"And what is this man's name, pray?"
"I am Felice Solaro, your Excellency," faltered the captain, as though
fearing to pronounce his own name. "My general has travelled with me
from Piedmont to obtain audience and to implore your mercy."
"Solaro!" echoed the Minister, looking straight at him. "Ah yes, I
remember!" Then turning to the general, Morini added in a hard,
impatient tone--
"I cannot see why you should have troubled yourself to come to Rome on
such an errand--and without leave too! I thought this man was under
arrest? Is this the way you execute military justice in the north?"
"I took it upon myself to bring the captain here," was the fine old
officer's answer.
"And he wears his sword, I see!" remarked the Minister, with a sneer.
"I suppose you have taken it upon yourself to give it back to him--eh?"
"I returned him his sword temporarily, your Excellency, in order that
during our journey here no one should recognise him as the man who has
been sentenced, and further, in order that he should stand before you in
the full possession of his rights as an officer, and ask your leave to
explain."
"I have no time to hear any explanations from men who have been
condemned by court-martial, General Valentini. It is your duty to hear
his excuses--not mine. The whole matter is quite clear. I have had the
papers before me, and have gone through them carefully. They were sent
to me in England. And if you ask me my private opinion, general, I
think that dismissal from the army and fifteen years' imprisonment is a
very light sentence upon a traitor. Had I been on the court-martial I
should have given a life sentence."
"But, your Excellency!" gasped the unhappy captain, his face blanched,
his hands trembling, "I am innocent. I am the victim of some clever
conspiracy, by which the real culprit has shielded himself. I had no
chance of defending myself at the court-martial, for--"
"Silence!" cried the Minister. "You have been tried and found guilty of
treason against your king and country. The evidence is as plain as the
light of day, and yet you deny your guilt?"
"I do deny it," declared the unhappy captain. "They refused to hear my
explanation."
"That is true, your Excellency," interposed the general. "The court sat
for four days in Turin with closed doors, and as three of the officers
composing it were due to go on their annual leave, the sitting on the
fourth day was terminated hurriedly, sentence was given, and sent to you
for confirmation. Your Excellency has confirmed it, therefore Captain
Solaro has no appeal except to yourself."
"You, as his commanding officer, were not a member of the court?"
"No, your Excellency."
"Then why should you interest yourself in a matter which does not
concern you, pray?" inquired Morini impatiently.
"Because this unfortunate affair reflects upon the honour of my
command."
"Oh, of course. It is all very well to speak heroically after the
event!" exclaimed the Minister of War, with a hard, dry laugh. "The
mischief has been done, and one of your officers has been found guilty
of treason--of selling a military secret to a foreign power."
"Found guilty, yes," exclaimed the unfortunate captain. "But innocent,
nevertheless!"
Morini shrugged his shoulders, and seating himself in his writing-chair
took some official memoranda from a drawer in the table. Then, having
glanced quickly at it, he said--
"The facts are quite plain. This man, Felice Solaro, of the 6th Alpine
Regiment, is in garrison on Mont Gran Paradiso in the Alps, where on the
other side of the mountain, at Tresenta, we have recently constructed a
new fortress, for the protection of the frontier at that point. This
fortress, which is sunk out of sight, has taken four and a half years to
construct, and was only completed and garrisoned six months ago. It
commands the Oreo valley, which, in the event of hostilities with
France, would be one of the most vulnerable points on the frontier.
French agents have, time after time, endeavoured to learn something of
our works up there; but so well has the spot been guarded that only two
agents have succeeded in obtaining sight of it, and both were arrested
and are now in prison as spies. And yet, in spite of all this, there
was found in Solaro's quarters by an orderly fragments of a curious
letter in French addressed to `Mon cher Felice,' acknowledging receipt
of the plans, thanking him, and enclosing the sum agreed upon in Italian
banknotes."
"The letter was never addressed to me," the captain cried. "I know
nothing of it. The whole thing was a conspiracy to ruin and disgrace
me!"
"But there are other facts supplied by the secret service," went on the
Minister in a dry, hard tone, turning to the accused man. "You spent
your last leave in Paris; you were seen by one of our agents in the
company of a man well-known to be a French spy. You went to various
places of amusement with him, drank with him at the Hotel Chatham, at
the Grand Cafe, and other places, and," added Morini, looking him
straight in the face, "and what is more, he lent you money. Do you deny
that?"
The captain stood glaring at his accuser, utterly dumbfounded. This
latter truth had not been given in evidence against him. The Minister
therefore held certain secret information of which he was in entire
ignorance. He had been watched in Paris! He held his breath, and was
silent. Even the general looked at him in surprise and suspicion.
"No," he answered hoarsely at last, "I do not deny it. The man did lend
me money."
"For what purpose--eh? In order to obtain from you in secret the plans
of the Tresenta fortress," declared His Excellency. "French agents do
not lend money to Italian officers without some _quid pro quo_."
"I did not know that the fellow was a spy until afterwards."
"Until it was too late, I suppose. You were entrapped, so you were
compelled to give the plans to France. Now admit it."
"I assert that I am entirely innocent," he declared. "It is true that I
spent my leave in Paris, where I met a man who called himself Georges
Latrobe, an engineer from Bordeaux, who spoke Italian I ran short of
cash, and he lent me five hundred francs, which I repaid to him ten days
after my return to barracks. It was only on the last day when I was
with him that my suspicions were aroused regarding his real character.
We were sitting together in the Cafe Terminus, when he turned the
conversation to our defences on the Alpine frontier, expressing a desire
to visit me at Gran Paradiso. I at once told him that the admission of
strangers within the military zone was prohibited. But he pressed me,
and even went so far as to offer me a receipt for the money he had lent
me, together with a like sum if I could gain him admission, in order, so
he said, to see the latest feat of Italian engineering. But my
suspicions were at once aroused. I told him that his suggestion was
impossible, and from that day I have not seen him."
"But you furnished him with plans and details of the fortifications?"
snapped the Minister of War.
"I did not," denied the captain stoutly. "I admit that I very narrowly
escaped falling into a clever trap, but fortunately saved myself. If
the plans have actually been furnished, then they have been given by
someone else, not by me; and that letter was placed in my quarters in
order to divert suspicion from the guilty person."
"Ah, a very ingenious story!" the Minister laughed incredulously. "You
admit being friendly with the spy?"
"I admit all that is the truth, your Excellency, but I flatly deny that
I am a traitor to my king," was the accused man's quick, response.
"But you see you were watched while on leave," the Minister went on,
referring to his report. "On your return from Paris you travelled by
way of Milan to Bologna, where you visited a certain Signora Nodari and
her daughter."
"The latter was my betrothed," the unhappy man explained.
"Exactly. Then how do you account for the agent Latrobe calling upon
her a month later and obtaining from her a packet which she had received
by post from the garrison of Gran Paradiso? It was only afterwards that
this fact was known, otherwise the spy would not have escaped from
Italy."
Captain Solaro stood rigid.
"Have you really proof of this, your Excellency?" he demanded in a low,
hoarse voice. "I--I cannot think that she would betray me."
"Ah! Never trust a woman," observed the Minister, with a grim smile.
"She has made a statement--a statement which proves everything."
"Which proves?" he cried wildly. "Which proves I am innocent."
"No," declared Morini calmly. "Which proves that you are guilty."
"Ah, but let me tell you how--"
"No more!" cried Morini, rising with quick anger from his chair and
snapping his fingers in impatience. "You have been found guilty and
sentenced, and I think that even your general, after your own
admissions, is now convinced of his injudicious and ridiculous attempt
to shield a traitor."
"Ah!" cried the unfortunate man, hot tears springing to his eyes, "I see
now how I have been betrayed--and I know by whom!"
"I have no further time to waste upon hearing any counter-charges,"
abruptly answered the Minister. "From to-day you are dismissed the army
in disgrace. My decree will appear in to-night's _Gazette_, and,
General Valentini," he added meaningly, turning to the stern old officer
who had writhed beneath the civilian's rebuke, "convey your prisoner
back to Turin, and do not again become the gaoler of a traitor."
"You absolutely refuse to hear me further, then!" cried the captain in
wild desperation, dismayed to find that all attempt to clear his
character had failed.
"I do."
The accused man with set teeth drew his sword, and with one quick wrench
across his knee broke the gleaming blade and cast it ringing upon the
marble floor.
"Take my sword!" he cried, drawing himself up to the salute. "Take my
honour--take my life! But you--even you, Camillo Morini--cannot condemn
me with justice! One day you shall know that I am innocent--you hear!--
innocent!"
And with firm tread he strode out of the Minister's private room,
followed by his general, who merely saluted in stiff silence, his
scabbard trailing upon the marble.