The cold eyes of the man were turned from Von Salzinger upon a doc.u.ment lying on the table. Just for a moment his hard voice ceased from stirring the echoes of the vaulted chamber. But it was only for a moment. The next he was reading from the paper before him.
"It appears that on Prince von Hertzwohl"s last visit to Borga, when he was conveying thither his relative, his most important engineer, for the rectification of certain defects in his new light, you displayed towards him the gratuitous discourtesy of refusing the Prince"s guarantee of his relative, and sought to submit the man to the interrogatory customary where there is some doubt of a visitor"s credentials. The Prince, somewhat naturally, refused to submit to such an indignity, and left the a.r.s.enal. Whereupon you persisted in your att.i.tude, and even went so far as to endanger the Prince"s valuable life by opening the secret batteries upon his vessel--a course which was utterly unwarranted in view of the Prince"s ident.i.ty and position.
It is necessary that you should now state your story of this affair without any reservations."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "The Complaint is a Serious One."]
Von Berger"s charge was coldly formal. It was also distinctly threatening in its final p.r.o.nouncement. The arrogant Von Salzinger was bitterly forced to the reflection that he might expect small enough mercy if he failed to convince with his explanation. That which disturbed him more, however, was the ident.i.ty of at least one of the men to whom he must explain. He had counted on a military tribunal, where his rank and the nature of his office would count. He felt that these things would by no means count here.
But he dared not display any misgiving. He knew the value of promptness and brevity, with, at least, one of his audience. So he replied--
"In every detail the complaint is accurately outlined. But it avoids entirely Prince von Hertzwohl"s offence."
"Offence?"
The interrogation came sharply from the man at the head of the table, who was almost lost to Von Salzinger"s view behind the bulk of the oil-lamp which lit the scene.
"It was his right, just as it would have been your right, sir," Von Salzinger replied daringly, "to submit to the discipline of the place, a discipline which has been ordered by those who have a right to order such things. The complaint must come after obedience, not after open defiance of Berlin"s most imperative orders. That is the case of Prince von Hertzwohl. I could not have acted otherwise than I did in the interests of our greatest of all State secrets."
The man at the head of the table nodded in seeming approval at the robust vindication. Von Berger gave no sign. His eyes never left the angular figure of the Captain-General.
"But you threatened his life--by your action in the matter." Von Berger"s words came without emotion. The hard eyes were unchanging.
"I submit that it had been better for the State had I more than threatened it."
"How do you mean, sir?"
The man at the head of the table was sitting up. His eyes were angrily alight.
For a second Von Salzinger flinched before this display. He recovered himself swiftly, however. He knew he dared not lose a second in such a crisis.
"Your pardon, sir, if my manner should seem rough. I feel strongly. If a man in Von Hertzwohl"s position refuses to obey the laws he is fully cognizant of, then, I say, he has reason--grave reason for so doing."
"You imply?"
Again it was the question of the man at the head of the table.
"He dared not have his--nephew interrogated, sir."
"And if he dared not?" It was still the same speaker.
Von Salzinger shrugged.
"There can only be one interpretation, sir."
"You mean--betrayal of Borga"s secrets."
"Yes, sir."
The man at the head of the table turned to Von Berger with a smile that never reached his eyes.
"Tell him," he said imperiously.
"Your contention loses all its apparent force in the light of--facts,"
said Von Berger coldly. "Agents have been set to work upon the matter.
From the moment of Von Hertzwohl"s complaint, in justice to you as Borga"s commandant, the closest secret enquiries have been made. On the occasion of Hertzwohl"s visit to your command his nephew did accompany him. This nephew is certainly his most trusted engineer, and is the actual inventor of the U-light. There is no shadow of doubt about these matters. Your suspicions are groundless and cannot be accepted in your defence."
Von Salzinger was taken aback at the concise refutation of his carefully elaborated suspicions. He began to see the fabric he had constructed tumbling about his ears. He had been the victim of his own spleen, he knew, and his suspicions had had no sound foundation.
He stood flushed and silent. Then the man at the head of the table unconsciously came to his rescue.
"Show him," he briefly ordered Von Berger.
The latter picked up a photograph--a mere rough print--and handed it to the troubled Von Salzinger.
"That is Herr von Bersac, the Prince"s nephew. It was taken three days ago, without the man being aware of it. That is the man who visited Borga with his uncle."
Von Salzinger had taken the picture in his hands, and his eager eyes scrutinized it carefully. A moment later he handed it back, and an intense look of triumph had replaced the embarra.s.sment of a moment before.
"That is not the man to whom Von Hertzwohl displayed the secrets of Borga. It is not the man I sought to have interrogated. The man who posed as Hertzwohl"s nephew was a tall man of magnificent physique. Not slim like that youth. He was a man of nearly forty, with fair, curling hair and dark eyes, and the face and general figure of an--Englishman."
"Englishman?"
The man at the head of the table started up. The pa.s.sionate hatred flung into his echo of the other"s word sent a wave of rejoicing through Von Salzinger"s heart.
"I am morally certain, sir," he added.
Quite abruptly Von Berger had become completely thrust into the background. The other had taken entire possession of the scene. He began to pace the stone-flagged hall with hasty, uneven steps.
"If I thought it could be so," he cried, with a sudden wave of intemperate heat. "Oh, if I believed it were!" He raised one clenched fist above his head and shook it in dire threat. The other arm remained unmoved at his side. The pa.s.sionate eyes were flashing a cruel, almost insane fire as he strode the echoing stones. The others were held in appalled silence in face of his paroxysm.
In a moment he turned fiercely upon the Captain-General, standing beyond the table. There was no longer any dignity or restraint in him.
The hectoring nature of the man was caught in the pa.s.sion of the moment, and his innate brutality must find an object upon which to vent itself.
"I tell you, if the secrets of Borga have been betrayed there shall be such a reckoning as shall stagger our country from end to end. From the highest to the lowest those responsible shall pay to the uttermost. Of all the world--an Englishman! Gott in Himmel, it is unthinkable!"
He glared for a silent moment into the abashed face of Von Salzinger.
Then he went on more calmly--
"I tell you you are wrong. d.a.m.nably wrong--somehow. Hertzwohl dare not betray us. No money in the world would buy him. We have proved him a hundred times. English gold to buy Hertzwohl?" He laughed derisively, but there was no conviction in his manner. "You understand, sir, you are wrong--utterly wrong. The matter shall be cleared up. You shall confront Von Hertzwohl. And if lies have been told, G.o.d help the liars."
The two men stood eye to eye across the table. Von Salzinger had recovered under stress of emergency.
"I could ask no better, sir--if it were in the best interests of the secrets of Borga. But is it? I could give you the names of a number of my junior officers in Borga, all of whom encountered this--nephew of Hertzwohl. And without reference to me, there is not one of them but would deny the ident.i.ty of that nephew they saw in Borga with the ident.i.ty of the original of that picture. If the liar is to be punished I have no fear, sir. But would it be in the best interests of Borga to deal hastily with the matter?"
"Explain!" The man went back to his seat at the head of the table. His harsh demand warned his hearers of the storm still raging within him.
But Von Berger took up the reply.
"I see the Captain-General"s point, sir," he said. "If Hertzwohl is confronted it means his vindication or immediate punishment. If secrets have been betrayed such a course will not serve us. This Englishman Von Salzinger speaks of will still possess them, and--be _free to act upon them_. We must recover those secrets, or _make them useless to their possessors_. Then we can deal with those responsible for Borga."