Ruxton was not addressing her, but Vita was following his every word.
Now she caught at his final sentence.
"No one could," she said, with a deep sigh. "I led him to that place of death, as surely as----"
"No, no, Vita! You must not say that. You are no more responsible for his death than I am. Those devils would have got him. If not in one way, then in another. He knew it. He was prepared for it. He told me himself. No, no, you did right. If there were shortcomings they were mine. I did not see far enough. Thank G.o.d, at least I contrived to save you from the fate they had prepared for you."
Vita"s eyes had followed his restless movement. Now they rested upon his flushed face and hot eyes as he returned to his seat on the bed and took possession of her hand again.
"Thank G.o.d for your life and safety, dearest," he cried, raising her hand to his lips and pressing it to them pa.s.sionately. "It was the nearest thing. It turns me cold now when I think how near. Listen and I"ll tell you my side of it all. It"s not a very brainy side, dear.
There"s not much in it that"s particularly creditable to any thinking man. Most of it was luck, a sort of miraculous good fortune added to an inspiration for which I mustn"t take any credit. I"ll just take up the tale where you left it, but from the other side--the side whence you might well have expected succor, and from which, very nearly, there was none forthcoming."
He paused. He leant over on the bed, supporting himself on one arm. His dark eyes were shining as they dwelt upon the well-loved beauty of the woman who was, perhaps, at that moment, more than ever the centre of his life.
"I can"t tell how I arrived at the certainty that you were in the power of these devils, and were being forced unwittingly to further their schemes. It was instinct, it was--well, whatever you like to call it.
There"s no need to worry you with the manner in which I persuaded your father to let me watch over him in his going from these sh.o.r.es. Nor does it matter the small things I prepared for that watch. I"ll just tell you what happened.
"I owe a good deal to a small section of the Navy, including Sir Joseph Caistor and Sir Reginald Steele, who were both spending the week-end here. Also Commander Sparling, and some of his men, who are in charge of the new constructions at the yards. Captain Ludovic I owe something to for his shrewdness and loyalty and tolerance. These are the elements which contributed so largely in your salvation.
"Well, all day long on that Sunday a light cruiser was standing off the coast. It had definite instructions. Yes, Sir Joseph had ordered it there to help me. It was scouting for a submarine. You see, I had made up my mind that there would be a German submarine in the matter. That is to say, if my fears were to prove well founded. Sure enough one turned up late in the afternoon, and the cruiser picked her up while she was running awash. We got the signal that she"d found her. Then was played a wonderful game of cat and mouse. The cruiser never for a moment let it out of her sight. When darkness closed she just ran up closer and played about with a searchlight. There was no question of interfering with or even "speaking" her. She was outside the three miles. Then about six o"clock there came the development. The submarine launched a boat for sh.o.r.e. It was well manned, and she drove away in the direction of the cove. Then the cruiser settled to her work. She turned her searchlight right on to the vessel lying awash, and never left it. The men on the submarine could do nothing which could not be seen from the cruiser, and, to make matters more exasperating, the cruiser closed right in upon her."
Ruxton paused as though reviewing and criticizing the scene, to observe the completeness of the operation.
"You must understand, dear, what was in my mind to make this necessary," he went on, seeing the need for explanation. "You see, I knew what your father"s submersible meant to Germany. They had lost the plans of the U-rays lamp. Nor had they any models. The only installation of the U-rays was on the submersible. I had made up my mind that if there was to be any interference with your father they meant capturing his vessel too. Besides, it would be simple from their view-point. Your father"s vessel was wholly unarmed.
"Very well. What were the intentions with a submarine probably full of German naval men? It seemed to me natural that while their boat went ash.o.r.e, in pitch darkness, to take off your father, the men on the submarine would set about securing possession of the submersible the moment it hove in sight. How right I was you will see. However, the submarine never had a chance. She could not escape that light. She dived again and again to avoid it, but each time she came up the light picked her up and held her. Had they attempted to launch a boat the cruiser would have done the same, and then followed it up whithersoever it went; and, had there been an attempt to board the submersible, our boat would have been there first. The skipper of that submarine was out-man[oe]uvred, beaten--peaceably, but--beaten. Nor had he means of communicating his trouble to those in the boat which had gone ash.o.r.e."
Now Ruxton"s manner become less exultant as he went on after a brief pause.
"What went on at the cove you know better than I. That was the chief weakness of my plans. I stationed a number of the confidential Government agents ready to lend help if it were needed. But I had been driven to concentrating on the ultimate "get away." That, to me, stood out as imperative. I had to chance the other. Therein lay my blame for the sacrifice of your father. The sound of shots fired told its tale, but I still hoped."
He drew a deep sigh of regret. His eyes were troubled. Now he went on, without a sign of elation.
