“You don’t mean that—”
Dorward wiped his forehead and interrupted.
“It’s the most amazing thing that ever happened,” he declared, “but I’ve got it here in my pocket, got it in black and white, in the Chancellor’s own handwriting.”
“Got what?”
“Why, what you and I, an hour ago, would have given a million for,” Dorward replied.
Bellamy’s expression was one of blank but wondering incredulity.
“You can’t mean this, Dorward!” he exclaimed. “You may have something—just what the Chancellor wants you to print. You’re not supposing for an instant that you’ve got the whole truth?”
Dorward’s smile was the smile of certainty, his face that of a conqueror.
“Here in my pocket,” he declared, striking his chest, “in the Chancellor’s own handwriting. I tell you I’ve got the original verbatim copy of everything that passed and was resolved upon this afternoon between the Czar of Russia, the Emperor of Austria and the Emperor of Germany. I’ve got it word for word as the Chancellor took it down. I’ve got their decision. I’ve got their several undertakings.”
Bellamy for a moment was stricken dumb. He looked toward the door and back into his friend’s face aglow with triumph. Then his power of speech returned.
“Do you mean to say that you stole it?”
Dorward struck the table with his fist.
“Not I! I tell you that the Chancellor gave it to me, gave it to me with his own hands, willingly,—pressed it upon me. No, don’t scoff!” he went on quickly. “Listen! This is a genuine thing. The Chancellor’s mad. He was lying in a fit when I left the Palace. It will be in all the evening papers. You will hear the boys shouting it in the streets within a few minutes. Don’t interrupt and I’ll tell you the whole truth. You can believe me or not, as you like. It makes no odds. I arrived punctually and was shown up into the anteroom. Even from there I could hear loud voices in the inner chamber and I knew that something was up. Presently a little fellow came out to me—a dark-bearded chap with gold-rimmed glasses. He was very polite, introduced himself as the Chancellor’s physician, regretted exceedingly that the Chancellor was unwell and could see no one,—the excitement and hard work of the last few days had knocked him out. Well, I stood there arguing as pleasantly as I could about it, and then all of a sudden the door of the inner room was thrown open. The Chancellor himself stood on the threshold. There was no doubt about his being ill; his face was as pale as parchment, his eyes were simply wild, and his hair was all ruffled as though he had been standing upon his head. He began to talk to the physician in German. I didn’t understand him until he began to swear,—then it was wonderful! In the end he brushed them all away and, taking me by the arm, led me right into the inner room. For a long time he went on jabbering away half to himself, and I was wondering how on earth to bring the conversation round to the things I wanted to know about. Then, all of a sudden, he turned to me and seemed to remember who I was and what I wanted. ‘Ah!’ he said, ‘you are Dorward, the American journalist. I remember you now. Lock the door.’ I obeyed him pretty quick, for I had noticed they were mighty uneasy outside, and I was afraid they’d be disturbing us every moment. ‘Come and sit down,’ he ordered. I did so at once. ‘You’re a sensible fellow,’ he declared. ‘To-day every one is worrying me. They think that I am not well. It is foolish. I am quite well. Who would not be well on such a day as this?’ I told him that I had never seen him looking better in my life, and he nodded and seemed pleased. ‘You have come to hear the truth about the meeting of my master with the Czar and the Emperor of Germany?’ he asked. ‘That’s so,’ I told him. ‘America’s more than a little interested in these things, and I want to know what to tell her.’ Then he leaned across the table. ‘My young friend,’ he said, ‘I like you. You are straightforward. You speak plainly and you do not worry me. It is good. You shall tell your country what it is that we have planned, what the things are that are coming. Yours is a great and wise country. When they know the truth, they will remember that Europe is a long way off and that the things which happen there are really no concern of theirs.’ ‘You are right,’ I assured him,—‘dead right. Treat us openly, that’s all we ask.’ ‘Shall I not do that, my young friend?’ he answered. ‘Now look, I give you this.’ He fumbled through all his pockets and at last he drew out a long envelope, sealed at both ends with black sealing wax on which was printed a coat of arms with two tigers facing each other. He looked toward the door cautiously, and there was just that gleam in his eyes which madmen always have. ‘Here it is,’ he whispered, ‘written with my own hand. This will tell you exactly what passed this afternoon. It will tell you our plans. It will tell you of the share which my master and the other two are taking. Button it up safely,’ he said, ‘and, whatever you do, do not let them know outside that you have got it. Between you and me,’ he went on, leaning across the table, ‘something seems to have happened to them all to-day. There’s my old doctor there. He is worrying all the time, but he himself is not well. I can see it whenever he comes near me.’ I nodded as though I understood and the Chancellor tapped his forehead and grinned. Then I got up as casually as I could, for I was terribly afraid that he wouldn’t let me go. We shook hands, and I tell you his fingers were like pieces of burning coal. Just as I was moving, some one knocked at the door. Then he began to storm again, kicked his chair over, threw a paperweight at the window, and talked such nonsense that I couldn’t follow him. I unlocked the door myself and found the doctor there. I contrived to look as frightened as possible. ‘His Highness is not well enough to talk to me,’ I whispered. ‘You had better look after him.’ I heard a shout behind and a heavy fall. Then I closed the door and slipped away as quietly as I could—and here I am.”
Bellamy drew a long breath.
“My God, but this is wonderful!” he muttered. “How long is it since you left the Palace?”
“About ten minutes or a quarter of an hour,” Dorward answered.
“They’ll find it out at once,” declared the other. “They’ll miss the paper. Perhaps he’ll tell them himself that he has given it to you. Don’t let us run any risks, Dorward. Tear it open. Let us know the truth, at any rate. If you have to part with the document, we can remember its contents. Out with it, man, quick! They may be here at any moment.”
Dorward drew a few steps back. Then he shook his head.
“I guess not,” he said firmly.
Bellamy regarded his friend in blank and uncomprehending amazement.
“What do you mean?” he exclaimed. “You’re not going to keep it to yourself? You know what it means to me—to England?”
“Your old country can look after herself pretty well,” Dorward declared. “Anyhow, she’ll have to take her chance. I am not here as a philanthropist. I am an American journalist, and I’ll part to nobody with the biggest thing that’s ever come into any man’s bands.”
Bellamy, with a tremendous effort, maintained his self-control.
“What are you going to do with it?” he asked quickly. “I tell you I’m off out of the country to-night,” Dorward declared. “I shall head for England. Pearce is there himself, and I tell you it will be just the greatest day of my life when I put this packet in his hand. We’ll make New York hum, I can promise you, and Europe too.”
Bellamy’s manner was perfectly quiet—too quiet to be altogether natural. His hand was straying towards his pocket.
“Dorward,” he said, speaking rapidly, and keeping his back to the door, “you don’t realize what you’re up against. This sort of thing is new to you. You haven’t a dog’s chance of leaving Vienna alive with that in your pocket. If you trust yourself in the Orient Express to-night, you’ll never be allowed to cross the frontier. By this time they know that the packet is missing; they know, too, that you are the only man who could have it, whether the Chancellor has told them the truth or not. Open it at once so that we get some good out of it. Then we’ll go round to
the Embassy. We can slip out by the back way, perhaps. Remember I have spent my life in the service, and I tell you that there’s no other place in the city where your life is worth a snap of the fingers but at your Embassy or mine. Open the packet, man.”
“I think not,” Dorward answered firmly. “I am an American citizen. I have broken no laws and done no one any harm. If there’s any slaughtering about, I guess they’ll hesitate before they begin with Arthur Dorward…. Don’t be a fool, man!”
He took a quick step backward,—he was looking into the muzzle of Bellamy’s revolver.
“Dorward,” the latter exclaimed, “I can’t help it! Yours is only a personal ambition—I stand for my country. Share the knowledge of that packet with me or I shall shoot.”
