WHO SMOKED THE GREGORIDES BRAND
I left the presence of the Japanese Emperor deeply disheartened.
It is true I had myself foretold this failure, and that his Japanese
majesty and his advisers had been good enough to compliment me in
almost extravagant terms on the energy and resourcefulness I had
shown in baffling the enemies of peace.
But I am unaccustomed to defeat, no matter what are the odds against
me, and I felt that the first point in the game had been scored
against by the formidable woman whose beauty and strangely composite
character had fascinated me, even while I was countermining her.
For my work was not yet over. Indeed, it had but just begun.
I had not succeeded in averting war between the two great Powers of
Asia. But I hoped to thwart the efforts which I feared would be made
to extend the conflagration to Europe.
As soon as I had found myself once more on civilized ground, I had
despatched a cable to my Paris office, announcing my whereabouts and
asking for information.
The reader may be excused if he has forgotten a little episode which
marked my stay in Petersburg. I had noticed something peculiar and at
the same time familiar in the scent of the tobacco smoked by
Petrovitch, the financial adventurer whose scheme to enrich himself
and a corrupt clique of courtiers out of the spoils of Korea and
China was the true cause of the war.
By a ruse I had secured one of the cigarettes, smoked by this
dangerous plotter, and having ascertained that it bore the mark
_Gregorides, Crown Aa_, had instructed my staff to ascertain the
history of this particular make of cigarettes.
While I was resting in my hotel in Tokio, waiting for the reply to my
cable, I was honored by a visit from no less a personage than Privy
Councillor Katahashi, President of the Imperial Bank of Japan.
"I have come," the Privy Councillor explained as soon as the door was
closed, "to express the high sense of your ability and devotion which
we all possess, and to ask if it is possible for Japan to secure your
services."
Deeply gratified by this proposal, I was obliged to explain that I
was already retained in the interest of Russia.
"But what interest?" Mr. Katahashi persisted. "It is clear that you
are not acting on behalf of that group which has just succeeded in
its purpose of forcing a war."
"That is so," I admitted. "It is no breach of confidence--in fact, I
serve my employers by assuring you that my efforts are directed
toward peace."
"In that case there can be no antagonism between us, surely. Is it
not possible for you and me--I say nothing about our respective
Governments--to co-operate for certain purposes?
"I know enough of the conditions which prevail in the Russian Court
to feel pretty sure that it was not Nicholas II. who originally
sought you out, and entrusted you with this mission," the Japanese
statesman added.
"At the close of the last war in this part of the world," the Privy
Councillor went on, "Japan was robbed of the fruit of her victories
by an alliance of three Powers, Russia, Germany, and France. This
time we know that England will support us against any such
combination. Thanks to King Edward VII. we have nothing to fear. His
diplomacy, moreover, has secured the powerful influence of France on
the side of peace. Although nominally allied with the Czar, we know
that the French Government is determined to limit the area of the
war, and to take no part against us, except in one event."
"You mean," I put in, "in the event of an attack by England on
Russia."
"Exactly. And therefore we know that King Edward is making it his
particular care that no cause of conflict shall arise."
He paused, and glanced at me as though he considered that he had
sufficiently indicated the source from which my instructions were
received.
I contented myself with bowing.
"We know, also, that the most restless and ambitious of living
monarchs has been bending his whole thoughts and schemes, ever since
he ascended the throne, to one supreme end--the overthrow of the
British Empire by a grand combination of all the other Powers of the
world. If that monarch can force on a general strife in which England
will be involved on the side of Japan, while practically every other
European Power is leagued against her, M. Petrovitch and his timber
concessions will have done their work."
I drew a deep breath as I looked at the Japanese statesman with a
questioning gaze.
As if in answer to my unspoken query, a waiter of the hotel knocked
at the door in the same moment, and brought me the long-expected
cable from my agent in Europe.
I tore it open and read:
Cigarettes Gregorides Crown Aa special brand manufactured
to order of Marx, Berlin, tobacconist to German Emperor.
I looked up from reading the telegram to see the eyes of the Japanese
Privy Councillor fixed upon me with the inscrutable, penetrating gaze
of the Oriental.
"The message you have just received bears on the subject of our
conversation, does it not?" he inquired, but in the tone of one who
does not doubt what the answer will be.
With the caution which has become a habit with me, I read the cable
through carefully for the second time, and then placed it on the
fire, where it was instantly consumed.
The Japanese statesman smiled.
"You forget, I think, M. V----, that you have come here as the
emissary of a sovereign with whom we are at war, and that,
consequently, we cannot afford to respect your privacy.
"I have a copy in my pocket," he went on urbanely. "You have felt
some curiosity about a particular brand of cigarettes, and your
friends have just informed you that they are those supplied to the
German Emperor."
I looked at Mr. Katahashi with new respect.
"Your secret service is well managed, sir," I observed.
"Such a compliment from such a quarter is an ample reward for what
little pains I may have taken."
"Then it is you who are----?"
"The organizer of our secret service during the war?--I am."
"But you are a banker?" I turned my eyes to the card by which Mr.
Katahashi had announced his visit.
The Japanese gave another of his subtle smiles--those peculiar smiles
of the Oriental which make the keenest-witted man of the West feel
that he is little better than a blunderer.
"I came here prepared to take you into my confidence," he said
gravely. "I am well aware that it is the only safe course in dealing
with the Bismarck of underground diplomacy.
"I am equally well aware," the Privy Councillor added, "that a secret
confided to Monsieur V---- is as safe as if it had been told in
confidence to a priest of Buddha, for whom the penalty of betrayal is
to be flayed alive."