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CHAPTER I THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF SEPTEMBER
CHAPTER I THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF SEPTEMBER
Monsieur Aristide Brisson, the fat little proprietor of the Hotel du Nord—a modest house facing the Place Puget at Toulon—turned uneasily in his sleep, as though fretted by a disturbing dream; then he awoke with a start and rubbed his eyes. A glance at the dark windows showed that the dawn was yet far distant, and he was about to turn over and go thankfully to sleep again when a sudden remembrance leaped into his brain. In an instant, he had bounded from the bed, struck a match, and, after a loo
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CHAPTER III TWO GREAT MEN MEET
CHAPTER III TWO GREAT MEN MEET
M. Delcassé and M. Lépine were still in conference when Pigot was announced. He was admitted without delay, and made his report briefly and clearly. It could have been summed up in a sentence: neither by him nor by his agents had anything been discovered to indicate, even remotely, that the catastrophe had been the result of intention; every rumour to that effect had been sifted and disproved; La Liberté had been destroyed from within and not from without. "Another 'accident,' then," grunted Del
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CHAPTER IV THE ALLIES AT WORK
CHAPTER IV THE ALLIES AT WORK
It was nearly four o'clock when Crochard, Lépine and Pigot took their leave of M. Delcassé and made their way through the dark and silent streets in the direction of the Hotel du Nord. The people who had leaped from their beds at sunrise, wearied at last by the emotions of the day and dampened by the fine rain which had begun to fall, had gone to bed again. Only about the harbour were there any signs of life. There the searchlights of the battleships still played about the wreck, where squads of
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CHAPTER V AT THE CAFÉ DES VOYAGEURS
CHAPTER V AT THE CAFÉ DES VOYAGEURS
M. Delcassé was scarcely out of bed, next morning, when Lépine's card was brought in to him. He smiled as he read the line scrawled across it: "My report awaits Monsieur." "Show M. Lépine into the breakfast-room," said the Minister, "and inform him that I shall be down at once. Also inquire if he has breakfasted. If not, see that he is served." He hastened on with his toilet, and, five minutes later, joined Lépine, whom he found at his favourite amusement of standing at a window and gazing into
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CHAPTER VI THE MYSTERIOUS SIGNALS
CHAPTER VI THE MYSTERIOUS SIGNALS
M. Delcassé was a busy man, that morning, and he snorted with derision when Lépine, having secured admission for a moment, told him of Crochard's request for an audience at eleven o'clock. "Impossible!" he said. "The Board of Inquiry is to convene at that hour, and I must be present to address them." "Perhaps it would be possible to adjourn the meeting until afternoon," Lépine suggested. Delcassé stared at him in astonishment. "Possible, yes," he said; "most things are possible. But do you know
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CHAPTER VII THE HUT IN THE GROVE
CHAPTER VII THE HUT IN THE GROVE
General Marbeau bent with the interest of an expert above the rude table on which the apparatus was installed, and examined it for some moments in silence. Then he straightened up and glanced at Delcassé. "Well?" asked the latter. "It is, indeed, a wireless installation, sir," said Marbeau, "or, at least, part of one. Most of the instruments of transmission are here, but there are no recording instruments. In other words, wireless messages might be sent from here, but none could be received—unle
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CHAPTER VIII THE SECOND INSTALLATION
CHAPTER VIII THE SECOND INSTALLATION
The Board of Inquiry began its sessions that afternoon, at the Prefecture of Marine. It was composed of the most distinguished officers of France, who had donned for the occasion their most brilliant uniforms. There was much paraphernalia—secretaries, portfolios, red-taped papers, reports—all that display so dear to the French temperament; and every one wore an air of importance and solemnity befitting time and place. M. Delcassé opened the session with a ringing speech, forming a notable contra
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CHAPTER IX CHECKMATE
CHAPTER IX CHECKMATE
"It is evident that this affair was not lightly arranged," said M. Delcassé, and ran his fingers nervously through his hair. Lépine nodded gloomily. "You may well say so!" he agreed. The two sat together in Delcassé's room, and Lépine had just finished his report. Evening was falling, and the room was growing dark, but neither desired a light. "Everything has been thought of and provided for," said the Prefect, at last, "even to the telegram which gave an excuse for this man's abrupt departure.
