She was awakened at length by the entry of a servant, who came with the information that the carriage of the Queen of Asturia was at the door, that her majesty desired to see Miss Galloway. There was a new life and strength in Jessie as she rose to obey the summons.
"Say I am coming at once," she said. "Her majesty is in the hall, I suppose?"
Her majesty was in the hall as Jessie had anticipated. She was chatting quite gaily with Lady Merehaven as the girl came up. She flashed Jessie a significant glance.
"Your aunt has been pleased to accede to my whim," she said. "And so you are coming with me, Vera. I understand your maid is sending everything to our hotel. Good-night, Lady Merehaven, and please do not allow those people to play cards too long. My dear child, come along."
"It is a very great honour for the child," Lady Merehaven murmured. "Good-night, madame, good-night."
The queen swept Jessie into the brougham before her. There was a tiny electric lamp behind the queen's head so that it shone full on Jessie's face. Jessie felt the latter's eyes going all over her.
"Now tell me your story," she said. "Tell me freely and don't be afraid. I shall be your good friend."
"You give me courage to proceed," Jessie murmured. "In the first place I'll tell you why I so dreaded passing the night at Merehaven House. I should certainly have been found out in the morning and then everything would have been ruined. Not that I cared for myself, but for the sake of others. Madame, is it possible that you fail to see that I am not Miss Galloway at all?"
The queen fairly gasped with astonishment. Those dark eyes of hers took in Jessie's identity. It was a long time before she spoke again.
"You are quite right," she said slowly and thoughtfully. "I notice little subtle differences now you mention it. And yet the likeness is wonderful. My dear, you are a lady."
"I am a lady, yes. My father was Colonel Harcourt, in fact I am a connection of the Merehavens. There has been nothing vulgar about my adventure to-night."
"That I am absolutely certain of. Really, the likeness is marvellous. And I have been talking to you and confiding in you all the evening as if you were my friend Vera Galloway."
"Instead of your friend Jessie Harcourt," the girl said with a wistful smile. "Believe me, I am as devoted to your interests as is the one whose part I play. I have given proof of it enough to-night. I might have gone on deceiving you to the end but I could not do it."
"I see, I see. You are telling the truth, you are making me love you. And why did you do this for one who a little time ago was a perfect stranger to you? If you know anything of our cause——"
"But I do now—and you can command me in any way. Perhaps I had better begin at the beginning. It was Vera Galloway who took me up. She came to me at a moment when I was absolutely desperate. It is strange how the warp of fate has dragged me into this business!"
"You cannot tell how deeply I am interested," the queen said softly.
"It is very good of your majesty. Miss Galloway came to me. She had heard of me, evidently.She came to me at the very moment when I was dismissed from my situation. I had been accused of a disgraceful flirtation with the son of one of the shop customers. As a matter of fact the coward had tried to kiss me and he let all the blame rest on my shoulders. I was dismissed without any chance of a further situation, I had only a few shillings in the world and an invalid sister partially dependent upon me. At that moment I was desperate enough for anything. Quite early the complication began. The name of the coward who brought all this trouble on me was Prince Boris Mazaroff."
"I am not surprised," the queen said with just a touch of weary scorn in her voice. "We are all creatures of fate. I know that I am. But the coincidence is a little strange."
"Miss Galloway wrote me a letter and asked me to call upon her in my working dress. When I saw her I could not but be struck by the amazing likeness between us. Then she unfolded her plan—the plan that we were to change places for a little time. Someone whom she cared for was in trouble and it was impossible that she should get away without being suspected. Your Majesty may guess that the somebody in trouble was no other than Mr. Charles Maxwell and at the bottom of the trouble was the missing papers relating to Asturia."
The queen nodded, her dark eyes gleaming in the light of the lamp.
"I see," she exclaimed. "Those papers that found their way into the hands of the Countess Saens. The papers that she was robbed of almost as soon as she had obtained possession of them. What an amazing daring thing to do. I seem to see quite clearly now. Miss Galloway slipped off and stolethem while all the time her friends and relations thought that she was in the house of her uncle! Ah, what will not a woman do for the sake of the man she loves! And she was quite successful!"
"Quite. We know that by the scene made by the countess' maid at Merehaven House. I did not guess until the maid looked at me and said that I was the thief. Of course everybody who heard it laughed, but the woman stuck to her story. The statement was a flood of light to me, when I heard it I knew then exactly what had happened as well as if I had been present and seen the robbery."
"Vera Galloway saved Asturia and her lover at the same time," the queen said. "But why did not Miss Galloway come back and resume her proper place?"
"Oh, that is the unfortunate part of it," Jessie said sadly. "She was so overcome with her good fortune that she walked down Piccadilly in a dazed state. Then she was run over by a cab and taken to Charing Cross Hospital. She is there at this moment."
A cry of passionate anger broke from the queen. Her hands were clasped together closely.
"Of all the misfortunes!" she gasped. "Will nothing ever come right here? Go on and tell me the worst."
"The worst is that Vera lost the papers," Jessie resumed. "When the news of the accident came to me, I slipped out and with great risk went to the hospital. Dr. Varney gave me a permit. Vera had lost the papers, she had not the least idea what had become of them. But that is not all. Countess Saens has found out that a girl answering to my description had been taken to the hospital and shewent there. Fortunately she was refused admission. But she will get this in the morning and that is why I want to go out so early. The suspicions of the countess are aroused, she begins to understand. And there is Prince Mazaroff."
"What can he possibly have to do with it?" the Queen asked.
"Your Majesty is forgetting that Prince Mazaroff knows both Vera Galloway and Jessie Harcourt, the shop girl whom he honoured with his hated attentions. He knows that there is a girl in London identical in looks to Miss Galloway, he heard what Countess Saens's maid said. Indeed he went so far to-night to hint to Lord Merehaven that a trick was being played upon her ladyship. There is only one thing that prevented his discovery outright."
"And what was that?" the queen asked. "Why should he hesitate?"
"Because he was not absolutely sure of his ground," Jessie said. "He knew the shop girl Jessie Harcourt. But he was puzzled because he did not imagine that a shop girl would be so wonderfully at ease in good society and have all the manners of it at her fingers' ends. He did not know that the Bond Street girl was of gentle birth, and he was puzzled. Do you see my point?"
The queen saw the point perfectly well and admitted that it was a very clever one.
