‘You have had a visitor, chérie?’ he remarked.
‘I have,’ she replied. ‘Shut the door.’
He obeyed at once. From outside came the voice of the stage carpenter, the occasional rumbling of scenery, the music of the orchestra, the murmur now and then of applause. The curtain was up upon a fresh scene in the revue.
‘Mysterious?’ Anders murmured. Suddenly, even as the word passed his lips, apprehension seemed to seize him. He remained for a moment dumb and motionless. Then he, too, glanced around before he leaned towards her.
‘It is trouble?’
‘Perhaps not,’ she answered. ‘One cannot tell. A young American has been to see me. He is one of the few who would remember. We were friends in Paris nine years ago. He was a boy then, but, notwithstanding everything, he recognized me.’
‘An American,’ Anders muttered. ‘Better that than an Englishman! Well?’
‘He was serving his apprenticeship in the American Diplomatic Service in those days,’ she went on. ‘What he is doing now I do not know, except that he and the girl whom he is engaged to marry, were amongst the survivors from the Marabic. He went out of his way to pay me a visit here, just to tell me that he recognized me, and he made it plain that although he is not an Englishman, he is in sympathy with them.’
‘Did he threaten?’ Anders asked quickly.
‘No,’ she replied, ‘and yet he terrified me. He promised silence—conditionally.’
‘Conditionally? How?’
‘He left that for me to understand. I am still puzzled. He does not want to see me any more—he took pains to tell me that he was engaged to be married. Yet underneath his manner I seemed to discover a threat.’
Anders stood perfectly still for a moment. Underneath all the paint and make-up of his face, he was suddenly haggard.
‘Is it worth it, Henri?’ she faltered. ‘Why not America at once, and safety? We could get a great engagement there.’
He stood biting his nails, agitated.
‘There is this last affair to be carried through,’ he reminded her. ‘And the money—think of it! How can one live without money!’
‘Our salaries,’ she murmured.
‘Pooh! What man with my tastes could live on any salary?’
‘Is it worth while to trifle with life and death?’ she asked him bluntly. ‘It is a warning, this, Henri.’
The call-boy’s voice was suddenly heard.
‘Monsieur Anders! Monsieur Anders!’
The Frenchman turned mechanically towards the door.
‘You have destroyed my nerve,’ he muttered. ‘You have perhaps ruined my performance. Afterwards we will see.’
* * * * *
It was ‘French Night’ at Luigi’s Restaurant, a gala night even in those strenuous war days. Every table in the place was taken, and others had been wheeled in. The waiters made their way about with difficulty. Bohemia and the sycophantic scions of fashion sat arm in arm. The grimmer duties of patriotism were for a moment forgotten. Its other claims met with ample recognition. Félanie sang the ‘Marseillaise’ twice amidst a scene of wild applause. A great French actress from the legitimate stage had recited a patriotic ode. The flags on the tables had been sold for absurd sums by a sympathetic duke who should clearly have been an auctioneer. A hundred messages of sympathy, of love, of faith, were sent across the wineglasses to the country whom it was designed to honour. Back in their corner, Lavendale and Suzanne looked on curiously. Once Lavendale drank a little toast with his companion.
‘This,’ he murmured, ‘is to our fuller alliance.’ She drank with him, although she seemed a little puzzled.
‘Listen, dear,’ he went on, ‘there is just one little thing I’d like to say to you to-night. You and I have helped one another at times, but there has always been a certain reserve. I told you months ago that I was for America above all things, and America only. To-day I feel differently. I have been a witness—you and I together—of foul and brutal murder. I have seen women drowned, have heard their shrieks. America may keep the peace with Germany. It may be in the interests of the highest diplomacy that she should. As for me, I am at war with Germany. I am your ally.’
Her fingers rested upon his.
‘Then there is some good,’ she whispered, ‘which has come out of that great and abominable evil.’
‘A very small good,’ he said, ‘but it may count. Tell me, do you know who that fair, almost sandy young man is, sitting at the table with Félanie and her friends?’
‘Of course,’ she answered. ‘That is Lenwade, the great flying man.’
