Mrs. Benedek was the first to notice the transformation which had
certainly taken place in Norgate's appearance. She came and sat by his
side upon the cushioned fender.
"What a metamorphosis!" she exclaimed. "Why, you look as though
Providence had been showering countless benefits upon you."
There were several people lounging around, and Mrs. Benedek's remark
certainly had point.
"You look like Monty, when he's had a winning week," one of them
observed.
"It is something more than gross lucre," a young man declared, who had
just strolled up. "I believe that it is a good fat appointment. Rome,
perhaps, where every one of you fellows wants to get to, nowadays."
"Or perhaps," the Prince intervened, with a little bow, "Mrs. Benedek has
promised to dine with you? She is generally responsible for the gloom or
happiness of us poor males in this room."
Norgate smiled.
"None of these wonderful things have happened--and yet, something perhaps
more wonderful," he announced. "I am engaged to be married."
There was a mingled chorus of exclamations and congratulations.
Selingman, who had been standing on the outskirts of the group, drew a
little nearer. His face wore a somewhat puzzled expression.
"And the lady?" he enquired. "May we not know the lady's name? That is
surely important?"
"It is the Baroness von Haase," Norgate replied. "You probably know her
by name and repute, at least, Mr. Selingman. She is an Austrian, but she
is often at Berlin."
Selingman stretched out his great hand. For some reason or other, the
announcement seemed to have given him real pleasure.
"Know her? My dear young friend, while I may not claim the privilege of
intimate friendship with her, the Baroness is a young lady of the
greatest distinction and repute in Berlin. I congratulate you. I
congratulate you most heartily. The anger of our young princeling is no
longer to be wondered at. I cannot tell you how thoroughly interesting
this news is to me."
"You are very good indeed, I am sure, all of you," Norgate declared,
answering the general murmur of kindly words. "The Baroness doesn't play
bridge, but I'd like to bring her in one afternoon, if I may."
"I have had the honour of meeting the Baroness von Haase several times,"
Prince Lenemaur said. "It will give me the utmost pleasure to renew my
acquaintance with her. These alliances are most pleasing. Since I have
taken up my residence in this country, I regard them with the utmost
favour. They do much to cement the good feeling between Germany,
Austria, and England, which is so desirable."
"English people," Mrs. Benedek remarked, "will at least have the
opportunity of judging Austrian women from the proper standpoint. Anna is
one of the most accomplished and beautiful women in either Vienna or
Berlin. I hope so much that she will not have forgotten me altogether."
They all drifted presently back to the bridge tables. Norgate, however,
excused himself. He had some letters to write, he declared, and
presently he withdrew to the little drawing-room. In about a quarter of
an hour, as he had expected, the door opened, and Selingman entered. He
crossed the room at once to where Norgate was writing and laid his hand
upon his shoulder.
"Young man," he said, "I wish to talk with you. Bring your chair around.
Sit there so that the light falls upon your face. So! Now let me see.
Where does that door lead to?"
"Into the secretary's room, but it is locked," Norgate told him.
"So! And the outer one I myself have carefully closed. We talk here,
then, in private. This is great news which you have brought this
afternoon."
"It is naturally of some interest to me," Norgate assented, "but I
scarcely see--"
"It is of immense interest, also, to me," Selingman interrupted. "It may
be that you do not know this at present. It may be that I anticipate, but
if so, no matter. Between you and your fiancée there will naturally be no
secrets. You are perhaps already aware that she holds a high position
amongst those who are working for the power and development and expansion
of our great empire?"
"I have gathered something of the sort," Norgate admitted. "I know, of
course, that she is a personal favourite of the Emperor's, and _persona
grata_ at the Court of Berlin."
"You have no scruple, then, about marrying a woman who belongs to a
certain clique, a certain school of diplomacy which you might, from a
superficial point of view, consider inimical to your country's
interests?"
"I have no scruple at all in marrying the Baroness von Haase," Norgate
replied firmly. "As for the rest, you and I have discussed fully the
matter of the political relations between our countries. I have shown you
practically have I not, what my own views are?"
"That is true, my young friend," Selingman confessed. "We have spoken
together, man to man, heart to heart. I have tried to show you that even
though we should stand with sword outstretched across the seas, yet in
the hearts of our people there dwells a real affection, real good-will
towards your country. I think that I have convinced you. I have come,
indeed, to have a certain amount of confidence in you. That I have
already proved. But your news to-day alters much. There are grades of
that society which you have joined, rings within rings, as you may well
imagine. I see the prospect before me now of making much greater and more
valuable use of you. It was your brain, and a certain impatience with
the political conduct of your country, which brought you over to our
side. Why should not that become an alliance--an absolute alliance? Your
interests are drawn into ours. You have now a real and great reason for
throwing in your lot with us. Let me look at you. Let me think whether I
may not venture upon a great gamble."
Norgate did not flinch. He appeared simply a little puzzled. Selingman's
blue, steel-like eyes seemed striving to reach the back of his brain.
