by T E Kinsey
‘Not inconvenient at all, my dear inspector. It turns out that my brother has a telephone all of his very own.’
‘How the other half lives, eh, my lady? I contacted Constable Hancock as soon as I received your telegram the day before yesterday. He said you left in something of a hurry.’
‘There was an element of haste, yes Inspector.’
‘I do wish you’d just come straight to me, my lady. But no matter. Hancock kept me informed. It seems that a tall, fair-haired gentleman in what Hancock described as “foreign-looking clothes” was seen snooping around your house late that first afternoon.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Lady Hardcastle. ‘I do hope no one gave him cause to harm them.’
‘No, my lady. He was discreetly observed and left to go about his business unmolested. When he had satisfied himself that there was no one home, he went to the pub and made enquiries about you, saying that he was an old friend of yours from London who just happened to be in the area. According to the landlord there...’
‘Joe Arnold,’ suggested Lady Hardcastle.
‘That’s the chap. He said the gentleman had a peculiar accent, but he couldn’t place it. But apparently that meant that he didn’t trust this fellow at all and with the admirable tightlippedness of village folk, spoke to him at length while revealing absolutely nothing of any use.’
‘What an absolute darling,’ said Lady Hardcastle.
‘Quite so, my lady. It seems you’ve made quite a favourable impression in your little village. The foreign fellow paid for a room for the night and then left early in the morning after a hearty breakfast. Hancock says he hung round your place for a while and then set off around noon in the direction of Chipping Bevington, at which point Hancock telephoned me to let me know he might be coming my way. I put a couple of boys on Temple Meads station and sure enough he got off a local train and went to the London-bound platform.’
‘So he’s already back in London?’ asked Lady Hardcastle.
‘He is, my lady. My lads saw him get on the London train at four-fifteen. but not before he’d had a long conversation with two men in dark suits he met in the buffet.’
‘Two men?’
‘Two men. They chatted earnestly for about twenty minutes but my lads couldn’t get close enough to hear what was said.’
‘That’s a shame,’ said Lady Hardcastle. ‘I should very much like to know what passed between them.’
‘I thought you might, my lady,’ said the inspector. ‘And so did my lads. Which is why they pinched the two blokes in question as soon as chummy had left on the London Express.’
‘Gracious me,’ she said. ‘That was bold.’
‘Bold, my lady, and as it turns out, not as helpful as I should have hoped. In some ways, at least. In other ways, very informative indeed.’
‘How so?’
‘The two men said nothing to my boys. They were brought down to the station where they continued to say nothing. I’d left them in the cells for a while, let them cool off, see if they might be a bit more talkative if they thought they might be staying a while, when I get summoned into my governor’s office. He didn’t look best pleased. A little rattled, in fact. And he says I’m to release the two men immediately. Obviously I asked why, and he just said, “Because I said so, Inspector.”’
‘Well, well, well,’ said Lady Hardcastle. ‘Most instructive. Is all well with you, Inspector? Are there any repercussions?’
‘None for me, my lady. I shut my mouth and did as I was told. But please be careful. I don’t know what you’re involved in – though there’s some talk, and I can draw my own conclusions pretty well – but this blond chap isn’t working alone and he seems to have friends who have powerful friends.’
‘Thank you, Inspector. I’ll not forget your help. Keep yourself safe and I shall tell all when we return. Or as much as I can, at any rate. Goodbye for now.’
‘Cheerio, my lady.’
More clicks and pops and the line went dead.
‘Bother,’ she said. ‘Harry! We have problems.’
We went back into Harry’s small drawing room and Lady Hardcastle recounted the conversation with succinct precision.
‘The problem with you cloak-and-dagger types,’ he said when she had finished, ‘is that you always find yourselves mixed up with other cloak and dagger types. We don’t get chased around the country by dead foreigners in the FO. It’s all very grown up and civilized.’
