disappearance that Monsieur
Rigolot, secretary of the French embassy and temporary
_charge-d'affaires_, reported the matter to Chief Campbell in the Secret
Service Bureau, adding thereto a detailed statement of several singular
incidents following close upon it. He told it in order, concisely and to
the point, while Grimm and his chief listened.
"Monsieur Boissegur, the ambassador, you understand, is a man whose
habits are remarkably regular," he began. "He has made it a rule to be
at his desk every morning at ten o'clock, and between that time and one
o'clock he dictates his correspondence, and clears up whatever routine
work there is before him. I have known him for many years, and have
been secretary of the embassy under him in Germany and Japan and this
country. I have never known him to vary this general order of work
unless because of illness, or necessary absence.
"Well, Monsieur, last Tuesday--this is Friday--the ambassador was at his
desk as usual. He dictated a dozen or more letters, and had begun
another--a private letter to his sister in Paris. He was well along in
this letter when, without any apparent reason, he rose from his desk and
left the room, closing the door behind him. His stenographer's
impression was that some detail of business had occurred to him, and he
had gone into the general office farther down the hall to attend to it.
I may say, Monsieur, that this impression seemed strengthened by the
fact that he left a fresh cigarette burning in his ash tray, and his pen
was behind his ear. It was all as if he had merely stepped out,
intending to return immediately--the sort of thing, Monsieur, that any
man might have done.
"It so happened that when he went out he left a sentence of his letter
incomplete. I tell you this to show that the impulse to go must have
been a sudden one, yet there was nothing in his manner, so his
stenographer says, to indicate excitement, or any other than his usual
frame of mind. It was about five minutes of twelve o'clock--high
noon--when he went out. When he didn't return immediately the
stenographer began transcribing the letters. At one o'clock Monsieur
Boissegur still had not returned and his stenographer went to luncheon."
As he talked some inbred excitement seemed to be growing upon him, due,
perhaps, to his recital of the facts, and he paused at last to regain
control of himself. Incidentally he wondered if Mr. Grimm was taking the
slightest interest in what he was saying. Certainly there was nothing in
his impassive face to indicate it.
"Understand, Monsieur," the secretary continued, after a moment, "that I
knew nothing whatever of all this until late that afternoon--that is,
Tuesday afternoon about five o'clock. I was engaged all day upon some
important work in my own office, and had had no occasion to see Monsieur
Boissegur since a word or so when he came in at ten o'clock. My
attention was called to the affair finally by his stenographer, Monsieur
Netterville, who came to me for instructions. He had finished the
letters and the ambassador had not returned to sign them. At this point
I began an investigation, Monsieur, and the further I went the more
uneasy I grew.
"Now, Monsieur, there are only two entrances to the embassy--the front
door, where a servant is in constant attendance from nine in the morning
until ten at night, and the rear door, which can only be reached through
the kitchen. Neither of the two men who had been stationed at the front
door had seen the ambassador since breakfast, therefore he could not
have gone out that way. _Comprenez_? It seemed ridiculous, Monsieur, but
then I went to the kitchen. The _chef_ had been there all day, and he
had not seen the ambassador at all. I inquired further. No one in the
embassy, not a clerk, nor a servant, nor a member of the ambassador's
family had seen him since he left his office."
Again he paused and ran one hand across his troubled brow.
"Monsieur," he went on, and there was a tense note in his voice, "the
ambassador of France had disappeared, gone, vanished! We searched the
house from the cellar to the servants' quarters, even the roof, but
there was no trace of him. The hat he usually wore was in the hall, and
all his other hats were accounted for. You may remember, Monsieur, that
Tuesday was cold, but all his top-coats were found in their proper
places. So it seems, Monsieur," and repression ended in a burst of
excitement, "if he left the embassy he did not go out by either door,
and he went without hat or coat!"
He stopped helplessly and his gaze alternated inquiringly between the
benevolent face of the chief and the expressionless countenance of Mr.
Grimm.
"_If_ he left the embassy?" Mr. Grimm repented. "If your search of the
house proved conclusively that he wasn't there, he _did_ leave it,
didn't he?"
Monsieur Rigolot stared at him blankly for a moment, then nodded.
"And there are windows, you know," Mr. Grimm went on, then: "As I
understand it, Monsieur, no one except you and the stenographer saw the
ambassador after ten o'clock in the morning?"
"_Oui, Monsieur. C'est--_" Monsieur Rigolot began excitedly. "I beg
pardon. I believe that is correct."
"You saw him about ten, you say; therefore no one except the
stenographer saw him after ten o'clock?"
"That is also true, as far as I know."
"Any callers? Letters? Telegrams? Telephone messages?"
"I made inquiries in that direction, Monsieur," was the reply. "I have
the words of the servants at the door and of the stenographer that there
were no callers, and the statement of the stenographer that there were
no telephone calls or telegrams. There were only four letters for him
personally. He left them all on his desk--here they are."
Mr. Grimm looked them over leisurely. They were commonplace enough,
containing nothing that might be construed into a reason for the
disappearance.
"The letters Monsieur Boissegur had dictated were laid on his desk by
the stenographer," Monsieur Rigolot rushed on volubly, excitedly. "In
the anxiety and uneasiness following the disappearance they were allowed
to remain there overnight. On Wednesday morning, Monsieur"--and he
hesitated impressively--"_those letters bore his signature in his own
handwriting_!"
Mr. Grimm turned his listless eyes full upon Monsieur Rigolot's
perturbed face for one scant instant.
"No doubt of it being his signature?" he queried.
"_Non, Monsieur, non!_" the secretary exclaimed emphatically. "_Vous
avez_--that is, I have known his signature for years. There is no doubt.
The letters were not of a private nature. If you would care to look at
copies of them?"
He offered the duplicates tentatively. Mr. Grimm read them over slowly,
the while Monsieur Rigolot sat nervously staring at him. They, too,
seemed meaningless as bearing on the matter in hand. Finally, Mr. Grimm
nodded, and Monsieur Rigolot resumed:
"And Wednesday night, Monsieur, another strange thing happened. Monsieur
Boissegur smokes many cigarettes, of a kind made especially for him in
France, and shipped to him here. He keeps them in a case on his
dressing-table. On Thursday morning his valet reported to me that _this
case of cigarettes had disappeared_!"
"Of course," observed Mr. Grimm, "Monsieur Boissegur has a latch-key to
the embassy?"
"Of course."
"Anything unusual happen last night--that is, Thursday night?"
"Nothing, Monsieur--that is, nothing we can find."
Mr. Grimm was silent for a time and fell to twisting the seal ring on
his finger. Mr. Campbell turned around and moved a paper weight one inch
to the left, where it belonged, while Monsieur Rigolot, disappointed at
their amazing apathy, squirmed uneasily in his chair.
"It would appear, then," Mr. Grimm remarked musingly, "that after his
mysterious disappearance the ambassador has either twice returned to his
house at night, or else sent some one there, first to bring the letters
to him for signature, and later to get his cigarettes?"
"_Certainement, Monsieur_--I mean, that seems to be true. But where is
he? Why should he not come back? What does it mean? Madame Boissegur is
frantic, prostrated! She wanted me to go to the police, but I did not
think it wise that it should become public, so I came here."
"Very well," commented Mr. Grimm. "Let it rest as it is. Meanwhile you
may reassure madame. Point out to her that if Monsieur Boissegur signed
the letters Tuesday night he was, at least, alive; and if he came or
sent for the cigarettes Wednesday night, he was still alive. I shall
call at the embassy this afternoon. No, it isn't advisable to go with
you now. Give me your latch-key, please."
Monsieur Rigolot produced the key and passed it over without a word.
