“You must find another man to act as your messenger,” I cried, “that’s all.”
My revolt against Von Treischke’s tyranny broke out after a little meal consisting of a couple of boiled eggs and a cup of strong, very strong, coffee which his nephew ordered for me at my request.
► “I see,” he said quite calmly when I ceased. “I see that you are now quite well again. Your moral is excellent. I congratulate you, my dear Monsieur Herbert of Renich. But if you will take my advice, you will think twice before you see the Admiral and let out a tirade of that sort. What I tell you is for your own good, believe me. Of course you’ll please yourself.”
“Well, I’ve thought it all out. I wish to see the Admiral at once. I have something of the highest importance to tell him.”
“That’s very fortunate,” he returned frigidly, “because I’ve just received a telephone message ordering me to take you to Goya Castle.”
“Let’s be off.... Let’s be off.”
My companion no longer recognised me. And I hardly recognised myself either. Since I had been released from my “little suit with iron jacket” I felt inconceivably lighter not only physically but mentally. True, the thought that perhaps that evening, or at latest the next day, I should have the whip hand over these people — for the veiled lady’s escape could not be long delayed — contributed in no small measure to the boldness with which I already tried to raise my tone. But in my new attitude there was also a very natural exasperation against people who had not hesitated to make me run the most fantastic and incredible dangers in order to achieve an object which might well have been attained in other and simpler ways. It was this thought that set me beside myself.
And if this were not enough, I had for some time harboured deep down within me the thought, the bitter thought, that my misfortunes were perhaps the logical and fatal consequences of the neutrality which I had assumed with such egotistical pride from the beginning of the war. It was this attitude of neutrality which had thrown me, who did not belong to either camp, successively from one to the other, thus completely involving me in the quarrels of both so that often I did not know whom I was for or whom I was against.
“You must know how to choose,” as old Peter used to say; question your conscience and your interests and declare once for all: “I am for So-and-so against So-and-so”; and when you have said it, help the former against the latter to the best of your power. In reality my personal enemy was the Scourge of Flanders and for sentimental reasons I had spared him. Would not Amalia have been more certainly and more definitely rescued by me, to her advantage, if I had used the harsher diplomacy of the rifle and laid Von Treischke low?... Thus while the Admiral’s nephew was taking me in his picket-boat to Goya Castle, I was turning over in my heated mind these thoughts which were destined to have considerable consequences, as will be seen, in the immediate future.
Once more I saw its gloomy walls, feudal towers, barred windows.... Oh, it was indeed the lair of the beast... What will he say to me? What will he require from me? Let him beware. There is a mad young man who... Let him beware....
My escort had left me, and, like a spy, was doubtless telling Von Treischke about my new state of mind, for I stood in the courtyard for a quarter of an hour in a cutting wind which struck a chill. Did they want me to catch cold in the head into the bargain? It would be the last straw! At last a man came to fetch me and took me through the archway and opened a door at the foot of the west tower.
“This must be Dolores’ old room; the veiled lady’s room,” I said to myself. “Yes, it’s the same room right enough. Heavens, what was the object?”
I was left alone in this room. I slipped to the window, and then stopped abruptly, pricking up my ears. No... I could not be mistaken. I heard the slight sound of a file on the bars. I opened the window with infinite precaution. There was a rustling in the shadow of the balcony.
“Silence,” a voice whispered, “and take care. They are in the next room with the veiled lady.”
That voice was not the voice that I expected to hear. It was not Potage’s voice. It was Gabriel’s. I partly turned round and carefully watched from this position the door by which the people in the next room must enter.
“How did you get here? What are you doing? Who brought you here?” I enquired.
“Who brought me,” Gabriel answered. “You ought to have a shrewd suspicion about that seeing that you put me up to Von Treischke’s ways. I knew that he was here. I’ve come to fetch him, that’s all. It’s very simple.”
“Very simple, and as he doesn’t go out, and you can’t get in through the door, you are trying the window. Is that the idea, Gabriel?”
“Hang it all, it looks like it!”
“But, tell me, didn’t you find anyone at the window, who had already begun the job?”
“Yes, I found a cripple here, a very nice boy called Potage who told me that he was filing through the window bars so that a veiled lady, one of Von Treischke’s victims, might escape. Now that was a lucky meeting. As I came here to deal with the gaoler, we soon reached an understanding and joined forces. If you turn round a little you can see him keeping watch in a bend of Ardan Crag.”
I looked round and I caught sight of Potage who gave me a sign of recognition.
I was alarmed at this unforeseen complication, for I was aware of Gabriel’s impulsive temper, and I feared that he might commit some imprudence which would help neither of us. I have indicated what the state of my mind was. I was ready for definite decisions. My plan had been quickly settled in my mind, as happens at crucial moments when, to one’s astonishment, one has at command unexpected lucidity and unsuspected moral resources.
“Gabriel,” I said, “if you’ll listen to me you won’t look here for Von Treischke, whom you’ll find always on the defensive and surrounded by a veritable army. Let me bring him to you outside, will you?”