She dropped her voice suddenly. The young man had risen from his chair, and, in the act of passing down the room to speak to some acquaintances, paused before their table. He bowed to Suzanne and held out his hand to Lavendale. They were old acquaintances and spoke for some time on indifferent subjects.
‘What have you been doing with yourself lately?’ Lavendale inquired.
‘Not much flying,’ the other confessed. ‘I have been down giving lessons and breaking in a lot of the youngsters, but I can’t stick it myself as I used to. Plays the devil with your nerves.’
‘Rubbish!’ Lavendale laughed. ‘You haven’t a nerve in your body.’
‘Haven’t I?’ the other replied. ‘I remember the time when I could say that. I’d give anything to be at the front now if I felt equal to it, or if my doctor would let me.’
Lavendale smiled, and glanced around to be sure that his neighbours were not listening.
‘What were you doing at Ypres the week before last, then?’ he asked, dropping his voice a little.
Lenwade for a moment was silent, then he shrugged his shoulders.
‘You must have mistaken me for some one else,’ he declared. ‘Good-night!’
He took his leave a little abruptly. Lavendale watched him disappear. Then he glanced towards his companion. His face had become graver.
‘Let me put a case to you, my fellow conspirator,’ he begged.
‘I will put one to you instead,’ she replied. ‘I know for a fact that Philip Lenwade has been in France for two months, flying every day, engaged upon some special task. He denies it to us—quite properly, perhaps—but should he come to places like this, should he drink champagne so that he is compelled to hold the table while he stands? It is true that all the world knows of his infatuation for Félanie. She is safe, perhaps—a Frenchwoman and a patriot—yet there is something about it which I do not like. She and Lenwade have been whispering together half the evening, and more than once I have seen Lenwade shake his head and push her away.’
‘Supposing Félanie,’ he whispered, ‘were not a Frenchwoman at all?’
Suzanne said nothing. She waited, watching her companion with wide-open eyes. Lavendale looked down upon the tablecloth.
‘From you,’ he continued simply, ‘I have no secrets. Nine years ago I knew Félanie in Paris. She went then by the name of Adèle Goetz. She was a German.’
‘Go on.’
‘I watched her from the box to-night. At first I was oppressed, as I have been before, by some vague sense of familiarity in her gestures. Suddenly—I think it was the way she shrugged her shoulders, one higher than the other—anyhow, something brought it all back to me. That was why I left you, Suzanne. I went to her room. Her flaxen hair has become blue-black, she has altered in many ways, but I discovered that I was right.’
‘She is a German, posing as a Frenchwoman, in London to-day?’ Suzanne exclaimed. ‘Why does she run this risk?’
‘That is what I have asked myself,’ he whispered, ‘that and another question—what is her interest in Lenwade? Hush! We are talking too earnestly. That fellow Anders—they say he is really her husband—watches us. Here comes Luigi. Talk to him for a moment.’
The manager paused at their table and received their compliments on the success of the evening. When he passed on, Félanie had risen as though to go, and Lenwade was arranging her cloak around her shoulders.
Anders was still talking to some other members of the company and friends seated at the great round table in front of the orchestra. Félanie and Lenwade were half-way down the room before the others began to follow. Lavendale rose quickly to his feet.
‘Listen,’ he said, ‘I am going upstairs and shall come down again just far enough, in case I can hear anything. You go through alone and wait for me on the divan. Tell me if those two go away together, and if so, what is their destination.’
They separated at once. A few minutes later Lavendale descended from the balcony and stood just out of sight upon the stairs which led into the entrance hall. The little place was full of the hubbub of cheerful laughter. On one side, however, Félanie and Lenwade were talking earnestly. Félanie had turned suddenly round to Anders, who had just arrived.
‘Mr. Lenwade is going to drive me home,’ she announced. ‘Au revoir, all you good people!’
There was much handshaking.
‘Vive la France, madame,’ a young Englishman exclaimed fervently, as he bent over Félanie’s fingers, ‘and may you, too, live for ever!’
‘If one would paint France, madame,’ a painter murmured, ‘I would choose you for the emblematic figure.’