"I am more than glad that you have told me all this," she said in a thrilling voice. "Your frankness may save the situation in the long run. One thing is certain, we must get Vera out of the hospital and back again here without delay. And for the time being you must disappear. I seem to have as many enemies here as I have in Asturia, only theyare cleverer ones. These people are all in the pay of Russia. Countess Saens must be baffled at any cost. Wait a moment."
The carriage had pulled up, but the footman did not dismount from the box. So far as Jessie could judge, the carriage had stopped nowhere near the Queen of Asturia's headquarters. She smiled as Jessie looked up with a questioning eye.
"You are wondering why we are here," she said. "It is imperative before I sleep to-night that I should have a few words with General Maxgregor. I understand that he has a suite of rooms in the big block of flats. I fancy those are his windows on the second floor, those with the lights up. Somebody has just come in and looked out of the window. My child, who is that?"
The queen's voice changed suddenly, her tones were harsh and rasping. A man in evening dress stood in one of the lighted windows looking out.
"You saw what happened at Lady Merehaven's," the queen went on. "We left the king there with the faithful Alexis behind his chair. We have come direct here. The whole thing is maddening. Who do you reckon that man to be who was looking out of the window?"
Jessie looked up with bewildered eyes. The old dreamy feeling was coming over her again. She gazed steadily at the figure framed in the flood of light.
"There is no mistake about it," she gasped. "That is his majesty the King of Asturia!"
Lechmere would have walked off with his fishing line, but Maxgregor called him back. There was no reason for mystery over this business so far as the General could see. But Lechmere shook his head.
"I'll be back in a very few minutes," he said, "and then you can tell me what has happened. On the other hand I shall have a great deal to tell you. Which way did Mazaroff go?"
So far as Maxwell could judge,Mazaroffhad not left the building. He was pretty sure that the Russian had not come to Maxgregor with any sinister design. Beyond question, Mazaroff was looking for a certain suite of rooms, though Maxgregor doubted it.
"The fellow would have shewn his teeth fast enoughifit had not been for Maxwell," he said. "It is possible that he is looking for a certain suite of rooms, I should not be at all surprised to find that he has not yet left the building."
Lechmere muttered something to the effect that he was absolutely certain of it. He was very anxious to know if there was a back staircase from the floor and whether it was much used so late at night.
"It isn't used at all after the servants have gone," Maxgregor explained. "There are several very rapid young men living on this floor and they find the back staircase useful for the purpose of evadingcreditors. The stairs are at the far end of the corridor."
Lechmere murmured his thanks and hurried away. He had hardly disappeared before there was a tiny tap on the door and Jessie came in. She seemed anxious and uneasy, nor was her confusion lessened by the expression of blank astonishment, not to say displeasure, on Maxwell's face.
"Vera," he cried reproachfully. "Oh, I forgot. Events are moving so fast that it is difficult to keep pace with them. And you are so wonderfully like Vera Galloway. I had to be told the facts, you see. Oh, of course you told me yourself by the hospital. But what are you doing here?"
"I came with the queen," Jessie explained. "I am going to her hotel with her. But the queen declared that she could not rest to-night unless she had seen General Maxgregor. Is he better?"
"I am going on as well as possible," Maxgregor said from his bed. "It is dreadful to be laid up just now, at this time of all others. It was good of the queen to think of me, but it occurs to me to be dreadfully imprudent for her to come here now."
"But she had to," Jessie persisted. "There was no help for it. And another extraordinary thing happened. We left the king at Merehaven House being closely guarded by Captain Alexis. When we came away his majesty was actually playing bridge. And yet, as the carriage pulled up outside these mansions, we saw the king seated in one of the windows."
"Impossible," Maxgregor cried. "The king has not been here at all."
"So I should have said if I had been able to disbelieve my own eyes," Jessie went on. "Itell you I have just seen the king. At first I thought that he was actually here. Now I know that he must be on the next suite to this. He was in evening dress just as we left him, but he had his orders on. And the queen is in a position to confirm what I say."
"I am certainly in a position to do what Miss——er——this lady says," came a voice from the doorway as the queen came in. "We must get to the bottom of this."
Maxgregor groaned. He admired the pluck and spirit of the queen but he deplored the audacity that brought her here. The thing was absolutely madness. The queen smiled anxiously.
"Are you any worse, my dear old friend," she asked. "Are you suffering at all?"
"My pain is more mental than physical," Maxgregor replied. "Oh, why did you come here, why did you not leave matters to me? Heaven only knows how many spies are dogging your footsteps. And it is impossible that the king can be where you say he is."
"The king's recuperative powers are marvellous," Maxwell remarked. "At one hour he is apparently at the point of death, an hour later he is an honoured guest of the Foreign Secretary. A little time later this young lady and I see him seated in the drawing-room of Countess Saens's house and quite at his ease there. At this moment he seems to be in two places at once. Can anybody explain. Canyou?"
The last question was put to Lechmere, who had stepped into the room again. The diplomatist smiled.
"I hope to explain the whole thing and prove what has happened before long," he said. "Itwas to aid you in that purpose that I borrowed the salmon line. Is your majesty safe here?"
"Is my majesty safe anywhere?" the queen asked in bitter contempt. "I have taken every precaution. There was nobody to be seen as I drove up and I have sent my horses to wait for me in the square. Then I could not stop any longer, I could not wait for my dear little friend here to bring me news. And I was most miserably anxious about General Maxgregor. Is there any news?"
"I was just coming to the news," Lechmere said. "Our enemies have tried on the most dangerous and daring thing that I have ever heard of. When theMercuryappears to-morrow it will contain a long and particular account of an interview between the King of Asturia and the Editor. I have seen the Editor of theMercury, and by astratagemI became possessed of an advanced copy of the paper.I should likeyour majesty to see what it is that the British public will find on their breakfast tables later on."
Lechmere produced his copy of theMercuryand flattened it on the table. Then he handed it to the queen. She waved the sheet aside impatiently, she could not read to-night, her eyes were too heavy.
"Let us have the pith of it," she said. "I am curious to know what it all means."
Lechmere proceeded to read the article aloud. It was well done and the insinuations it conveyed were worse than the actual truth. For instance, it was not boldly said that the King of Asturia had visited the offices of theMercuryin a state of intoxication, but it was shrewdly inferred. The brutal callous indifference of the whole thing was moststrongly marked. The king had abdicated his throne, he cared nothing for his country or what his subjects thought of it. Here was an article calculated to arouse the greatest sensation in Europe. The queen was not slow to see the danger of it.
