The _City of Boston_ passed through the danger zone in safety, and
dropped anchor in the Mersey only a few hours later than the time of
her expected arrival. Towards the close of a somewhat uproarious
dinner, during which many bottles of champagne were emptied to various
toasts, Captain Jones quite unexpectedly entered the saloon, and,
waving his hand in response to the cheers which greeted him, made his
way to his usual table, from which he addressed the little company.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "I have an announcement to make to
which I beg you will listen with patience. Both the English and the
American police, whether with reason or not, as we may presently
determine, have come to the conclusion that a large number of very
important documents, collected in America by the agents of a foreign
power, have been smuggled across the Atlantic upon this ship, in the
hope that they may eventually reach Germany. In a quarter of an hour's
time, a number of plainclothes policemen will be on board. I am going
to ask you, as loyal British and American subjects, to subject
yourselves, without resistance or complaint, to any search which they
may choose to make. I may add that my own person, luggage and cabin
will be the first object of their attention." The captain, having
delivered his address, left the saloon again amidst a little buzz of
voices. There had probably never been a voyage across the Atlantic in
which a matter of forty passengers had been treated to so many rumours
and whispers of strange happenings. Sam West got up and spoke a few
words, counselling the ready assent of every one there to submit to
anything that was thought necessary. He briefly commented upon their
unexplained but fortuitous escape from the raider, and heaped
congratulations upon their captain. Very soon after he had resumed his
seat, the shrill whistle of a tug alongside indicated the arrival of
visitors. A steward passed back and forth amongst the passengers with
a universal request--all were asked to repair to their staterooms.
Twenty-seven exceedingly alert-looking men thereupon commenced
their task.
Seated upon the couch in her room, with a cup of coffee by her side
and a cigarette between her lips, Katharine listened to the
conversation which passed in the opposite room, the one which had been
tenanted by Phillips. For some reason, the end of the voyage, instead
of bringing her the relief which she had expected, had only increased
her nervous excitement. She was filled with an extraordinary
prescience of some coming crisis. She found herself trembling as she
listened to Doctor Gant's harsh voice and the smooth accents of his
interlocutor.
"Well, that completes our search of your belongings, Doctor Gant," the
latter's voice observed. "Now I want to ask a few questions with
reference to the Mr. Phillips who I understand died the day before
yesterday under your charge." "That is so," Doctor Gant agreed. "He
had no luggage, as we only made up our minds to undertake the journey
with him at the last moment. The few oddments he used on the voyage,
we burned."
"And the body, I understand,--"
"You can examine it at once, if you will," the doctor interrupted. "We
have purposely left the coffin lid only partly screwed down. I should
like to say, however, that before arranging the deceased for burial, I
asked the ship's doctor to make an examination with me of the coffin
and the garments which I used. He signed the certificate, and he will
be ready to answer any questions."
"That seems entirely satisfactory," the detective confessed. "I will
just have the coffin lid off for a few moments, and will see the
doctor before I leave the ship."
The men left the room together and were absent some ten minutes.
Presently the detective returned to Katharine's room, and with him
came Crawshay. Katharine had discarded the nurse's costume which she
had usually worn on board ship, and was wearing the black tailor-made
suit in which she had expected to land. In the dim light, her pallor
and nervous condition almost startled Crawshay.
"You will forgive my intrusion," he said. "I have just been explaining
your presence here to Mr. Brightman, the detective, and I don't think
he will trouble you for more than a few minutes."
"Please treat me exactly as the others," she begged.
The search proceeded for a few moments in silence. Then the detective
looked up from the dressing case which he was examining. In his hand
he held the envelope addressed to Mrs. Phillips.
"Do you mind telling me what this is, Miss Beverley?" he asked.
"It is a roll of bills," she replied, "that belonged to Mr. Phillips.
I promised to see them handed over to his wife."
Brightman glanced at the address and balanced the envelope on the palm
of his hand.
"It is against the law," he told her, "for a passenger to be the
bearer of any sealed letter."
Katharine shrugged her shoulders.
"I am very sorry," she said, "but the packet which you have did not
come from America at all. It was sealed up on board this ship at the
time when I accepted the charge of its delivery. There is no letter or
communication of any sort inside."
"You will not object," the detective enquired, "to my opening it?"
She frowned impatiently.
"I can assure you," she repeated, "that I saw the notes put inside an
empty envelope. Mr. Crawshay will tell you that my word is to be
relied upon."
"Implicitly, Miss Beverley," Crawshay pronounced emphatically, "but
under the circumstances I think no harm would be done if you allowed
our friend just to glance inside. The notes can easily be sealed up in
another envelope."
"Just as you like," she acquiesced coolly. "You will find nothing but
bills there."
Brightman tore open the envelope and glanced inside as though he did
not intend further to disturb it. Suddenly his face changed. He shook
out the contents upon the little table. They all three looked at the
pile of papers with varying expressions. In Katharine's face there was
nothing but blank bewilderment, in Crawshay's something of horror, in
the detective's a faint gleam of triumph. He pressed his finger down
on the heading of the first sheet of paper.
"I am not much of a German scholar," he observed. "How do you
translate that, Mr. Crawshay?"
Crawshay was silent for several moments. Then in a perfectly
mechanical tone he read out the heading:
"'List of our agents in New York and district who may be absolutely
trusted for any enterprise.'"
There was another dead silence, a silence, on Katharine's part, of
complete mental paralysis. Crawshay's face had lost all its smooth
petulance. He was like a man who had received a blow.
"But I don't understand," Katharine faltered at last. "That packet has
not been out of my possession, and I saw the notes put into it."
"By whom?" Crawshay demanded.
"By Mr. Phillips," she declared steadfastly, "by Mr. Phillips and
Doctor Gant together."
The detective turned the envelope over in his hand.
"The bills seem to have disappeared," he observed.
"They were in that envelope," Katharine persisted. "I have never seen
those papers before in my life."
Brightman's face remained immovable. One by one he slipped the papers
back into the envelope, thrust them into his breast pocket, and,
turning round, locked the door.
"You must forgive me if the rest of our investigations may seem
unnecessarily severe, Miss Beverley," he said.
Katharine sank back upon the sofa. She was utterly bewildered by the
events of the last few minutes. The search of her belongings was now
being conducted with ruthless persistence. Her head was buried in her
hands. She did not even glance at the contents of her trunk, which
were now overflowing the room. Suddenly she was conscious of another
pause in the proceedings, a half-spoken exclamation from the
detective. She looked up. From within the folds of an evening gown he
had withdrawn a small, official-looking dispatch box of black tin,
tied with red tape, and with great seals hanging from either end.
"What is this?" he asked.
Katharine stared at it with wide-open eyes.
"I have never seen it before," she declared.
There was another painful, significant silence. Crawshay bent forward
and examined the seals through his glass.
"This," he announced presently, "is the official seal of a neutral
Embassy. You see how the packet is addressed?"
"I see," the detective admitted, "but, considering the way in which we
have found it, you are not suggesting, I hope, that we should not
open it?"
"Opened it certainly must be," Crawshay admitted, "but not by us in
this manner. When you have finished your search, I should be glad if
you will bring both packets with you to the captain's room."
Brightman silently resumed his labours. Nothing further, however, was
found. The two men stood up together.
"Miss Beverley," Brightman began gravely,--
Crawshay laid his hand upon the man's arm.
"Wait for a moment," he begged. "I wish to have a few words with you
outside. We shall be back before long, Miss Beverley."
The two men disappeared. Katharine, with a sinking of the heart, heard
the key turn on the outside of her stateroom. She watched the lock
slip into its place with an indescribable sense of humiliation. She
had been guilty--of what?
She lost count of time, but it was certain that only a few minutes
could have passed before a strange thing happened. The sight of that
lock, which seemed somehow to shut her off from the world of
reasonable, honest men and women, had fascinated her. She was sitting
watching it, her chin resting upon her hands, something of the horror
still in her eyes, when without sound, or any visible explanation, she
saw it glide back to its place. The door was opened and closed.
Jocelyn Thew was standing in her stateroom.
