said His Highness, as he tossed his overcoat upon the couch of that luxurious little sitting-room within sight of the Maison Jules. "You will stay here and attend to anything that may come through from Potsdam. A courier should arrive to-morrow night, or is it Knof who is coming? I forget."
"Your Highness sent Knof over to get the correspondence," I reminded him, for it was necessary that all pressing matters should be attended to, or the Emperor"s suspicions might be aroused that his son was absent abroad.
"Ah, the good Knof! Of course, he will be back to-morrow night. He will have seen the Princess and told her how ill I have been, and how I am gradually growing better," he laughed. "Trust Knof to tell a good, sound lie."
"All chauffeurs can do that, my dear Caesar," exclaimed Von Hochberg, with a grin.
Naturally I was filled with wonder regarding the nature of the expedition which the pair were about to undertake, but, though we all three smoked together for an hour, "Willie" seemed unusually sober, and did not let drop a single hint regarding their mysterious destination.
Von Hochberg was living at the Coburg Hotel, and before he left "Willie"
arranged to breakfast with him at eight o"clock next morning, so that they might leave Euston together by the ten o"clock express.
I roused the valet, who worked for an hour packing His Highness"s suit-case.
"One case only," the Crown-Prince had ordered. "I shall only be up there a couple or three days. No evening clothes. I shall not want them."
That remark told me that he did not intend to pay any formal visit, as he had done on most of his journeys to Scotland.
"Your Imperial Highness will take guns, of course," I remarked.
"Guns!" he echoed. "No--no guns this time. If I want to shoot rabbits I can borrow a farmer"s blunderbuss," he laughed.
That "Mickie," the hare-brained seeker after pleasure, was to be his companion caused me some uneasiness. It was all very well for the Crown-Prince to live in London as Herr Lehnhardt. London was a big place, and those who catered for his Imperial pleasures were paid well, and did not seek to inquire into his antecedents or whether he was really what he represented himself to be.
Money talks in the underground London, just as it does on the Stock Exchange. But it sometimes, I a.s.sure you, took a long purse to keep the foreign papers quiet regarding the wild escapades of the Kaiser"s heir.
That night somehow I felt a good deal of apprehension regarding this mysterious flying visit to Scotland. That the pair had some deeply-laid scheme on hand I knew from their evasiveness. But what it was I failed to discover.
Early that morning I put "Caesar" into a taxi with his suit-case. He wore a rough suit of tweeds, and took with him his walking-stick and a khaki-coloured waterproof coat, presenting the picture of a young man going North to shoot.
"I"ll be back in a few days, Heltzendorff. Attend to the letters," he urged. "Throw away as many as you can. If I want you I will telegraph."
And with that he drove to the "Coburg" to meet his old chum, "Mickie."
About three o"clock that same afternoon, while walking along Piccadilly, I was surprised to come face to face with Von Hochberg.
"Why! I thought you had gone North!" I exclaimed.
"No, Heltzendorff. Caesar went alone," he replied, somewhat confounded at our unexpected meeting. "He wanted to be alone, I think."
"Where has he gone?" I inquired. "He left me no address."
"No. And I have none either," the Count replied.
This set me thinking. The situation was even worse with the Crown-Prince wandering in Scotland alone. His indiscretions were such that his ident.i.ty might very easily leak out, and the truth concerning his absence would quickly reach the Emperor"s ears.
As I stood chatting with His Highness"s gay companion I confess that I felt annoyed at the manner in which I had been tricked. He was often afraid of my caustic tongue when I spoke of his indiscretions, and it was further quite plain to me that Von Hochberg had simply pretended that he was accompanying his friend North.
That evening Knof arrived from Potsdam with a satchelful of correspondence, and until a late hour I was kept busy inventing replies which would eventually be taken to Holzemme, in the Harz Mountains, and posted from there. We always made arrangements for such things when His Highness was secretly out of Germany.
I s.n.a.t.c.hed a meal at Jules", close by, and resumed my work till long after midnight, inventing some picturesque fictions in reply to many official doc.u.ments.
One letter was from Her Imperial Highness. At her husband"s order I opened it, read it, and sealed it up again. It contained reproaches, but nothing of extreme urgency. There had been occasions when I had read "Cilli"s" letters in the absence of her erratic husband, and sent to her little untruths by wire, signed "Wilhelm, Kronprinz."
Truly my position was one of curious intimacy. Sometimes His Highness trusted me with his innermost secrets, while at others he regarded me with distinct suspicion. That the elegant Von Hochberg knew of "Willie"s" whereabouts I felt convinced, but apparently His Highness had given him orders not to divulge it to me.
The next day and the next I waited in vain for some word from His Highness. I had sent Knof back to the Harz to post the replies I had written, and with nothing to do I idled about London.
