"The dead white face—was that of the ill-fated King of Asturia.""The dead white face—was that of the ill-fated King of Asturia."
There lay the body of the King of Asturia without a doubt. The first painful shock of surprise over, Lechmere was his cool prudent self again. He knew that Loti was watching him, so it behoved him to be careful. He bent down and made a long examination of the body. He would have given much at this moment for a few words with Peretori, but the latter seemed to have vanished and apparently had repudiated any further responsibility after sending the telegram. But then perhaps Peretori was playing some game of his own.
"Do you know anything about this gentleman?" he asked of Loti.
The ragged peasant shrugged his shoulders indifferently. Obviously the man had no suspicions that he was so closely on the fringe of an international tragedy. He was quite sure that the disaster to the special had not come about by accident and he murmured something about socialists. So long as he was well paid for what he was doing, his services could be relied upon.
"There is more money for you, here," Lechmere said, placing the soundest argument before the peasant, "if you are silent. If you go to the police now they will ask awkward questions. And they will pay you nothing. Can you procure a plain coffin and convey the body by road to, say, Amiens?Only the coffin must be packed in another case so as to disguise what it is, and I will give you the name and address whereby I can pick up the case to-morrow. If you can do this thing for me I will pay you no less a sum than two thousand francs."
Loti's eyes gleamed. Such a sum was beyond his wildest dreams. It would make him independent for the rest of his life. He nodded eagerly.
"Well, that is settled," Lechmere proceeded. "Listen. Later on in the day I will give you the address to be placed on the case. Bring me back the receipt from the railway people at Amiens and the money is yours in cash, so that no suspicion need be excited. I will meet you here to-morrow at the same time. You quite understand?"
Loti nodded, his eyes were gleaming like stars. It was obvious that he understood perfectly. Lechmere made his way back to the cottage where he had obtained shelter, and there wrote a long letter to the Head of the Police in Paris. This he despatched by special parcel so that it would be delivered in the course of the afternoon. He waited till dark before setting out with the object of seeing Maxwell and Alexis. There was considerable danger in this course, seeing that Mazaroff was close at hand, and, above all things, Lechmere had no idea of being seen by the Russian.
That the train had been deliberately and wantonly wrecked with a view to preventing the journey of the king to Asturia, Lechmere knew quite well. To further their own design these people had taken no heed of human life, they had stopped at nothing. And yet their plan had not been carried out quite so successfully as they had hoped though a great meed of triumph had been theirs. No doubtMazaroff was hanging about the neighbourhood to report progress. But Mazaroff would be puzzled and rendered somewhat uneasy by the strange disappearance of the king. That he was dead the Russian could not possibly know or he would have visited Pierre Loti.
All these things Lechmere turned over in his mind as he made his way after dark to the cottage where Maxwell was lying. The primitive peasants who gave him shelter had already retired to bed, but the door had not been fastened, possibly topermit the visit of thedoctor. Lechmere cautiously opened the door and looked in. The common sitting-room of the family had been divided by a couple of sheets over a clothes-horse, and behind this Lechmere guessed that the patient lay, from the smell of carbolic on the sheets. Lechmere secured the door as a means of precaution, and passed behind the sheet. As he expected, Maxwell lay there.
His face was terribly bruised and battered, but the restless motion of his limbs testified to the fact that the nervous vitality was not greatly impaired. Maxwell opened a pair of languid eyes as Lechmere touched him on the shoulder.
"Go away," he said. "Why do you bother? There is nothing much the matter with me if I were not so terribly sleepy. I can't get my head right. I don't know what that peasant fellow is doing? I gave him all the money I had, too. What's the matter?"
Maxwell's eyes suddenly changed, he identified Lechmere with a smile of pleasure.
"I felt quite sure that you would turn up," he whispered. "Was I successful? Did I bafflethem? But you don't know anything about that or about the king——"
"Indeed I do," Lechmere hastened to reply. "I know everything. The king is dead, because I have seen his body. And by this time the little plot has been successful. The king has not returned to his capital, and it will be understood by his people that he has taken advantage of the accident to go off on one of his dissipated excesses, and the revolution will be in full blast."
"But those people don't know that the king is dead?" Maxwell asked eagerly.
"They don't. You worked that business very cleverly. And Peretori must have been pretty near, for he sent me a cablegram telling me what to do. I found your Pierre Loti. He shewed me the body of the king covered with straw in his cottage. Did you manage all that?"
"I did," Maxwell said, not without a smile. "When the accident happened it came to me like a flash that the whole thing had been brought about by design. Our carriage was literally smashed to pieces and we were thrown on the permanent way. The engine-driver and stoker were killed, so I and Alexis managed to stagger as far as the engine. The king lay perfectly motionless and I felt that I was going to collapse. It was at this point that Pierre Loti came up. I gave him all the money I had in my pocket to get the king out of the way and say nothing till he heard from me again. I should say that he has obeyed instructions."
"To the letter," Lechmere said. "The king is dead, he must have been killed on the spot. I compliment you sincerely on the manner in which you contrived to keep this thing a secret. So longas the foe are in ignorance of the full measure of their success we have a chance. And I have made arrangements for the king to be conveyed to England secretly, Mazaroff is still hanging about here on the off chance of picking something up."
"Which he will not do. But what has become of our new ally, Peretori?"
"That I can't say," Lechmere replied. "Though I have a pretty shrewd idea. But it is useless to speak of that just now. What does the doctor say is the matter with you?"