“Then shoot and be d—d to you!” Dorward declared fiercely. “This is my show, not yours. You and your country can go to—”
He broke off without finishing his sentence. There was a thunderous knocking at the door. The two men looked at one another for a moment, speechless. Then Bellamy, with a smothered oath, replaced the revolver in his pocket.
“You’ve thrown away our chance,” he said bitterly.
The knocking was repeated. When Bellamy with a shrug of the shoulders answered the summons, three men in plain clothes entered. They saluted Bellamy, but their eyes were traveling around the room.
“We are seeking Herr Dorward, the American journalist!” one exclaimed. “He was here but a moment ago.”
Bellamy pointed to the inner door. He had had too much experience in such matters to attempt any prevarication. The three men crossed the room quickly and Bellamy followed in the rear. He heard a cry of disappointment from the foremost as he opened the door. The inner room was empty!
III. “OURS IS A STRANGE COURTSHIP”
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Louise looked up eagerly as he entered.
“There is news!” she exclaimed. “I can see it in your face.”
“Yes,” Bellamy answered, “there is news! That is why I have come. Where can we talk?”
She rose to her feet. Before them the open French windows led on to a smooth green lawn. She took his arm.
“Come outside with me,” she said. “I am shut up here because I will not see the doctors whom they send, or any one from the Opera House. An envoy from the Palace has been and I have sent him away.”
“You mean to keep your word, then?”
“Have I ever broken it? Never again will I sing in this City. It is so.”
Bellamy looked around. The garden of the villa was enclosed by high gray stone walls. They were secure here, at least, from eavesdroppers. She rested her fingers lightly upon his arm, holding up the skirts of her loose gown with her other hand.
“I have spoken to you,” he said, “of Dorward, the American journalist.”
She nodded.
“Of course,” she assented. “You told me that the Chancellor had promised him an interview for to-day.”
“Well, he went to the Palace and the Chancellor saw him.”.
She looked at him with upraised eyebrows.
“The newspapers are full of lies as usual, then, I suppose. The latest telegrams say that the Chancellor is dangerously ill.”
“It is quite true,” Bellamy declared. “What I am going to tell you is surprising, but I had it from Dorward himself. When he reached the Palace, the Chancellor was practically insane. His doctors were trying to persuade him to go to his room and lie down, but he heard Dorward’s voice and insisted upon seeing him. The man was mad—on the verge of a collapse—and he handed over to Dorward his notes, and a verbatim report of all that passed at the Palace this morning.”
She looked at him incredulously.
“My dear David!” she exclaimed.
“It is amazing,” he admitted, “but it is the truth. I know it for a fact. The man was absolutely beside himself, he had no idea what he was doing.”
“Where is it?” she asked quickly. “You have seen it?”
“Dorward would not give it up,” he said bitterly. “While we argued in our sitting-room at the hotel the police arrived. Dorward escaped through the bedroom and down the service stairs. He spoke of trying to catch the Orient Express to-night, but I doubt if they will ever let him leave the city.”
“It is wonderful, this,” she murmured softly. “What are you going to do?”
“Louise, you and I have few secrets from each other. I would have killed Dorward to obtain that sealed envelope, because I believe that the knowledge of its contents in London to-day would save us from disaster. To know how far each is pledged, and from which direction the first blow is to come, would be our salvation.”
“I cannot understand,” she said, “why he should have refused to share his knowledge with you. He is an American—it is almost the same thing as being an Englishman. And you are friends,—I am sure that you have helped him often.”
“It was a matter of vanity—simply cursed vanity,” Bellamy answered. “It would have been the greatest journalistic success of modern times for him to have printed that document, word for word, in his paper. He fights for his own hand alone.”
“And you?” she whispered.
“He will have to reckon with me,” Bellamy declared. “I know that he is going to try and leave Vienna to-night, and if he does I shall be at his heels.”
She nodded her head thoughtfully.
