Frau Breitenbach, gorgeously attired, made her bow before the All-Highest, and her daughter did the same.
That night I saw that the Kaiser was in no good mood. He seldom was at the Court functions. Indeed, half an hour before his arrival the Crown-Prince had told me, in confidence, of his father"s annoyance at the failure of some diplomatic negotiations with Britain.
The Emperor, in his brilliant uniform, with the Order of the Black Eagle, of which he was _chef-souverain_, and the diamond stars of many foreign Orders, presented a truly Imperial figure, his shrewd, unrelenting gaze everywhere, his upturned moustache accentuated, his voice unusually sharp and commanding.
I spoke with Elise, and afterwards, when I danced with her I saw how impressed she was by the glitter and glamour of the Potsdam Court circle, and by the fact that she was in the presence of the All-Highest One, without whose gracious nod nothing could hope to prosper in the Fatherland, and without whose approval no public work could be undertaken in Berlin. Those statesmen, admirals and generals present might plan, but he alone willed. His approval or his frown was as a decree of Providence, and his autocratic will greater than that of his "brother," Nicholas of Russia.
I remember how, one day in the Militar-Kabinett, an old buffer at Court whom we called "Hans" Hohenlohe--he was one of the hundred and sixty odd members of the aristocratic family of Hohenlohe which swarm the Fatherland, mostly penurious, by-the-way, salary-grabbers, all elbowing each other to secure the Kaiser"s favour--made a very true remark which has ever remained in my memory. It was very soon after Herr von Libenau, the Imperial Master of Ceremony, had been arrested owing to a scandal at Court, though perfectly innocent. My friend "Hans" Hohenlohe said in a low, confidential whisper at a shooting party, after the French Amba.s.sador had wished us a merry _bon jour_ and pa.s.sed out:
"My dear friend Heltzendorff, you, like myself, know that war is inevitable. It must come soon! The reason is to be found in the madness of the Emperor, which has spread among our military party and among the people, till most of them are no more sane than himself. Hypnotized by good fortune, we have become demented with an overweening vanity and a philosophy which must end in our undoing. The Emperor"s incessant drum-beating, sabre-rattling, and blasphemous appeals to the Almighty have brought our German nation to that state which, since the world began, has ever gone before destruction."
No truer words were ever spoken of modern Germany.
They recurred to me as, while waltzing with the pretty daughter of the Dortmund parvenu, I noticed the Emperor standing aside, chatting with old Von Zeppelin, who every now and then patted his silvery hair, a habit of his when in conversation. With the pair stood Ernst Auguste, the young Duke of Brunswick, who in the following year married the Emperor"s daughter, the rather petulant and go-ahead Victoria Louise.
The Prince, who wore the uniform of the Prussian Guard, was laughing heartily over some remark of old Zeppelin"s as, with my partner, I pa.s.sed quite close to them.
The dainty Elise was, I found, quite an entertaining little person. Old Tresternitz had already whispered his opinion of her.
"Undoubtedly the prettiest girl at Court," he had declared, with a twinkle in his grey eyes.
From words the pretty Elise let drop that night as she hung upon my arm I wondered whether she was really as ingenuous as she pretended. And yet Frau Breitenbach was one of dozens of others who strove to enter the Court circle, flapping their wings vainly to try and cross the wide gulf which separated the "high life" in Berlin from "Court life."
The rooms were stifling, therefore I took my pretty dancing partner along a corridor and through several deserted apartments into the east wing of the Palace, showing her some of the Crown-Princess"s private rooms, until at length we stepped through a French window on to the long terrace before the lake, the Heilige-See.
There we were alone. The white moon was reflected upon the waters, and after the heat of the ball-room the balmy air was delightful.
Against the marble bal.u.s.trade beside the water I stood chatting with her. All was silent save for the tramp of soldiers pa.s.sing near, for the guard was at that hour changing. As became a courtier, I chaffed and laughed with her, my intention being to learn more concerning her.
But she was, I found, an extremely discreet and clever little person, a fact which further increased the mystery.
One night about two months later I had an appointment with Max Reinhardt at the Deutsches Theater, in Berlin, to arrange a Royal visit there, and after the performance I went back to the Palace, prior to retiring to my rooms in the Krausenstra.s.se. The guards saluted as I crossed the dark courtyard, and having pa.s.sed through the corridors to the private apartments I entered with my key the Crown-Prince"s locked study.
To my surprise, I found "Willie" seated there with the Emperor in earnest discussion.
With apology, I bowed instantly and withdrew, whereupon the Kaiser exclaimed:
"Come in, Heltzendorff. I want you."
Then he cast a quick, mysterious glance at the young man, who had thrown himself in lazy att.i.tude into a long cane lounge chair. It was as though His Majesty was hesitating to speak with me, or asking his son"s permission to do so.
