EPHRAIM ZIEGLER
Althea's statement--that von Felsen had pressed her to marry him--made
it plain to me that he was pulling the strings in everything; although
why he should endeavour to secure her arrest in order to further his
purpose, baffled me.
If his motive were jealousy, however, it was possible that he would call
a halt when he learnt the truth about the Prince. I urged Althea to let
me tell him, but she would not. Her quixotic regard for Chalice stood
in the way. Nor would she adopt the alternative advice I tendered--that
"Aunt Charlotte" should leave Berlin as secretly and mysteriously as she
had arrived.
Nothing was left for me, therefore, but to cast about for some other
means of dealing with von Felsen. In the meantime I knew he would lose
no time in confirming his suspicions as to Althea's whereabouts.
This was soon made plain. I was speaking to Bessie when von Bernhoff's
card was brought to us; and when he was shown up, von Felsen was with
him. Von Bernhoff introduced him to Bessie, and he made himself
insinuatingly polite to her.
A lot of small talk followed: a good deal of it about my interrupted
journey; and von Bernhoff asked if I was going on the following day.
"I don't think Aunt Charlotte will let you go, Paul," said Bessie, who
was as cool and self-possessed as possible.
"Frau Ellicott has come then?" said von Bernhoff, who had known of the
intended visit. "I shall be glad to see her again. She is a charming
lady."
"She arrived this morning," said Bessie in the most matter of fact tone.
"You should see Frau Ellicott," said von Bernhoff to von Felsen, who had
pricked up his ears at this. "She is a perfect type of an English lady."
"I shall hope for the honour of being presented," he smirked.
"She will be delighted, I am sure. Lieutenant von Bernhoff is a
favourite of hers, and any friend of his may count upon her good
graces." I thought Bessie was carrying things a bit too far; but von
Felsen was keeping an eye on me, and I could not warn her. "To-day she
has a bad headache. You may remember how a journey upsets her."
"Ah yes, indeed"; and von Bernhoff shrugged his shoulders with a gesture
of commiseration. "I remember too how interested she was in Fraeulein
Chalice Mennerheim. More than once she has spoken to me in raptures
about her voice."
"She is passionately fond of music and used to be a great singer
herself," was Bessie's absolutely composed reply.
"This news about Fraeulein Korper will interest her greatly, then,"
interjected von Felsen; and I saw why Chalice's name had been dragged in
so clumsily.
Bessie was on the point of replying when we heard footsteps in the room
overhead, and the sound of some one singing the jewel song from Faust.
Then the door above was opened and the voice sounded nearer. The singer
came downstairs.
"One of Fraeulein Chalice's songs," said von Felsen, with a grin.
Bessie rose. She was quite cool. "Aunt Charlotte must be better, Paul.
I'll go and see if she will not come down to see Lieutenant von
Bernhoff."
Von Felsen hastened to open the door for her, and took the opportunity
of glancing up the stairs. "She has a young voice, your aunt," he said
to me as he closed the door behind Bessie.
"She is no longer a young woman, as you will see."
"If she is well enough to come to us," he retorted meaningly.
"At any rate her headache is better," grinned von Bernhoff; and then we
sat in silence until Bessie returned, laughing merrily.
"A most ridiculous mistake, Paul. I don't know how we could be so
stupid. It was Ellen singing--our maid, you know," she added to the
others. "Aunt Charlotte opened the door to tell her to be quiet. She
is very angry at having been woke up."
Then came another mishap. The two men were murmuring their obviously
insincere regrets when Ellen entered and said the Prince von Graven
wished to see me.
"Show him up," I said, with a sort of feeling that nothing mattered now.
Von Felsen gave such a leer of triumph that I could have kicked him.
"He is, indeed, an ultimate friend of yours, Bastable. Two visits in
one day"; and with that the two men went, meeting the Prince on the
landing.
"I could almost cry with vexation," whispered Bessie.
"It's too serious for tears, Bess. Was Althea coming down here?"
She nodded. "I was just in time to stop her."
"She might almost as well have come," I grunted. "You had better leave
me alone with the Prince. Try and persuade Althea to make a bolt of
it."
The interview with the Prince was very short. Eagerness to learn the
result of my visit to Chalice had brought him together with the desire
to tell me he had found out that the arrest was not ordered by the
Kaiser, who knew nothing about it. I told him what had passed between
Chalice and myself.
"I was afraid of it; but of course she must have her own way," he
declared feebly.
"Do you think she has the right to ruin Fraeulein Althea, then?"
"It is most perplexing, baffling. I do not see what to do."
"Not to tell the truth is simply cowardly," I said with some warmth.
"Herr Bastable!" and he drew himself up to his full height.
"To place one woman in danger merely for another woman's caprice is
cowardly, Prince von Graven. And you are chiefly responsible."
