Green Fancy

by George Barr McCutcheon

  CHAPTER XI

  MR. SPROUSE ABANDONS LITERATURE AT AN EARLY HOUR IN THE MORNING

  After thrashing about in his bed for seven sleepless hours, Barnesarose and gloomily breakfasted alone. He was not discouraged over hisfailure to arrive at anything tangible in the shape of a plan ofaction. It was inconceivable that he should not be able in very shortorder to bring about the release of the fair guest of Green Fancy. Herealised that the conspiracy in which she appeared to be a vital linkwas far-reaching and undoubtedly pernicious in character. There was notthe slightest doubt in his mind that international affairs ofconsiderable importance were involved and that the agents operating atGreen Fancy were under definite orders.

  Mr. Sprouse came into the dining-room as he was taking his last swallowof coffee.

  "Ah, good morning," was the bland little man's greeting. "Up with thelark, I see. It is almost a nocturnal habit with me. I get up so earlythat you might say it's a nightly proceeding. I'm surprised to see youcirculating at seven o'clock, however. Mind if I sit down here and havemy eggs?" He pulled out a chair opposite Barnes and coolly sat down atthe table.

  "You can't sell me a set of Dickens at this hour of the day," saidBarnes sourly. "Besides, I've finished my breakfast. Keep your seat."He started to rise.

  "Sit down," said Sprouse quietly. Something in the man's voice andmanner struck Barnes as oddly compelling. He hesitated a second andthen resumed his seat. "I've been investigating you, Mr. Barnes," saidthe little man, unsmilingly. "Don't get sore. It may gratify you toknow that I am satisfied you are all right."

  "What do you mean, Mr.--Mr.--?" began Barnes, angrily.

  "Sprouse. There are a lot of things that you don't know, and one ofthem is that I don't sell books for a living. It's something of a sideline with me." He leaned forward. "I shall be quite frank with you,sir. I am a secret service man. Yesterday I went through your effectsupstairs, and last night I took the liberty of spying upon you, so tospeak, while you were a guest at Green Fancy."

  "The deuce you say!" cried Barnes, staring.

  "We will get right down to tacks," said Sprouse. "My government,--whichisn't yours, by the way,--sent me up here five weeks ago on a certainundertaking. I am supposed to find out what is hatching up at GreenFancy. Having satisfied myself that you are not connected with the gangup there, I cheerfully place myself in your hands, Mr. Barnes. Just amoment, please. Bring me my usual breakfast, Miss Tilly." The waitresshaving vanished in the direction of the kitchen, he resumed. "You wereat Green Fancy last night. So was I. You had an advantage over me,however, for you were on the inside and I was not."

  "Confound your impudence! I--"

  "One of my purposes in revealing myself to you, Mr. Barnes, is to warnyou to steer clear of that crowd. You may find yourself in exceedinglyhot water later on if you don't. Another purpose, and the real one, isto secure, if possible, your co-operation in beating the game up there.You can help me, and in helping me you may be instrumental in rightingone of the gravest wrongs the world has ever known. Of course, I amadvising you in one breath to avoid the crowd up there and in the nextI ask you to do nothing of the kind. If you can get into the goodgraces of--But there is no use counting on that. They are too clever.There is too much at stake. You might go there for weeks and--"

  "See here, Mr. Sprouse or whatever your name is, what do you take mefor?" demanded Barnes, assuming an injured air. "You have the mostmonumental nerve in--"

  "Save your breath, Mr. Barnes. We may just as well get together on thisthing first as last. I've told you what I am,--and almost who,--and Iknow who and what you are. You don't suppose for an instant that I,with a record for having made fewer blunders than any man in theservice, could afford to take a chance with you unless I was absolutelysure of my ground, do you? You ask me what I take you for. Well, I takeyou for a meddler who, if given a free rein, may upset the whole pot ofbeans and work an irreparable injury to an honest cause."

  "A meddler, am I? Good morning, Mr. Sprouts. I fancy--"

  "Sprouse. But the name doesn't matter. Keep your seat. You may learnsomething that will be of untold value to you. I used the word meddlerin a professional sense. You are inexperienced. You would behave like abull in a china shop. I've been working for nearly six months on a jobthat you think you can clear up in a couple of days. Fools walk inwhere angels fear to tread. You--"

  "Will you be good enough, Mr. Sprouse, to tell me just what you aretrying to get at? Come to the point. I know nothing whatever againstMr. Curtis and his friends. You assume a great deal--"

  "Excuse me, Mr. Barnes. I'll admit that you don't know anything againstthem, but you suspect a whole lot. To begin with, you suspect that twomen were shot to death because they were in wrong with some one atGreen Fancy. Now, I could tell you who those two men really were andwhy they were shot. But I sha'n't do anything of the sort,--at leastnot at present. I--"

  "You may have to tell all this to the State if I choose to go to theauthorities with the statement you have just made."

