For the moment the exhilarating fascination of "Le Pole Nord" had
absolutely enthralled the heart of feminine Paris.
To skate for an hour and then sit and sip one's coffee, to hold an
informal reception among one's own particular enemies, or to flirt with
one's dearest friends for the remainder of the afternoon, was now the
amusement upon which Society had set its approving hall-mark, and for
once in the way the craze that fashionable Paris had smiled upon was
something in the nature of pleasure, and not a task.
It was delight to glide across the ice to the strains of that excellent
orchestra; it was premature paradise to know that one's tailor-made
gown, edged with fur to maintain an illusive suggestion of winter, need
not await a frost before it could pique one's bosom companion; it was
new life to feel one's blood tingling with the glow of health and new
elation; to realize that one had successfully mastered the intricacies
of double grape-vines and Canadian eights; and it was fashionable, for
did not the Duchess de Maussapet, the Countess Venezia, and all others
we poor women have been taught to imitate, grace the assembly almost
every afternoon?
We had danced a quadrille upon the ice, and as the final bars died away
my eyes met those of my diplomatic friend Monsieur Roche, as he leaned
against a pillar, and there was a look upon his face, a peculiar gesture
as he bowed to me, that told me why so staid a man had joined the
frivolities of "Le Pole Nord."
Yet it went against my heart to dismiss my companion, for he was the
most handsome instructor that "Le Pole Nord" possessed, an Apollo in his
fur-trimmed jacket and jaunty cap, and all my feminine friends were
dying to skate with him. It went against my heart to give him up to a
woman who would only bore him.
He sighed as he unfastened my skates, and I sighed too, and walked to
where Monsieur Roche was waiting.
And the poor man did look so absurd in his silk hat and conventional
frock-coat compared with my late companion; but that man was now skating
with a woman I detested, and I promptly dismissed him from my thoughts.
"I have looked everywhere for you," Monsieur Roche exclaimed, as he took
my hand.
"There is only one place where I could be, monsieur, and that is here.
To be away from 'Le Pole Nord' at this time of the day is to be out of
the world. Would you care to cultivate the art with my assistance?"
"I wish for your guidance over something even more slippery than ice,"
he answered, as we seated ourselves upon a lounge.
"Well?"
"You know that we are entertaining an envoy from China, who presumably
tours the world on a voyage of pleasure and enlightenment."
"His Excellency Hun Sun?"
"Precisely." Monsieur Roche leaned towards me until his lips almost
touched my ear. "This journey of pleasure is a subterfuge. The
Ambassador comes from China to France."
"And the object of his visit?"
"To gain a pledge from France for defensive, or even offensive,
protection."
I pursed my lips, for who in the world did not know that England and
Russia would have to be reckoned with?
"There are powers in China," Monsieur Roche continued, "who have offered
such inducements to tempt this protective alliance that we cannot resist
them. Who those powers may be, whether the Emperor himself or those who
do not love him, concerns you nothing. Hun Sun came to me and gave the
message by word of mouth, but because of the secrecy which must be
maintained in such a matter, no writing was to pass between France and
China which, if by any chance intercepted, could be brought up
against"--Monsieur Roche paused--"those who had sent him."
"We civilized nations are far behind the heathen in diplomacy," I
murmured.
"Far behind," he acquiesced. "Many a man would be happier if he had
never learned to write. There was to be no writing between us that could
incriminate. Hun Sun gave me the message, asked for a witness, and
before that witness, who was Gaspard Levive, my chief secretary, handed
me a small gold seal. If France agreed, our answer was to be a mere
interchange of diplomatic courtesies, sealed with that seal, and all
would be understood."
"It seems over-elaborated and cumbersome caution, _mon ami_, for surely
the man trusted to bring the message could be trusted to take the
answer."
"Except that as it is he can never know the answer, _ma chere_. However,
it is not the methods of this diplomacy that I wished to consult you
upon, but this: when his Excellency handed me the seal, I placed it upon
the table by my side; five minutes afterwards he left, and when I turned
to the table it was gone, and no one but ourselves had been near it. By
'ourselves' I mean Hun Sun, myself, and Gaspard Levive. There seems to
be no possible reason for his Excellency to steal what he need not have
delivered; there would be no sense in my concealing what no one need
know I have received, and so--"
"There is only Gaspard?" I sharply interjected, and I felt my pulses
throb with indignation, for who knew better than I, since the affair of
the abducted Ambassador, that the man I was honored in calling my
dearest friend was as true as any who served our country.
"There is only Gaspard," monsieur repeated.
"Then you insinuate that your secretary, my friend, has stolen the
seal?" I cried, angrily.
"I insinuate nothing," he answered. "I come to you, because you have
solved many difficult problems, to help me in this."
"And I refuse, monsieur. You are a poor diplomat to attempt to gain a
woman's sympathy by attacking one whom she esteems and admires."
