Whether I should have yielded to Nessa and allowed myself to be persuaded not to tell Rosa the truth, I can't say—she always had great influence with me—but after we had been surprised in this fashion it was no longer possible to hesitate. Nessa would have been compromised and I suspected.
I acted promptly, therefore. I crossed the room, and shut the door carefully, both girls watching me with expectant curiosity.
"Please come into the conservatory, Miss von Rebling," I said quietly in English, which she spoke quite fluently. "I have something of the utmost importance to say to you. And we had better speak in English and not too loudly, please."
She stared at me, desperately perplexed by my words and manner; but after a moment's hesitation went into the conservatory, to where Nessa stood in trembling agitation by the plants, and linked her arm in hers and kissed her.
"I am going to put my life in your hands. I am not Johann Lassen. I am an Englishman and my name is Jack Lancaster. Nessa and I are old friends, and we were discussing the question of telling you when you came in," I said in a slow deliberate tone.
She was literally astounded and could not at once grasp all that my words meant. She turned to Nessa as if appealing for confirmation. "Nessa!" she exclaimed, much too loudly to be safe.
"Let me tell you why it is necessary not to speak loudly. You have a spy in the house: the servant I have heard you call Gretchen;" and I described what I had witnessed. "It will no doubt explain why Nessa's letters have never reached England and other things probably."
Rosa's face being incapable of expressing more astonishment than she had already shown, she just tossed up her hands feebly, suggesting that the whole affair was beyond her understanding. But she was a practical, level-headed girl, and soon recovered her self-control.
"Do you mean that you have recovered your memory?" she asked.
I shook my head. "I have never lost it."
She frowned ominously at this and her expression signalled suspicion. "Then why are you in Berlin?"
Clearly she regarded me as an English spy, and there was nothing for it but to tell her the full reason for my presence, although I had not wished to let Nessa know it. "I will tell you everything, but you'd better sit down as it will take some time."
She sat down and drew Nessa to her side, taking her hand and holding it all the time I spoke. "I am an officer in the English army, and was home on leave when I heard for the first time about Nessa;" and I told them all that Mrs. Caldicott said, and described the two peculiar communications which had reached England. Then the whole story: My first plan; Jimmy's intervention; how I had taken his place at the last moment; the blowing up of theBurgen; my being mistaken for Lassen; my feigned loss of memory; how I had been unable to get away from Hoffnung, and how his suspicions had forced me to continue the impersonation.
Nessa was terribly distressed to hear of her mother's anxiety and grief; Rosa wept in sympathy, and they both listened to the whole story with rapt attention.
"You will see now," I concluded, "what I meant by saying I am putting my life in your hands. If I am known to be an English officer, there will be only one construction put upon my presence here—that I am a spy, and I shall of course be shot. We should do the same on our side if one of your officers was found in England in similar circumstances. I give you my word, however, that my sole object is to get Nessa away home."
Rosa looked very grave and rather frightened. "You know the consequences to me if I attempt to shield you?"
I nodded. "I can understand they would be very serious, if it was discovered."
Then we all sat silent for a long time, several minutes, and Nessa was trembling like an aspen leaf. Rosa broke the silence at last.
"Where is my cousin?"
"He went down in theBurgen. There is no doubt that I am the only survivor. He was below at the time of the explosion, and not even any of the men on deck were saved."
"But if he should not have been drowned and should come here?"
"Your mother and Hans, every one believes I am your cousin, and not so much as a breath of suspicion that you know the truth could ever be roused, unless of course you admitted it."
This had all the effect I had hoped, and she nodded understandingly. "And what do you wish me to do?" she asked after another pause.
"To allow matters to remain as they are until we can get Nessa away; but it is entirely for you to decide."
She shook her head. "I—I can't decide now. I must have time to think. I was never so perplexed or astounded in my life."
"Rosa dear!" appealed Nessa.
"It is not for us to settle, Nessa," I put in; and then another long silence followed.
"If I wait till to-morrow, say, will you use the time to escape, Mr. Lancaster?" asked Rosa then.
"That is impossible, Miss von Rebling," I replied uncompromisingly. "I have come to get Nessa away, and that cannot be done in the time."
That drew a smile: the first since she had arrived. She guessed how the land lay with me, and glanced round at Nessa, who coloured slightly. I believe that that little blush had more effect than anything else. She had the usual streak of German romance in her disposition, and the situation appealed to it strongly.
"I wish I dared," she murmured; and I began to hope.
I gave the new idea a minute to germinate, and then began to nurture it by suggesting how her risk would be minimized. "Let me tell you just what is in my mind. I will not remain in the house, and the first thing to-morrow will go to rooms or an hotel."
"But mother?" she protested nervously.
"I shall tell her of my discovery about Gretchen, and that in view of my connection with the Secret Service, it is essential for me to be absolutely secure against anything of the sort." She nodded approval.
"I shall then be too busy officially to come here much, and this will relieve you from all the unpleasantness of open deception with her and others." Again she nodded.
"The next thing will be to obtain the necessary papers for Nessa and me to leave. Have you any friends in Holland?"
She started rather nervously. "Yes, several old school friends; but——" She paused and gestured.