There were more compliments, another little burst of patriotic fervour. Some one even struck up a few bars of the ‘Marseillaise’ as Félanie and her escort disappeared. Lavendale descended the last few stairs and elbowed his way good-humouredly through the group. He took Suzanne by the arm.
‘Well?’ he whispered, as he led her towards the doorway.
‘I am not sure,’ she answered under her breath, ‘but I think they went to his rooms—number 25 Half Moon Street.’
Lavendale’s car was a few minutes delayed. He gave the man the address almost in a whisper. Behind, pushing his way out on to the pavement, was Anders. He watched Lavendale drive off with a slightly disturbed air.
‘What are you going to do?’ Suzanne asked.
‘Make a fool of myself, very likely,’ Lavendale replied. ‘I am just working out a theory, that’s all. She is going back to his rooms. Anders remains behind, content, and all the world knows that Anders, whether he is her husband or not, is in love with her and furiously jealous. You see, there must be a reason for her little expedition. She is hoping to fetch something.’
‘Where are we going?’
‘To his rooms,’ Lavendale explained. ‘Oh! don’t look startled, dear. I shall have a very good explanation to offer to Lenwade, even if I break in upon the most ordinary amour.’
They were in Half Moon Street within a few minutes. Just as Lavendale’s car slackened speed, Félanie issued from the door of number 25, and, looking neither to the right nor to the left, sprang into a waiting taxicab and drove off. Lavendale leaped out on to the pavement.
‘Follow her, Suzanne,’ he directed. ‘I hope to God she’s going straight home! If not, you must find out where she does go. I’ll come in a taxi. I must see Lenwade first.’
He whispered a direction to the chauffeur, passed through the door of number 25, rang for an automatic lift and ascended to the second, storey. Leaning over the banisters, as the lift stopped, was Lenwade. . He gazed at his visitor in amazement.
‘What the mischief are you doing here, old fellow?’ he asked thickly.
‘Whom are you looking for?’ Lavendale retorted.
‘Madame Félanie,’ the other confessed. ‘She has gone down to fetch her vanity case from the cab. Can’t think why she doesn’t come back.’
Lavendale pushed him suddenly back into his room and closed the door.
‘You idiot!’ he thundered. ‘She isn’t coming back! Now pull yourself together, do you hear? Listen to me. You’re half drunk, but I am going to tell you something that ought to sober you. That woman Félanie is a born German, and a spy. What have you given her?’
Even through the bluster of his stormy denial, Lenwade was obviously shaken.
‘What bally rot!’ he exclaimed. ‘She’s a Frenchwoman to her finger-tips. They all love her. Didn’t you hear her sing—Marseillaise? Frenchwoman to her finger—’
‘Shut up!’ Lavendale interrupted fiercely. ‘I tell you I knew her nine years ago under another name. She is a German, and it’s my belief she’s a spy, she and Anders. What have they worked on you? Out with it, man!’
Lenwade swayed on his feet. He looked back across his shoulder to a roll-top writing desk which stood open. Then he snatched up a tumbler from the table by his side, filled it with soda-water and drank it off.
‘Lavendale, you’re not in earnest!’
‘In God’s own earnest, man! Quick, if you want to repair the mischief you’ve done, tell me what you gave her?’
‘I’ve lent her my plans,’ Lenwade faltered. ‘I’ve been two months making them, up above the clouds. I’m the only real draughtsman amongst those who can keep high enough—plans of the German fortifications and the railways behind, from the coast beyond where our lines touch the French. I say, Lavendale!’
There was no Lavendale. He sprang down the stairs three at a time, out into the street and at a double into Piccadilly, where he sprang into a passing taxicab.
‘Milan! Look sharp!’ he ordered.
The man drove swiftly through the half-empty streets. With a little gasp of relief Lavendale recognized his own car waiting in the courtyard. Without a pause, however, he pushed open the swing doors of the Court and leaned over the counter towards the night; porter.
‘What is Madame Félanie’s number?’ he asked.
‘Sixty-four, sir,’ the man replied, glancing, dubiously at Lavendale. ‘Monsieur Anders is up there now, however.’