"But the thing is all a lie," she cried. "It is impossible. We know that the king has not left Merehaven House since dinner-time. And this interview is stated to have taken place later. Is this what your journalism is coming to in this country, Mr. Lechmere?"
"Not our journalism, madame," Lechmere said coolly. "No English daily paper would have been so depraved and unpatriotic as to print that interview without consulting some Minister of State. As a matter of fact theMercuryis American, it is published to sell, it is the pioneer paper floated to capture the cream of our Press. Hunt has no scruples."
"But he has invented the whole thing," the queen said. "It is a dastardly fraud."
"No," Lechmere said calmly. "No doubt somebody called on Hunt and told him that story. I believe Hunt to be genuinely under the impression that he had the honour of the confidence of the King of Asturia. In a way he has been hoaxed with the rest."
"If we could only prove it," the queen said under her breath. "If we could only prove it."
"I hope to be able to do so within the next half hour," Lechmere went on in his cool way. "I have a pretty shrewd idea what has taken place. In a measure we have to thank the little scheme planned out between this young lady here and her double, Miss Vera Galloway. It suggested an ideato Countess Saens. And fortunately for her the material was at hand. After all said and done the Editor of theMercurycould only have seen the king in the most casual way and he would be easily imposed on. In the circumstances, he would be quite ready and even eager to be imposed upon. The fact that the whole affair subsequently proved to be a hoax would not in the least disturb Hunt. He would get his sensation and his extra copies sold, the mistake itself would be forgotten in a day or two."
"But not in Europe," the queen cried. "By to-morrow Europe will be ringing with that vile lie. The telegraph will be put in motion, our enemies will see that it is promptly reported from one end of Asturia to another. Once the lie is floated on the stream of public opinion we shall never catch it up again. The whole thing has been engineered with the deliberate intention of ruining us. What can we do?"
"What man can do I have already done," Lechmere said. "The thing will be contradicted and proved to be a lie by theHeraldnewspaper, to whose Editor I have told everything. The two papers will start fairly, the one with the lie and the other with the truth. And as you know theHeraldis looked upon as a respectable journal. The telegraph that flashes the news for the one will flash the refutation for the other. And I have taken an extremely bold step. TheHeraldto-morrow will be responsible for the announcement that so far from resigning his crown, King Erno of Asturia has started already by a series of special trains to Asturia. Madame, you will see that this is done?"
A gleam of admiration flashed into the eyes of the queen. Here was a man after her own heart. And Lechmere had done marvellously well. True, he could not stamp out the lie, he could not prevent the thing being reported from one end of Europe to another, but he could refute it. The mere fact that King Erno had started for Asturia would naturally create a great impression.
"It shall be done," the queen cried. "I will go back to Merehaven House and fetch the king. He shall travel without delay under the care of Captain Alexis. I would that I had another trusty friend to accompany him, but it seems to me that I need you all in London.
"You do not need me, madame," said Maxwell earnestly. "I mean you don't need mehere. For the moment the good friends you have here will suffice. It is necessary that I should be out of the way for a time, and nobody would guess where I have gone. Let me go to Asturia."
The queen thanked Maxwell with a look of gratitude from her dark eyes. Then she turned to Lechmere. "How can all this travelling machinery be put in motion so quickly?" she asked.
"Fortunately you have come to the right quarter for information," Lechmere said. "As an old queen's messenger, there are few services for getting over the ground that I do not know. Before nowI have been despatched at a minute's notice to the other end of Europe with instructions to reach my destination in a given time. In an hour or so, the programme will be complete. I will see to the special train to Dover and the special steamer to cross the Channel. After that it is a mere matter of using the cables. If the king does not care to undertake the journey——"
The queen laughed in a strange metallic fashion. Her eyes were gleaming with intensity of purpose.
"The king is going," she said between her teeth. "You may be quite sure about that. If he declines, or shews the least infirmity of purpose, he will be drugged and taken home that way. He will shew himself in the capital. A manifesto will be issued directly he gets there. There is one thing yet to be done."
The queen paused and looked significantly at Lechmere. He smiled and shook his head.
"I know exactly what your majesty means," he said. "It is useless for us to take all this trouble if we are to be confronted with a mystery which will enable certain people to say that the King of Asturia is still in London. I have taken a step to entirely obviate that business. If your majesty has a few minutes to spare I shall be able to render your mind easy on that score."
The queen expressed her willingness to stay, and Lechmere left the room. He paused to light a cigar in the corridor and don his overcoat again. Then he walked casually to the outer door of the next suite of rooms and strolled calmly in. The second door of the suite was locked and Lechmere gently tried the handle.
"So far so good," he muttered. "There isanother door into the corridor leading to the back stairs. I need not worry about the back stairs as my ferret is there. If the thing were not so serious, what a fine comedy it would make! Now for it!"
Lechmere tapped smartly on the door, a murmur of voices within ceased and the door was opened and shewed the face of Prince Mazaroff himself. He turned a little pale as he saw Lechmere and stammeringly asked what the latter wanted. Lechmere laughed in an irritating kind of way.
"Well, that's pretty cool," he said. "I come to the suite of rooms of my friend Bevis to smoke a cigar and I find you here demanding why I come. Is Bevis here?"
"No, he isn't," Mazaroff said curtly as he came into the front room and closed the door behind him. "And, what is more, he is not likely to be in. I have a friend in there if you must know."
Mazaroff grinned with an assumption that Lechmere could understand that the situation was rather a delicate one. But Lechmere knew better than that for the voice in the inner room had been unmistakably that of a man. But it served the purpose of the old diplomat to let the thing pass.
"Very well," he said. "I will take your word for it. But where is my friend Bevis?"
"I haven't the remotest idea where your friend Bevis is or where he has got to," Mazaroff said with a sneer in his voice. "Bevis is a young man who has lately outrun the constable. He inferred to me that he was going to retire to the country for a time. He offered me this little place on my own terms and I am to give it back to our friend if I get tired of it. It is a more swaggerpied à terrethan my own and I jumped at the chance. Now you know everything."
Lechmere nodded as if perfectly satisfied, though he did not know everything by any means. He sat down and helped himself to a cigarette to Mazaroff's annoyance. But Lechmere appeared not to see it. He had his own game to play and he was not to be deterred.
"I want to have a little chat with you," he said. "We shall never get a better chance than this. I want if possible to enlist your sympathies on the side of the Queen of Asturia. If I could gain your assistance and that of Madame Saens I should be more than satisfied."
