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diff --git a/old/grbah10.txt b/old/grbah10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..438a508 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/grbah10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9147 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Grand Babylon Hotel, by Arnold Bennett + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + +*It must legally be the first thing seen when opening the book.* +In fact, our legal advisors said we can't even change margins. + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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Racksole & Daughter + + + + +Chapter One THE MILLIONAIRE AND THE WAITER + + +'YES, sir?' + +Jules, the celebrated head waiter of the Grand Babylon, was +bending formally towards the alert, middle-aged man who had just +entered the smoking-room and dropped into a basket-chair in the +corner by the conservatory. It was 7.45 on a particularly sultry June +night, and dinner was about to be served at the Grand Babylon. +Men of all sizes, ages, and nationalities, but every one alike +arrayed in faultless evening dress, were dotted about the large, dim +apartment. A faint odour of flowers came from the conservatory, +and the tinkle of a fountain. The waiters, commanded by Jules, +moved softly across the thick Oriental rugs, balancing their trays +with the dexterity of jugglers, and receiving and executing orders +with that air of profound importance of which only really +first-class waiters have the secret. The atmosphere was an +atmosphere of serenity and repose, characteristic of the Grand +Babylon. It seemed impossible that anything could occur to mar +the peaceful, aristocratic monotony of existence in that +perfectly-managed establishment. Yet on that night was to happen +the mightiest upheaval that the Grand Babylon had ever known. + +'Yes, sir?' repeated Jules, and this time there was a shade of august +disapproval in his voice: it was not usual for him to have to +address a customer twice. + +'Oh!' said the alert, middle-aged man, looking up at length. +Beautifully ignorant of the identity of the great Jules, he allowed +his grey eyes to twinkle as he caught sight of the expression on the +waiter's face. 'Bring me an Angel Kiss.' + +'Pardon, sir?' + +'Bring me an Angel Kiss, and be good enough to lose no time.' + +'If it's an American drink, I fear we don't keep it, sir.' The voice of +Jules fell icily distinct, and several men glanced round uneasily, as +if to deprecate the slightest disturbance of their calm. The +appearance of the person to whom Jules was speaking, however, +reassured them somewhat, for he had all the look of that expert, +the travelled Englishman, who can differentiate between one hotel +and another by instinct, and who knows at once where he may +make a fuss with propriety, and where it is advisable to behave +exactly as at the club. The Grand Babylon was a hotel in whose +smoking-room one behaved as though one was at one's club. + +'I didn't suppose you did keep it, but you can mix it, I guess, even +in this hotel.' + +'This isn't an American hotel, sir.' The calculated insolence of the +words was cleverly masked beneath an accent of humble +submission. + +The alert, middle-aged man sat up straight, and gazed placidly at +Jules, who was pulling his famous red side-whiskers. + +'Get a liqueur glass,' he said, half curtly and half with +good-humoured tolerance, 'pour into it equal quantities of +maraschino, cream, and crême de menthe. Don't stir it; don't +shake it. Bring it to me. And, I say, tell the bar-tender - ' + +'Bar-tender, sir?' + +'Tell the bar-tender to make a note of the recipe, as I shall probably +want an Angel Kiss every evening before dinner so long as this +weather lasts.' + +'I will send the drink to you, sir,' said Jules distantly. That was his +parting shot, by which he indicated that he was not as other waiters +are, and that any person who treated him with disrespect did so at +his own peril. + + A few minutes later, while the alert, middle-aged man was tasting +the Angel Kiss, Jules sat in conclave with Miss Spencer, who had +charge of the bureau of the Grand Babylon. This bureau was a +fairly large chamber, with two sliding glass partitions which +overlooked the entrance-hall and the smoking-room. Only a small +portion of the clerical work of the great hotel was performed there. +The place served chiefly as the lair of Miss Spencer, who was as +well known and as important as Jules himself. Most modern hotels +have a male clerk to superintend the bureau. But the Grand +Babylon went its own way. Miss Spencer had been bureau clerk +almost since the Grand Babylon had first raised its massive +chimneys to heaven, and she remained in her place despite the +vagaries of other hotels. Always admirably dressed in plain black +silk, with a small diamond brooch, immaculate wrist-bands, and +frizzed yellow hair, she looked now just as she had looked an +indefinite number of years ago. Her age - none knew it, save +herself and perhaps one other, and none cared. The gracious and +alluring contours of her figure were irreproachable; and in the +evenings she was a useful ornament of which any hotel might be +innocently proud. Her knowledge of Bradshaw, of steamship +services, and the programmes of theatres and music-halls was +unrivalled; yet she never travelled, she never went to a theatre or a +music-hall. She seemed to spend the whole of her life in that +official lair of hers, imparting information to guests, telephoning +to the various departments, or engaged in intimate conversations +with her special friends on the staff, as at present. + + 'Who's Number 107?' Jules asked this black-robed lady. + +Miss Spencer examined her ledgers. + +'Mr Theodore Racksole, New York.' + +'I thought he must be a New Yorker,' said Jules, after a brief, +significant pause, 'but he talks as good English as you or me. Says +he wants an "Angel Kiss" - maraschino and cream, if you please - +every night. I'll see he doesn't stop here too long.' + +Miss Spencer smiled grimly in response. The notion of referring to +Theodore Racksole as a 'New Yorker' appealed to her sense of +humour, a sense in which she was not entirely deficient. She knew, +of course, and she knew that Jules knew, that this Theodore +Racksole must be the unique and only Theodore Racksole, the +third richest man in the United States, and therefore probably in +the world. Nevertheless she ranged herself at once on the side of +Jules. + +Just as there was only one Racksole, so there was only one Jules, +and Miss Spencer instinctively shared the latter's indignation at the +spectacle of any person whatsoever, millionaire or Emperor, +presuming to demand an 'Angel Kiss', that unrespectable +concoction of maraschino and cream, within the precincts of the +Grand Babylon. In the world of hotels it was currently stated that, +next to the proprietor, there were three gods at the Grand Babylon +- Jules, the head waiter, Miss Spencer, and, most powerful of all, +Rocco, the renowned chef, who earned two thousand a year, and +had a chalet on the Lake of Lucerne. All the great hotels in +Northumberland Avenue and on the Thames Embankment had +tried to get Rocco away from the Grand Babylon, but without +success. Rocco was well aware that even he could rise no higher +than the maître hôtel of the Grand Babylon, which, though it never +advertised itself, and didn't belong to a limited company, stood an +easy first among the hotels of Europe - first in expensiveness, first +in exclusiveness, first in that mysterious quality known as 'style'. + +Situated on the Embankment, the Grand Babylon, despite its noble +proportions, was somewhat dwarfed by several colossal +neighbours. It had but three hundred and fifty rooms, whereas +there are two hotels within a quarter of a mile with six hundred +and four hundred rooms respectively. On the other hand, the Grand +Babylon was the only hotel in London with a genuine separate +entrance for Royal visitors constantly in use. The Grand Babylon +counted that day wasted on which it did not entertain, at the +lowest, a German prince or the Maharajah of some Indian State. +When Felix Babylon - after whom, and not with any reference to +London's nickname, the hotel was christened - when Felix +Babylon founded the hotel in 1869 he had set himself to cater for +Royalty, and that was the secret of his triumphant eminence. + +The son of a rich Swiss hotel proprietor and financier, he had +contrived to established a connection with the officials of several +European Courts, and he had not spared money in that respect. +Sundry kings and not a few princesses called him Felix , and spoke +familiarly of the hotel as 'Felix 's'; and Felix had found that this +was very good for trade. The Grand Babylon was managed +accordingly. The 'note' of its policy was discretion, always +discretion, and quietude, simplicity, remoteness. The place was +like a palace incognito. There was no gold sign over the roof, not +even an explanatory word at the entrance. You walked down a +small side street off the Strand, you saw a plain brown building in +front of you, with two mahogany swing doors, and an official +behind each; the doors opened noiselessly; you entered; you were +in Felix 's. If you meant to be a guest, you, or your courier, gave +your card to Miss Spencer. Upon no consideration did you ask for +the tariff. It was not good form to mention prices at the Grand +Babylon; the prices were enormous, but you never mentioned +them. At the conclusion of your stay a bill was presented, brief and +void of dry details, and you paid it without a word. You met with. +a stately civility, that was all. No one had originally asked you to +come; no one expressed the hope that you would come again. The +Grand Babylon was far above such manoeuvres; it defied +competition by ignoring it; and consequently was nearly always +full during the season. + +If there was one thing more than another that annoyed the Grand +Babylon - put its back up, so to speak - it was to be compared with, +or to be mistaken for, an American hotel. The Grand Babylon was +resolutely opposed to American methods of eating, drinking, and +lodging - but especially American methods of drinking. The +resentment of Jules, on being requested to supply Mr Theodore +Racksole with an Angel Kiss, will therefore be appreciated. + +'Anybody with Mr Theodore Racksole?' asked Jules, continuing his +conversation with Miss Spencer. He put a scornful stress on every +syllable of the guest's name. + +'Miss Racksole - she's in No. 111.' + +Jules paused, and stroked his left whisker as it lay on his gleaming +white collar. + +'She's where?' he queried, with a peculiar emphasis. + +'No. 111. I couldn't help it. There was no other room with a +bathroom and dressing-room on that floor.' Miss Spencer's voice +had an appealing tone of excuse. + +'Why didn't you tell Mr Theodore Racksole and Miss Racksole that +we were unable to accommodate them?' + +'Because Babs was within hearing.' + +Only three people in the wide world ever dreamt of applying to Mr +Felix Babylon the playful but mean abbreviation - Babs: those +three were Jules, Miss Spencer, and Rocco. Jules had invented it. +No one but he would have had either the wit or the audacity to do +so. + +'You'd better see that Miss Racksole changes her room to-night,' +Jules said after another pause. 'Leave it to me: I'll fix it. Au revoir! +It's three minutes to eight. I shall take charge of the dining-room +myself to-night.' + +And Jules departed, rubbing his fine white hands slowly and +meditatively. It was a trick of his, to rub his hands with a strange, +roundabout motion, and the action denoted that some unusual +excitement was in the air. + +At eight o'clock precisely dinner was served in the immense salle +manger, that chaste yet splendid apartment of white and gold. At a +small table near one of the windows a young lady sat alone. Her +frocks said Paris, but her face unmistakably said New York. It was +a self-possessed and bewitching face, the face of a woman +thoroughly accustomed to doing exactly what she liked, when she +liked, how she liked: the face of a woman who had taught +hundreds of gilded young men the true art of fetching and carrying, +and who, by twenty years or so of parental spoiling, had come to +regard herself as the feminine equivalent of the Tsar of All the +Russias. Such women are only made in America, and they only +come to their full bloom in Europe, which they imagine to be a +continent created by Providence for their diversion. + +The young lady by the window glanced disapprovingly at the menu +card. Then she looked round the dining-room, and, while admiring +the diners, decided that the room itself was rather small and plain. +Then she gazed through the open window, and told herself that +though the Thames by twilight was passable enough, it was by no +means level with the Hudson, on whose shores her father had a +hundred thousand dollar country cottage. Then she returned to the +menu, and with a pursing of lovely lips said that there appeared to +be nothing to eat. + +'Sorry to keep you waiting, Nella.' It was Mr Racksole, the intrepid +millionaire who had dared to order an Angel Kiss in the +smoke-room of the Grand Babylon. Nella - her proper name was +Helen - smiled at her parent cautiously, reserving to herself the +right to scold if she should feel so inclined. + +'You always are late, father,' she said. + +'Only on a holiday,' he added. 