CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CONSCIOUSNESS struggled back to Caruth slowly, but it came at last. All about him was the roar of a great passenger station, the murmur of voices, the tramp of feet, the banging of carriage doors, the thump of baggage. Dully he put his hand to his head and felt a tremendous swelling just above his forehead. Then he looked around at the unfamiliar foreign faces that ringed him about. Somebody was questioning him in harsh spitting Russian.
He did not understand, and shook his head petulantly, only to cease quickly on account of the pain which the movement caused him. Memory had returned with a jerk, and he wondered whether Marie had escaped. He must give her as much time as he could to pass the gates. He closed his eyes and lay silent.
Five minutes sped by. Then he was picked up, bundled into a cab, and driven away. He gathered that he was under arrest, but he was not troubled. His story was unassailable. Besides, his head ached too much for him to think of anything else.
On the way to headquarters his head became better, and on his arrival he was able to talk quiteclearly and connectedly to a courteous individual who spoke English very well. Caruth did not know it, but it was Baron Demidroff himself who questioned him.
“I especially regret that this should have happened to you, Mr. Caruth,” he said apologetically. “You must already have a very poor opinion of Russia, I fear, after your unfortunate experience in theSea Spume.”
A qualm came to Caruth as he realized that he was known, but it quickly passed. After all, the knowledge merely anticipated the story he was about to tell.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Such things happen everywhere, Monsieur,” he replied. “Don’t trouble about it.”
The Baron smiled. “Certain inquiries must be made,” he answered. “Can you give me a description of the person who robbed you?”
The young man hesitated. Lying did not come easily to him.
“Not very well,” he said reluctantly. “I had no reason for noticing him. Generally speaking, he was tall and broad and had a thick beard.”
“We found the beard in the railway carriage. He carried off your overcoat and hat, you say?”
“Probably.”
“Then he could not have been very stout. You are too slender for your clothing to fit a very large man. Is it not so?”
Caruth put his hand painfully to his head. “I guess I’d have thought of that myself if my head had been clear,” he evaded. “A crack like that isn’t conducive to lucidity.”
“Humph! I suppose you have no reason to suppose that this brawny man was really a woman?”
Caruth’s heart contracted painfully. “A woman!” he exclaimed. “Heavens, no! No woman could strike a blow like that!”
“No? You are sure, then, that it could not have been struck by one Marie Fitzhugh, so called, who made the voyage from America to Russia on your yacht?”
Caruth struggled to his feet with what assumption of dignity he could command. “You are pleased to jest, Monsieur,” he remarked stiffly. “Miss Fitzhugh is a valued friend. To think of her in such a connection as this is little short of an insult. I will bid you good day, Monsieur.”
“Not so fast. When do you leave Russia, Mr. Caruth?”
The young man looked the elder in the eye. “To-night, I hope,” he answered shortly.
“So? That is good. I was about to advise an early departure. Russia does not seem to agree with you, Mr. Caruth. You are too unfortunate. I fear—I very much fear—that a third misfortune more serious than the others will overtake you if you stay much longer. But if you are leaving soon——”
“I hope to.”
“Very well. I trust nothing will prevent.Bon voyage, Mr. Caruth.”
Heavy heartedly the young American drove to a hotel and sent for a physician, who dressed his head, prescribed a sedative, and ordered him to bed. Caruth bowed him out, poured the sedative into the slop basin, and set off for the American Embassy. He did not feel at all certain of his reception. The ambassador was absent on leave and theChargé d’Affaires, who acted in his place, had long before been rendered nearly frantic by the complications of theSea Spume’scase. What he would say when this fresh development was forced upon him, Caruth found it difficult to guess.
If Marie had arrived there in disguise, as he hoped she had, he could imagine that the poorChargéwas having a bad quarter of an hour.
His anticipations proved true. As he entered the office theChargésprang up. “Well, Mr. Caruth,” he cried, “this is the limit! Not content with engaging in filibustering, you seem to have gone in for direct nihilism. Heavens, man, haven’t you any consideration for the position you put me in?”
Caruth did not answer. His eyes had lighted on a well-remembered form, and he turned to greet Marie Fitzhugh.
Swiftly she came toward him still dressed in her men’s clothes, and laid her white hand in his.
“Thank God you are safe!” she said with a catch in her voice. “It was the bravest thing I ever knew.”
Caruth smiled at her. “Nonsense!” he answered. “I’ve taken many a harder crack in football. It was all right again in ten minutes. And the police couldn’t do a thing to me, though I guess they knew pretty well what had happened. But you? Did you get through all right?”
“Easily. I came here, and—well, I suppose I made myself a nuisance, and——” She turned shyly toward theChargé.
But that gentleman had calmed down a little. He had remembered that Caruth’s friends were powerful politically and that it might not be well for him to show too much irritation.
“Not at all,” he protested. “Not at all. I simply didn’t know what to do under the circumstances. And I’d really be glad if you’d tell me just what you want me to do now.”
Caruth smiled. “There’s one thing you can do all right, all right,” he answered happily, “and it won’t compromise you, either. Just call in your Embassy minister and let him marry us as quick as he can say the words. Then if we can get to theSea Spume, we’ll skiddoo and leave you alone forevermore. That’ll be a relief, I know.”
TheChargé’sface cleared. “Delighted,” he answered, somewhat ambiguously. “I’ll send for the minister at once. He lives just around the corner. Meanwhile, hadn’t you better—er—send out for some clothes for Miss Fitzhugh? Mr. Forbes isvery high church, and I’m not sure that he would consent to marry her under——”
But Caruth interrupted. “Sure!” he laughed. “I had forgotten. If you’ll let me get at the ’phone, I’ll ask Mrs. Bristow to get what is needed and hurry it around. Besides, I’d like to have the Bristows here. It will seem more like home.”
TheChargérose. “The telephone is in the next room,” he said. “The messenger will show you. Is there anything else I can do?” The thought of getting rid of theSea Spumeaffair made him positively affable.
“Nothing, thank you.”
As the two went out, a card was brought to theChargé. He scanned it and his face grew grave. For a moment he hesitated; then, “Ask Baron Demidroff to come in,” he directed.