“Where?”
“Wherever you like and you will be able to do with him what you like.”
“I agree.... But when?”
“At once. Von Treischke and I have business Let me manage it. Only, you must do what I tell you to do.”
“Go on.”
“Potage is in my service. Tell him to come here and finish your work, and not to trouble about anything else until he has done so. As for yourself, you must go to the Hôtel de la Promenade where I am staying and wait for me there; or rather, you must leave me word fixing the place to which you want me to bring Von Treischke. Does the scheme attract you?”
“Immensely.”
“Well, as we are agreed upon that, you clear out. Oh, one word more. You know, or perhaps you don’t know, that Dr. Mederic Eristal and the ‘ middy’ are in Vigo.”
“I know.”
“Then try to see them and tell them to keep out of the way.”
“I understand.”
“Good-bye for the present.”
“Good-bye, and may the Blessed Virgin watch over us.”
I saw him slip away from the balcony and beckon to Potage, and I closed the window. No sooner was it closed than the veiled lady came in followed by Von Treischke and Fritz von Harschfeld.
“Well, Monsieur Herbert of Renich,” said the Admiral in a tone which was half sweet and half sour, “it seems that our business hasn’t worked very well, and that you are in a sad frame of mind.”
“I see that you are in possession of the facts, Admiral,”
I returned, after bowing to the veiled lady who took a seat without saying a word, “and I take the opportunity of congratulating your nephew.”
“It seems that you have determined after this first experience to act solely upon your own judgment.”
“That is because it will be better for every one,” I replied. “I shall not concern myself with a mystery which is to me as impenetrable as that of the Holy Trinity but in which, I assure you, I haven’t the same faith. I’m not going to try anything clever on you. You are cleverer than I am and you posse
ss resources which are beyond me. But I won’t conceal from you that my feelings of humanity impel me to wish as ardently as you do, to end, at the earliest moment, the frightful situation in which we are floundering. Without calling Madame by her own name,” I bowed to the veiled lady, “since that seems to be disagreeable to you, I may tell you what you know quite well: I know who she is. I recognised her. There is not the shadow of a doubt of one thing — she is our best hope of salvation.”
I stopped for a moment to take breath. He did not interrupt me. Doubtless he was wondering what I was driving at.
“In sending me to Captain Hyx your object was simply to tell him the unhoped for news which would make him forget the past. The information might have reached him, for example, by letter which Madame could have sent through a consulate chosen by yourself. Or a note, a simple note, in the papers — newspapers are read on the ‘Vengeance’ — would have informed the Captain who would at once have arranged a meeting, thus saving us the trouble of looking for him between Mark thirteen metres seventeen and Mark six metres eighty-five where I was within an ace of meeting my death.”
“We know that.... We know that,” grunted the Admiral.
“Yes, Admiral, you know that and it is merely a secondary consideration with you. I thought so! But I ask you to believe that it is of some importance to me. Your nephew must have told you that I have had enough of walking about under water, That’s perfectly true, for there is another method of attaining the same object.”
“Out with it.... Make haste.”
“I am as quick as I can be, but we must understand each other. Therefore since Madame will not write...”
“No, Madame will not write. What then?”
“You can entrust your letter to someone who has an appointment with Captain Hyx.”
“Never!” exclaimed the Admiral, starting up. “Never! I placed the letter in your hands because I was sure of you. And instructions were set out in it that you were to bring it back with you. As to placing it in other hands... Never!” —
“Very well, that’s what I expected. In short, you are taking no risks with the written word. Scripta manent, verba volant. Writing remains, words fly. Well, as words fly, what is there to prevent you from saying privately to someone who is to meet Captain Hyx this evening what you wish conveyed to him, seeing that if your words were repeated to others you could deny them? No proof would exist that you had ever said them?”
“I see,” said Von Treischke. The suggestion gave him food for thought, and as he said “I see” I fixed him with a piercing look. I hypnotised him, for I felt that the argument was telling, and the monster was nibbling the bait which I held out to him. I was delighted, but there was need for caution. It would not do to go too fast.
“That remains to be seen,” he said at last. “Do you say that you know a person who is to meet Captain Hyx this very evening?”
“I know two,” I burst out. “First, M. Mederic Eristal, the doctor on the ‘Vengeance,’ Captain Hyx’s own doctor, who is staying at my hotel. I was talking to him last night at the very moment when you sent for me. The other man is one of the chief officers who is ashore; a man whom we call the ‘middy’ although he certainly ranks as a lieutenant.”
“I know the man you mean,” exclaimed the Admiral. “A jolly fellow whom I used to meet in Vigo. Yes, I’ve seen him at the counter of a bar at the corner of the Collegiate, the Bar de Santiago del Compestello.”
“That’s the man. He goes there very frequently when he is ashore.”
“Isn’t this bar kept by a man called Jim?”
“Yes, Jim is the owner. Well, these two men have to return to the ‘Vengeance’ this evening. I have an appointment with them at the hotel.... See them, Admiral. Speak to them. They are devoted to Captain Hyx and will faithfully repeat your words to him.”