"My idea is that you should invent a sudden desire to go to them; say that one of them is dying or very ill, or something. You could not very well travel alone at such a time, and thus Hans would naturally go with you. It would be simple enough for you two to obtain permits to travel and passports and so on, and——"
"But I should be instantly questioned and—— Oh, that would never do," she interrupted, with a vigorous shake of the head.
I smiled reassuringly. "I have thought of that, believe me. On the morning you were to start, after you had obtained your tickets, something would occur to make it impossible for you to go. Nessa or I would then get the tickets and things, and she and I would use them. You would not discover the loss until we had had time to cross the frontier, and could then give information of their loss; and as soon as we were safely in Holland, I would write to you a letter explaining everything."
This lessened her uneasiness considerably. "It is possible," she admitted.
"Such a letter from me, confessing my imposture and everything, would free you from the slightest taint of suspicion that you had been in any way a party to the scheme, and, of course, as Nessa and I should be in safety, I could make the confession with absolute impunity."
She sat with her dark brows drawn together, considering the scheme very carefully, and after a long silence asked: "How long do you think it would take?"
"Only so long as is needed to get the passports, etc."
But she shook her head. "There is a difficulty—Hans. He could not possibly get away, even if he were willing to go; which I doubt."
"Can you think of any one else?"
She hesitated, glancing first at me and then at Nessa. "Do you remember the two Apeldoorn sisters, Nessa?"
"Yes, quite well, dear."
"They are Herr Feldmann's cousins," said Rosa: and then I knew what was coming. "One of them is going to be married and wants me to go to the wedding. I should have gone if it hadn't been that we heard just then about my Cousin Johann. Herr Feldmann and his sister are going, and I should have gone with them; but his sister is ill," she added, looking to see how I took this.
"It would certainly open the way to the necessary credentials, but how could I get hold of his permit?"
"I can't think of anything else," said Rosa as I did not answer. "But I think Herr Feldmann would help if I asked him," she added.
"Do you mean you would tell him everything?" I asked, not at all relishing the suggestion.
"It would be necessary, wouldn't it?"
"I'd rather try to think of some other plan," I replied, and sat racking my wits for some alternative; without avail, however, and presently she got up and walked about the drawing-room.
When she had left us, Nessa stirred uneasily, glanced once or twice at me, and then held out her hand. "I'm—I'm sorry, Jack," she whispered.
"All right; don't worry;" and I just pressed her trembling fingers.
"But to talk to you as I did—all the brutal things I said. I'm so—so ashamed."
"No need. Not the faintest. You couldn't know; and you caught me in the very act of prying into that place there. If you hadn't fired up a bit, it wouldn't have been natural."
"But after you'd run all this risk simply for me, you must have thought me a regular beast, Jack."
"The fact is your mother's worry got on my nerves, and as I knew I could come into this beastly country without any risk to speak of, of course I came. That's all about it."
She didn't quite like this, but I meant her to believe it had been more for her mother's sake than hers.
"Poor mother!" she murmured, and was silent for a while. "You've joined the army then?" was her next question.
"I'm in the Flying Corps, and your mater didn't tell me anything about you for fear it would get on my nerves."
"Then I had something to do with your coming?" she asked, with a flicker of a flash in her bonny eyes.
"I couldn't very well ease your mother's mind in London, could I? She was against the thing, but I explained there was really no risk. Of course there would not have been any if the steamer hadn't blown up and this Lassen business turned out as it has."
"But it was I who made you tell Rosa?"
"And probably the best thing we could have done if——" and I gestured toward Rosa, who was still pacing the room in troubled perplexity.
I did my utmost to lead Nessa to think I took the position lightly; but I was in reality almost desperately anxious, and every moment of Rosa's indecision added to the disquieting tension of suspense. If she went against us, I could see nothing but a mess of trouble ahead; and I was only too conscious of how big the danger to her would loom in her German-disciplined mind. They all go in deadly fear of the authorities; and it was impossible to deny that, if she were discovered, it might mean the prospect of a spell in prison.
"You haven't said yet that you forgive me, Jack," said Nessa presently.
"Simply because there's nothing to forgive. I should probably have done just what you did," I replied with a smile.
"Do you mean that anything I could have done would have made you take me for a spy, then? I took you for one," she said ruefully.
"The only difference is that I might not have been quite so impatient, and have been ready to listen to your explanation. But don't let us worry over that. Let us think how we're going to get out of it all."
"I think Rosa will help us."
"But this fellow, Feldmann?"
"You needn't trouble about him. He worships her, and the instant he knows her cousin is drowned and the way is clear for him, he'll be ready to—well, to do anything she wishes."
"That's good hearing, anyhow, but I wish she'd look sharp and make her mind up."
Nessa laughed gently. "You don't understand girls, Jack. Her mind was made up before she left us two together. She's one of the kindest-hearted souls in the world."
But Rosa seemed in no hurry to come back to us, and before she could tell us her decision, the opportunity passed, for Hans came in with a man whom Nessa whispered to me was Feldmann himself.
Rosa introduced me to him as her cousin. This set me speculating whether it was an indication of her intention or merely a sign that she had not yet decided what to do, and I was worrying over it as I returned his stiff and rather discourteous greeting, when Hoffnung followed.
After a few words of general conversation Hoffnung drew me aside, and I had a significant proof of von Erstein's intimate acquaintance with official matters. He had puzzled me earlier in the day by saying that I had to interview a Baron von Gratzen the next morning, and Hoffnung now brought me the note making the appointment for eleven o'clock.
"How's the memory, Lassen?"
"Pretty much the same," said I, shrugging. He had evidently abandoned all his former suspicions, I was glad to see.
"You'll find old Gratz, as we call him, a decent sort; but I'm afraid he may have to tell you what you won't like much."
"Meaning?"
"Well, a man without a memory isn't much use to the Secret Service, although he may be in other ways."
I didn't like his tone. "But I can remember all that's passed since theBurgen."
It did not draw him, however. He just laughed. "I mustn't anticipate him, of course; but I'll give you a tip. Be at his office on the stroke; he hates nothing so much as unpunctuality."
With that we rejoined the rest, and again the conversation was about matters in which I had no interest. I studied Feldmann carefully. He was a handsome fellow; fair, blue-eyed, rather round-faced and weak; but he had a very pleasant smile which I saw often, for he smiled every time he looked at Rosa. But not once did he address me; and his dislike and hostility were plain each time he glanced in my direction.
He certainly wasn't the man I would have chosen to trust; but beggars can't be choosers, and I had to be satisfied with the fact that both Rosa and Nessa herself were ready to vouch for him.
Hoffnung did not stay long, and when he had gone Rosa reminded me about going to the tailor's, and as I was leaving the room, she said to Nessa: "You might show it to Johann now, dear."
"Rosa has asked me to show you the portrait of your mother, Herr Lassen, as she hopes it may perhaps help you to remember things."
"Please do," I answered eagerly, her look telling me this was merely an excuse; and we went to the library together.
"It's all right with Rosa," she whispered then; "but only if Herr Feldmann is told and agrees. I am to go back and tell her what you say."
"Are you quite sure of him?"
"Yes, quite, in the altered circumstances. So is Rosa."
"Carry on, then; and if there's anything wrong, let me know the moment I get back;" and off I went, not letting Nessa see how it worried me to have this infernal suspense kept hanging round my neck like a millstone.
I was very curious to have a look at Berlin in war time; but as I am not writing a chronicle of the struggle, my impressions need not be laboured, except as they touched me personally.
The struggle had been going on for about eighteen months when I reached the capital, and, except in one respect, matters were pretty much as I had known them. There were more soldiers about, perhaps; there seemed to be as much bustling activity as usual, and certainly there was universal confidence that the result would be a glorious victory.
The one genuine surprise I had was when I came upon an unwontedly demonstrative crowd shouting that they were short of food. They were chiefly women, and a boisterous, vociferating lot they were. It was not so much the crowd that impressed me, however, or the row they kicked up, as the fact that the police didn't interfere. In my experience, a crowd might look for a very short shrift at the hands of the police of Berlin.
I referred to the matter when I was at the tailor's—where, by the by, I succeeded in getting a very passably fitting suit and other things I needed—and he explained the reason. There was no real scarcity of food, he declared, but much grumbling at the distribution; and the police had had orders not to resort to drastic measures.
"It will have to be stopped, however, or the trouble will grow. There has already been some window smashing. Imagine it, window smashing in our beautiful, well-organized city!" he cried, as if it were akin to impiety and sacrilege.
"Very shocking," I agreed gravely.
"If it is not put down with an iron hand, it will not be safe for a well-dressed person to be in the streets. My own wife and daughter, only yesterday, were all but mauled in the Untergasse. But the English will pay for it!"
I cut short that subject by speaking about the business in hand; it wasn't prudent to talk about the war, and I took care not to give him an opportunity of returning to it before I left the shop.
On my way back to the von Reblings' house in the Karlstrasse, I could think of nothing except the news I was to hear and what I should do if the scheme I had suggested was turned down. I could see nothing for it but to make a bolt almost at once, take Nessa with me, and trust to our wits and luck to get away.
Not a hopeful job at the best, and at the worst involving no end of risk and danger for us both. I knew my Germany too well not to be painfully conscious of all that; and the knowledge made me profoundly uncomfortable. But I've a sanguine streak in me and am generally lucky, so I put off the consideration of the disagreeables until they had to be faced in earnest.
I need not have worried, however, for I found everything running as sweetly as a well-oiled engine when I reached the house. I knew it instantly by the manner in which Feldmann greeted me.
Instead of the previous sullen angry looks, he was all smiles, gripped my hand cordially, nearly fell on my neck, and I rather dreaded that he would wind up by kissing me. Rosa and Nessa were in much the same hilarious mood, and might have been arranging the details of a wedding rather than a little conspiracy against the Government.
They had it all cut and dried, and my crude plan was hailed as if it had been a piece of the most wonderful strategy in the world.
"Oscar will help us all he can," said Rosa, blushing a bit as she used his christian name; "and he can get the passports and everything without any trouble. He has his already, and suggests that we shall have one for Hans as well. I've seen Hans, and he has consented to go if he can get leave. He doesn't think he can, but agrees we had better get one in case. That will be for you."
