Part 50 (1/2)
Seaman thrust his hand into his pocket and threw the revolver upon the table.
”You are quite right,” he acknowledged. ”Take care of it for me. I took it with me to Ireland, because one never knows what may happen in that amazing country.”
Dominey swept it carelessly into the drawer of the desk at which he was sitting.
”Our weapons, from now on,” Seaman continued, ”must be the weapons of guile and craft. You and I will have, alas! to see less of one another, Dominey. In many ways it is unfortunate that we have not been able to keep England out of this for a few more months. However, the situation must be dealt with as it exists. So far as you are concerned you have practically secured yourself against suspicion. You will hold a brilliant and isolated place amongst those who are serving the great War Lord. When I do approach you, it will be for sympathy and a.s.sistance against the suspicions of those far-seeing Englishmen!”
Dominey nodded.
”You will stay the night?” he asked.
”If I may,” Seaman a.s.sented. ”It is the last time for many months when it will be wise for us to meet on such intimate terms. Perhaps our dear friend Parkins will take vinous note of the occasion.”
”In other words,” Dominey said, ”you propose that we shall drink the Dominey cabinet hock and the Dominey port to the glory of our country.”
”To the glory of our country,” Seaman echoed. ”So be it, my friend.--Listen.”
A car had pa.s.sed along the avenue in front of the house. There was the sound of voices in the hall, a knock at the door, the rustle of a woman's clothes. Parkins, a little disturbed, announced the arrivals.
”The Princess of Eiderstrom and--a gentleman. The Princess said that her errand with you was urgent, sir,” he added, turning apologetically towards his master.
The Princess was already in the room, and following her a short man in a suit of sombre black, wearing a white tie, and carrying a black bowler hat. He blinked across the room through his thick gla.s.ses, and Dominey knew that the end had come. The door was closed behind them. The Princess came a little further into the room. Her hand was extended towards Dominey, but not in greeting. Her white finger pointed straight at him. She turned to her companion.
”Which is that, Doctor Schmidt?” she demanded.
”The Englishman, by G.o.d!” Schmidt answered.
The silence which reigned for several seconds was intense and profound.
The coolest of all four was perhaps Dominey. The Princess was pale with a pa.s.sion which seemed to sob behind her words.
”Everard Dominey,” she cried, ”what have you done with my lover? What have you done with Leopold Von Ragastein?”
”He met with the fate,” Dominey replied, ”which he had prepared for me.
We fought and I conquered.”
”You killed him?”
”I killed him,” Dominey echoed. ”It was a matter of necessity. His body sleeps on the bed of the Blue River.”
”And your life here has been a lie!”
”On the contrary, it has been the truth,” Dominey objected. ”I a.s.sured you at the Carlton, when you first spoke to me, and I have a.s.sured you a dozen times since, that I was Everard Dominey. That is my name. That is who I am.”
Seaman's voice seemed to come from a long way off. For the moment the man had neither courage nor initiative. He seemed as though he had received some sort of stroke. His mind was travelling backwards.
”You came to me at Cape Town,” he muttered; ”you had all Von Ragastein's letters, you knew his history, you had the Imperial mandate.”
”Von Ragastein and I exchanged the most intimate confidences in his camp,” Dominey said, ”as Doctor Schmidt there knows. I told him my history, and he told me his. The letters and papers I took from him.”
Schmidt had covered his face with his hands for a moment. His shoulders were heaving.