That same night as I sat in my rooms, a short, thick-set man, who gave the name of Payne, was ushered in.
"I think," he said, "your Highness happens to know something of an old lady named Demidoff and her friends who live in Toddington Terrace?"
"Yes," I replied, much surprised.
"Well," he explained, "I"m a police officer, and I watched you go twice to the house, so I thought you knew something about them. Are they your friends?"
"Well, no; not exactly my friends," I replied, very suspicious of my visitor. "I had never been nearer a man from Scotland Yard in all my life! Imagine my position, my dear Diprose!"
"Ah! that"s a good job. They seem to have been playing a pretty smart game on the Continent of late."
"How? What was their game?" I asked eagerly.
"One that brought them in thousands a year. From the Italian and Austrian police, who are both over here, it seems that they worked like this: Old Madame Demidoff had a young and pretty French servant named Elise. On the Continent Madame took the t.i.tle of countess, and Elise posed as her daughter. The latter flirted with wealthy young bachelors, and so cleverly did she play her cards, that in several instances they proposed marriage to her. Then, after the old woman had secretly spread the report of the engagement, there would suddenly appear on the scene Elise"s English husband--a well-known ex-convict named Wilkinson. This latter person would at once bl.u.s.ter, make charges against the unsuspecting young lover, threaten exposure, and end by accepting a thousand or two to preserve secrecy, none of the young elegants, of course, caring that it should be known how completely they had been `had." There are over a dozen different charges against them, the most recent being a coup in Palermo a few months ago, by which they blackmailed the young Marquis Torrini to the tune of nine thousand pounds."
"I was in Palermo at the time, but I never knew that was their game."
"Were you?" he cried in triumph. "Then you"ll identify them, won"t you?
I arrested Madame Demidoff and Wilkinson at Parkeston Quay last night, as they were getting away to the Hook. The girl tried to get to Paris, but was followed and apprehended on landing at Calais early this morning. The Italian Government are asking for the extradition of the interesting trio, and the papers are already on their way over."
I regretted having blurted forth the fact that I had known them in Palermo, for in the interests of justice--though terribly afraid of being recognised myself--I was compelled to identify Madame and Wilkinson at Bow Street next day.
She swore a terrible vengeance upon me, but at present I have no fear of her reprisals, for the a.s.size Court at Palermo a month ago condemned her to ten years" imprisonment, while Wilkinson--whose past record was brought up--has been sent to Gorgona for fifteen years, and the dainty Elise, his wife, is serving seven years at Syracuse.
"But," the Prince added: "By Jove! it was a narrow squeak for me. Old Never-let-go Hartley, of Scotland Yard, was in the Extradition Court.
And I know he was racking his brains to remember where he had met me before."
CHAPTER SIX.
THE VENGEANCE OF THE VIPERS.
Certain incidents in my friend"s career are a closed book to all but Clayton, the exemplary Bayswater parson, the devoted valet Charles, and his smart chauffeur Garrett.
Gay, well-dressed, debonair as he always is, a veritable master of the art of skilful deception and ingenious subterfuge, he has found it more than once to his advantage to act as spy. His knowledge of the east of Europe is perhaps unique. No man possessed a wider circle of friends than Prince Albert of Hesse-Holstein, who to-day can pose perfectly as the young German Highness, and to-morrow as the wandering Englishman, and a bit of a fool to boot.
This wide acquaintance with men and matters in the Balkans first brought him in touch with the Intelligence Department of the Foreign Office, and his services as secret agent of the British Government were promptly secured. In this connection he was always known as Mr Reginald Martin.
Downing Street is rather near New Scotland Yard, where the names of Prince Albert of Hesse-Holstein and of Tremlett are a little too well-known. Therefore, to the chief of the Secret Service, and afterwards to the British Ministers and consuls resident in the Balkan countries, Servia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Roumania, he was for a time known as Reggie Martin.
Only on rare occasions, however, were his services requisitioned. The game of spying did not pay him nearly so well as the game of jewel-lifting. Yet he had taken to it out of mere love of adventure, and surely some of his experiences in the Orient were sufficiently perilous and exciting. More than once he had been in possession of State secrets which, if divulged, would have set two or more of the Powers flying at one another"s throats, and more than once he had carried his life in his hand.
One series of incidents through which he lived last year were, in themselves, as romantic as anything seen written in fiction. They were hard solid facts--an exciting chapter from the life of a man who was a perfect and polished adventurer, a little too impressionable perhaps, where the fair s.e.x were concerned, but keen-witted, audacious, and utterly fearless. He seldom, if ever, speaks of the affair himself, for he is not anxious that people should know of his connection with the Secret Service.
As an old college chum, and as one whom he knows is not likely to "give him away" to the police, he one day, after great persuasion, related it in confidence to me as together we spent a wearisome day in the _rapide_ between Paris and Ma.r.s.eilles.
"Well, my dear Diprose, it happened like this," he said, as he selected one of his "Petroffs" and lit it with great care. "I was sent to the Balkans on a very difficult mission. At Downing Street they did not conceal that fact from me. But I promised to do my best. Garrett was with the `sixty" in Vienna, so I wired sending it on to Sofia, in Bulgaria, and then left Charing Cross for the Balkans myself.
"I first went _via_ Trieste down the Adriatic to Cattaro and up to quaint little Cettinje, the town of one long street, where I had audience of Prince Nicholas of Montenegro, whom I had met twice before-- in my character of Reggie Martin, of course--and thence I went north to Servia, where I was received several times in private audience by King Peter. One day I arrived in Bulgaria to have confidential interviews with the Prime Minister Dimitri Petkoff, and the newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. My orders from Downing Street, I may as well at once admit, were to ascertain whether Bulgaria intended to declare war against Turkey over Macedonia. The British Government was extremely anxious to ascertain Bulgaria"s intentions, as well as the views of the other Balkan Powers, in order that the British policy towards the Porte might combat that of the expansion intrigues of Germany.
