Part 7 (1/2)
”Woller first, now Grey-Mortimer,” I said to myself. ”What can it mean?
I shall go to the Admiralty and obtain full particulars.”
”I will accompany you,” said the Colonial Secretary. ”Good-night, Countess, and many thanks for your hospitality. I am sorry indeed that this news should have reached us at such a time.”
”And I too,” she answered. Then, turning to me, she continued: ”I hope you will come and see me again, Sir George?”
As she said it, she looked into my face with a glance that would have set many hearts, less susceptible than mine, beating with unusual vigour. The memory of that look accompanied me down the stairs and remained with me for some time after I was seated in the Colonial Secretary's brougham. Then we set off to the Admiralty to learn the details of the disaster. Alas! as Castellan had said, it proved only too true. The steams.h.i.+p _Sultan of Sedang_ had reached Madeira safely, and had anch.o.r.ed in the Bay. Nothing of a suspicious nature occurred, nor was any boat seen near the s.h.i.+p after dark. Suddenly a terrific explosion was heard, and the great vessel was blown to pieces, the only men who escaped with their lives being a stoker, a sergeant in the Midlands.h.i.+re regiment, and an officer's servant. At the time of telegraphing, boats were out searching the Bay, while the most careful investigation as to the cause of the disaster was proceeding on sh.o.r.e.
The Colonial Secretary and I left the Admiralty when we had heard all there was to be told, and proceeded into the street once more. The coachman had been ordered not to wait, as we had decided to walk on home.
Late as the hour was the alarming intelligence had spread like wildfire through London, and already a considerable crowd had collected in Whitehall. Fortunately, Castellan and I were able to slip out unrecognised, and then we set off in the direction of Trafalgar Square.
The Colonial Secretary's residence, as all the world is aware, is in Carlton House Terrace. At the corner of the small thoroughfare that winds its way from c.o.c.kspur Street into Carlton House Terrace, we stopped, and stood for some moments conversing there together. Then we wished each other good-night, Castellan going down the narrow street of which I have spoken, while I proceeded along Pall Mall and Piccadilly in the direction of my own abode. My thoughts were the reverse of pleasant as I strode along. A Cabinet Council had been summoned for the following morning, and, with this sad intelligence to be brought before it, there could be no doubt that it was likely to be a gloomy one.
Next morning I rose early. I had a large amount of work to get through before the meeting, which was to take place at eleven o'clock. At a quarter to that hour I drove down to Whitehall, and made my way to the Foreign Office.
”This is terrible news indeed, Manderville,” said the Prime Minister, as we shook hands. ”Poor Grey-Mortimer and all those gallant men! I scarcely like to think of the effect it will produce upon the country.
First, that succession of disastrous defeats, then Woller's extraordinary disappearance, and now this new catastrophe. However, as we shall have to discuss that directly, I will say no more at present.
Are we all here?”
There was only one person who had not arrived, the Colonial Secretary.
”It's not like Castellan to be unpunctual,” said the Prime Minister.
”Doubtless, however, it won't be long before he puts in an appearance.”
When ten minutes had elapsed and still he did not come, a messenger was despatched to the Colonial Office in search of him. It was not long before he returned with the information that Castellan had not yet arrived at his office. Close upon the heels of this message came another from Mrs Castellan anxiously inquiring for her husband, who, it appeared, had not come home on the previous night, nor had any communication been received from him. As I heard this a great fear took possession of me. I had said good-night to him in c.o.c.kspur Street, only a few paces from his own front door, and had seen him walk in that direction. How was it, then, that he had not reached it? Was he the victim of a plot? Had he disappeared like Woller, never to be heard of again?
CHAPTER IV
Some idea of the wave of consternation which swept over England, when it became known that the Right Honourable Benjamin Castellan, Secretary of State for the Colonies had disappeared as mysteriously as Sir William Woller had done before him, will be derived when I say that edition after edition of the evening papers had been sold by three o'clock in the afternoon. It was in every sense a grave national calamity, for, as we all know, at this particular juncture in the country's history, Benjamin Castellan, of all others, was the man who could least be spared.
”You are sure, I suppose, Sir George, that Castellan intended going home after you parted in c.o.c.kspur Street,” the Prime Minister enquired, looking at me along the table.
”As certain as I am of anything,” I replied. ”He complained of feeling tired, and laughingly declared his intention of going to bed early, in order that he might be fresh for our meeting this morning.”
”He did not seem depressed in any way, I suppose?” put in the First Lord of the Admiralty.
”He was naturally extremely downcast by the news we had received concerning the _Sultan of Sedang_, but in no other sense,” I answered.
”I am sorry now that I did not walk with him to his door as I originally intended doing.”
”It is, perhaps, as well that you did not,” a.s.serted one of the others, ”for in that case we might have lost you too. Surely my Lord,” he continued, addressing the Prime Minister, ”the Police Authorities should be able to obtain some clue respecting his disappearance? Deserted as the pa.s.sage usually is at that hour of the night, for I have pa.s.sed through it myself, there _must_ have been some one in the main thoroughfares at either end who would have given the alarm had they noticed anything out of the common.”
”It is not altogether certain that the crime, if crime it is--and of that we have as yet no evidence--was perpetrated in the pa.s.sage of which you speak,” said the Prime Minister; ”but wherever, or however, the deed was committed, the Police I am sure will do their utmost to unravel the mystery. The mere fact that General Woller's disappearance has not yet been accounted for is giving rise to a vast amount of uneasiness.
That the same fate should have befallen Mr Castellan will not be likely to add to the public peace of mind. I am sure the Secretary of State for the Home Department will do all that lies in his power to see that no time is lost in bringing the offenders to justice.”
When the meeting broke up I made my way with all haste to Carlton House Terrace, in order to a.s.sure my friend's wife of my sympathy, and to help her in any way that lay in my power. Prostrated with grief though she was, she consented to see me, and I was accordingly admitted to her presence.