"The crucial moment came when it was seen that the pinnace, loaded well down, was racing towards the submersible from the sh.o.r.e. It was more than ticklish. However, things were carefully planned. They hailed the submersible, which was lying awash. They found only two men on the deck--your father"s men, and Captain Ludovic in the conning-tower doorway. Von Berger led the way aboard, and Von Salzinger followed. The former glanced at the men, and spoke to Ludovic. In his words he justified my whole supposition. He asked for a Lieutenant Rutter, and Ludovic, in a.s.sumed sullen submission, told him he was below in the saloon. Von Berger was satisfied. He only waited till the crew was aboard, and you, lying unconscious in the arms of one of his men, and your father"s body supported by two others, had been conveyed down below. Then he gave Ludovic orders to head at full speed for Cuxhaven, and, if followed, to submerge. He said that the man Rutter would be sent up to see he played no tricks. Then he and Von Salzinger went below, and the steel door of the conning-tower was made fast.
"The rest--do you need it? It was a b.l.o.o.d.y affair. You and your dead father were taken into the saloon. Von Berger and Von Salzinger followed. Then Von Berger dismissed the men, who went out while he looked round for Rutter. But in a moment he understood what was happening. As the men left the saloon they were set upon. They fought like demons, but were either overpowered or shot down. Von Berger slammed the saloon door closed, and strove to hold it. But as well try to hold a rabbit-hutch against a tornado. They were caught. Caught, as I heard Von Salzinger say, like rats in a trap."
"You--you were there--in the submersible?"
Vita"s eyes were shining with a world of emotion. The story had caught her and swept her along with it. A great pride was in her heart. This man had risked all, everything for her father and herself.
"Oh, yes. But I wasn"t by any means alone. Young Sparling and twenty of his bluejackets from the yards had been secreted aboard. But--it was deadly work. How I escaped without a scratch I don"t know. Five of our men got wounded. Von Berger fought like a fury. The other, Von Salzinger, went out suddenly at the outset. I"m not sure who brought him down. Sparling and I fired simultaneously. I hope it was my shot that sent him--home. But Von Berger was wonderful. It was not until we had crushed his wrist and hand in the fighting that he was overpowered.
He was a veritable Hercules."
Vita had listened almost breathlessly. Now her enquiry came in a low, eager tone.
"And Von Berger--what happened after he was overpowered?"
Ruxton hesitated.
"It was he who killed my father," Vita reminded him.
"Yes."
"Tell me."
Ruxton had no alternative.
"We had a talk--he and I. The result? He was given an alternative. The hangman"s rope here ash.o.r.e, or half an hour"s freedom of the submersible"s deck."
Vita nodded. She understood.
"And he chose?"
"The deck. You see he was a royal prince."
"Yes."
Neither seemed inclined to break the silence that followed. Each was thinking of the scenes which must have been enacted. Ruxton, as he had witnessed them. Vita, as her imagination portrayed them.
Finally it was Vita who spoke in a whisper that became almost startling.
"The others--the crew of the boat?"
"They have been all sent back to Germany--via Holland. They were all held here till the wounded had recovered. Then they went away together."
But Vita"s eyes were wide with apprehension.
"But the secret. The secret of it all will reach Berlin. It will reach even to----"
Ruxton smiled.
"Precisely what was intended and--hoped. It has done so. We know that.
We have had the most curious and subtle enquiries from the Berlin authorities. They dared not openly accuse. We have replied. Our Foreign Office formulated the reply. They have been told that a murder was committed upon the Yorkshire coast--the murder of a German named Von Hertzwohl. It was committed by a rascally crew of Germans, headed by one, Von Berger, and a.s.sisted by another, Von Salzinger. These seem to have been the names they were known by, though the police think they were probably aliases. Unfortunately the gang got away in boats.
However, the leaders came to an untimely end in the pursuit by the police. One shot himself--the one called Von Salzinger. The other, Von Berger, who seems to have been injured, tried to escape by going overboard from the boat in which he was endeavoring to get away. The Foreign Office has regretted that it can obtain no further information which might be of use to Berlin."
"But it is a challenge," cried Vita in an awed voice.
Ruxton"s smile broadened.
"So it was intended." He shook his head. "But it is a challenge they dare not take up. Furthermore, it should leave us in peace to complete the work your poor father has so well begun."
Ruxton rose from his seat on the bed. He moved away, across to the leaded window, from which the sunbeam had long since pa.s.sed. He gazed out across the leafless trees of the park towards the drab of the moorland beyond. He was not unaffected by his own story. He knew how much more it must mean to Vita. He waited. He was waiting for a summons which he felt would come in Vita"s own good time.
A few minutes pa.s.sed and then it came. He turned about and smiled over at the sweet grey eyes which were so frankly appealing. There was a change, a great change in them. All the trouble seemed to have pa.s.sed out of them. And the weary brain behind them seemed at last to have found that rest it so seriously needed.
"Ruxton," she murmured. "Can you--can you ever forgive me for--what----"
The man was at the bedside again. This time he was not sitting. He was leaning across it, and his arms were outstretched and thrust about her soft, warm body, where she leant against the cushions. His face was drawn up within a few inches of hers. His eyes were on a level with hers. They were smiling into the deeps of grey beauty before them. Nay, the tragedy of it, he was laughing into them.