"Well, are you going to have another cigar, or would you like to go to bed?"
"With your permission I shall go to bed," I said.
He conducted me through the hall and down the pa.s.sage that led to the back premises. At the end rose a steep and narrow stair. We ascended this, and at the top found a narrow landing with a door at either end of it.
"This is your private flat," he explained in a low voice. "The old house, you will see, has been built in two separate instalments, which have separate stairs and no communication with one another on the upper landing. These two rooms are supposed to be locked up and not in use at present, but I have secured their keys."
He unlocked one of the doors, and we entered the room. It was square, and of quite a fair size. On two sides the walls sloped attic-wise, in a third was a fireplace and a window, and in the fourth two doors--the second opening into a large cupboard. This room had simple bedroom furniture, and also a small table and a basket chair. When we entered, it was lit only by a good fire, and pervaded by a pleasant aroma of peat smoke. Tiel lighted a paraffin lamp and remarked--
"You ought to be quite comfortable here."
Personally, I confess that my breath was fairly taken away. I had antic.i.p.ated sleeping under the roof in some dark and chilly garret, or perhaps in the straw of an outhouse.
"Comfortable!" I exclaimed. "Mein Gott, who would not be on secret service! But are you sure all this is safe? This fire, for instance--the smoke surely will be seen."
"I have promised to keep the bedrooms aired while I am staying here,"
smiled Tiel.
He then explained in detail the arrangements of our remarkable household. He himself slept in the front part of the house, up the other staircase. The room opposite mine was empty, and so was the room underneath; but below the other was the kitchen, and I was warned to be very quiet in my movements. The single servant arrived early in the morning, and left about nine o"clock at night: she lived, it seemed, at a neighbouring farm; and Tiel a.s.sured me there was nothing to be feared from her provided I was reasonably careful.
I had brought with me a razor, a toothbrush, and a brush and comb, and Tiel had very thoughtfully brought a spare sleeping suit and a pair of slippers. I was not at all sure that I was disposed to like the man, but I had to admit that his thoroughness and his consideration for my comfort were highly praiseworthy. In fact, I told him so frankly, and we parted for the night on friendly terms.
Tiel quietly descended the stairs, while I sat down before my fire and smoked a last cigarette, and then very gratefully turned into my comfortable bed.
III.
THE PLAN.
I slept like a log, and only awakened when Tiel came into my room next morning, bringing my breakfast on a tray. He had sent the servant over to the farm for milk, he explained, and while I ate he sat down beside my bed.
"Can you talk business now?" I asked.
"This afternoon," said he.
I made a grimace.
"I naturally don"t want to waste my time," I observed.
"You won"t," he a.s.sured me.
"But why this afternoon rather than this morning? You can send the servant out for a message whenever you choose."
"I hope to have a pleasant little surprise for you in the afternoon."
I was aware of the fondness of these secret-service agents for a bit of mystery, and I knew I had to humour him. But really it seems a childish kind of vanity.
"There is one thing you can do for me," I said. "If I am to kick up my heels in this room all day--and probably for several days--I must have a pen and ink and some foolscap."
After his fashion he asked no questions but merely nodded, and presently brought them.
The truth was, I had conceived the idea of writing some account of my adventure, and in fact I am writing these lines now in that very bedroom I have described. I am telling a story of which I don"t know the last chapter myself. A curious position for an author! If I am caught--well, it will make no difference. I have given nothing away that won"t inevitably be discovered if I am arrested. And, mein Gott, what a relief it has been! I should have died of boredom otherwise.
If only my window looked out to sea! But, unluckily, I am at the back of the house and look, as it were sideways, on to a sloping hillside of green ferns below and brown heather at the top. By opening the window and putting my head right out, I suppose I should catch a glimpse of the sea, but then my neighbours would catch a glimpse of me. I expostulated with Tiel as soon as I realised how the room faced, but he points out that the servant may go into any room in the front part of the house, whereas this part is supposed to be closed. I can see that he is right, but it is nevertheless very tantalising.
On that Sat.u.r.day afternoon Tiel came back to my room some hours later, and under his quiet manner I could see that he bore tidings of importance. No one could come quicker to the point when he chose, and this time he came to it at once.
"You remember the affair of the _Haileybury_?" he demanded.
"The British cruiser which was mined early in the war?"
He nodded.
"Perfectly," I said.
"You never at any time came across her captain? His name was Ashington."
"No," I said, "I have met very few British officers."
"I don"t know whether you heard that she was supposed to be two miles out of her proper course, contrary to orders, did you?"
"Was she?"
"Ashington says "no." But he was court-martialled, and now he"s in command of a small boat--the _Yellowhammer_. Before the loss of his ship he was considered one of the most promising officers in the British service; now----!"
Tiel made an expressive gesture and his eyes smiled at me oddly. I began to understand.
"Now he is an acquaintance of yours?"
Tiel nodded.
"But has he knowledge? Has he special information?"
"His younger brother is on the flagship, and he has several very influential friends. I see that _my_ friends obtain knowledge."
I looked at him hard.
"You are _quite_ sure this is all right? Such men are the last to be trusted--even by those who pay them."
"Do you know many "such men"?" he inquired.
"None, I am thankful to say."
"They are queer fish," said Tiel in a reminiscent way, "but they generally do the thing pretty thoroughly, especially when one has a firm enough hold of them. Ashington is absolutely reliable."
"Where is he to be seen?"