"I think not, for I have already aroused your deepest interest in my
unfortunate position."
"Indeed!"
"Certainly; because one is implicated whom," Monsieur Roche glanced into
my face and smiled, "you esteem and admire."
"I repeat that you are a poor diplomat," I cried, angrily, "and I will
prove it. Because you have chosen to insult my friend, because you have
chosen to insinuate that he is a traitor and a thief, I renounce my
position. I refuse this commission and all others, and I have the honor
to wish you good-day and good-bye. Now, monsieur, have I proved that you
are a poor diplomat? A child in what you count yourself a master?"
I had risen, and stood looking down upon him, and I felt there was a
tinge of scorn and perhaps contempt in my glance, but he took my hand
and gently drew me down to the lounge beside him.
"You have only proved," he said, "what a woman's true regard is worth.
_Mon Dieu!_ how could any man be a traitor whom you have placed so high
in your esteem?"
"Then I have misunderstood you," I quickly answered. "I take back to
myself all that I have said. I become a penitent, I accept this and all
other commissions, and think you, monsieur, absolutely the best and
nicest man in Paris."
He looked at me with almost a twinkle in his eyes, and then, "Am I not a
good diplomat?" he mildly interjected.
"You are a most unscrupulous politician," I answered. "You never
suspected Gaspard?"
"Never. I was merely quickening your interest in the position. Am I not
a good diplomat?"
"You're the most irritating middle-aged man in France."
My companion shrugged his shoulders, smiled for a moment, and then
leaned towards me. "I did not steal it, and Gaspard did not." He raised
his eyebrows.
"Hun Sun stole it himself."
"Precisely my own opinion," Monsieur Roche murmured, appreciatively.
"He, although a chosen envoy to France, is against us. He was bound to
deliver his message, but in the same instant he rendered it futile. We
cannot own that we have lost the seal, and without it we cannot accept."
"And your object in seeking me at such an hour is to ask me to regain
the seal?"
"Yes, _ma chere_, you are the one woman in the world who is brilliant
enough to do it, because--"
"Not so much sugar, if you please, monsieur. Thank you;" and I took my
cup from his hand, leaving him to apply my remark in its double sense,
and smiled with satisfaction because I noticed that Paul was cutting
figures and flourishes in solitude. I knew that empty-headed woman would
bore him.
"But I may count upon your assistance?" Monsieur le Premier plaintively
interjected.
"To regain the seal is utterly impossible," I quietly answered.
"Impossible?"
"Altogether. The man who could rob you before your very eyes is too
clever to allow himself to be robbed in turn. I do not care for missions
without a hope of success. There is but one thing you can do: bribe Hun
Sun to come over to the side of France."
"Unfortunately, Hun Sun has departed for the land where bribery is
unknown."
I sat forward in my seat in amazement; even monsieur's diplomatic manner
of putting it did not completely hide his meaning.
"When did it happen?"
"Late last night. He returned from his appointment with me to his suite
at L'Imperatrice Hotel, and, after transacting some business with his
secretary Ling Wen, retired for the night, and forever. Living diplomats
mourn a talented man, who has gone to join the politicians who have
preceded him--or, at least, some of them."
"And that being so, _mon ami_, I undertake the mission. You may make
your plans, for I promise you shall have the seal within twenty-four
hours--unless," I added, "it was never taken to the hotel."
"You mean it?" he cried, a flush of pleasure chasing the sallow lines of
worry from his face.
"In spite of cheap masculine cynicism, _mon cher_, a woman sometimes
means what she says. I think I can regain it for you. Where is the--"
"The body was removed secretly in the early morning to the Chinese
Embassy."
"And no one knows of his Excellency's death?"
"Outside those pledged to silence, no one."
"Let me see," I murmured, reflectively; "his secretary's name is--?"
"Ling Wen, with, say, twenty odd additions."
"Ling Wen will be sufficient. At seven o'clock to-night, monsieur, you
will send an imperative message that you must see Ling Wen at once,
and--No, that is all you need do. You will not skate? Then, _mon ami, au
revoir_."
It was ten minutes past seven when my _coupe_, drew up at the door of
L'Imperatrice Hotel, and I requested to be conducted to the apartments
of his Excellency Hun Sun; and I felt pleased with myself, for my
much-tried milliner had obliterated volumes of misdeeds with a gown and
cloak that were perfection. A shade of perplexity gathered upon the face
of the waiter as he heard my request, and that perplexity was deepened
in the features of monsieur le manager, when he was called and listened
to my desire.
"His Excellency Hun Sun had only just departed."
I had serious thoughts of recommending that man to Monsieur Roche as an
uncultivated diplomat.
"And"--he seemed prepared to sink into the ground at the humiliation of
disappointing me--"his Excellency's secretary, Ling Wen, had also just
been called away."
