I
SPURRED into haste by the Captain's air of calamity. Hindwood had
commenced to dress. During the few minutes that it took him to hurry
into his clothes he thought furiously: with the result that by the time
he was clad for departure, he seated himself obstinately on the edge
of the bed. Meanwhile, in the belief that he was being followed, the
Captain had led the way into the passage. He had now returned and stood
filling the doorway, a turbulent figure in his gorgeous uniform of the
Royal Hussars.
“There's no time to lose.” he rapped out.
Hindwood eyed him calmly. “If you were sent to execute me, you can do it
here as conveniently as anywhere else.”
The sheer amazement which greeted this accusation seemed to disprove its
accuracy. The Captain answered scornfully:
“What devil of contrariness has put that thought into your head? If my
errand were known, it would be I who would be executed. She's in love
with you--that's why I sought you. It's the fact that you're my rival in
her affections that makes you the one man in Budapest whom I can trust.
There'll be bloodshed----”
“Go slower,” Hindwood interrupted. “Put yourself in my place. You know
too much--far more than seems healthy. You know that this morning when I
was with the Governor, there was an unseen listener behind the tapestry.
You assert, that he was a man whom all the world believes to be dead. If
you'll think back to our journey from Calais, you'll remember that
the reason for his having been murdered formed your chief topic of
conversation. Seeing that you know so much, you're probably aware that
my interview with the Governor ended in a threat. To make that threat
effective, the cooperation of the woman whom you first supposed to be
my wife and afterwards discovered to be my secretary is absolutely
necessary. On my return from the Palace she had vanished. Here again,
you pretend to know more than I do; at close on midnight you come
bursting into my room, demanding that I accompany you to her rescue.”
The Captain stared dully. “Every second counts. What is it that you wish
me to tell?”
“Why you've hung on my trail from Calais until now.”
“Eh!” His expression became embarrassed; then he raised his head with a
fearless gesture. “I see what you're driving at. I acknowledge that my
movements are open to misinterpretation. But I didn't follow you; it
was she whom I followed. As I told you in our first conversation, I was
returning from England where I'd been sent by my Government to intercept
Prince Rogovich with important despatches. The moment I clapped my
eyes on your traveling companion, I recognized in her a startling
resemblance; it was to a woman I had adored. She was far beyond me--the
mistress of archdukes and for a brief while of an emperor. The nearest
I ever came to touching her was when I was swept by her train at Court
functions.” He paused dramatically. “During the war she was shot by the
enemies of my country. Infamous things were said of her. If they were
true, they would make no difference to my love. No difference, do you
understand?” Again he paused. “What else?”
Hindwood narrowed his eyes. “Each time I've met you, you've harped on
the same theme--Prince Rogovich. Up to now I've not thought it necessary
to tell you: I knew this Prince Rogovich. Besides myself, there was
probably only one other person who spoke with him before his end. What
makes you so certain that it was a man, presumed to have been drowned
in the English Channel, who spied on me this morning from behind the
tapestry?”
“I was beside him. I'm his bodyguard--if you like, his secretary. I've
just come from him. Can you have stronger proof than that?” Suddenly
the Captain's patience broke down. “How many more questions? God knows
what's happening.”
Hindwood had risen. “There are several. Why did he disappear?”
“He has not said.”
“What makes you require my help to rescue her?”
“He may kill me. It's not likely he'll kill both of us.”
“What's his motive?” Hindwood spoke more slowly. All his suspicion was
emphasized in his words. “What's his motive for kidnaping this woman who
resembles----”
“How can I tell?” The Captain was desperate. “We talk and talk while
time passes. I suppose his interest is the same in this woman as in all
women. Perhaps he was the discarded lover of that other woman, and, like
myself, has noticed the resemblance.”
Hindwood picked up his hat. “I'm coming.”
“Are you armed?”
“Not in your sense. I shall fight with a different sort of weapon.”