Part 58 (1/2)
What do you want?”
”I want Julien Portel!”
Madame Christophor shrugged her shoulders.
”You have wanted him for some little time.”
”Never so badly as at this instant,” Falkenberg declared bitterly. ”He has set all Europe in a ferment with those infernal letters. He knows too much. He knows whence came the money which bought _Le Jour_.
He knows every detail of my campaign here.”
”There are surely others,” she objected, ”who must have guessed--”
”But there was no one else,” he interrupted, ”who had the special knowledge which Portel has. He came from the Foreign Office, with the records of the last two years in his mind. At Berlin he and I crossed swords. He is the only Englishman who has ever caused me a moment's uneasiness.”
”Are you sure,” she asked, ”that your campaign here has been a wise one?”
”The wisdom of Solomon,” he replied grimly, ”can be made to look like folly by the accident of failure. There is no doubt as to its wisdom.
No one has studied these matters as I have studied them. No one has seen the truth more clearly. An alliance between England and America is a matter of a few years only, and when it comes the progress of Germany is set back for a generation. The one absolute necessity before me was to cut the bonds between England and France and to settle with England alone and quickly--diplomatically, if possible; by force of arms as a last resource. We don't seek war, Henriette. We are not really a bloodthirsty nation. We seek territory. We need new lands--fruitful lands, trade, the command of the seas. If we cannot get what we want by peaceful means, then it must be war. England for the present is weakly governed. She is in the throes of labor troubles. Her political parties are ill-balanced. There is a puppet at the Foreign Office. Now is the time to strike.”
”Is it wise to tell me your secrets?” she inquired coldly. ”I have no sympathy for you or your country.”
”I have a bargain to strike with you and you must understand,” he answered. ”Twenty-four hours ago we dispatched a gunboat to a certain neutral port which comes under the influence of England. We paid a German to go there and send us word that he was in danger. We have sent an intimation to the French and English Governments. To England it is an insult. I have taken the chance that France has had enough of this _entente_. Now you understand why I must have Julien Portel before they can get him back to the Foreign Office, before he can do more mischief. A strong man in Downing Street at this juncture might upset everything.”
”I understand well enough why you need Julien Portel,” she admitted. ”I am still in the dark, however, as to why you imagine that I shall give him up?”
”Because I am going to buy him from you,” Falkenberg a.s.serted.
She glanced across the room at him, half curiously, half scornfully.
”Buy him! You!”
”Exactly,” he replied. ”You smile because you do not understand. I offer you a dispensation for your divorce, and your son.”
A little tremor seemed to pa.s.s through her whole frame. For a moment she closed her eyes. Then she sprang to her feet and stood quivering before him.
”This is one of your traps!” she exclaimed. ”You don't mean it!”
”To prove that I do,” he insisted, ”I have brought Rudolf with me to Paris. He can be in your arms in a few minutes. Look into the street, if you will.”
She crossed the room hastily and lifted the curtain. A low cry broke from her lips. In the tonneau of the great touring car outside a little boy was lying back amongst the cus.h.i.+ons, asleep.
”He is tired,” Falkenberg said slowly, with his eyes fixed upon the woman. ”He has come all the way from Berlin without an hour's rest. Am I to take him back to-morrow? It is for you to decide.”
Madame Christophor turned toward the door. Falkenberg barred the way.
”Not yet!” he declared. ”Do you accept my terms?”
”But he is hungry!” she cried. ”I can see that he is hungry! And he is so pale--let me fetch him in.”
”Of course he is hungry,” his father agreed. ”He has also been asking me questions about you all the way. He believes that he is going to see you. I, too, believe that. You consent?”