by Robert Barr
CHAPTER XIII. JENNIE INDULGES IN TEA AND GOSSIP.
On Thursday afternoon there was a brilliant assemblage in the spacioussalon of the Princess von Steinheimer. The rich attire of the ladiesformed a series of kinetographic pictures that were dazzling, forViennese women are adepts in the art of dress, as are their Parisiansisters. Tea was served, not in cups and saucers, as Jennie had beenaccustomed to seeing it handed round, but in goblets of clear, thinVenetian glass, each set in a holder of encrusted filigree gold. Therewere all manner of delicious cakes, for which the city is celebrated.The tea itself had come overland through Russia from China and had notsuffered the deterioration which an ocean voyage produces. The decoctionwas served clear, with sugar if desired, and a slice of lemon, andJennie thought it the most delicious brew she had ever tasted.
"I am so sorry," whispered the Princess to Jennie when an opportunityoccurred, "but the Countess Stron has sent a messenger to say that shecannot be present this afternoon. It seems her husband, the Premier,is ill, and she, like a good wife, remains at home to nurse him. Thisrather upsets our plans, doesn't it?"
"Oh, I don't know," replied Jennie. "It is more than likely that thewife of the Premier would be exceedingly careful not to discuss anypolitical question in this company. I have counted more upon the wife ofa lesser official than upon the Countess Stron."
"You are right," said the Princess, "and now come with me. I want tointroduce you to the wife of the Master of the Treasury, and from her,perhaps, you can learn something of the accident that befell the loverof poor Gretlich."
The wife of the Master of the Treasury proved to be a garrulous old ladywho evidently prided herself on knowing everything that was taking placeabout her. Jennie and she became quite confidential over their gobletsof tea, a beverage of which the old lady seemed inordinately fond. Asthe conversation between them drifted on, Jennie saw that here was aperson who would take a delight in telling everything she knew, andthe only question which now arose was whether she knew anything Jenniewished to learn. But before she tried her on high politics the girldetermined to find out more about the disaster that had made such anabrupt ending to Gretlich's young dream.
"I have been very much interested," she said, "in one of the maids herewho lost her lover some weeks ago in an accident that occurred in theTreasury. The maid doesn't seem to know very much about what happened,and was merely told that her lover, a soldier who had been on guardthere that night, was dead."
"Oh, dear, yes!" whispered the old lady, lowering her voice, "what adreadful thing that was, four men killed and eight or nine now in thehospital. My poor husband has had hardly a wink of sleep since theevent, and the Premier is ill in bed through the worry."
"Because of the loss of life?" asked Jennie innocently.
"Oh, no, no! the loss of life wouldn't matter; it is the loss of themoney that is the serious thing, and how they are going to replace it oraccount for its disappearance I am sure I don't know. The deficiency issomething over two hundred million florins. Was it not awful?"
"Was the building shattered to such an extent?" inquired Jennie, who didnot stop to think that such a sum would replace any edifice in Vienna,even if it had been wiped off the face of the earth.
"The Treasury was damaged, of course, but the cost of repairs will notbe great. No, my child, it is a much more disturbing affair than thedestruction of any state house in the Empire. What has made the Premierill, and what is worrying my poor husband into an untimely grave, isnothing less than the loss of the war chest."
"The war chest!" echoed Jennie, "what is that?"
