by Robert Barr
CHAPTER XI. JENNIE ELUDES AN OFFER OF MARRIAGE.
As Jennie rapidly hurried away from the office of Mr. Cadbury Taylor,there arose in her mind some agitation as to what the detective wouldthink of her sudden flight. She was convinced that, up to the moment ofleaving him so abruptly, he had not the slightest suspicion she herself,to whom he was then talking, was the person he had been searching for upand down Europe. What must he think of one who, while speaking with him,suddenly, without a word of leave-taking, disappeared as if the earthhad opened and swallowed her, and all because the handle of the door tothe inner room had turned? Then the excuse she had given for not wishingto meet Lord Donal must have struck him as ridiculously inadequate.When she reached her desk and reflected with more calmness overthe situation, she found no cause to censure herself for her hastydeparture; although she had acted on impulse, she saw there had beennothing else to do; another moment and she would have been face to facewith Lord Donal himself.
Next day brought a note from the detective which went far to reassureher. He apologized for having made the appointment without herpermission, and explained that Lord Donal's unexpected arrival inLondon, and his stubborn unbelief that it had been the Princess herselfwhom he met at the ball, seemingly left the detective no alternative outto call on the person who had so persistently advanced the theory, toexplain it to the one most intimately concerned. It had not occurredto him at the time to think that Miss Baxter might object to meet LordDonal, who was an entire stranger to her; but now he saw that he waswrong, etc., etc., etc. This note did much to convince Jennie that,after all, the detective had not seen the clues which appeared to bespread so plainly before his eyes. Cadbury Taylor, however, said nothingabout the search being ended, and a few days later Jennie received adisquieting letter from the Princess von Steinheimer.
"My dear Jennie," her Highness wrote, "I am sure the detectives areafter you, and so I thought it best to send you a word of warning. Ofcourse it is only surmise on my part, but for days there has been awoman hovering about the castle, trying to get information from myservants. My maid came directly to me and told me what she knew. Thewoman detective had spoken to her. This inquisitive person, who had comefrom Paris, wished particularly to know whether I had been seen aboutthe castle during the week in which the Duchess of Chiselhurst's balltook place; and so this leads me to suppose that some one is makinginquiries for you. It must be either Lord Donal Stirling or the Dukeof Chiselhurst, but I rather think it is the former. I have written anindignant letter to Lord Donal, accusing him of having caused detectivesto haunt the castle. I have not yet received a reply, but Lord Donal isa truthful person, and in a day or two I expect to find out whether ornot he has a hand in this business. Meanwhile, Jennie, be on your guard,and I will write you again as soon as I have something further to tell."
The reading of this letter greatly increased Jennie's fears, for shefelt assured that, stupid as the men undoubtedly were, they verged soclosely on the brink of discovery, they were almost certain to stumbleupon the truth if the investigation was continued. She wrote ahurried note to the Princess, imploring her to be cautious, and notinadvertently give any clue that would lead to her discovery. Herletter evidently crossed one from the Princess herself. Lord Donal hadconfessed, said the letter, and promised never, never to do it again."He says that before my letter was received he had stopped thedetectives, who were doing no good and apparently only annoying innocentpeople. He says the search is ended, as far as the detective isconcerned, and that I need fear no more intrusions from inquiry agents,male or female. He apologized very handsomely, but says he has not givenup hopes of finding the lady who disappeared. And now, Jennie, I trustthat you will admit my cleverness. You see that I had only a word ortwo from my maid as a clue, but I unravelled the whole plot and at oncediscovered who was the instigator of it, so I think I wouldn't make abad detective myself. I am tremendously interested in episodes likethis. I believe if I had known nothing of the impersonation, and if thecase had been put in my hands, I should have discovered you long ago.Can't you think of some way in which my undoubted talent for researchmay be made use of? You don't know how much I envy you in your newspaperoffice, always with an absorbing mystery on hand to solve. It must belike being the editor of a puzzle department. I wish you would let mehelp you next time you have anything important to do. Will you promise?