"It did not matter; I would wait;" and because my own countrymen can
refuse a pretty woman nothing, I gained my point, and was conducted by
the gentleman himself to the suite of the envoy, to await, as he again
so diplomatically put it, "the one who should first return."
There were three rooms--a reception-room, a bedroom, and a study--and I
trembled with excitement as I realized that the object of my visit, the
stolen seal, was somewhere in those rooms, and in a few minutes I might
be passing out of the hotel, and all would be over.
An obliging bunch of keys lay invitingly upon the study table, and
rapidly I opened drawer after drawer in that apartment and the bedroom,
and became more and more irritated, as my search proved ever fruitless.
The reception-room only was left, and my vexation evaporated in a laugh
of approaching triumph, as I realized that a cunning man would hide what
he had to hide in the most open room, and not in the most private.
There was only an ormolu writing-table with fancy drawers that refused
to yield to the persuasion of my keys, but a broad-bladed Oriental knife
tempted me, and, thrusting it into the edge, I pressed upon it, and
forced the front from the drawer.
It came with a sharp snap, and a quiet chuckle caused me to turn with a
start.
His Excellency's secretary, Ling Wen, was sitting in a chair, his hands
upon his knees, smiling blandly at me.
I did not speak. For the first time in my life I could not find the
right words to say, but could only gaze into the face of Ling Wen, who
sat there, his long fingers spread out over the knees of his yellow,
embroidered silk robe. I glanced at the clock. I had been at work over
an hour.
"You are searching for something," he said, quietly--"pray continue;"
and the invitation was too gracious not to be accepted. I swept the
contents of the drawer upon the carpet.
There were only a few bundles of official-looking papers. I pushed them
aside with my shoe and frowned in annoyance.
"So it is not a paper you seek, madame?" Ling Wen suavely murmured.
"That is good."
"It is a trifle," I nervously answered; "a trinket that I mislaid when I
stayed here last."
Ling Wen, with his hand upon his chin, nodded; but I did not like the
nod, for with it oozed a smile that seemed more a compliment to my
readiness of invention than belief in my veracity.
"A trinket?" he said, rising from his seat, his sharp, narrow eyes
directed full upon me.
"One I valued greatly, your Excellency."
"Women are ever careless of what they value most," he answered; "allow
me to help you."
And then I could not restrain a half-cry of annoyance, for he commenced
his search where I should have done an hour ago; and taking a Sevres
vase from the mantel-piece, turned it upside down, and something
glittering in the light rolled out upon the carpet.
It was the seal I sought, a large ruby cut with a monogram and mounted
in filigree gold.
"You have found it," he said, with a guileless smile, as I picked it up.
"I can never thank you sufficiently," I replied, and then, as he
shrugged his shoulders deprecatingly, I, in the elation of my victory,
bestowed my most dazzling smile upon him and begged him to forgive my
unceremonious intrusion.
"You ask too much," he replied, with a glance that made me feel how well
I was suited by my gown--"you ask too much, madame; my privilege must be
ever to remember it."
The seal was in my hand as he gently placed my cloak around my
shoulders, in my left hand as he raised my right to his lips, still
there as he bowed again and again to me, and I walked towards the door,
tried it, and found it locked.
"The door is locked!" I cried, sharply.
"Exactly," he murmured, blandly; "the door is locked."
I walked across the room again, and, throwing back my cloak from my
shoulders, sank upon a lounge, while he seated himself opposite me, and,
with his hands again spread out upon his knees, watched and waited for
me to speak; but I would not, and presently he broke the silence.
"I caught sight of that trinket when it dropped," he said, smoothly,
"and it seemed to me that I have seen it once before in the possession
of my master, his Excellency Hun Sun."
"Well?" I demanded, spitefully, for it was bitter to see my victory
dwindling to failure, to know that I had been frustrated, and my boast
to Monsieur Roche was idle.
"Well, what then?"
"That being so, I ask to examine it more closely."
"And if I refuse, your Excellency," I sneered. "Even the Chinese, I
presume, do not use force to a woman."
"Even the French," he answered, "do not, I presume, permit barefaced
theft."
"I tell you the trinket is mine, and that should be sufficient. If you
knew me you dare not doubt my word."
"You are but a grudging courtier of your own charms," he answered, with
a ceremonious bow. "Who could once see Madame Lerestelle and ever forget
her?"
I placed the seal upon a Moorish stool by my side, and he nodded
approvingly.
"Let us consider the matter from a diplomatic point of view, your
Excellency."
"I have the most profound respect for diplomacy, madame, for I am
ignorant even of its rudiments."
The idea that first came to me when Monsieur Roche recounted the
incident had grown in my mind until it became fixed as the truth. I
determined to force this bland heathen into submission, or at least
acquiescence.
"Ling Wen."
"Madame."