'What is there to eat?' + +'Nothing.' + +'Then let's have it. I'm hungry. I'm never so hungry as when I'm +being seriously idle.' + +'Consommé Britannia,' she began to read out from the menu, +'Saumon d'Ecosse, Sauce Genoise, Aspics de Homard. Oh, +heavens! Who wants these horrid messes on a night like this?' + +'But, Nella, this is the best cooking in Europe,' he protested. + +'Say, father,' she said, with seeming irrelevance, 'had you forgotten +it's my birthday to-morrow?' + +'Have I ever forgotten your birthday, O most costly daughter?' + +'On the whole you've been a most satisfactory dad,' she answered +sweetly, 'and to reward you I'll be content this year with the +cheapest birthday treat you ever gave me. Only I'll have it to-night.' + +'Well,' he said, with the long-suffering patience, the readiness for +any surprise, of a parent whom Nella had thoroughly trained, 'what +is it?' + +'It's this. Let's have filleted steak and a bottle of Bass for dinner +to-night. It will be simply exquisite. I shall love it.' + +'But my dear Nella,' he exclaimed, 'steak and beer at Felix 's! It's +impossible! Moreover, young women still under twenty-three +cannot be permitted to drink Bass.' + +'I said steak and Bass, and as for being twenty-three, shall be going +in twenty-four to-morrow.' + +Miss Racksole set her small white teeth. + +There was a gentle cough. Jules stood over them. It must have +been out of a pure spirit of adventure that he had selected this table +for his own services. Usually Jules did not personally wait at +dinner. He merely hovered observant, like a captain on the bridge +during the mate's watch. Regular frequenters of the hotel felt +themselves honoured when Jules attached himself to their tables. + +Theodore Racksole hesitated one second, and then issued the order +with a fine air of carelessness: + +'Filleted steak for two, and a bottle of Bass.' It was the bravest act +of Theodore Racksole's life, and yet at more than one previous +crisis a high courage had not been lacking to him. + +'It's not in the menu, sir,' said Jules the imperturbable. + +'Never mind. Get it. We want it.' + +'Very good, sir.' + +Jules walked to the service-door, and, merely affecting to look +behind, came immediately back again. + +'Mr Rocco's compliments, sir, and he regrets to be unable to serve +steak and Bass to-night, sir.' + +'Mr Rocco?' questioned Racksole lightly. + +'Mr Rocco,' repeated Jules with firmness. + +'And who is Mr Rocco?' + +'Mr Rocco is our chef, sir.' Jules had the expression of a man who +is asked to explain who Shakespeare was. + +The two men looked at each other. It seemed incredible that +Theodore Racksole, the ineffable Racksole, who owned a thousand +miles of railway, several towns, and sixty votes in Congress, +should be defied by a waiter, or even by a whole hotel. Yet so it +was. When Europe's effete back is against the wall not a regiment +of millionaires can turn its flank. Jules had the calm expression of +a strong man sure of victory. His face said: 'You beat me once, but +not this time, my New York friend!' + +As for Nella, knowing her father, she foresaw interesting events, +and waited confidently for the steak. She did not feel hungry, and +she could afford to wait. + +'Excuse me a moment, Nella,' said Theodore Racksole quietly, 'I +shall be back in about two seconds,' and he strode out of the salle à +manger. No one in the room recognized the millionaire, for he was +unknown to London, this being his first visit to Europe for over +twenty years. Had anyone done so, and caught the expression on +his face, that man might have trembled for an explosion which +should have blown the entire Grand Babylon into the Thames. + +Jules retired strategically to a corner. He had fired; it was the +antagonist's turn. A long and varied experience had taught Jules +that a guest who embarks on the subjugation of a waiter is almost +always lost; the waiter has so many advantages in such a contest. + +Chapter Two HOW MR RACKSOLE OBTAINED HIS DINNER + +NEVERTHELESS, there are men with a confirmed habit of +getting their own way, even as guests in an exclusive hotel: and +Theodore Racksole had long since fallen into that useful practice - +except when his only daughter Helen, motherless but high-spirited +girl, chose to think that his way crossed hers, in which case +Theodore capitulated and fell back. But when Theodore and his +daughter happened to be going one and the same road, which was +pretty often, then Heaven alone might help any obstacle that was +so ill-advised as to stand in their path. Jules, great and observant +man though he was, had not noticed the terrible projecting chins of +both father and daughter, otherwise it is possible he would have +reconsidered the question of the steak and Bass. + +Theodore Racksole went direct to the entrance-hall of the hotel, +and entered Miss Spencer's sanctum. + +'I want to see Mr Babylon,' he said, 'without the delay of an +instant.' + +Miss Spencer leisurely raised her flaxen head. + +'I am afraid - ,' she began the usual formula. It was part of her daily +duty to discourage guests who desired to see Mr Babylon. + +'No, no,' said Racksole quickly, 'I don't want any "I'm afraids." This +is business. If you had been the ordinary hotel clerk I should have +slipped you a couple of sovereigns into your hand, and the thing +would have been done. + +As you are not - as you are obviously above bribes - I merely say to +you, I must see Mr Babylon at once on an affair of the utmost +urgency. My name is Racksole - Theodore Racksole.' + +'Of New York?' questioned a voice at the door, with a slight +foreign accent. + + The millionaire turned sharply, and saw a rather short, +French-looking man, with a bald head, a grey beard, a long and +perfectly-built frock coat, eye-glasses attached to a minute silver +chain, and blue eyes that seemed to have the transparent innocence +of a maid's. + +'There is only one,' said Theodore Racksole succinctly. + +'You wish to see me?' the new-comer suggested. + +'You are Mr Felix Babylon?' + +The man bowed. + +'At this moment I wish to see you more than anyone else in the +world,' said Racksole. 'I am consumed and burnt up with a desire +to see you, Mr Babylon. + +I only want a few minutes' quiet chat. I fancy I can settle my +business in that time.' + +With a gesture Mr Babylon invited the millionaire down a side +corridor, at the end of which was Mr Babylon's private room, a +miracle of Louis XV furniture and tapestry: like most unmarried +men with large incomes, Mr Babylon had 'tastes' of a highly +expensive sort. + +The landlord and his guest sat down opposite each other. Theodore +Racksole had met with the usual millionaire's luck in this +adventure, for Mr Babylon made a practice of not allowing himself +to be interviewed by his guests, however distinguished, however +wealthy, however pertinacious. If he had not chanced to enter Miss +Spencer's office at that precise moment, and if he had not been +impressed in a somewhat peculiar way by the physiognomy of the +millionaire, not all Mr Racksole's American energy and ingenuity +would have availed for a confabulation with the owner of the +Grand Babylon Hotel that night. Theodore Racksole, however, was +ignorant that a mere accident had served him. He took all the +credit to himself. + +'I read in the New York papers some months ago,' Theodore +started, without even a clearing of the throat, 'that this hotel of +yours, Mr Babylon, was to be sold to a limited company, but it +appears that the sale was not carried out.' + +'It was not,' answered Mr Babylon frankly, 'and the reason was that +the middle-men between the proposed company and myself wished +to make a large secret profit, and I declined to be a party to such a +profit. They were firm; I was firm; and so the affair came to +nothing.' + +'The agreed price was satisfactory?' + +'Quite.' + +'May I ask what the price was?' + +'Are you a buyer, Mr Racksole?' + +'Are you a seller, Mr Babylon?' + +'I am,' said Babylon, 'on terms. The price was four hundred +thousand pounds, including the leasehold and goodwill. But I sell +only on the condition that the buyer does not transfer the property +to a limited company at a higher figure.' + +'I will put one question to you, Mr Babylon,' said the millionaire. +'What have your profits averaged during the last four years?' + +'Thirty-four thousand pounds per annum.' + +'I buy,' said Theodore Racksole, smiling contentedly; 'and we will, +if you please, exchange contract-letters on the spot.' + +'You come quickly to a resolution, Mr Racksole. But perhaps you +have been considering this question for a long time?' + +'On the contrary,' Racksole looked at his watch, 'I have been +considering it for six minutes.' + +Felix Babylon bowed, as one thoroughly accustomed to +eccentricity of wealth. + + 'The beauty of being well-known,' Racksole continued, 'is that you +needn't trouble about preliminary explanations. You, Mr Babylon, +probably know all about me. I know a good deal about you. We +can take each other for granted without reference. Really, it is as +simple to buy an hotel or a railroad as it is to buy a watch, +provided one is equal to the transaction.' + +'Precisely,' agreed Mr Babylon smiling. 'Shall we draw up the little +informal contract? There are details to be thought of. But it occurs +to me that you cannot have dined yet, and might prefer to deal with +minor questions after dinner.' + +'I have not dined,' said the millionaire, with emphasis, 'and in that +connexion will you do me a favour? Will you send for Mr Rocco?' + +'You wish to see him, naturally.' + +'I do,' said the millionaire, and added, 'about my dinner.' + +'Rocco is a great man,' murmured Mr Babylon as he touched the +bell, ignoring the last words. 'My compliments to Mr Rocco,' he +said to the page who answered his summons, 'and if it is quite +convenient I should be glad to see him here for a moment.' + +'What do you give Rocco?' Racksole inquired. + +'Two thousand a year and the treatment of an Ambassador.' + +'I shall give him the treatment of an Ambassador and three +thousand.' + +'You will be wise,' said Felix Babylon. + +At that moment Rocco came into the room, very softly - a man of +forty, thin, with long, thin hands, and an inordinately long brown +silky moustache. + +'Rocco,' said Felix Babylon, 'let me introduce Mr Theodore +Racksole, of New York.' + +'Sharmed,' said Rocco, bowing. 'Ze - ze, vat you call it, +millionaire?' + +'Exactly,' Racksole put in, and continued quickly: 'Mr Rocco, I +wish to acquaint you before any other person with the fact that I +have purchased the Grand Babylon Hotel. If you think well to +afford me the privilege of retaining your services I shall be happy +to offer you a remuneration of three thousand a year.' + +'Tree, you said?' + +'Three.' + +'Sharmed.' + +'And now, Mr Rocco, will you oblige me very much by ordering a +plain beefsteak and a bottle of Bass to be served by Jules - I +particularly desire Jules - at table No. 17 in the dining-room in ten +minutes from now? And will you do me the honour of lunching +with me to-morrow?' + +Mr Rocco gasped, bowed, muttered something in French, and +departed. + +Five minutes later the buyer and seller of the Grand Babylon Hotel +had each signed a curt document, scribbled out on the hotel +note-paper. Felix Babylon asked no questions, and it was this +heroic absence of curiosity, of surprise on his part, that more than +anything else impressed Theodore Racksole. How many hotel +proprietors in the world, Racksole asked himself, would have let +that beef-steak and Bass go by without a word of comment. + +'From what date do you wish the purchase to take effect?' asked +Babylon. + +'Oh,' said Racksole lightly, 'it doesn't matter. Shall we say from +to-night?' + +'As you will. I have long wished to retire. And now that the +moment has come - and so dramatically - I am ready. I shall return +to Switzerland. One cannot spend much money there, but it is my +native land. I shall be the richest man in Switzerland.' He smiled +with a kind of sad amusement. + +'I suppose you are fairly well off?' said Racksole, in that easy +familiar style of his, as though the idea had just occurred to him. + +'Besides what I shall receive from you, I have half a million +invested.' + +'Then you will be nearly a millionaire?' + +Felix Babylon nodded. + +'I congratulate you, my dear sir,' said Racksole, in the tone of a +judge addressing a newly-admitted barrister. 'Nine hundred +thousand pounds, expressed in francs, will sound very nice - in +Switzerland.' + +'Of course to you, Mr Racksole, such a sum would be poverty. +Now if one might guess at your own wealth?' Felix Babylon was +imitating the other's freedom. + +'I do not know, to five millions or so, what I am worth,' said +Racksole, with sincerity, his tone indicating that he would have +been glad to give the information if it were in his power. + +'You have had anxieties, Mr Racksole?' + +'Still have them. I am now holiday-making in London with my +daughter in order to get rid of them for a time.' + +'Is the purchase of hotels your notion of relaxation, then?' + +Racksole shrugged his shoulders. 'It is a change from railroads,' he +laughed. + +'Ah, my friend, you little know what you have bought.' + +'Oh! yes I do,' returned Racksole; 'I have bought just the first hotel +in the world.' + +'That is true, that is true,' Babylon admitted, gazing meditatively at +the antique Persian carpet. 'There is nothing, anywhere, like my +hotel. But you will regret the purchase, Mr Racksole. It is no +business of mine, of course, but I cannot help repeating that you +will regret the purchase.' + +'I never regret.' + +'Then you will begin very soon - perhaps to-night.' + +'Why do you say that?' + +'Because the Grand Babylon is the Grand Babylon. You think +because you control a railroad, or an iron-works, or a line of +steamers, therefore you can control anything. But no. Not the +Grand Babylon. There is something about the Grand Babylon - ' He +threw up his hands. + +'Servants rob you, of course.' + +'Of course. I suppose I lose a hundred pounds a week in that way. +But it is not that I mean. It is the guests. The guests are too - too +distinguished. + +The great Ambassadors, the great financiers, the great nobles, all +the men that move the world, put up under my roof. London is the +centre of everything, and my hotel - your hotel - is the centre of +London. Once I had a King and a Dowager Empress staying here at +the same time. Imagine that!' + +'A great honour, Mr Babylon. But wherein lies the difficulty?' + +'Mr Racksole,' was the grim reply, 'what has become of your +shrewdness - that shrewdness which has made your fortune so +immense that even you cannot calculate it? Do you not perceive +that the roof which habitually shelters all the force, all the +authority of the world, must necessarily also shelter nameless and +numberless plotters, schemers, evil-doers, and workers of +mischief? The thing is as clear as day - and as dark as night. Mr +Racksole, I never know by whom I am surrounded. I never know +what is going forward. + +Only sometimes I get hints, glimpses of strange acts and strange +secrets. + +You mentioned my servants. They are almost all good servants, +skilled, competent. But what are they besides? For anything I know +my fourth sub-chef may be an agent of some European +Government. For anything I know my invaluable Miss Spencer +may be in the pay of a court dressmaker or a Frankfort banker. +Even Rocco may be someone else in addition to Rocco.' + +'That makes it all the more interesting,' remarked Theodore +Racksole. + + + + 'What a long time you have been, Father,' said Nella, when he +returned to table No. 17 in the salle manger. + +'Only twenty minutes, my dove.' + +'But you said two seconds. There is a difference.' + +'Well, you see, I had to wait for the steak to cook.' + +'Did you have much trouble in getting my birthday treat?' + +'No trouble. But it didn't come quite as cheap as you said.' + +'What do you mean, Father?' + +'Only that I've bought the entire hotel. But don't split.' + +'Father, you always were a delicious parent. Shall you give me the +hotel for a birthday present?' + +'No. I