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CHAPTER X THE LAND OF FREEDOM
CHAPTER X THE LAND OF FREEDOM
The old town of Cherbourg was experiencing its semi-weekly apotheosis. For five days of the seven a duller place would be difficult to find, but on Wednesdays and Saturdays, when the great trans-Atlantic liners were due to pause in the outer harbour and take aboard the multitudes homeward-bound to America, the town was transfigured. The transfiguration, indeed, began on the previous evenings, for it was then that the less-knowing and more timid of the tourists began to arrive. The knowing ones,
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CHAPTER XI SHIPMATES
CHAPTER XI SHIPMATES
When Dan got back to the hotel for lunch, he found that there had been many arrivals during the morning. The Adriatic was to sail that afternoon, as well as the Ottilie , and the long dining-room at the hotel was a busy place. As the head-waiter led him to a seat, he caught a glimpse, far off, of the girl of the morning. She was sitting at a table with a white-haired man—her father, of course—with whom she was talking earnestly. She did not look up, and, in another instant, Dan's guide had pulle
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CHAPTER XII UNDER RUSSIAN RULE
CHAPTER XII UNDER RUSSIAN RULE
When Dan found his seat in the dining-saloon, that evening, he glanced up and down the long table, in the hope that Miss Vard and her father might be among his neighbours. But they were not, and it was not until he was half through the meal that he descried them at one of the tables on the other side of the room. At his own table there were the usual assorted types of the middle-class tourist, his wife and family, most of them frankly glad that they were homeward bound, with the greatest part of
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CHAPTER XIII IN THE WIRELESS HOUSE
CHAPTER XIII IN THE WIRELESS HOUSE
Fritz Ludwig, the tall, blond young man who earned his eighty marks per month as wireless man on the Ottilie , having eaten his dinner with the passengers of the second-cabin and smoked a meditative pipe at the door of the little coop on the after boat-deck which served him as office and bedroom, knocked out the ashes and entered his citadel to prepare for the night's business. But first he connected up his detector and snapped the receivers against his ears, just to see what might be going on.
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CHAPTER XIV THE MESSAGE
CHAPTER XIV THE MESSAGE
A little group of laughing young women came scurrying up the ladder from the promenade, and the Admiral and his companion sat stonily silent until they had passed. Then the Admiral spoke again, still in a whisper, but his voice was under control. "The most astounding thing has happened," he said. "I cannot understand it. The operator in there has just received a message from Cherbourg, asking if there is not on board, in stateroom 514, a man named Ignace Vard, accompanied by his daughter. It is
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CHAPTER XV A WORD OF WARNING
CHAPTER XV A WORD OF WARNING
Wherefore it happened that Dan Webster, searching promenade and saloon and library, that afternoon, mounting to the boat-deck, descending to the lower deck, peeping into every nook and corner where passengers of the second-class were permitted to penetrate, looked in vain for Kasia Vard. Nor was her father anywhere to be seen. At last, perceiving the curious glances shot in his direction, and having stumbled for the third time over the same outstretched pair of feet, he mounted gloomily to the b
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CHAPTER XVI A CHARGE TO KEEP
CHAPTER XVI A CHARGE TO KEEP
When Dan Webster took his seat at the dinner table, that evening, he found a printed copy of the passenger-list beside his plate, and his neighbours were a-flutter with the excitement of seeing their names in type. Dan, turning to the letter V, found that the names of Ignace Vard and his daughter were not there. Doubtless the change from second-class to first was responsible for the omission, and yet, at the back of his mind was a vague feeling of uneasiness which he was wholly unable to explain
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CHAPTER XVII THE FIRST CONFERENCE
CHAPTER XVII THE FIRST CONFERENCE
In the Captain's cabin, meanwhile, another conference was going forward, and one of a very different character from that on the after boat-deck. The curtains had been carefully drawn, and three men sat facing each other. They were Ignace Vard, Pachmann, and the young man whom he addressed habitually as "Prince." Vard was on the divan in the corner of the room, the others lounged in two luxuriously upholstered chairs which had been wheeled in front of the divan. Their attitudes suggested careless