"When you write again, please send your letter to Vienna, as we aregoing into residence there, my husband having been unexpectedly calledto the capital. He holds an important position in the Government, asperhaps you remember."
Jennie was delighted to know that all inquiry had ceased, and she wrotea long letter of gratitude to the Princess. She concluded her epistle bysaying: "It is perfectly absurd of you to envy one who has to work ashard as I. You are the person to be envied. It is not all beer andskittles in a newspaper office, which is a good thing, for I don't likebeer, and I don't know what skittles is or are. But I promise you thatthe next time I have an interesting case on hand I shall write andgive you full particulars, and I am sure that together we shall beinvincible."
But one trouble leaves merely to give place to another in this life.Jennie was disturbed to notice that Mr. Hardwick was becoming more andmore confidential with her. He sat down by her desk whenever there wasa reasonable excuse for doing so, and he consulted her on mattersimportant and on matters trivial. An advance of salary came to her,and she knew it was through his influence with the board of directors.Although Mr. Hardwick was sharp and decisive in business matters, heproved an awkward man where his affections were concerned, and he oftencame and sat by the girl's desk, evidently wishing to say something, andyet quite as evidently having nothing to say; and thus the situationbecame embarrassing. Jennie was a practical girl and had no desire tocomplicate the situation by allowing her employer to fall in love withher, yet it was impossible to go to him and ask that his attentionsmight be limited strictly to a business basis. The crisis, however,was brought on by Mr. Hardwick himself. One day, when they were alonetogether, he said abruptly,--
"That romance in high life which you were investigating with Mr. CadburyTaylor did not come to anything?"
"No, Mr. Hardwick."
"Then don't you think we might enact a romance in high life in this veryroom; it is high enough from the street to entitle it to be called aromance in high life," and the editor grinned uneasily, like an unreadyman who hopes to relieve a dilemma by a poor joke.
Jennie, however, did not laugh and did not look up at him, but continuedto scribble shorthand notes on the paper before her.
"Ah, Mr. Hardwick!" she said with a sigh, "I see you have discovered mysecret, although I had hoped to conceal it even from your alert eyes.I am, indeed, in the situation of _Ralph Rackstraw_ in 'Pinafore,' 'Ilove, and love, alas! above my station,' and now that you know half, youmay as well know all. It arose out of that unfortunate ball given by theDuchess of Chiselhurst which will haunt me all the rest of my life, Ifear," said Jennie, still without looking up. Mr. Hardwick smothered anejaculation and was glad that the girl's eyes were not upon him. Therewas a pause of a few moments' duration between them. He took the pathwhich was left open to him, fondly flattering himself that, while hehad stumbled inadvertently upon her romance, he had kept his own secretsafe.
"I--I have no right to intrude on your confidences, Miss Baxter,"he said finally with an effort, "and I hope you will excuse mefor--for------"
"Oh! I have been sure for some days you knew it," interrupted the girl,looking up, but not at him. "I have been neglecting my work, I fear, andso you were quite right in speaking."
"No, your work is all right; it wasn't that exactly--but never mind, wewon't speak of this any more, for I see it embarrasses you."
"Thank you, Mr. Hardwick," said Jennie, again bending her eyes on thedesk before her.
The man saw the colour come and go in her cheeks, and thought he hadnever beheld anyone so entrancing. He rose quickly, without makingfurther attempt at expla
nation, and left the room. One or two tear dropsstained the paper on which the girl was scribbling. She didn't likegiving pain to anyone, but could not hold herself to blame for whathad happened. She made up her mind to leave the _Daily Bugle_ and seekemployment elsewhere, but next day Mr. Hardwick showed no trace ofdisappointment, and spoke to her with that curt imperiousness which hadheretofore been his custom.
"Miss Baxter," he said, "have you been reading the newspapers with anydegree of attention lately?"
