Part 44 (1/2)
The officer's manner was deferential. He had had to deal with many men of considerable position. But this was the first time he had been brought into contact with a Cabinet Minister, even of junior rank.
He felt that it was a fresh step up the ladder he had set for his own climbing. He had made his visit there late in the hope that the Cabinet Minister might be induced to give him a protracted and uninterrupted interview, and was pleasantly surprised at the manner in which his explanation was received.
”You see, sir,” he said, ”it's always a difficulty with us, dealing with a busy public man. So I took a chance, because there's got to be a lot of close talk done.”
But Ruxton denied the need for apology.
”As a matter of fact I'm glad you've called--now. If it had been earlier I should not have been so pleased.” He laughed, and the smiling eyes of the officer noted the laugh carefully.
”That's all right then, sir.”
The two men pa.s.sed up-stairs to Ruxton's study, and, while he revelled in the enjoyment of one of his host's best cigars, Purdic bluntly set out the objects he sought in this late visit.
”Now, Mr. Farlow,” he began, ”we've been on this thing some days now, and we're still groping around like a pair of babes in the wood. We've located a few bits. We've discovered certain suspicious circ.u.mstances, but nothing's led anywhere, and we're just as far off finding this Princess as if we were dodging icebergs up around the Pole. And do you know why, sir?”
Ruxton was not without ideas on the subject, but he nevertheless shook his head.
”No,” he said. He was lounging in the chair which had claimed him nearly all the evening.
The other cleared his throat.
”Because you've set up a brick wall between me and the job you've set me at. The wall's high and thick, and it's plastered with Government political secrecy. You mustn't mind my speaking this way, sir. You see, you want certain work done, and I want to do it. But miracles don't concern me, and that's what you're asking of me, unless you break down that wall. With due respect, sir, it's no use asking men of my profession to disentangle a skein of fine thread and refuse to let 'em handle the skein. It can't be done; that's all.”
Ruxton nodded, and the man with the smiling face went on.
”I want to know what lies behind, sir. That's what I've come here for to-night. You'll either tell me, or you won't. You are the best judge of what is at stake, and whether you are justified in disclosing secrets in the hope of discovering the whereabouts of the Princess. The question is, is the discovery of her worth the risk? From the moment I began on this I saw the direction things were taking. Now, this man Va.s.silitz is a foreigner. All the servants at Redwithy are foreigners.
The lady herself is a foreign--princess. Her record during the war tells of her Polish origin. There were three Polands: Russian, Austrian and German. She claimed Russian, and was known by a Russian-sounding name. Her t.i.tle sounds German. That's all the history of her I have got. But if I'm any judge there's a lot more, and in that additional history lies the secret of her present disappearance. Well, sir, that's my case, and I put it to you. If you cannot see your way to telling me anything more, I can hold out very little hope. I shall naturally continue to work the matter, but----”
The man was still smiling his involuntary smile, which was due to a curious facial formation. Nor could Ruxton help realizing the perfect mask it became. But his demands were startling and a little disconcerting. He rose from his chair and began to pace the room, his preoccupation finding expression in the gnawing of one of his finger-nails.
The other watched him through the veil of smoke which hung upon the warm air of the room. Finally he came to a halt on the rug before the fire.
”Yes, it's political,” he admitted. Then, with a curious upward jerk of his head, and a hot light in his dark eyes: ”d.a.m.nably political--and secret.”
”Yes?”
Ruxton laughed.
”You want more; much more. You want it all.” He shook his head. ”But you can't have it. That's been the devil of it, eh? No, I can't tell you all you want to know. But I can tell you this much. It's your brains--our brains against all the arch-devilry of the German Government, backed by no less a person than the----”
The detective gave a long, low whistle.
”It's as serious as that?” He stirred in his chair.
”Serious? It's likely to involve the death of anybody concerned. Not only the victims of these machinations, but of those who interfere on their behalf. There, that's all I can say of what lies behind, and you must be satisfied, or pretend to be. Meanwhile I can tell you something which is going to be helpful to us, which I couldn't have told you if you had paid your visit an hour or so earlier. I have discovered a means by which I fancy the Princess can be rescued from these German demons.”
Ruxton turned, and again flung himself into his chair. He was smiling with confidence and hope. The officer insinuated his chair nearer and waited. Every faculty was alert. The other took no notice of his movements. He was absorbed in his own thoughts. He had taken a great decision, and all his imaginative faculties were at work piecing together the pictured details.