CHAPTER SEVEN
THE WOMEN’S HOTEL of New York is sacred to the unattended woman. The clerks and the cooks are women; women wait on the tables; and women convey characteristically feminine trunks to virgin apartments. No man, attended or unattended, may spread his name upon its register, or settle himself within its sacrosanct precincts. Scarcely may he win permission to wait in a parlor while a feminine bell-hop carries his card to the arcana above.
In this parlor Caruth awaited an answer to his call. Fearing that a card alone might meet denial, he had inscribed it with the words “On most important business” before he sent it up.
He had the parlor to himself, and carefully he chose a position, partly screened by flowering plants, where he might hope to talk unheard and undisturbed by any one who might enter. What he had to say was not too pleasant, and he wanted no chance eavesdroppers.
He waited a long time—so long, in fact, that he began to fear that his note might be ineffective, and he was contemplating a further appeal and wondering, in the event that this too failed, how long hecould roost on the steps of the opposite house watching for her to come out, without being arrested. For he was determined to see her.
But at last she came.
She wore an evening dress of some glittering material, rich and black. Her clear-cut profile and delicately arched eyebrows reminded him of a cameo or an old French miniature. Her shoulders, rising from a corsage of black velvet, gleamed like tinted marble in the soft lights of the hall. It seemed incredible that she and the girl of a week before could be the same. He bowed in silence, dumbly staring.
He was recalled to himself by her voice. “Well, sir,” she reminded him, “you have something to say to me? Have you forgotten your lines?”
Caruth shook his head. “No,” he answered slowly; “I had only forgotten my cue. I was thinking in the fifth act, while we are yet still in the first. However, you have helped me out. My lines are these: ‘Your letter has turned up. Wilkins’s brother called on me to-day with a copy of it.’”
If Caruth intended to startle the girl by his abrupt announcement, he undoubtedly succeeded. She grew so white that for a moment he feared she was about to faint. Then a sparkle came into her eyes.
“His brother?” she repeated. “The one who wrote the letter?”
“Oh, no, no! Another brother. One who has been living in the West for years. A typical Westerner.”
“How did it get into his hands?”
“I can only guess. Probably Wilkins really took your warning words to heart, for he scribbled a brief letter on an envelope, and mailed the whole, probably by the chute in the building. The postmark shows that the letter was collected about threeA.M.that same morning. It went to Denver to the brother, whose name is Thomas. Thomas dropped everything and started east. He got here this morning and came to my rooms to see his brother. He had heard nothing of the fellow’s death.”
“And he showed you the letter? You have read it?” The tones were quiet, but Caruth could see the suspense lurking in her eyes.
“Yes, he showed it to me. That is, he showed me a copy of it—with certain words cut out. I have brought it with me. But before I show it to you, I must—forgive me—I must be convinced of your rights in the matter.”
“My rights!”
“Yes, your rights. It seems outrageous for me to question you; but—I must know.”
“Know what?” A tang of metal grated in the woman’s words.
“Know all there is to know! I have the right to ask! You came to my rooms seeking a letter. You warned Wilkins that the possession of the letter might be fatal to him. He did not heed you, and he was murdered within the hour, apparently to get the letter you wanted so much. To-day I learn that thisletter contains information, not about a political conspiracy as I had supposed, but about money—money! I was ready to shield you—even when I thought you or your accomplices had been guilty of murder—as long as your acts were political. But to kill for money—to waylay a man and murder him for gold—that goes beyond me!”
“And you believe I did that?”
Caruth flushed and paled again. “No!” he stammered. “Not you. But your friends——”
“My friends are no more guilty than myself. Two of them were awaiting me, and I thought at first that they had killed your man. But they did not. I give you my word that they did not. Neither of them touched him! He was killed by some one else.”
“By whom? By whom?”
“Ah, God! I wish I knew!” The woman’s words were a sob. “Perhaps a chance garroter! Perhaps—perhaps my enemies! I thought I had eluded them. I thought they were ignorant that I was here. But perhaps they knew that I came to the city that night. Perhaps they followed me. Perhaps they killed him. I do not know! But it was done by no friends of mine.”