shall run it - as an amusement. By the way, who is that chair +for?' + +He noticed that a third cover had been laid at the table. + +'That is for a friend of mine who came in about five minutes ago. +Of course I told him he must share our steak. He'll be here in a +moment.' + +'May I respectfully inquire his name?' + +'Dimmock - Christian name Reginald; profession, English +companion to Prince Aribert of Posen. I met him when I was in St +Petersburg with cousin Hetty last fall. Oh; here he is. Mr +Dimmock, this is my dear father. He has succeeded with the steak.' + +Theodore Racksole found himself confronted by a very young +man, with deep black eyes, and a fresh, boyish expression. They +began to talk. + +Jules approached with the steak. Racksole tried to catch the +waiter's eye, but could not. The dinner proceeded. + +'Oh, Father!' cried Nella, 'what a lot of mustard you have taken!' + +'Have I?' he said, and then he happened to glance into a mirror on +his left hand between two windows. He saw the reflection of Jules, +who stood behind his chair, and he saw Jules give a slow, +significant, ominous wink to Mr Dimmock - Christian name, +Reginald. + +He examined his mustard in silence. He thought that perhaps he +had helped himself rather plenteously to mustard. + +Chapter Three AT THREE A.M. + +MR REGINALD DIMMOCK proved himself, despite his extreme +youth, to be a man of the world and of experiences, and a practised +talker. Conversation between him and Nella Racksole seemed +never to flag. They chattered about St Petersburg, and the ice on +the Neva, and the tenor at the opera who had been exiled to +Siberia, and the quality of Russian tea, and the sweetness of +Russian champagne, and various other aspects of Muscovite +existence. Russia exhausted, Nella lightly outlined her own doings +since she had met the young man in the Tsar's capital, and this +recital brought the topic round to London, where it stayed till the +final piece of steak was eaten. Theodore Racksole noticed that Mr +Dimmock gave very meagre information about his own +movements, either past or future. He regarded the youth as a +typical hanger-on of Courts, and wondered how he had obtained +his post of companion to Prince Aribert of Posen, and who Prince +Aribert of Posen might be. The millionaire thought he had once +heard of Posen, but he wasn't sure; he rather fancied it was one of +those small nondescript German States of which five-sixths of the +subjects are Palace officials, and the rest charcoal-burners or +innkeepers. Until the meal was nearly over, Racksole said little - +perhaps his thoughts were too busy with Jules' wink to Mr +Dimmock, but when ices had been followed by coffee, he decided +that it might be as well, in the interests of the hotel, to discover +something about his daughter's friend. He never for an instant +questioned her right to possess her own friends; he had always left +her in the most amazing liberty, relying on her inherited good +sense to keep her out of mischief; but, quite apart from the wink, +he was struck by Nella's attitude towards Mr Dimmock, an attitude +in which an amiable scorn was blended with an evident desire to +propitiate and please. + +'Nella tells me, Mr Dimmock, that you hold a confidential position +with Prince Aribert of Posen,' said Racksole. 'You will pardon an +American's ignorance, but is Prince Aribert a reigning Prince - +what, I believe, you call in Europe, a Prince Regnant?' + +'His Highness is not a reigning Prince, nor ever likely to be,' +answered Dimmock. 'The Grand Ducal Throne of Posen is +occupied by his Highness's nephew, the Grand Duke Eugen.' + +'Nephew?' cried Nella with astonishment. + +'Why not, dear lady?' + +'But Prince Aribert is surely very young?' + +'The Prince, by one of those vagaries of chance which occur +sometimes in the history of families, is precisely the same age as +the Grand Duke. The late Grand Duke's father was twice married. +Hence this youthfulness on the part of an uncle.' + +'How delicious to be the uncle of someone as old as yourself! But I +suppose it is no fun for Prince Aribert. I suppose he has to be +frightfully respectful and obedient, and all that, to his nephew?' + +'The Grand Duke and my Serene master are like brothers. At +present, of course, Prince Aribert is nominally heir to the throne, +but as no doubt you are aware, the Grand Duke will shortly marry +a near relative of the Emperor's, and should there be a family - ' Mr +Dimmock stopped and shrugged his straight shoulders. 'The Grand +Duke,' he went on, without finishing the last sentence, 'would +much prefer Prince Aribert to be his successor. He really doesn't +want to marry. Between ourselves, strictly between ourselves, he +regards marriage as rather a bore. But, of course, being a German +Grand Duke, he is bound to marry. He owes it to his country, to +Posen.' + +'How large is Posen?' asked Racksole bluntly. + +'Father,' Nella interposed laughing, 'you shouldn't ask such +inconvenient questions. You ought to have guessed that it isn't +etiquette to inquire about the size of a German Dukedom.' + +'I am sure,' said Dimmock, with a polite smile, 'that the Grand +Duke is as much amused as anyone at the size of his territory. I +forget the exact acreage, but I remember that once Prince Aribert +and myself walked across it and back again in a single day.' + +'Then the Grand Duke cannot travel very far within his own +dominions? You may say that the sun does set on his empire?' + +'It does,' said Dimmock. + +'Unless the weather is cloudy,' Nella put in. 'Is the Grand Duke +content always to stay at home?' + +'On the contrary, he is a great traveller, much more so than Prince +Aribert. + +I may tell you, what no one knows at present, outside this hotel, +that his Royal Highness the Grand Duke, with a small suite, will be +here to-morrow.' + +'In London?' asked Nella. + +'Yes.' + +'In this hotel?' + +'Yes.' + +'Oh! How lovely!' + +'That is why your humble servant is here to-night - a sort of +advance guard.' + +'But I understood,' Racksole said, 'that you were - er - attached to +Prince Aribert, the uncle.' + +'I am. Prince Aribert will also be here. The Grand Duke and the +Prince have business about important investments connected with +the Grand Duke's marriage settlement. . . . In the highest quarters, +you understand.' + +'For so discreet a person,' thought Racksole, 'you are fairly +communicative.' Then he said aloud: 'Shall we go out on the +terrace?' + +As they crossed the dining-room Jules stopped Mr Dimmock and +handed him a letter. 'Just come, sir, by messenger,' said Jules. + +Nella dropped behind for a second with her father. 'Leave me +alone with this boy a little - there's a dear parent,' she whispered in +his ear. + +'I am a mere cypher, an obedient nobody,' Racksole replied, +pinching her arm surreptitiously. 'Treat me as such. Use me as you +like. I will go and look after my hoteL' And soon afterwards he +disappeared. + +Nella and Mr Dimmock sat together on the terrace, sipping iced +drinks. They made a handsome couple, bowered amid plants which +blossomed at the command of a Chelsea wholesale florist. People +who passed by remarked privately that from the look of things +there was the beginning of a romance m that conversation. Perhaps +there was, but a more intimate acquaintance with the character of +Nella Racksole would have been necessary in order to predict what +precise form that romance would take. + +Jules himself served the liquids, and at ten o'clock he brought +another note. Entreating a thousand pardons, Reginald Dimmock, +after he had glanced at the note, excused himself on the plea of +urgent business for his Serene master, uncle of the Grand Duke of +Posen. He asked if he might fetch Mr Racksole, or escort Miss +Racksole to her father. But Miss Racksole said gaily that she felt +no need of an escort, and should go to bed. She added that her +father and herself always endeavoured to be independent of each +other. + +Just then Theodore Racksole had found his way once more into Mr +Babylon's private room. Before arriving there, however, he had +discovered that in some mysterious manner the news of the change +of proprietorship had worked its way down to the lowest strata of +the hotel's cosmos. The corridors hummed with it, and even +under-servants were to be seen discussing the thing, just as though +it mattered to them. + +'Have a cigar, Mr Racksole,' said the urbane Mr Babylon, 'and a +mouthful of the oldest cognac in all Europe.' + +In a few minutes these two were talking eagerly, rapidly. Felix +Babylon was astonished at Racksole's capacity for absorbing the +details of hotel management. And as for Racksole he soon realized +that Felix Babylon must be a prince of hotel managers. It had +never occurred to Racksole before that to manage an hotel, even a +large hotel, could be a specially interesting affair, or that it could +make any excessive demands upon the brains of the manager; but +he came to see that he had underrated the possibilities of an hotel. +The business of the Grand Babylon was enormous. It took +Racksole, with all his genius for organization, exactly half an hour +to master the details of the hotel laundry-work. And the +laundry-work was but one branch of activity amid scores, and not a +very large one at that. The machinery of checking supplies, and of +establishing a mean ratio between the raw stuff received in the +kitchen and the number of meals served in the salle à manger and +the private rooms, was very complicated and delicate. When +Racksole had grasped it, he at once suggested some improvements, +and this led to a long theoretical discussion, and the discussion led +to digressions, and then Felix Babylon, in a moment of +absent-mindedness, yawned. + +Racksole looked at the gilt clock on the high mantelpiece. + +'Great Scott!' he said. 'It's three o'clock. Mr Babylon, accept my +apologies for having kept you up to such an absurd hour.' + +'I have not spent so pleasant an evening for many years. You have +let me ride my hobby to my heart's content. It is I who should +apologize.' + +Racksole rose. + +'I should like to ask you one question,' said Babylon. 'Have you +ever had anything to do with hotels before?' + +'Never,' said Racksole. + +'Then you have missed your vocation. You could have been the +greatest of all hotel-managers. You would have been greater than +me, and I am unequalled, though I keep only one hotel, and some +men have half a dozen. Mr Racksole, why have you never run an +hotel?' + +'Heaven knows,' he laughed, 'but you flatter me, Mr Babylon.' + +'I? Flatter? You do not know me. I flatter no one, except, perhaps, +now and then an exceptionally distinguished guest. In which case I +give suitable instructions as to the bill.' + +'Speaking of distinguished guests, I am told that a couple of +German princes are coming here to-morrow.' + +'That is so.' + +'Does one do anything? Does one receive them formally - stand +bowing in the entrance-hall, or anything of that sort?' + +'Not necessarily. Not unless one wishes. The modern hotel +proprietor is not like an innkeeper of the Middle Ages, and even +princes do not expect to see him unless something should happen +to go wrong. As a matter of fact, though the Grand Duke of Posen +and Prince Aribert have both honoured me by staying here before, +I have never even set eyes on them. You will find all arrangements +have been made.' + +They talked a little longer, and then Racksole said good night. 'Let +me see you to your room. The lifts will be closed and the place +will be deserted. + +As for myself, I sleep here,' and Mr Babylon pointed to an inner +door. + +'No, thanks,' said Racksole; 'let me explore my own hotel +unaccompanied. I believe I can discover my room.' When he got +fairly into the passages, Racksole was not so sure that he could +discover his own room. The number was 107, but he had forgotten +whether it was on the first or second floor. + +Travelling in a lift, one is unconscious of floors. He passed several +lift-doorways, but he could see no glint of a staircase; in all +self-respecting hotels staircases have gone out of fashion, and +though hotel architects still continue, for old sakes' sake, to build +staircases, they are tucked away in remote corners where their +presence is not likely to offend the eye of a spoiled and +cosmopolitan public. The hotel seemed vast, uncanny, deserted. +An electric light glowed here and there at long intervals. On the +thick carpets, Racksole's thinly-shod feet made no sound, and he +wandered at ease to and fro, rather amused, rather struck by the +peculiar senses of night and mystery which had suddenly come +over him. He fancied he could hear a thousand snores peacefully +descending from the upper realms. At length he found a staircase, +a very dark and narrow one, and presently he was on the first floor. +He soon discovered that the numbers of the rooms on this floor did +not get beyond seventy. He encountered another staircase and +ascended to the second floor. By the decoration of the walls he +recognized this floor as his proper home, and as he strolled +through the long corridor he whistled a low, meditative whistle of +satisfaction. He thought he heard a step in the transverse corridor, +and instinctively he obliterated himself in a recess which held a +service-cabinet and a chair. He did hear a step. Peeping cautiously +out, he perceived, what he had not perceived previously, that a +piece of white ribbon had been tied round the handle of the door of +one of the bedrooms. Then a man came round the corner of the +transverse corridor, and Racksole drew back. It was Jules - Jules +with his hands in his pockets and a slouch hat over his eyes, but in +other respects attired as usual. + +Racksole, at that instant, remembered with a special vividness +what Felix Babylon had said to him at their first interview. He +wished he had brought his revolver. He didn't know why he should +feel the desirability of a revolver in a London hotel of the most +unimpeachable fair fame, but he did feel the desirability of such an +instrument of attack and defence. He privately decided that if Jules +went past his recess he would take him by the throat and in that +attitude put a few plain questions to this highly dubious waiter. But +Jules had stopped. The millionaire made another cautious +observation. Jules, with infinite gentleness, was turning the handle +of the door to which the white ribbon was attached. The door +slowly yielded and Jules disappeared within the room. After a brief +interval, the night-prowling Jules reappeared, closed the door as +softly as he had opened it, removed the ribbon, returned upon his +steps, and vanished down the transverse corridor. + +'This is quaint,' said Racksole; 'quaint to a degree!' + +It occurred to him to look at the number of the room, and he stole +towards it. + +'Well, I'm d - d!' he murmured wonderingly. + +The number was 111, his daughter's room! He tried to open it, but +the door was locked. Rushing to his own room, No. 107, he seized +one of a pair of revolvers (the kind that are made for millionaires) +and followed after Jules down the transverse corridor. At the end +of this corridor was a window; the window was open; and Jules +was innocently gazing out of the window. Ten silent strides, and +Theodore Racksole was upon him. + +'One word, my friend,' the millionaire began, carelessly waving the +revolver in the air. Jules was indubitably startled, but by an +admirable exercise of self-control he recovered possession of his +faculties in a second. + +'Sir?' said Jules. + +'I just want to be informed, what the deuce you were doing in No. +111 a moment ago.' + +'I had been requested to go there,' was the calm response. + +'You are a liar, and not a very clever one. That is my daughter's +room. Now - out with it, before I decide whether to shoot you or +throw you into the street.' + +'Excuse me, sir, No. 111 is occupied by a gentleman.' + +'I advise you that it is a serious error of judgement to contradict +me, my friend. Don't do it again. We will go to the room together, +and you shall prove that the occupant is a gentleman, and not my +daughter.' + +'Impossible, sir,' said Jules. + +'Scarcely that,' said Racksole, and he took Jules by the sleeve. The +millionaire knew for a certainty that Nella occupied No. 111, for +he had examined the room her, and himself seen that her trunks +and her maid and herself had arrived there in safety. 