‘The foreigners I can deal with for the most part,’ said Lady Hardcastle. ‘But those two that Sunderland picked up weren’t foreign. And they weren’t released on the say-so of a weary desk sergeant who can’t be bothered with all the paperwork. Someone ordered their release. Someone high up.’
‘I know, Sis, I know. That’s the trouble with you cloak-and-dagger types, you’re always dragging your nearest and dearest into your murky world with you.’ He paused, realizing what he had just said. ‘Oh, Emily, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…’
She put her hand on his arm. ‘Don’t worry, darling, I know.’
I had accepted Lady Hardcastle’s offer of a life of espionage without a moment’s hesitation. My training had begun almost as quickly, and she spent many hours patiently passing on her knowledge of the mysterious arts. She had already supplemented her own meagre training with several years of field experience and I was given the full benefit of her hard-won skills long before her methods found their way into the official training guides (which they assuredly did).
The next few years in China provided many tales to tell, and one day I promise I shall make an effort to share those that are not still classified as Top Secret. But for now, the story that concerns us takes place some four years later in 1899.
The Hardcastles had become something of a fixture in the social life of the British Settlement in Shanghai. They were still young and beautiful, and with Sir Roderick’s stellar career in the diplomatic service and his wife’s charm and grace as both hostess and guest, their company was sought by senior officials from Britain, France, America, China and even Germany. No one suspected their true motives for such far-reaching social connections and simply accepted them as delightful young people who were fun to be with. In the stuffy world of international business and diplomacy they were a breath of the freshest possible air.
The previous year had been a pivotal one in the history of China, with formal treaties establishing a Western presence along the coast, including the Germans in Tsingtao and the British in Hong Kong. Elsewhere in the world, Imperial Germany was beginning to flex its industrial and military muscles and the other Great Powers were more eager than ever for information about their activities.
With that aim in mind, Sir Roderick and Lady Hardcastle had been dispatched northwards to Tsingtao, ostensibly as representatives of Her Britannic Majesty’s Government to wish the new German port continuing good fortune, but also, of course, to gather whatever information they could while they were there. There was a rumour that the German Navy was testing a new vessel out there on the western edge of the Pacific, far from the prying eyes of their European neighbours, and their European neighbours were devilishly keen to find out what it was.
The trip was an uncomplicated one for the Hardcastles and they fell into a practised routine. Together they attended parties and balls, meeting the great, the good and the eager to impress. A few days into the visit, Sir Roderick would manoeuvre himself into being invited to a card game, a billiards evening or some other men-only activity and his wife, pleading a headache or some other non-specific malady, would regretfully decline the corresponding ladies-only event and take to her bed.
Once the evening was well under way, she and I would slip out and engage in some thoroughly improper snooping. It was ordinarily quite difficult for us to go unnoticed in China, but at night time, with a little makeup and our Chinese garb, we could pass casual scrutiny. From a distance. In the shadows. As long as nobody looked too closely.
And so on this trip, while S
ir Roderick was gambling with the gentlemen, Lady Hardcastle and I were tasked with exploring the docks in order to try to find out just exactly what the Kaiser’s navy was up to.
Fortunately the docks and the naval yard were full of activity even at night and we managed to get close enough to the secret pens over the course of the long night to see exactly what we had been sent to see.
I had heard about submarines, of course, and now they are all too familiar, but to see an early prototype then, dark, sinister, and clearly designed for no other purpose than to kill, was rather unnerving.
Hiding in the shadows, further concealed between wooden crates and metal drums, Lady Hardcastle made sketches of the sinister vessel while I made notes about the personnel and equipment we had seen. A few hours before dawn we had left as quietly as we had come, and made our way back to the Residence.
Nothing had happened, nothing had gone wrong. It had all been a thoroughly ordinary and successful reconnaissance and we were back in our rooms before the servants stirred.
No, whatever it was that went horribly wrong happened later.
