Maggie came suddenly into the library at Belgrave Square, where Jesson,
Chalmers and Nigel were talking together. She carried in her hand a
note, which she handed to the latter.
"Naida is a dear, after all," she declared. "There is one person at
least who does not wish to have me pass away in a German nursing home or
fall a victim to Frau Essendorf's cooking."
Nigel read the note aloud. It consisted of only a sentence or two and
was dated from the Milan Court that morning:
Maggie dear, this is just a line of advice from your friend. You
must not go back to Germany.
Naida.
"I fear," Maggie sighed, "that my little expedition is scotched, even if
I had been able to persuade you others to let me go. Every one seems to
have made up their mind that I shall not go to Germany. It will be such
a disappointment to those flaxen-haired atrocities, Gertrud and Bertha.
Their so-much-loved Miss Brown can never return to them again."
"In any case, the game was scarcely worth the candle," Nigel observed.
"We have already all the evidence we require that some scheme inimical
to this country is being proposed and fostered by Immelan. Our next move
must be to find out the nature of this scheme--whether it be naval,
military, or political. I don't think Essendorf would be at all likely
to give away any more interesting information in the domestic circle."
"What are we all going to do, then?" Maggie asked.
"We are met here to discuss it," Nigel replied. "Jesson is off to Russia
this afternoon. I asked him to come round and have a few last words with
us, in case there was anything to suggest for us stay-at-homes."
"We shall have to rely very largely upon luck," Jesson declared. "There
are three places, in any of which we might discover what we want to
know. One is Kroten, another is Paris, provided that Prince Shan really
goes there, and the third London."
"London?" Maggie repeated.
"There are two people in London," Jesson declared, "who know everything
we are seeking to discover. One is Immelan and the other Naida
Karetsky."
"It seems to me," Maggie said, "that if that is so, the place for us is
where those two people are. What is the importance of Kroten, Mr.
Jesson?"
"Kroten," Jesson replied, "is the second of what I have seen referred
to in a private diplomatic report, written in an enemy country, as the
three mystery cities of the world. The first one is in Germany, and I
have already explored it. I have information, but information which
without its sequel is valueless. Kroten is the second. Ten years ago it
was a town of eighteen thousand inhabitants. To-day there are at least
two hundred thousand people there, and it is growing all the time."
"Say, how can a town of that size," Chalmers enquired, "be termed a
mystery city in any sense of the word? Travelling's free in Russia. I
guess any one that wanted could take a ticket to Kroten."
"A good many do," Jesson assented calmly, "and some never come back.
America and Russia are on friendly terms, yet two men in my branch of
the service--good fellows they were, too--started out from Washington
for Kroten six months ago. Neither of them has been heard of since;
neither ever will be."
"How's it done?" Chalmers asked curiously.
"In the first place," Jesson explained, "the city itself stands at the
arm of the river, in a sort of cul-de-sac, with absolutely untraversable
mountains on three sides of it. All the roads have to come around the
plain and enter from eastwards. There is only one line of railway, so
that all the approaches into the city are easily guarded."
"That's all right geographically, of course," Nigel admitted, "but what
earthly excuse can any one make for keeping tourists or travellers out
of the place if they want to go there?"
"That is perhaps the most ingenious thing of all," Jesson replied. "You
know that Russia is now practically a tranquil country, but there are
certain bands of the extreme Bolshevistic faction who never gave in to
authority and who practically exist in the little-known places by means
of marauding expeditions. The mountains about Kroten are supposed to
have been infested by these nomadic companies. Whether the outrages set
down to them are really committed or not, I don't suppose any one knows,
but my point of view is that the presence of these people is absolutely
encouraged by the Government, to give them an excuse for the most
extraordinary precautions in issuing passports or allowing any one from
the outside world to pass into the city. If you get in, I understand you
are waited upon by the police within half an hour and have to tell them
the story of your past life and your future intentions. After that you
are allowed to go about on parole. If you get too inquisitive, you are
discovered to be in touch with the robber bands, and--well--that's an
end of you."
"A nice, salubrious spot," Nigel murmured.
"It sounds most interesting," Maggie declared. "I think a woman would
be less likely to cause suspicion," she added hopefully.
"Utterly out of the question," Jesson pronounced. "Kroten is the one
place that must be left in my hands. I know more about the getting there
than any of you, and I know the tricks of changing my identity."
"I should rather like to go with you," Nigel confessed.
"Impossible!" was the brief reply.
"Why?"
Jesson smiled.
"To be perfectly frank," he said, "because you are developing an
interest in the one person in the world who might give success over into
our hands. It is necessary for you to remain where you can encourage
that interest."