"All the things that we accomplish in my country," the latter continued,
"we do by method and order. We do them scientifically. We reach out into
the future. So far as we can, we foresee everything. We leave little to
chance. Yet there are times when one cannot deal in certainties. Young
man, the news which you have told us this afternoon has brought us to
this pitch. I am inclined to gamble--to gamble upon you."
"Is there any question of consulting me in this?" Norgate asked coolly.
Selingman brushed the interruption on one side.
"I now make clear to you what I mean," he continued. "You have joined my
little army of helpers, those whom I have been able to convince of the
justice and reasonableness of Germany's ultimate aim. Now I want more
from you. I want to make of you something different. More than anything
in the world, for the furtherance of my schemes here, I need a young
Englishman of your position and with your connections, to whom I can give
my whole confidence, who will act for me with implicit obedience,
without hesitation. Will you accept that post, Francis Norgate?"
"If you think I am capable of it," Norgate replied promptly.
"You are capable of it," Selingman asserted. "There is only one grim
possibility to be risked. Are you entirely trustworthy? Would you flinch
at the danger moment? Before this afternoon I hesitated. It is your
alliance with the Baroness which gives me that last drop of confidence
which was necessary."
"I am ready to do your work," Norgate said. "I can say no more. My own
country has no use for me. My own country seems to have no use for any
one at all just now who thinks a little beyond the day's eating and
drinking and growing fat."
Selingman nodded his head. The note of bitterness in the other's tone was
to his liking.
"Of rewards, of benefits, I shall not now speak," he proceeded. "You have
something in you of the spirit of men who aim at the greater things.
There is, indeed, in your attitude towards life something of the
idealism, the ever-stretching heavenward culture of my own people. I
recognise that spirit in you, and I will not give a lower tone to our
talk this afternoon by speaking of money. Yet what you wish for you may
have. When the time comes, what further reward you may desire, whether it
be rank or high position, you may have, but for the present let it be
sufficient that you are my man."
He held out his hand, and all the time his eyes never left Norgate's.
Gone the florid and beaming geniality of the man, his easy good-humour,
his air of good-living and rollicking gaiety. There were lines in his
forehead. The firm contraction of his lips brought lines even across his
plump cheeks. It was the face, this, of a strong man and a thinker. He
held Norgate's fingers, and Norgate never flinched.
"So!" he said at last, as he turned away. "Now you are indeed in the
inner circle, Mr. Francis Norgate. Good! Listen to me, then. We will
speak of war, the war that is to come, the war that is closer at hand
than even you might imagine."
"War with England?" Norgate exclaimed.
Selingman struck his hands together.
"No!" he declared. "You may take it as a compliment, if you like--a
national compliment. We do not at the present moment desire war with
England. Our plan of campaign, for its speedy and successful
accomplishment, demands your neutrality. The North Sea must be free to
us. Our fleet must be in a position to meet and destroy, as it is well
able to do, the Russian and the French fleets. Now you know what has kept
Germany from war for so long."
"You are ready for it, then?" Norgate remarked.
"We are over-ready for it," Selingman continued. "We are spoiling for
it. We have piled up enormous stores of ordnance, ammunition, and all
the appurtenances of warfare. Our schemes have been cut and dried to the
last detail. Yet time after time we have been forced to stay our hand.
Need I tell you why? It is because, in all those small diplomatic
complications which have arisen and from which war might have followed,
England has been involved. We want to choose a time and a cause which
will give England every opportunity of standing peacefully on one side.
That time is close at hand. From all that I can hear, your country is,
at the present moment, in danger of civil war. Your Ministers who are
most in favour are Radical pacifists. Your army has never been so small
or your shipbuilding programme more curtailed. Besides, there is no
warlike spirit in your nation; you sleep peacefully. I think that our
time has come. You will not need to strain your ears, my friend. Before
many weeks have passed, the tocsin will be sounding. Does that move you?
Let me look at you."
Norgate's face showed little emotion. Selingman nodded ponderously.
"Surely," Norgate asked, "Germany will wait for some reasonable pretext?"
"She will find one through Austria," Selingman replied. "That is simple.
Mind, though this may seem to you a war wholly of aggression, and though
I do not hesitate to say that we have been prepared for years for a war
of aggression, there are other factors which will come to light. Only a
few months ago, an entire Russian scheme for the invasion of Germany next
spring was discovered by one of our Secret Service agents."
Norgate nodded.
"One question more," he said. "Supposing Germany takes the plunge, and
then England, contrary to anticipation, decides to support France?"
Selingman's face darkened. A sudden purposeless anger shook his voice.
"We choose a time," he declared, "when England's hands are tied. She is
in no position to go to war with any one. I have many reports reaching me
every day. I have come to the firm conclusion that we have reached the
hour. England will not fight."
"And what will happen to her eventually?" Norgate asked.
Selingman smiled slowly.
"When France is crushed," he explained, "and her northern ports
garrisoned by us, England must be taught just a little lesson, the lesson
of which you and I have spoken, the lesson which will be for her good.
That is what we have planned. That is how things will happen. Hush! There
is some one coming. It is finished, this. Come to me to-morrow morning.
There is work for you."