Mazaroff muttered something to the effect that he should be delighted. But his aspect was uneasy and guilty. He could not shake off his air of fear. From time to time he cocked his ears as if listening for something in the inner room. Lechmere sat there grimly smoking and looking at the ceiling. He was not quite sure what card he should play next.
"I am thinking of going to Asturia myself," he said. "I'm not quite old enough to get rusty yet. And there is a fine field for intrigue and adventure yonder. I understand that the king returns to-morrow. It will be in all the papers in the morning."
"The deuce it will!" Mazaroff exclaimed blankly. "Why that will upset all our plans——I mean, that it will be a checkmate to Russia. Considering all that we have done ... is that a fact, Lechmere?"
"My dear chap, surely I have no object in telling you what is false!" Lechmere said. "Of courseit is a fact. The king ought never to have come away, he would not have come away if the queen could have trusted him. She thought that she could do her country good by visiting London. But the king will be looked after much better in future, I promise you. Have you seen Peretori lately?"
The latter question was shot dexterously at Mazaroff like a snap from a gun. The latter glanced swiftly at Lechmere, but he could make nothing of the other's inscrutable face. The Russian began to feel as if he had blundered into a trap; he had the same fear as a lying witness in the box under the horror of a rasping cross-examination from a sharp barrister.
"I don't know that I am acquainted with the man you mention?" he faltered.
"Oh, nonsense. Take your memory back, man. Not know Peretori! Think of that night five years ago in Paris when you and I and Scandel and the rest were supping with those Oderon people. And you say that the name of Peretori is not known to you!"
Mazaroff laughed in a sulky kind of way. He said something to the effect that his memory was not as good as it might be. From time to time he glanced at the inner door of the suite, he seemed as if he could not keep his eyes off it.
"Do you think that you could find his address for me?" Lechmere persisted. "I have every reason to believe that he is somewhere in London at the present moment. Ah, look there. To think of it! And you pretending all this when the very man in question is in the next room. What a coincidence!"
"Call me a liar at once," Mazaroff said thickly "How dare you insinuate that I am not—not——"
"Telling the truth," Lechmere said coolly. "That stick yonder belongs to Peretori. Nobody else possesses one like it, as I have heard Peretori boast. If you can deny what I say after—but I shall make no apologies for seeing into the matter for myself."
With a sudden dart Lechmere was by the door leading into the inner room. Mazaroff started after him crying out something in Russian at the top of his voice. But he was too late to prevent Lechmere from entering the inner room. The place was quite empty now save for a hat and a pair of gloves on the table, both of which tended to prove that the room had been occupied a few moments before.
"This is a most unpardonable outrage," Mazaroff cried. He had quite recovered himself within the last minute or two, he was his cunning self again. "I did not ask you to come here at all. And as to the evidence of that stick it is worth nothing. I could get a copy of it made that—but after what has happened I think you had better give me the benefit of your absence."
"Quite so," Lechmere said pleasantly, "I apologise. I'll go out this way, I think. Awfully sorry to have ruffled you so much. Good-night."
Lechmere departed into the corridor by the far door, which he closed swiftly behind him. As he did so there came a sound of stumbling and falling from the region of the back stairs and curses in a ruffled voice that had a note of pain in it.
"Got him," Lechmere said triumphantly. "I was certain of my man. Now for it!"
Lechmere darted along in the direction of the secondary staircase from whence the noise of the falling body had come. It was somewhat dark there, for the gas jet at that point had been turned down and there were no electrics there. At the foot of the stairs could be seen the outline of somebody who had become entangled with a maze of salmon line and who was held up like a great blundering bee in a spider's web. Lechmere could hear him muttering and swearing to himself as he struggled to be free.
But there was no time to waste. Doubtless Mazaroff would be out of his room in a little time, and it was just possible that he might come that way. Lechmere slid down the bannisters as a schoolboy might have done; he had an open pocket knife in his teeth. Noiselessly he came down upon the struggling man and gripped him by the shoulders.
"Don't you make a sound," he hissed."Not one word unless you want this knife plunged into your body. Be still, and no harm shall come to you."
"'Don't you make a sound,' he hissed.""'Don't you make a sound,' he hissed."
The other man said nothing. He allowed himself to be cut free from the salmon line and dragged behind a kind of housemaid's closet at the foot of the stairs. At the same moment Mazaroff came along. The two men there could see the dark outline of his anxious face as he lighted a vesta to aid him in seeing what was going on.
"Got away, I expect," he muttered. "A precious near thing, anyway. But if he is clear off the premises I may as well go this way myself."
So close did Mazaroff pass the other two that Lechmere could easily have touched him. His companion gave no sign, perhaps Lechmere's fingers playing about his throat warned him of the danger of anything of the kind. Mazaroff disappeared in the gloom, a door closed with a click, there was a muffled echo of retreating footsteps and then Lechmere's grim features relaxed into a smile. He jogged up his captive.
"Now we shall be able to get along," he said. "Will you be so good as to precede me, sir?"
"Do you know who I am?" the other man replied. "Because if you are not aware of my identity——"
"I am quite aware of your identity," Lechmere said coolly. "And I should do again what I am doing now if necessary. I daresay you regard the thing as a magnificent joke, but when you come to realise the enormous mischief that you have done, why——"
Lechmere shrugged his shoulders by way of completing his sentence. He pushed the other man along the corridor until he came to Maxgregor's rooms, where he hustled his prisoner inside. He stood winking and blinking there in the light, the very image of the king with his orders on his breast and his flame-coloured hair gleaming in the light. Shamefaced as he appeared, there was yet a kind of twinkle in his eyes.
"Behold your king," Lechmere said. "Behold the source of the trouble. Your majesty must find the heat very much in that wig. Let me remove it."
He coolly twitched the flame-coloured thatch away and disclosed a close crop of black hair. The queen threw up her hands with a gesture of amazement.
"Peretori," she cried. "Prince Peretori! So you are the cause of all the mischief. Will you be so good as to explain yourself?"
"There is no very great resemblance to the king, now that the wig is removed," Jessie whispered to Maxwell who stood beside her. "Do you know I rather like his face. Who is he?"