"Shock, and yet I feel quite well at times. I can't keep my eyes open. I have the strange sensation of being drugged. I am so thirsty that I have to have a big jug of lemonade always by my side as you see. I am as tired as a dog again now."
And Maxwell closed his eyes. There was the sound of a step outside the cottage and the door opened very cautiously. With a sudden instinct Lechmere passed at the back of the sheets into the glow beyond just in time to avoid Mazaroff, who was the newcomer. Holding the sheet slightly back, Lechmere could see exactly what was taking place. He saw Maxwell lying as if in a heavy sleep, he saw the sinister smile that came over Mazaroff's face. The longer the protectors of the absent king lay there helpless so much the better for Mazaroff and his party. The Russian took a little bottle from his pocket and proceeded to drop a few spots from it into Maxwell's lemonade. With the same sinister smile on his face he crept away in the direction of the door. Was he carrying on the same game with Alexis, Lechmere wondered, or was some confidante doing the work?
Lechmere looked grim rather than angry, as he followed the Russian into the open air. He was going to see if the experiment was destined to be repeated on Alexis. It would be the last time, Lechmere told himself, for he had that morning put a spoke in Mazaroff's wheel which ought to stop the coach at any moment. Near the little village hotel to which the Russian made his way two official looking men were standing, a blue paper in the hand of one of them. One of them stepped up and bowed profoundly.
"Prince Mazaroff," he said. "Surely I have the honour. Ah, I thought so. You will consider yourself my prisoner in the interests of the Criminal Department of Paris. It is the warrant that I hold in my hand. You will have to come with me to Paris."
Mazaroff swore and threatened. He would like to know something of the charge. As the charge was read over his bluster and threats subdued to a little cry of dismay.
"It is a case of mistaken identity," he said. "Where are you going to take me? To Paris? It is very unfortunate, but circumstances are too strong for me, and I yield."
Mazaroff was disposed of at any rate for the present. Lechmere's letter to the Chief of the Police in Paris had not been futile. He was pretty well posted with the life story of the man who called himself Prince Mazaroff, who, in point of fact, was one of the greatest scoundrels of his time. Under another name the French police had long wanted him for an old offence, and Lechmere had been in a position to supply the missing details and facts foridentification. Besides, the head of the Paris police was an old acquaintance of Lechmere's and valued his opinion highly. Thus it was that no time was lost in tying Mazaroff by the heels after receipt of Lechmere's letter. Mazaroff was a cunning enough scoundrel, but he had more than his match in the old queen's messenger. The coast was quite clear now.
Nothing was in the way of taking the body of the unfortunate king back to England. Nobody must know that he had died, at least not for the present. The secret was valuable for the moment. Of course the queen must be told, and General Maxgregor, but nobody else. It was early the next morning that Lechmere saw both Alexis and Maxwell and found them going on well. He explained briefly to both what had happened.
"You will both be about again in a day or two,"he said. "Meanwhile it exactly suits the position of affairs for you to be here as invalids who are incapable of seeing anybody. But I have arranged with the doctor to keep the gentleman of the pencil at bay. You know nothing, you are capable of no opinion, you are utterly indifferent as to what has become of the king. Obviously he has escaped somewhere or his body would have been found. I fancy you understand."
There was no reason to repeat the question. With an easy mind, Lechmere made the best of his way back to London. With the aid of a few cigars, he worked the matter out to the end. He could see his way to damp the pretty scheme of Countess Saens and also regain possession of those papers. Nor would he shew his hand in the matter at all. The thing would cause a little sensation in London perhaps, there would be complications partaking of an international character, but there it would end.
Lechmere drove straight with his gruesome burden to the rooms occupied by General Maxgregor. He found the latter considerably better and ready for work again. The flesh wound in the old soldier's shoulder had quite healed up, that fine constitution made little of the loss of blood.
"The very man I have been longing to see," Maxgregor cried. "When I heard that you were not in London, I felt sure that you were following that strange matter up. Was it an accident?"
"Of course not," Lechmere said with fine contempt. "Did you suppose for a moment that it was? The thing was planned and accomplished by Mazaroff. Who his confederates were does not matter for the moment. At any rate he managed it. It would never do to let the king reach Asturia.But there was one thing they did not reckon on—the disappearance."
"The luck that ever follows the foolish," Maxgregor growled. "The only man uninjured. He takes the first opportunity to get away from his gaolers. In his callous way, heedless of the fact that they are badly hurt, he takes a carriage and goes to Paris. He has no money, but the King of Asturia can always raise that in the French capital. Am I right?"
"No, you are quite wrong," Lechmere said gravely. "The king is dead. I have his body with me at the present moment. Mind you, nobody knows anything about it. But perhaps I had better explain to you how we managed to keep the tragic affair a secret."
Maxgregor listened eagerly to Lechmere's story. His grave face was tinged with deep melancholy.
"That is very sad," he said. "It will be a dreadful blow to the queen. After all she has gone through and suffered it will break her heart to know that Asturia will fall to Russia in spite of everything."
"Asturia is not going to fall into the hands of Russia," Lechmere said drily. "Cunning as those people are, we are going to be one too many for them. After all said and done, nobody outside our little circle knows that the king is dead. I will explain presently. Meanwhile the king must be buried. We must get a certificate without delay. When the time comes the story can be made public."
"It will be difficult to get a certificate from an ordinary doctor," said Maxgregor.
"I grant your point, my friend. But we can get a certificate from Dr. Varney, who attended theking on and off for years during the time he visited London. And Varney often warned the king that any shock might be his end. I should say that he died of the shock. Any way we'll get Varney in and ask his opinion. Have you a room that you can spare? If so we will complete my gruesome task and lock the body carefully away. Get your man off the premises."
The whole thing was managed at length, and a little later and then Varney came in. He made a long and careful examination of the body before he gave his verdict.
"There is nothing broken," he said. "The cause of death has nothing to do with violence. Of that I am certain. This sudden fright acting on a heart all to pieces and nerves like brown paper did the mischief. The shock stopped the heart and the King of Asturia died. There is nothing to prevent my saying that I was called in here to see the body of the King of Asturia and that I certified that shock was the cause of death. I am so sure of it that even had the patient been a common man, I should have certified that there was no cause for an inquest."
"So that we may get the body buried without delay?" Maxgregor asked.
"Well, I should say not," the cautious Varney said. "I am perhaps stretching a medical point and I do not want to get myself into further trouble. For political reasons we do not want the public to know that the King of Asturia is dead. I am prepared to swear as to what killed him. But kings are not buried like ordinary bodies, they are generally embalmed. In the course of a few days the sad news may be made public and then thebody can be taken to Asturia and buried in state. The embalmers need not know of the high rank of their subject."
Varney was absolutely right, as Lechmere saw at once. Besides, if his calculations were correct, the sad news would be made public very soon now. People would ask questions but they need not be answered. There was nothing for it now but to break the news to the queen.
"I think I'll get you to do that," Lechmere said to Maxgregor. "You are such an old friend and you can speak to the queen in tones that I should not venture to address to her. But it will be all right so far as Asturia is concerned—Russia is going to fail there. And you and I and one or two others will go down to the grave holding one of the most romantic and wildest political secrets that has ever taken place in Europe. Good luck to you, my friend."
Maxgregor went off at once to the queen's hotel. He found her, to his surprise, not in the least gloomy or anxious; on the contrary there was a fine smile on her face.
"I have been longing for you," she said. "If you had not come to me, positively I must have invaded your rooms. Have you heard the good news—I mean the good news of the king?"
Maxgregor looked with some alarm at the royal speaker. Thoughts of a brain unhinged by trouble rose before him. Evidently the queen had taken leave of her senses.
"The good news," he stammered. "Margaret, there is no good news. Somebody has been cruelly deceiving you. You must be prepared to hear that which is bad, very bad."
"But the king escaped," the queen cried. "He escaped from the wrecked train and made his way secretly and swiftly to our capital. It was perhaps the one unselfish and manly action of his life. He was bruised and battered but he was sufficiently himself to meet his ministers. Tomani has cabled me."
"Impossible!" Maxgregor cried. "Madame, the king is dead. He was killed in that accident. Mr. Charles Maxwell, though sorely hurt himself, managed to get the body conveyed to a place of safety so that nobody should know, and the body has been brought to England. Mr. Lechmere managed it in the most wonderful way. The body is at present in my rooms safely under lock and key. I have seen it, Mr. Lechmere has of course seen it, and so has Dr. Varney, who is prepared to certify that the cause of death was shock to the system. I came here on purpose to bring you the ill tidings. I pray you be buoyed up with no hopes on such a fallacy as this. If you like to come and see for yourself——"
The queen passed her hand across her brows in a bewildered sort of way. At the same time she took up a grey cablegram from the table by her side.
"Listen to what Tomani says," she cried. "Listen—'King here safe but knocked about from the result of his accident. Met him myself. Is at present in consultation with ministers. Will let your majesty know result of deliberations as soon as settled. Tomani.' Paul, what does it mean?"
But for once in his life General Maxgregor was incapable of reply.
Maxgregor made no reply for a moment. It flashed across his mind that some person or persons were playing a cruel hoax on the queen.
But a moment's reflection served to show that such a thing was impossible. In the first place the telegram was in thecypherused by the queen in communicating with Tomani, the only really faithful friend she possessed in the councils of the government party of Asturia. And Tomani's honour was beyond question.
The queen was first to speak. She crossed over and laid a shaking hand on Maxgregor's arm.
"You must be mistaken," she said. "Unless Tomani—but not for a moment do I doubthim. I trust him as implicitly as I trust yourself. And yet you say—you say——"
"That the king is dead, madame. The king was killed in the disaster that happened to his special train between here and Paris. Mind you, nobody knows of this with the exception of the faithful few into whose hands you would place your life safely. As a matter of fact the disaster was no accident at all, it was deliberately brought about by Countess Saens and Prince Mazaroff for their own ends. The miscreants disappeared and I am afraid that we shall not have the satisfaction of laying them by the heels. The driver and stoker of the train were killed so that it is impossible toobtain their testimony. Captain Alexis and Mr. Charles Maxwell escaped by a miracle, though they are both badly knocked about. It was Mr. Maxwell who saved the situation and contrived to get the body of the king smuggled away."
"But the telegram, General, the telegram?" the queen cried. "Tomani says that the king is in our capital closeted with ministers. Perhaps at this very moment——"
"But, madame, I assure you that the king is no more," Maxgregor protested. "There is some strange maddening mystery here that will be explained in time. I say the king is dead, if necessary I am prepared to prove that to you. The body was smuggled away so that Russia should have no pretext for interfering. It was essential that they should not know what had happened, for the present at any rate. They must not know till we can get Prince Alix on the scene."
"You are assuming a thing that you can prove?" the queen asked hoarsely.