"Yes, Mr. Hardwick."
"Have you been watching the drift of foreign politics?"
"Do you refer to that speech by the Prime Minister of Austria a week ortwo ago?"
"Yes, that is what I have in my mind. As you know, then, it amountedalmost to a declaration of war against England--almost, but not quite.It was a case of saying too much or of not saying enough; however, itwas not followed up, and the Premier has been as dumb as a graven imageever since. England has many enemies in different parts of the world,but I must confess that this speech by the Austrian Premier came as asurprise. There must have been something hidden, which is not visiblefrom the outside. The Premier is too astute a man not to know exactlywhat his words meant, and he was under no delusion as to the manner inwhich England would take them. It is a case, then, of, 'When I was soquickly done for, I wonder what I was begun for'--that is what allEurope is asking."
"Is it not generally supposed, Mr. Hardwick, that his object was toconsolidate Austria and Hungary? I understood that local politics wereat the bottom of his fiery speech."
"Quite so, but the rousing of the war spirit in Austria and Hungary wasuseless unless that spirit is given something to do. It needs a war, nota threat of war, to consolidate Austria and Hungary. If the speech hadbeen followed up by hostile action, or by another outburst that wouldmake war inevitable, I could understand it. The tone of the speechindicates that the Prime Minister meant business at the time he gaveutterance to it. Something has occurred meanwhile to change thesituation, and what that something is, all the newspapers in Europe havebeen trying to find out. We have had our regular Vienna representativeat work ever since the words were uttered, and for the past two weekshe has been assisted by one of the cleverest men I could send him fromLondon; but up to date, both have failed. Now I propose that you goquietly to Vienna; I shall not let either of the men know you areinvestigating the affair at which they have laboured with such littlesuccess; for both are good men, and I do not want to discourage eitherof them; still, above all things, I wish to have the solution of thismystery. So it occurred to me last night that you might succeed whereothers had failed. What do you think of it?"
"I am willing to try," said Miss Baxter, as there flashed across hermind an idea that here was a case in which the Princess von Steinheimercould be of the greatest assistance to her.
"It has been thought," went on the editor, "that the Emperor isextremely adverse to having trouble with England or any other country.Still, if that were the case, a new Cabinet would undoubtedly have beenformed after this intemperate address of the Premier; but this man stillholds his office, and there has been neither explanation nor apologyfrom Court or Cabinet. I am convinced that there is something behind allthis, a wheel within a wheel of some sort, because, the day after thespeech, there came a rumour from Vienna that an attempt had been made onthe life of the Emperor or of the Premier; it was exceedingly vague, butit was alleged that a dynamite explosion had taken place in thepalace. This was promptly contradicted, but we all know what officialcontradictions amount to. There is internal trouble of some kind atthe Court of Vienna, and if we could publish the full details, such anarticle would give us a European reputation. When could you be ready tobegin your journey, Miss Baxter?"
"I am ready now."
"Well, in an affair like this it is best to lose no time; you can goto-morrow morning, then?"
"Oh, certainly, but I must leave the office at once, and you should getsomeone to finish the work I am on."
"I will attend to that," said the editor.
Thus relieved, Jennie betook herself to a telegraph office. She knewthat if she wrote a letter to the Princess, who was now in Vienna, shewould probably herself reach that city as soon as her note, so shetelegraphed that something important was on hand which would take her toVienna by next day's Orient express, and intimated that it was a matterin which she might need the assistance of the Princess. Then shehastened to her rooms to pack up. That evening there came an answeringtelegram from Vienna. The Princess asked her to bring her ball dress andall the rest of her finery. The lady added that she herself would be atthe railway station, and asked Jennie to telegraph to her, _en route_,the time of her arrival. It was evident that her Highness was quiteprepared to engage in whatever scheme there was on hand, and this factencouraged Jennie to hope that success perhaps awaited her.