"You?" she exclaimed.
"I am not disappointed in you, I am sure," he said softly. "You will
keep still. You will not say a word. I have risked the whole success
of a great enterprise to come and say these few words to you. I am
ashamed and sorry for what you are suffering, but I want to tell you
this. Nothing serious will happen--nothing serious can happen to you.
Everything is not as it seems. Will you believe that? Look at me. Will
you believe that?"
She raised her eyes. Once more there was that change in his face which
had seemed so wonderful to her. The blue of his eyes was soft, his
mouth almost tremulous. She answered him almost as though mesmerised.
"I will believe it," she promised.
As silently and mysteriously as he had come, he turned and left her.
She watched the latch. She saw the lock creep silently once more into
its place. She heard no movement outside, but Jocelyn Thew had gone.
During the few remaining minutes of her solitude, Katharine felt a
curious change in the atmosphere of the little disordered stateroom,
in her own dazed and bruised feelings. She seemed somehow to be
playing a part in a little drama which had nothing to do with real
life. All her fears had vanished. She rose from her place, smoothed
her disordered hair carefully, bathed her temples with eau-de-cologne,
adjusted her hat and veil, and, turning on the reading lamp, opened a
novel. She actually managed to read a couple of pages before there was
a knock at the door and the two men reappeared. She laid down her book
and greeted them quite coolly.
"Well, have you come to pronounce sentence upon me?" she asked.
"Our authority scarcely goes so far," Brightman replied. "I am going
on shore now, Miss Beverley, to fetch the consul of the country to
which this packet is addressed. It will be opened in his presence. In
the meantime, Mr. Crawshay has given his parole for you. You will
therefore be free of the ship, but it will be, I am afraid, my duty to
ask you to come with me to the police station for a further
examination, on my return."
"I am sure I shall like to come very much," she said sweetly, "but if
you go on asking me questions forever, I am afraid you won't come any
nearer solving the problem of how that box got into my trunk, or how
those bills got changed into those queer-looking little slips of
papers. However, that of course is your affair."
The detective departed with a stiff bow. Crawshay, however, lingered.
"Aren't you going with your friend?" she asked him.
He ignored the question.
"Miss Beverley," he said, "you will forgive me saying that I find the
present position exceedingly painful."
"Why?" she demanded. "I don't see how you are suffering by it."
"It was at my instigation," he went on, "that suspicion was first
directed against your travelling companions. I am convinced that the
first idea was to get these documents off the ship upon the person of
Phillips, if alive, or in his coffin if dead. The instigators of this
abominable conspiracy have taken fright and have made you their
victim. Certainly," he went on, "it was a shrewd idea. I myself
suggested to Brightman that your things might remain undisturbed. But
for the finding of that envelope, your trunk would certainly not have
been opened. You see the position I have placed myself in. I am driven
to ask you a question. Did you know of the presence of those papers
and dispatch box amongst your belongings?"
"I had no idea of it," she answered fervently.
He drew a little breath of relief.
"You realise, of course," he went on, "that there is only one man who
could have placed them there?"
"And who is that?" she enquired.
"Jocelyn Thew."
"And why do you single him out?"
"Because," Crawshay told her patiently, "we had evidence in America to
show that he was working with our enemies. It is true that he has not
been associated to any extent with the German espionage system in
America, but he has been well-known always as a reckless adventurer,
ready to sell his life in any doubtful cause, so long as it promised
excitement and profit. It was known to us that he had come into touch
with a certain man in Washington who has been looking after the
interests of his country in America. It was to shadow Jocelyn Thew
that I came on this steamer. His friends cleverly fooled Hobson and
me, and landed us in Chicago too late, as they thought, to catch the
boat. That is why I made that somewhat melodramatic journey after you
on the seaplane. Do please consider this matter reasonably, Miss
Beverley. It was perfectly easy for him to slip across and place these
things in your luggage as soon as he found that his original scheme
was likely to go wrong. You were the one person on the steamer whom
he reckoned would be safe from suspicion. You were part of his plot
from the very first, and no more than that."
"I cannot believe this," she said slowly.
Crawshay's face darkened.
"It is no business of mine, Miss Beverley," he declared, "but if you
will forgive my saying so, you must be infatuated by this man. The
evidence is perfectly clear. You are a prominent citizeness of a great
country, and you have been made an accessory to an act of treason
against that country. Yet, with plain facts in my hands, it seems
impossible for me to shake your faith in this person. What is the
reason of it? What hold had he upon you that he should have induced
you to leave your work and your home and betray your country?"
"He has no hold upon me at all," she replied indignantly. "Since you
are so persistent, I will tell you the truth. I once saw him do a
splendid thing, a deed which saved me from great unhappiness."
"There we have it then at last!" Crawshay exclaimed eagerly. "You are
under obligations to him."
"I certainly am," she acknowledged.
"And he has taken advantage of it," Crawshay continued, "to make you
his tool."
"Whatever he has done," she replied, "rests between Jocelyn Thew and
me. I am not in the least disposed to excuse myself or to beg for
mercy from you. If you represent the law, directly or indirectly, I do
not ask for any favours. I shall be perfectly ready to go to your
police station whenever I am sent for." There was a knock at the
door. They both turned around. In reply to Katharine's mechanical
"Come in," Jocelyn Thew entered.
"I beg your pardon," he said, "was I mistaken or did I hear my name?"
"We were speaking of you," Crawshay admitted, turning towards him,
"but I do not think that either Miss Beverley or I have anything to
say to you at the moment."
"That's rather a pity," was the cool reply, "because you may not see
me again. I was looking for Miss Beverley, in fact, to say good-by. We
are docking in half an hour, and those who have been searched can go
on shore, if they like to leave their hold luggage. As I have been
searched twice in the most thorough and effective fashion, I have my
pass out."
"You mean that you are going away altogether to-night?" Katharine
exclaimed.
"Only so far as the Adelphi," he told her. "I have some friends to see
who live near Liverpool, so I shall probably stay there for two or
three days."
"I was coming to look for you on deck presently," Crawshay intervened,
"but if your departure is so imminent, I will say what I have to say
to you here."
"That would seem advisable," Jocelyn Thew agreed.
"I think it is only right that you should know, sir," Crawshay
continued, "that a very serious position has arisen here in which Miss
Beverley is unfortunately involved. Incriminating documents have been
found in her luggage, placed there obviously by some unscrupulous
person, who was in search of a safe hiding-place."
"Is this true?" Jocelyn Thew asked, looking past Crawshay to
Katharine.
"I am afraid that it is," she assented.
"The person who placed them there," Crawshay proceeded, the anger
gathering in his tone, "may believe for the present that he has been
able to escape from his dangerous position by this dastardly attempt
to incriminate a woman. He may, on the other hand, find that his
immunity will last but a very short time."
Jocelyn Thew nodded in calm acquiescence.
"I am at a loss," he said, "to account for your somewhat melodramatic
tone, but I really do not think that Miss Beverley has very much
to fear."
"There I agree with you," Crawshay declared. "She has not so much to
fear as the criminal who is responsible for what has happened. He may
think that he has escaped by saddling his crime upon a woman's
shoulders. On the other hand, he may discover that this attempt, which
only aggravates his position, will turn out to be futile."
Jocelyn Thew held out his hand towards Katharine.
"Really," he said, "the tone of this conversation takes one back to
the atmosphere of the dear old Drury Lane melodrama. I feel, somehow
or other," he went on, looking into Katharine's eyes, "that our friend
here has cast me for the part of the villain and you for the injured
heroine. I am wondering whether I dare ask you for a farewell
greeting?"
Katharine did not hesitate for a moment. Her shapely, ringless hand
was grasped firmly by his brown, lean fingers. She felt the pressure
of a signet ring, the slight tightening of his grip as he leaned a
little towards her. Again she was conscious of that feeling of
exuberant life and complete confidence which had transformed her whole
and humiliating situation so short a time ago.
"The injured heroine is always forgiving," she declared,--"even though
she may have nothing to forgive. Good-by, Mr. Thew, and good
fortune to you!"