So swiftly did the figure disappear from the doorway of the patisserie
that I doubt whether the elegant woman there seated had been aware of
his presence. She was sitting with her face half turned from the door,
and, unless by means of the mirror, she could not possibly have
witnessed his sudden hesitation and disappearance. That he intended
entering there, and had been prevented by her presence, was manifest.
He had no desire to be seen by her, that was quite evident.
Again it seemed as though Yolande's mysterious correspondent was
actually this man, whose presence in Paris had caused her so much
anxiety.
A sudden impulse led me to go forth and keep watch upon his movements,
and as I passed out I took note of the fine equipage, and saw that upon
the harness was a duke's coronet, beneath which was a cipher so
intricate that I could not unravel it. The woman within was evidently
some notability, but a foreigner; otherwise I should have recognised
her, knowing as I did, by sight, all smart Paris. Her attitude, seated
at that little table sipping her tea and lemon, was so calm that I felt
assured she was not there for the purpose of meeting Yolande, but only
for rest and a cup of that refreshing decoction so dear to the feminine
palate. Nevertheless, I was puzzled to know who she was, and why her
presence had had such a terrifying effect upon the man who had come and
fled like a shadow.
I hurried along in the direction he had taken, down to the Place de la
Concorde. Whether he had really detected my presence or not I was
undecided. I believed and hoped not. I had had a paper before my face
at the moment of his appearance, and it had seemed to me that when his
eyes fell upon the lady sipping her tea, he did not pause to make
further investigation. I was looking for him eagerly among the hurrying
foot-passengers, when, just as I turned the corner by the grey wall of
the Ministry of Marine, I saw his thin, tall figure cross the road and
mount upon the imperiale of one of the omnibuses going towards the
Bastille. At the same moment a second omnibus passed, travelling in the
same direction, down the Rue de Rivoli, and without hesitation I jumped
upon it, and, also mounting the imperiale, was thus able to follow him
without much risk of detection. I kept my eyes upon his glossy silk hat
some distance ahead as we travelled along the fine, broad thoroughfare,
past the Continental, the Tuileries Gardens, the Louvre, and the quaint
old Tour St. Jacques, until both vehicles pulled up at the corner of the
wide Place de l'Hotel de Ville, where he descended.
I quickly ran down the steps, and, sauntering along with affected
carelessness, followed him across the Place and along to the Quai des
Celestins, where he suddenly halted, glanced quickly around as though
desiring to escape observation, and then entered an uninviting-looking
door of one of those rickety dwellings which are among the most ancient
and most unwholesome in Paris. The door he entered seemed to be the
private entrance to a dingy little shop that sold fishing-tackle, wicker
eel-traps, and such-like necessities for the angler. The manner in
which he entered was distinctly suspicious, but I congratulated myself
that, while he had not detected me, I had run him to earth.
He was a smart, rather foppish man of military appearance, though
somewhat foreign-looking; thin-faced, black-haired, with a small, black,
pointed beard, and a pair of cold grey eyes, sharp and penetrating; an
erect, rather imposing, figure, which if once seen impressed itself upon
one. Outwardly he bore the stamp of good breeding and superiority, and
he now called himself Rodolphe Wolf. It was strange--very strange.
I noted the house he had entered, then, turning, walked slowly along the
Rue St. Paul, and so regained the upper end of the Rue de Rivoli; and as
I strolled along my thoughts were indeed complex ones. Sight of that
man recalled a chapter of my life which I had hoped was sealed for ever.
Of all men in the world he was the very last I should have dreamed of
meeting. But as he had not detected me, for the present I possessed the
advantage.
That thin, superior-looking man who had strolled so airily along the
Quai, smart in his silk hat and pearl-grey gloves, and carrying his cane
with such a jaunty air, was a man whose name had once been known
throughout Europe--a man, indeed, of world-wide notoriety. In those
days, however, he did not call himself Rodolphe Wolf. He had changed
his name, it was true, but he could never succeed in changing his
personality. Besides, the name he used had given me, who alone knew his
secret, a clue to his identity. When Sibyl had mentioned the name and
described him as a chance acquaintance at the Baronne's, I felt
convinced as to the truth. Yolande, too, seemed aware of his change of
name, for so sudden had been my announcement that he was in Paris that
she had been completely taken by surprise, and had made no attempt to
declare herself ignorant of my meaning.
At the corner of the Caserne, in the Rue de Rivoli, I sprang into a
fiacre, and told the man to drive to the Cafe de la Paix, where, seated
upon one of the little wicker chairs in the warm sunset, I drank my
mazagran and allowed my thoughts to run back to the time when this man
had played so important a part in my life. All those strange
circumstances came back to me as vividly as though they had happened but
yesterday. He had once been my friend, but now he was my bitterest
enemy.
Count Rodolphe d'Egloffstein-Wolfsburg, or as he now preferred to be
called, Rodolphe Wolf, was in Paris. He had returned as though from the
grave, and was apparently living in seclusion in an exceedingly
unfashionable apartment over the fishing-tackle shop beside the Seine.