"And one other thing," Mr. Grimm continued, "please collect all the
revolvers that may be in the house and take charge of them yourself. If
any one, by chance, heard a burglar prowling around there to-night he
might shoot, and in that event either kill Monsieur Boissegur or--or
me!"
When the secretary had gone Mr. Campbell idly drummed on his desk as he
studied the face of his subordinate.
"So much!" he commented finally.
"It's Miss Thorne again," said the young man as if answering a question.
"Perhaps these reports I have received to-day from the Latin capitals
may aid you in dispelling that mystery," Campbell suggested, and Mr.
Grimm turned to them eagerly. "Meanwhile our royal visitor, Prince
Benedetto d'Abruzzi, remains unknown?"
The young man's teeth closed with a snap.
"It's only a question of time, Chief," he said abruptly. "I'll find
him--I'll find him!"
And he sat down to read the reports.
XIII
A CONFERENCE IN THE DARK
The white rays of a distant arc light filtered through the half-drawn
velvet hangings and laid a faintly illumined path across the
ambassador's desk; the heavy leather chairs were mere impalpable
splotches in the shadows; the cut-glass knobs of a mahogany cabinet
caught the glint of light and reflected it dimly. Outside was the vague,
indefinable night drone of a city asleep, unbroken by any sound that was
distinguishable, until finally there came the distant boom of a clock.
It struck twice.
Seated on a couch in one corner of the ambassador's office was Mr.
Grimm. He was leaning against the high arm of leather, with his feet on
the seat, thoughtfully nursing his knees. If his attitude indicated
anything except sheer comfort, it was that he was listening. He had been
there for two hours, wide-awake, and absolutely motionless. Five, ten,
fifteen minutes more passed, and then Mr. Grimm heard the grind and whir
of an automobile a block or so away, coming toward the embassy. Now it
was in front.
"Honk! Hon-on-onk!" it called plaintively. "Hon-on-onk! Honk!"
The signal! At last! The automobile went rushing on, full tilt, while
Mr. Grimm removed his feet from the seat and dropped them noiselessly to
the floor. Thus, with his hands on his knees, and listening, listening
with every faculty strained, he sat motionless, peering toward the open
door that led into the hall. The car was gone now, the sound of it was
swallowed up in the distance, still he sat there. It was obviously some
noise in the house for which he was waiting.
Minute after minute passed, and still nothing. There was not even the
whisper of a wind-stirred drapery. He was about to rise when, suddenly,
with no other noise than that of the sharp click of the switch, the
electric lights in the room blazed up brilliantly. The glare dazzled Mr.
Grimm with its blinding flood, but he didn't move. Then softly, almost
in a whisper:
"Good evening, Mr. Grimm."
It was a woman's voice, pleasant, unsurprised, perfectly modulated. Mr.
Grimm certainly did not expect it now, but he knew it instantly--there
was not another quite like it in the wide, wide world--and though he was
still blinking a little, he came to his feet courteously.
"Good morning, Miss Thorne," he corrected gravely.
Now his vision was clearing, and he saw her, a graceful figure,
silhouetted against the rich green of the wall draperies. Her lips were
curled the least bit, as if she might have been smiling, and her
wonderful eyes reflected a glint of--of--was it amusement? The folds of
her evening dress fell away from her, and one bare, white arm was
extended, as her hand still rested on the switch.
"And you didn't hear me?" still in the half whisper. "I didn't think you
would. Now I'm going to put out the lights for an instant, while you
pull the shades down, and then--then we must have a--a conference."
The switch snapped. The lights died as suddenly as they had been born,
and Mr. Grimm, moving noiselessly, visited each of the four windows in
turn. Then the lights blazed brilliantly again.
"Just for a moment," Miss Thorne explained to him quietly, and she
handed him a sheet of paper. "I want you to read this--read it
carefully--then I shall turn out the lights again. They are dangerous.
After that we may discuss the matter at our leisure."
Mr. Grimm read the paper while Miss Thorne's eyes questioned his
impassive face. At length he looked up indolently, listlessly, and the
switch snapped. She crossed the room and sat down; Mr. Grimm sat beside
her.
"I think," Miss Thorne suggested tentatively, "that that accounts
perfectly for Monsieur Boissegur's disappearance."
"It gives one explanation, at least," Mr. Grimm assented musingly.
"Kidnapped--held prisoner--fifty thousand dollars demanded for his
safety and release." A pause. "And to whom, may I ask, was this demand
addressed?"
"To Madame Boissegur," replied Miss Thorne. "I have the envelope in
which it came. It was mailed at the general post-office at half-past one
o'clock this afternoon, so the canceling stamp shows, and the envelope
was addressed, as the letter was written, on a typewriter."
"And how," inquired Mr. Grimm, after a long pause, "how did it come into
your possession?" He waited a little. "Why didn't Monsieur Rigolot
report this development to me this afternoon when I was here?"
"Monsieur Rigolot did not inform you of it because he didn't know of it
himself," she replied, answering the last question first. "It came into
my possession directly from the hands of Madame Boissegur--she gave it
to me."
"Why?"
Mr. Grimm was peering through the inscrutable darkness, straight into
her face--a white daub in the gloom, shapeless, indistinct.
"I have known Madame Boissegur for half a dozen years," Miss Thorne
continued, in explanation. "We have been friends that long. I met her
first in Tokio, later in Berlin, and within a few weeks, here in
Washington. You see I have traveled in the time I have been an agent for
my government. Well, Madame Boissegur received this letter about
half-past four o'clock this afternoon; and about half-past five she sent
for me and placed it in my hands, together with all the singular details
following upon the ambassador's disappearance. So, it would seem that
you and I are allies for this once, and the problem is already solved.
There merely remains the task of finding and releasing the ambassador."
Mr. Grimm sat perfectly still.
"And why," he asked slowly, "are you here now?"
"For the same reason that you are here," she replied readily, "to see
for myself if the--the person who twice came here at night--once for the
ambassador's letters and once for his cigarettes--would, by any chance,
make another trip. I knew you were here, of course."
"You knew I was here," repeated Mr. Grimm musingly. "And, may I--?"
"Just as you knew that I, or some one, at least, had entered this house
a few minutes ago," she interrupted. "The automobile horn outside was a
signal, wasn't it? Hastings was in the car? Or was it Blair or Johnson?"
Mr. Grimm did not say.
"Didn't you anticipate any personal danger when you entered?" he queried
instead. "Weren't you afraid I might shoot?"
"No."
There was a long silence. Mr. Grimm still sat with his elbows on his
knees, staring, staring at the vague white splotch which was Miss
Thorne's face and bare neck. One of her white arms hung at her side like
a pallid serpent, and her hand was at rest on the seat of the couch.
"It seems, Miss Thorne," he said at length, casually, quite casually,
"that our paths of duty are inextricably tangled. Twice previously we
have met under circumstances that were more than strange, and now--this!
Whatever injustice I may have done you in the past by my suspicions has,
I hope, been forgiven; and in each instance we were able to work side by
side toward a conclusion. I am wondering now if this singular affair
will take a similar course."
He paused. Miss Thorne started to speak, but he silenced her with a
slight gesture of his hand.
"It is only fair to you to say that we--that is, the Secret
Service--have learned many things about you," he resumed in the same
casual tone. "We have, through our foreign agents, traced you step by
step from Rome to Washington. We know that you are, in a way, a
representative of a sovereign of Europe; we know that you were on a
secret mission to the Spanish court, perhaps for this sovereign, and
remained in Madrid for a month; we know that from there you went to
Paris, also on a secret mission--perhaps the same--and remained there
for three weeks; we know that you met diplomatic agents of those
governments later in London. We know all this; we know the manner of
your coming to this country; of your coming to Washington. But we don't
know _why_ you are here."
