"Now do listen to me a moment. I don"t think anything of the sort. It"s splendid of you, Nessa. But----"
"I can"t leave you in the lurch, Jack, and I won"t," she broke in.
"If there was the faintest use in your stopping, I wouldn"t ask you to go. There isn"t. On the contrary, it would make matters infinitely more awkward. It was getting awkward just now, and that"s why I took that man out. I"ve told him that you take me for an Englishman, and that Freibach knew us in London when we were engaged, and----"
"That"s true."
"Yes; but he understands it differently--that I was in London as a German spy."
"He doesn"t!"
"Indeed he does, and it altered his tune entirely. I said I wanted to get you off my hands as soon as possible----"
"Is that also true?" she interposed, with such a smile.
"At the present moment, yes."
"Thank you. Almost enough to make me say I"ll go," she cried with a toss of the head.
"Naturally. But it is true, for this reason. When we get to Osnabruck there will probably be a telegram from old Gratz; these people are likely to want something more than that, however; and I am sure to be detained while they communicate with him. But he can"t let me down, even if he guesses I"ve helped myself to those tickets, because I"m necessary to him for the von Erstein affair: a much more vital matter to him than the tickets. The whole thing will be cleared up and I shall be able to follow you home. Very likely catch you up before you leave Rotterdam."
"Then if it"s going to be so easy, why shouldn"t I stop?"
"For the simple reason that the papers for you are only to be used on this particular date, and there would be no end of a fuss in getting any others."
"You really and truly wish me to go on?"
"If you care a rap for my safety you won"t hesitate another moment."
She looked very troubled. "If I do, I won"t go a step farther than the first town across the frontier, and if you don"t join me soon I shall come back," she declared. "I shall. I"ll tell every one that you"ve got into all this solely on my account and that I"m quite ready to go even to an internment camp."
Knowing her detestation of such a thing, I could appreciate all that lay behind this statement. It touched me too closely for me to reply immediately. Thank Heaven, she wouldn"t be allowed to come back; but there was no need to tell her so. "Let it go at that, Nessa. The first town you"ll stop at will be Oldenzaal, and I"ll come to you there.
You"re due there about five in the morning; but you won"t get there by that time if we keep stopping in this fashion. It can"t be Osnabruck yet; there"s half an hour before we"re due there. I wish they"d hurry up."
We had stopped at some station the name of which I couldn"t see and stuck there some minutes.
"Can"t be anything wrong, can there?" asked Nessa nervily.
"Probably a troop train. It"s all right, we"re off again."
But it was not a troop train that had stopped us. It was a very different cause, as we soon knew, for the brute of a major burst into our compartment flourishing a telegram and cursing me volubly.
"So we"ve got the truth about you, Mr. Englishman, at last. You infernal scoundrel," he cried viciously. "You wanted a telegram from your friend and patron, von Gratzen, did you? Well, read that!" with another string of oaths.
He held the message up and I did read it, with feelings which may perhaps be imagined although I can"t describe them. It was to the guard.
"Detain pa.s.sengers Johann La.s.sen and companion. Suspected of murder.
Acquaint police at next station and have them arrested.--Von Gratzen."
CHAPTER XXIII
WITHIN A HAIRSBREADTH
Major Borsch stood gloating over me as I read the telegram. "Well, what do you think of your friend the Baron, now?" he sneered.
He expected me to be completely crushed, so I shook off my first feeling of dismay and looked up with a bland smile. "I"m much obliged to you for showing it to me," I replied, as if it were the merest trifle. I must have done it pretty well, for even Nessa, who had been overwhelmed by the news, was surprised and pulled herself together.
"Perhaps you"ll also be obliged for what will follow," he roared, aggravated by my coolness.
"What an exceedingly unpleasant person this is," I said to Nessa. "I"m sorry he can"t behave himself; but you must try not to let it worry you. I suppose he can"t help it."
"He doesn"t worry me in the least, thank you," she replied contemptuously.
"You hold your tongue, you baggage," he shouted, turning on her.
"Major Borsch!" I cried, rising.
"Sit down, you infernal swinehound! And as for you, you----"
The sentence was not finished. My temper flew out of the window. If I was to be charged with murder, a little extra such as a smack on the mouth of even a major wouldn"t make much difference, so I gave him one, and put enough behind it to knock him down.
An involuntary scream from Nessa was drowned in his yells for his men; and two of them rushed in and seized me. He didn"t get up until I was thus rendered helpless and then kept far enough away, pouring out a torrent of cursing abuse while he staunched the blood on his cut lips.
Captain Brulen arrived in the middle of it, with Freibach close on his heels; and the bully declared I had tried to murder him in order to escape. It was such a palpable absurdity that Freibach turned his face away to smile.
"This man was insulting the lady in my charge and I struck him, Captain Brulen," I explained. "You probably know him well enough to understand it is just what he would do."
"It is a very grave position," he replied. "Very grave indeed."
"You mean because of that telegram? Nonsense. It"s a palpable forgery."
The major burst out into raucous laughter. "Forgery! Forgery, is it?
Well, forgery or no forgery, you"ll answer for that attack on me.
Search him, and if he resists knock him on the head," he ordered the two soldiers.
"Is this man the senior officer on the train, Captain Brulen?"
"Hold your insolent tongue; and, Captain Brulen, stay where you are. Do as I told you," he ordered the men.
It would have been madness to resist. There was nothing on me of any consequence; and as Nessa was sitting on the suit case with her dress entirely covering it, nothing of importance was found, except the pa.s.sports and our tickets. These the bully promptly pocketed.
"Can I speak to you a moment, Major?" said Brulen then.
"No. Mind your own business. This is my affair, not yours."