"Indeed I am, madame. Try and realise the fact that your sway is ended. It expires with the life of the king as you know. Therefore, we must put all private feeling aside and strain every nerve to get Prince Alix to Asturia before the Russians learn what has happened. Once Prince Alix is nominated to the succession, Russia is powerless. Do you follow me?"
"I should follow you better if I were certain that you were telling me hard facts, General."
"Heaven only knows that I am, madame. That the king is dead is beyond question. Let me finish what I am going to say. I have had everything from Lechmere. He had a mysterious messagefrom Prince Peretori urging him to go at once to the scene of the disaster. He was told to visit the cottage of a certain peasant and give proofs of his identity. There he saw the body of the king hidden away. The body was brought back to England, and at present it is locked in one of my rooms. I have seen it, Lechmere has seen it, so has Dr. Varney."
The queen passed her hand across her forehead with a gesture of despair.
"It is all bewildering and so confusing, so sudden!" she cried. "You come to me and tell me this a few minutes after the receipt of Tomani's telegram."
"I do not wish to be hard or unkind," Maxgregor interrupted. "But I must ask you for the present to forget that telegram. That side of the mystery will doubtless be cleared up in time. What most concerns us now is the king and the fact that his death must be concealed from everybody until we have had time to communicate with Prince Alix. Of your dream and mine we can say nothing; that is shattered. Our whole energies too must be devoted to the task of defeating Russia. And the king has to be buried, you understand."
"But that cannot be done without necessary formalities," the queen protested. "In England——"
"Yes, I know that in England they do things differently to what they do abroad. But most fortunately, we have Dr. Varney on our side. He attended the king, he is prepared to certify that death was the result of a shock and that nothing in the way of an inquest was necessary. Officially, the doctor is not supposed to know anything about the railway accident. He is not bound to speakof what has happened until officially, you, as royal consort, see fit to announce to the world that King Erno of Asturia is no more. Varney suggests that the body be embalmed and conveyed to Asturia for burial. You see everything plays for our hand if we can only be bold and do not lose our opportunities."
The queen made no reply for a little time, she paced up and down the room lost in thought. A kingdom had slipped through her fingers, all her darling ambition had fallen suddenly to the ground. The cup of humiliation was full to the brim and she had to drink it to the dregs. And yet through it all was the consolation that peace and quietness henceforth would be her portion. She had been tried beyond her strength of late.
"Paul," she said, with a gentle sweetness that surprised Maxgregor. "I place myself entirely in your hands. I have done more than a woman's portion and I have failed. The fact that I knew that I should fail from the first does not render my humiliation any the less bitter. The king is dead, and for his own sake and mine I do not regret it. My married life has been a nightmare, I am glad that it is over. How can I grieve for this thing when I remember what I have suffered? Henceforth I take no part in politics—that is, after we have successfully placed Alix on a firm throne. The people will follow him as they never would have followed me, devoted as I was to their interests. When you came in I was getting ready to start for Asturia. I was going to travel incognito and let it be understood that I was still in England. And that splendid girl Jessie Harcourt was coming with me. It is just as well that she should be out of theway for some little time, and her courage and devotion are splendid."
Before Maxgregor could make any reply, Jessie came into the room. She was quietly dressed in black and evidently ready for a journey. At the sight of the queen's pale face and the presence of Maxgregor she started and backed towards the door. The queen detained her.
"This is no private conversation," she said, "at least not so far as you are concerned. I should like you to know everything, for I feel how implicitly I can trust you. General Maxgregor brings some startling news. News so strange that I would not believe it for a time. He says the king is dead."
"Dead!" Jessie exclaimed. "But that telegram, madame. Surely your friend Tomani——?"
"Is beyond reproach. Nor can I believe that anybody has obtained access to my private cypher. And yet the king is dead. The General will tell you all about that."
Maxgregor reported his story over again, Jessie listening with dilated eyes. How many ages ago, she wondered, since she was filling her dreary routine duties in Bond Street. But she seemed to have left that old life behind her years ago. She was piecing the puzzle together as Maxgregor spoke. At the name of Peretori a sudden light flashed in upon her.
"Prince Peretori," she cried. "It was Prince Peretori who sent that mysterious telegram to Mr. Lechmere. Then the Prince must have known all about it, I meanafterthe accident. And Prince Peretori was the man who impersonated the king for the sake of a bet and then foolishly played into the hands of Countess Saens and the rest of them.It was he who passed himself off to the Editor of theMercuryas King of Asturia. Surely you can see what has happened?"
"I wish I did," Maxgregor muttered. "It would simplify matters wonderfully."
"Why, the problem is already solved," said Jessie. "Prince Peretori was sincerely sorry for the part he had played. He said he would do his best to make amends. Ah, he is far cleverer in his frivolous way than you give him credit for. He foresaw something of this and hung in disguise on the track of the king. He was not far off when the accident took place. And thus he was on his way when he was assured of the fact that the king was dead. Once more he played the part of the King of Asturia. He made up as the king, he would probably use a few bandages and a discoloured face so as to make detection absolutely impossible. The king was expected in his capital and the prince went there instead. Hence the telegram from Tomani who had not detected the imposture. By this time you may be sure that Prince Alix is on the spot. It is the old story of the comedy man who comes forward at the crisis and saves the play."
"She is right," Maxgregor shouted. "For a millionshe has hit the right nail on the head."
There was no reason to say any more. Both listeners felt that the situation was saved; they felt, too, that Jessie was absolutely right. Her logic lacked no force, because it was so clear and simple. The queen paused in her agitated walk and crossed towards the door.