  "I expect, at the proper time, to tell it all to the State. Are youwilling to listen to what I have to say, or are you going to stay onyour high-horse and tell me to go to the devil? You interest yourselfin this affair for the sake of a little pleasurable excitement. I am init, not for fun, but because I am employed by a great Power to risk mylife whenever it is necessary. This happens to be one of the times whenit is vitally necessary. This is not child's play or school-boy romancewith me. It is business."

  Barnes was impressed. "Perhaps you will condescend to tell me who youare, Mr. Sprouse. I am very much in the dark."

  "I am a special agent,--but not a spy, sir,--of a government that isfriendly to yours. I am known in Washington. My credentials are not tobe questioned. At present it would be unwise for me to reveal the nameof my government. I dare say if I can afford to trust you, Mr. Barnes,you can afford to trust me. There is too much at stake for me to takethe slightest chance with any man. I am ready to chance you, sir, ifyou will do the same by me."

  "Well," began Barnes deliberately, "I guess you will have to take achance with me, Mr. Sprouse, for I refuse to commit myself until I knowexactly what you are up to."

  Sprouse had a pleasant word or two for Miss Tilly as she placed thebacon and eggs before him and poured his coffee.

  "Skip along now, Miss Tilly," he said. "I'm going to sell Mr. Barnes awhole library if I can keep him awake long enough."

  "I can heartily recommend the Dickens and Scott--" began Miss Tilly,but Sprouse waved her away.

  "In the first place, Mr. Barnes," said he, salting his eggs, "you havebeen thinking that I was sent down from Green Fancy to spy on you.Isn't that so?"

  "I am answering no questions, Mr. Sprouse."

  "You were wrong," said Sprouse, as if Barnes had answered in theaffirmative. "I am working on my own. You may have observed that I didnot accompany the sheriff's posse to-day. I was up in Hornville gettingthe final word from New York that you were on the level. You have adocument from the police, I hear, but I hadn't seen it. Time isprecious. I telephoned to New York. Eleven dollars and sixty cents. Youwere under suspicion until I hung up the receiver, I may say."

  "Jones has been talking to you," said Barnes. "But you said a momentago that you were up at Green Fancy last night. Not by invitation, Itake it."

  "I invited myself," said Sprouse succinctly. "Are you inclined tofavour my proposition?"

  "You haven't made one."

  "By suggestion, Mr. Barnes. It is quite impossible for me to get insidethat house. You appear to have the entree. You are working in the dark,guessing at everything. I am guessing at nothing. By combining forceswe should bring this thing to a head, and--"

  "Just a moment. You expect me to abuse the hospitality of--"

  "I shall have to speak plainly, I see." He leaned forward, fixingBarnes with a pair of steady, earnest eyes. "Six months ago a certainroyal house in Europe was despoiled of its jewels, its privy seal, itsmost precious state documents and its cha
rter. They have been traced tothe United States. I am here to recover them. That is the foundation ofmy story, Mr. Barnes. Shall I go on?"

  "Can you not start at the beginning, Mr. Sprouse? What was it that ledup to this amazing theft?"

  "Without divulging the name of the house, I will say that itssympathies have been from the outset friendly to the EntenteAllies,--especially with France. There are two branches of the rulingfamily, one in power, the other practically in exile. The state is asmall one, but its integrity is of the highest. Its sons and daughtershave married into the royal families of nearly all of the great nationsof the continent. The present--or I should say--the late ruler, for hedied on a field of battle not many months ago, had no direct heir. Hewas young and unmarried. I am not permitted to state with what army hewas fighting, nor on which front he was killed. It is only necessary tosay that his little state was gobbled up by the Teutonic Allies. Thebranch of the family mentioned as being in exile lent its support tothe cause of Germany, not for moral reasons but in the hope and withthe understanding, I am to believe, that the crown-lands would be thereward. The direct heir to the crown is a cousin of the late prince. Heis now a prisoner of war in Austria. Other members of the family areheld by the Bulgarians as prisoners of war. It is not stretching theimagination very far to picture them as already dead and out of theway. At the close of the war, if Germany is victorious, the crown willbe placed upon the head of the pretender branch. Are you following me?"

  "Yes," said Barnes, his nerves tingling. He was beginning to see agreat light.

  "Almost under the noses of the forces left by the Teutonic Allies tohold the invaded territory, the crown-jewels, charter and so forth,heretofore mentioned as they say in legal parlance, weresurreptitiously removed from the palace and spirited away by personsloyal to the ruling branch of the family. As I have stated, I amengaged in the effort to recover them."

  "It requires but little intelligence on my part to reach the conclusionthat you are employed by either the German or Austrian government, Mr.Sprouse. You are working in the interests of the usurping branch of thefamily."

  "Wrong again, Mr. Barnes,--but naturally. I am in the service of acountry violently opposed to the German cause. My country's interest inthe case is--well, you might say benevolent. The missing propertybelongs to the State from which it was taken. It represents a greatdeal in the shape of treasure, to say nothing of its importance alongother lines. To restore the legitimate branch of the family to powerafter the war, the Entente Allies must be in possession of the papersand crown-rights that these misguided enthusiasts made away with. Ofcourse, it would be possible to do it without considering the demandsof the opposing claimants, arbitrarily kicking them out, but that isn'tthe way my government does business. The persons who removed thistreasure from the state vaults believed that they were acting for thebest interests of their superiors. In a sense, they were. The onlyfault we have to find with them is that they failed to do the sensiblething by delivering their booty into the hands of one of thegovernments friendly to their cause. Instead of doing so, theysucceeded in crossing the ocean, conscientiously believing that Americawas the safest place to keep the treasure pending developments on theother side.

  "Now we come to the present situation. Some months ago a member of theaforesaid royal house arrived in this country by way of Japan. He is adistant cousin of the crown and, in a way, remotely looked upon as theheir-apparent. Later on he sequestered himself in Canada. Our agents inEurope learned but recently that while he pretends to be loyal to theruling house, he is actually scheming against it. I have been orderedto run him to earth, for there is every reason to believe that the menwho secured the treasure have been duped into regarding him as anavowed champion of the crown. We believe that if we find this man wewill, sooner or later, be able to put our hands on the missingtreasure. I have never seen the man, nor a portrait of him. A fairlyadequate description has been sent to me, however. Now, Mr. Barnes,without telling you how I have arrived at the conclusion, I am preparedto state that I believe this man to be at Green Fancy, and that in timethe loot,--to use a harsh word,--will be delivered to him there. I amhere to get it, one way or another, when that comes to pass."

  Barnes had not taken his eyes from the face of the little man duringthis recital. He was rapidly changing his opinion of Sprouse. There wassincerity in the voice and eyes of the secret agent.

  "What led you to suspect that he is at Green Fancy, Mr. Sprouse?"

  "History. It is known that this Mr. Curtis has spent a great deal oftime in the country alluded to. As a matter of fact, his son, who livedin London, had rather extensive business interests there. This son waskilled in the Balkan War several years ago. It is said that the man Iam looking for was a friend of young Curtis, who married a Miss O'Dowdin London,--the Honourable Miss O'Dowd, daughter of an Irish peer, andsister of the chap you have met at Green Fancy. The elder Curtis was aclose and intimate friend of more than one member of the royal family.Indeed, he is known to have been a welcome visitor in the home of aprominent nobleman, once high in the counsels of State. This man O'Dowdis also a friend of the man I am looking for. He went through theBalkan War with him. After that war, O'Dowd drifted to China, hoping nodoubt to take a hand in the revolution. He is that sort. Some monthsago he came to the United States. I forgot to mention that he has longconsidered this country his home, although born in Ireland. About sixweeks ago a former equerry in the royal household arrived in New York.Through him I learned that the daughter of the gentleman in whose housethe senior Mr. Curtis was a frequent guest had been in the UnitedStates since some time prior to the beginning of the war. She wasvisiting friends in the States and has been unable to return to her ownland, for reasons that must be obvious. I may as well confess that herfather was, by marriage, an uncle of the late ruler.

  "Since the invasion and overthrow of her country by the TeutonicAllies, she has been endeavouring to raise money here for the purposeof equipping and supporting the remnants of the small army that foughtso valiantly in defence of the crown. These men, a few thousand only,are at present interned in a neutral country. I leave you to guess whatwill happen if she succeeds in supplying them with arms and ammunition.Her work is being carried on with the greatest secrecy. Word of it cameto the ears of her country's minister in Paris, however, and he at oncejumped to a quick but very natural conclusion. She has been looked uponin court circles as the prospective bride of the adventurous cousin Iam hunting for. The embassy has conceived the notion that she may knowa great deal about the present whereabouts of the missing treasure. Noone accuses her of duplicity, however. On the other hand, the man inthe case is known to have pro-German sympathies. She may be loyal tothe crown, but there is a decided doubt as to his loyalty. Of course,we have no means of knowing to what extent she has confided her plansto him. We do not even know that she is aware of his presence in thiscountry. To bring the story to a close, I was instructed to keep closewatch on the man O'Dowd. The ex-attache of the court to whom I referreda moment ago set out to find the young lady in question. I tracedO'Dowd to this place. I was on the point of reporting to my superiorsthat he was in no way associated with the much-sought-aftercrown-cousin, and that Green Fancy was as free from taint as thevillage chapel, when out of a clear sky and almost under my very nosetwo men were mysteriously done away with at the very gates of theplace. In fact, so positive was I that O'Dowd was all right, that I hadstarted for Washington to send my report back home and wait forinstructions. The killing of those two men changed the aspectcompletely. You will certainly agree with me after I have explained toyou that the one known as Andrew Roon was no other than the equerry whohad undertaken to find the--young woman."

