I heard the pair talking, but from where I stood I could not overhear any of their conversation. I heard His Highness laugh gaily, and though he lit a cigarette his companion"s face was turned from me so that I could not catch a glimpse of it in the fitful light.
Presently, after he had held her in his arms and kissed her, they turned back in my direction.
As they pa.s.sed I heard the girl say:
"I"ve been waiting for quite a quarter of an hour, Mr. Lehnhardt. I thought perhaps something had prevented you from keeping the appointment."
"All my mistake, dear," was his reply. "My mistake. Forgive me."
"Of course," she said, laughing, and I saw that she had her arm linked in his as they walked back in the direction of the keeper"s cottage.
I followed in wonder, and not without anger. For the Heir of the Hohenzollerns to ramble upon such rural escapades was, I knew, distinctly dangerous. Exposure might come at any moment.
They had strolled together nearly half a mile when of a sudden, as they again pa.s.sed into the deep shadows, the girl gave vent to a loud scream for help, and at the same moment men"s angry voices were heard.
The pair had been attacked by three men who had apparently been lying hidden in the wood.
I heard a man shout, and then a sharp crack like that of a whip. The Kaiser"s son was shouting, too, while the girl was screaming and crying shame upon those who had attacked the man with whom she had been walking.
"You infernal German!" I heard one of the men shriek. "I"ll teach you to come sneaking here and take my sister out for midnight walks! Take that--you cur--and that!--whoever you are!"
Next second the startling truth was plain to me.
His Imperial Highness the German Crown-Prince was being ignominiously and soundly thrashed by an irate brother!
I saw that it was high time that I interfered. The Crown-Prince had been flung upon the ground, and the angry young man was lashing him as I dashed in among them with my revolver drawn.
"Come, cease that," I shouted. "Down with that whip. You"ve attacked these people on the high road, and if you strike again I"ll fire."
"Hulloa!" cried one man. "Why, here"s another German!"
"German or not--enough!" I commanded, and bending down, a.s.sisted the fallen Prince to rise.
"You--you shall pay for this, I swear!" declared "Willie," angrily facing the man who had struck him. Then, turning to me, he apparently recognized my voice, for he asked--"How in the name of Fate did you come here, Heltzendorff?"
"I will explain later," I replied in German. "Let us get out of this."
"But I cannot leave Violet. I--I----"
He had replied in the same language, which the men apparently did not understand.
"Enough; come," I said. Then in English I added, "We will wish these gentlemen good-night."
I took his arm and led him away amid the derisive laughter of the irate brother and his two friends, leaving the girl with them.
When we were out of earshot I told him of the Emperor"s telegram, and added:
"That lady was Miss Hewitt, was she not?"
"Yes. Her father"s estate is a few miles from here. She"s a perfect little fiend for opium--got bitten with the habit when she was travelling with her married sister in China, and Maggie, her old nurse, who lives in the cottage we shall pa.s.s in a minute, lets her go there on the quiet and smoke. I have had two or three pipes there lately," he added merrily.
"_Himmel!_" I gasped. "How dangerous! She has no idea of who you are, I hope?"
"Not in the least."
"Good. Let us attend to the Emperor"s telegram at once."
And a quarter of an hour later we were discussing the Kaiser"s inquiry in a clean, comfortable, but out-of-the-way cottage in which "Willie"
had established himself so as to be near the pretty girl for whom he had conceived that pa.s.sing fascination.
Until to-day Violet Hewitt has been entirely ignorant of the ident.i.ty of the man who, like herself, was so addicted to opium. These lines, if they meet her eye, will reveal to her a curious and, no doubt, startling truth.
SECRET NUMBER TEN
HOW THE KAISER ESCAPED a.s.sa.s.sINATION
"The Emperor commands you to audience at once in the private dining-room," said one of the Imperial servants, entering the Kaiser"s study, where I was awaiting him.
It was seven o"clock on a cold, cheerless morning, and I had just arrived at Potsdam from Altona, the bearer of a message from the Crown-Prince to his father.
I knew that the Emperor always rose at five, and that he was breakfasting, as was his habit, alone with the Empress in that coquettish private dining-room of the Sovereigns, a room into which no servant is permitted, Augusta preparing and serving the coffee with her own hands. It was the one hour which the All-Highest before the war devoted to domesticity, when husband and wife could gossip and discuss matters alone and in secret.
As I pa.s.sed downstairs to the room, to which entrance was forbidden even to the Crown-Prince himself, I naturally wondered why I had been commanded to audience there.
On tapping upon the mahogany door of the little private salon the Empress"s hard voice gave permission to enter, whereupon I bowed myself into the cosy little place, hung with reseda silk and with pictures by Loncret, Perne and Watteau. Upon one side of the room was a beautiful buhl cabinet, and at the little round table placed near the window sat the Imperial pair.
The Empress was reading a letter, but His Majesty rose as I entered. He was wearing a grey tweed suit, a well-worn and, no doubt, easy one, in which n.o.body ever saw him, for he always changed into uniform before he went to his study.
"Have you any knowledge of the contents of the letter which you have brought from the Crown-Prince?" he asked me bluntly, and I saw by his eyes that he seemed somewhat mystified.
I replied in the negative, explaining that I had been with His Imperial Highness to Kiel, and afterwards to Altona, where the Crown-Princess had performed the opening ceremony of a new dock.
"Where are you going now?" he asked suddenly. "There are other engagements, I believe?"
"To Thorn. His Imperial Highness inspects the garrison there on Thursday," I said.
"Ah! of course. I intended to go, but it is impossible."
Then, after a pause, the Emperor looked me straight in the face and suddenly said:
"Heltzendorff, have you any knowledge of any man called Minckwitz?"
I reflected.