"That is settled, then," she said. "My dear friend here has solved the problem. But there is yet much to be done before we are safe and Asturia is preserved from the grip of the wolf. I should like to see the king."
Maxgregor had no objection to make. Perhaps on the whole it would be better for the queen to be quite sure that he told no more than the truth. It was a sufficiently sad hour that followed before the queen returned to her hotel again. She was hardly back before Lord Merehaven was announced. His easy air vanished as he entered the room, he looked very old and agitated. There was just a wild gleam in his eyes as his gaze fell on Jessie.
"I have been hearing strange things, madame," he said. "My niece has been confessing the truth. So it was this young lady who was responsible for so many of the startling events of the other night. Not that I propose to recognise that I am in anyway——"
"For Heaven's sake, forget that you are a diplomat and a minister for once, my lord," the queensaid. "This is a matter that closely touches your personal honour and mine. I beg you to believe that I did not know of the change of identity till this young lady accompanied me here from your house. Surely you must recognise her bravery and courage, that she ran all these risks merely to help one whom she had never seen before. It was a strange position for a lady——"
"An impossible position for a lady," Merehaven said drily.
"I think not," the queen said, just a little coldly. "It was done on the spur of the moment. If your niece has told you everything, surely you must be aware of that."
"My niece has told me everything, madame," Merehaven went on. "She had planned a desperate enterprise to save the man she loved and she wanted to so place it that she could leave the house all the while her friends could testify that she had not gone beyond the front door. And Vera came very near to success——"
"Very near to success!" the queen cried. "Shedidsucceed. She obtained possession of those missing papers. It is true that she lost them again, but they passed out of the possession of Countess Saens and thus deprived her of one of her most powerful weapons. The bold attempt to free Mr. Maxwell from blame——"
"Mr. Maxwell was not in the least to blame, as matters turned out," Merehaven explained. "Captain Lancing was the culprit all through. Mr. Maxwell was foolish in his little flirtation with the Countess—which by the way she forced upon him—gave colour to his guilt. It was Maxwell's wild endeavour to save Lancing that brought suspicionon him, but I shall be able to satisfy Maxwell's chiefs that he has nothing to ask forgiveness for when the time comes. As a matter of fact a letter written by Captain Lancing before he committed suicide has come to hand and he takes all the blame."
"But this need not become public property," the queen said.
"It is not going to become public property," Merehaven said. "We shall let the rumour die. We shall assume that the whole thing was merely a foolish newspaper canard. All the same there were papers stolen and theydidpass into CountessSaens'shands. And Count Gleikstein is acting as if he knew the contents and as if he had possession of the papers. Probably it is only bluff, but it is giving me a deal of anxiety."
"You mean that you cannot feel quite certain whether or not those papers are in the hands of the Count or not?" Jessie asked. "He is acting as if he possessed them?"
"You are an exceedingly clever young lady," Merehaven smiled. "That is exactly the point. I have a wonderfully shrewd man to deal with and he is puzzling me utterly. If he has not the papers and I can prove it, then I can afford to laugh and affect ignorance. Whereas——"
"Perhaps I had better tell you exactly how things stand," the queen remarked. "You need not know anything of this officially as yet, but the more fully you are posted the better for your fight with Count Gleikstein. I am going to tell you a story that will astonish you, diplomat as you are."
The queen did not boast. Merehaven was unaffectedly astonished and showed it. He walkedup and down the room muttering to himself as he walked.
"Did ever anybody ever hear anything so amazing," he said. "If I could only be sure now what has become of those stolen papers. Does anybody guess where they are?"
"I can't go as far as that," Jessie said. "But I can guess who does know. I fully believe that lost secret will be found in the possession of Mr. Lechmere."
Merehaven gave a grunt of delight. The moody frown passed away from his face. "You really are a very clever young lady," he said. "I suppose when the time comes to smooth out things I shall have to forgive you for the part you have played. But your suggestion as to Lechmere is brilliant, distinctly brilliant. I'll go to him at once."
The early edition of the evening papers was once more full of the affairs of Asturia, and the newsboys were proclaiming the fact as they ran along before Merehaven. It was quite clear from the rumours emanating from the Asturian capital that the enemy had no real grip as yet of the true position of things. King Erno was back again in his capital once more, he had met his disaffected ministers frankly and openly for once in his life, and he was prepared to place himself entirely in the hands of his advisers. He admitted that he had not been a model monarch in his time, but then, physically and intellectually, he was not fit for so exalted a position. If there was any question of his successor, he should like to name Prince Alix, whom he had every reason to believe was close at hand.
Merehaven chuckled as he walked along reading all this from aTelephone. Once Prince Alix acceptedthe successor, Russia would be beaten. And that they should be so innocent as to stand by when, had they known it, all the cards were in their hands was a piece of diplomatic success that pleased Merehaven exceedingly. He even forgot his troubles over those evening papers and the battle with Gleikstein.
Lechmere was not at home, but he had left directions that if anybody desired to see him particularly he was to be found for the next hour or so at the Orient Club, and thither Merehaven made his way. He found Lechmere reading an evening paper and smoking a long black cigar as if he were one of the most idle and purposeless men in the world. But as he glanced up at Merehaven's face he saw that the latter knew everything. He laid his paper aside and drew Merehaven into a corner.
"I suppose you have heard the amazing story, my lord?" he asked.
Merehaven replied that he had nothing to acquire in that direction. He plunged immediately into his subject. He could be very direct and to the point if he chose.