Caruth drew a long breath. “Thank God for that! But the money! The money! You threatened him with death unless he gave up the clue to it——”
“Stop!” The girl’s interjection was swift. “Stop, Mr. Caruth! I did not threaten him. I warnedhim. I belong to a great organization that is waging a desperate warfare for the rights of millions of human beings. We fight as we can. Think for a moment! You have been free so long—you and your English forebears—that you take your freedom as a right. But it did not come as a right. All of it,all of it, was bought for you at a price. Every forward step was forced. Every grant from Magna Charta down was wrested from the king. Thousands upon thousands of unknown men died that you might live in peace and freedom, undespoiled. For a thousand years the path has been drenched in blood. What right have you—you to whom freedom came with your first breath; you who have never known tyranny; you who can freely assemble and criticise and change your rulers—what right have you to rebuke us who are just starting on the same bloody road your fathers trod for you? Granted that some innocent lives are taken; granted that some excesses and outrages are perpetrated in the name of freedom; granted that some of us go too far and shock your moral sense. What of it? Think you your ancestors of a thousand or even a hundred years ago were always calm and self-contained? Think you they perpetrated no crimes when they had the power? The world has grown thin-skinned with prevailing peace, and shrinks aghast at primitive Russians struggling for primitive freedom with what weapons they can grasp. You do not approve our methods! Do youapprove the government’s methods? For every innocent man whom the terrorists have slain, the Czar has slain a hundred and imprisoned a thousand. From the salt mines of the north, from the frozen steppes, from the purgatory of water-soaked dungeons, they cry to Heaven. That letter placed in our hands might have meant—may still mean—the end of all this. At least, it would hasten the day when all will end. We did not kill your valet. We do not know who did. But if we had, what is his life compared with the lives of millions?”
The girl’s eyes flashed; her voice came rich and strong; like a Judith she stood.
Caruth was awed; almost silenced.
“I do not understand,” he muttered.
“You shall! Although when I tell you I place my life in your hands. I will tell you the story of theOrkney. Then you may judge.”
The girl paused to take breath. “In March, two years ago,” she went on, “the steamshipOrkneysailed from London for St. Petersburg with a million pounds sterling in gold on board. This gold, borrowed on the people’s credit, was to be used in crushing the people. We determined to capture it, or, if that could not be done, at least to prevent its reaching Russia. It belonged to the people; the Czar should not use it to enslave them.
“A war-ship had been sent to bring this gold, but at the last moment the bureaucrats discovered that we had gained over the men on board and thata mutiny was probable. Urgently as it needed the money, the Russian government dared not send it by that means. Nor did it dare to send it by rail. We had inspired a wholesome terror in the hearts of the ministers of the Czar. At last it hit on the idea of blackening the gold bars and shipping them on an ordinary steamer as pig lead to Kronstadt. A battalion of soldiers would go along, ostensibly as passengers. So swiftly was this decided on and carried out, we learned it only at the very last minute. Had it not been for a lucky chance, we should not have known it at all. But, as it happened, two of the soldiers were our men, and we managed to get orders to them to see that the gold should never reach its destination. If they could not throw it into our hands, they were to sink the vessel and prevent its reaching Russia.
“TheOrkneysailed, going north through the Irish Sea, and around the north end of Scotland. The war-ship followed her out of the harbor and hung on her heels persistently, secretly convoying her. Moreover, Russian agents were watching all along the route. Our agents, so far as we could reach them, were also watching.
“Yet theOrkneydisappeared. She passed Copenhagen and entered the Baltic. There on the first night, at one o’clock in the morning, when near the opening of the Gulf of Finland, less than three hundred miles from her destination, her lights went out. In vain the cruiser tried to find her; in vainthe various observers strained their eyes. In the scant hours between one o’clock and daylight she vanished, gold, crew, vessel, all! Since then, though Russia has sought incessantly, she has learned nothing as to her fate. We are certain of this.
“We ourselves know a little—a very little—more. A fishing boat saw her passing the Upsula Islands going north into the Gulf of Bothnia. The news came to us and not to the Government.