Again she started to speak, and again he stopped her.
"We don't know your name, but that is of no consequence. We _do_ know
that in Spain you were Senora Cassavant, in Paris Mademoiselle
d'Aubinon, in London Miss Jane Kellog, and here Miss Isabel Thorne. We
realize that exigencies arise in your calling, and mine, which make
changes of name desirable, necessary even, and there is no criticism of
that. Now as the representative of your government--rather _a_
government--you have a right to be here, although unaccredited; you have
a right to remain here as long as your acts are consistent with our
laws; you have a right to your secrets as long as they do not, directly
or indirectly, threaten the welfare of this country. Now, why are you
here?"
He received no answer; he expected none. After a moment he went on:
"Admitting that you are a secret agent of Italy, admitting everything
that you claim to be, you haven't convinced me that you are not the
person who came here for the letters and cigarettes. You have said
nothing to prove to my satisfaction that you are not the individual I
was waiting for to-night."
"You don't mean that you suspect--?" she began in a tone of amazement.
"I don't mean that I suspect anything," he interposed. "I mean merely
that you haven't convinced me. There's nothing inconsistent in the fact
that you are what you say you are, and that in spite of that, you came
to-night for--"
He was interrupted by a laugh, a throaty, silvery note that he
remembered well. His idle hands closed spasmodically, only to be
instantly relaxed.
"Suppose, Mr. Grimm, I should tell you that immediately after Madame
Boissegur placed the matter in my hands this afternoon I went straight
to your office to show this letter to you and to ask your assistance?"
she inquired. "Suppose that I left my card for you with a clerk there on
being informed that you were out--remember I knew you were on the case
from Madame Boissegur--would that indicate anything except that I wanted
to put the matter squarely before you, and work with you?"
"We will suppose that much," Mr. Grimm agreed.
"That is a statement of fact," Miss Thorne added. "My card, which you
will find at your office, will show that. And when I left your office I
went to the hotel where you live, with the same purpose. You were not
there, and I left a card for you. And _that_ is a statement of fact. It
was not difficult, owing to the extraordinary circumstances, to imagine
that you would be here to-night--just as you are--and I came here. My
purpose, still, was to inform you of what I knew, and work with you.
Does that convince you?"
"And how did you enter the embassy?" Mr. Grimm persisted.
"Not with a latch-key, as you did," she replied. "Madame Boissegur, at
my suggestion, left the French window in the hall there unfastened, and
I came in that way--the way, I may add, that _Monsieur l'Ambassadeur_
went out when he disappeared."
"Very well!" commented Mr. Grimm, and finally: "I think, perhaps, I owe
you an apology, Miss Thorne--another one. The circumstances now, as
they were at our previous meetings, are so unusual that--is it necessary
to go on?" There was a certain growing deference in his tone. "I wonder
if you account for Monsieur Boissegur's disappearance as I do?" he
inquired.
"I dare say," and Miss Thorne leaned toward him with sudden eagerness in
her manner and voice. "Your theory is--?" she questioned.
"If we believe the servants we know that Monsieur Boissegur did not go
out either by the front door or rear," Mr. Grimm explained. "That being
true the French window by which you entered seems to have been the way."
"Yes, yes," Miss Thorne interpolated. "And the circumstances attending
the disappearance? How do you account for the fact that he went,
evidently of his own will?"
"Precisely as you must account for it if you have studied the situation
here as I have," responded Mr. Grimm. "For instance, sitting at his desk
there"--and he turned to indicate it--"he could readily see out the
windows overlooking the street. There is only a narrow strip of lawn
between the house and the sidewalk. Now, if some one on the sidewalk,
or--or--"
"In a carriage?" promptly suggested Miss Thorne.
"Or in a carriage," Mr. Grimm supplemented, "had attracted his
attention--some one he knew--it is not at all unlikely that he rose, for
no apparent reason, as he did do, passed along the hall--"
"And through the French window, across the lawn to the carriage, and not
a person in the house would have seen him go out? Precisely! There seems
no doubt that was the way," she mused. "And, of course, he must have
entered the carriage of his own free will?"
"In other words, on some pretext or other, he was lured in, then made
prisoner, and--!"
He paused suddenly and his hand met Miss Thorne's warningly. The silence
of the night was broken by the violent clatter of footsteps, apparently
approaching the embassy. The noise was unmistakable--some one was
running.
"The window!" Miss Thorne whispered.
She rose quickly and started to cross the room, to look out; Mr. Grimm
sat motionless, listening. An instant later and there came a tremendous
crash of glass--the French window in the hallway by the sound--then
rapid footsteps, still running, along the hall. Mr. Grimm moved toward
the door unruffled, perfectly self-possessed; there was only a narrowing
of his eyes at the abruptness and clatter of it all. And then the
electric lights in the hall flashed up.
Before Mr. Grimm stood a man, framed by the doorway, staring unseeingly
into the darkened room. His face was haggard and white as death; his
mouth agape as if from exertion, and the lips bloodless; his eyes were
widely distended as if from fright--clothing disarranged, collar
unfastened and dangling.
"The ambassador!" Miss Thorne whispered thrillingly.
XIV
A RESCUE AND AN ESCAPE
Miss Thorne's voice startled Mr. Grimm a little, but he had no doubts.
It was Monsieur Boissegur. Mr. Grimm was going toward the enframed
figure when, without any apparent reason, the ambassador turned and ran
along the hall; and at that instant the lights went out again. For one
moment Grimm stood still, dazed and blinded by the sudden blackness, and
again he started toward the door. Miss Thorne was beside him.
"The lights!" he whispered tensely. "Find the switch!"
He heard the rustle of her skirts as she moved away, and stepped out
into the hall, feeling with both his hands along the wall. A few feet
away, in the direction the ambassador had gone, there seemed to be a
violent struggle in progress--there was the scuffling of feet, and
quick-drawn breaths as muscle strained against muscle. The lights! If he
could only find the switch! Then, as his hands moved along the wall,
they came in contact with another hand--a hand pressed firmly against
the plastering, barring his progress. A light blow in the face caused
him to step back quickly.
The scuffling sound suddenly resolved itself into moving footsteps, and
the front door opened and closed with a bang. Mr. Grimm's listless eyes
snapped, and his white teeth came together sharply as he started toward
the front door. But fate seemed to be against him still. He stumbled
over a chair, and his own impetus forward sent him sprawling; his head
struck the wall with a resounding whack; and then, over the house, came
utter silence. From outside he heard the clatter of a cab. Finally that
died away in the distance.
"Miss Thorne?" he inquired quietly.
"I'm here," she answered in a despairing voice. "But I can't find the
switch."
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
And then she found the switch; the lights flared up. Mr. Grimm was
sitting thoughtfully on the floor.
"That simplifies the matter considerably," he observed complacently, as
he rose. "The men who signaled to me when you entered the embassy will
never let that cab get out of their sight."
Miss Thorne stood leaning forward a little, eagerly gazing at him with
those wonderful blue-gray eyes, and an expression of--of--perhaps it was
admiration on her face.
"Are you sure?" she demanded, at last.
"I know it," was his response.
And just then Monsieur Rigolot, secretary of the embassy, thrust an
inquisitive head timidly around the corner of the stairs. The crash of
glass had aroused him.
"What happened?" he asked breathlessly.
"We don't know just yet," replied Mr. Grimm. "If the noise aroused any
one else please assure them that there's nothing the matter. And you
might inform Madame Boissegur that the ambassador will return home
to-morrow. Good night!"