Nigel was a little staggered.
"My friendship with Mademoiselle Karetsky," he protested, "is scarcely
likely to influence her political views."
"I am a somewhat close observer," Jesson continued. "You will not ask me
to believe that your conversation with mademoiselle in her box at the
Opera last night related all the time to--well, shall we say music?"
"Nigel, you never told me you were at the Opera," Maggie intervened.
"What made you go?"
"I think that it was a message from Mademoiselle Karetsky," Jesson
suggested quietly.
Nigel smiled.
"Upon my word, I think you're going to be a success, Jesson," he
declared. "Perhaps you can tell me what we did talk about?"
"I believe I almost could," was the calm reply. "In any case, I think I
see the situation as it exists. Mademoiselle Karetsky is a wonderful
woman. She has a great, open mind. To a certain extent, of course, she
has seen things from the point of view of Paul Matinsky, Immelan, and
that little coterie of Russo-Germans who see a future for both countries
only in an alliance of the old-fashioned order. Matinsky, however, has
always had his doubts. That is why he sent over here the one person whom
he trusted. Presently she will make a report, and the whole issue will
remain with her. Immelan knows this and pays her ceaseless court. My
impression, however, is that his influence is waning. I believe that
to-day he is terrified at the bare reflection of how much Naida Karetsky
knows."
"You believe that she does know exactly what is intended?" Nigel asked.
"I am perfectly certain of it," Jesson replied. "If she could be induced
to tell us everything, my journey to Kroten might just as well be
abandoned. Yet somehow I do not think she will go so far as that. The
most that we can hope for is that she will advise Matinsky to reject
Immelan's proposals, and that she will perhaps bring some influence to
bear in the same direction upon Prince Shan."
"I am inclined to agree with Jesson," Nigel pronounced, "inasmuch as I
believe that Mademoiselle Karetsky is disposed to change or modify her
views concerning us. You see, after all, this threatened blow against
England is purely a private affair of Germany's. There is really no
reason why Russia or any other country should be dragged into it. She is
the monkey pulling the chestnuts out of the fire for her most dangerous
rival."
"Matinsky might be brought to think that way," Chalmers observed, "but
they say half the members of his Cabinet are under German influence."
"If Matinsky believed that," Nigel declared, "he is quite strong enough
to clear them all out and make a fresh start."
"In the meantime," Maggie interposed, "I should like to know in what way
you propose to use poor little me? I am not to go to Germany, the man
whom I at one time seriously thought of marrying is told off to engage
the attentions of another woman, Mr. Jesson here is going to Kroten, and
he doesn't show the slightest inclination to take me with him. Am I to
sit here and do nothing?"
"There remains for you the third enterprise," Jesson replied, "one in
which, so far as I can see," he continued, with a smile, "you have not
the faintest chance of success."
"Tell me what it is, at least?" she begged.
"The conversion of Prince Shan."
Maggie made a little grimace.
"Aren't you trying me a little high?" she murmured.
"Very high indeed," Jesson acknowledged. "Prince Shan, for all his
wonderful statesmanship and his grip upon world affairs, is reputed to
be almost an anchorite in his daily life. No woman has ever yet been
able to boast of having exercised the slightest influence over him. At
the same time, he is an extraordinarily human person, and success with
him would mean the end of your enemies."
"It sounds a bit of a forlorn hope," Maggie remarked cheerfully, "but
I'll do my little best."
"Prince Shan has abandoned his idea of landing at Paris," Jesson
continued. "He is coming direct to London. I have to thank Chalmers for
that information. Immelan will meet him directly he arrives, and their
first conversations will make history. Afterwards, if things go well,
Mademoiselle Karetsky will join the conference."
"I fear," Maggie sighed, "that there will be difficulties in the way of
my establishing confidential relations with Prince Shan."
"There will be difficulties," Jesson assented, "but the thing is not so
impossible as it would be in Paris. Prince Shan has a very fine house
in Curzon Street, which is kept in continual readiness for him. He will
probably entertain to some extent. You will without doubt have
opportunities of meeting him socially."
Maggie glanced at herself in the glass.
"A Chinaman!" she murmured.
"I guess that doesn't mean what it did," Chalmers pointed out. "Prince
Shan is an aristocrat and a born ruler. He has every scrap of culture
that we know anything about and something from his thousand-year-old
family that we don't quite know how to put into words. Don't you worry
about Prince Shan, Lady Maggie. Ask Dorminster here what they called him
at Oxford."
"The first gentleman of Asia," Nigel replied. "I think he deserves the
title."