"My dear, every great nation has a war chest. England has one, so hasFrance, Germany, Russia--no matter how poor a nation may be, or howdifficult it is to collect the taxes, that nation must have a warchest. If war were to break out suddenly, even with the most prosperouscountry, there would be instant financial panic; ready money would bedifficult to obtain; a loan would be practically impossible; and whatwar calls for the very instant it is declared is money--not promisesof money, not paper money, not silver money even, but gold; therefore,every nation which is in danger of war has a store of gold coin. Thisstore is not composed mainly, or even largely, of the coins of thenation which owns the store; it consists of the sovereigns of England,the louis of France, the Willems d'or of Holland, the eight-florinpieces of Austria, the double-crown of Germany, the half-imperials ofRussia, the double-Frederics of Denmark, and so on. All gold, gold,gold! I believe that in the war chest of Austria there were depositedcoins of different nations to the value of something like two hundredmillion florins. My husband never told me exactly how much was there,but sometimes when things looked peaceable there was less money in thewar chest than when there was imminent danger of the European outbreakwhich we all fear. The war chest of Austria was in a stone-vaulted room,one of the strongest dungeons in the Treasury. The public are admittedinto several rooms of the Treasury, but no stranger is ever allowed intothat portion of the building which houses the war chest. This room iskept under guard night and day. For what happened, my husband feels thathe is in no way to blame, and I don't think his superiors are inclinedto charge him with neglect of duty. It is a singular thing that the daybefore the disaster took place he of his own accord doubled the guardthat watched over the room and also the approaches to it. The war chestwas at its fullest. Never, so he tells me, was there so much money inthe war chest as at that particular time. Something had occurred that inhis opinion called for extra watchfulness, and so he doubled the guard.But about midnight there was a tremendous explosion. The strong doorcommunicating with the passage was wrenched from its hinges and flungoutwards into the hallway. It is said that dynamite must have been used,and that in a very large quantity. Not a vestige of the chest remainedbut a few splintered pieces of iron. The four soldiers in the room wereblown literally to pieces, and those in the passage-way were stunned bythe shock. The fact that they were unconscious for some minutes seemsto have given the criminal, whoever he was, his chance of escape. For,although an instant alarm was sent out, and none but those who had aright to be on the premises were allowed out of or in the Treasury, yetno one was caught, nor has anyone been caught up to this day."
"But the gold, the gold?" cried Jennie eagerly.
"There was not a florin of it left. Every piece has disappeared. It isat once the most clever and the most gigantic robbery of money that hastaken place within our knowledge."
"But such a quantity of gold," said Jennie, "must have been of enormousweight. Two hundred million florins! Why, that is twenty million pounds,isn't it? It would take a regiment of thieves to carry so much away. Howhas that been done? And where is the gold concealed?"
"Ah, my child, if you can answer your own questions the AustrianGovernment will pay you almost any sum you like to name. The police arecompletely baffled. Of course, nothing has been said of this giganticrobbery; but every exit from Vienna is watched, and not only that, buteach frontier is guarded. What the Government wants, of course, is toget back its gold, the result of years of taxation, which cannot veryeasily be re-levied."
"And when did this robbery take place?" asked Jennie.
"On the night of the 17th."
"On the night of the 17th," repeated the girl, more to herself than tothe voluble old woman; "and it was on the 16th that the Premier made hiswar speech."
"Exactly," said the old lady, who overheard the remark not intendedfor her ears; "and don't you think there was something striking in thecoincidence?"
"I don't quite understand. What coincidence?"
"Well, you know the speech of the Premier was against England. It wasnot a speech made on the spur of the moment, but was doubtless theresult of many consultations, perhaps with Russia, perhaps with Germany,or with France--who knows? We have been growing very friendly withRussia of late; and as England has spies all over the world, doubtlessher Government knew before the speech was made that it was coming; sothe police appear to think that the whole resources of the BritishGove
rnment were set at the task of crippling Austria at a criticalmoment."
"Surely you don't mean, madame, that the Government of England woulddescend to burglary, robbery--yes, and murder, even, for the poorsoldiers who guarded the treasure were as effectually murdered as ifthey had been assassinated in the street? You don't imagine that theBritish Government would stoop to such deeds as these?"
The old lady shook her head wisely.
"By the time you are my age, my dear, and have seen as much of politicsas I have, you will know that Governments stop at nothing to accomplishtheir ends. No private association of thieves could have laid such plansas would have done away with two hundred millions of florins in gold,unless they had not only ample resources, but also a master brain todirect them. Nations hesitate at nothing where their interests areconcerned. It was to the interest of no other Empire but England todeplete Austria at this moment, and see how complete her machinationsare. No nation trusts another, and if Austria had proof that England isat the bottom of this robbery, she dare not say anything, because herwar chest is empty. Then, again, she cannot allow either Germany orRussia to know how effectually she has been robbed, for no one couldtell what either of these nations might do under the circumstances. TheGovernment fears to let even its own people know what has happened. Itis a stroke of vengeance marvellous in its finality. Austria iscrippled for years to come, unless she finds the stolen gold on her ownterritory."
The old lady had worked herself up into such a state of excitementduring her recital that she did not notice that most of her companionvisitors had taken their leave, and when the Princess approached thetwo, she arose with some trepidation.
"My dear Princess," she said, "your tea has been so good, and thecompany of your young compatriot has been so charming, that I have donenothing but chatter, chatter, chatter away about things which shouldonly be spoken of under one's breath, and now I must hurry away. May Iventure to hope that you will honour me with your presence at one of myreceptions if I send you a card?"