'Now open the +door,' whispered Racksole, when they reached No.111. + +'I must knock.' + +'That is just what you mustn't do. Open it. No doubt you have your +pass-key.' + +Confronted by the revolver, Jules readily obeyed, yet with a +deprecatory gesture, as though he would not be responsible for this +outrage against the decorum of hotel life. Racksole entered. The +room was brilliantly lighted. + +'A visitor, who insists on seeing you, sir,' said Jules, and fled. + +Mr Reginald Dimmock, still in evening dress, and smoking a +cigarette, rose hurriedly from a table. + +'Hello, my dear Mr Racksole, this is an unexpected - ah - pleasure.' + +'Where is my daughter? This is her room.' + +'Did I catch what you said, Mr Racksole?' + +'I venture to remark that this is Miss Racksole's room.' + +'My good sir,' answered Dimmock, 'you must be mad to dream of +such a thing. + +Only my respect for your daughter prevents me from expelling you +forcibly, for such an extraordinary suggestion.' + +A small spot half-way down the bridge of the millionaire's nose +turned suddenly white. + +'With your permission,' he said in a low calm voice, 'I will examine +the dressing-room and the bath-room.' + +'Just listen to me a moment,' Dimmock urged, in a milder tone. + +'I'll listen to you afterwards, my young friend,' said Racksole, and +he proceeded to search the bath-room, and the dressing-room, +without any result whatever. 'Lest my attitude might be open to +misconstruction, Mr Dimmock, I may as well tell you that I have +the most perfect confidence in my daughter, who is as well able to +take care of herself as any woman I ever met, but since you entered +it there have been one or two rather mysterious occurrences in this +hotel. That is all.' Feeling a draught of air on his shoulder, +Racksole turned to the window. 'For instance,' he added, 'I perceive +that this window is broken, badly broken, and from the outside. + +Now, how could that have occurred?' + +'If you will kindly hear reason, Mr Racksole,' said Dimmock in his +best diplomatic manner, 'I will endeavour to explain things to you. +I regarded your first question to me when you entered my room as +being offensively put, but I now see that you had some +justification.' He smiled politely. 'I was passing along this corridor +about eleven o'clock, when I found Miss Racksole in a difficulty +with the hotel servants. Miss Racksole was retiring to rest in this +room when a large stone, which must have been thrown from the +Embankment, broke the window, as you see. Apart from the +discomfort of the broken window, she did not care to remain in the +room. She argued that where one stone had come another might +follow. She therefore insisted on her room being changed. The +servants said that there was no other room available with a +dressing-room and bath-room attached, and your daughter made a +point of these matters. I at once offered to exchange apartments +with her. She did me the honour to accept my offer. Our respective +belongings were moved - and that is all. Miss Racksole is at this +moment, I trust, asleep in No. 124.' + +Theodore Racksole looked at the young man for a few seconds in +silence. + +There was a faint knock at the door. + +'Come in,' said Racksole loudly. + +Someone pushed open the door, but remained standing on the mat. +It was Nella's maid, in a dressing-gown. + +'Miss Racksole's compliments, and a thousand excuses, but a book +of hers was left on the mantelshelf in this room. She cannot sleep, +and wishes to read.' + + 'Mr Dimmock, I tender my apologies - my formal apologies,' said +Racksole, when the girl had gone away with the book. 'Good +night.' + +'Pray don't mention it,' said Dimmock suavely - and bowed him +out. + +Chapter Four ENTRANCE OF THE PRINCE + +NEVERTHELESS, sundry small things weighed on Racksole's +mind. First there was Jules' wink. Then there was the ribbon on the +door-handle and Jules' + +visit to No. 111, and the broken window - broken from the outside. +Racksole did not forget that the time was 3 a.m. He slept but little +that night, but he was glad that he had bought the Grand Babylon +Hotel. It was an acquisition which seemed to promise fun and +diversion. + +The next morning he came across Mr Babylon early. 'I have +emptied my private room of all personal papers,' said Babylon, +'and it is now at your disposal. + +I purpose, if agreeable to yourself, to stay on in the hotel as a guest +for the present. We have much to settle with regard to the +completion of the purchase, and also there are things which you +might want to ask me. Also, to tell the truth, I am not anxious to +leave the old place with too much suddenness. It will be a wrench +to me.' + +'I shall be delighted if you will stay,' said the millionaire, 'but it +must be as my guest, not as the guest of the hotel.' + +'You are very kind.' + +'As for wishing to consult you, no doubt I shall have need to do so, +but I must say that the show seems to run itself.' + +'Ah!' said Babylon thoughtfully. 'I have heard of hotels that run +themselves. If they do, you may be sure that they obey the laws of +gravity and run downwards. You will have your hands full. For +example, have you yet heard about Miss Spencer?' + +'No,' said Racksole. 'What of her?' + +'She has mysteriously vanished during the night, and nobody +appears to be able to throw any light on the affair. Her room is +empty, her boxes gone. + +You will want someone to take her place, and that someone will +not be very easy to get.' + +'H'm!' Racksole said, after a pause. 'Hers is not the only post that +falls vacant to-day.' + +A little later, the millionaire installed himself in the late owner's +private room and rang the bell. + +'I want Jules,' he said to the page. + +While waiting for Jules, Racksole considered the question of Miss +Spencer's disappearance. + +'Good morning, Jules,' was his cheerful greeting, when the +imperturbable waiter arrived. + +'Good morning, sir.' + +'Take a chair.' + +'Thank you, sir.' + +'We have met before this morning, Jules.' + +'Yes, sir, at 3 a.m.' + +'Rather strange about Miss Spencer's departure, is it not?' +suggested Racksole. + +'It is remarkable, sir.' + +'You are aware, of course, that Mr Babylon has transferred all his +interests in this hotel to me?' + +'I have been informed to that effect, sir.' + +'I suppose you know everything that goes on in the hotel, Jules?' + +'As the head waiter, sir, it is my business to keep a general eye on +things.' + +'You speak very good English for a foreigner, Jules.' + +'For a foreigner, sir! I am an Englishman, a Hertfordshire man born +and bred. Perhaps my name has misled you, sir. I am only called +Jules because the head waiter of any really high-class hotel must +have either a French or an Italian name.' + +'I see,' said Racksole. 'I think you must be rather a clever person, +Jules.' + + 'That is not for me to say, sir.' + +'How long has the hotel enjoyed the advantage of your services?' + +'A little over twenty years.' + +'That is a long time to be in one place. Don't you think it's time you +got out of the rut? You are still young, and might make a +reputation for yourself in another and wider sphere.' + +Racksole looked at the man steadily, and his glance was steadily +returned. + +'You aren't satisfied with me, sir?' + +'To be frank, Jules, I think - I think you - er - wink too much. And I +think that it is regrettable when a head waiter falls into a habit of +taking white ribbons from the handles of bedroom doors at three in +the morning.' + +Jules started slightly. + +'I see how it is, sir. You wish me to go, and one pretext, if I may +use the term, is as good as another. Very well, I can't say that I'm +surprised. It sometimes happens that there is incompatibility of +temper between a hotel proprietor and his head waiter, and then, +unless one of them goes, the hotel is likely to suffer. I will go, Mr +Racksole. In fact, I had already thought of giving notice.' + +The millionaire smiled appreciatively. 'What wages do you require +in lieu of notice? It is my intention that you leave the hotel within +an hour.' + +'I require no wages in lieu of notice, sir. I would scorn to accept +anything. And I will leave the hotel in fifteen minutes.' + +'Good-day, then. You have my good wishes and my admiration, so +long as you keep out of my hotel.' + +Racksole got up. 'Good-day, sir. And thank you.' + +'By the way, Jules, it will be useless for you to apply to any other +first-rate European hotel for a post, because I shall take measures +which will ensure the rejection of any such application.' + +'Without discussing the question whether or not there aren't at least +half a dozen hotels in London alone that would jump for joy at the +chance of getting me,' answered Jules, 'I may tell you, sir, that I +shall retire from my profession.' + +'Really! You will turn your brains to a different channel.' + +'No, sir. I shall take rooms in Albemarle Street or Jermyn Street, +and just be content to be a man-about-town. I have saved some +twenty thousand pounds - a mere trifle, but sufficient for my +needs, and I shall now proceed to enjoy it. Pardon me for troubling +you with my personal affairs. And good-day again.' + +That afternoon Racksole went with Felix Babylon first to a firm of +solicitors in the City, and then to a stockbroker, in order to carry +out the practical details of the purchase of the hotel. + +'I mean to settle in England,' said Racksole, as they were coming +back. 'It is the only country - ' and he stopped. + +'The only country?' + +'The, only country where you can invest money and spend money +with a feeling of security. In the United States there is nothing +worth spending money on, nothing to buy. In France or Italy, there +is no real security.' + +'But surely you are a true American?' questioned Babylon. + +'I am a true American,' said Racksole, 'but my father, who began by +being a bedmaker at an Oxford college, and ultimately made ten +million dollars out of iron in Pittsburg - my father took the wise +precaution of having me educated in England. I had my three years +at Oxford, like any son of the upper middle class! It did me good. +It has been worth more to me than many successful speculations. It +taught me that the English language is different from, and better +than, the American language, and that there is something - I +haven't yet found out exactly what - in English life that Americans +will never get. Why,' he added, 'in the United States we still bribe +our judges and our newspapers. And we talk of the eighteenth +century as though it was the beginning of the world. Yes, I shall +transfer my securities to London. I shall build a house in Park +Lane, and I shall buy some immemorial country seat with a history +as long as the A. T. and S. railroad, and I shall calmly and +gradually settle down. D'you know - I am rather a good-natured +man for a millionaire, and of a social disposition, and yet I haven't +six real friends in the whole of New York City. Think of that!' + +'And I,' said Babylon, 'have no friends except the friends of my +boyhood in Lausanne. I have spent thirty years in England, and +gained nothing but a perfect knowledge of the English language +and as much gold coin as would fill a rather large box.' + +These two plutocrats breathed a simultaneous sigh. + +'Talking of gold coin,' said Racksole, 'how much money should you +think Jules has contrived to amass while he has been with you?' + +'Oh!' Babylon smiled. 'I should not like to guess. He has had unique +opportunities - opportunities.' + +'Should you consider twenty thousand an extraordinary sum under +the circumstances?' + +'Not at all. Has he been confiding in you?' + +'Somewhat. I have dismissed him.' + +'You have dismissed him?' + +'Why not?' + +'There is no reason why not. But I have felt inclined to dismiss him +for the past ten years, and never found courage to do it.' + +'It was a perfectly simple proceeding, I assure you. Before I had +done with him, I rather liked the fellow.' + +'Miss Spencer and Jules - both gone in one day!' mused Felix +Babylon. + +'And no one to take their places,' said Racksole. 'And yet the hotel +continues its way!' + +But when Racksole reached the Grand Babylon he found that Miss +Spencer's chair in the bureau was occupied by a stately and +imperious girl, dressed becomingly in black. + +'Heavens, Nella!' he cried, going to the bureau. 'What are you doing +here?' + +'I am taking Mis Spencer's place. I want to help you with your +hotel, Dad. I fancy I shall make an excellent hotel clerk. I have +arranged with a Miss Selina Smith, one of the typists in the office, +to put me up to all the tips and tricks, and I shall do very well.' + +'But look here, Helen Racksole. We shall have the whole of +London talking about this thing - the greatest of all American +heiresses a hotel clerk! And I came here for quiet and rest!' + +'I suppose it was for the sake of quiet and rest that you bought the +hotel, Papa?' + +'You would insist on the steak,' he retorted. 'Get out of this, on the +instant.' + +'Here I am, here to stay,' said Nella, and deliberately laughed at her +parent. + +Just then the face of a fair-haired man of about thirty years +appeared at the bureau window. He was very well-dressed, very +aristocratic in his pose, and he seemed rather angry. + +He looked fixedly at Nella and started back. + +'Ach!' he exclaimed. 