"Don"t think to palm off that lie to me. I know how you got it. Write the truth, or I send for Herr Borsen." The threat had little effect however.
"I swear on my soul that that is the truth," he muttered, looking round.
"You are playing with your life, man. Your only chance of getting me to hold my tongue is to make a clean breast of it, not only about your theft but another thing."
"What do you mean?" Just a whisper of terror. No more.
"Your loss of this."
I took out the ring which I had found on the night of Ziegler"s murder.
It was the breaking point. He stared at it a second like a man bereft of his wits, gave one glance up into my stern, set face, and with a groan let his head fall on the desk before it.
"Come," I said, shaking him roughly.
But he had swooned; and when I released my grip of him, he slipped from the chair to the ground and lay a huddled heap on the floor.
CHAPTER XXI
LIKE A DOG AT HEEL
As soon as I realized that von Felsen had fainted, I laid him on his back and hunted round for some spirits. I found some brandy, and after having poured about half a winegla.s.s down his throat, left him to recover his senses.
He was in a desperate plight when he came to; and at one time I was so alarmed by his looks and his feeble flickering pulse, that I was on the point of calling a.s.sistance. If his heart failed while he and I were alone together, it might be awkward for me.
For him I had no sort of feeling but loathing and contempt; and whether he lived or died was a matter of indifference so long as he lived long enough to do what I required.
When he was looking his worst, he rallied a bit, however, and another dose of the spirit set his pulse beating again with less irregularity and some strength.
After a while he sat up and looked about him vacantly.
"I fainted?" he said, in a weak shaky voice.
"Yes," I nodded. "I found your brandy and gave you some."
"Give me some more. Oh, my G.o.d, I remember now," he cried wildly, and clapped both his hands to his face.
I gave him the spirit and the gla.s.s rattled as he placed it to his chattering teeth. "You"d better get on that sofa and lie down for a while."
He glanced at me like a dog at his master, crawled across the floor to the couch and dragged himself up slowly on to it. He was shivering violently, so I threw over him the skirt of the dress I had worn, and left him to himself for a long time: half an hour probably.
I took out again the paper he had stolen from his father"s office and re-read it carefully, fixing all the main points in my memory.
Old Ziegler had known well what he was about in forcing von Felsen to steal such a doc.u.ment, and in getting me to agree to publish it in London.
It was nothing less than a complete statement of the Kaiser"s shipbuilding policy for the future; the strength of the future navy, a full list of the ships which were to be built; their tonnage, equipment and armament; the number of the crews needed; everything given with scrupulous detail.
Against every vessel indicated there was the name of a British vessel with the same detail of its size and armament. In each case the German vessel was to be of superior strength. It told its own story with a clearness of inference that no one could mistake.
That it was an authentic doc.u.ment, I could not doubt. It was full of interlineations and corrections in different handwritings. I recognized one or two of them, and the whole appearance of the thing convinced me that it would have been practically impossible for von Felsen or any one else to have forged it.
That its disclosure would have raised a storm all over Europe was as certain as that day follows night; and that it would injure the Imperial Government immensely was equally clear, in view of the then excited condition of public feeling.
It might even have provoked a war with England. Already the relations between the two countries had been strained almost to a breaking point by the Kaiser"s hot-headed telegram to the Boer President and the belief of his desire to intervene in the war in South Africa.
Even had I been still a newspaper man I should have hesitated to take the responsibility of publication; and as it was, I did not contemplate such a step for an instant. I had obtained possession of it for my own private ends, and for those I would use it. For such a purpose it was precisely what I needed.
But the instant the theft was discovered there would be such a hue and cry raised that the mere possession of it would be a source of danger.
Luckily I had foreseen something of this; and it was my plan to get it out of the country with the least possible loss of time. It was for this I had told my sister to be ready to leave by the mail.
Time was getting on too; so I roused von Felsen. "Come, you must get to work," I said. "I can"t wait any longer."
With a heavy sigh he sat up. "What do you want?"
"Write me the truth as to how you came by this paper. Where it was kept; in whose charge it was; how you knew of its existence; why you stole it; and precisely the steps you took to obtain it. As short as you like; but in such detail that your story can be tested."
"I daren"t. It"s more than my life"s worth," he protested.
"You can choose between that and standing your trial for Ziegler"s murder. Without this ring I have enough evidence to convict you--what you did before the crime; where you went from; how you gained admittance to the house; when you left; where you went; and, mark this, what you did with the weapon."
The greater part of all that was, of course, mere bluff; and I put it only in general terms. But he was in such fear of me, that it was safe bluff. Not for a second did he doubt that I could make every syllable good. I could tell that by his looks.
After another groan of anguish he rose and crossed to the desk. "What do you mean to do with it?" he asked, looking round with the pen in his hand.
"Hush it all up, if you go straight. Use it, if you don"t."
After a pause he began to write; and the scratch, scratch of his pen was the only sound in the room for many minutes.
I took each half sheet as he finished it; and had no doubt he was writing the truth. He was completely in the toils of the old Jew, and the latter had forced him to do this under threats of ruin and exposure.
He had been drawn into the toils of the Polish party and they had threatened to tell of the information which he had sold to them on former occasions. This was to be the price of his complete emanc.i.p.ation from them; and in dire fear of them he had consented.
"You were to receive twenty thousand marks. Put that in," I interrupted.
It was an excellent stroke. He was overwhelmed by the fact that I knew so much; and it settled all thought of any doubts about the rest of my knowledge.
"Let me leave that out," he whined.
"Do as I say," I rapped back sternly; and he obeyed. Then he went on to describe the means by which he had committed the theft. He had duplicate keys of all the locks in his father"s office.
When he had finished the confession and signed it, I made him hand over those keys to me. With such a piece of evidence as they const.i.tuted in my hands, I cared comparatively little whether his statement were true or false. They would speak for themselves.
The writing of the confession with the breaks and pauses occupied nearly an hour, and I could see that he was nearly collapsing; so I told him to make the statement about Ziegler"s murder very short.
"I have enough evidence without this at all," I declared; and he believed me. But I made him give such an account of his doings on the night, and particularly about the dagger he had used, where he had obtained it, and what he had done with it, as would enable me at need to find the proofs of his guilt.