"Won't there be some sort of description of him on it?" I asked.
"I can arrange that," declared Feldmann. "Luckily it is in my department. It will do for you, and, of course, he'll never see it."
"I shall take charge of everything," said Rosa. "And Oscar says he can get everything through in three days at the latest, perhaps in two."
There was a great deal of Oscar would do this and Oscar could do that, in it all; but everything seemed as good as the best, and I was soon in as high spirits as the others. It was settled that we should travel by the morning express, which would get us across the frontier in time for me to let Rosa have my confession the following day.
"Oscar" wrung my hand again at parting, as if I was his dearest friend; declared he was not among the English haters; that he thought I had acted splendidly in risking so much to rescue Nessa; and that he hoped we should be great friends after this abominable war.
My next move was to prepare for leaving the house the next day, and at supper I announced my determination. The Countess was very much against it, but afterwards I went with her alone into the drawing-room and gave her my "official" reasons.
"I want you to open your cabinet drawer, aunt; but before you do it, I'll tell you that you will find some one has been to it——"
"Nessa?" she broke in excitedly.
"I'll tell you in a moment. You are quite right that there is some one in the house who is playing the spy, and, of course, you'll understand that if I am to join the Secret Service, it is a sheer impossibility for me to remain here with any one like that about the house."
"They shall leave it at once, Johann."
"We'll discuss that directly. You will find that the letters you so neatly put away here are just flung in anyhow in order to suggest that whoever did it was surprised and had to act in a hurry."
She unlocked the drawer then with shaky fingers and there lay the letters as I had told her. "Nessa shall leave the house to-morrow, Johann," she cried immediately.
"But it wasn't Miss Caldicott at all, aunt; it was Gretchen;" and I described what I had witnessed and went on to advise her not to take any open notice of the matter at all. "You know now who it is and can be on your guard, keeping such papers as are of no account here and putting others in a safer place."
"But to have such a person in the house, Johann!"
"She can't do any harm now; and you must remember this. You don't know who has put her here nor the reason. It might do much more harm than good if you were to make any disturbance about it. These are curious times, and the fact that you have an English girl in the house may be the reason. By sending Gretchen about her business you may only have some one else put here, or one of the other servants bribed or forced to take her place;" and I hammered away at this until I persuaded her to adopt the suggestion.
I had a strong object in taking this line. I was sure that Gretchen was von Erstein's creature, and that if she remained in the house, we might find her very useful in putting him off the scent by letting her find out some false facts in case of trouble.
During the night I thought carefully over our conspiracy scheme. It looked good; very good indeed; perhaps too good, and in the end I decided to prepare for a possible hitch in case the unexpected happened.
I couldn't see one anywhere; but you can never be prepared for an air pocket, as I knew well enough; so I resolved not to be caught unawares. If anything went wrong on the journey, it was on the cards that we might be able to dodge the trouble and get away, if we were provided with good disguises. I worked on that idea and thought of several other items which would probably come in handy.
I adopted the notion of turning myself into an aero mechanic and changing Nessa into my young assistant. There wasn't much about any sort of flying machine I didn't know—except Zeppelins, of course; so I could keep my end up all right, and could easily coach "my assistant" well enough to pass muster.
We should have to dodge the beastly German system which makes every workman carry his record card about with him; but if we couldn't get things of the sort, we must put up a bluff—have lost them or something—and trust to my skill with the tools to see us through.
I was off pretty early in the morning on the hunt for rooms, and almost immediately found a place which fitted my needs like a glove. It was a little furnished flat in the Falkenplatz; just a couple of rooms with a bathroom at the rear, the window of which opened on to the fire escape; an emergency exit which might be invaluable in case of need.
But there was a hitch when I said I would take the place. I was asked for the inevitable papers to satisfy the police; and of course I had none. My explanation was listened to politely, but without effect; so I said I would obtain them, paid a deposit, and went off to buy some of the little items I had thought of during the night.
Then I had a bit of a jar. I was coming out of a shop just as a tall, grey-haired, soldierly man in uniform was passing who glanced casually at me. The glance was followed by a start of surprise, his look became intent and interested, and he stopped as if to speak. Naturally I took no notice and walked on; but a few seconds afterwards he passed me, stopped a few yards ahead to look in a shop window, and as I overtook him, he turned to give me a very keen, penetrating stare.
Of course there were heaps of people in Germany who had known me well, and I had discounted the risk of running against some of them. But I could not place him, and I was not a little relieved when he appeared uncertain and went off without addressing me.
It was a disturbing incident and brought home to me the advisability of keeping indoors as much as possible during the days I was to remain in Berlin. The matter didn't end there, however.
Remembering Hoffnung's hint about keeping my appointment with Baron von Gratzen punctually, I turned up a little before time, and exactly on the stroke of eleven was shown into his office. My astonishment may be guessed when he proved to be the stranger I had just met.
I think that his amazement was even greater than mine, as he stared at the slip on which his subordinate had written my name and from it to me.
"Then you are Herr Lassen?" he asked in frowning perplexity.