'You!' + +'Yes, your Highness, it is indeed I. Father, this is his Serene +Highness Prince Aribert of Posen - one of our most esteemed +customers.' + +'You know my name, Fräulein?' the new-comer murmured in +German. + +'Certainly, Prince,' Nella replied sweetly. 'You were plain Count +Steenbock last spring in Paris - doubtless travelling incognito - ' + +'Silence,' he entreated, with a wave of the hand, and his forehead +went as white as paper. + +Chapter Five WHAT OCCURRED TO REGINALD DIMMOCK + +IN another moment they were all three talking quite nicely, and +with at any rate an appearance of being natural. Prince Aribert +became suave, even deferential to Nella, and more friendly +towards Nella's father than their respective positions demanded. +The latter amused himself by studying this sprig of royalty, the +first with whom he had ever come into contact. He decided that the +young fellow was personable enough, 'had no frills on him,' + +and would make an exceptionally good commercial traveller for a +first-class firm. Such was Theodore Racksole's preliminary +estimate of the man who might one day be the reigning Grand +Duke of Posen. + +It occurred to Nella, and she smiled at the idea, that the bureau of +the hotel was scarcely the correct place in which to receive this +august young man. There he stood, with his head half-way through +the bureau window, negligently leaning against the woodwork, just +as though he were a stockbroker or the manager of a New York +burlesque company. + +'Is your Highness travelling quite alone?' she asked. + +'By a series of accidents I am,' he said. 'My equerry was to have +met me at Charing Cross, but he failed to do so - I cannot imagine +why.' + +'Mr Dimmock?' questioned Racksole. + +'Yes, Dimmock. I do not remember that he ever missed an +appointment before. + +You know him? He has been here?' + +'He dined with us last night,' said Racksole - 'on Nella's invitation,' +he added maliciously; 'but to-day we have seen nothing of him. I +know, however, that he has engaged the State apartments, and also +a suite adjoining the State apartments - No. 55. That is so, isn't it, +Nella?' + +'Yes, Papa,' she said, having first demurely examined a ledger. +'Your Highness would doubtless like to be conducted to your room +- apartments I mean.' Then Nella laughed deliberately at the +Prince, and said, 'I don't know who is the proper person to conduct +you, and that's a fact. The truth is that Papa and I are rather raw yet +in the hotel line. You see, we only bought the place last night.' + +'You have bought the hotel!' exclaimed the Prince. + +'That's so,' said Racksole. + +'And Felix Babylon has gone?' + +'He is going, if he has not already gone.' + +'Ah! I see,' said the Prince; 'this is one of your American "strokes". +You have bought to sell again, is that not it? You are on your +holidays, but you cannot resist making a few thousands by way of +relaxation. I have heard of such things.' + +'We sha'n't sell again, Prince, until we are tired of our bargain. +Sometimes we tire very quickly, and sometimes we don't. It +depends - eh? What?' + +Racksole broke off suddenly to attend to a servant in livery who +had quietly entered the bureau and was making urgent mysterious +signs to him. + +'If you please, sir,' the man by frantic gestures implored Mr +Theodore Racksole to come out. + +'Pray don't let me detain you, Mr Racksole,' said the Prince, and +therefore the proprietor of the Grand Babylon departed after the +servant, with a queer, curt little bow to Prince Aribert. + +'Mayn't I come inside?' said the Prince to Nella immediately the +millionaire had gone. + +'Impossible, Prince,' Nella laughed. 'The rule against visitors +entering this bureau is frightfully strict.' + +'How do you know the rule is so strict if you only came into +possession last night?' + +'I know because I made the rule myself this morning, your +Highness.' + +'But seriously, Miss Racksole, I want to talk to you.' + +'Do you want to talk to me as Prince Aribert or as the friend - the +acquaintance - whom I knew in Paris' last year?' + +'As the friend, dear lady, if I may use the term.' + +'And you are sure that you would not like first to be conducted to +your apartments?' + +'Not yet. I will wait till Dimmock comes; he cannot fail to be here +soon.' + +'Then we will have tea served in father's private room - the +proprietor's private room, you know.' + +'Good!' he said. + +Nella talked through a telephone, and rang several bells, and +behaved generally in a manner calculated to prove to Princes and +to whomever it might concern that she was a young woman of +business instincts and training, and then she stepped down from +her chair of office, emerged from the bureau, and, preceded by two +menials, led Prince Aribert to the Louis XV chamber in which her +father and Felix Babylon had had their long confabulation on the +previous evening. + +'What do you want to talk to me about?' she asked her companion, +as she poured out for him a second cup of tea. The Prince looked +at her for a moment as he took the proffered cup, and being a +young man of sane, healthy, instincts, he could think of nothing for +the moment except her loveliness. + +Nella was indeed beautiful that afternoon. The beauty of even the +most beautiful woman ebbs and flows from hour to hour. Nella's +this afternoon was at the flood. Vivacious, alert, imperious, and yet +ineffably sweet, she seemed to radiate the very joy and exuberance +of life. + +'I have forgotten,' he said. + +'You have forgotten! That is surely very wrong of you? You gave +me to understand that it was something terribly important. But of +course I knew it couldn't be, because no man, and especially no +Prince, ever discussed anything really important with a woman.' + +'Recollect, Miss Racksole, that this aftemoon, here, I am not the +Prince.' + +'You are Count Steenbock, is that it?' + +He started. 'For you only,' he said, unconsciously lowering his +voice. 'Miss Racksole, I particularly wish that no one here should +know that I was in Paris last spring.' + +'An affair of State?' she smiled. + +'An affair of State,' he replied soberly. 'Even Dimmock doesn't +know. It was strange that we should be fellow guests at that quiet +out-of-the-way hotel - strange but delightful. I shall never forget +that rainy afternoon that we spent together in the Museum of the +Trocadéro. Let us talk about that.' + +'About the rain, or the museum?' + +'I shall never forget that afternoon,' he repeated, ignoring the +lightness of her question. + +'Nor I,' she murmured corresponding to his mood. + +'You, too enjoyed it?' he said eagerly. + +'The sculptures were magnificent,' she replied, hastily glancing at +the ceiling. + +'Ah! So they were! Tell me, Miss Racksole, how did you discover +my identity.' + +'I must not say,' she answered. 'That is my secret. Do not seek to +penetrate it. Who knows what horrors you might discover if you +probed too far?' She laughed, but she laughed alone. The Prince +remained pensive - as it were brooding. + +'I never hoped to see you again,' he said. + +'Why not?' + +'One never sees again those whom one wishes to see.' + +'As for me, I was perfectly convinced that we should meet again.' + +'Why?' + +'Because I always get what I want.' + +'Then you wanted to see me again?' + +'Certainly. You interested me extremely. I have never met another +man who could talk so well about sculpture as the Count +Steenbock.' + +'Do you really always get what you want, Miss Racksole?' + +'Of course.' + +'That is because your father is so rich, I suppose?' + +'Oh, no, it isn't!' she said. 'It's simply because I always do get what I +want. It's got nothing to do with Father at all.' + +'But Mr Racksole is extremely wealthy?' + +'Wealthy isn't the word, Count. There is no word. It's positively +awful the amount of dollars poor Papa makes. And the worst of it +is he can't help it. + +He told me once that when a man had made ten millions no power +on earth could stop those ten millions from growing into twenty. +And so it continues. + +I spend what I can, but I can't come near coping with it; and of +course Papa is no use whatever at spending.' + +'And you have no mother?' + +'Who told you I had no mother?' she asked quietly. + +'I - er - inquired about you,' he said, with equal candour and +humility. + +'In spite of the fact that you never hoped to see me again?' + +'Yes, in spite of that.' + +'How funny!' she said, and lapsed into a meditative silence. + +'Yours must be a wonderful existence,' said the Prince. 'I envy you.' + +'You envy me - what? My father's wealth?' + +'No,' he said; 'your freedom and your responsibilities.' + +'I have no responsibilities,' she remarked. + +'Pardon me,' he said; 'you have, and the time is coming when you +will feel them.' + +'I'm only a girl,' she murmured with sudden simplicity. 'As for you, +Count, surely you have sufficient responsibilities of your own?' + +'I?' he said sadly. 'I have no responsibilties. I am a nobody - a +Serene Highness who has to pretend to be very important, always +taking immense care never to do anything that a Serene Highness +ought not to do. Bah!' + +'But if your nephew, Prince Eugen, were to die, would you not +come to the throne, and would you not then have these +responsibilities which you so much desire?' + +'Eugen die?' said Prince Aribert, in a curious tone. 'Impossible. He +is the perfection of health. In three months he will be married. No, +I shall never be anything but a Serene Highness, the most +despicable of God's creatures.' + +'But what about the State secret which you mentioned? Is not that a +responsibility?' + +'Ah!' he said. 'That is over. That belongs to the past. It was an +accident in my dull career. I shall never be Count Steenbock +again.' + +'Who knows?' she said. 'By the way, is not Prince Eugen coming +here to-day? Mr Dimmock told us so.' + +'See!' answered the Prince, standing up and bending over her. 'I am +going to confide in you. I don't know why, but I am.' + +'Don't betray State secrets,' she warned him, smiling into his face. + +But just then the door of the room was unceremoniously opened. + +'Go right in,' said a voice sharply. It was Theodore Racksole's. Two +men entered, bearing a prone form on a stretcher, and Racksole +followed them. + +Nella sprang up. Racksole stared to see his daughter. + +'I didn't know you were in here, Nell. Here,' to the two men, 'out +again.' + +'Why!' exclaimed Nella, gazing fearfully at the form on the +stretcher, 'it's Mr Dimmock!' + +'It is,' her father acquiesced. 'He's dead,' he added laconically. 'I'd +have broken it to you more gently had I known. Your pardon, +Prince.' There was a pause. + +'Dimmock dead!' Prince Aribert whispered under his breath, and he +kneeled down by the side of the stretcher. 'What does this mean?' + +The poor fellow was just walking across the quadrangle towards +the portico when he fell down. A commissionaire who saw him +says he was walking very quickly. At first I thought it was +sunstroke, but it couldn't have been, though the weather certainly +is rather warm. It must be heart disease. But anyhow, he's dead. +We did what we could. I've sent for a doctor, and for the police. I +suppose there'll have to be an inquest.' + +Theodore Racksole stopped, and in an awkward solemn silence +they all gazed at the dead youth. His features were slightly drawn, +and his eyes closed; that was all. He might have been asleep. + +'My poor Dimmock!' exclaimed the Prince, his voice broken. 'And +I was angry because the lad did not meet me at Charing Cross!' + +'Are you sure he is dead, Father?' Nella said. + +'You'd better go away, Nella,' was Racksole's only reply; but the +girl stood still, and began to sob quietly. On the previous night she +had secretly made fun of Reginald Dimmock. She had deliberately +set herself to get information from him on a topic in which she +happened to be specially interested and she had got it, laughing the +while at his youthful crudities - his vanity, his transparent cunning, +his abusurd airs. She had not liked him; she had even distrusted +him, and decided that he was not 'nice'. But now, as he lay on the +stretcher, these things were forgotten. She went so far as to +reproach herself for them. Such is the strange commanding power +of death. + +'Oblige me by taking the poor fellow to my apartments,' said the +Prince, with a gesture to the attendants. 'Surely it is time the doctor +came.' + +Racksole felt suddenly at that moment he was nothing but a mere +hotel proprietor with an awkward affair on his hands. For a +fraction of a second he wished he had never bought the Grand +Babylon. + +A quarter of an hour later Prince Aribert, Theodore Racksole, a +doctor, and an inspector of police were in the Prince's +reception-room. They had just come from an ante-chamber, in +which lay the mortal remains of Reginald Dimmock. + +'Well?' said Racksole, glancing at the doctor. + +The doctor was a big, boyish-looking man, with keen, quizzical +eyes. + +'It is not heart disease,' said the doctor. + +'Not heart disease?' + +'No.' + +'Then what is it?' asked the Prince. + +'I may be able to answer that question after the post-mortem,' said +the doctor. 