We compiled a thorough report from our joint recollections, Lady Hardcastle’s sketches and my copious notes and sealed them in the usual way for dispatch to London in the diplomatic bag. A brief précis was encrypted and sent by telegram and our work in Tsingtao was done.
Two days later, we set off once more for Shanghai and we were soon back in our regular routine. Things in China were becoming increasingly unsettled and the Boxer Rebellion was bringing danger from the countryside into the cities on the coast, but we were safe for the time being and we tried to continue as normal.
We had been back for two weeks and Sir Roderick was at the office as usual while Lady Hardcastle lunched with a friend. The friend in question always took her own lady’s maid and so we were able to sit and gossip together while our mistresses sat at a separate table.
With luncheon over, we made our way back to the house. I didn’t know at first why I felt so sure that something was amiss, but as we approached the front door, I knew that it was. Lady Hardcastle clearly felt it, too, and as she went to unlatch the door, we both saw at once that it had been forced.
With a finger to her lips, Lady Hardcastle gently pushed the door open and stepped silently into the hall. The Chinese maid was lying on the floor, a trickle of blood from her temple forming a tiny, shocking pool of crimson on the otherwise pristine tiles. I knelt close and found that she was still breathing, but clearly deeply unconscious.
Lady Hardcastle crossed stealthily to the hall table and slid open the well-waxed drawer. She drew out the revolver that was stored there “just in case” and motioned for me to follow her.
Now that the initial shock had passed, I became more aware of things beyond the hall and I could hear voices coming from Sir Roderick’s study. We approached as quietly as we were able and listened at the door.
‘…tolerate your spying any longer, Hardcastle,’ said a voice with a heavy German accent.
‘I’m sure I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about, Herr Ehrlichmann. I am a representative of Her Majesty’s government here in China. The very suggestion that I have been involved in “spying” is impertinent in the extreme. I should go so far as to say that it is slanderous.’
‘I would find your indignant denials much more convincing and much less amusing had we not intercepted your report. We know you were in our naval dockyard, “Diamond Rook”. Not the most impenetrable of code-names.’
‘And where was this supposed “report”, Herr Ehrlichmann?’
‘In the diplomatic bag, exactly where you put it.’
‘You expect me to believe that you intercept and search diplomatic bags now?’
‘To be honest with you, Hardcastle, I don’t care what you believe. Nor what you’re currently planning to report to your masters. I’m here to kill you. You’ve been a… what is the expression you use…? A “thorn in our side”? Yes, you’ve been a thorn in our side for far too long. It is time we plucked you out.’
‘Now, look here…’
Somehow, the quietness of the gunshot made it all the more shocking. It was followed by the sound of a body slumping to the floor, knocking something off the desk as it fell.
The door was pulled open sharply and Ehrlichmann burst out, stopping almost comically in his tracks as he was confronted by Lady Hardcastle who was levelling a revolver at his chest. His own weapon, a small, easily concealed, single-shot pistol, hung uselessly at his side.
Ehrlichmann smirked. ‘Ah, the lady wife. And with a gun. How charming. Get out of the way, you stupid woman.’
Calmly, and without taking her eyes from his, Lady Hardcastle pulled back the revolver’s hammer with her thumb. Unnecessary on a gun of that sort, but surprisingly threatening for such a tiny movement.
‘I think,’ she said, coldly, ‘that you might have made one or two mistakes.’
He laughed. ‘I don’t think so, your ladyship. I am not the sort to make mistakes. Now get out of my way and I might forget how foolish you are being. You do not, I think, wish to join your husband.’
He took a rapid step towards her, reaching for the revolver, but without flinching, she pulled the trigger and shot him in the shoulder. The shock of the bullet’s impact made him flinch away and he fell backwards against the doorframe.
‘Go and check on Roddy, please, Florence,’ she said, still covering Ehrlichmann with the revolver.
I did as I was asked and returned quickly, shaking my head. He had been shot through the eye.