"That is why I came to you," he said in conclusion. "Is it not possible that you can give me a real helping hand in the direction of recovering those confounded papers?"
"I think that I can be of material assistance to you and that before very long," Lechmere smiled. "I have laid the match to a carefully prepared mine and the explosion may take place at any moment. You see I take a considerable interest in the career of international adventurers, and the careers of both Prince Mazaroff and Countess Saens interest me exceedingly. I hinted to you that ifthe continental police liked to follow certain things up it would be awkward for the lady. As to the gentleman, I gave such information about him as led to his arrest and subsequent detention in Paris. Unless I am greatly mistaken, he will not trouble the world much for the next few years. Now it so happens that I also desire to have the Countess Saens out of the way for a space. There are certain possessions of hers that I desire to examine. So I have found the means."
"Will that bring those papers into sight, though?" Merehaven asked.
Lechmere rather thought that it would. He was proceeding to explain when an excited man rushed into the smoking-room evidently primed and bursting with some fine piece of scandal. He pounced upon the two acquaintances in the window as proper recipients of the news.
"The latest, the very latest," he cried. "Who on earth would have thought it? A fine woman like that with a good position and any amount of money. Who do I mean? Why, Countess Saens. Arrested by the police as she was getting into her carriage and taken to Bow Street like a common thief. Charged with forgery or something of that kind. What?"
Lechmere rose very quietly from his seat and pitched his cigar into the grate.
"Come along," he whispered. "There is no time to be lost. Unless I am grievously out in my calculations, those papers will be in your hands before the hour is up."
Lord Merehaven followed Lechmere eagerly down the steps of the club. He was anxious and excited now as any schoolboy with the prospect of a last holiday before him. The diplomatist became merged in the mere man. He plied Lechmere with questions.
"I think that we had better have a cab," said the latter. "In the first instance we have to go as far as General Maxgregor's rooms. After that we will proceed to the residence of Countess Saens. Yes, you are quite right. It was I who supplied the police with the information that led up to this sensational arrest."
"Pity you had not done it before," Merehaven spluttered, as he jammed his top hat in the door of the hansom. "It would have saved a wonderful lot of trouble."
Lechmere demurred. He had known for some time a great deal of the past of the woman who was known to society as Countess Saens. As a matter of fact he had bided his time, little dreaming how soon it would be necessary to make use of his information.
"I think I told you before who the woman was," he said. "Or was it General Maxgregor? Anyway, it does not in the least matter. For my part, I rather regret the necessity for putting this woman out of the way. It is far better to keep such peopleunder observation and thus keep in touch with one's enemies. But I could see no other way."
"But you won't frighten her into speaking," Merehaven said.
"Of course we shan't. She has too much pluck for that. I want to get her out of the way because it is desirable to search her house for the missing papers without suspicion of our designs. And we are going to find the papers there sure enough."
"Surely you must be mistaken," Merehaven protested. "If the countess still has the papers, she would have handed them over to Count Gleikstein, who would have made profit over them. She would have given us no quarter like he is doing now."
"I did not say that the countess had the papers," Lechmere said drily. "I said they were in the house, which is quite a different matter. But here we are at Maxgregor's."
Maxgregor was out as the hall porter-valet Robert told Lechmere. But the latter did not seem in the least disappointed. He proceeded up the stairs to the general's rooms, intimating that Robert had better follow him. The man did so wondering, but he had no anxiety for himself yet. Lechmere wanted to go into the general's bedroom, he also wanted to see the suit of dress clothes worn by the general on the night of his return from Lady Merehaven's reception. With some little demur Robert produced the garments in question from a wardrobe. Lechmere smiled with an air of easy triumph as he produced a flat packet of papers from the dress coat pocket.
"Exactly as I expected," he murmured to Lord Merehaven. "This is the dress suit worn by the king when he was smuggled into your house bythe queen and her tiring woman on the night of the reception. As I have told you before, Maxgregor escaped in the king's clothes. In these clothes was the Deed of Abdication ready for signature as handed to the king byMazaroff. If you will open that packet you will see whether I am wrong or not."
Lechmere was not wrong, it was the Deed of Abdication right enough. Very grimly Lord Merehaven placed it in a position of safety. It was a strong weapon that Lechmere had afforded for his next interview with Count Gleikstein.
"I felt quite certain that we should find it," Lechmere said. "And now let us proceed a stage further. Where is General Maxgregor's telephone, Robert?"
Robert explained that the telephone was in the next room. The servant seemed a little easier in his mind as he led the way to the sitting-room. Then Lechmere closed the door and looked at the man keenly.
"You are going to do something for me, Robert," he said. "Be so good as to call up No. 99996 Belgravia. Ah, I see that the number is well known to you. I have every reason to believe that you have called up that number many times before. Now listen to me and do exactly what I tell you or you may make the acquaintance of the inside of a gaol before long. You are going to help me to find certain papers which, though you may not be a party to stealing them, you know all about them and their value and the like."
"I am sure that I don't know what you mean, sir," Robert said sulkily.
"Then it will be necessary for me to refresh your memory, Robert. I mean those papers that youwere discussing the other night with Annette—the night you had the champagne supper at CountessSaens'shouse. The papers returned by the policeman, you know, found by him in Piccadilly. You and Annette were going to sell them and buy a boarding-house in Brook Street with the proceeds. I think it would be far better for you to recollect, Robert."
The valet-porter collapsed without further signs of fight. There was nothing of the born conspirator about him. He was no more or less than a tolerably dishonest London servant. He was quite ready to do anything that Mr. Lechmere asked him.