"Do you speak in this way with Fraeulein Althea's sanction?"
"On the contrary, she is all too willing to sacrifice herself."
"Then it is scarcely pertinent to the matter."
"Pertinent or impertinent, it is the truth," I declared bluntly,
disgusted at his indifference to Althea's welfare.
"Are you seeking to force a quarrel upon me, sir?"
"No. I am merely trying to rouse you to do what you ought to do."
"I am the best judge of that."
"Then we may as well end the interview"; and I threw open the door.
He was bursting with indignation. "I am extremely disappointed in you,
Herr Bastable."
"A mutual feeling, I assure you, Prince"; and I bowed him out.
I was glad to be rid of him. His news--that the arrest was not at the
Kaiser's bidding--confirmed my belief that I must deal with von Felsen
as the chief instigator, and I must lose no time in getting to work to
checkmate him.
I knew a good deal about him. He had lived a wastrel, dissipated life,
and was deep in the hands of the Jews; and the fact that I had seen him
with Hagar Ziegler led me to think I could get from her father what I
wanted--something discreditable which would enable me to pull him up
short.
Old Ephraim Ziegler was under a considerable obligation to me. During
my newspaper work I had refrained from taking a certain line in regard
to a very dirty transaction in which he was concerned, and had saved the
old Jew from being prosecuted. He knew this, and had more than once
expressed himself anxious to show me some practical appreciation of that
service.
I was shown at once into his office, and he received me with more than
unctuous servility.
"Ah, Herr Bastable, this is indeed an honour," he said, rubbing his fat
hands together while his beady eyes searched my face in doubt whether I
had again come to undo some of his questionable work.
"So you haven't forgotten me?"
"Forgotten you!" he cried, spreading wide his arms. "You are one of the
only friends poor Ephraim Ziegler ever had. You come on business? A
little money, eh?"
I shook my head. "Oh no, not that."
This disconcerted him somewhat. He jumped to the conclusion that it
must be something unpleasant. I let him think that for a while and,
referring to one of the former cases, hinted that I had come to warn
him, and that something had been discovered which might mean trouble for
him. But I ended with an assurance that personally I would not do
anything against him. Then I rose as if to leave.
He trembled and was very frightened; his flabby cheeks paled, and his
voice shook as he pressed me to stay. "It is such an honour you do me,"
he declared. Thus pressed, I resumed my seat, and we chatted about a
number of matters until I brought the talk round to von Felsen,
mentioning his name casually among several others. "He's one of the
flies in your web, you old spider," I laughed.
"He owes me a lot of money, that young man," he said. It was his habit
to gloat over his cunning in such matters. "But it will be all right in
the end."
"Where's he to get it from to pay you? Not from his father."
"Not from his father; that is true. But he will get it, he will get
it"; and he sat pressing his finger-tips together with such an air of
satisfaction that it set me thinking. I remembered that he was a Pole,
and had been mixed up once before with one of the Polish schemes.
"There are other things beside money to pay debts with, eh?" I put all
the significance I could into the question, and winked at him. "You old
fox!"
"You almost make me afraid of you, Herr Bastable. You get to know so
much," he answered after a pause, and with a leer intended to flatter
me.
"Would you like to know what I do know about this?" I laughed. "Your
'almost' would then be 'quite,' I assure you"; and I rose again as if to
leave.
"Oh no, no. Don't go yet," he cried eagerly.
Down I sat again with a shrug as if to please him. "You want to find out
how much I do know, eh? But I did not come to discuss politics"--I
paused intentionally on the word, and the effect satisfied me--"but just
to warn you about that old Martin affair. You can't pump me; but you'd
better go carefully in both concerns."
His uneasiness showed that my old experience with him stood me in good
stead now. He had a wholesome fear of my sources of information. He
paused, hunched up in his chair, and asked suddenly: "Why did you
mention Hugo von Felsen's name to me?"
I had an inspiration and resolved upon a shot. I took out my cigarette
case, selected one with great care, and as I lit it, looked across at
him. "Your daughter is a very handsome girl, Ziegler."
The shot told instantly. "You mean something. Herr Bastable," he cried,
leaning forward in his eagerness. "You are my friend. You must tell
me. I love my Hagar. She is the light of my life. Tell me," he
repeated.
I wished with all my heart that I could; but I could only look as if my
secret knowledge would fill an encyclopaedia.
This spurred his eagerness. "Ah, my friend, my dear Herr Bastable, you
must tell me," he urged.
I shook my head. "You are a very clever old spider but--some one is
blabbing. Look out." It was a safe general sort of shot and added to
his mystification. He bit his nails and his eyes rolled from side to
side rapidly. It was his way when deeply moved. "Do you mean about
Hagar?" he asked at length.
I knew by this that there was something more important than Hagar
behind. He would always put the less important consideration in front.