‘At least two mistakes, you Teutonic nitwit,’ she said. ‘In the first place, Roddy was not a spy. I am Diamond Rook, you dunderhead. Second, you came armed only for a single shot. What kind of inept assassin are you?’
Almost too fast to see, a knife appeared in his uninjured hand and he threw it at her with a force I would scarcely have believed possible from such a position. Somehow, though, Lady Hardcastle had anticipated this move and was already stepping aside, even as the knife left his hand.
‘Third, you allowed yourself to be goaded into disarming yourself. If you’re the best weapon Imperial Germany has at its disposal, the world is safe. Fourth, you killed my darling husband.’
Ehrlichmann was still defiant. ‘And why was that kartoffelkopf’s death a mistake?’
‘Because of mistake number five. For reasons I can’t fathom, you still don’t actually believe that I’m about to kill you.’
He did, indeed, look genuinely shocked as she pulled the trigger again and ended his life.
‘See to Mrs Lee, would you, dear,’ she said as calmly as though nothing had happened. ‘It looks as though she’s taken a knock to the head.’
I did as I was bidden and slowly brought the terrified Mrs Lee round. I bandaged her head and offered her brandy while Lady Hardcastle called the consulate. Or tried to.
She returned as Mrs Lee was trying to apologize for letting Ehrlichmann in. We both told her not to be so silly and that no blame could possibly attach to her. Lady Hardcastle had more pressing concerns.
‘I managed to speak to the duty officer,’ she said. ‘But not for long. The consulate is under attack and he said we should get out of the city as fast as we can. “Take a boat to anywhere,” were his exact words. Then we were cut off.’
‘Under attack, my lady?’ I said.
‘It seems a local group of Boxer rebels has taken it upon itself to attack European targets in Shanghai. No Westerner is safe and we are to flee as fast as possible.’
Our first concern was that Mrs Lee be able to get home from the British Settlement unmolested. We had no idea whether there would be consequences for locals who were working for Europeans, but it seemed a possibility. Lady Hardcastle gave her a month’s wages and sent her on her way. Mrs Lee protested, but the look in Lady Hardcastle’s eye convinced her that things were serious and she eventually left with promises to return to work as soon as things were calm again.
; And then we, too, fled. We changed into practical travelling clothes, packed a few essentials and set off for the docks.
It didn’t strike me at the time, but Lady Hardcastle didn’t grieve. Not then anyway. There was much to be done and the safety of others (even though it was only me and Mrs Lee) to consider. She just seemed to push the grief to one side while she got on with more pressing matters. It came out eventually, of course, and nearly destroyed her, but for now there was no sign that she had lost the love of her life.
I was devastated and frightened, but not as frightened as I was about to be – the next two days were among the most terrifying of my life. There were near riots in the streets as armed Boxers went from house to house rounding up Europeans. They were happy enough to leave the docks alone, content that we were leaving the country, but for us there were other problems. We had struggled to make contact with British representatives, the majority of whom were trapped in the Consulate, but the trouble came from the German intelligence service. Ehrlichmann’s death had been discovered and investigated when he had failed to return, and we soon learned that they had a reasonably good idea who to blame.
Whenever we tried to book ourselves a passage out of Shanghai we found ourselves dogged by German agents and eventually we came to the horrifying realization that nowhere in Shanghai was safe.
Under cover of darkness, we fled inland.
I, for one, slept uneasily knowing that the man we were all assuming was Ehrlichmann was back in London. How good was his information? Did he know Lady Hardcastle had a brother? Did he know that that’s where we’d go?
I finally gave up the unequal struggle against wakefulness and got up from my troubled dozing not long after dawn. I dressed quickly and went through to the tiny kitchen to make myself some tea.
Harry’s “housekeeper” had been in while we were out the day before and there were eggs, bacon, cheese and butter in the little larder so that I knew that by the time the milkman had been, there would be plenty for breakfast. There was almost no bread left, and it was stale anyway, but that was all right because I knew where the baker’s was now and could pop out for a fresh loaf before the others were up.