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CHAPTER XVIII THE SUBSTITUTE SENTRY
CHAPTER XVIII THE SUBSTITUTE SENTRY
Admiral Pachmann turned into his berth, that night, extremely well-satisfied with himself, for he was convinced that the cards were in his hands and the game as good as won. And what a game! For his King, world-empire; for himself—but the Admiral did not permit himself to name the reward. He knew well that he would not be forgotten when the moment came for the distribution of honours. Was not the whole plan his? Had he not worked it out to its minutest detail? Had he not carried it through? And
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CHAPTER XIX THE SECOND CONFERENCE
CHAPTER XIX THE SECOND CONFERENCE
Again a rope was stretched across the forward promenade, and, for the information of the curious, a sign attached to it bearing the single word "Paint." Again a guard was stationed in front of the Captain's cabin, but this time it consisted of two petty officers. Again the Captain surprised his subordinates by mounting to the bridge, although the night was clear and fine. They noticed that he was lost in thought, and that he went often to the head of the ladder leading to the deck and glanced do
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CHAPTER XX THE PRINCE SEEKS DIVERSION
CHAPTER XX THE PRINCE SEEKS DIVERSION
In spite of his protestations and the confident manner he assumed when with the Prince, Pachmann was, as a matter of fact, exceedingly disturbed. It was true that for an individual as humble as Ignace Vard to hope to stand against the might of the German Empire was absurd in the extreme; but perhaps Vard was not alone. Perhaps back of him there was some person or some power at which even Germany would pause. Two incidents had been distinctly disquieting: the wireless from Lépine and the assault
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CHAPTER XXI ON THE EDUCATION OF PRINCES
CHAPTER XXI ON THE EDUCATION OF PRINCES
The Prince sprang to his feet and bowed low over the hand which Kasia, after an instant's startled hesitation, had extended. Her father watched the scene with an amused face. "You arrived most opportunely, my dear," he said. "The Prince, being bored, as is the way with Princes, came to me, asking to be amused. I started out to amuse him by describing certain strange customs of America, which he is about to visit for the first time; but I was soon on my hobby again, and instead of amusing him....
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CHAPTER XXII THE EVENTS OF MONDAY
CHAPTER XXII THE EVENTS OF MONDAY
Kasia did not see the Prince again. That ingenuous young man had spent a most uncomfortable half hour with the doughty Admiral, whose language had been both lucid and emphatic, and who had opened the discussion, and spiked the Prince's guns at the very start, as it were, by producing the paper sealed with the Imperial seal. "I would call your attention especially to this clause," said Pachmann, and placed his finger upon the words, "all members of my family." "It was not placed there by accident
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CHAPTER XXIII THE LANDING
CHAPTER XXIII THE LANDING
When Dan Webster awoke, next morning, his first thought was that something was wrong, and it was a moment before he realised what it was. The screw had stopped. Instead of quivering with the steady, pulse-like vibration to which, during the past week, he had grown accustomed, the ship lay dead and motionless. He got on deck as quickly as he could, and found that they were anchored in the shelter of Sandy Hook, with a boat from quarantine alongside. Already the deck was thronged with excited pass
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CHAPTER XXIV PACHMANN SCORES
CHAPTER XXIV PACHMANN SCORES
Dan Webster never had any definite recollection of how he got to his rooms. Somebody must have carried his bags to a cab and put them and him inside it, and he must have given the cabby the number of the apartment-house where his rooms were, for after a certain time he found himself in a cab which had stopped in front of it, with Marshall, the doorman, staring in at him. "I think he's drunk, that's what I think," said the cabby, who had got down, suspecting that his services would be needed. "He
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CHAPTER XXV THE TRAP
CHAPTER XXV THE TRAP