'I certainly can't answer it now. The symptoms are +unusual to a degree.' + +The inspector of police began to write in a note-book. + +Chapter Six IN THE GOLD ROOM + +AT the Grand Babylon a great ball was given that night in the Gold +Room, a huge saloon attached to the hotel, though scarcely part of +it, and certainly less exclusive than the hotel itself. Theodore +Racksole knew nothing of the affair, except that it was an +entertainment offered by a Mr and Mrs Sampson Levi to their +friends. Who Mr and Mrs Sampson Levi were he did not know, nor +could anyone tell him anything about them except that Mr +Sampson Levi was a prominent member of that part of the Stock +Exchange familiarly called the Kaffir Circus, and that his wife was +a stout lady with an aquiline nose and many diamonds, and that +they were very rich and very hospitable. Theodore Racksole did +not want a ball in his hotel that evening, and just before dinner he +had almost a mind to issue a decree that the Gold Room was to be +closed and the ball forbidden, and Mr and Mrs Sampson Levi +might name the amount of damages suffered by them. His reasons +for such a course were threefold - first, he felt depressed and +uneasy; second, he didn't like the name of Sampson Levi; and, +third, he had a desire to show these so-called plutocrats that their +wealth was nothing to him, that they could not do what they chose +with Theodore Racksole, and that for two pins Theodore Racksole +would buy them up, and the whole Kaffir Circus to boot. But +something wamed him that though such a high-handed proceeding +might be tolerated in America, that land of freedom, it would +never be tolerated in England. He felt instinctively that in England +there are things you can't do, and that this particular thing was one +of them. So the ball went forward, and neither Mr nor Mrs +Sampson Levi had ever the least suspicion what a narrow escape +they had had of looking very foolish in the eyes of the thousand or +so guests invited by them to the Gold Room of the Grand Babylon +that evening. + +The Gold Room of the Grand Babylon was built for a ballroom. A +balcony, supported by arches faced with gilt and lapis-lazulo, ran +around it, and from this vantage men and maidens and chaperons +who could not or would not dance might survey the scene. +Everyone knew this, and most people took advantage of it. What +everyone did not know - what no one knew - was that higher up +than the balcony there was a little barred window in the end wall +from which the hotel authorities might keep a watchful eye, not +only on the dancers, but on the occupants of the balcony itself. + +It may seem incredible to the uninitiated that the guests at any +social gathering held in so gorgeous and renowned an apartment as +the Gold Room of the Grand Babylon should need the observation +of a watchful eye. Yet so it was. Strange matters and unexpected +faces had been descried from the little window, and more than one +European detective had kept vigil there with the most eminently +satisfactory results. + +At eleven o'clock Theodore Racksole, afflicted by vexation of +spirit, found himself gazing idly through the little barred window. +Nella was with him. + +Together they had been wandering about the corridors of the hotel, +still strange to them both, and it was quite by accident that they +had lighted upon the small room which had a surreptitious view of +Mr and Mrs Sampson Levi's ball. Except for the light of the +chandelier of the ball-room the little cubicle was in darkness. +Nella was looking through the window; her father stood behind. + +'I wonder which is Mrs Sampson Levi?' Nella said, 'and whether +she matches her name. Wouldn't you love to have a name like that, +Father - something that people could take hold of - instead of +Racksole?' + +The sound of violins and a confused murmur of voices rose gently +up to them. + + 'Umphl' said Theodore. 'Curse those evening papers!' he added, +inconsequently but with sincerity. + +'Father, you're very horrid to-night. What have the evening papers +been doing?' + +'Well, my young madame, they've got me in for one, and you for +another; and they're manufacturing mysteries like fun. It's young +Dimmock's death that has started 'em.' + +'Well, Father, you surely didn't expect to keep yourself out of the +papers. + +Besides, as regards newspapers, you ought to be glad you aren't in +New York. + +Just fancy what the dear old Herald would have made out of a little +transaction like yours of last night' + +'That's true,' assented Racksole. 'But it'll be all over New York +to-morrow morning, all the same. The worst of it is that Babylon +has gone off to Switzerland.' + +'Why?' + +'Don't know. Sudden fancy, I guess, for his native heath.' + +'What difference does it make to you?' + +'None. Only I feel sort of lonesome. I feel I want someone to lean +up against in running this hotel.' + +'Father, if you have that feeling you must be getting ill.' + +'Yes,' he sighed, 'I admit it's unusual with me. But perhaps you +haven't grasped the fact, Nella, that we're in the middle of a rather +queer business.' + +'You mean about poor Mr Dimmock?' + +'Partly Dimmock and partly other things. First of all, that Miss +Spencer, or whatever her wretched name is, mysteriously +disappears. Then there was the stone thrown into your bedroom. +Then I caught that rascal Jules conspiring with Dimmock at three +o'clock in the morning. Then your precious Prince Aribert arrives +without any suite - which I believe is a most peculiar and wicked +thing for a Prince to do - and moreover I find my daughter on very +intimate terms with the said Prince. Then young Dimmock goes +and dies, and there is to be an inquest; then Prince Eugen and his +suite, who were expected here for dinner, fail to turn up at all - ' + +'Prince Eugen has not come?' + +'He has not; and Uncle Aribert is in a deuce of a stew about him, +and telegraphing all over Europe. Altogether, things are working +up pretty lively.' + +'Do you really think, Dad, there was anything between Jules and +poor Mr Dimmock?' + +'Think! I know! I tell you I saw that scamp give Dimmock a wink +last night at dinner that might have meant - well!' + +'So you caught that wink, did you, Dad?' + +'Why, did you?' + +'Of course, Dad. I was going to tell you about it.' + +The millionaire grunted. + +'Look here, Father,' Nella whispered suddenly, and pointed to the +balcony immediately below them. 'Who's that?' She indicated a +man with a bald patch on the back of his head, who was propping +himself up against the railing of the balcony and gazing +immovable into the ball-room. + +'Well, who is it?' + +'Isn't it Jules?' + +'Gemini! By the beard of the prophet, it is!' + +'Perhaps Mr Jules is a guest of Mrs Sampson Levi.' + +'Guest or no guest, he goes out of this hotel, even if I have to throw +him out myself.' + +Theodore Racksole disappeared without another word, and Nella +followed him. + +But when the millionaire arrived on the balcony floor he could see +nothing of Jules, neither there nor in the ball-room itself. Saying +no word aloud, but quietly whispering wicked expletives, he +searched everywhere in vain, and then, at last, by tortuous +stairways and corridors returned to his original post of observation, +that he might survey the place anew from the vantage ground. To +his surprise he found a man in the dark little room, watching the +scene of the ball as intently as he himself had been doing a few +minutes before. Hearing footsteps, the man turned with a start. + +It was Jules. + +The two exchanged glances in the half light for a second. + +'Good evening, Mr Racksole,' said Jules calmly. 'I must apologize +for being here.' + +'Force of habit, I suppose,' said Theodore Racksole drily. + +'Just so, sir.' + +'I fancied I had forbidden you to re-enter this hotel?' + +'I thought your order applied only to my professional capacity. I am +here to-night as the guest of Mr and Mrs Sampson Levi.' + +'In your new rôle of man-about-town, eh?' + +'Exactly.' + +'But I don't allow men-about-town up here, my friend.' + +'For being up here I have already apologized.' + +'Then, having apologized, you had better depart; that is my +disinterested advice to you.' + +'Good night, sir.' + +'And, I say, Mr Jules, if Mr and Mrs Sampson Levi, or any other +Hebrews or Christians, should again invite you to my hotel you +will oblige me by declining the invitation. You'll find that will be +the safest course for you.' + +'Good night, sir.' + +Before midnight struck Theodore Racksole had ascertained that +the invitation-list of Mr and Mrs Sampson Levi, though a +somewhat lengthy one, contained no reference to any such person +as Jules. + +He sat up very late. To be precise, he sat up all night. He was a +man who, by dint of training, could comfortably dispense with +sleep when he felt so inclined, or when circumstances made such a +course advisable. He walked to and fro in his room, and cogitated +as few people beside Theodore Racksole could cogitate. At 6 a.m. +he took a stroll round the business part of his premises, and +watched the supplies come in from Covent Garden, from +Smithfield, from Billingsgate, and from other strange places. He +found the proceedings of the kitchen department quite interesting, +and made mental notes of things that he would have altered, of +men whose wages he would increase and men whose wages he +would reduce. At 7 a.m. he happened to be standing near the +luggage lift, and witnessed the descent of vast quantities of +luggage, and its disappearance into a Carter Paterson van. + +'Whose luggage is that?' he inquired peremptorily. + +The luggage clerk, with an aggrieved expression, explained to him +that it was the luggage of nobody in particular, that it belonged to +various guests, and was bound for various destinations; that it was, +in fact, 'expressed' + +luggage despatched in advance, and that a similar quantity of it left +the hotel every morning about that hour. + +Theodore Racksole walked away, and breakfasted upon one cup of +tea and half a slice of toast. + +At ten o'clock he was informed that the inspector of police desired +to see him. The inspector had come, he said, to superintend the +removal of the body of Reginald Dimmock to the mortuary +adjoining the place of inquest, and a suitable vehicle waited at the +back entrance of the hotel. + +The inspector had also brought subpoenas for himself and Prince +Aribert of Posen and the commissionaire to attend the inquest. + +'I thought Mr Dimmock's remains were removed last night,' said +Racksole wearily. + +'No, sir. The fact is the van was engaged on another job.' + +The inspector gave the least hint of a professional smile, and +Racksole, disgusted, told him curtly to go and perform his duties. + +In a few minutes a message came from the inspector requesting Mr +Racksole to be good enough to come to him on the first floor. +Racksole went. In the ante-room, where the body of Reginald +Dimmock had originally been placed, were the inspector and +Prince Aribert, and two policemen. + +'Well?' said Racksole, after he and the Prince had exchanged bows. +Then he saw a coffin laid across two chairs. 'I see a coffin has been +obtained,' he remarked. 'Quite right' He approached it. 'It's empty,' +he observed unthinkingly. + +'Just so,' said the inspector. 'The body of the deceased has +disappeared. + +And his Serene Highness Prince Aribert informs me that though he +has occupied a room immediately opposite, on the other side of the +corridor, he can throw no light on the affair.' + +'Indeed, I cannot!' said the Prince, and though he spoke with +sufficient calmness and dignity, you could see that he was deeply +pained, even distressed. + +'Well, I'm - ' murmured Racksole, and stopped. + +Chapter Seven NELLA AND THE PRINCE + +IT appeared impossible to Theodore Racksole that so cumbrous an +article as a corpse could be removed out of his hotel, with no trace, +no hint, no clue as to the time or the manner of the performance of +the deed. After the first feeling of surprise, Racksole grew coldly +and severely angry. He had a mind to dismiss the entire staff of the +hotel. He personally examined the night-watchman, the +chambermaids and all other persons who by chance might or ought +to know something of the affair; but without avail. The corpse of +Reginald Dimmock had vanished utterly - disappeared like a +fleshless spirit. + +Of course there were the police. But Theodore Racksole held the +police in sorry esteem. He acquainted them with the facts, +answered their queries with a patient weariness, and expected, +nothing whatever from that quarter. He also had several interviews +with Prince Aribert of Posen, but though the Prince was suavity +itself and beyond doubt genuinely concerned about the fate of his +dead attendant, yet it seemed to Racksole that he was keeping +something back, that he hesitated to say all he knew. Racksole, +with characteristic insight, decided that the death of Reginald +Dimmock was only a minor event, which had occurred, as it were, +on the fringe of some far more profound mystery. And, therefore, +he decided to wait, with his eyes very wide open, until something +else happened that would throw light on the business. At the +moment he took only one measure - he arranged that the theft of +Dimmock's body should not appear in the newspapers. It is +astonishing how well a secret can be kept, when the possessors of +the secret are handled with the proper mixture of firmness and +persuasion. Racksole managed this very neatly. It was a +complicated job, and his success in it rather pleased him. + +At the same time he was conscious of being temporarily worsted +by an unknown group of schemers, in which he felt convinced that +Jules was an important item. He could scarcely look Nella in the +eyes. The girl had evidently expected him to unmask this +conspiracy at once, with a single stroke of the millionaire's magic +wand. She was thoroughly accustomed, in the land of her birth, to +seeing him achieve impossible feats. Over there he was a 'boss'; +men trembled before his name; when he wished a thing to happen - +well, it happened; if he desired to know a thing, he just knew it. +But here, in London, Theodore Racksole was not quite the same +Theodore Racksole. He dominated New York; but London, for the +most part, seemed not to take much interest in him; and there were +certainly various persons in London who were capable of snapping +their fingers at him - at Theodore Racksole. Neither he nor his +daughter could get used to that fact. + +As for Nella, she concerned herself for a little with the ordinary +business of the bureau, and watched the incomings and outgoings +of Prince Aribert with a kindly interest. She perceived, what her +father had failed to perceive, that His Highness had assumed an +attitude of reserve merely to hide the secret distraction and dismay +which consumed him. She saw that the poor fellow had no settled +plan in his head, and that he was troubled by something which, so +far, he had confided to nobody. It came to her knowledge that each +morning he walked to and fro on the Victoria Embankment, alone, +and apparently with no object. On the third morning she decided +that driving exercise on the Embankment would be good for her +health, and thereupon ordered a carriage and issued forth, arrayed +in a miraculous putty-coloured gown. Near Blackfriars Bridge she +met the Prince, and the carriage was drawn up by the pavement. + +'Good morning, Prince,' she greeted him. 'Are you mistaking this +for Hyde Park?' + +He bowed and smiled. + +'I usually walk here in the mornings,' he said. + +'You surprise me,' she returned. 'I thought I was the only person in +London who preferred the Embankment, with this view of the +river, to the dustiness of Hyde Park. I can't imagine how it is that +London will never take exercise anywhere except in that ridiculous +Park. Now, if they had Central Park - ' + +'I think the Embankment is the finest spot in all London,' he said. + +She leaned a little out of the landau, bringing her face nearer to +his. + +'I do believe we are kindred spirits, you and I,' she murmured; and +then, 'Au revoir, Prince!' + +'One moment, Miss Racksole.' His quick tones had a note of +entreaty. + +'I am in a hurry,' she fibbed; 'I am not merely taking exercise this +morning. You have no idea how busy we are.' + +'Ah! then I will not trouble you. But I leave the Grand Babylon +to-night' + +'Do you?' she said. 