Von Treischke stopped to think, and as he was thinking I went on:
“They told me that the position of the gnaedige frau on the ‘Vengeance’ was most critical, for since the tragedy of the ‘Lot-et-Gironde’ Captain Hyx has determined to carry out the worst reprisals.”
“I say,” he said, scratching his tiger-like moustache. “You must bring those two men here.”
I started up in my turn, for this was certainly not what I expected.
“They would never consent to come here,” I cried. “They know who you are.”
“Oh! That alters the case.... I understand.... I understand.”
He did not press his proposal. He knew full well that it would be useless to give his word of honour to these two men that no harm should come to them, and that they should return from Goya Castle safe and sound.
They would never believe him. He did not press his proposal.... And suddenly — Oh, the joy of it — the monster was caught. Steady on, keep calm. He made up his mind.
“Very well, I’ll go with you to the hotel. You must come with me, Fritz.”
No further time was wasted in words. We went out after bowing to the veiled lady who during the whole of our interview had not uttered a word. Now and again I cast an unobserved glance at her, and in spite of her veil I plainly saw that her eyes were red with weeping Poor veiled lady... another martyr! But patience. I already felt the monster wriggling at the end of my line.
We stepped into a car in the courtyard. I was seated beside Fritz. Inside was the tyrant of Flanders, the sham Von Kessel, stretching himself at full length. The gateway was opened; the gateway which had once closed on Dolores... another victim who will be avenged.
We set out at a good pace, too quickly, perhaps. But no; the route is ten times quicker by way of the beach; and Gabriel is certainly already there. And if he does not happen to be there I shall make my dear guests wait Oh, I have them. Where am I leading Von Treischke and Fritz von Harschfeld?... Where? Direct to their undoing.
It was I who had resolved upon it. I who conceived the plan and I who am carrying it into effect. Owing to me, there will soon be no Von Treischke in the world. True, I took some time to cast aside my neutrality, but now that I have done so, it cannot be denied that my first move was a master stroke!
We reached the hotel about two o’clock in the afternoon. It was an afternoon of golden sunlight, very hot for the time of the year, inviting repose and indolence. What peace and quiet in the streets! What a joy to be alive I The waters of the roadstead were never bluer; the harbour and the town never more somnolent. Where in all this was the setting for a tragedy? With what a feeling of security we stopped outside the hotel steps. I was the first to alight, and the major-domo came up.
“A letter for you, Señor.”
I at once opened it, for I recognised the doctor’s handwriting. Mederic Eristal informed me that he was waiting for me with the ‘middy’ and a friend in the Santiago del Compestello Bar, where they had foregathered after lunch. I handed the letter to Von Treischke who was delighted with the coincidence. He was rejoiced to visit the Santiago del Compestello Bar again. We entered the car once more and set out for the place.
Let no one be astonished by the readiness with which the highest personages of the Empire of Gott mit uns allow themselves to be taken to the humblest places, and sometimes to associate with persons who are received with open arms not only in the lowest classes of taprooms. I don’t say this about the doctor or the “middy” of course, but of others, less reputable, who might also be found in the Santiago del Compestello Bar, and from whom the Admiral would certainly not shrink if he considered that they were able to supply him with certain information about the enemy.... From this point of view one should read Seven Years at the Prussian, by Miss Edith Keen, and astonishment will cease, for the author relates how the ex-Kaiser’s sister, Princess Leopold, on each of her clandestine journeys to London hobnobbed with the dregs of humanity in the interests of the espionage service.
Fritz had no need to ask the way. He, too, knew it. We were soon at the corner of the Collegiate, where we read an announcement which stated that the bar ha
d been removed to Manga Street, behind the harbour.
I, of course, professed to be ignorant of the fact. I was supposed not to know more than the others.
“Mango Street,” exclaimed Von Treischke. “I say, that’s odd.” He grinned as he looked at Fritz, who turned pale. The place, doubtless, recalled painful memories to the poor fellow, for it cannot be denied that Fritz was of an essentially sentimental nature. Von Treischke saw his pallor and was greatly amused.
“I don’t mind betting that Jim has settled down in the old shop,” he said mercilessly.
“Oh, Admiral, in that case...” stammered Fritz, whose pallor had increased.
“What do you mean ‘in that case’? What a fuss about nothing. Jim was right. He must have got the shop for a mere song after the death of that poor seller of Malaga, and the accident that happened to her daughter,” he went on with a grin. “Come, come Fritz, we shall soon see. Those two dear women acted culpably against us and particularly against you, Fritz, but I know that you don’t bear them any malice, and that you willingly forgive them.... How pale you are, my dear fellow. I thought you had fully recovered your strength long ago. Now then.... Off we go.”
“Very good,” returned Fritz in a whisper, and he drove the car down the road which led through the tangle of the old streets behind the harbour to Mango Street.
Collected Works of Gaston Leroux Page 378