Part 30 (1/2)
”SIT DOWN, YOU DOG!”
As Edestone and Lawrence were coming down the stairs they were met by one of the German servants, who told them in a rather excited manner that the Secretary wished to see them both in his library.
Hastening down they were surprised as they arrived in the main hall to see through the iron and gla.s.s grille a squad of German soldiers standing at the front door.
”This is their last card,” said Edestone in an undertone, ”and if it fails there is nothing left for them to do but kill me. They have received word from Leipsic and they know that there is no time to lose, so we can look out now for anything. You had better get our party together, Lawrence, and see that every man has a pistol. There are two automatics in my room. When you get back, if you find me standing, or if I rise, or if I light a cigar, make some excuse and get up to the roof as quickly as you can and send your S. O. S. call to 'Specs.' He can be here in fifteen minutes after he receives it. Then, lock that grille and station someone there you can trust.”
”I wonder what they'll charge me with?” he thought as alone he entered the room where the Secretary was sitting calmly, although Edestone could see that he was making a great effort not to show his indignation to the German officer who was standing in front of him.
Edestone knew him so well that when he saw his mouth fixed as though he was whistling quietly to himself, the forefinger of his right hand at his lips as if to a.s.sist him in his musical efforts,--he who could not turn a tune,--he knew that Jones had himself well in hand. In his left hand the Secretary held a formal-looking paper with which he was quietly tapping the table in front of him as though keeping time to his soundless and imaginary ditty. With his chin well down, he was looking from under his heavy eyebrows with eyes that were dangerously cold.
The officer who had delivered these papers was apparently waiting for his answer and stood very erect, looking straight ahead of him. He did not change his position or notice Edestone as he entered the room.
”Good-morning, Count von Hemelstein,” said Edestone on seeing who it was, and the soldier then condescended to acknowledge the greeting with a slight bow.
The Secretary leaned forward, and putting both hands flat on the table while looking straight at Count von Hemelstein, said in a rather judicial tone, as though delivering an opinion from the bench:
”Mr. Edestone, Count von Hemelstein has just delivered to me an order for your arrest on the charge of giving a.s.sistance to the enemies of Germany. He also charges Lawrence Stuyvesant with insulting the Emperor's uniform and his dignity by impersonating a Prince of the Royal Blood and rendering that Prince ridiculous. He states, however, in your case that the Emperor will accept your explanation if you will accompany Count von Hemelstein quietly and make it to His Imperial Majesty in person. In the case of Lawrence Stuyvesant, he demands an apology and has paroled him in my custody until this is received, and as in the first case he makes a further condition, which is that the Emperor will accept an apology made by Lawrence Stuyvesant to the Prince himself, provided only that you agree to accompany Count von Hemelstein quietly and at once.”
Then turning as if addressing a prisoner on trial before him he said, in that soft and quiet voice always a.s.sumed by a judge in speaking to a criminal, even though he knows that the culprit has just boiled his mother:
”In the case against you, Mr. Edestone, in your absence I have flatly denied the charge. In the case against Lawrence Stuyvesant I deny all knowledge of, and decline to express an opinion until I have had an opportunity of looking into, the circ.u.mstances of the alleged offence.”
Edestone who had stood during this went over and took a seat at the Secretary's side of the table. ”It is just as you said it would be,” he observed to the Count with a mocking laugh as he pa.s.sed him. ”You Germans are so thorough.”
The Count made no reply, only stiffening up, if it were possible to give any more of that quality of German militarism to a ramrod in human form.
He stood as if expecting the Secretary to continue, or to hear further from Edestone, but both men sat perfectly still looking at him. The Secretary, as if having delivered his ruling, he was waiting for the case to go on, settled back into his chair, while Edestone, with the look of a lawyer who is perfectly satisfied with the ruling of the court, was grinning at his opponent, toying with both hands with a small bronze paper-weight made in the shape of a ploughshare, recently received from Was.h.i.+ngton with the compliments of the Secretary of State.
As neither man seemed to have the slightest intention of breaking the silence, after a moment which seemed an age, Count von Hemelstein brought his hand with a snap to a salute.
”My orders are to bring Mr. Edestone with me,” he said, ”and if you decline to deliver him to me, Mr. Secretary, I must use force.”
”That I have no power to prevent you from doing,” said Jones. ”You are now in the Emba.s.sy of a friendly nation, on soil dedicated by His Imperial Majesty to the use of the representative of that nation, whose safety and that of those he may see fit to protect are guaranteed by the most solemn promise that it is possible for one nation to make to another. If His Imperial Majesty intends to break his solemn word, I am as powerless as the lowest peasant in his domain. As to my word of honour as to the safe-keeping of Mr. Lawrence Stuyvesant, you have by your act reduced me to the rank of a simple American citizen, and as such, and not as representing the Amba.s.sador at the Court of Berlin--for after this there can be none--I tell you that I will not give my word to those who do not keep theirs. As to Mr. Edestone, I can simply, for his own sake, advise him to go with you, but not before I tell him that his country will resist with all its power the indignity which His Majesty has seen fit to offer it.”
Lawrence, who had come in during this speech, was standing looking in amazement from one to the other.
Then Edestone rose. ”Mr. Secretary,” he said, ”I regret to have been the cause of putting you in this most trying position, and before I decide to accompany this officer or detective I must think, so with your permission I will light a cigar.” He walked over to a table and very slowly selected one from a box that was there.
Lawrence, as if he had forgotten something, left the room hurriedly.
Edestone very deliberately took his cigar and very slowly lighted it. He then as slowly walked back to his seat and sat blowing ring after ring, holding all the time the box of matches in his right hand.
In the meantime Lawrence had walked to the front door, as if looking out to see why the soldiers were there, and turned the key of the grille so noiselessly that it failed to attract any attention from the men on the outside. Then turning to Fred, the Bowery boy, who was waiting for him, he spoke in an undertone.
”Don't let any of the servants open that door or even go near it,” he said, and, satisfied that his order would be obeyed, stepped inside the elevator and closed the door with a bang.
Edestone, who had meanwhile been doing anything simply to kill time, heard this. He knew that Lawrence would work quickly, and had had ample time to carry out the first part of his instructions. As if about to drop into his pocket the box of matches he was holding, he drew with a quick motion a .38 automatic, and leaning across the table covered the Count with it.