"Then call up 99996 and ask for Annette," Lechmere said curtly. "Say that you must see her at once here without the slightest delay. No occasion to explain the reason. Then you can hang the receiver up quietly as if you were cut off, so that the young woman has no time to ask questions. After that you will come with me in my cab. It won't be gallant conduct so far as Annette is concerned but I can't help that. You can make the best of your explanations later on."
"What do you want that fellow for?" Merehaven asked, as Robert proceeded to carry out his instructions.
Lechmere replied that he had no need whatever of Robert's services, but that he had not the smallest intention of leaving him there to sound the note of alarm over the telephone directly they had gone. Lord Merehaven had not seen this point, it would have escaped him. But Lechmere was not in the habit of leaving his pawns unaccounted for like that. He listened close by the telephone till he heard the small distant voice of Annette saying that she wouldcome round at once, then he jerked up the receiver and rang off connection sharply.
"Now come along," he said. "By the time we reach the residence of Countess Saens, Annette will be well on her way here, indeed we shall probably pass her in the cab. For the sake of our friend Robert it will be necessary to take a four-wheeler this time. Come along."
Lechmere proved to be perfectly correct as to the meeting of Annette on her way to keep the appointment. The cab pulled up not too close to the countess' residence and Lechmere alighted, bidding Lord Merehaven wait until he returned. As he expected, the house was in the hands of the police pending the arrival of the owner's agent, who had been telegraphed for. The inspector in charge was an old acquaintance of Lechmere's and seemed glad to see him.
"Bit of a sensation, this, Roscoe," Lechmere said guardedly. "But one never knows, do they?"
Roscoe smiled with the air of a man who was used to these surprises. He intimated that this was going to be a big business, there would be a formal remand applied for, and after that the foreign police proposed to take a hand in the matter.
"Have you had the house searched yet?" Lechmere asked. "No? Well, you'd better get a warrant. As a matter of fact the countess is a brilliant political spy and there may be things here well worth the inspection of the British Government. Don't say I didn't give you the tip. I suppose you don't mind my going over the house. I may see something worth noting."
Roscoe had no objection whatever. Lechmere made an elaborate pretence of inspecting the roomand then he strolled up to the servants' quarters in a casual way. This was Annette's room sure enough. Lechmere remembered Peretori's description well enough to recollect that. And on the wall high up was a plaster cast of a crucifix with a figure extended upon it. Lechmere listened a moment to make quite sure that nobody was about, then he climbed up with the aid of a chair. As he had expected, the back of the cast was hollow and in the cavity was a bundle of papers. Without the slightest feeling of excitement he untied the tape that fastened them, glanced his eyes over the contents, and walked down stairs again. He nodded to Roscoe as he passed out.
"Nothing so far as I can see," he said. "Don't forget to apply for a search warrant."
He dismissed the four-wheeler in the street and told Robert curtly to go about his business. He had no further use for the valet-porter. The task was done.
"Well?" Merehaven asked eagerly. "Well? One can judge nothing from your face."
"Good thing for me," Lechmere said imperturbably. "But what do you think of this? There are your papers."
And Merehaven was only too glad to admit that Lechmere was right.
It was late the next afternoon before Maxwell arrived in London. He was still feeling ill and shaky, but there was hope in his heart now, for Lechmere's telegram recalling him had given him reason to believe that everything was perfectly settled. He dressed and walked as quickly as he could to Lord Merehaven's house. He had been instructed to do so by Lechmere's telegram. He was a little surprised and confused to find Lord Merehaven shaking him cordially by the hand and inviting him to sit down.
"Everything has been explained," Merehaven said. "You were a little foolish, Charles, but I don't see that you were in the least to blame. We are all foolish where pretty women are concerned. We know now how the countess tried to drag you into the business, in fact Lancing had left a letter explaining everything and absolutely exonerating you from blame. Of course Vera did not know of it when she set out on her dangerous mission, and left that splendid creature Jessie Harcourt to take her place. It does one good to know that this old country can produce such girls. Nobody knows anything, not even as to Lancing's letter or of the death of the King of Asturia. It is all settled."
"Except as to those missing papers," Maxwell said, suppressing a tendency to laugh hysterically.
"The papers are recovered," Merehaven chuckled as he proceeded to explain. "I have seen Count Gleikstein to-day and I fancy that he will respect me a little more in the future. We have won all along the line. And the news from Asturia is good. Of course we in the secret know how that matter has been arranged—that Prince Peretori played poor King Erno's part and posed as the king. Everybody believes that Erno has abdicated in favour of Prince Alix, who is in the capital of Asturia, where he was crowned yesterday with the acclamations of the people. Peretori is on his way back to England and before nightfall the papers will have it that he has reached London. The papers will also say that he went at once to the rooms of General Maxgregor and that he was looking shockingly ill. All this had been arranged, you understand. To-morrow all London will be grieved to hear that the king passed quietly away in the night at the general's rooms. That is all right because the body is there and Dr. Varney will give the necessary certificate. Those who wish to be sure will see the body for themselves. And I don't forget how carefully you managed that business, my boy, at a time when you were knocked about in that accident. The thing is a most extraordinary romance, one of the strangest affairs that ever happened in Europe. But Europe will never know it and the world will be the poorer for one of the finest plays ever left unwritten. I forgot to say that I probably vindicated your character in the House of Lords last night. I stretched my conscience a bit, but it had to be done. And now I am going to give you a few days' holiday.Let me get back to my papers again. Oh, I forgot to say that Lady Merehaven wants to speak to you. You will find her in the drawing-room, I think."