I bowed and held out the letter he had sent me. "You sent for me, sir."
He waved me to a chair and sat back lost in thought for so long that I began to wonder what the dickens was coming.
"You came from England, didn't you?"
"I believe so, sir."
"And you're the man without a memory, eh? Very extraordinary; very extraordinary indeed. Most remarkable case. And why have you come to Berlin?"
"Herr Hoffnung brought me. I understood he had instructions to do so."
"Tell me about your experiences there."
I looked as blank as a wall and shook my head.
"Surely you can remember something. Let me jog your memory. I know the country well, you understand. Were you in London?" After another blank look from me, he took out a paper, glanced over it, and questioned me about a number of places and matters contained in it; to all of which I replied with either a vacant look or shake of the head.
The examination lasted for some considerable time, and presently he pushed a sheet of paper and a pen to me, telling me to write my name. I had expected some such test and took hold of the pen clumsily and, with infinite apparent trouble, wrote the name "Johann Lassen" in big sprawling printed capitals.
He watched me like a lynx at the job, took the paper, scanned it closely, and asked: "That the best you can do?"
"I can read the big letters of type, sir," I replied, and I fancied that he had to restrain a smile.
Next he folded down the paper he had been reading from and showed me a sentence in it. A very non-committal sentence I noticed. "You recognize the writing?" More head wagging from me. "You should, you know; it's your own handwriting;" and he put the document away, and sat thinking again.
I'd have given something to be able to read his thoughts at that moment, especially when he roused himself sufficiently to favour me with some keen stares. I couldn't resist the unpleasant thought that he suspected something; but he gave no overt sign of suspicion, and his manner was less official than friendly. After a time something in his mind brought a heavy frown to his face.
"Let me get the matter quite clear. You were blown up in theBurgen, found yourself in a hospital in Rotterdam with no papers of identification on you except a card, you remembered nothing at all of what had occurred, and came to Berlin with Herr Hoffnung. You know that there was only one other male passenger on the steamer, a Mr. Lamb, about whom we have some reason to be curious. Now, are you sure you are not that man?"
"I don't know, sir. I am not sure about anything except what has occurred since I was at Rotterdam."
"Well, when you arrived here the Countess von Rebling recognized you as her nephew.—Were you at Göttingen?" he asked so suddenly that I only escaped the trap by the skin of my teeth.
"I believe so, sir."
"Then, of course, there will be plenty of people there to identify you."
"Naturally, sir," I managed to reply, although a chill of dismay made my spine tingle at the meaning smile accompanying the words.
"We know, of course, that no one of the name of Lamb was ever there," he said and paused again, as if to give me time to absorb all that this might be intended to suggest.
"Do you speak English?" was the next question, put with a perfect accent in my own language.
"Sure," I replied, with what I meant to be a very correct twang. But it didn't appear to impress him as much as I could have wished; and after regarding me curiously for a moment or two he rose, got a volume of Mark Twain'sInnocents Abroad, and laid it open before me, asking me to try and read a passage.
I looked at it earnestly and gave it up as hopeless.
But he was too many for me. "Well, I'll read it to you and get you to repeat it after me." And he did read it and I had to repeat the words in such American as I could manage. "Thank you," he said as he closed the book and put it away again. And then another long pause followed.
I recalled Hoffnung's disturbing words—that the Baron would have something to tell me I might not like. He had certainly made that good, and I was beginning to be abominably troubled about the run of things when he started in again.
"And so you wish to join our Secret Service?" he asked with the abrupt shift of subject which worried me.
"Herr Hoffnung told me so, but——" and I smiled vacantly.
"Do you imagine that a man without a memory would be of much use to us?"
"I'm afraid not, sir; but to tell the truth, I have no sort of desire to do it. The doctors at Rotterdam told me I should recover my memory in time, and if I could have a good rest and just be absolutely quiet for a time it is all I wish."
He nodded, not unkindly, and then suddenly bent on me the keenest look I have ever seen in any man's eyes and asked: "Are you sure you mean that?"
"Absolutely, sir, on my honour," meeting his eyes steadily.
He held them for a moment with the same intentness, as if he would read my inmost thoughts, and then nodded and leant back in his seat. "I can understand that and believe you. I'm glad to hear it."
What he meant I couldn't tell, but I felt relieved because I appeared to have risen in his opinion, for some reason it was impossible even to guess. Some minutes passed before any more was said, the longest silence yet. That he had evidently been running over all that had passed his next move showed.
"I am intensely interested in your case, and quite as intensely puzzled about it all. Personally, I take your view—that the best thing would be to give you time to see if the memory comes back. But that's rather a point for the doctors than for me. You have done very valuable work for us in England and, other things turning out all right, there is no doubt you could do more of the same sort. But these are times when we can't do all we might; matters are too strenuous. Except for this loss of memory, you seem to be absolutely normal—doctors again; and you'd better see them at once;" and he rang his table bell. "If you pass them and, from your appearance I have no doubt you will, you will, of course, go to the Front."
I caught my breath at this, but he did not see my consternation, as he had risen while speaking and went out, leaving his secretary, named von Welten, to remain with me.