At his hotel, when he reached there, Mr. Grimm found Miss Thorne's
card--and he drew a long breath; at his office he found another of her
cards, and he drew another long breath. He did like corroborative
details, did Mr. Grimm, and, of course, this--! On the following day
Miss Thorne accompanied him to Alexandria, and they were driven in a
closed carriage out toward the western edge of the city. Finally the
carriage stopped at a signal from Mr. Grimm, and he assisted Miss Thorne
out, after which he turned and spoke to some one remaining inside--a
man.
"The house is two blocks west, along that street there," he explained,
and he indicated an intersecting thoroughfare just ahead. "It is number
ninety-seven. Five minutes after we enter you will drive up in front of
the door and wait. If we don't return in fifteen minutes--come in after
us!"
"Do you anticipate danger?" Miss Thorne queried quickly.
"If I had anticipated danger," replied Mr. Grimm, "I should not have
permitted you to come with me."
They entered the house--number ninety-seven--with a key which Mr. Grimm
produced, and a minute or so later walked into a room where three men
were sitting. One of them was of a coarse, repulsive type, large and
heavy; another rather dapper, of superficial polish, evidently a
foreigner, and the third--the third was Ambassador Boissegur!
"Good morning, gentlemen!" Mr. Grimm greeted them, then ceremoniously:
"Monsieur Boissegur, your carriage is at the door."
The three men came to their feet instantly, and one of them--he of the
heavy face--drew a revolver. Mr. Grimm faced him placidly.
"Do you know what would happen to you if you killed me?" he inquired
pleasantly. "You wouldn't live three minutes. Do you imagine I came in
here blindly? There are a dozen men guarding the entrances to the
house--a pistol shot would bring them in. Put down the gun!"
Eyes challenged eyes for one long tense instant, and the man carefully
laid the weapon on the table. Mr. Grimm strolled over and picked it up,
after which he glanced inquiringly at the other man--the ambassador's
second guard.
"And you are the gentleman, I dare say, who made the necessary trips to
the ambassador's house, probably using his latch-key?" he remarked
interrogatively. "First for the letters to be signed, and again for the
cigarettes?"
There was no answer and Mr. Grimm turned questioningly to Monsieur
Boissegur, silent, white of face, motionless.
"Yes, Monsieur," the ambassador burst out suddenly. His eyes were fixed
unwaveringly on Miss Thorne.
"And your escape, Monsieur?" continued Mr. Grimm.
"I did escape, Monsieur, last night," the ambassador explained, "but
they knew it immediately--they pursued me into my own house, these two
and another--and dragged me back here! _Mon Dieu, Monsieur, c'est--!_"
"That's all that's necessary," remarked Mr. Grimm. "You are free to go
now."
"But there are others," Monsieur Boissegur interposed desperately, "two
more somewhere below, and they will not allow--they will attack--!"
Mr. Grimm's listless eyes narrowed slightly and he turned to Miss
Thorne. She was a little white, but he saw enough in her face to satisfy
him.
"I shall escort Monsieur Boissegur to his carriage, Miss Thorne," he
said calmly. "These men will remain here until I return. Take the
revolver. If either of them so much as wags his head--_shoot_! You are
not--not afraid?"
"No." She smiled faintly. "I am not afraid."
Mr. Grimm and the ambassador went down the stairs, and out the front
door. Mr. Grimm was just turning to reenter the house when from above
came a muffled, venomous cra-as-ash!--a shot! He took the steps going
up, two at a time. Miss Thorne was leaning against the wall as if dazed;
the revolver lay at her feet. A door in a far corner of the room stood
open; and the clatter of footsteps echoed through the house.
"One of them leaped at me and I fired," she gasped in explanation. "He
struck me, but I'm--I'm not hurt."
She stooped quickly, picked up the revolver and made as if to follow the
dying footsteps. Mr. Grimm stopped her.
"It doesn't matter," he said quietly. "Let them go." And after a while,
earnestly: "If I had dreamed of such a--such a thing as this I should
never have consented to allow you--"
"I understand," she interrupted, and for one instant her outstretched
hand rested on his arm. "The ambassador?"
"Perfectly safe," responded Mr. Grimm. "Two of my men are with him."
XV
MASTER OF THE SITUATION
As the women rose and started out, leaving the gentlemen over their
coffee and cigars, Miss Thorne paused at the door and the blue-gray eyes
flashed some subtle message to the French ambassador who, after an
instant, nodded comprehendingly, then resumed his conversation. As he
left the room a few minutes later he noticed that Mr. Grimm had joined a
group of automaniacs of which Mr. Cadwallader was the enthusiastic
center. He spoke to his hostess, the wife of the minister from Portugal,
for a moment, then went to Miss Thorne and dropped into a seat beside
her. She greeted him with a smile and was still smiling as she talked.
"I believe, Monsieur," she said in French, "you sent a code message to
the cable office this afternoon?"
His eyes questioned hers quickly.
"And please bear in mind that we probably are being watched as we talk,"
she went on pleasantly. "Mr. Grimm is the man to be afraid of.
Smile--don't look so serious!" She laughed outright.
"Yes, I sent a code message," he replied.
"It was your resignation?"
"Yes."
"Well, it wasn't sent, of course," she informed him, and her eyes were
sparkling as if something amusing had been said. "One of my agents
stopped it. I may add that it will not be sent."
The ambassador's eyes grew steely, then blank again.
"Mademoiselle, what am I to understand from that?" he demanded.
"You are to understand that I am absolute master of the situation in
Washington at this moment," she replied positively. The smile on her
lips and the tone of her voice were strangely at variance. "From the
beginning I let you understand that ultimately you would receive your
instructions from Paris; now I know they will reach you by cable
to-morrow. Within a week the compact will be signed. Whether you approve
of it or not it will be signed for your country by a special envoy whose
authority is greater than yours--his Highness, the Prince Benedetto
d'Abruzzi."
"Has he reached Washington?"
"He is in Washington. He has been here for some time, incognito." She
was silent a moment. "You have been a source of danger to our plans,"
she added. "If it had not been for an accident you would still have been
comfortably kept out in Alexandria where Mr. Grimm and I found you.
Please remember, Monsieur, that we will accomplish what we set out to
do. Nothing can stop us--nothing."
At just about the same moment the name of Prince d'Abruzzi had been used
in the dining-room, but in a different connection. Mr. Cadwallader was
reciting some incident of an automobile trip in Italy when he had been
connected with the British embassy there.
"The prince was driving," he said, "and one of the best I ever saw.
Corking chap, the prince; democratic, you know, and all that sort of
thing. He was one scion of royalty who didn't mind soiling his hands by
diving in under a car and fixing it himself. At that time he was
inclined to be wild--that was eight or nine years ago--but they say now
he has settled down to work, and is one of the real diplomatic powers of
Italy. I haven't seen him for a half dozen years."
"How old a man is he?" asked Mr. Grimm carelessly.
"Thirty-five, thirty-eight, perhaps; I don't know," replied Mr.
Cadwallader. "It's odd, you know, the number of princes and blue-bloods
and all that sort of thing one can find knocking about in Italy and
Germany and Spain. One never hears of half of them. I never had heard
of the Prince d'Abruzzi until I went to Italy, and I've heard jolly well
little of him since, except indirectly."
Mr. Cadwallader lapsed into silence as he sat staring at a large group
photograph which was framed on a wall of the dining-room.
"Isn't that the royal family of Italy?" he asked. He rose and went over
to it. "By Jove, it is, and here is the prince in the group. The picture
was taken, I should say, about the time I knew him."
Mr. Grimm strolled over idly and stood for a long time staring at the
photograph.
"He can drive a motor, you know," said Mr. Cadwallader admiringly. "And
Italy is the place to drive them. They forgot to make any speed laws
over there, and if a chap gets in your way and you knock him silly they
arrest him for obstructing traffic, you know. Over here if a chap really
starts to go any place in a hurry some bally idiot holds him up."