"Prince Peretori of Nassa, a second cousin of the King of Asturia," Maxwell explained. "There are many mad princes in Europe but none quite so mad as Peretori. He is not bad or wicked, he is simply utterly irresponsible. The great object in his life is the playing of practical jokes. Also he is a wonderfully fine actor—he would have made a great name on the stage. It is one of his boasts that he can make up to resemble anybody."
"He doesn't look like an enemy," Jessie said in the same low voice.
"He's not," Maxwell replied. "In fact Peretori is nobody's enemy but his own. I should not be in the least surprised to find that he had been made use of in this business."
"Why have you committed this crowning act of folly?" the queen asked coldly.
"Is it any worse than usual?" the prince asked. "My dear cousin, I did it for a wager. The price of my success was to be a thousand guineas. Now a thousand guineas to me at the present moment represents something like salvation. I am terribly hard up, I am painfully in debt. In this country those commercial brutal laws take no heed ofstation. I ignored certain civil processes with the result that a common tradesman can throw me into gaol at any moment for a debt that I simply cannot pay. That I am always ready for a joke you are aware. But a remunerative joke like this was not to be denied."
"Therefore you believe that you have won the bet from Countess Saens and Prince Mazaroff?" Lechmere asked. "Do they admit that you have won?"
"They do, my somewhat heavy-handed friend," the prince cried gaily. "Though how on earth you came to know that the countess and Mazaroff had any hand in the business——"
"We will come to that presently," Lechmere resumed. "You talked that matter over with the countess and Mazaroff and they gradually persuaded you to try this thing. You were to go to the editor of theMercuryand pass yourself off as the King of Asturia. You were to tell him all kinds of damaging things, and he was to believe you. If he believed you to be the king, you earned your money."
"Never was a sum of money gained more easily," Peretori cried.
"Yes, but at what a cost!" the queen said sternly. "Peretori, do you ever consider anything else but your own selfish amusements? Look at the harm you have done. Once the printed lie crosses the border into Asturia, what is to become of us all! Did you think of that? Can't you understand that all Europe will imagine that the king has resigned his throne? Desperate as things are, you have made then ten times worse."
Peretori looked blankly at the speaker. He was like a boy who had been detected in some offenceand for the first time realized the seriousness of it.
"I give you my word that I never thought of that for a moment," he said. "It is one of my sins that I never think of anything where a jest is concerned. That smug little editor swallowed everything that I said in the most amusing fashion. I had won my money and I was free. My dear cousin, if there is anything that I can do——"
The queen shook her head mournfully. She was quite at a loss for the moment. Unless, perhaps, the tables could be turned in another way.
"You have been the dupe of two of our most unscrupulous enemies," the queen went on. "They are agents of Russia, and at the present moment their great task is to try and bring about the abdication of the King of Asturia. Once this is done, the path is fairly clear. To bring this about these people can use as much money as they please. They have been baffled once or twice lately, but when they found you they saw a good chance of doing our house a deadly harm. A thousand pounds, or fifty times that amount mattered little. How did they find you?"
"I have been in England six months," Peretori said. "I dropped my rank. There was an English girl I was very fond of. I was prepared to sacrifice everything so long as she became my wife. It doesn't matter how those people found me. The mischief is done."
"The mischief is almost beyond repair," Lechmere said. "But why did you come here? Why did you sit before the open windows in the next suite of rooms?"
"That was part of the plan, my dear sir," Peretori exclaimed. "Probably there was somebody watchingwho had to be convinced that I was the King of Asturia. I flatter myself that my make-up was so perfect that nobody could possibly——"
"Still harping on that string," the queen said reproachfully. "Why don't you try and realize that the great harm that you have done has to be repaired at any cost? With all your faults, you were never a traitor to your country. Are you going to take the blood-money, knowing what it means? I cannot believe that you have stooped so low as that."
The face of Peretori fell; a shamed look came into his eyes.
"I shall take it," he said. "I shall spoil the Egyptians. But at the same time, I can see a way to retrieve the mischief that I have done. It is not too late yet."
A silence fell on the little group for a time. All Peretori's gaiety had vanished. He looked very moody and thoughtful as he sat there turning recent events over in his mind. With all his faults, and they were many, he was an Asturian at heart. He was prepared to do a deal for the sake of his country. He had always promised himself that some day he would settle down and be a credit to his nationality. The career of mad jest must stop some time. It was impossible not to understand the mischief that he had just done. But there was a mobile and clever brain behind all this levity, and already Peretori began to see his way to a subtle and suitable revenge.
"Have those stolen papers anything to do with it?" he asked. "That Foreign Office business, you know?"
"They have everything to do with it," said Lechmere. "As a matter of fact, Countess Saens has had those papers stolen from her in turn. She cannot move very far without them. That she suspects where they have gone is evidenced by the fact that she put your highness up to your last escapade. The way she was tricked herself inspired her. If you can do anything to even matters up——"
"I will do more than that," Peretori cried. "I have thought of something. It is quite a good thing that the countess regards me as no better than a feather-headed fool. She will never guess that Ihave been here, she will never give you people credit for finding out what you have done. It was very clever of Mr. Lechmere to do so."
"Not at all," Lechmere muttered. "I have seen your smart impersonations before, and guessed at once who I had to look for. My finding you right here was a bit of luck. Will you be so good as to tell us what you propose doing?"
"I think not, if you don't mind," the prince replied. "I might fail, you see. But, late as it is, I am going to call upon Countess Saens. My excuse is that I have won my wager, and that it was a cash transaction. Has the queen a telephone in her private apartments at the hotel?"
The queen explained that the telephone was there as a matter of course. Peretori rose to his feet. "Then we had better adjourn this meeting for the present," he said. "It will be far more cautious and prudent for the queen to return to her hotel. You had better all go. Only somebody must be imported here to look after General Maxgregor, whose life is so valuable to Asturia."
Lechmere explained curtly that he would see to Maxgregor's safety, after which he would follow to the queen's hotel. With a nod and a smile, Peretori disappeared, after removing all traces of his make-up.
He was quite confident that he would be able to turn the tables on those who had made use of him in so sorry a way. The queen could make up her mind that she should hear from him before the night was over.
In a dazed, heavy way Jessie found herself in a handsome sitting room in the queen's hotel. She became conscious presently that Lechmere was backagain, and that he was discussing events and recent details with the queen. Jessie wondered if these people ever knew what it was to be tired. Usually she was so utterly tired with her long day's work that she was in bed a little after ten o'clock, and it was past two now. She could hardly keep her eyes open. She sat up as the queen spoke to her.