"I shall be delighted to do so," replied the Princess, with thatgracious condescension which became her so well.
The garrulous old lady was the last to take her leave, and when thePrincess was left alone with her guest, she cried,--
"Jennie, I have found out absolutely nothing, what have you discovered?"
"Everything!" replied the girl, walking up and down the floor inexcitement over the unearthing of such a bonanza of news.
"You don't tell me so! Now do sit down and let me know the fullparticulars at once."
When Jennie's exciting story was finished she said,--
"You see, this robbery explains why the Premier did not follow up hiswarlike speech. The police seem to think that England has had a hand inthis robbery, but of course that is absurd."
"I am not so sure of that," replied the Princess, taking as she spoke,the Chicago point of view, and forgetting for the moment her positionamong the aristocracy of Europe. "England takes most things it can getits hands on, and she is not too slow to pick up a gold mine here andthere, so why should she hesitate when the gold is already minted forher?"
"It is too absurd for argument," continued Jennie calmly, "so we won'ttalk of that phase of the subject. I must get away to England instantly.Let us find out when the first train leaves."
"Nonsense!" protested the Princess; "what do you need to go to Englandfor? You have seen nothing of Vienna."
"Oh, I can see Vienna another time; I must get to England with thisaccount of the robbery."
"Won't your paper pay for telegraphing such an important piece of news?
"Oh, yes; there would be no difficulty about that, but I dare not trusteither the post or the telegraph in a case like this. The police are onthe watch."
"But couldn't you send it through by a code? My father always used to dohis cabling by code; it saved a lot of money and also kept other peoplefrom knowing what his business was."
"I have a code, but I hesitate about trusting even to that."
"I'll tell you what we'll do," said the Princess. "I want you to stay inVienna."
"Oh, I shall return," said Jennie. "I've only just had a taste of thisdelightful city. I'll come right back."
"I can't trust you to do anything of the kind. When you get to Londonyou will stay there. Now here is what I propose, and it will have theadditional advantage of saving your paper a day. We will run downtogether into Italy--to Venice; then you can take along your code andtelegraph from there in perfect safety. When that is done you willreturn here to Vienna with me. And another thing, you may be sure youreditor will want you to stay right here on the spot to let him know ofany outcome of this sensational _denouement_."
"That isn't a bad idea," murmured Jennie. "How long will it take us toget to Venice?"
"I don't know, but I am sure it will save you hours compared with goingto London. I shall get the exact time for you in a moment."
Jennie followed the suggestion of the Princess, and together the twowent to the ever-entrancing city of Venice. By the time they reachedthere, Jennie had her account written and coded. The long message washanded in at the telegraph office as soon as the two arrived in Venice.Jennie also sent the editor a private despatch giving her address inVenice, and also telling him the reason for sending the telegram fromItaly rather than from Austria or Germany. In the evening she receiveda reply from Mr. Hardwick. "This is magnificent," the telegram said. "Idoubt if anything like it has ever been done before. We will startlethe world to-morrow morning. Please return to Vienna, for, as you havediscovered this much, I am perfectly certain that you will be able tocapture the robbers. Of course all the police and all the papers ofEurope will be on the same scent, but I am sure that you will prove amatch for the whole combination."
"Oh, dear!" cried Jennie, as she handed the message to her friend. "Whata bothersome world this is; there is no finality about anything. Onepiece of work simply leads to another. Here I thought I had earned atleast a good month's rest, but, instead of that, a further demand ismade upon me. I am like the genii in fairy tales: no sooner is oneapparently impossible task accomplished than another is set."
"But what a magnificent thing it would be if you could discover therobber or robbers."
"Magnificent enough, yes; but that isn't to be done by inviting a lot ofold women to tea, is it?"
"True, so we shall have to set our wits together in another direction.I tell you, Jennie, I know I have influence enough to have you made amember of the special police. Shall I introduce you as from America, andsay that you have made a speciality of solving mysteries? An appointmentto the special police would allow you to have unrestricted entrance tothe secret portion of the Treasury building. You would see the roomsdamaged by the explosion, and you would learn what the police havediscovered. With that knowledge to begin with, we might then dosomething towards solving the problem."
"Madame la Princesse," cried Jennie enthusiastically, "you are inspired!The very thing. Let us get back to Vienna." And accordingly the twoconspirators left Italy by the night train for Austria.