"Have you ever been held up?" queried Mr. Grimm.
"No, but I expect to be every day," was the reply. "I've got a new
motor, you know, and I've never been able to see how fast it is. The
other evening I ran up to Baltimore with it in an hour and thirty-seven
minutes from Alexandria to Druid Hill Park, and that's better than forty
miles. I never did let the motor out, you know, because we ran in the
dark most of the way."
Mr. Grimm was still gazing at the photograph.
"Did you go alone?" he asked.
"There's no fun motoring alone, you know. Senorita Rodriguez was with
me. Charming girl, what?"
A little while later Mr. Grimm sauntered out into the drawing-room and
made his way toward Miss Thorne and the French ambassador. Monsieur
Boissegur rose, and offered his hand cordially.
"I hope, Monsieur," said Mr. Grimm, "that you are no worse off for
your--your unpleasant experience?"
"Not at all, thanks to you," was the reply. "I have just thanked Miss
Thorne for her part in the affair, and--"
"I'm glad to have been of service," interrupted Mr. Grimm lightly.
The ambassador bowed ceremoniously and moved away. Mr. Grimm dropped
into the seat he had just left.
"You've left the legation, haven't you?" he asked.
"You drove me out," she laughed.
"Drove you out?" he repeated. "Drove you out?"
"Why, it was not only uncomfortable, but it was rather conspicuous
because of the constant espionage of your Mr. Blair and your Mr. Johnson
and your Mr. Hastings," she explained, still laughing. "So I have moved
to the Hotel Hilliard."
Mr. Grimm was twisting the seal ring on his little finger.
"I'm sorry if I've made it uncomfortable for you," he apologized. "You
see it's necessary to--"
"No explanation," Miss Thorne interrupted. "I understand."
"I'm glad you do," he replied seriously. "How long do you intend to
remain in the city?"
"Really I don't know--two, three, four weeks, perhaps. Why?"
"I was just wondering."
Senorita Rodriguez came toward them.
"We're going to play bridge," she said, "and we need you, Isabel, to
make the four. Come. I hate to take her away, Mr. Grimm."
Mr. Grimm and Miss Thorne rose together. For an instant her slim white
hand rested on Mr. Grimm's sleeve and she stared into his eyes
understandingly with a little of melancholy in her own. They left Mr.
Grimm there.
XVI
LETTERS FROM JAIL
For two weeks Signor Pietro Petrozinni, known to the Secret Service as
an unaccredited agent of the Italian government, and the self-confessed
assailant of Senor Alvarez of the Mexican legation, had been taking his
ease in a cell. He had been formally arraigned and committed without
bail to await the result of the bullet wound which had been inflicted
upon the diplomatist from Mexico at the German Embassy Ball, and, since
then, undisturbed and apparently careless of the outcome, he had spent
his time in reading and smoking. He had answered questions with only a
curt yes or no when he deigned to answer them at all; and there had been
no callers or inquiries for him. He had abruptly declined a suggestion
of counsel.
Twice each day, morning and night, he had asked a question of the
jailer who brought his simple meals.
"How is Senor Alvarez?"
"He is still in a critical condition." The answer was always the same.
Whereupon the secret agent would return to his reading with not a shadow
of uneasiness or concern on his face.
Occasionally there came a courteous little note from Miss Thorne, which
he read without emotion, afterward casting them aside or tearing them
up. He never answered them. And then one day there came another note
which, for no apparent reason, seemed to stir him from his lethargy.
Outwardly it was like all the others, but when Signor Petrozinni scanned
the sheet his eyes lighted strangely, and he stood staring down at it as
though to hide a sudden change of expression in his face. His gaze was
concentrated on two small splotches of ink where, it seemed, the pen
had scratched as Miss Thorne signed her name.
The guard stood at the barred door for a moment, then started to turn
away. The prisoner stopped him with a quick gesture.
"Oh, Guard, may I have a glass of milk, please?" he asked. "No ice. I
prefer it tepid."
He thrust a small coin between the bars; the guard accepted it and
passed on. Then, still standing at the door, the prisoner read the note
again:
"MY DEAR FRIEND:
"I understand, from an indirect source, that there has been a marked
improvement in Senor Alvarez's condition, and I am hastening to send you
the good news. There is every hope that within a short while, if he
continues to improve, we can arrange a bail bond, and you will be free
until the time of trial anyway.
"Might it not be well for you to consult an attorney at once? Drop me a
line to let me know you received this.
"Sincerely,
"ISABEL THORNE."
Finally the prisoner tossed the note on a tiny table in a corner of his
cell, and resumed his reading. After a time the guard returned with the
milk.
"Would it be against the rules for me to write an answer to this?"
queried Signor Petrozinni, and he indicated the note.
"Certainly not," was the reply.
"If I might trouble you, then, for pen and ink and paper?" suggested the
signor and he smiled a little. "Believe me, I would prefer to get them
for myself."
"I guess that's right," the guard grinned good-naturedly.
Again he went away and the prisoner sat thoughtfully sipping the milk.
He took half of it, then lighted a cigarette, puffed it once or twice
and permitted the light to die. After a little there came again the
clatter of the guard's feet on the cement pavement, and the writing
materials were thrust through the bars.
"Thank you," said the prisoner.
The guard went on, with a nod, and a moment later the signor heard the
clangor of a steel door down the corridor as it was closed and locked.
He leaned forward in his chair with half-closed eyes, listening for a
long time, then rose and noiselessly approached the cell door. Again he
listened intently, after which he resumed his seat. He tossed away the
cigarette he had and lighted a fresh one, afterward holding the note
over the flame of the match. Here and there, where the paper charred in
the heat, a letter or word stood out from the bare whiteness of the
paper, and finally, a message complete appeared between the innocuous
ink-written lines. The prisoner read it greedily:
"Am privately informed there is little chance of Alvarez's recovery.
Shall I arrange escape for you, or have ambassador intercede? Would
advise former, as the other might take months, and meeting to sign
treaty alliance would be dangerously delayed."
Signor Petrozinni permitted the sputtering flame to ignite the paper,
and thoughtfully watched the blaze destroy it. The last tiny scrap
dropped on the floor, burned out, and he crushed the ashes under his
heel. Then he began to write:
"My Dear Miss Thorne:
"Many thanks for your courteous little note. I am delighted to know of
the improvement in Senor Alvarez's condition. I had hoped that my
impulsive act in shooting him would not end in a tragedy. Please keep me
informed of any further change in his condition. As yet I do not see the
necessity of consulting an attorney, but later I may be compelled to do
so.
"Respectfully,
"Pietro Petrozinni."
This done the secret agent carefully cleaned the ink from the pen,
wiping it dry with his handkerchief, then thrust it into the half empty
glass of milk. The fluid clung to the steel nib thinly; he went on
writing with it, between the lines of ink:
"I am in no danger. I hold credentials to United States, which, when
presented, will make me responsible only to the Italian government as
special envoy, according to international law. Arrange escape for one
week from to-night; use any money necessary. Make careful arrangements
for the test and signing of compact for two nights after."
Again the prisoner cleaned the steel nib, after which he put it back in
the bottle of ink, leaving it there. He waved the sheet of paper back
and forth to dry it, and at last scrutinized it minutely, standing under
the light from the high-up window of his cell. Letter by letter the milk
evaporated, leaving the sheet perfectly clean and white except for the
ink-written message. This sheet he folded, placed in an envelope, and
addressed.
Later the guard passed along the corridor, and Signor Petrozinni thrust
the letter out to him.
"Be good enough to post that, please," he requested. "It isn't sealed. I
don't know if your prison rules require you to read the letters that go
out. If so, read it, or have it read, then seal it."
