Mysterious Mr. Sabin
Page 10
CHAPTER IX
THE SHADOWS THAT GO BEFORE
Wolfenden forgot his anger at once. He hesitated for a moment, then hecrossed the street and stood side by side with Felix upon the pavement.
"I am glad to see that you are looking a sane man again," Wolfendensaid, after they had exchanged the usual greetings. "You might have beenin a much more uncomfortable place, after your last night's escapade."
Felix shrugged his shoulders.
"I think," he said, "that if I had succeeded a little discomfort wouldonly have amused me. It is not pleasant to fail."
Wolfenden stood squarely upon his feet, and laid his hand lightly uponthe other's shoulder.
"Look here," he said, "it won't do for you to go following a manabout London like this, watching for an opportunity to murder him. Idon't like interfering in other people's business, but willingly orunwillingly I seem to have got mixed up in this, and I have a word ortwo to say about it. Unless you give me your promise, upon your honour,to make no further attempt upon that man's life, I shall go to thepolice, tell them what I know, and have you watched."
"You shall have," Felix said quietly, "my promise. A greater power thanthe threat of your English police has tied my hands; for the present Ihave abandoned my purpose."
"I am bound to believe you," Wolfenden said, "and you look as though youwere speaking the truth; yet you must forgive my asking why, in thatcase, you are following the man about? You must have a motive."
Felix shook his head.
"As it happened," he said, "I am here by the merest accident. It mayseem strange to you, but it is perfectly true. I have just come out ofWaldorf's, above there, and I saw you all three upon the pavement."
"I am glad to hear it," Wolfenden said.
"More glad," Felix said, "than I was to see you with them. Can you notbelieve what I tell you? shall I give you proof? will you be convincedthen? Every moment you spend with that man is an evil one for you. Youmay have thought me inclined to be melodramatic last night. Perhaps Iwas! All the same the man is a fiend. Will you not be warned? I tell youthat he is a fiend."
"Perhaps he is," Wolfenden said indifferently. "I am not interested inhim."
"But you are interested--in his companion."
Wolfenden frowned.
"I think," he said, "that we will leave the lady out of theconversation."
Felix sighed.
"You are a good fellow," he said; "but, forgive me, like all yourcountrymen, you carry chivalry just a thought too far--even tosimplicity. You do not understand such people and their ways."
Wolfenden was getting angry, but he held himself in check.
"You know nothing against her," he said slowly.
"It is true," Felix answered. "I know nothing against her. It is notnecessary. She is his creature. That is apparent. The shadow of hiswickedness is enough."
Wolfenden checked himself in the middle of a hot reply. He was suddenlyconscious of the absurdity of losing his temper in the open street witha man so obviously ill-balanced--possessed, too, of such strange andwild impulses.
"Let us talk," he said, "of something else, or say good-morning. Whichway were you going?"
"To the Russian Embassy," Felix said, "I have some work to do thisafternoon."
Wolfenden looked at him curiously.
"Our ways, then, are the same for a short distance," he said. "Let uswalk together. Forgive me, but you are really, then, attached to theEmbassy?"
Felix nodded, and glanced at his companion with a smile.
"I am not what you call a fraud altogether," he said. "I am juniorsecretary to Prince Lobenski. You, I think, are not a politician, areyou?"
Wolfenden shook his head.
"I take no interest in politics," he said. "I shall probably have to sitin the House of Lords some day, but I shall be sorry indeed when thetime comes."
Felix sighed, and was silent for a moment.
"You are perhaps fortunate," he said. "The ways of the politician arenot exactly rose-strewn. You represent a class which in my country doesnot exist. There we are all either in the army, or interested instatecraft. Perhaps the secure position of your country does not requiresuch ardent service?"
"You are--of what nationality, may I ask?" Wolfenden inquired.
Felix hesitated.
"Perhaps," he said, "you had better not know. The less you know of methe better. The time may come when it will be to your benefit to beignorant."
Wolfenden took no pains to hide his incredulity.
"It is easy to see that you are a stranger in this country," heremarked. "We are not in Russia or in South America. I can assure youthat we scarcely know the meaning of the word 'intrigue' here. We arethe most matter-of-fact and perhaps the most commonplace nation in theworld. You will find it out for yourself in time. Whilst you are with usyou must perforce fall to our level."
"I, too, must become commonplace," Felix said, smiling. "Is that whatyou mean?"