  "By Jove!" exclaimed Barnes.

  "He came up here because he had reason to believe that the--er--girlwas either at Green Fancy or was headed this way. I was back here inthirty-six hours, selling Dickens. I saw the bodies of the two men atthe county-seat, and recognised both of them, despite the fact thatthey had cut of
f their beards. Now, they could not have beenrecognised, Mr. Barnes, except by some one who had known them all hislife. And that is why I am positive that the man I am looking for is upat Green Fancy."

  Barnes drew a long breath. His mind was made up. He had decided to poolissues with the secret agent, but not until he was convinced that theresult of their co-operation would in no way inflict a hardship uponthe young woman who had appealed to him for help. He was certain thatshe was the fair propagandist described by Sprouse.

  "Is it your intention to lodge him in jail if you succeed in capturingyour man, Mr. Sprouse, and to apply for extradition papers?" he asked.

  "I can't land him in jail unless I can prove that he has the stolengoods, can I?"

  "You could implicate him in the general conspiracy."

  "That is for others to say, sir. I am only instructed to recover thetreasure."

  "And the young woman, what of her? She would, in any case, be held forexamination and--"

  "My dear sir, I may as well tell you now that she is a loyal subjectand, far from being in bad grace at court, is an object of extremesolicitude to the ambassador. Up to two months ago she was in touchwith him. From what I can gather, she has disappeared completely. Roonwas sent over here for the sole purpose of finding her and inducing herto return with him to Paris."

  "And to take the treasure with her, I suppose," said Barnes drily.

  "Naturally."

  "Well," began Barnes, introducing a harsh note into his voice, "Ishould say that if she is guilty of receiving this stolen property sheought to be punished. Jail is the place for her, Mr. Sprouse."

  Sprouse put down his coffee cup rather suddenly. A queer pallor cameinto his face. His voice was low and a trifle husky when he made reply.

  "I am sorry to hear you say that, sir."

  "Why, may I ask?"

  "Because it puts an obstacle in the way of our working together in thismatter."

  "You mean that my attitude toward her is--er--not in keeping with yourideas?"

  "You do not understand the situation. Haven't I made it plain to youthat she is innocent of any intent to do wrong?"

  "You have said so, Mr. Sprouse, but your idea of wrong and mine may notjibe."

  "There cannot be two ways of looking at it, sir," said Sprouse, after amoment. "She could do no wrong."

  Whereupon Barnes reached his hand across the table and laid it onSprouse's. His eyes were dancing.

  "That's just what I want to be sure about," he said. "It was my way offinding out your intentions concerning her."

  "What do you mean?" demanded Sprouse, staring.

  "Come with me to my room," said Barnes, suppressing his excitement. "Ithink I can tell you where she is,--and a great deal more that youought to know."

  In the little room upstairs, he told the whole story to Sprouse. Thelittle man listened without so much as a single word of interruption orinterrogation. His sharp eyes began to glisten as the story progressed,but in no other way did he reveal the slightest sign of emotion.Somewhat breathlessly Barnes came to the end.

  "And now, Mr. Sprouse, what do you make of it all?" he inquired.

  Sprouse leaned back in his chair, suddenly relaxing. "I am completelyat sea," he said, and Barnes looked at him in surprise.

  "By Jove, I thought it would all be as clear as day to you. Here isyour man and also your woman, and the travelling bag full of--"

  "Right you are," interrupted Sprouse. "That is all simple enough. But,my dear Barnes, can you tell me what Mr. Secretary Loeb's real game is?Why has he established himself so close to the Canadian line, and whythe mobilisation? I refer to his army of huskies."

  "Heirs-apparent usually have some sort of a bodyguard, don't they?"

  Sprouse was staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. He either did not hearthe remark or considered it unworthy of notice. When he finally loweredhis eyes, it was to favour Barnes with a deep, inscrutable smile.

  "I dare say the first thing for me to do is to advise the Canadianauthorities to keep a sharp lookout along the border."