Part 78 (2/2)

”You mean,” Peter began--

”I mean that Bernadine must die,” Sogrange declared.

There was a brief silence. Outside, the early morning street noises were increasing in volume as the great army of workers, streaming towards the heart of the city from a hundred suburbs, pa.s.sed on to their tasks.

A streak of suns.h.i.+ne had found its way into the room, lay across the carpet and touched Sogrange's still, waxen features. Peter glanced half fearfully at his friend and visitor. He himself was no coward, no shrinker from the great issues. He, too, had dealt in life and death.

Yet there was something in the deliberate preciseness of Sogrange's words, as he sat there only a few feet away, unspeakably thrilling.

It was like a death sentence p.r.o.nounced in all solemnity upon some s.h.i.+vering criminal. There was something inevitable and tragical about the whole affair. A p.r.o.nouncement had been made from which there was no appeal--Bernadine was to die!

”Isn't this a little exceeding the usual exercise of our powers?” Peter asked, slowly.

”No such occasion as this has ever yet arisen,” Sogrange reminded him.

”Bernadine has fled to this country with barely an hour to spare. His offense is extraditable by a law of the last century which has never been repealed. He is guilty of treason against the Republic of France.

Yet they do not want him back, they do not want a trial. I have papers upon my person which, if I took them into an English court, would procure for me a warrant for Bernadine's arrest. It is not this we desire. Bernadine must die. No fate could be too terrible for a man who has striven to corrupt the soul of a nation. It is not war, this. It is not honest conspiracy. Is it war, I ask you, to seek to poison the drinking water of an enemy, to send stalking into their midst some loathsome disease? Such things belong to the ages of barbarity.

Bernadine has striven to revive them and Bernadine shall die.”

”It is justice,” Peter admitted.

”The question remains,” Sogrange continued, ”by whose hand--yours or mine?”

Peter started uneasily.

”Is that necessary?” he asked.

”I fear that it is,” Sogrange replied. ”We had a brief meeting of the executive council last night, and it was decided, for certain reasons, to entrust this task into no other hands. You will smile when I tell you that these accursed pamphlets have found their way into the possession of many of the rank and file of our own order. There is a marked disinclination on the part of those who have been our slaves, to accept orders from any one. Espionage we can still command--the best, perhaps, in Europe--because here we use a different cla.s.s of material. But of those underneath, we are, for the moment, doubtful. Paris is all in a ferment. Under its outward seemliness a million throats are ready to take up the brazen cry of revolution. One trusts n.o.body. One fears all the time.”

”You or I!” Peter repeated, slowly. ”It will not be sufficient, then, that we find Bernadine and deliver him over to your country's laws?”

”It will not be sufficient,” Sogrange answered, sternly. ”From those he may escape. For him there must be no escape.”

”Sogrange,” Peter said, speaking in a low tone, ”I have never yet killed a human being.”

”Nor I,” Sogrange admitted. ”Nor have I yet set my heel upon its head and stamped the life from a rat upon the pavement. But one lives and one moves on. Bernadine is the enemy of your country and mine. He makes war after the fas.h.i.+on of vermin. No ordinary cut-throat would succeed against him. It must be you or I.”

”How shall we decide?” Peter asked.

”The spin of a coin,” Sogrange replied. ”It is best that way. It is best, too, done quickly.”

Peter produced a sovereign from his pocket and balanced it on the palm of his hand.

”Let it be understood,” Sogrange continued, ”that this is a dual undertaking. We toss only for the final honor--for the last stroke. If the choice falls upon me, I shall count upon you to help me to the end.

If it falls upon you, I shall be at your right hand even when you strike the blow.”

”It is agreed,” Peter said. ”See, it is for you to call.”

He threw the coin high into the air.

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