Part 84 (2/2)
asked Neeland, surprised.
”No. I have not been in this house for a year until I came tonight.
This place is maintained by the Turkish Government--” She flashed a glance at Sengoun--”_you're_ welcome to the information now,” she added contemptuously. And then, to Neeland: ”There was, I believe, some talk in New York about adding one or two Americans to the personnel, but I opposed it.”
”They're here,” said Neeland drily.
”Do you know who they are?”
”Yes. There's a man called Doc Curfoot----”
”_Who!!_”
And suddenly, for the first time, Neeland remembered that she had been the wife of one of the men below.
”Brandes and Stull are the others,” he said mechanically.
The girl stared at him as though she did not comprehend, and she pa.s.sed one hand slowly across her forehead and eyes.
”Eddie Brandes? _Here?_ And Stull? Curfoot? _Here in this house!_”
”In the _salon_ below.”
”They _can't_ be!” she protested in an odd, colourless voice. ”They were bought soul and body by the British Secret Service!”
All three stood staring at one another; the girl flushed, clenched her hand, then let it fall by her side as though utterly overcome.
”All this espionage!” cried Sengoun, furiously. ”--It makes me sick, I tell you! Where everybody betrays everybody is no place for a free Cossack!----”
The terrible expression on the girl's face checked him; she said, slowly:
”It is we others who have been betrayed, it seems. It is _we_ who are trapped here. They've got us all--every one of us. Oh, my G.o.d!--every one of us--at last!”
She lifted her haggard face and stared at the increasing light which was turning the window panes a sickly yellow.
”With sunrise comes war,” she said in a stunned voice, as though to convince herself. ”We are caught here in this house. And Kestner and Weishelm and Breslau and I----” she trembled, framing her burning face in slim hands that were like ice. ”Do you understand that Brandes and Curfoot, bought by England, have contracted to deliver us to a French court martial?”
The men looked at her in silence.
”Kestner and Breslau knew they had been bought. One of our own people witnessed that treachery. But we never dreamed that these traitors would venture into this house tonight. We should have come here ourselves instead of going to the Turkish Emba.s.sy. That was Mahmud Damat's meddling! His messenger insisted. G.o.d! What a mistake! What a deathly mistake for all of us!”
She leaned for a moment against one of the iron pillars which supported the attic roof, and covered her face with her hands.
After a moment, Neeland said:
”I don't understand why you can't leave this house if you are in danger. You say that there are men downstairs who are waiting to kill us--waiting only for Kestner and Breslau and Mahmud Damat to arrive.”
She said faintly:
<script>