For answer the guard dampened the flap of the envelope, sealed it,
thrust it into his pocket and passed on. The secret agent sat down
again, and sipped his milk meditatively.
One hour later Mr. Grimm, accompanied by Johnson, came out of a
photographer's dark room in Pennsylvania Avenue with a developed
negative which he set on a rack to dry. At the end of another hour he
was sitting at his desk studying, under a magnifying glass, a finished
print of the negative. Word by word he was writing on a slip of paper
what his magnifying glass gave him and so, curiously enough, it came to
pass that Miss Thorne and Chief Campbell of the Secret Service were
reading the hidden, milk-written message at almost the identical moment.
"Johnson got Petrozinni's letter from the postman," Mr. Grimm was
explaining. "I opened it, photographed it, sealed it again and remailed
it. There was not more than half an hour's delay; and Miss Thorne can
not possibly know of it." He paused a moment. "It's an odd thing that
writing such as that is absolutely invisible to the naked eye, and yet
when photographed becomes decipherable in the negative."
"What do you make of it?" Mr. Campbell asked. The guileless blue eyes
were alive with eagerness.
"Well, he's right, of course, about not being in danger," said Mr.
Grimm. "If he came with credentials as special envoy this government
must respect them, even if Senor Alvarez dies, and leave it to his own
government to punish him. If we were officially aware that he has such
credentials I doubt if we would have the right to keep him confined; we
would merely have to hand him over to the Italian embassy and demand his
punishment. And, of course, all that makes him more dangerous than
ever."
"Yes, I know that," said the chief a little impatiently. "But who is
this man?"
"Who is this man?" Mr. Grimm repeated as if surprised at the question.
"I was looking for Prince Benedetto d'Abruzzi, of Italy. I have found
him."
Mr. Campbell's clock-like brain ticked over the situation in detail.
"It's like this," Mr. Grimm elucidated. "He has credentials which he
knows will free him if he is forced to present them, but I imagine they
were given to him more for protection in an emergency like this than for
introducing him to our government. As the matter stands he can't afford
to discover himself by using those credentials, and yet, if the Latin
compact is signed, he must be free. Remember, too, that he is accredited
from three countries--Italy, France and Spain." He was silent for a
moment. "Naturally his escape from prison would preserve his incognito,
and at the same time permit him to sign the compact."
There was silence for a long time.
"I believe the situation is without precedent," said Mr. Campbell
slowly. "The special envoy of three great powers held for attempted--!"
"Officially we are not aware of his purpose, or his identity," Mr. Grimm
reminded him. "If he escaped it would clarify the situation
tremendously."
"If he escaped!" repeated Mr. Campbell musingly.
"But, of course, the compact would not be signed, at least in this
country," Mr. Grimm went on tentatively.
Mr. Campbell gazed straight into the listless eyes of the young man for
a minute or more, and gradually full understanding came home to him.
Finally he nodded his head.
"Use your own judgment, Mr. Grimm," he directed.
XVII
A CALL ON THE WARDEN
The restful silence of night lay over the great prison. Here and there
in the grim corridors a guard dozed in the glare of an electric light;
and in the office, too, a desk light glimmered where the warden sat at
his desk, poring over a report. Once he glanced up at the clock--it was
five minutes of eleven--and then he went on with his reading.
After a little the silence was broken by the whir of the clock and the
first sharp stroke of the hour; and at just that moment the door from
the street opened and a man entered. He was rather tall and slender, and
a sinister black mask hid his face from the quickly raised eyes of the
warden. For a bare fraction of a second the two men stared at each
other, then, instinctively, the warden's right hand moved toward the
open drawer of his desk where a revolver lay, and his left toward
several electrically connected levers. The intruder noted both gestures,
and, unarmed himself, stood silent. The warden was first to speak.
"Well, what is it?"
"You have a prisoner here, Pietro Petrozinni," was the reply, in a
pleasant voice. "I have come to demand his release."
The warden's right hand was raised above the desk top, and the revolver
in it clicked warningly.
"You have come to demand his release, eh?" he queried. He still sat
motionless, with his eyes fixed on the black mask. "How did you pass the
outside guard?"
"He was bribed," was the ready response. "Now, Warden," the masked
intruder continued pacifically, "it would be much more pleasant all
around and there would be less personal danger in it for both of us if
you would release Signor Petrozinni without question. I may add that no
bribe was offered to you because your integrity was beyond question."
"Thank you," said the warden grimly, "and it shall remain so as long as
I have this." He tapped on the desk with the revolver.
"Oh, that isn't loaded," said the masked man quietly.
One quick glance at the weapon showed the warden that the cartridges had
been drawn! His teeth closed with a snap at the treachery of it, and
with his left hand he pulled back one of the levers--that which should
arouse the jailers, turnkeys and guards. Instead of the insistent
clangor which he expected, there was silence.
"That wire has been cut," the stranger volunteered.
With clenched teeth the warden pulled the police alarm.
"And that wire was cut, too," the stranger explained.
The warden came to his feet with white face, and nails biting into the
palms of his hands. He still held the revolver as he advanced upon the
masked man threateningly.
"Not too close, now," warned the intruder, with a sudden hardening of
his voice. "Believe me, it would be best for you to release this man,
because it must be done, pleasantly or otherwise. I have no desire to
injure you, still less do I intend that you shall injure me; and it
would be needless for either of us to make a personal matter of it. I
want your prisoner, Signor Petrozinni--you will release him at once!
That's all!"
The warden paused, dazed, incredulous before the audacity of it, while
he studied two calm eyes which peered at him through the slits of the
mask.
"And if I _don't_ release him?" he demanded at last, fiercely.
"Then I shall take him," was the reply. "It has been made impossible for
you to give an alarm," the stranger went on. "The very men on whom you
most depended have been bought, and even if they were within sound of
your voice now they wouldn't respond. One of your assistants who has
been here for years unloaded the revolver in the desk there, and less
than an hour ago cut the prison alarm wire. I, personally, cut the
police alarm outside the building. So you see!"
As yet there was no weapon in sight, save the unloaded revolver in the
warden's hand; at no time had the stranger's voice been raised. His tone
was a perfectly normal one.
"Besides yourself there are only five other men employed here who are
now awake," the masked man continued. "These are four inner guards and
the outer guard. They have all been bought--the turnkeys at five
thousand dollars each, and the outer guard at seven thousand. The
receipt of all of this money is conditional upon the release of Signor
Petrozinni, therefore it is to their interest to aid me as against you.
I am telling you all this, frankly and fully, to make you see how
futile any resistance would be."
"But who--who is this Signor Petrozinni, that such powerful influences
should be brought to bear in his behalf?" demanded the bewildered
warden.
"He is a man who can command a vast fortune--and Senor Alvarez is at the
point of death. That, I think, makes it clear. Now, if you'll sit down,
please!"
"Sit down?" bellowed the warden.
Suddenly he was seized by a violent, maddening rage. He took one step
forward and raised the empty revolver to strike. The masked man moved
slightly to one side and his clenched fist caught the warden on the
point of the chin. The official went down without a sound and lay still,
inert. A moment later the door leading into the corridor of the prison
opened, and Signor Petrozinni, accompanied by one of the guards, entered
the warden's office. The masked man glanced around at them, and with a
motion of his head indicated the door leading to the street. They
passed through, closing the door behind them.
For a little time the intruder stood staring down at the still body,
then he went to the telephone and called police headquarters.
"There has been a jail delivery at the prison," he said in answer to the
"hello" of the desk-sergeant at the other end of the wire. "Better send
some of your men up to investigate."
"Who is that?" came the answering question.
The stranger replaced the receiver on the hook, stripped off his black
mask, dropped it on the floor beside the motionless warden, and went
out. It was Mr. Grimm!