On the third day, when I returned to Jermyn Street after lunch, I found a stout German, named Henkel, who carried on a hairdresser"s business near High Street, Kensington, but who was really a secret agent. He was one of the few persons who knew of the Crown-Prince"s visit, for each time we came to London we took this man into our confidence.
"I have received a telegram from Holzemme, Count," he said as I entered, and then he handed me the message, which, after a few minutes"
examination--for though in plain language it was nevertheless not what it purported to be--I saw to my dismay was an important message to "Willie" from the Emperor, who was at that moment in Corfu.
The message had been received by Koch, my a.s.sistant, whom I had left at Holzemme. He had disguised it and re-transmitted it to Henkel to hand to me. We always took this precaution, because when abroad incognito, both the Crown-Prince and myself frequently changed our names. So, by employing Henkel in London and a man named Behm in Paris, we were always certain of receiving any important message.
When the spy Henkel had left I stood looking out of the window down into Jermyn Street, quite at a loss how to act. The message was one of the greatest importance, and, if not replied to at once, the Emperor would, I knew, inst.i.tute inquiries, for he was well aware of his son"s wild escapades.
My first impulse was to wire Koch a reply to be dispatched to His Majesty, but on reflection I realized that the question was one which I could not answer with truth. No. I must find His Highness at all hazards.
At once I went to the Coburg Hotel, and fortunately found Count von Hochberg, who at first refused to reveal where his friend was hidden.
But when I showed him the telegram and explained the great urgency of a reply, in order to prevent the Emperor from inquiring and knowing the truth, he realized the necessity.
"Well, Heltzendorff," he said, somewhat reluctantly, "Caesar is at some little place they call St. Fillans, in Scotland."
"I know it," I cried eagerly. "A place at the end of Loch Earn! We motored past it one day about two years ago. I shall go North at once."
"But you can telegraph to him," the Count suggested.
"To what address?"
"Ah! Why, of course, I don"t know his address--only that he is at St.
Fillans. I had a note yesterday."
Travelling by way of Perth and Gleneagles, I next morning found myself strolling along the picturesque village at the end of the beautiful loch, which presented a truly delightful picture in the autumn sunlight.
At the hotel nothing was known of Mr. Lehnhardt, and though I devoted the whole morning to making inquiries I could find no trace of His Highness. The latter would certainly not betray himself as a German, for, speaking English so well, he might very easily adopt an English name. I ate my lunch at the hotel which faces the loch, with Ben Voirlich rising high beyond, and afterwards resumed my wanderings. In many quarters I described my "friend" of whom I was in search, but n.o.body seemed to have seen him. The precious hours were flying, and I knew that the Emperor at Corfu was impatiently awaiting a reply.
I hired a car and drove seven miles to the farther end of the loch, to the village of Lochearnhead. There I made inquiry at the hotel and elsewhere, afterwards going on to Balquidder with similar result. It was past six o"clock when I returned to St. Fillans with the feeling that His Highness had deceived even his friend "Mickie," and that I had had my long journey and quest for nothing. Not a soul seemed to have seen anybody answering to "Willie"s" description. I s.n.a.t.c.hed another hasty meal at the hotel, and then, in the dusk, set off in the opposite direction along the pretty road which led to Comrie. The light was fast fading, but I knew that there would be a full moon, and the night was perfect.
I had walked about three miles, and had probably lost my way, for I was off the main road, when, on my left, saw the lighted windows of a comfortable-looking cottage standing back from the road behind a well-kept flower garden. There were woods on each side of the road, and I concluded that it was a keeper"s house. As I pa.s.sed I heard voices, and saw two figures standing at the garden gate--a man and a woman--chatting confidentially.
In the next second I recognized the man"s voice as that of the Crown-Prince, and as quickly I stepped upon the gra.s.s so that they might not be attracted by my footsteps. Concealed by the shadow of the hedge on the opposite side of the road, I stealthily approached until I could distinguish, by the light from the open door of the cottage, that the woman was a stout, elderly person, probably the keeper"s wife.
Both surprised and interested, I stood there watching. It seemed as though they were awaiting someone, for after a few moments, they both retired inside the cottage.
Presently, however, "Willie" emerged alone. He had on his hat and carried a stick, and as he swung through the gate and went forward he whistled softly to himself the air of a gay waltz of which he was particularly fond.
Within myself I chuckled at being thus able to watch his mysterious movements, for he seemed entirely preoccupied and quite unconscious of being followed, though I fear my footsteps fell heavily at times.
Suddenly, while pa.s.sing along a part of the road overshadowed by woods on either side, he halted in the darkness. I heard him speak, and I also heard the welcome he received in a girl"s voice. It was as I had surmised, and I drew a long breath.