I was indeed lucky, as von Welten had declared. He little guessed what luck it was! Or did he? Was it all intended to make my path to the frontier clear?
There was no time to puzzle about it then, however. I could write and ask for the reply to the riddle when Nessa and I were safely in Holland or home in England; what I had to do now was to get this business with von Erstein finished as quickly as possible.
I drove to his flat; but he was not there, and I could not learn where to look for him. I was rather glad of this. It would be much easier to write the letter arranged. I went then to the Karlstra.s.se to tell Nessa that she could travel in her own character.
Rosa was with her, and both were nervous at not having heard earlier how matters were going, for it was then more than a quarter past seven.
"I"ve been worrying awfully," said Nessa. "Is anything wrong?"
"Not a bit of it. Everything"s gloriously right. I"ve got our tickets, and all you"ve to do is to be at the station."
"But what"s happened?" exclaimed Rosa.
"I haven"t time to tell you now. I"m sorry; but I have to rush back to my rooms and get something.--By Jove!" I broke off in a cold sweat as the meaning of von Gratzen"s look at my suggestion about writing dawned on me. I had told him before that I could neither write nor read writing! I had even given him a specimen of my new pothook fist! Of course I must keep it up, and it might take me Heaven knew how long. "I must go this instant," I said, and shaking hands with Rosa I rushed away to my rooms and set to work at once.
It was a deuce of a business. Every letter had to be printed in clumsy fashion; my fingers were trembling under the stress of my impatience; I made blunders and had to begin all over again, and every lost minute was of vital importance.
If I hadn"t given my word of honour to von Gratzen I"d have wrapped the beastly ring up, scribbled a word or two and have left it at that. It was on the table by the side of the paper as I wrote, and I had just started on the second edition absorbed in the work, when a hand was stretched over my shoulder and grabbed the ring.
It was von Erstein; I was never more glad to see any one in my life. I could have forgiven him everything for such a service.
"Very good of you to leave the door open, La.s.sen," he said, with a sneering laugh. "Just going to return it to me, eh? I thought I"d dropped it here last night."
There were still minutes enough left for me to put up a show of a struggle, and get in an explanation. So I grabbed hold of him, taking care that he should not get away and also that he kept possession of the ring.
"I _was_ going to send it you, von Erstein. You can see I"ve begun the letter there."
He stooped to read it and was puzzled. "What the devil does that mean?"
he growled.
"I"m willing to come to terms. We both know where I found it."
"How do I know where you put it?"
"Don"t lie, man. You know very well that it was on your finger when you left here last night, and"--I paused for the sake of emphasis--"two people saw it there this morning."
This. .h.i.t him hard, and he winced and drew a deep breath. "Rubbish!" he muttered.
"I"ve made sure about that. I"ve just come from your flat, remember," I said meaningly.
"Have you been spreading that lie about me?"
"Do you take me for an idiot to let any one want to ask where I found it?"
He was satisfied, and his relief showed itself in his immediate change of manner. "All right, we"ll bury the hatchet if you like," he said with a very poor attempt to hoodwink me.
"You can go then;" and I moved to let him leave. I was anxious to get rid of him now, as it was time for me to be off to the station. I must have betrayed my impatience somehow, for he started, stared a moment, and sat down. "You"re in a deuce of a hurry."
"Dinner time, and I"m hungry. Clear out."
"Nice room you"ve got here, La.s.sen," he answered, squinting round, and started again as his eyes fell on my suit case. "O-ho, that"s the game, is it?" he chuckled. "Going to bolt? No good, my friend, no good at all."
His fat insolent chuckle roused the devil in me. "You"d better drop that tone with me, von Erstein, and not interfere with my movements."
"Shall we go and dine together?" he sneered. "It"ll be safer, for there are a few inquisitive friends of mine waiting outside."
I had noticed one or two men hanging round the building as I entered, and it wouldn"t do to be shadowed. So I went out, locked the front door and put the key in my pocket.
"What"s that for?" he growled uneasily.
"So that our chat shan"t be disturbed. I"ve sampled your friends already, remember," I said drily.
"Let me go," he cried in a d.i.c.kens of a stew.
"You wanted to stop, and stop you shall."
To my intense joy he came for me and thus saved me from the unpleasant job of knocking him out in cold blood. I did it quite satisfactorily, and as he fell he struck his head against the corner of a writing desk and saved me the trouble of hitting him again.
Then I collared my suit case, clambered out of the bathroom window down by the fire escape, and got away by a pa.s.sage into a side street. A single glance satisfied me that none of his "friends" saw me, and I rushed off to the station.
I reached it with only a few minutes in hand, and Nessa was waiting for me in the door of the waiting-room.
"I was afraid you"d be late and that something had happened," she said nervously.
"It"s all right. We"ve plenty of time. Don"t be nervy and not too friendly yet. There may be eyes about. We"ll find a carriage at once."
It was all right enough to tell her not to be nervy, but I was on pins and needles, wondering if my theft of the tickets had been discovered, whether at the last moment we should be stopped, and a hundred other wonderings.
My eyes were all over the place as we walked to the train; and to my infinite dismay I caught sight of the old Jew planted close to the barrier through which we had to pa.s.s. That was not the worst, moreover, by any means. He was talking to a man who had policeman written all over him.
And then, as if that wasn"t bad enough, on the platform just beyond von Welten was strolling up and down smoking.
CHAPTER XXI
OFF!
The sight of the old Jew, his police companion, and von Welten knocked me all to pieces for the moment. We were done. That was a certainty. I could have bluffed the Jew, probably, with the official authority which von Gratzen had given me; but von Welten was what Jimmy Lamb would have called a very different proposition.
"I think I"ll have a cigarette," I said; and pulled up to light it and try to think what to do.
"Whatever"s the matter, Jack?" whispered Nessa. "Your hand shakes like anything and you"re looking awful."
"Nothing to what I"m feeling. I"m afraid it"s all up. I can"t tell you all about it now. Just shake hands with me and trot back to the waiting-room. If you see me stopped--wait till the train has actually started, of course--make a bee line back to the von Reblings. If it"s all right, I"ll beckon to you."
"But if there"s any trouble why should I leave you in it alone?" she protested, like the brick she was.