To Kasia Vard the day had been one of manifold excitements. Like Dan, she had awakened to find the boat motionless, and had run to the window to gaze entranced at the green slopes of Sandy Hook. Home! Home! She fairly sang the words as she dressed and rushed on deck. From that instant, every moment was charged with emotion, culminating as she leaned against the rail and gazed with misty eyes at Bartholdi's masterpiece. She remembered how, ten years before, her father, with tears streaming down h
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CHAPTER XXVI THE TURN OF THE SCREW
CHAPTER XXVI THE TURN OF THE SCREW
It was a moment later that Kasia Vard, still sitting at the window staring out into the court, searching desperately through her brain for some plan of escape, was brought quivering to her feet by a shrill scream, followed by the sound of a terrible struggle on the floor above. There was a heavy tramping to and fro, the thud of falling furniture, a dull crash that shook the house—and then silence. It was over in a moment, but she stood rigid for a moment longer, her hands against her heart, then
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CHAPTER XXVII THE VOICE AT THE DOOR
CHAPTER XXVII THE VOICE AT THE DOOR
It was nearly nine o'clock when Pachmann sat down to dinner that evening, but he did so in an exceedingly pleasant frame of mind. He felt that he had done a good day's work. In the first place, he had eluded the spies; in the second place, he had enticed all the flies into the web, where they were now securely entangled. There was just one way in which they could regain their freedom; and that they would, in the end, accept that way, the Admiral did not doubt. Protests were natural, at first; in
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CHAPTER XXVIII CROCHARD, THE INVINCIBLE!
CHAPTER XXVIII CROCHARD, THE INVINCIBLE!
Pachmann jerked round with an oath. At the first glance, he thought it was the Prince who stood there, though it had not been the Prince's voice. A second glance undeceived him. There was, it is true, a certain puzzling resemblance to the Prince, but this man was more strongly built, more graceful—and the Prince could never smile like that! And then, with a little bow, the newcomer removed the broad-brimmed hat which shadowed his face, and, with a sudden feeling of sickness, Pachmann recognised
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CHAPTER XXIX THE ESCAPE
CHAPTER XXIX THE ESCAPE
That evening remains in Dan Webster's memory as the most crowded and most glorious of his life. Its supreme moment was when Kasia Vard gave herself into his arms and raised her lips to his in confession and surrender, and it left them both dazzled and breathless; but at last they were able to speak coherently. "So you are a prisoner, too?" Dan asked. "Yes." "I suspected it. How splendid that I have found you!" "It was silly of me to be frightened—I might have known it was you!" "How could you ha
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CHAPTER XXX COUNCIL OF WAR
CHAPTER XXX COUNCIL OF WAR
When Paris opened her eyes on the morning of Thursday, the twelfth of October, it was to rejoice at one of those soft and beautiful days of autumn which make of every house a dungeon to be escaped at the first possible moment. Even as early as nine o'clock, a perceptible tide had set in toward the Bois de Boulogne, or, rather, innumerable little tides, which converged at the Place de la Concorde and rolled on along the Champs-Elysées in one mighty torrent. Against this torrent, a sturdy and ener
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CHAPTER XXXI THE ALLIANCE ENDS
CHAPTER XXXI THE ALLIANCE ENDS
Delcassé's nostrils were distended and his eyes were glowing like those of a war-horse scenting battle as he invited his visitors to be seated. Only his iron self-control, tested on I know not how many hard-fought fields of diplomacy, enabled him to speak coherently; never had it been strained as at that moment. He sat down at his desk, and glanced from one face to the other. "I am indeed glad to meet M. Vard," he said, with a calmness that was no less than a triumph; "and to see you again, M. C
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CHAPTER XXXII STRASBOURG
CHAPTER XXXII STRASBOURG
A Mile or two back from the Rhine, on the banks of the Ill, stands the fair city of Strasbourg. Once she was proud as well as fair; but her pride has been trailed in the dust. For four centuries a free city, defending herself virgin-like against all comers, for two centuries more the happy capital of the loveliest of French provinces, she has borne for forty years the chain of the conqueror and bowed her head beneath the lash. But she is French still—French to the very core of her; and though he
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