"In a certain sense, yes," Wolfenden answered. "You will not be able tohelp it. It will be the natural result of your environment. In your owncountry, wherever that may be, I can imagine that you might be a personjealously watched by the police; your comings and goings made a noteof; your intrigues--I take it for granted that you are concerned insome--the object of the most jealous and unceasing suspicion. Here thereis nothing of that. You could not intrigue if you wanted to. There isnothing to intrigue about."
They were crossing a crowded thoroughfare, and Felix did not reply untilthey were safe on the opposite pavement. Then he took Wolfenden's arm,and, leaning over, almost whispered in his ear--
"You speak," he said, "what nine-tenths of your countrymen believe. Yetyou are wrong. Wherever there are international questions which bringgreat powers such as yours into antagonism, or the reverse, with othergreat countries, the soil is laid ready for intrigue, and the seed isnever long wanted. Yes; I know that, to all appearance, you are thesmuggest and most respectable nation ever evolved in this world'shistory. Yet if you tell me that your's is a nation free from intrigue,I correct you; you are wrong, you do not know--that is all! That veryman, whose life last night you so inopportunely saved, is at this momentdeeply involved in an intrigue against your country."
"Mr. Sabin!" Wolfenden exclaimed.
"Yes, Mr. Sabin! Mind, I know this by chance only. I am not concernedone way or the other. My quarrel with him is a private one. I am robbedfor the present of my vengeance by a power to which I am forced to yieldimplicit obedience. So, for the present, I have forgotten that he is myenemy. He is safe from me, yet if last night I had struck home, I shouldhave ridded your country of a great and menacing danger. Perhaps--whocan tell--he is a man who succeeds--I might even have saved England fromconquest and ruin."
They had reached the top of Piccadilly, and downward towards thePark flowed the great afternoon stream of foot-people and carriages.Wolfenden, on whom his companion's words, charged as they were withan almost passionate earnestness, could scarcely fail to leave someimpression, was silent for a moment.
"Do you really believe," he said, "that ours is a country which couldpossibly stand in any such danger? We are outside all Continentalalliances! We are pledged to support neither the dual or the triplealliance. How could we possibly become embroiled?"
"I will tell you one thing which you may not readily believe," Felixsaid. "There is no country in the world so hated by all the great powersas England."
Wolfenden shrugged his shoulders.
"Russia," he remarked, "is perhaps jealous of our hold on Asia, but----"
"Russia," Felix interrupted, "of all the countries in the world, exceptperhaps Italy, is the most friendly disposed towards you."
Wolfenden laughed.
"Come," he said, "you forget Germany."
"Germany!" Felix exclaimed scornfully. "Believe it or not as you choose,but Germany detests you. I will tell you a thing which you can think ofwhen you are an old man, and there are great changes and events for youto l
ook back upon. A war between Germany and England is only a matterof time--of a few short years, perhaps even months. In the Cabinet atBerlin a war with you to-day would be more popular than a war withFrance."
"You take my breath away," Wolfenden exclaimed, laughing.
Felix was very much in earnest.
"In the little world of diplomacy," he said, "in the innermost councilsthese things are known. The outside public knows nothing of the awfulresponsibilities of those who govern. Two, at least, of your ministershave realised the position. You read this morning in the papers of morewarships and strengthened fortifications--already there have beenwhispers of the conscription. It is not against Russia or against Francethat you are slowly arming yourselves, it is against Germany!"
"Germany would be mad to fight us," Wolfenden declared.
"Under certain conditions," Felix said slowly. "Don't be angry--Germanymust beat you."
Wolfenden, looking across the street, saw Harcutt on the steps of hisclub, and beckoned to him.
"There is Harcutt," he exclaimed, pointing him out to Felix. "He is ajournalist, you know, and in search of a sensation. Let us hear what hehas to say about these things."
But Felix unlinked his arm from Wolfenden's hastily.
"You must excuse me," he said. "Harcutt would recognise me, and I do notwish to be pointed out everywhere as a would-be assassin. Remember whatI have said, and avoid Sabin and his parasites as you would the devil."
Felix hurried away. Wolfenden remained for a moment standing in themiddle of the pavement looking blankly along Piccadilly. Harcutt crossedover to him.
"You look," he remarked to Wolfenden, "like a man who needs a drink."
Wolfenden turned with him into the club.
"I believe that I do," he said. "I have had rather an eventful hour."