'Then will your Highness do me the honour of +lunching with me today in Father's room? Father will be out - he is +having a day in the City with some stockbroking persons.' + +'I shall be charmed,' said the Prince, and his face showed that he +meant it. + + Nella drove off. + +If the lunch was a success that result was due partly to Rocco, and +partly to Nella. The Prince said little beyond what the ordinary +rules of the conversational game demanded. His hostess talked +much and talked well, but she failed to rouse her guest. When they +had had coffee he took a rather formal leave of her. + +'Good-bye, Prince,' she said, 'but I thought - that is, no I didn't. + +Good-bye.' + +'You thought I wished to discuss something with you. I did; but I +have decided that I have no right to burden your mind with my +affairs.' + +'But suppose - suppose I wish to be burdened?' + +'That is your good nature.' + +'Sit down,' she said abruptly, 'and tell me everything; mind, +everything. I adore secrets.' + +Almost before he knew it he was talking to her, rapidly, eagerly. + +'Why should I weary you with my confidences?' he said. 'I don't +know, I cannot tell; but I feel that I must. I feel that you will +understand me better than anyone else in the world. And yet why +should you understand me? Again, I don't know. Miss Racksole, I +will disclose to you the whole trouble in a word. Prince Eugen, the +hereditary Grand Duke of Posen, has disappeared. Four days ago I +was to have met him at Ostend. He had affairs in London. He +wished me to come with him. I sent Dimmock on in front, and +waited for Eugen. He did not arrive. I telegraphed back to +Cologne, his last stopping-place, and I learned that he had left +there in accordance with his programme; I leamed also that he had +passed through Brussels. It must have been between Brussels and +the railway station at Ostend Quay that he disappeared. He was +travelling with a single equerry, and the equerry, too, has vanished. +I need not explain to you, Miss Racksole, that when a person of the +importance of my nephew contrives to get lost one must proceed +cautiously. One cannot advertise for him in the London Times. +Such a disappearance must be kept secret. The people at Posen and +at Berlin believe that Eugen is in London, here, at this hotel; or, +rather, they did so believe. But this morning I received a cypher +telegram from - from His Majesty the Emperor, a very peculiar +telegram, asking when Eugen might be expected to return to +Posen, and requesting that he should go first to Berlin. That +telegram was addressed to myself. Now, if the Emperor thought +that Eugen was here, why should he have caused the telegram to +be addressed to me? I have hesitated for three days, but I can +hesitate no longer. I must myself go to the Emperor and acquaint +him with the facts.' + +'I suppose you've just got to keep straight with him?' Nella was on +the point of saying, but she checked herself and substituted, 'The +Emperor is your chief, is he not? "First among equals", you call +him.' + +'His Majesty is our over-lord,' said Aribert quietly. + +'Why do you not take immediate steps to inquire as to the +whereabouts of your Royal nephew?' she asked simply. The affair +seemed to her just then so plain and straightforward. + +'Because one of two things may have happened. Either Eugen may +have been, in plain language, abducted, or he may have had his +own reasons for changing his programme and keeping in the +background - out of reach of telegraph and post and railways.' + +'What sort of reasons?' + +'Do not ask me. In the history of every family there are passages - ' +He stopped. + +'And what was Prince Eugen's object in coming to London?' + +Aribert hesitated. + +'Money,' he said at length. 'As a family we are very poor - poorer +than anyone in Berlin suspects.' + +'Prince Aribert,' Nella said, 'shall I tell you what I think?' She +leaned back in her chair, and looked at him out of half-closed eyes. +His pale, thin, distinguished face held her gaze as if by some +fascination. There could be no mistaking this man for anything +else but a Prince. + +'If you will,' he said. + +'Prince Eugen is the victim of a plot.' + +'You think so?' + +'I am perfectly convinced of it.' + +'But why? What can be the object of a plot against him?' + +'That is a point of which you should know more than me,' she +remarked drily. + + 'Ah! Perhaps, perhaps,' he said. 'But, dear Miss Racksole, why are +you so sure?' + +'There are several reasons, and they are connected with Mr +Dimmock. Did you ever suspect, your Highness, that that poor +young man was not entirely loyal to you?' + +'He was absolutely loyal,' said the Prince, with all the earnestness +of conviction. + +'A thousand pardons, but he was not.' + +'Miss Racksole, if any other than yourself made that assertion, I +would - I would - ' + +'Consign them to the deepest dungeon in Posen?' she laughed, +lightly. + +'Listen.' And she told him of the incidents which had occurred in +the night preceding his arrival in the hotel. + +'Do you mean, Miss Racksole, that there was an understanding +between poor Dimmock and this fellow Jules?' + +'There was an understanding.' + +'Impossible!' + +'Your Highness, the man who wishes to probe a mystery to its root +never uses the word "impossible". But I will say this for young Mr +Dimmock. I think he repented, and I think that it was because he +repented that he - er - died so suddenly, and that his body was +spirited away.' + +'Why has no one told me these things before?' Aribert exclaimed. + +'Princes seldom hear the truth,' she said. + +He was astonished at her coolness, her firmness of assertion, her +air of complete acquaintance with the world. + +'Miss Racksole,' he said, 'if you will permit me to say it, I have +never in my life met a woman like you. May I rely on your +sympathy - your support?' + +'My support, Prince? But how?' + +'I do not know,' he replied. 'But you could help me if you would. A +woman, when she has brain, always has more brain than a man.' + +'Ah!' she said ruefully, 'I have no brains, but I do believe I could +help you.' + +What prompted her to make that assertion she could not have +explained, even to herself. But she made it, and she had a +suspicion - a prescience - that it would be justified, though by what +means, through what good fortune, was still a mystery to her. + +'Go to Berlin,' she said. 'I see that you must do that; you have no +alternative. As for the rest, we shall see. Something will occur. I +shall be here. My father will be here. You must count us as your +friends.' + +He kissed her hand when he left, and afterwards, when she was +alone, she kissed the spot his lips had touched again and again. +Now, thinking the matter out in the calmness of solitude, all +seemed strange, unreal, uncertain to her. Were conspiracies +actually possible nowadays? Did queer things actually happen in +Europe? And did they actually happen in London hotels? She +dined with her father that night. + +'I hear Prince Aribert has left,' said Theodore Racksole. + +'Yes,' she assented. She said not a word about their interview. + +Chapter Eight ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE OF THE +BARONESS + +ON the following morning, just before lunch, a lady, accompanied +by a maid and a considerable quantity of luggage, came to the +Grand Babylon Hotel. She was a plump, little old lady, with white +hair and an old-fashioned bonnet, and she had a quaint, simple +smile of surprise at everything in general. + +Nevertheless, she gave the impression of belonging to some +aristocracy, though not the English aristocracy. Her tone to her +maid, whom she addressed in broken English - the girl being +apparently English - was distinctly insolent, with the calm, +unconscious insolence peculiar to a certain type of Continental +nobility. The name on the lady's card ran thus: 'Baroness Zerlinski'. +She desired rooms on the third floor. It happened that Nella was in +the bureau. + +'On the third floor, madam?' questioned Nella, in her best clerkly +manner. + +'I did say on de tird floor,' said the plump little old lady. + +'We have accommodation on the second floor.' + +'I wish to be high up, out of de dust and in de light,' explained the +Baroness. + +'We have no suites on the third floor, madam.' + +'Never mind, no mattaire! Have you not two rooms that +communicate?' + +Nella consulted her books, rather awkwardly. + +'Numbers 122 and 123 communicate.' + +'Or is it 121 and 122? the little old lady remarked quickly, and then +bit her lip. + +'I beg your pardon. I should have said 121 and 122.' + +At the moment Nella regarded the Baroness's correction of her +figures as a curious chance, but afterwards, when the Baroness had +ascended in the lift, the thing struck her as somewhat strange. +Perhaps the Baroness Zerlinski had stayed at the hotel before. For +the sake of convenience an index of visitors to the hotel was kept +and the index extended back for thirty years. Nella examined it, +but it did not contain the name of Zerlinski. Then it was that Nella +began to imagine, what had swiftly crossed her mind when first the +Baroness presented herself at the bureau, that the features of the +Baroness were remotely familiar to her. She thought, not that she +had seen the old lady's face before, but that she had seen +somewhere, some time, a face of a similar cast. It occurred to +Nella to look at the 'Almanach de Gotha' - that record of all the +mazes of Continental blue blood; but the 'Almanach de Gotha' +made no reference to any barony of Zerlinski. Nella inquired +where the Baroness meant to take lunch, and was informed that a +table had been reserved for her in the dining-room, and she at once +decided to lunch in the dining-room herself. Seated in a corner, +half-hidden by a pillar, she could survey all the guests, and watch +each group as it entered or left. Presently the Baroness appeared, +dressed in black, with a tiny lace shawl, despite the June warmth; +very stately, very quaint, and gently smiling. Nella observed her +intently. The lady ate heartily, working without haste and without +delay through the elaborate menu of the luncheon. Nella noticed +that she had beautiful white teeth. Then a remarkable thing +happened. A cream puff was served to the Baroness by way of +sweets, and Nella was astonished to see the little lady remove the +top, and with a spoon quietly take something from the interior +which looked like a piece of folded paper. No one who had not +been watching with the eye of a lynx would have noticed anything +extraordinary in the action; indeed, the chances were nine hundred +and ninety-nine to one that it would pass unheeded. But, +unfortunately for the Baroness, it was the thousandth chance that +happened. Nella jumped up, and walking over to the Baroness, +said to her: + +'I'm afraid that the tart is not quite nice, your ladyship.' + +'Thanks, it is delightful,' said the Baroness coldly; her smile had +vanished. 'Who are you? I thought you were de bureau clerk.' + +'My father is the owner of this hoteL I thought there was something +in the tart which ought not to have been there.' + +Nella looked the Baroness full in the face. The piece of folded +paper, to which a little cream had attached itself, lay under the +edge of a plate. + +'No, thanks.' The Baroness smiled her simple smile. + +Nella departed. She had noticed one trifling thing besides the +paper - namely, that the Baroness could pronounce the English 'th' +sound if she chose. + +That afternoon, in her own room, Nella sat meditating at the +window for long time, and then she suddenly sprang up, her eyes +brightening. + +'I know,' she exclaimed, clapping her hands. 'It's Miss Spencer, +disguised! + +Why didn't I think of that before?' Her thoughts ran instantly to +Prince Aribert. 'Perhaps I can help him,' she said to herself, and +gave a little sigh. She went down to the office and inquired +whether the Baroness had given any instructions about dinner. She +felt that some plan must be formulated. She wanted to get hold of +Rocco, and put him in the rack. She knew now that Rocco, the +unequalled, was also concerned in this mysterious affair. + +'The Baroness Zerlinski has left, about a quarter of an hour ago,' +said the attendant. + +'But she only arrived this morning.' + +'The Baroness's maid said that her mistress had received a telegram +and must leave at once. The Baroness paid the bill, and went away +in a four-wheeler.' + + 'Where to? 'The trunks were labelled for Ostend.' + +Perhaps it was instinct, perhaps it was the mere spirit of adventure; +but that evening Nella was to be seen of all men on the steamer for +Ostend which leaves Dover at 11 p.m. She told no one of her +intentions - not even her father, who was not in the hotel when she +left. She had scribbled a brief note to him to expect her back in a +day or two, and had posted this at Dover. The steamer was the +Marie Henriette, a large and luxurious boat, whose state-rooms on +deck vie with the glories of the Cunard and White Star liners. One +of these state-rooms, the best, was evidently occupied, for every +curtain of its windows was carefully drawn. Nella did not hope +that the Baroness was on board; it was quite possible for the +Baroness to have caught the eight o'clock steamer, and it was also +possible for the Baroness not to have gone to Ostend at all, but to +some other place in an entirely different direction. Nevertheless, +Nella had a faint hope that the lady who called herself Zerlinski +might be in that curtained stateroom, and throughout the smooth +moonlit voyage she never once relaxed her observation of its doors +and its windows. + +The Maria Henriette arrived in Ostend Harbour punctually at 2 +a.m. in the morning. There was the usual heterogeneous, +gesticulating crowd on the quay. + +Nella kept her post near the door of the state-room, and at length +she was rewarded by seeing it open. Four middle-aged Englishmen +issued from it. From a glimpse of the interior Nella saw that they +had spent the voyage in card-playing. + +It would not be too much to say that she was distinctly annoyed. +She pretended to be annoyed with circumstances, but really she +was annoyed with Nella Racksole. At two in the morning, without +luggage, without any companionship, and without a plan of +campaign, she found herself in a strange foreign port - a port of +evil repute, possessing some of the worst-managed hotels in +Europe. She strolled on the quay for a few minutes, and then she +saw the smoke of another steamer in the offing. She inquired from +an official what that steamer might be, and was told that it was the +eight o'clock from Dover, which had broken down, put into Calais +for some slight necessary repairs, and was arriving at its +destination nearly four hours late. Her mercurial spirits rose again. +A minute