Baron von Gratzen was away some minutes; and exceedingly unpleasant minutes they were for me. At first I could see nothing but checkmate to all my plans. That the doctors would pass me as fit for service in the field was beyond question; and, as Germany wanted as many men as possible in the fighting line, I was certain to be packed off without any delay.
But then I needed only a delay of a couple of days—the papers would be ready by then—and it was still possible that something might happen which would give me just enough time to get away. It was a devil of a mess, however; and it cost me no end of an effort to pull myself together by the time the Baron came back and himself took me to the doctors.
They had been primed about the case, and all three of them were as deeply interested in me as the others had been in Rotterdam. One of them was a specialist in such cases, and he conducted the first part of the examination—that in regard to my memory. He put numberless questions on all sorts of subjects, endeavouring in every conceivable way to get me to admit that I could remember something; but I had no great difficulty in answering him. He appeared to lay most stress on everything that had occurred immediately before the explosion on theBurgen; and was still on that when the Baron came back to us, listened to his concluding questions and suggestions, and then took him out of the room.
The physical examination followed. I stripped to the buff, and a very few minutes sufficed to satisfy them about my fitness. I was, of course, in the pink of condition and as hard as nails.
"You must have had military training," said one of them.
"That can't be so, so far as I know. I understand I've been travelling about the world for a long time."
"I'm sure of it," was the positive verdict. "Every muscle tells the tale too plainly for any one to be mistaken. Just stand over there; I want to look at your back;" and he placed me close to the wall, and stepped back some distance himself.
"No, perhaps not," he murmured, and just as I was chuckling at his blunder, he suddenly yelled at me in English, "'Shun!" with military abruptness. Instinctively, being for the instant quite off my guard, I brought my heels together and straightened up. He chuckled, and I could have cursed myself for an idiot in having given the show away.
The doctor who had trapped me couldn't contain his delight. "I knew I couldn't be mistaken. You can put your clothes on," he told me, rubbing his hands gleefully, and after another chortle to his colleague, he hurried off to report the result of his experiment.
I was mad at having made such a blithering ass of myself just when things had been going so well. The game was up, of course, and there was nothing for it but to face the music. It was now a toss up whether I should be packed off to the front or popped into prison, and it didn't need a Solomon to see that the odds strongly favoured the latter.
The Baron and the two doctors came back in about five minutes, and the man who had bowled me out was laughingly rubbing it in to the specialist.
"I can't imagine how it escaped you, Gorlitz," he said as they entered; and the specialist looked about as pleased as I felt.
"Try it again," he growled in a half-whisper.
"He may be prepared this time," was the reply in an undertone, but not low enough to prevent my hearing it. I couldn't get the hang of things for the moment; but when, after a few desultory questions, the doctor pretended to take some measurements and then turned me with my back to him again, I knew what was coming, and I thought I would do a little bit of pantomime of my own.
They spoke together in low tones, and in the middle of it the doctor yelled "'Shun!" at me once more. I started, hesitated and then came to attention, but not nearly so smartly as before.
"Just turn round," called the specialist. "Now, march across the room." I obeyed, and was halfway across when the doctor shouted "Halt!" I stopped instantly.
"There you are," exclaimed the doctor. The specialist nodded, told me to sit down, and plied me with all sorts of questions about the army, appearing rather pleased than otherwise when I failed to answer them.
A long pow-wow followed between the three doctors and was developing into a pretty hot wrangle whether my having obeyed the word of command was really a recurrence of memory or not, when the Baron intervened and I was sent back to his room with his subordinate.
"You have set them a difficult problem, Herr Lassen," he said to me when he joined me after some ten minutes; "and given me one also. But it will do no harm to postpone the decision about you for a few days, at any rate. You have no idea how you come to know the English words of command?"
I affected to think deeply. "Can I have been in the army there?" I asked, looking blankly at him.
He smiled and then nodded. "Yes, you are a deserter. Your report says that you joined it to obtain certain information."
"It's very odd, sir."
"Very," he replied a little drily. "It makes it a little difficult in regard to a suggestion Dr. Gorlitz threw out; he's the mental specialist, you know. He thinks it not improbable that if you were placed again in the surroundings immediately preceding the shock which deprived you of your memory, it would greatly facilitate its recovery. Perhaps your only chance of doing so. But you might not care to run such a risk. You should understand that I wish to help you in any way I can," he added kindly.
"I am very much obliged to you, sir. Of course it would be a risk, but my great wish is to get my memory back."
"Does that mean you would like to go back to England?"
I could scarcely believe my ears and tried to conceal my overwhelming delight under the cover of frowning consideration. "The risk wouldn't frighten me, sir."
"Very well. I'll see about it. That's about as far as we can get to-day; but there's one thing I should tell you. There is some one in Berlin who knows you and declares that your loss of memory is a mere pretence, and that you have assumed it because of some exceedingly sinister business in which you were involved a year or two ago."
I could smile at that sincerely. "Can you tell me his name?"
He paused a moment. "There will be no harm, if you keep it to yourself; I don't believe the story, but then I know the man too well. It is Count von Erstein."
"He's a scoundrel, I know that; but it may be the truth, of course."