"Tell me, Heltzendorff," exclaimed His Majesty suddenly, "do you know this person?" and he placed before my astonished gaze a very artistic cabinet photograph of the pretty Elise.
"Yes," I answered frankly, quite taken aback. "It is Fraulein Breitenbach."
"And what do you know of her?" inquired His Majesty sharply. "You introduced her and her mother to Court, I believe."
I saw that the Emperor had discovered something which annoyed him. What could it be?
At once I was compelled to admit that I had set down their names for invitation, and, further, I explained all that I knew about them.
"You are certain you know nothing more?" asked the Emperor, his brows contracted and his eyes fixed steadily upon mine. "Understand that no blame attaches to you."
I a.s.sured him that I had revealed all that I knew concerning them.
"Hold no further communication with either mother or daughter," His Majesty said. "Leave for Paris by the eight o"clock train to-morrow morning, and go to Baron von Steinmetz, the chief of our confidential service in France."
Then, turning to the Crown-Prince, he said: "You have his address."
"Yes," said the younger man. "He is pa.s.sing as Monsieur Felix Reumont, and is living at 114 bis, Avenue de Neuilly, close to the Pont."
I scribbled the name and address upon the back of an envelope, whereupon His Majesty said:
"Carry my verbal orders to Steinmetz, and tell him to act upon the orders I sent him by courier yesterday. And you will a.s.sist him. He will explain matters fully when you arrive."
Then, crossing to the Crown-Prince"s writing-table, His Majesty took a large envelope, into which, with the same hand, he dexterously placed the photograph with several papers, and sealed them with the Crown-Prince"s seal. At the moment the Crown-Princess entered, said some words to her husband in a low voice, and went out again.
"Give this to Von Steinmetz from me," His Majesty said after she had gone.
I bowed as I took it from His Majesty"s hand, my curiosity now greatly excited regarding Frau Breitenbach and her pretty daughter. What, I wondered, was in the wind?
"And, Heltzendorff, please report to me," remarked the Heir, still lounging lazily in the chair, his white, well-manicured hands clasped behind his head. "Where shall you stay?"
"At the Hotel Chatham. I always stay there in preference to the larger hotels."
"And not a bad judge," laughed His Majesty merrily. "I remember when I used to go to Paris incognito one could dine at the "Chatham" most excellently--old-fashioned, but very good. Vian"s, across the road, is also good."
The Kaiser knows Paris well, though he has never visited the French capital openly.
Bowing, I took leave of my Imperial master, and next morning at eight o"clock, set out upon my mysterious mission.
I found the Baron von Steinmetz living in a good-sized house in the leafy Avenue de Neuilly, not far from the bridge. One of the cleverest and most astute officials that Germany possessed, and a man high in the Kaiser"s favour, he had, in the name of Felix Reumont, purchased, with Government funds of course, a cinema theatre in the Rue Lafayette, and ostensibly upon the proceeds of that establishment lived comfortably out at Neuilly.
At eleven o"clock in the morning his valet, evidently a German, showed me in.
"I quite understand, my dear Heltzendorff," he said, as in his cosy little den he took from the Emperor"s packet the picture of Fraulein Elise and stood gazing at it thoughtfully. "It is quite plain why you should have been sent by His Majesty."
"Why. I don"t understand. But His Majesty told me that you would explain. The young lady and her mother are friends of mine."
"Exactly. That"s just it!" exclaimed the round-faced, rather florid man whom I had once met before. "You apparently know but little of them--eh?--or you would not call them your friends!"
Those mysterious words surprised me, but I was the more astounded when he continued:
"You of course know of those disgraceful anonymous letters which have been continually arriving at Court--of the Emperor"s fury concerning them."
I replied in the affirmative, for, as a matter of fact, for the past three months the whole Court had been flooded with most abusive and disgraceful correspondence concerning the camarilla that had again sprung up around the Kaiser. The Emperor, the Empress, the Crown-Prince and Princess, Prince Eitel, Sophie Caroline, Prince Henry of Prussia and others had received letters, most of them in typewriting, containing the most intimate details of scandals concerning men and women around the Emperor.
Fully a dozen of these letters addressed to the Crown-Prince he had handed to me--letters denouncing in some cases perfectly innocent people, destroying the reputations of honest men and women, and abusing the Heir to the Throne in an outrageous manner.
On at least three occasions "Willie" had shown me letters addressed to the Kaiser himself, and intercepted by the Kaiserin, who, in consequence of this flood of anonymous epistles that had produced such a terrible sensation at Potsdam, had ordered that all such letters found in the Imperial post-bag should be handed at once to her.