XVIII
NOTICE TO LEAVE
At fifteen minutes of midnight when Miss Thorne, followed by Signor
Petrozinni, entered the sitting-room of her apartments in the hotel and
turned up the light they found Mr. Grimm already there. He rose
courteously. At sight of him Miss Thorne's face went deathly white, and
the escaped prisoner turned toward the door again.
"I would advise that you stay, your Highness," said Mr. Grimm coldly.
Signor Petrozinni paused, amazed. "You will merely subject yourself to
the humiliation of arrest if you attempt to leave. The house is guarded
by a dozen men."
"Your Highness?" Miss Thorne repeated blankly. "You are assuming a
great deal, aren't you, Mr. Grimm?"
"I don't believe," and Mr. Grimm's listless eyes were fixed on those of
the escaped prisoner, "I don't believe that Prince Benedetto d'Abruzzi
will deny his identity?"
There was one of those long tense silences when eye challenges eye, when
wit is pitted against wit, and mind is hauled around to a new, and
sometimes unattractive, view of a situation. Miss Thorne stood silent
with rigid features, colorless as marble; but slowly a sneer settled
about the lips of Signor Petrozinni that was, and he sat down.
[Illustration: A long tense silence when eye challenges eye.]
"You seem to know everything, Mr. Grimm," he taunted.
"I _try_ to know everything, your Highness," was the reply. Mr. Grimm
was still standing. "I know, for instance, that one week ago the plot
which had your freedom for its purpose was born; I know the contents of
every letter that passed between you and Miss Thorne here,
notwithstanding the invisible ink; I know that four days ago several
thousand dollars was smuggled in to you concealed in a basket of fruit;
I know, with that money, you bribed your way out, while Miss Thorne or
one of her agents bribed the guard in front; I know that the escape was
planned for to-night, and that the man who was delegated to take charge
of it is now locked in my office under guard. It may interest you to
know that it was I who took his place and made the escape possible. I
know that much!"
"You--_you_--!" the prince burst out suddenly. "_You_ aided me to
escape?"
Miss Thorne was staring, staring at them with her eyes widely distended,
and her red lips slightly parted.
"_Why_ did you assist him?" she demanded.
"Details are tiresome, Miss Thorne," replied Mr. Grimm with the utmost
courtesy. "There is one other thing I know--that the Latin compact will
not be signed in the United States."
The prince's eyes met Miss Thorne's inquiringly, and she shook her
head. The sneer was still playing about his mouth.
"Anything else of special interest that you know?" he queried.
"Yes, of interest to both you and Miss Thorne. That is merely if the
Latin compact is signed anywhere, the English-speaking countries of the
world might construe it as a _casus belli_ and strike soon enough, and
hard enough, to put an end to it once for all."
Again there was silence for a little while. Slowly the prince's eyes
were darkening, and a shadow flitted across Miss Thorne's face. The
prince rose impatiently.
"Well, what is the meaning of all this? Are you going to take me back to
prison?"
"No," said Mr. Grimm. He glanced at his watch. "I will give each of you
one-half hour to pack your belongings. We must catch a train at one
o'clock."
"Leave the city?" gasped Miss Thorne.
"Impossible!" exclaimed the prince.
"One-half hour," said Mr. Grimm coldly.
"But--but it's out of the question," expostulated Miss Thorne.
"One-half hour," repeated Mr. Grimm. He didn't dare to meet those
wonderful blue-gray eyes now. "A special car with private compartments
will be attached to the regular train, and the only inconvenience to you
will be the fact that the three of us will be compelled to sit up all
night. Half a dozen other Secret Service men will be on the train with
us."
And then the prince's entire manner underwent a change.
"Mr. Grimm," he said earnestly, "it is absolutely necessary that I
remain in Washington for another week--remain here even if I am locked
up again--lock me up again if you like. I can't sign compacts in
prison."
"Twenty-five minutes," replied Mr. Grimm quietly.
"But here," exclaimed the prince explosively, "I have credentials which
will insure my protection in spite of your laws."
"I know that," said Mr. Grimm placidly. "Credentials of that nature can
not be presented at midnight, and you will not be here to-morrow to
present them. The fact that you have those credentials, your Highness,
is one reason why you must leave Washington now, to-night."
XIX
BY WIRELESS
They paused in the office, the three of them, and while Miss Thorne was
giving some instructions as to her baggage the prince went over to the
telegraph booth and began to write a message on a blank. Mr. Grimm
appeared at his elbow.
"No," he said.
"Can't I send a telegram if I like?" demanded the prince sharply.
"No, nor a note, nor a letter, nor may you speak to any one," Mr. Grimm
informed him quietly.
"Why, it's an outrage!" flamed the prince.
"It depends altogether on the view-point, your Highness," said Mr. Grimm
courteously. "If you will pardon me I might suggest that it is needless
to attract attention by your present attitude. You may--I say you
_may_--compel me to humiliate you." The prince glared at him angrily. "I
mean handcuff you," Mr. Grimm added gratuitously.
"Handcuff _me_?"
"I shouldn't hesitate, your Highness, if it was necessary."
After a moment Miss Thorne signified her readiness, and they started
out. At the door Mr. Grimm stopped and turned back to the desk, as if
struck by some sudden thought, leaving them together.
"Oh, Miss Thorne left a message for some one," Mr. Grimm was saying to
the clerk. "She's decided it is unnecessary." He turned and glanced
toward her, and the clerk's eyes followed his. "Please give it to me."
It was passed over without comment. It was a sealed envelope addressed
to Mr. Charles Winthrop Rankin. Mr. Grimm glanced at the superscription,
tore the envelope into bits and dropped it into a basket. A minute
later he was assisting Miss Thorne and the prince into an automobile
that was waiting in front. As the car moved away two other automobiles
appeared from corners near-by and trailed along behind to the station.
There a private compartment-car was in readiness for them.
It was a long, dreary ride--a ride of utter silence save for the roar
and clatter of the moving train. Mr. Grimm, vigilant, implacable, sat at
ease; Miss Thorne, resigned to the inevitable, whatever it might be,
studied the calm, quiet face from beneath drooping lids; and the prince,
sullen, scowling, nervously wriggled in his seat. Philadelphia was
passed, and Trenton, and then the dawn began to break through the night.
It was quite light when they rolled into Jersey City.
"I'm sorry for all the inconvenience I have caused," Mr. Grimm
apologized to Miss Thorne as he assisted her to alight. "You must be
exhausted."
"If it were only that!" she replied, with a slight smile. "And is it
too early to ask where we are going?"
The prince turned quickly at the question.
"We take the _Lusitania_ for Liverpool at ten o'clock," said Mr. Grimm
obligingly. "Meanwhile let's get some coffee and a bite to eat."
"Are you going to make the trip with us?" asked the prince.
Mr. Grimm shrugged his shoulders.
Weary and spiritless they went aboard the boat, and a little while later
they steamed out into the stream and threaded their way down the bay.
Miss Thorne stood at the rail gazing back upon the city they were
leaving. Mr. Grimm stood beside her; the prince, still sullen, still
scowling, sat a dozen feet away.
"This is a wonderful thing you have done, Mr. Grimm," said Miss Thorne
at last.
"Thank you," he said simply. "It was a destructive thing that you
intended to do. Did you ever see a more marvelous thing than that?" and
he indicated the sky-line of New York. "It's the most marvelous bit of
mechanism in the world; the dynamo of the western hemisphere. You would
have destroyed it, because in the world-war that would have been the
first point of attack."
She raised her eyebrows, but was silent.
"Somehow," he went on after a moment, "I could never associate a woman
with destructiveness, with wars and with violence."