“Except this, we knew nothing until two weeks ago. Then a friend sent us a bottle he had found floating in the Baltic. It contained a message from the dead. It told us how well our men had done their work. It said in brief that the writer and his friends had risen and attacked the officers. Bitter fighting had followed. The stokers, imprisoned below, kept the fires up and the ship moved slowly but steadily northward. A storm arose. Our men made a rush and gained control. But at the moment of victory one of the officers exploded some powder that was on board, and the ship began to sink. Nearly everybody was dead or dying by that time, and all that our agent could do was to drive the vessel ashore. Just before she sank he must have thrown overboard the bottle with his message. He had done his duty well and patriotically; his name will be honored when the Russian people come to their own.
“In one thing alone he failed. The part of his letter that told just where theOrkneysank wasblotted out. We can infer only that she sank on the coast of Finland, the Russian side of the Gulf of Bothnia; that she is lying somewhere within a stretch of one hundred and fifty or at the most two hundred miles. She must have sunk intact without breaking up, for no wreckage has come ashore from her. Somewhere at the bottom of that water she is lying with her gold.”
Miss Fitzhugh paused. Her eyes were sparkling and her cheeks flushed. Thrilling as was her tale, Caruth came near not heeding it through looking at her. The charm of the teller nearly effaced the interest of the tale.
After a while the girl went on.
“And now, Mr. Caruth, you know all. I have put myself wholly in your hands. A word from you to the Russian authorities and I shall be an exile from my native land, proscribed, with a price on my head. If I go back and am caught, I shall rot in the dungeons of St. Peter and St. Paul. I am not afraid. I faced the risk when I entered on this work. I knew that sooner or later I must be caught; that permanent escape could come only from the advent of freedom before fate overtook me. I took the risk, and I will pay the penalty without whining if the need comes. But I wish to do something to aid my country before that time. Hitherto I have been able to do but little. I bear a great name. Fitzhugh is my mother’s name—not my father’s. I am reputed wealthy, but I have no real power over my money.My fortune is in the hands of a guardian who is loyal to the Czar, and who watches me narrowly. In his grip I am held powerless. I am only a woman. I cannot fight with my hands. I can only use my wits. You reproach me because I am contending for gold. Can you conceive what this gold will do for our cause? What a mighty lever it will be in our hands? For we are poor—poor!If I can put this money in the hands of the Brotherhood, I shall have done more than I ever hoped to do. Then let the bureaucrats lay me by the heels and I will laugh in their faces, content to die.”
Abruptly the girl stopped; and then went on with an entire change of tone. “Now, Mr. Caruth,” she said, “you know all. What will you do? Will you betray me or aid me? Choose!”
The girl’s breath came fast between her parted lips. Her eyes shone starlike. Her bosom rose and fell tumultuously. “What will you do?” she demanded. “Choose!”
Caruth’s face glowed. “Do!” he cried. “Is there anything I will not do? I did not know that women such as you lived. I am wholly in your hands. Ask of me what you will: Money—risk—life—anything! In life and in death I am yours!”
Passionately he stretched out his arms and drew the girl forward. She swayed toward him and for an instant he held her against his madly beating heart. “I love you!” he cried. “I love you! I love you!”
It was for an instant only, for, with a strength ofwhich he had not thought her capable, the girl tore herself free.
“For shame!” she gasped. “For shame!”
Caruth made no attempt to move.
“Why ‘for shame’?” he questioned. “I love you. I have loved you from the first moment I saw you. Within an hour from that first moment I lied for you! I risked the electric chair for you! I did it willingly, gladly, without being asked. I would do it again! I love you! Miss Fitzhugh—Marie—will you be my wife?”
A curious expression came into the girl’s face. “What!” she demanded incredulously. “You would marry me? Me! The woman who came to your rooms at midnight? The woman whom you suspected of murder? The adventuress who plots for gold? You would marry me?”
“You and none other. Is it so strange? Many men must have loved you! Every one who saw you must have loved you.”