"We won't discuss him," said the Baron, rising. "I only told you to put you on your guard because of the genuine interest I take in you;" and with that he shook hands and was sending me away, when I remembered my difficulty that morning about papers of identification. I explained it to him and he sent for von Welten and instructed him to do what was necessary.
I left the place feeling pretty much as any one would feel who had rubbed his back against a prison door and by the merest squeak escaped finding himself on the wrong side of the bars. The whole business baffled me. Knowing as I did so well the usual methods of German officialism, the Baron's treatment was incomprehensible; and rack my wits as I would, I could not hit on a clue to explain it.
And then the luck of it! Actually to be sent back to England with official credentials! I could have whooped for joy! But as it was already passed the time I was to lunch with von Erstein, I rushed back to the Falkenplatz, made sure of the little flat, and then cabbed it to von Erstein's address.
What a rotter the brute was, I reflected as I thought of the story he had already spread about me. He meant to make things hot for me and no mistake, and had lost no time in setting to work. And what a brick the old Count, to have given me that warning. If I had been going to stop in Berlin, I might have taken von Erstein's enmity seriously; but as it was I could afford to laugh at him, for a few days at the most would see both Nessa and me out of the country, if the luck only held.
I was so late in reaching the Gallenstrasse, where von Erstein had his sumptuous flat, that he had already begun lunch. "I'd given you up, Lassen," he said as I entered. "Thought something might have happened with old Gratz to detain you. He's a downy old bird. Sit there, will you. Everything all right?"
"Why shouldn't it be?" I knew what he meant.
He turned the question off and we talked about nothing in particular until lunch was over, except that every now and then he shot in a question which might have committed me if I had not been on my guard. But I had been through the mill so thoroughly that morning that the part I was playing had grown into my bones, so to speak.
"Now we can chat at our ease," he said as we settled into easy chairs. "Is it still your habit to smoke a cigarette before a cigar?" he asked, grinning, as he held the box toward me.
"Was that one of my habits, then?" I countered, declining the little trap.
"All right, you do it very well. Ought to be on the stage, on my word you ought," he said with a broader leer. "But now, let's get to grips. How do we two stand?"
"About what?"
"Don't fool about in that way. You know what I mean."
"I shall when you tell me."
"Do you want to have me for a friend or the other thing?"
"I told you yesterday I wasn't likely to quarrel with any one who has such influence as you have."
"And I told you that it would be a bad day's work for you if we did quarrel; and quarrel we shall if you try to beat about the bush, as you're doing now. I believe in plain talk; and you'd better bear that in mind, not only now but always."
"Then let me have some plain talk now."
"You shall," taking his cigar out and flicking off the ash. "I've only to utter a word or two and I can flick you out of my way as easily as I flicked that ash off. Mind that, too."
I laughed. "You have a pleasant way with you, von Erstein."
"I don't care a curse about pleasantness or unpleasantness. When I want a thing, I have it. And what I want now is that English girl at the von Reblings', and you'd better be careful not to get in my way about it."
"How am I likely to be in your way?"
"Because you're a relative of the von Reblings, my friend, and you're going to marry the fair Rosa, whom, by the way, I can tell you as an old hand you'll find a handful. But she likes the English girl and will try to influence you, and if I know her, as I certainly do, she'll succeed, if I don't stop it."
"Stop it? How?"
"By showing you on which side your bread has the butter. Now look here. I know a heap about you; quite enough to queer your pitch with the von Reblings and put an end to your engagement and lose you the coin on which you're counting. All this rot about a loss of memory is just——" and he waved his cigar in the air to emphasize his meaning.
"What do you know about me?"
"Oh, don't try that fool's game on me."
"But I should be intensely interested in the story. I'm itching to know all about myself," I persisted, seeing how this line provoked him.
"Where did you go from Göttingen, my young friend?" he asked with a meaning nod, as if the question would confound me.
"How the devil do I know?"
"You went to Hanover. You know that perfectly well."
"Did I? And do I? You're getting me regularly mixed, you know." I was delighted to see that he was fast losing his temper.
"You did. And when you were there you had a friend, who called himself Gossen; but was in reality a Frenchman, named Gaudet. Don't say you don't remember, because it will be a lie," he snarled.
"That's an ugly word, von Erstein."
"And the whole thing was an ugly business. He was a spy and wanted some secrets; you were able to find them out; and you were suddenly found to be in possession of a big sum of money. How did you get it?"
"Honestly, I hope," I answered with intentional flippancy.
"How did you get it? And how did you get the information, too? That's the question; and if you won't answer it, I can. But you'd better not force me to open my lips."
"I'm beginning to get awfully interested. Like a story, isn't it?" and I laughed.
"You'd better laugh while you can," he rapped, swearing viciously.
"Of course you mean I sold the information to the Frenchman and that that accounts for my having that sudden money."
"I not only mean it, I can prove it. Prove it, do you understand that?"
I gave him another grin and shook my head. "Some one's been pulling your leg, von Erstein. The whole thing's just bosh."
"It's no good, Lassen. I've got you here;" and he held out his hand and clenched it. "Here! And no wriggling humbug about loss of memory will help you to get out."
