Minister Throgmorton was still in his library when Virginia returned.
He had sent his report to Washington and had just received a reply. He
was in the act of opening this dispatch when his daughter entered the
room.
“Father, are you aware that Mr. Hawley was not alone when he went to
take the snapshot at the fortress last night?” she began abruptly.
The diplomat nodded. “I am informed that he had a woman confederate
with him. But, really, my dear girl----”
“You have been correctly informed,” Virginia quickly interrupted. “But
did they tell you who the woman was?”
Her father looked at her searchingly. “No, they did not. Do you know?”
“I do; and I think that you ought to know, too, before you fully make
up your mind that it will be impossible to use your influence with
the government to prevent this case from coming to trial. Surely you
wouldn’t want your own daughter to be convicted as accessory before the
fact?”
“My own daughter! Why, what do you mean? It can’t be possible that
you----” He stopped short, and a look of alarm came to his face.
“Yes; it was I,” the girl announced, her voice as calm as if she had
been telling him of a visit to her milliner. “I accompanied Mr. Hawley
to the fortress last night, and helped him to get his snapshot. You
might as well hear the truth now, for you are bound to learn it later
on when I am brought to trial. For,” she added, with determination,
“I have fully decided that I must confess my part in the adventure.
It would not be honorable for me to remain silent and let Mr. Hawley
suffer alone, when I am fully as guilty as he.”
Her father smiled incredulously. “I hate to doubt your word, Virginia,
but I am inclined to believe that you are inventing this story in the
vain hope of frightening me into helping the rascal.”
“If you doubt me,” said Virginia indignantly, “you have only to make
inquiries at the fortress. Ask the commandant, or Captain Reyes; they
can tell you that I was there. I told them a story which threw them
off the track as to my part in the adventure and caused them to let me
go, but when they hear my confession they will have no doubt as to its
truth.”
A troubled expression came to the minister’s face. He got up and paced
the room in agitation. “What made you do it?” he demanded presently.
“What motive could you have for assisting this spy?”
Virginia shrugged her shoulders. “He couldn’t get his snapshot without
an assistant, so I volunteered my services. The excitement of the
adventure appealed to me. Things have been so slow around here lately.”
Her father scowled. “Do you realize the position you have put me in?”
he exclaimed angrily. “The daughter of the United States minister
mixed up in a conspiracy against the government of a friendly power! It
is intolerable. It is liable to cause international complications. It
may result in my recall.”
“It needn’t do either of these things, if only you could see your way
to do as I have suggested--use your influence with the government here
to have Mr. Hawley set free without a trial. I’m sure everything will
be all right so far as I am concerned.”
Minister Throgmorton scowled again. “That is quite out of the
question,” he began. Then he happened to glance at the cablegram in his
hand which he had been about to read when his daughter had interrupted
him. The message, which was in cipher, was very brief. Translated it
read as follows:
“You must make every fair and legitimate effort, at your discretion,
to obtain Hawley’s release.”
The United States representative did not have to consult his code book
for the identification of the name which was signed to the message. He
knew that it was the personal cipher of the President of the United
States.
As he was working out the translation his daughter took a step toward
the door. With an intuitive apprehension of her purpose he looked up
from his desk. “Where are you going, Virginia?” he asked uneasily.
“To give myself up to the authorities,” the girl answered, a resolute
tilt to her chin. “I have fully made up my mind that if Mr. Hawley is
going to suffer I am going to share his punishment with him.”
“You are going to do nothing of the sort,” her harassed parent declared
peremptorily. He got up from his chair and took his hat and cane. “Wait
here,” he commanded. “I am going out for a little while. I forbid you
to leave the house until I return.”
“Very well, father,” the girl meekly assented. Her blue eyes twinkled
as she spoke. Something about the envoy’s manner caused her to believe
that she could guess his destination.
A few minutes after he had gone a young man visited the embassy. He
wore the uniform of a lieutenant of the United States navy. He wore
also an exceedingly perturbed expression. From the card which the
servant brought, Virginia learned that the visitor’s name was Ridder,
and that he was attached to the battleship _Kearsarge_. The servant
announced that the young man desired an audience with the United States
minister, but the girl, hoping that his business might have something
to do with the Camera Chap, ordered that he be shown into the library.
“My father is not in just now,” she announced. “Is there anything I can
do for you?”
“I’m afraid, not,” Lieutenant Ridder replied. “I have come to see your
father about a friend of mine who was arrested last night.”
“Mr. Hawley?”
“Yes; do you know if anything is being done for him? I am anxious to
know whether my telegram has already brought results.”
“Your telegram?” Virginia exclaimed with eager curiosity.
“Last night when a mob of chocolate soldiers marched into the hotel and
arrested my friend,” the naval officer explained, “I sent a dispatch to
the managing editor of the New York _Sentinel_, notifying him of what
had happened. I figured that he might have a pull with Washington.”
“What a clever idea!” exclaimed Virginia, looking at him admiringly.
“That scheme never even entered my mind. Did you get a reply?”
“Yes; he assured me that he will do everything in his power to stir
up Washington. I was in hopes that he might have succeeded in getting
the state department to send word to Minister Throgmorton to demand
Hawley’s release.”
“My father received an official dispatch a short time ago,” Virginia
informed him, “but of course I don’t know what it contained. Are you a
very great friend of Mr. Hawley’s?” she inquired.
Lieutenant Ridder smiled. “Well, that depends on what you mean by
friend. We’ve only met a few times, but--well, you see, he saved my
life once. That was the first time we met. A gang of toughs had me down
and pretty nearly out. They would have finished me, I guess, if Hawley
hadn’t come along. There were at least six of them, but he sailed into
the bunch and routed them all. He’s the gamest, whitest chap I’ve ever
met, and now that he’s in trouble I’d go the limit to help him.”
Virginia regarded him with interest. “I wonder just how far you really
would go,” she said, a challenge in her tone. “If all other measures
failed, would you be willing to land a rescue party to the jail and get
him out by force?”
The naval officer smiled sheepishly. “Are you a mind reader, Miss
Throgmorton? Ever since last night,” he confided to her, “I’ve been
figuring whether that very thing couldn’t be done, if things should
come to a pinch. I know I could pick out at least a dozen men on the
_Kearsarge_ who would be eager to help me. The only difficulty is that
if I took them in on the scheme it would get them into trouble.”
“It would get you into trouble, too,” the girl reminded him. “I am
afraid that, at the very least, it would cost you your commission.”
Ridder smiled. “Possibly it would,” he said simply, “but--well, didn’t
Hawley risk more than that when he sailed into that bunch down in
Chinatown and saved me from being beaten to death? As I said before,
I’m willing to go the limit to help him.”
“I feel sure that you would,” said Virginia, noting with admiration the
breadth of his shoulders and the strong set of his jaw. “Mr. Hawley is
indeed fortunate to have such a loyal friend so near at hand. Let us
hope, however,” she added, “that such desperate measures will not be
necessary. I have an idea, Mr. Ridder, that my father has gone now to
the national palace to interview President Portiforo on behalf of our
friend. When he returns he may have good news for us.”