Lord Merehaven fairly hustled his young guest out of the room without waiting for any further thanks. His step was lighter and his eyes more sparkling than it had been for some days. All the same, he drew back a little as he saw that Vera Galloway was waiting for him alone.
"My aunt had to go out," she said demurely. "She will not be long, Charlie. Oh, my dear boy, how foolish you have been, and how splendidly you atoned for your folly."
Charles Maxwell felt his heart beating a little faster. He advanced with hands extended.
"So you have forgiven me," he cried. "I had hardly hoped for this, Vera. And yet I did nothing. It was no more than a silly piece of vanity. But when I found that Lancing was in deadly earnest——"
"I don't think we need discuss it," Vera said quietly. "Naturally you took the countess to be an honest woman, you had no idea that she was a mere adventuress. What started me on the track was a letter which found its way into my hands by mistake. There was no time to lose, but I could not find you. I could not find Captain Lancing also. You see, I dared not take anybody into my confidence, for there was always the chance that you were implicated. Then I thought of what Ronald Hope had said about the shop girl who was so like me—you see I happened to know who she was. The scheme flashed into my mind and I put it into operation at once. I would go and steal those papers becauseI had a pretty good idea where to find them. I knew my way about that house as well as I know about this one. And I was successful beyond my wildest dreams.... The rest I have just heard from my uncle. My dear Charlie, what a tale we could tell Europe if we only chose."
But Charlie Maxwell refused to say any more about it. He had had a good lesson and he was going to take it to heart. Meanwhile all was well that ended well, he said. It was a very delicious half hour that passed before a footman announced Miss Jessie Harcourt.
The girls looked wonderfully alike as they stood side by side and Maxwell was fain to admit it. He saw Jessie's eyes gleam and the colour come into her face as Ronald Hope entered. He advanced at once and shook him cordially by the hand.
"'Be you as pure as snow, and as chaste as ice, thou shalt not escape calumny,'" he quoted. "I know there was nothing wrong as far as you were concerned, Maxwell. And Lancing either. They tell me his gambling debts turned his mind, poor fellow. And there were no papers missing after all."
"Not as far as I am concerned," Maxwell said grimly. "The fellows at the club——"
"Consider that you have been infernally badly treated by a mob of newspaper gossips," said Ronald. "By the way, there is an exceedingly handsome apology in to-day'sMercury. Everybody is talking about it. I should let the matter stop there if I were you."
Everything fell out exactly as Lord Merehaven had predicted. The evening papers were full of the new Asturian affair. They were glad to find thatRussia had been checkmated and that the appointment of Prince Alix was likely to give satisfaction. They also cherished the fact that King Erno was back in London and that he was looking very ill. The morning papers got their innings in due course with the announcement that ex-King Erno was dead, and that he had died in the night at General Maxgregor's rooms. Dr. Varney had given a certificate of death to the effect that his highness had succumbed to the shock following on his railway accident, and there was no more to be said. The body of the unfortunate prince was going to be embalmed and taken back to his country for burial. Count Gleikstein was puzzled and felt that he had been in some way outwitted, but there was the corpse of the king for him to see, and there, unfortunately for him, was Prince Alix apparently firmly seated on the throne of Asturia. It was impossible for the count at this juncture to hold any sort of communication with either Mazaroff or Countess Saens, seeing that they were both arrested and both had serious charges hanging over them. Russia would have to wait a further opportunity to gratify her designs upon Asturia.
"What will be the upshot of it all?" Ronald Hope asked Jessie as the two of them strolled in the gardens behind Merehaven House a week later. There had been a small dinner-party there and the ex-Queen of Asturia just back from the burial of her husband had been present. "Where willsheend, Jessie?"
Jessie laughed and coloured as she replied to the question. There was nobody near so that she kissed Ronald.
"I hopeshewill end as happily as my trouble isgoing to end with you," the girl said softly. "I have seen quite enough of the queen to know where her heart is. I know the temptation that was placed on the shoulders of General Maxgregor that fateful night. He loves the ground that the queen walks on. And she knows it quite as well as I know that you love me, Ronald. She would have kept her secret so long as the throne was fairly under her. But that is all over, and henceforth Queen Margaret and Asturia will be strangers. She feels that she has beaten Russia and that the dynasty is safe with Prince Alix. It was a near thing, but between us we managed to win. Thenceforth the queen will be no more than a subject of King Edward here, and her happiness is in her own hands if she chooses to grip it."
Jessie's voice trailed off to a whisper, for at the same moment ex-Queen Margaret came out of the house down the lane with General Maxgregor by her side. They were talking very earnestly, and they passed by the side of the sundial where Jessie had stood not so many nights before waiting for the signal to come. The queen said something in a broken voice, her head dropped, she held out her hand to Maxgregor who carried it to his lips.
"So that is settled," the involuntary eavesdroppers heard him say. "God bless you for those words, Margaret. I always knew that this would come. And if the passing of the years does not bring——"
There was no more to be heard. Jessie stepped forward and smiled as the queen beckoned her.
"You look very happy, my child," she said. "And Captain Hope! Are you very happy, Jessie?"
"I believe I am the happiest girl in the world," she said in a voice that thrilled. "Oh, so happy, your majesty. I only wish with my heart that you would be the same."
"Do you?" the queen said drily. "It is a secret yet, but—but I am going to ... try."