It was over two years since report had declared him to be dead, and I
had congratulated myself upon an escape from what had seemed an
inevitable disaster; yet that report was false. He was alive, and I had
no doubt that he meant mischief.
Yet why did Yolande fear him? This fact puzzled me. They had been
acquainted in the old days, it was true, but what cause she had to hate
him I could not discern. Something had passed between them of which I
had remained in ignorance. Strange, too, that the Austrian Ambassador
should introduce him at the Baroness's reception! With what motive? I
wondered. Surely he must know from the Diplomatic List that I was now
in Paris, and that at any sign of hostility on his part I should expose
him and explain the whole truth. He was playing a dangerous game,
whatever it was; and I, too, felt myself to be in deadly peril.
I sat there trying to review the situation with calmness, but could see
no solution of the problem. The truth was that, believing him to be
dead, I had given no heed to that sealed chapter of my history, and now
the ghastly truth had fallen upon me as a thunderbolt. Sibyl had met
and liked him. She had in her ignorance declared
d'Egloffstein-Wolfsburg to be a charming fellow. There was a touch of
grim humour in the situation.
Fate seems sometimes to conspire against us. At such times it is no use
kicking against the pricks. The proper course is to accept misfortune
with the largest amount of good-humour possible in the circumstances,
and just to treat one's sorrows lightly until they pass. This is, I am
aware, counsel excellent in kind, but extremely difficult to follow. At
that moment I felt crushed beneath the weight of sudden misfortune. All
my future seemed dark and hopeless, without a single ray of happiness.
The mystery surrounding Yolande's actions, the suspicion resting upon
the Countess of having made a dastardly attempt upon her daughter's
life, the manner in which knowledge of our secret despatch had been
obtained and our diplomatic efforts thereby checkmated, and the reason
of the sudden appearance in Paris of my most bitter enemy, formed a
problem which, maddening in its complexity, appeared to admit of no
solution.
Two men of my acquaintance came up and shook my hand in passing, but
what words I uttered I have no idea. My thoughts were, at that hour,
when the Place de l'Opera was bathed in the crimson afterglow, far away
from the busy whirl of central Paris, away in that peaceful forest glade
where took place that incident by which I so narrowly escaped with my
life. The whole scene came before me now. I remembered every detail of
that night long ago.
Bah! My cigar tasted bitter, and I flung it across the pavement into
the gutter. Would that I could have put from me all recollection as
easily as I cast that remnant away! Alas! I knew that such a course
was impossible. The ghost of the past had arisen to overshadow the
future.
Next day at noon I sat with the Ambassador in his private room
discussing the political outlook. He had exchanged telegraphic
despatches with Downing Street during the morning, and I knew from the
deciphers which I had made that never in the course of my career as a
diplomatist had the European situation been so critical.
Try how we would in Madrid, in Berlin, and in Vienna, we could obtain
absolutely no confirmation of our suspicions that Ceuta had been sold by
Spain to France. At the first rumours of the impending sale of this
strategic point the machinery of our secret service in the various
capitals had been set to work, and under the ubiquitous Kaye no stone
had been left unturned in order to get at the real truth of this grave
menace to England's power in the Mediterranean.
His Excellency, leaning back in his favourite cane chair, was grave and
thoughtful, for again he had declared:
"All this is owing to those confounded spies! Here, in Paris, nothing
can be conducted fairly and above-board. I really don't know, Ingram,
what will be the outcome."
"Do you consider the situation so very critical, then?" I asked.
"Critical? I certainly do. It is more than critical. With this
scurrilous Press against us, popular feeling so extremely antagonistic
towards England, and the difficulties in the Transvaal, only a single
spark is required to produce an explosion. You know what that would
mean?"
"The long-predicted European war?"
He nodded, and his grey face grew greyer. I had never seen him more
gloomy than at that moment. While we were talking, Harding rapped at
the door and asked:
"Will Your Excellency see Mr. Grew?"
The Ambassador turned quickly, exchanged a glance with me, and answered
at once in the affirmative. For two persons His Excellency was at all
times unengaged--for Kaye and for his trusted assistant, Samuel Grew.
A few moments later a rather under-sized, bald-headed, gentlemanly
little man entered and seated himself, at the Chief's invitation. He
was well-dressed, round-faced, with longish grey whiskers, and in his
manner was the air of a thorough cosmopolitan, with just a trifle of the
bon viveur.
"Well, Grew," inquired His Excellency, "anything fresh?"
"I have come to report to Your Excellency upon my visit to Ceuta."
"What!" the Ambassador exclaimed in astonishment. "Have you actually
been there and returned?"
"Certainly," the other answered, smiling. "I can move swiftly when
necessary. I was in Barcelona when I received my telegraphic
instructions, and set out at once."
"Well, tell us the result of your observations," urged Lord Barmouth,
instantly interested.
"I went down to Algeciras, and crossed to the much-discussed penal
settlement by boat. Before I could do so, I was compelled to get a
permit from the commander of the Algeciras garrison, and only then was
allowed to board the steamship, whose every nut, screw, and chain was
screaming for a little oil, whose hands stretched themselves on deck in
the sun and left the work to the captain and his engineer, while they
sang songs and smoked cigarettes. There were very few passengers,
mostly women, who sang until the steamer cut across the Straits in the
teeth of the wind; then they ceased to sing and commenced to pray. In
little more than two hours we were just off Ceuta--a long, straggling
Spanish town, the convict station high up on the eastern hill, with
stone-work fortifications, that would hardly endure three hours'
attention from modern guns, down to the water's edge, and beyond, to the
west, well-cultivated fields full of young wheat or barley. Arrived on
shore, I was summoned to a shed, where a severe official in uniform
examined my papers, recorded my age and other details in a book,
returned the passport, and told me that if I wished to leave Ceuta at
any time I must go to the commandant and get his written permission to
do so. Later on, the native who showed me the way to the Governor's
house made an explanation that was less satisfactory than he intended.
`You see, senor,' he said, `we have a great many convicts here, and they
are very like you. I mean to say,' he went on, feeling that he had not
expressed himself happily, `that they are often dressed to look like
gentlemen.' I then changed the conversation."
"And how about the fortifications?" His Excellency inquired.
"I have full plans and photographs of them," answered the member of the
secret service. "The photographs are on films, as yet undeveloped, and
I at once posted them to an address in Bale, so as to get rid of them
from my possession. The plans, on tissue paper, I have here in my
walking-stick," he added, smiling grimly and holding up to our view his
rather battered ebony cane with a silver knob.
"Aren't you afraid of anyone prying into that?" I asked.
"Not at all. The knob is removable, as you see," and he unscrewed it,
revealing a small cavity with a compass set in the top. "But no one
ever suspects the ferrule. There is a hidden spring in it;" and,
inverting the stick, he opened the ferrule, disclosing a small cavity in
which reposed some tiny pieces of tissue closely resembling rolled
cigarette papers.
It is against the British principles of openness and fairness to employ
secret agents; but in these days, when spies abound everywhere and the
whole of Europe is a vast network of political intrigue, we cannot
afford to sit inactive and remain in contented ignorance.
"You will make a full report later, with photographs and plans, I
presume?" His Excellency suggested.
"Yes. But knowing the importance of the matter I came straight to make
a verbal report to Your Excellency. I arrived in Paris only an hour
ago. At present Ceuta does not impress the eye of the person who knows
something of England's fortified stations. Gibraltar stands on guard
across the water, presenting nothing but a towering, bare rock,
honeycombed with hidden batteries, to which all Ceuta lies exposed.
While Gibraltar is of solid rock, the vegetation round and in Ceuta
hints at a more mixed material, and an immense amount of money would be
required to make fortifications that would fulfil all modern
requirements. The expenditure might work wonders, for the town has the
sea on all sides, and could be completely isolated by flooding the strip
of land that fronts the Bay. The present garrison consists of five
thousand soldiers, including a regiment of Moors, who in point of
physique are the best men in the place. Ceuta itself is rather a pretty
town, so thoroughly Spanish that the few Moors and Arabs met in the
streets are objects of interest. The houses are small, and often built
round the cool patios dear to southern Spain. The balconies stretch so
far across the streets that groups of girls sit all day, except in the
hours of noon, chatting with their neighbours across the way."
"And what does your visit lead you to conclude?" inquired His
Excellency, all attention to this statement of the well-trained secret
agent.
"I am of opinion that the present condition of Ceuta need inspire no
uneasiness. Our latest and heaviest guns completely command the town;
and if, in an hour of universal commotion, the unexpected happened, and
Spain gave up her possession, very long and expensive work would be
required to render the position tenable."
"And have you made arrangements for further information?" asked Lord
Barmouth.
"Yes. We shall be at once informed of any fortification of Ceuta
conducted at a cost out of proportion to Spanish resources--say at the
expense and on behalf of a Power that would hope to acquire it
suddenly."
"Good," observed the Chief in a tone of approval. "I congratulate you,
Mr. Grew, upon your smartness in this affair. But you have not told me
whether you discovered any French agents there?"
"None. I went in the guise of a Frenchman, with a French passport, and
searched for any compatriots, but found none whom I could suspect."
"Well," responded the Ambassador, rising, as a sign that the audience
was at an end, "it behoves us to be constantly on the alert in face of
the network of French intrigue that threatens England in the land of the
Moors, and consequently at one end of the Mediterranean."
Then the keen, bald-headed, little man, highly pleased by the Chief's
word of commendation, bowed and withdrew, taking with him the precious
walking-stick in which were concealed the plans of the Spanish
fortifications.
His Excellency sighed when the man had gone, and after a pause exclaimed
seriously:
"I can't help regarding the affair, Ingram, as something more than a
political ballon d'essai. The silence of our friends both in the
Boulevard de Courcelles and the Rue de Lille is very ominous."