Part 34 (2/2)
”If you hadn't kissed me,” she declared a moment later as she leaned forward to look in the gla.s.s, ”I should not have eaten a mouthful of supper.”
They drove to the Milan Grill. It was a little early for the theatre people, and they were almost alone in the place. Anna drew a great sigh of content as she settled down in her chair.
”I think I must have been lonely for a long time,” she whispered, ”for it is so delightful to get back and be with you. Tell me what you have been doing?”
”I have been promoted,” Norgate announced. ”My prospective alliance with you has completed Selingman's confidence in me. I have been entrusted with several commissions.”
He told her of his adventures. She listened breathlessly to the account of his dinner in Soho.
”It is queer how all this is working out,” she observed. ”I knew before that the trouble was to come through Austria. The Emperor was very anxious indeed that it should not. He wanted to have his country brought reluctantly into the struggle. Even at this moment I believe that if he thought there was the slightest chance of England becoming embroiled, he would travel to Berlin himself to plead with the Kaiser. I really don't know why, but the one thing in Austria which would be thoroughly unpopular would be a war with England.”
”Tell me about your mission?” he asked.
”To a certain point,” she confessed, with a little grimace, ”it was unsuccessful. I have brought a reply to the personal letter I took over to the King. I have talked with Guillamo, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with whom, of course, everything is supposed to rest.
What I have brought with me, however, and what I heard from Guillamo, are nothing but a repet.i.tion of the a.s.surances given to our Amba.s.sador. The few private words which I was to get I have failed in obtaining, simply because the one person who could have spoken them is here in London.”
”Who is that?” he enquired curiously.
”The Comtesse di Strozzi,” she told him. ”It is she who has directed the foreign policy of Italy through Guillamo for the last ten years. He does nothing without her. He is like a lost child, indeed, when she is away.
And where do you think she is? Why, here in London. She is staying at the Italian Emba.s.sy. Signor Cardina is her cousin. The great ball to-morrow night, of which you have read, is in her honour. You shall be my escort.
At one time I knew her quite well.”
”The Comtesse di Strozzi!” he exclaimed. ”Why, she spent the whole of last season in Paris. I saw quite a great deal of her.”
”How odd!” Anna murmured. ”But how delightful! We shall be able to talk to her together, you and I.”
”It is rather a coincidence,” he admitted ”She had a sort of craze to visit some of the places in Paris where it is necessary for a woman to go incognito, and I was always her escort. I heard from her only a few weeks ago, and she told me that she was coming to London.”
Anna shook her head at him gaily.
”Well,” she said, ”I won't indulge in any ante-jealousies. I only hope that through her we shall get to know the truth. Are things here still quiet?”
”Absolutely.”
”Also in Paris. Francis, I feel so helpless. On my way I thought of staying over, of going to see the Minister of War and placing certain facts before him. And then I realised how little use it would all be.
They won't believe us, Francis. They would simply call us alarmists. They won't believe that the storm is gathering.”
”Don't I know it!” Norgate a.s.sented earnestly. ”Why, Hebblethwaite here has always been a great friend of mine. I have done all I can to influence him. He simply laughs in my face. To-day, for the first time, he admitted that there was a slight uneasiness at the Cabinet Meeting, and that White had referred to a certain mysterious activity throughout Germany. Nevertheless, he has gone down to Walton Heath to play golf.”
She made a little grimace.
”Your great Drake,” she reminded him, ”played bowls when the Armada sailed. Your Cabinet Ministers will be playing golf or tennis. Oh, what a careless country you are!--a careless, haphazard, blind, pig-headed nation to watch over the destinies of such an Empire! I'm so tired of politics, dear. I am so tired of all the big things that concern other people. They press upon one. Now it is finished. You and I are alone. You are my lover, aren't you? Remind me of it. If you will, I will discuss the subject you mentioned the other day. Of course I shall say 'No!' I am not nearly ready to be married yet. But I should like to hear your arguments.”
Their heads grew closer and closer together. They were almost touching when Selingman and Rosa Morgen came in. Selingman paused before their table.
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