"My poor dear child," she said quite tenderly, "you are half dead with fatigue. I must take care of you after all you have done for me. And you are going to bed without delay."
Jessie murmured that she was only too ready to do anything necessary. But the queen would not hear of it. Jessie must go to bed at once. The girl was too utterly tired to resist. In a walking dream she was led away; a neat handed maid appeared to be undressing her, there was a vision of a soft, luxurious bed, and then a dreamy delicious unconsciousness. The queen bent and kissed the sleeping face before she returned to the room where Lechmere awaited her.
"It is good to know that I have so many real friends," she said. "And they are none the less kind because I have no possible claim on them. You have arranged everything?"
"Thanks to the telephone, madame," Lechmere explained. "The rest I have managed by cable. The special train to Dover will be ready in half an hour; the special steamer awaits its arrival. The king will be in Asturia almost before that damning paragraph reaches there. If he goessoon."
"He should be back here by this time," the queen said with some anxiety in her voice. "Captain Alexis promised me—— But somebody is coming up the stairs. Ah, here they are!"
The king came into the room followed by Captain Alexis. He seemed moody and depressed now. Probably the effects of the drug were passing off. He said sullenly that he was going to bed. The queen's face flushed with anger. She spoke clearly and to the point. She told him precisely what had happened. The king followed in a dull yet interested way.
"Am I never to have any peace?" he asked brokenly. "What is the use of being a king unless one——"
"Acts like a king," the queen said. "Have you not brought it all on yourself by your criminal folly? Were you not on the point of betraying us all? Now that is past. You are not going to bed, you are going to be up and doing. It is your part to show Europe that your enemies' plans are futile. You will be on the way to Asturia in half an hour, and Captain Alexis and this gentleman accompany you."
The king protested feebly; it was utterly impossible that this thing could be. But all his weak objections were thrust aside by the importunity of the queen.
"You are going," she said firmly. "All things are ready. It is a thousand pities that I cannot accompany you, but my place is in England for the next ten days. All has been done; even now your man is finishing the packing of your trunks. In half an hour the train starts for Dover. If you are bold and resolute now, the situation can be saved and Asturia with it."
The king protested no further. He sat with a dark, stubborn expression on his face. It seemed to him that he was no better than a prisoner beingremoved from one prison to another with two warders for company. Not that he had the slightest intention of going to Asturia, he told himself; it would be no fault of his if ever he set foot in his domains again. But all this he kept to himself.
The little party set off at length, to the unmistakable relief of the queen. She felt now that something was being done in the cause of home and freedom. Russia was not going to be allowed to have everything her own way. She paced up and down the room, a prey to her own painful thoughts.
"Is there anything more that I can do for you, madame?" Lechmere asked. "If there is, I pray that you command my services, which are altogether at your disposal."
"Perhaps you will wait a little?" the queen said. "I expect we shall hear from Peretori presently. What we have to do now is to recover those missing papers. It is maddening to think that they may be lying in the gutter at the present moment. If we dared advertise for them! Can't you think of some way? You are so quick and clever and full of resource."
Lechmere shook his head. Perhaps he might think of some cunning scheme when he had the time, but for the present he could not see his way at all. To advertise would be exceeding dangerous. Any move in that direction would be pretty sure to attract the attention of the enemy.
"The enemy is sufficiently alert as it is," Lechmere pointed out. "There is Countess Saens, for instance, who has a pretty shrewd idea already of the trick that has been played upon her. If she had no suspicion, she would not have gone toCharing Cross Hospital to-night. And your majesty must see that, at all hazards, she must be prevented from going there in the morning. That scandal must be avoided. It would be a thousand pities if Miss Galloway or Miss Harcourt——"
"I see, I see," the queen cried as she paced restlessly up and down the room. "In this matter cannot you get Prince Peretori to give you a hand? There is a fine fertility of resources in that brilliant brain of his. And I am sure that when he left here to-night he had some scheme——"
The tinkle of the telephone bell cut off further discussion. At a sign from the queen Lechmere took down the receiver and placed it to his ear. Very gently he asked who was there. The reply was in a whisper that it could hardly be heard by the listener, but all the same, he did not fail to recognize the voice of Prince Peretori.
"It is I—Lechmere," he said. "You can speak quite freely. Have you done anything?"
"I have done a great deal," came the response. "Only I want assistance. Come round here and creep into the house and go into the little sitting-room on the left side of the door. All the servants have gone to bed, so you will be safe. Sit in the dark and wait for the signal. The front door is not fastened. Can I count upon you? Right! So."
The voice ceased, there was a click of the telephone, and the connection was cut off.
Prince Peretori was a by no means unpopular figure with those who knew him both personally and by reputation. He had in him that strain of wild blood that seems peculiar to all the Balkan peninsula, where so many extravagant things are done. In bygone days Peretori would have been a romantic figure. As it was, Western civilization had gone far to spoil his character. Audacious deeds and elaborate practical jokes filled up the measure of his spare time. For some months under a pseudonym he was a prominent figure at a Vienna theatre. It was only when his identity became threatened that he had to abandon his latest fad.
But he was feeling deeply chagrined and mortified over his last escapade. It never occurred to him at the time that he was doing any real harm. The King of Asturia, his cousin, he had always disliked and despised; for the king he had the highest admiration. And it looked as if he had done the latter an incalculable injury.
That he had been touched on the raw of his vanity and made the catspaw of others added fuel to his wrath. It would be no fault of his if he did not get even the Countess Saens. He would take that money and pretend that he enjoyed the joke. But it was going to be a costly business for Countess Saens and her ally Prince Mazaroff.
Peretori had pretty well made up his mind what line to take by the time he had reached the house of the countess. The place was all in darkness, as if everybody had retired for the night; but Peretori had his own reasons for believing that the countess had not returned home. If necessary he would wait on the doorstep for her.
But perhaps the door was not fastened? With spies about, the countess might feel inclined to keep the house in darkness. As a matter of fact the door was not fastened, and Peretori slipped quietly into the hall. He had no fear of being discovered, if he were discovered he had only to say that he had come back for the reward of his latest exploit. To the countess he had made no secret of the desperate nature of his pecuniary affairs.
The house seemed absolutely at rest, there could be no doubt that the servants had all gone to bed. Peretori stood in the hall a little undecided what to do next. His sharp ears were listening intently. It seemed to him presently that he could hear the sound of somebody laughing in a subdued kind of way. As his eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, a thread of light from under a distant door crossed his line of vision. Then there was the smothered explosion that was unmistakably made by a champagne cork.