“I, too,” she announced. “I come with you, my friend. I do no more good here, and they worry my life out all the time. I come to sing in London at Covent Garden. I have agreements there which only await my signature. We will go together; is it not so?”
“Very well,” he answered, “only remember that my movements must depend very largely upon Dorward’s. The train leaves at eight o’clock, station time. I have already a coupe reserved.”
“I come with you,” she murmured. “I am very weary of this city.”
They walked on for a few paces in silence. Bellamy looked around the gardens, brilliant with flowering shrubs and rose trees, with here and there some delicate piece of statuary half-hidden amongst the wealth of foliage. The villa had once belonged to a royal favorite, and the grounds had been its chief glory. They reached a sheltered seat and sat down. A few yards away a tiny waterfall came tumbling over the rocks into a deep pool. They were hidden from the windows of the villa by the boughs of a drooping chestnut tree. Bellamy stooped and kissed her upon the lips.
“Ours is a strange courtship, Louise,” he whispered softly.
She took his hand in hers and smoothed it. She had returned his kiss, but she drew a little further away from him.
“Ah! my dear friend,” looking at him with sorrow in her eyes, “courtship is scarcely the word, is it? For you and me there is nothing to hope for, nothing beyond.”
He leaned towards her.
“Never believe that,” he begged. “These days are dark enough, Heaven knows, yet the work of every one has its goal. Even our turn may come.”
Something flickered for a moment in her face, something which seemed to make a different woman of her. Bellamy saw it, and hardened though he was he felt the slow stirring of his own pulses. He kissed her hand passionately and she shivered.
“We must not talk of these things,” she said. “We must not think of them. At least our friendship has been wonderful. Now I must go in. I must tell my maid and arrange to steal away to-night.”
They stood up, and he held her in his arms for a moment. Though her lips met his freely enough, he was very conscious of the reserve with which she yielded herself to him, conscious of it and thankful, too. They walked up the path together, and as they went she plucked a red rose and thrust it through his buttonhole.
“If we had no dreams,” she said softly, “life would not be possible. Perhaps some day even we may pluck roses together.”
He raised her fingers to his lips. It was not often that they lapsed into sentiment. When she spoke again it was finished.
“You had better leave,” she told him, “by the garden gate. There are the usual crowd in my anteroom, and it is well that you and I are not seen too much together.”
“Till this evening,” he whispered, as he turned away. “I shall be at the station early. If Dorward is taken, I shall still leave Vienna. If he goes, it may be an eventful journey.”
IV. THE NIGHT TRAIN FROM VIENNA
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Dorwood, whistling softly to himself, sat in a corner of his coupe rolling innumerable cigarettes. He was a man of unbounded courage and wonderful resource, but with a slightly exaggerated idea as to the sanctity of an American citizen. He had served his apprenticeship in his own country, and his name had become a household word owing to his brilliant success as war correspondent in the Russo-Japanese War. His experience of European countries, however, was limited. After the more obvious dangers with which he had grappled and which he had overcome during his adventurous career, he was disposed to be a little contemptuous of the subtler perils at which his friend Bellamy had plainly hinted. He had made his escape from the hotel without any very serious difficulty, and since that time, although he had taken no particular precautions, he had remained unmolested. From his own point of view, therefore, it was perhaps only reasonable that he should no longer have any misgiving as to his personal safety. ARREST as a thief was the worst which he had feared. Even that he seemed now to have evaded.
The coupe was exceedingly comfortable and, after all, he had had a somewhat exciting day. He lit a cigarette and stretched himself out with a murmur of immense satisfaction. He was close upon the great triumph of his life. He was perfectly content to lie there and look out upon the flying landscape, upon which the shadows were now fast descending. He was safe, absolutely safe, he assured himself. Nevertheless, when the door of his coupe was opened, he started almost like a guilty man. The relief in his face as he recognized his visitor was obvious. It was Bellamy who entered and dropped into a seat by his side.
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