"But it is nearly six o"clock!" he exclaimed.
"That does not affect me," she answered, shrugging her shoulders. "Sit down."
He obeyed. There was something changed about her, something which he did not recognise. She thrust her hands into a box of cigarettes, took one out and lit it. She leaned against the table, facing him.
"Listen," she continued, "I have borrowed from you three thousand pounds. You left with me to-night--I don"t know whether you meant to lend it to me or whether I had it on trust, but you left it in my charge--another thousand pounds. I have lost it all--all, you understand--the four thousand pounds and every penny I have of my own."
He sat quite still. He was watching her through his gold-rimmed spectacles. There was the slightest possible frown upon his forehead.
The time for talking of money as though it were a trifle had pa.s.sed.
"That is a great deal," he said.
"It is a great deal," she admitted. "I owe it to you and I cannot pay.
What are you going to do?"
He watched her eagerly. There was a new note in her voice. He paused to consider what it might mean. A single false step now and he might lose all that he had striven for.
"How am I to answer that?" he asked softly. "I will answer it first in the way that seems most natural. I will beg you to accept your losings as a little gift from me--as a proof, if you will, of my friendship."
He had saved the situation. If he had obeyed his first impulse, the affair would have been finished. He realised it as he watched her face, and he shuddered at the thought of his escape. His words obviously disturbed her.
"It is not possible for me," she protested, "to accept money from you."
"Not from Linda"s husband?"
She threw her cigarette into the grate and stood looking at him.
"Do you offer it to me as Linda"s husband?" she demanded.
It was a crisis for which Draconmeyer was scarcely prepared. He was driven out of his pusillanimous compromise. She was pressing him hard for the truth. Again the fear of losing her altogether terrified him.
"If I have other feelings of which I have not spoken," he said quietly, "have I not kept them to myself? Do I obtrude them upon you even now? I am content to wait."
"To wait for what?" she insisted.
All that had been in his mind seemed suddenly miraged before him--the removal of Hunterleys, his own wife"s failing health. The way had seemed so clear only a little time ago, and now the clouds were back again.
"Until you appreciate the fact," he told her, "that you have no more sincere friend, that there is no one who values your happiness more than I do."
"Supposing I take this money from you," she asked, after a moment"s pause. "Are there any conditions?"
"None whatever," he answered.
She turned away with a little sigh. The tragedy which a few minutes ago she had seen looming up, eluded her. She had courted a denouement in vain. He was too clever.
"You are very generous," she said. "We will speak of this to-morrow. I called you in because I could not bear the uncertainty of it all. Please go now."
He rose slowly to his feet. She gave him her hand lifelessly. He kept it for a moment. She drew it away and looked at the place where his lips had touched it, wonderingly. It was as though her fingers had been scorched with fire.
"It shall be to-morrow," he whispered, as he pa.s.sed out.
CHAPTER x.x.xI
NEARING A CRISIS
From the wilds of Scotland to Monte Carlo, as fast as motor-cars and train de luxe could bring him, came the right Honourable Meredith Simpson, a very distinguished member of His Majesty"s Government.
Hunterleys, advised of his coming by telegram from Ma.r.s.eilles, met him at the station, and together the two men made their way at once to Hunterleys" room across at the Hotel de Paris. Behind locked doors they spoke for the first time of important matters.
"It"s a great find, this of yours, Hunterleys," the Minister acknowledged, "and it is corroborated, too, by what we know is happening around us. We have had all the warning in the world just lately. The Russian Amba.s.sador is in St. Petersburg on leave of absence--in fact for the last six months he has been taking his duties remarkably lightly.
Tell me how you first heard of the affair?"
"I got wind of it in Sofia," Hunterleys explained. "I travelled from there quite quietly, loitered about the Italian Riviera, and came on here as a tourist. The only help I could get hold of here was from Sidney Roche, who, as you know, is one of our Secret Service men. Roche, I am sorry to say, was shot last night. He may live but he won"t be well enough to take any further hand in the game here, and I have no one to take his place."
"Roche shot!" Mr. Simpson exclaimed, in a shocked tone. "How did it happen?"
"They found him lying on the roof of the Villa Mimosa, just over the room where the meeting was taking place," Hunterleys replied. "They chased him round the grounds and we just got him off in a motor-car, but not before he"d been hit twice. He was just able to tell me a little.
The first meeting was quite informal and very guarded. Douaille was most cautious--he was there only to listen. The second meeting was last night. Grex was in the chair, representing Russia."
"You mean the Grand Duke Augustus?" Mr. Simpson interrupted.
Hunterleys nodded.
"Grex is the name he is living under here. He explained Russia"s position. Poor Roche was only able to falter a few words, but what he said was enough to give us the key-note to the whole thing. The long and short of it all is that Russia turned her face westward so long as Constantinople was possible. Now that this war has come about and ended as it has done, Russia"s chance has gone. There is no longer any _quid pro quo_ for her alliance with France. There is no friendship, of course, between Russia and Germany, but at any rate Russia has nothing to fear from Germany, and she knows it. Grex is quite frank. They must look eastward, he said, and when he says eastward, he means Manchuria, China, Persia, even India. At the same time, Russia has a conscience, even though it be a diplomatic conscience. Hence this conference. She doesn"t want France crushed. Germany has a proposition. It has been enunciated up to a certain point. She confers Alsace and Lorraine and possibly Egypt upon France, for her neutrality whilst she destroys the British Fleet. Or failing her neutrality, she wants her to place a weak army on the frontier, which can fall back without much loss before a German advance. Germany"s objective then will be Calais and not Paris, and from there she will command the Straits and deal with the British Fleet at her leisure. Meanwhile, she will conclude peace with France on highly advantageous terms. Don"t you see what it means, Simpson? The elementary part of the thing is as simple as A B C. Germany has nothing to gain from Russia, she has nothing to gain from France. England is the only country who can give her what she wants. That is about as far as they have got, up to now, but there is something further behind it all.
That, Selingman is to tell them to-night."
"The most important point about the whole matter, so far as we are concerned," Mr. Simpson declared, "is Douaille"s att.i.tude. You have received no indication of that, I suppose?"
"None whatever," Hunterleys answered. "I thought of paying my respects, but after all, you know, I have no official standing, and personally we are almost strangers."
The Minister nodded.
"It"s a difficult position," he confessed. "Have you copies of your reports to London?"
"I have copies of them, and full notes of everything that has transpired so far, in a strong box up at the bank," Hunterleys a.s.sented. "We can stroll up there after lunch and I will place all the doc.u.ments in your hands. You can look them through then and decide what is best to be done."
The Minister rose to his feet.
"I shall go round to my rooms, change my clothes," he announced, "and meet you presently. We"ll lunch across at Ciro"s, eh? I didn"t mean to come to Monte Carlo this year, but so long as I am here, I may as well make the best of it. You are not looking as though the change had done you much good, Hunterleys."
"The last few days," Hunterleys remarked, a little drily, "have not been exactly in the nature of a holiday."
"Are you here alone?"
"I came alone. I found my wife here by accident. She came through with the Draconmeyers. They were supposed to stay at Cannes, but altered their plans. Of course, Draconmeyer meant to come here all the time."