Peretori crept along to the door under which the track of light peeped. The door was pulled to, but the latch had not caught. Very quietly Peretori pushed the door back so that he could look in. It was more or less as he had expected. Seated at a table where a dainty supper had been laid out was a man who had the unmistakable hall-mark of a gentleman'sservant written all over him. On the other side of the table sat the countess's maid Annette.
"Another glass," the maid was saying. "It is a brand of the best. Nothing comes into this house but the best,ma foi! And no questions asked where things go to. So help yourself,monRobert! There is no chance of being interrupted."
The man sat there grinning uneasily. There was no conspirator here, Peretori decided. The man was no more than a shrewd cockney servant—none too honest over trifles, perhaps, but he was not the class of man that political conspirators are made of. It was a romance of the kitchen on Robert's side.
"Bit risky, ain't it?" he said as he pulled at his champagne. "If your mistress catches us——"
"There is no fear of that, Robert. She is in bed sound asleep long ago. Nothing wakes or disturbs her. She undressed herself to-night; she dispensed with my services. Oh, a good thing!"
"But risky sometimes, eh?" Robert said. "Lor, the trouble that some of 'em give!"
"Oh, they have no heart, no feeling. It is slave, slave, slave! But we make them pay for it. I makeherpay for it. And when I am ready to go back to Switzerland, I know that I have not worked in vain. And she called me a liar and a thief to-night."
Robert muttered something sympathetic. He had no wish for Annette to go back to Switzerland, he said. He had saved a little also. Did not Annette think that a respectable boarding house or something select in the licensed victualling line might do? The girl smiled coquettishly.
"And perhaps something better," she said, droppingher voice to a whisper. "I am not dishonest, I do no more than other ladies in my position. Not that the perquisites are not handsome. But sometimes one has great good luck. She call me thief and liar to-night; she say I not tell the truth when I say she was robbed to-night. I show her the real thief, and still she is doubtful. The real thief took those papers. Mind you, they were papers of great value. That is certain. Suppose those papers came into my possession! Suppose I read them, and find them immense importance! Suppose that they don't belong to the countess at all, that she has got them by a trick!"
Peretori listened eagerly. Now that he wasau faitof the situation, he knew exactly what Annette was talking about. He blessed his stars that he had come here to-night. Without doubt Annette was talking of the papers missing from the Foreign Office.
"Sounds good," Robert said. "Worth fifty or sixty pounds to somebody else perhaps."
"Worth ten thousand pounds!" Annette went on in the same fierce whisper. "That money with what we have saved, eh? We could take a boarding house in Mount Street and make a fortune, you and I, my Robert. Look you, these papers vanish, they are taken by a lady in a black dress. My mistress she say the lady meet with an accident and is taken to a hospital. The police come in and ask questions—ma foi! they ask questions till my head ache. Then they go away again, and my mistress leave the house again. My head ache so that I go and walk up and down the pavement to get a breath of air."
"Sounds like a scene in a play," Robert said encouragingly. "Go on, ducky!"
"As I stood there a policeman come up to me. I know that policeman; he is young to his work—he admires me. You need not look so jealous, my Robert, it is not the police where my eyes go. But he has heard of the robbery. Not that he knows its importance—no, no! He can tell all about the lady in Piccadilly who was run over. And behold he has picked up a packet of papers!"
"Good business!" Robert exclaimed. "You're something like a story-teller, Annette."
"That packet of papers he show me," Annette went on gaily. "There is an elastic band round them, and under the band an envelope with the crest of the countess upon it. Those papers were to be give up to Scotland Yard, mark you. But not if Annette knows anything about her man. Behold in a few minutes those papers are in my pocket. It is a smile, a little kiss, and the thing is done! Frown not, Robert, I have no use for that soft young policeman."
"You're a jolly deep one, that's what you are," Robert said with profound admiration. "I should like to know what those papers are all about. I suppose you've read 'em?"
"No; they are in French, the French used by the educated classes. The language is very different to my Swiss. But I have a friend who will be able to tell me what they are all about. Meanwhile, the papers are carefully hidden away where they cannot be found. My policeman, he dare not speak; even if he did, I could say that the papers were rubbish which I had thrown away. But the countess she call me a liar and a thief. She shall never see them again. What's that?"
A sudden violent ringing of the front door bellstartled the supper party and the listener in the hall. Robert rose and grabbed his hat as if prepared for flight.
"No, no!" the fertile Annette whispered. "Don't go. I'll reply to that bell. It is easy to say that I have not gone to bed, and that I came down. Stay where you are. You are quite safe. It may be a cablegram, they sometimes come quite late at night. Just turn down the light."
Peretori stepped into one of the darkened rooms and awaited events. He saw Annette come into the hall and flick up the glaring electrics. In her usual demure way she opened the front door and confronted a fussy little man who stood on the step.
"Your mistress," he said hurriedly. "Your mistress. I must see her at once—at once!"
"But my mistress has gone to bed," Annette protested. "She is asleep for some time, and——"
"Then you must wake her up," the little man said. "At once. It is no use to make a fuss, my good girl, I am bound to see the countess. Tell her that Mr. Hunt is here—Mr. Hunt of theMercury, whose business will not brook delay."
Peretori gave way to a fit of silent laughter. Born comedian that he was, he fully appreciated the comedy of the situation. He did not need anyone to tell him why Hunt was here. But there was a serious side to the matter too, and the prince was not blind to that. Hunt pushed his way into the dining-room with the air of a man who is quite at home with his surroundings and put up the lights. As Annette disappeared up the stairs, Peretori fumbled his way to the telephone and gave Lechmere a whispered call. He had an idea that he would be in need of assistance presently, and the sooner it came the better. Then he felt that he could stand there in the dark and watch the interesting development of events.
Annette came tripping down the stairs again presently with a look of astonishment on her face. She found Hunt fuming about in the dining-room. He turned upon her sharply.
"Well?" he asked. "You have aroused your mistress? I trust that she will not keep me long."
"But it is impossible that she should do anything else, M'sieu," Annette protested. "I told you that my mistress had gone to bed. I had been out late to-night myself, and there were things to do after I came in. That is why I was ready to answer your ring. I say the countess was asleep under the profound impression that such was the fact. I goto wake my mistress, and behold she is not in bed at all!"