"I must be an infernal blackguard, then."
"That's the truest thing you've said since you came. It's just what you are; and the von Reblings ought to know it."
"You haven't told me how I got that valuable information yet. I should like to know that."
"If you'll let that lost memory of yours wake up for a second, just long enough to remember the name of Anna Hilden, you'll know all about it without a word from me." His sneering suggestive tone clearly showed that this was one of his trump cards, and he fixed his eyes on me, keenly watching for the effect.
"But my memory won't oblige me by waking up, you see. Had she anything to do with it?"
"To the devil with all your pretended innocence! You know she had, and that you induced her to worm it out of the man she was to have married, if you hadn't come in the road; just as you're trying now with me," he cried, scowling at me threateningly. "But you've got a man to deal with this time, not a woman, and the wrong sort of man too."
I dropped the bantering tone and answered seriously. "Of course all you say may be the gospel truth, but I give you my word that I haven't the faintest recollection of anything you've mentioned."
He laughed scornfully. "That's a lie," he growled with an oath.
I had had more than enough and I got up. "If this weren't your own place, I'd cram that word down your throat; and the next time we meet, wherever it is, I'll do it," I told him.
He seemed to understand that I meant it, and a change came over his face. "I'll take that back," he muttered. "Sit down again."
I didn't sit down, but I stopped. Either he was as arrant a coward as such a brute was likely to be and I had scared him, or some thought had struck him which accounted for the change.
He let his cigar drop; made a to-do in finding it, pitching it away, and lighting another; and it was an easy guess that all this was to gain time. Then he sat thinking, fiddling nervously with a very singular ring he wore on his middle finger. He saw me looking at it and, no doubt to get a little more time to think, he spoke of it.
"You're looking at this," he said, holding up the hand. I nodded, and he drew it off and handed it me. "It's a puzzle ring I picked up in China," he explained, showing how it was really a little chain of rings which fitted very ingeniously to form a single ring.
I examined it and, still to gain time, he told me to try and put it together. I did try and failed, and when he had thought out his problem, he took it back and showed me the fitting.
"I'm sorry I lost my temper just now, Lassen," he said in a very different tone from his former angry one. "It's always a fool's game. But I did really believe you were shamming about your memory. What I told you about the Hanover business is quite true, however, and the fact that you don't remember it, wouldn't make an atom of difference with our people. But now, what about the English girl?"
I hesitated a second and then resumed my seat. "I'm willing to listen to you," I said; and he couldn't keep the satisfaction out of his fat, tell-tale face. He reckoned that he had frightened me, of course.
"What are you going to do about her?" was his next question.
"Whatyouwant to do is the point, man."
"She's a spy and ought to be interned."
"And why are you so keen about that? You said a little while back that you wanted her; how's the internment going to help you there?"
"She'd be sent to Krustadt and the Commandant—— Never mind; you can leave the rest to me. You won't know anything."
I couldn't trust myself to speak for a time, I was so furious at the suggestiveness of the leering brute's words and manner. But there was probably more to learn yet, so I choked down my rage and at last even forced myself to nod and smile meaningly. "And my part?" I asked.
"Two things; both easy enough. Old Gratz has shoved a spoke in the wheel so far, curse him, and as you're in the house you can tell him you know I'm right that she is a spy and you can give him proofs."
"Proofs?" I echoed, with a start.
"I said proofs, didn't I? I'll give you some papers and you can plant one or two on her and give the rest to him saying you've found them in her room or somewhere. He'll be obliged to order a search then, and that'll do the trick."
"Confound the thing!" I exclaimed, jumping up and wringing my fingers as if I'd burnt them with my cigar.
"Here, take another," he said, and by the time I had lit it, I had myself in hand again.
"But if she was caught red-handed like that, she might be shot, and that wouldn't help you much."
"You leave that to me," he replied with a leer and a wink. "The question is, are you going to help me?"
"I don't like it, von Erstein, and that's the truth," I said.
"I didn't ask you that."
"And if I do help you?"
He put his fat finger to his lips. "Mum about that Hanover business."
"And if I don't?"
He paused, squinting hard at me. "I think you will."
I affected to consider the proposal. "But why take this roundabout trouble to get her? If you want to marry her, why not ask her?"
That touched his Teutonic sense of humour and he burst into loud and evidently genuine laughter. "Why didn't you marry Anna Hilden? Because you could get her without, wasn't it? Same here, of course."
"It comes to this, then," I said after a pause. "You think you know that I played the traitor in that Hanover business in a way that renders me liable to be shot; but that you're willing to hush it up if I'll help to put Miss Caldicott into your power. That about it?"
"Put it how you like," he growled, not relishing the bald statement. "But you'd better toe the line, my friend, and at once. Now, what are you going to do?"
"I'll toe the line, von Erstein."
He chuckled. "I thought you'd see wisdom," he sneered.
"Not quite as you think, however. What I'm going to do is"—and I paused—"to give you forty-eight hours to clear out of Berlin; and if I find you here then, I'll not only tell the von Reblings the whole of your confounded scheme, but I'll tell Baron von Gratz as well. And I'm thundering glad you've put that card in my hands."