“But not under such circumstances as these. Mr. Caruth, all my life I shall be grateful to you. As long as I live, I shall remember your words. They will console me when my dark hour comes, as come it must for each of our Brotherhood. But I cannot accept. I am pledged to a cause which I cannot desert. No, Mr. Caruth! Go back to your safe and harmless American life and forget me. It would be ill requital for your kindness to draw you further into my fated existence.”
Caruth stretched out his hand and took hers. She did not resist, but her fingers lay cold in his and she shook her head slowly, smiling wanly. “No,” she breathed. “No.”
Caruth’s grasp did not slacken. “Why not?” he questioned. “This matter of theOrkneywill not last forever. When it is over, you will have earned your freedom; you will have done a great work for your country. Then——”
The girl did not pretend to misunderstand him. “It cannot be,” she murmured, and there was a world of sadness in her tones.
“Why not? Is it because you don’t care for me?”
“No, not that!”
“Then——”
The girl flung up her arms. “Oh!” she cried. “Can’t you understand? I shall never marry, or, if I do, it will be at the behest of the Brotherhood. I shall marry some one who is helping to set Russia free. Perhaps—perhaps I may buy some part of her freedom with the only pawn I possess—myself. I am not free—I never will be free till Russia is.”
Caruth drew a long breath. “You mean to sell yourself?” he questioned gently.
The girl flushed redly. “It is for the people,” she pleaded.
“Then”—Caruth’s voice rang out—“then sell yourself to me. I can take risks as well as another. I am rich, young, strong. All that I have is at yourservice. Let me help. Tell me what to do, and it shall be done. I’ll drag thisOrkneyup from the sea. If you are for sale, let me bid! And if I pay the price—if I win back the gold from the sea—then let me claim my reward.”
But the girl shook her head. “I will not!” she cried. “I was wrong to let you become involved in this. But I did not know you then. Now that I do know you I shall not let you take chances such as these.”
“I take them very willingly.”
“Because you do not gauge them. Or no, I do not mean that—I believe you would take them even if you understood what you were facing. But it is not fair to let you.”
Caruth laughed. “I’m the best judge of that!” he declared. “Come, we won’t discuss it any more. I am going to help you, and that’s all there is to it.” Gently he raised the girl’s hand to his lips. “There!” he announced, as he released it. “It’s all settled. I won’t bother you about it any more till that gold is in our hands. Come, sit down, and tell me what you want me to do first.”
“But——”
“There are no buts. You want to know about this Wilkins who has turned up. Very well. I’ll tell you what I noticed, and you can ask questions.”
Before Caruth left the hotel that night, he had imparted to Miss Fitzhugh every detail concerning the plainsman that his quickened memory couldsupply. The man’s appearance, his language, history, desires, threats, and the precautions he had taken to secure his safety, had all been minutely depicted. Miss Fitzhugh possessed the rare power of making those she questioned recall particulars that had made almost no impression on them when they occurred. Just as a powerful developer brings out on a photographic plate once invisible details, so her interrogatories, acting on Caruth’s memory, quickened it and evolved details concerning Thomas Wilkins that the young man himself had not suspected that he possessed.
At the end the girl had dismissed him with instructions to bring the plainsman to call upon her the next day.
Caruth hesitated. “He seems to be a very sharp fellow,” he objected. “He put two and two together very quickly, and asked some questions that worried me. Undoubtedly he thinks my story fishy. And it is fishy. If he knows that you are involved in the case, he may become dangerous.”
The woman threw out her hands. “Don’t I know it?” she flamed. “But I’ve got to see him for myself. How do either you or I know that he is your valet’s brother? How do we know that he is not an agent of the man who killed your valet? Russia has many spies as improbable as he. Probably he is what he purports to be, but I must see him and judge for myself. And I must see that letter—the whole of it. There is no other way. Somebody must do thebargaining. No, I must see him. Do you know where to find him?”
“Certainly. He is asleep in his brother’s room at my apartment now.”
“Then have him ready at ten to-morrow morning. Be at the door of your building at the moment, neither too soon nor too late. A motor will pick you up and take you to a safe place where I will meet you.”