"What does it matter so long as she gets my message?" Hunt asked impatiently.
"But she does not get your message, M'sieu," Annette protested. "She is not there. The countess is not in the house at all. I recollect now that when I respond to your ring the front door is not fastened. It is plain to me that my mistress is not in."
Hunt's reply was more forcible than polite. Annette's face flamed with anger.
"It seems the fashion at present for everybody to say to me that I am a liar," she cried. "I tell you again that my mistress is not in the house. You can wait if you like, and I will not go to bed till she come in. There is no more to be said for the present, M'sieu."
And Annette walked away with her head in the air. There was the sound of shuffling feet in the hall presently as Robert was smuggled out of the house, and Annette retired to her dignified retreat in the small back room. She had hardly regained it before the hall door opened and the countess came in. Annette, with an air of wounded dignity, proclaimed all that had recently taken place. As the light flashed on the face of the countess, Peretori could see that she was visibly disturbed.
"Go to bed, Annette," she exclaimed. "I will see this gentleman who comes at so strange a time."
The countess passed into the dining-room, and as she did so Peretori saw the handle of the front door turn very quietly, and Lechmere crept into the house. He stood motionless just for a moment,then Peretori stepped out of the little room where he was listening and beckoned to him.
"Come in here," he whispered. "I sent for you because I have an idea that I shall require your assistance a little later on. Hunt is in the dining room. Ah, the quarrel has begun!"
"I tell you I have been fooled," Hunt was saying passionately. "Fooled like a child. You promised me that you would manage that theMercuryshould contain an interview with the King of Asturia."
"Well? Did I fail in my promise? Did I not send the king to you in a condition when he was prepared to say or do anything? Won't it be all there to-morrow morning?"
"It is all there now," Hunt said with a groan. "Already the country editions of the paper are on the train. A large proportion of the town impressions have gone out also. And you have fooled me purposely."
"What is the man talking about?" the countess cried impatiently. "Anyone would think that I had some object——"
"In making a fool of me. So you have, if I could only understand the reason. As a matter of fact, I have been hoaxed in the most shameless manner possible. The man who came to me was an impostor, a fraud, an actor, and you knew it. When the whole story comes to be told my paper will be ruined, and I shall be laughed out of London. The real King of Asturia——"
"The man is mad!" the countess cried. "The real King of Asturia was with you to-night."
"It is utterly false, and you know it. You are playing this thing off on me for your own ends. I have just had it from the same source that the realKing of Asturia, accompanied by Captain Alexis and another gentleman, have left for Dover by a special train an hour agoen routefor Asturia. The information came to me from a lady journalist who actually saw the departure from Charing Cross. The lady in question makes no mistakes. I have never known her to be wrong. What have you to say to this?"
For once in her life Countess Saens was absolutely nonplussed. In the face of this information it was utterly impossible to keep up the present fraud any longer.
"So you have got the best of me?" she laughed. "It was a daring thing to do, but I thought that it would pass muster. It cost me a thousand guineas into the bargain. Mind you, I had not the slightest idea that the king would take such strong measures as these, and I am obliged by your priceless information. Now, what can I do to put matters right?"
Hunt made the best of a bad bargain. As a matter of fact he was not quite blameless in the matter.
"Those papers," he said. "Get me those papers. I dare say I can bluff the matter through. We can suggest that somebody is personating the real king. But I must have those papers."
"Ay, if we could only get them!" the countess said between her teeth. "We have clever people to deal with, and you may thank the way I have been fooled to-night for the suggestion of the way in which I have done my best to damage the cause of Asturia. But I am on the track now, and I am going to get to the bottom of it. The first thing to-morrow morning I shall go to Charing Cross Hospital."
"What for?" Hunt growled. "You are talking in enigmas so far as I am concerned."
"Never mind. The enigma will explain itself in good time. I tell you that you shall have those papers. I'm sorry for the trick I played on you to-night, but there is a great stake in my hands. It never occurred to me that the enemy would play so bold a game."
"You hear that?" Lechmere said to his companion. "Now whatever scheme you have in your mind, my dear prince, it must be abandoned to the certainty that the Countess Saens does not go to the hospital at Charing Cross to-morrow. You have a pretty good idea of how things stand, and I look to you to prevent that. Can you possibly manage it?"
Peretori whispered something reassuring. If Lechmere would stay here for a time and watch over the progress of events, he might be able to manage it. Lechmere expressed himself as ready to do anything that was required.
"Very well," Peretori replied. "I am going to slip away for a time. I shall be back in ten minutes at the outside. But don't leave the house, because we have business here later on. There will be a real danger and peril before us presently."
Lechmere nodded in his turn as Peretori stole softly away. The murmur of voices from the dining-room was still going on. The conversation had grown desultory.
"I repeat, I am sorry for the trick I had to play you to-night," the countess was saying. "But you have only to stick to your guns and stand out for the genuineness of your interview. Under ordinary circumstances it would have passed muster.But what possessed the king to take that decided step? I understood that his nerve was gone. I had it from a sure source that he never dared set foot in Asturia again. And to have gone off in that determined manner! What does it mean?"
Lechmere could have answered that question, as he smilingly told himself. He could tell from the sound of the voices that Hunt was getting nearer and nearer to the door. Presently the pair emerged into the hall. It was fully a quarter of an hour now since Peretori had departed, and Lechmere was getting anxious. At the same moment there was a knock at the door so sharp and sudden that the countess started, as did her companion. The former opened the door.
Just for a moment Lechmere craned his neck to see. But all he noted was a district messenger boy, who handed an envelope to the countess andprofferredhis pencil for a receipt. The door closed, and the countess tore open the envelope eagerly.
"A thick envelope," she said. "Merely my name printed on it in large letters. What have we here? A visiting card with the name of the Duchess of Dinon on it. That is thenom de plumeadopted by the Queen of Asturia when travelling. Ah, here is the gist of it! Listen:
"'Meet me to-morrow night Hotel Bristol, Paris, at 9 o'clock. Ask for Mr. Conway. Am watched. Am anxious to escape. Do not fail me. Erno.'"
"'Meet me to-morrow night Hotel Bristol, Paris, at 9 o'clock. Ask for Mr. Conway. Am watched. Am anxious to escape. Do not fail me. Erno.'"
The countess waved the little slip of parchment in triumph over her head. "From the king!" she said. "From the king to me. He desires to escape, and that plays my game. Give me the time-table that is on the hall table behind you."