"That is an unjust way of saying it," she interposed. And then,
musingly: "Isn't it odd that you and I--standing here by the rail--have,
in a way, held the destinies of the whole great earth in our hands? And
now your remark makes me feel that you alone have stood for peace and
the general good, and I for destruction and evil."
"I didn't mean that," Mr. Grimm said quickly. "You have done your duty
as you saw it, and--"
"Failed!" she interrupted.
"And I have done my duty as I saw it."
"And won!" she added. She smiled a little sadly. "I think, perhaps you
and I might have been excellent friends if it had not been for all
this."
"I know we should have," said Mr. Grimm, almost eagerly. "I wonder if
you will ever forgive me for--for--?"
"Forgive you?" she repeated. "There is nothing to forgive. One must do
one's duty. But I wish it could have been otherwise."
The Statue of Liberty slid by, and Governor's Island and Fort Hamilton;
then, in the distance, Sandy Hook light came into view.
"I'm going to leave you here," said Mr. Grimm, and for the first time
there was a tense, strained note in his voice.
Miss Thorne's blue-gray eyes had grown mistily thoughtful; the words
startled her a little and she turned to face him.
"It may be that you and I shall never meet again," Mr. Grimm went on.
"We _will_ meet again," she said gravely. "When and where I don't know,
but it will come."
"And perhaps then we may be friends?" He was pleading now.
"Why, we are friends now, aren't we?" she asked, and again the smile
curled her scarlet lips. "Surely we are friends, aren't we?"
"We are," he declared positively.
As they started forward a revenue cutter which had been hovering about
Sandy Hook put toward them, flying some signal at her masthead. Slowly
the great boat on which they stood crept along, then the clang of a bell
in the engine-room brought her to a standstill, and the revenue cutter
came alongside.
"I leave you here," Mr. Grimm said again. "It's good-by."
"Good-by," she said softly. "Good-by, till we meet once more."
She extended both hands impulsively and he stood for an instant staring
into the limpid gray eyes, then, turning, went below. From the revenue
cutter he waved a hand at her as the great _Lusitania_, moving again,
sped on her way. The prince joined Miss Thorne at the rail. The scowl
was still on his face.
"And now what?" he demanded abruptly. "This man has treated us as if we
were a pair of children."
"He's a wonderful man," she replied.
"That may be--but we have been fools to allow him to do all this."
Miss Thorne turned flatly and faced him.
"We are not beaten yet," she said slowly. "If all things go well we--we
are not beaten yet."
The _Lusitania_ was rounding Montauk Point when the wireless brought her
to half-speed with a curt message:
"Isabel Thorne and Pietro Petrozinni aboard _Lusitania_ wanted on
warrants charging conspiracy. Tug-boat will take them off, intercepting
you beyond Montauk Point.
"CAMPBELL, Secret Service."
"What does _that_ mean?" asked the prince, bewildered.
"It means that the compact will be signed in Washington in spite of Mr.
Grimm," and there was the glitter of triumph in her eyes. "With the aid
of one of the maids in the depot at Jersey City I managed to get a
telegram of explanation and instruction to De Foe in New York, and this
is the result. He signed Mr. Campbell's name, I suppose, to give weight
to the message."
An hour later a tug-boat came alongside, and they went aboard.
XX
THE LIGHT IN THE DOME
From where he sat, in a tiny alcove which jutted out and encroached upon
the line of the sidewalk, Mr. Grimm looked down on Pennsylvania Avenue,
the central thread of Washington, ever changing, always brilliant,
splashed at regular intervals with light from high-flung electric arcs.
The early theater crowd was in the street, well dressed, well fed,
careless for the moment of all things save physical comfort and
amusement; automobiles, carriages, cabs, cars flowed past endlessly; and
yet Mr. Grimm saw naught of it. In the distance, at one end of the
avenue the dome of the capitol cleft the shadows of night, and a single
light sparkled at its apex; in the other direction, at the left of the
treasury building which abruptly blocks the wide thoroughfare, were the
shimmering windows of the White House.
Motionless, moody, thoughtful, Mr. Grimm sat staring, staring straight
ahead, comprehending none of these things which lay before him as in a
panorama. Instead, his memory was conjuring up a pair of subtle,
blue-gray eyes, now pleading, now coquettish, now frankly defiant; two
slim, white, wonderful hands; the echo of a pleasant, throaty laugh; a
splendid, elusive, radiant-haired phantom. Truly, a woman of mystery!
Who was this Isabel Thorne who, for months past, had been the
storm-center and directing mind of a vast international intrigue which
threatened the world with war? Who, this remarkable young woman who with
ease and assurance commanded ambassadors and played nations as pawns?
Now that she was safely out of the country Mr. Grimm had leisure to
speculate. Upon him had devolved the duty of blocking her plans, and he
had done so--merciless alike of his own feeling and of hers. Hesitation
or evasion had never occurred to him. It was a thing to be done, and he
did it. He wondered if she had understood, there at the last beside the
rail? He wondered if she knew the struggle it had cost him deliberately
to send her out of his life? Or had even surmised that her expulsion
from the country, by his direct act, was wholly lacking in the
exaltation of triumph to him; that it struck deeper than that, below the
listless, official exterior, into his personal happiness? And wondering,
he knew that she _did_ understand.
A silent shod waiter came and placed the coffee things at his elbow. He
didn't heed. The waiter poured a demi-tasse, and inquiringly lifted a
lump of sugar in the silver tongs. Still Mr. Grimm didn't heed. At last
the waiter deposited the sugar on the edge of the fragile saucer, and
moved away as silently as he had come. A newspaper which Mr. Grimm had
placed on the end of the table when he sat down, rattled a little as a
breeze from the open window caught it, then the top sheet slid off and
fell to the floor. Mr. Grimm was still staring out the window.
Slowly the room behind him was thinning of its crowd as the
theater-bound diners went out in twos and threes. The last of these
disappeared finally, and save for Mr. Grimm there were not more than a
dozen persons left in the place. Thus for a few minutes, and then the
swinging doors leading from the street clicked, and a gentleman entered.
He glanced around, as if seeking a seat near a window, then moved along
in Mr. Grimm's direction, between the rows of tables. His gaze lingered
on Mr. Grimm for an instant, and when he came opposite he stooped and
picked up the fallen newspaper sheet.
"Your paper?" he inquired courteously.
Mr. Grimm was still gazing dreamily out of the window.
"I beg pardon," insisted the new-comer pleasantly. He folded the paper
once and replaced it on the table. One hand lingered for just the
fraction of a moment above Mr. Grimm's coffee-cup.
Aroused by the remark, Mr. Grimm glanced around.
"Oh, thank you," he apologized hastily. "I didn't hear you at first.
Thank you."
The new-comer nodded, smiled and passed on, taking a seat two or three
tables down.
Apparently this trifling courtesy had broken the spell of reverie, for
Mr. Grimm squared around to the table again, drew his coffee-cup toward
him, and dropped in the single lump of sugar. He idly stirred it for a
moment, as his eyes turned again toward the open window, then he lifted
the tiny cup and emptied it.
Again he sat motionless for a long time, and thrice the new-comer, only
a few feet away, glanced at him narrowly. And now, it seemed, a peculiar
drowsiness was overtaking Mr. Grimm. Once he caught himself nodding and
raised his head with a jerk. Then he noticed that the arc lights in the
street were wobbling curiously, and he fell to wondering why that
single flame sparkled at the apex of the capitol dome. Things around him
grew hazy, vague, unreal, and then, as if realizing that something was
the matter with him, he came to his feet.
He took one step forward into the space between the tables, reeled,
attempted to steady himself by holding on to a chair, then everything
grew black about him, and he pitched forward on the floor. His face was
dead white; his fingers moved a little, nervously, weakly, then they
were still.
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