Lavendale stepped into the lift, ascended to the third floor, hurried down the dimly-lit corridor and paused outside the door of number sixty-four. He listened for a moment. Inside he could hear voices. Then he pressed the bell. There was a moment’s hesitation, then Anders’ voice speaking in French.
‘Lenwade, perhaps.’
He heard Félanie’s scornful little laugh, the flutter of her garments as she crossed the room. The door was suddenly opened and she stood there, looking out at him. She gazed at this unexpected visitor and the colour slowly faded from her cheeks and the light from her eyes. Lavendale made his way firmly across the threshold and closed the door. Félanie caught at her throat.
‘What do you want here, sir?’ Anders demanded.
Lavendale pushed them both back into the sitting-room. There was an ugly look in the man’s face, but Félanie’s courage seemed to have deserted her. She clutched at the air for a moment and sank into an easy-chair, hiding her face amongst the cushions. Lavendale’s hand fell firmly upon the loose sheets of paper strewn over the table.
‘These are what I have come for,’ he announced, collecting them and thrusting them into his pocket. ‘I presume you have had no time to make a copy?’
He glanced searchingly around the apartment. It was obvious that nothing of the sort had been attempted. Anders stole slowly back towards the writing-table, his hand was upon the knob of one of the drawers, but Lavendale suddenly gripped him by the coat collar and swung him almost off his feet.
‘Listen,’ he said coldly, ‘I know nothing of you, Anders, except that it is my belief that you are one of the vermin of the war, a spy selling his own country. The woman there was once my friend. For that reason, if you leave England on Saturday for America, this matter is finished. If either of you remain in London, or make any attempt to cross to Holland, France or any other country, between now and then, something very ugly will happen. You understand?’
Anders’ courage had failed him pitifully; Félanie, on the contrary, had recovered herself.
‘I have been a fool, perhaps,’ she confessed: ‘You were just one of the few chances against me. Very well, we go to America on Saturday.’
‘But our contract?’ Anders faltered. ‘The revue? Elaine’s success? They have doubled our salaries. London is at her feet.’
‘After S
aturday,’ Lavendale reminded her| calmly, ‘the best that can happen to you| Anders, is a bandaged forehead and twelve bullets, in the courtyard of the Tower. I will not offend your taste by suggesting—
Félanie stamped her foot and turned her shoulder contemptuously upon Anders.
‘It is finished. Monsieur Lavendale,’ she pronounced. ‘If there were any bribe in the world I could offer you—’
It was her one rather faint-hearted effort, and he laughed at the seduction in her eyes.
‘You will be watched from this moment until the steamer leaves Liverpool,’ he concluded, leaving the room and closing the door behind him.
* * * * *
In the hall he met Lenwade, waiting for the lift, incoherent still but sober. Lavendale drew him out into the courtyard, where Suzanne was still seated in the car.
‘Lenwade,’ he announced, ‘I have your plans. They are safe with me. I shall keep them until to-morrow morning. You can come to me at 17 Sackville Street at ten o’clock. Until then they will be safe.’
‘Thank God!’ the other murmured. ‘How did you manage it?’
Lavendale shook him off a little contemptuously and took his place by Suzanne’s side.
‘They leave on Saturday for Liverpool,’ he told her. ‘I hand the care of them, from now until then, over to your branch.’
She pressed his hand and drew a little closer to him.
‘My dear ally!’ she murmured.
10. THE SENTENCE OF THE COURT
Table of Contents
LAVENDALE was closeted with a Personage, and the interview to which he found himself committed came as something of a shock to him. The Personage was not in the habit of wasting his words, and he spoke succinctly and to the point.
‘To sum up, Mr. Lavendale,’ he concluded, ‘we have received direct and categorical complaints concerning you, forwarded to us through the German Ambassador in Washington. It is stated that whilst enjoying the shelter and privileges of your association with the Embassy here, you have rendered direct aid to a Branch of the French Secret Service in this country, and that you were yourself responsible for the interception of an important communication from Berlin.’
21 Greatest Spy Thrillers in One Premium Edition (Mystery & Espionage Series) Page 156