Part 50 (1/2)
”You mean the woman they call Lotys? I am not aware that she is his mistress. I should rather doubt it. The people would not make such a saint of her if she were. At any rate, whatever else she may be, she is certainly dangerous;--and in a country less free than ours would be placed under arrest. I must confess I never believed in her 'vogue' with the ma.s.ses, until to-night.”
Perousse was silent. The great square in front of the Government buildings was now deserted,--save for the police and soldiery on guard; but away in the distance could still be heard faint echoes of singing and cheering from the broken-up sections of the crowd that had lately disturbed the peace.
”Have you seen the King lately?” enquired Lutera presently.
”No.”
”By his absolute 'veto' against our propositions at the last Cabinet Council, the impending war which would have been so useful to us, has been quashed in embryo,” went on the Premier with a frown;--”This of course you know! And he has the right to exercise his veto if he likes.
But I scarcely expected you after all you said, to take the matter so easily!”
Perousse smiled, and shrugged his shoulders deprecatingly.
”However,” continued the Marquis with latent contempt in his tone;--”I now quite understand your complacent att.i.tude! You have simply turned your 'Army Supplies Contract' into a 'Trust' Combine with other nations,--so you will not lose, but rather gain by the transaction!”
”I never intended to lose!” said Perousse calmly; ”I am not troubled with scruples. One form of trade is as good as another. The prime object of life nowadays is to make money!”
Lutera looked at him, but said nothing.
”To amalgamate all the steel industries into one international Union, and get as many shares myself in the combine is not at all an unwise project,” went on Perousse,--”For if our country is not to fight, other countries will;--and they will require guns and swords and all such accoutrements of war. Why should we not satisfy the demand and pocket the cash?”
Still the Marquis looked at him steadily.
”Are you aware,”--he asked at last, ”that Jost, to save his 'press'
prestige, has turned informer against you?”
Perousse sprang up, white with fury.
”By Heaven, if he has dared!--”
”There is no 'if' in the case”--said Lutera very coldly--”He has, as he himself says, 'done his duty.' You must be pretty well cognisant of what a Jew's notions of 'duty' are! They can be summed up in one sentence;--'to save his own pocket.' Jost is driven to fury and desperation by the sudden success of the rival newspaper, which has been so prominently favoured by the King. The shares in his own journalistic concerns are going down rapidly, and he is determined--naturally enough--to take care of himself before anyone else. He has sold out of every company with which you have been, or are a.s.sociated--and has--so I understand,--sent a complete list of your proposed financial 'deals,'
investments and other 'stock' to--”
He paused.
”Well!” exclaimed Perousse irascibly--”To whom?”
”To those whom it may concern,”--replied Lutera evasively--”I really can give you no exact information. I have said enough by way of warning!”
Perousse looked at him heedfully, and what he saw in that dark brooding face was not of a quieting or satisfactory nature.
”You are as deeply involved as I am--” he began.
”Pardon!” and the Marquis drew himself up with some dignity--”I _was_ involved;--I am not now. I have also taken care of myself! I may have been misled, but I shall let no one suffer for my errors. I have sent in my resignation.”
”Fool!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Perousse, forgetting all courtesy in the sudden access of rage that took possession of him at these words;--”Fool, I say! At the very moment when you ought to stick to the s.h.i.+p, you desert it!”
”Are _you_ not ready to run to the helm?” enquired Lutera with a satiric smile; ”Surely you can have no doubt but that his Majesty will command you to take office!”
With this, he turned on his heel, and left his colleague to a s.p.a.ce of very disagreeable meditation. For the first time in his bold and unscrupulous career, Perousse found himself in an awkward position.
If it were indeed true that Jost and Lutera had thrown up the game, especially Jost, then he, Perousse, was lost. He had made of Jost, not only a tool, but a confidant. He had used him, and his great leading newspaper for his own political and financial purposes. He had entrusted him with State secrets, in order to speculate thereon in all the money-markets of the world. He had induced him to approach the Premier with crafty promises of support, and to inveigle him by insidious degrees into the same dishonourable financial 'deal.' So that if this one man,--this fat, unscrupulous turncoat of a Jew,--chose to speak out, he, Carl Perousse, Secretary of State, would be the most disgraced and ruined Minister that ever attempted to defraud a nation! His brows grew moist with fever-heat, and his tongue parched, with the dry thirst of fear, as the gravity of the situation was gradually borne in upon him.
He began to calculate contingencies and possibilities of escape from the toils that seemed closing around him,--and much to his irritation and embarra.s.sment, he found that most of the ways leading out of difficulty pointed first of all to,--the King.