"No. It's the other affair; about the----" I broke off, and his eyes
fastened on mine as if to read in them the rest of the sentence. "But
it's no affair of mine," I added with a shrug. "Why should I bother
myself? But don't forget my warning."
"Do you mean we have been betrayed? That there is a spy among us?"
I turned grave for an instant. "I name no names, Ziegler; but some one
gave you away the other day when you failed."
The effect of this second shot was startling. "God of my fathers, if I
thought it was von Felsen I would----." He clenched his hands in rage.
I was almost as excited as he was, but I took care he should not see it.
Von Felsen was mixed up in these Polish schemes; and if I could get at
the truth, I should have him in the hollow of my hand. "It wasn't von
Felsen," I said to reassure him. "He's too deep in, and too much in
your power to chatter. You know that. And I shan't give you away. I
have too much sympathy with your cause. But it wasn't von Felsen. I
assure you that, although I bear him no good-will."
I had succeeded in convincing him that I knew a lot; and he had not a
suspicion that I had been merely guessing on the strength of the hints
he himself had dropped. He sat a long time thinking, and was greatly
disturbed.
"You have startled me, Herr Bastable; but I know you sympathize with the
cause. I know that from what you have written in your paper. But why
do you bear ill-will to Hugo?"
"Hugo," eh? He spoke or thought of him by his Christian name. The
inference was easy. Von Felsen was playing a double matrimonial game.
"When may one offer congratulations, Ziegler?" I asked with a smile. I
could afford to smile, for I was winning, hands down.
"It is Hagar's wish. She loves him; and she will be a countess, too."
"Two excellent reasons. And meanwhile you find him useful to get----"
Again I broke off the sentence and finished with a knowing smile.
"You are the devil, Herr Bastable," he replied with a laugh.
"Well, it is at least useful to be able to get inside information when
very important papers are in the hands of an Imperial messenger, eh?"
"I don't know what you mean by that," he answered, wagging his head.
I affected to take offence. "It's enough for my purposes that I do. Is
it worth while to try and fool me? I don't take to it easily, you know."
"I am not trying it," he protested.
"Then don't pretend that von Felsen isn't in all this with you. I know
too much. And now, look here, I'll tell you the real object of this
visit. Von Felsen is trying a fool's game with me, and it has to stop.
I know he daren't go against you, Ziegler, and you daren't go against
me; even if your friendship for me were less than it is."
My tone alarmed him. "What is he doing? I have influence with him, of
course."
"What he is doing may turn out to touch you pretty closely; but never
mind what it is for the present. Give me a line to him--that I am your
friend and that anything he does against me is the same as if done
against you."
"Of course I will," he consented. He wrote a few lines quickly and
handed them to me.
MY DEAR HUGO,--
"Herr Bastable is a great friend of mine. Any service to him is a
service to me; and the reverse.
"EPHRAIM ZIEGLER."
"That will do. And now a last word. Not a syllable to him or any one
of what has passed between us to-day."
"I give you my honour, my dear Herr Bastable," he agreed readily.
"I shall hear if you talk, mind; and if I do--well I shall take it as a
sign that I am to talk on my side. And I shall." I left him with that
and walked out of his office on excellent terms with myself.
I was convinced that von Felsen was so tight in the toils that the
letter I had obtained would frighten him consumedly. But I little
thought of the grim results which were to flow from that afternoon's
conversation.
I hurried home as fast as I could, and it was fortunate that I did so.
As my cab drew up at the house, I found von Felsen and Dormund at the
open door. I saw the move at once, without von Felsen's smug
explanation. "Herr Dormund has a question to put to your sister,
Bastable, about Fraeulein Althea."
"I trust I am not intruding, Herr Bastable," said Dormund
apologetically; "but Herr von Felsen tells me Miss Bastable has
expressed the wish to give me important information."
"Von Felsen is wrong. My sister does not know any more than I do; but
come into my den here and I'll see if she is at home," I replied
indifferently.
"Your servant has already told us she is," put in von Felsen.
"Then I'll go and fetch her"; and I handed out my cigars and left them.
It was a tight corner; but of course Dormund must not see Bessie. It
would at once reveal the trick I had played him at the station. Yet to
deny her after Ellen's admission that she was at home would be the
tamest subterfuge which he would see through in a second.
There was only one course: to call von Felsen out, face him with
Ziegler's letter and make him get rid of Dormund. I was about to do
this when another blow fell.
Ellen came running up to me, white of face and trembling.
"There are a number of police at the door, sir."
A loud knock at that instant confirmed her words.
It was a pretty fix in all truth, and I stood hesitating in perplexity
what to do, when the knocking was repeated more insistently.
Obviously there was nothing for it but to admit the police, so I sent
Ellen downstairs, and prepared to meet the crisis with as bold a face as
possible.