The j.a.panese made no attempt to press his proposal.
Instead he plunged into a discussion of the intrigues which radiated from Berlin.
"In nearly all the international difficulties and disagreements of the last twenty years," he said, "it is possible to trace the evil influence of Germany.
"To German sympathy, a secret encouragement, was due the wanton invasion of Cape Colony by the Boers. To the Kaiser, and his promises of support, was due the hopeless defiance of the United States by Spain. The same Power tried to drag Great Britain into collision with your Republic over the miserable concerns of Venezuela. For years, Germany has been secretly egging on the French to raise troubles against the English in Egypt. In the same spirit, the Sultan has been abetted, first against England and next against Russia.
"All these schemes have been spoiled by the action of King Edward VII. in establishing cordial relations with France, and even to a certain extent with Russia.
"Now Wilhelm II. has taken advantage of the attraction of France to England, to draw nearer to Russia. He has secured in his interest some of the most influential personages at the Russian Court. The Anglophobe grand dukes, the fire-eaters of the Admiralty, are all his sworn allies.
"But that is not the worst.
"By some means which I have not yet been able to trace, the Kaiser seems to have acquired a peculiar hold over Nicholas II.
"The whole policy of Russia seems to be tinged by this influence.
Even where the instigation of Germany is not directly apparent, yet in a hundred ways it is clear that the Russian Government is playing the German game. The cause of all this is a riddle, a riddle which it is for you to solve."
"For me?"
The words escaped me involuntarily. I had listened with growing uneasiness to the Privy Councillor"s revelations.
"Undoubtedly. You have facilities which no one else possesses. You enjoy the confidence of the Czar. You cannot be suspected of any selfish designs, still less of any hostile feeling against Wilhelm II., who is understood to be almost your personal friend."
"I never allow personal friendships to influence me in the discharge of my duty."
"It is because I believe that, that I am talking to you like this,"
Mr. Katahashi responded quickly.
"Well!" he added after a short silence, "what do you say?"
"I must have the night to decide."
The j.a.panese Privy Councillor rose to say good-by.
After he had gone I sat up late into the night considering how far I could serve my employer in England by entering into the projects of the secret service of j.a.pan.
In the morning, I was still undecided, but on the whole it seemed to me that it would be better to act independently.
I was considering how to convey this decision to the Mikado"s minister, when he again presented himself before me.
His manner was deeply agitated. It was evident that he came to make a communication of the highest importance.
Instead of taking the chair I offered him, he stood regarding me with an expression that seemed one of awe.
"Monsieur V----," he said at length, "your conditions are accepted by his imperial majesty."
"What conditions?" I asked, bewildered for the moment.
"Last night you informed me that an American citizen occupied the same rank as royalty."
"Well?"
"The Mikado offers to make you a member of the imperial family by adoption, and one of his majesty"s cousins has consented to make you his son!"
CHAPTER XIII
HIS IMPERIAL HIGHNESS
In these days, when princes resign their rank to marry commoners, and queens elope with tutors, it is probable that most Western minds will see nothing out of the way in the condescension of the j.a.panese ruler in admitting a diplomatic agent to the honor of the imperial cousinship.
But the dynasty of j.a.pan is the most ill.u.s.trious in the world, excepting only that of Great Britain. Like Edward VII., the Mikado traces his lineage back to pagan G.o.ds. From the days of the famous Empress Jimmu, an unbroken line of sacred sovereigns has filled the throne of the Realm of the Rising Sun during more than two thousand years.
Mr. Katahashi was evidently pleased to see that I appreciated to the full the tremendous honor accorded to me.
"An imperial carriage is waiting to convey you to the Palace," he said. "But it will not be becoming for you to wear that uniform. I have brought you a j.a.panese dress."
An attendant came into the room bearing a gorgeous robe of green silk embroidered with golden chrysanthemums.
I put it on like one in a dream. The Privy Councillor with his own hands girt around my waist the two weapons, sacred from time immemorial to the use of the j.a.panese n.o.ble, the sword with which to behead his friend, and the dagger with which to disembowel himself.
Needless to say, I had no expectation that I should ever have occasion to regard these magnificently embellished weapons in any other light than as ornamental badges of rank.
As we rode to the Palace, I could not forbear contrasting this splendid treatment with that which I had been accustomed to receive from some of the European sovereigns to whom I had rendered important services.
Even the German Kaiser, who trusted me more than the head of his own police, who talked to me almost on the footing of an intimate friend, had never offered me so much as the coveted "von" before my name--had not given me even the pretty Red Eagle which is lavished on second-rate generals and lords-in-waiting.
I became well-nigh appalled as I contrasted the sluggish conversation, the hide-bound officialism, the stereotyped and sleepy methods of the Western Powers with the sleepless energy, the daring initiative, the desperate industry and courage of this rejuvenated Eastern race.
What could any of these obsolete European Governments effect against a nation which was really a vast secret society of forty-five millions, directed by a sacred chief, and wielding all the mechanical resources of the West with the almost inhuman subtlety and ruthlessness of the Orient?
"Anything can be done for money." This maxim, which is forever on the lips of Russian statesmen, no longer sounded true in the meridian of Tokio.
The ruler of j.a.pan had not offered me so much as a yen. Nay, it was clearly expected and intended that I should devote myself to the service of my new country without pay, and with the same single-hearted devotion as Mr. Katahashi himself. The Mikado was going to enroll in his services as an unpaid volunteer the most highly-paid, in other words, the most trusted and feared, secret service agent of two hemispheres.
And it was to cost him? An embroidered garment and two sentences spoken in a private audience!
Such are the methods of j.a.pan!
On our arrival at the Palace we were received by a chamberlain, who conducted us by the private staircase to the Hall of the Imperial Family.
The Hall is an imposing room, hung with portraits of deceased mikados. A single chair, decorated with the emblem of the Rising Sun, stood at the upper end.
Almost as soon as we had taken our places, a door behind the chair was thrown up, and a number of the officers of the household, all wearing the ancient national costume, filed in, and grouped themselves around the imperial chair.