"Our public at home have a perfectly erroneous idea of Bulgaria, believing it to be a semi-savage land. If, however, they went to Sofia they would find a fine modern city entirely up to date--a city that must in a few years become the Paris of the Balkans.
"I had wandered along the wide tree-lined boulevards, idled outside the big white mosque, and strolled through the market alive with peasants in their sheepskins, and the girls with sequins and fresh flowers twined in their plaited hair, until it was time for me to keep my appointment with my friend the patriot Petkoff, Prime Minister.
"Half an hour later I was conducted through the long corridor of the fine Government offices opposite the Sobranje, or Parliament House, and ushered into the presence of the real ruler of Bulgaria.
"`Ah! _mon cher_ Martin," he cried in French. `Welcome back to Sofia!
They were talking of you in the Club last night. De Corvin was saying you were delayed in Belgrade. He met you there--at our Legation, so he told us. And you have your motor-car here--eh? Good. I"ll go for a run with you," and his Excellency put out his left hand in greeting.
His right sleeve hung limp and empty, for he lost his arm in the Turco-Russian Campaign, at the historic battle of the Shipka.
"Dark-eyed, dark-haired, with a pleasant face and a small pointed imperial on his chin, he was a wonderful orator and a magnificent statesman who had the full confidence of his sovereign. A dozen times had political plots, inspired by Russia, been formed to a.s.sa.s.sinate him.
Indeed, he had actually been driving beside the great Stambouloff when the latter had been killed in the street. But he had always escaped.
Under his direction, Bulgaria had risen to be the strong power of the Balkans, and as my personal friend I hoped that he would tell me, in strictest confidence, what was his future policy towards the Turk.
"With that object I took the seat he offered me, and lighting cigarettes, we began to chat.
"Through the open window came up the strains of martial music, as an infantry regiment in their grey uniforms on the Russian model were marching past, and as I glanced around the quiet, comfortable, red-carpeted room, I saw that the only picture was a fine full-length portrait of the Prince.
"For fully an hour we gossiped. Perfectly frankly I at last told his Excellency the object of my mission.
"He shrugged his shoulders somewhat dubiously, and smiled, declaring that each of the Powers was endeavouring to ascertain the very same thing. I pressed my point, a.s.suring him of Britain"s good-will, and explaining certain facts which, after a while, decided him.
"`But you see, _mon cher ami_," he said, `supposing the truth got out to Constantinople! All my efforts of the past fifteen years would be negatived. And further--it would mean dire disaster for Bulgaria!"
"`I have been entrusted with many State secrets before, your Excellency," I replied. `It would, for instance, not be the first time you spoke with me in confidence."
"He admitted it, and a.s.suring me of his good-will towards England, he declared that before he could speak, he must consult his royal master.
"Therefore, the French Minister awaiting an audience, I rose and left, having arranged to dine with him at the Union Club that evening.
"For nearly a week I idled in Sofia visiting many diplomatists and their wives, motoring about the neighbourhood, and driving out every night at one Legation or the other, no one, of course, being aware of my secret mission in the Bulgarian capital. Garrett kept eyes and ears open, of course. Useful man Garrett--very useful indeed.
"One night with the Italian minister and his wife, I went to the official ball given by the Minister-President, and among others I had as partner a rather tall, fair-haired girl with clear blue eyes and a pretty childlike face. About twenty-two, she was dressed exquisitely in white chiffon, the corsage of which was trimmed with tiny pink roses, and on her white-gloved wrist gleamed a splendid diamond bracelet. Olga Steinkoff was her name, and as we waltzed together amid the smartly dressed women and uniformed and decorated men I thought her one of the most charming of cosmopolitan girls I had ever encountered south of the Danube.
"Her chaperone was an old and rather ugly woman in dark purple silk, a stiff and starchy person who talked nearly the whole evening to one of the _attaches_ of the Turkish Legation, a sallow, middle-aged, bearded man in black frock-coat and red fez.
"The girl in white chiffon was perfect in figure, in daintiness and _chic_, and a splendid dancer. We sat out two dances, and waltzed twice together, I afterwards taking her down to supper. She spoke French excellently, a little English, and a little Bulgarian, while Russian was her own language. Her father lived in Moscow, she told me, and she had spent four years in Constantinople with her aunt--the ugly old woman in purple.
"The sallow-faced, beady-eyed Turk who did not dance, and who took no champagne, was evidently her particular friend. I inquired of the Italian minister and found that the thin-faced bearded _attache_ was named Mehmed Zekki, and that he had been in Sofia only a couple of months.
"Towards me he was quite affable, even effusive. He mentioned that he had noticed me in the Club, dining with the Prime Minister, and he referred to a number of people in Belgrade who were my friends. He was _attache_ there, he told me, for two years--after the _coup d"etat_.
"Twice during next day I encountered the charming Olga, driving with her aunt, in a smart victoria, and during the next week met them at several diplomatic functions.
"One afternoon, Olga and her chaperone accepted my invitation for a run on the `sixty," and I took them for a little tour of about thirty miles around the foot of the high Balkans, returning along the winding banks of the Isker. They were delighted, for the afternoon was perfect. I drove, and she sat up beside me, her hand on the horn.
"One night, ten days later, we were sitting out together in the bright moonlight in the garden of the Austrian Legation, and I found her not averse to a mild flirtation. I knew that the frock-coated Turk was jealous, and had become amused by it. On four or five occasions she had been out for runs with me--twice quite alone.
"I mentioned the Turk, but she only laughed, and shrugging her shoulders, answered: