第10章

"VON BEHRLING HAS THE PACKET"

Bellamy stole along the half-lit corridors of the train until he came to the coup6 which had been reserved for Mademoiselle Idiale.

Assured that he was not watched, he softly turned the handle of the door and entered. Louise was sitting up in her dressing-gown, drinking her coffee. He held up his finger and she greeted him only with a nod.

"Forgive me, Louise," he whispered, "I dared not knock, and I was obliged to see you at once."She smiled.

"It is of no consequence," she said. "One is always prepared here.

The porter, the ticket-man, and at the customs - they all enter.

Is anything wrong?"

"It has happened," he answered.

She shivered a little and her face became grave.

"Poor fellow!" she murmured.

"He simply sat still and asked for it," Bellamy declared, still speaking in a cautious undertone. "He would not be warned. I could have saved him, if any one could, but he would not hear reason.""He was what you call pig-headed," she remarked.

"He has paid the penalty," Bellamy continued. "Now listen to me, Louise. I got into that small coupe next to Von Behrling's, and Ifeel sure, from what I overheard, that they will go on to London, all three of them.""Who is there on the train?" she demanded.

"Baron Streuss, who is head of the Secret Police, Von Behrling and Adolf Kahn," Bellamy answered. "Then there are four or five Secret Service men of the rank and file, but they are all traveling separately. Von Behrling has the packet. The others form a sort of cordon around him.""But why," she asked, "does he go on to London? Why not return to Vienna?""For one thing, " Bellamy replied, with a grim smile, "they are afraid of me. Then you must remember that this affair of Dorward will be talked about. They do not want to seem in any way implicated. To return from any one of these stations down the line would create suspicion."She nodded.

"Well?"

"I am going to leave the train at the next stop," he continued. "Ifind that I shall just catch the Northern Express to Berlin. From there I shall come on to London as quickly as I can. You know the address of my rooms?"She nodded.

"15, Fitzroy Street."

"When I get there, let me have a line waiting to tell me where Ican see you. While I am on the train you will find Von Behrling almost inaccessible. Directly I have gone it will be different.

Play with him carefully. He should not be difficult. To tell you the truth, I am rather surprised that he has been trusted upon a mission like this. He was in disgrace with the Chancellor a short while ago, and I know that he was hurt at not being allowed to attend the conference. The others will watch him closely, but they cannot overhear everything that passes between you two. Von Behrling is a poor man. You will know how to make him wish he were rich."Very slowly her eyebrows rose up. She looked at him doubtfully.

"It is a slender chance, David," she remarked. "Von Behrling is a little wild, I know, and he pretends to be very much in love with me, but I do not think that he would sell his country. Then, too, see how he will be watched. I do not suppose that they will leave us alone for a moment."Bellamy took her hands in his, gripping them with almost unnatural force.

"Louise," he declared earnestly, "you don't quite realize Von Behrling's special weakness and your extraordinary strength. You know that you are beautiful, I suppose, but you do not quite know what that means. I have heard men talk about you till one would think that they were children. You have something of that art or guile - call it what you will - which passes from you through a man's blood to his brain, and carries him indeed to Heaven - but carries him there mad. Louise, don't be angry with me for what Isay. Remember that I know my sex. I know you, too, and I trust you, but you can turn Von Behrling from a sane, honorable man into what you will, without suffering even his lips to touch your fingers. Von Behrling has that packet in his possession. When Icome to see you in London, I will bring you twenty thousand pounds in Bank of England notes. With that Von Behrling might fancy himself on his way to America - with you."She closed her eyes for a moment. Perhaps she wished to keep hidden from him the thoughts which chased one another through her brain.

He wished to make use of her - of her, the woman whom he loved.

Then she remembered that it was for her country and his, and the anger passed.

"But I am afraid," she said softly, "that the moment they reach London this document will be taken to the Austrian Embassy.""Before then," Bellamy declared, "Von Behrling must not know whether he is in heaven or upon earth. It will not be opened in London.

He can make up another packet to resemble precisely the one of which he robbed Dorward. Oh! it is a difficult game, I know, but it is worth playing. Remember, Louise, that we are not petty conspirators.

It is your country's very existence that is threatened. It is for her sake as well as for England.""I shall do my best," she murmured, looking into his face. "Oh, you may be sure that I shall do my best!"Bellamy raised her fingers to his lips and stole away. The electric lamps had been turned out, but the morning was cloudy and the light dim. Back in his own berth, he put his things together, ready to leave at Munich. Then he rang for the porter.

"I am getting out at the next stop," he announced.

"Very good, Monsieur," the man answered.

Bellamy looked at him closely.

"You are a Frenchman?"

"It is so, Monsieur!"

"I may be wrong," Bellamy continued slowly, "but I believe that if I asked you a question and it concerned some Germans and Austrians you would tell me the truth."The man's gesture was inimitable. Englishmen to him were obviously the salt of the earth. Germans and Austrians - why, they existed as the cattle in the fields - nothing more. Bellamy gave him a sovereign.