ago she was regarding herself as no better than a ninny +engaged in a wild-goose chase. Now she felt that after all she had +been very sagacious and cunning. She was morally sure that she +would find the Zerlinski woman on this second steamer, and she +took all the credit to herself in advance. Such is human nature. + +The steamer seemed interminably slow in coming into harbour. +Nella walked on the Digue for a few minutes to watch it the better. +The town was silent and almost deserted. It had a false and sinister +aspect. She remembered tales which she had heard of this +glittering resort, which in the season holds more scoundrels than +any place in Europe, save only Monte Carlo. She remembered that +the gilded adventures of every nation under the sun forgathered +there either for business or pleasure, and that some of the most +wonderful crimes of the latter half of the century had been +schemed and matured in that haunt of cosmopolitan iniquity. + +When the second steamer arrived Nella stood at the end of the +gangway, close to the ticket-collector. The first person to step on +shore was - not the Baroness Zerlinski, but Miss Spencer herself! +Nella turned aside instantly, hiding her face, and Miss Spencer, +carrying a small bag, hurried with assured footsteps to the Custom +House. It seemed as if she knew the port of Ostend fairly well. The +moon shone like day, and Nella had full opportunity to observe her +quarry. She could see now quite plainly that the Baroness Zerlinski +had been only Miss Spencer in disguise. There was the same gait, +the same movement of the head and of the hips; the white hair was +easily to be accounted for by a wig, and the wrinkles by a paint +brush and some grease paints. Miss Spencer, whose hair was now +its old accustomed yellow, got through the Custom House without +difficulty, and Nella saw her call a closed carriage and say +something to the driver. The vehicle drove off. Nella jumped into +the next carriage - an open one - that came up. + +'Follow that carriage,' she said succinctly to the driver in French. + +'Bien, madame!' The driver whipped up his horse, and the animal +shot forward with a terrific clatter over the cobbles. It appeared +that this driver was quite accustomed to following other carriages. + +'Now I am fairly in for it!' said Nella to herself. She laughed +unsteadily, but her heart was beating with an extraordinary thump. + +For some time the pursued vehicle kept well in front. It crossed the +town nearly from end to end, and plunged into a maze of small +streets far on the south side of the Kursaal. Then gradually Nella's +equipage began to overtake it. The first carriage stopped with a +jerk before a tall dark house, and Miss Spencer emerged. Nella +called to her driver to stop, but he, determined to be in at the +death, was engaged in whipping his horse, and he completely +ignored her commands. He drew up triumphantly at the tall dark +house just at the moment when Miss Spencer disappeared into it. +The other carriage drove away. Nella, uncertain what to do, +stepped down from her carriage and gave the driver some money. +At the same moment a man reopened the door of the house, which +had closed on Miss Spencer. + +'I want to see Miss Spencer,' said Nella impulsively. She couldn't +think of anything else to say. + +'Miss Spencer? 'Yes; she's just arrived.' + +'It's O.K., I suppose,' said the man. + +'I guess so,' said Nella, and she walked past him into the house. +She was astonished at her own audacity. + +Miss Spencer was just going into a room off the narrow hall. Nella +followed her into the apartment, which was shabbily furnished in +the Belgian lodging-house style. + +'Well, Miss Spencer,' she greeted the former Baroness Zerlinski, 'I +guess you didn't expect to see me. You left our hotel very suddenly +this afternoon, and you left it very suddenly a few days ago; and so +I've just called to make a few inquiries.' + +To do the lady justice, Miss Spencer bore the surprising ordeal +very well. + +She did not flinch; she betrayed no emotion. The sole sign of +perturbation was in her hurried breathing. + +'You have ceased to be the Baroness Zerlinski,' Nella continued. +'May I sit down?' + +'Certainly, sit down,' said Miss Spencer, copying the girl's tone. +'You are a fairly smart young woman, that I will say. What do you +want? Weren't my books all straight?' + +'Your books were all straight. I haven't come about your books. I +have come about the murder of Reginald Dimmock, the +disappearance of his corpse, and the disappearance of Prince +Eugen of Posen. I thought you might be able to help me in some +investigations which I am making.' + +Miss Spencer's eyes gleamed, and she stood up and moved swiftly +to the mantelpiece. + +'You may be a Yankee, but you're a fool,' she said. + +She took hold of the bell-rope. + +'Don't ring that bell if you value your life,' said Nella. + +'If what?' Miss Spencer remarked. + +'If you value your life,' said Nella calmly, and with the words she +pulled from her pocket a very neat and dainty little revolver. + +Chapter Nine TWO WOMEN AND THE REVOLVER + +'YOU - you're only doing that to frighten me,' stammered Miss +Spencer, in a low, quavering voice. + +'Am I?' Nella replied, as firmly as she could, though her hand +shook violently with excitement, could Miss Spencer but have +observed it. 'Am I? You said just now that I might be a Yankee +girl, but I was a fool. Well, I am a Yankee girl, as you call it; and +in my country, if they don't teach revolver-shooting in +boarding-schools, there are at least a lot of girls who can handle a +revolver. I happen to be one of them. I tell you that if you ring that +bell you will suffer.' + +Most of this was simple bluff on Nella's part, and she trembled lest +Miss Spencer should perceive that it was simple bluff. Happily for +her, Miss Spencer belonged to that order of women who have +every sort of courage except physical courage. Miss Spencer could +have withstood successfully any moral trial, but persuade her that +her skin was in danger, and she would succumb. Nella at once +divined this useful fact, and proceeded accordingly, hiding the +strangeness of her own sensations as well as she could. + +'You had better sit down now,' said Nella, 'and I will ask you a few +questions.' + +And Miss Spencer obediently sat down, rather white, and trying to +screw her lips into a formal smile. + +'Why did you leave the Grand Babylon that night?' Nella began her +examination, putting on a stern, barrister-like expression. + +'I had orders to, Miss Racksole.' + +'Whose orders?' + +'Well, I'm - I'm - the fact is, I'm a married woman, and it was my +husband's orders.' + +'Who is your husband? 'Tom Jackson - Jules, you know, head +waiter at the Grand Babylon.' + +'So Jules's real name is Tom Jackson? Why did he want you to +leave without giving notice?' + +'I'm sure I don't know, Miss Racksole. I swear I don't know. He's +my husband, and, of course, I do what he tells me, as you will +some day do what your husband tells you. Please heaven you'll get +a better husband than mine!' + +Miss Spencer showed a sign of tears. + +Nella fingered the revolver, and put it at full cock. 'Well,' she +repeated, 'why did he want you to leave?' She was tremendously +surprised at her own coolness, and somewhat pleased with it, too. + +'I can't tell you, I can't tell you.' + +'You've just got to,' Nella said, in a terrible, remorseless tone. + +'He - he wished me to come over here to Ostend. Something had +gone wrong. + +Oh! he's a fearful man, is Tom. If I told you, he'd - ' + +'Had something gone wrong in the hotel, or over here?' + +'Both.' + +'Was it about Prince Eugen of Posen?' + +'I don't know - that is, yes, I think so.' + +'What has your husband to do with Prince Eugen?' + +'I believe he has some - some sort of business with him, some +money business.' + +'And was Mr Dimmock in this business? 'I fancy so, Miss +Racksole. I'm telling you all I know, that I swear.' + +'Did your husband and Mr Dimmock have a quarrel that night in +Room 111?' + +'They had some difficulty.' + +'And the result of that was that you came to Ostend instantly?' + +'Yes; I suppose so.' + +'And what were you to do in Ostend? What were your instructions +from this husband of yours?' + +Miss Spencer's head dropped on her arms on the table which +separated her from Nella, and she appeared to sob violently. + +'Have pity on me,' she murmured, 'I can't tell you any more.' + +'Why?' + +'He'd kill me if he knew.' + +'You're wandering from the subject,' observed Nella coldly. 'This is +the last time I shall warn you. Let me tell you plainly I've got the +best reasons for being desperate, and if anything happens to you I +shall say I did it in sell-defence. Now, what were you to do in +Ostend?' + +'I shall die for this anyhow,' whined Miss Spencer, and then, with a +sort of fierce despair, 'I had to keep watch on Prince Eugen.' + +'Where? In this house?' + +Miss Spencer nodded, and, looking up, Nella could see the traces +of tears in her face. + +'Then Prince Eugen was a prisoner? Some one had captured him at +the instigation of Jules?' + +'Yes, if you must have it.' + +'Why was it necessary for you specially to come to Ostend?' + +'Oh! Tom trusts me. You see, I know Ostend. Before I took that +place at the Grand Babylon I had travelled over Europe, and Tom +knew that I knew a thing or two.' + +'Why did you take the place at the Grand Babylon?' + +'Because Tom told me to. He said I should be useful to him there.' + +'Is your husband an Anarchist, or something of that kind, Miss +Spencer?' + +'I don't know. I'd tell you in a minute if I knew. But he's one of +those that keep themselves to themselves.' + +'Do you know if he has ever committed a murder? 'Never!' said +Miss Spencer, with righteous repudiation of the mere idea. + +'But Mr Dimmock was murdered. He was poisoned. If he had not +been poisoned why was his body stolen? It must have been stolen +to prevent inquiry, to hide traces. Tell me about that.' + +'I take my dying oath,' said Miss Spencer, standing up a little way +from the table, 'I take my dying oath I didn't know Mr Dimmock +was dead till I saw it in the newspaper.' + +'You swear you had no suspicion of it?' + +'I swear I hadn't.' + +Nella was inclined to believe the statement. The woman and the +girl looked at each other in the tawdry, frowsy, lamp-lit room. +Miss Spencer nervously patted her yellow hair into shape, as if +gradually recovering her composure and equanimity. The whole +affair seemed like a dream to Nella, a disturbing, sinister +nightmare. She was a little uncertain what to say. She felt that she +had not yet got hold of any very definite information. 'Where is +Prince Eugen now?' she asked at length. + +'I don't know, miss.' + +'He isn't in this house?' + +'No, miss.' + +'Ah! We will see presently.' + +'They took him away, Miss Racksole.' + +'Who took him away? Some of your husband's friends?' + +'Some of his - acquaintances.' + +'Then there is a gang of you?' + +'A gang of us - a gang! I don't know what you mean,' Miss Spencer +quavered. + +'Oh, but you must know,' smiled Nella calmly. 'You can't possibly +be so innocent as all that, Mrs Tom Jackson. You can't play games +with me. You've just got to remember that I'm what you call a +Yankee girl. There's one thing that I mean to find out, within the +next five minutes, and that is - how your charming husband +kidnapped Prince Eugen, and why he kidnapped him. Let us begin +with the second question. You have evaded it once.' + +Miss Spencer looked into Nella's face, and then her eyes dropped, +and her fingers worked nervously with the tablecloth. + +'How can I tell you,' she said, 'when I don't know? You've got the +whip-hand of me, and you're tormenting me for your own +pleasure.' She wore an expression of persecuted innocence. + +'Did Mr Tom Jackson want to get some money out of Prince +Eugen?' + +'Money! Not he! Tom's never short of money.' + +'But I mean a lot of money - tens of thousands, hundreds of +thousands?' + +'Tom never wanted money from anyone,' said Miss Spencer +doggedly. + +'Then had he some reason for wishing to prevent Prince Eugen +from coming to London?' + +'Perhaps he had. I don't know. If you kill me, I don't know.' Nella +stopped to reflect. Then she raised the revolver. It was a +mechanical, unintentional sort of action, and certainly she had no +intention of using the weapon, but, strange to say, Miss Spencer +again cowered before it. Even at that moment Nella wondered that +a woman like Miss Spencer could be so simple as to think the +revolver would actually be used. Having absolutely no physical +cowardice herself, Nella had the greatest difficulty in imagining +that other people could be at the mercy of a bodily fear. Still, she +saw her advantage, and used it relentlessly, and with as much +theatrical gesture as she could command. She raised the revolver +till it was level with Miss Spencer's face, and suddenly a new, +queer feeling took hold of her. She knew that she would indeed +use that revolver now, if the miserable woman before her drove +her too far. She felt afraid - afraid of herself; she was in the grasp +of a savage, primeval instinct. In a flash she saw Miss Spencer +dead at her feet - the police - a court of justice - the scaffold. It was +horrible. + +'Speak,' she said hoarsely, and Miss Spencer's face went whiter. + +'Tom did say,' the woman whispered rapidly, awesomely, 'that if +Prince Eugen got to London it would upset his scheme.' + +'What scheme? What scheme? Answer me.' + +'Heaven help me, I don't know.' Miss Spencer sank into a chair. 'He +said Mr Dimmock had turned tail, and he should have to settle him +and then Rocco - ' + + 'Rocco! What about Rocco?' Nella could scarcely hear herself. Her +grip of the revolver tightened. + +Miss Spencer's eyes opened wider; she gazed at Nella with a glassy +stare. + +'Don't ask me. It's death!' Her eyes were fixed as if in horror. + +'It is,' said Nella, and the sound of her voice seemed to her to issue +from the lips of some third person. + +'It's death,' repeated Miss Spencer, and gradually her head and +shoulders sank back, and hung loosely over the chair. Nella was +conscious of a sudden revulsion. The woman had surely fainted. +Dropping the revolver she ran round the table. She was herself +again - feminine, sympathetic, the old Nella. She felt immensely +relieved that this had happened. But at the same instant Miss +Spencer sprang up from the chair like a cat, seized the revolver, +and with a wild movement of the arm flung it against the window. +It crashed through the glass, exploding as it went, and there was a +tense silence. + +'I told you that you were a fool,' remarked Miss Spencer slowly, +'coming here like a sort of female Jack Sheppard, and trying to get +the best of me. + +We are on equal terms now. You frightened me, but I knew I was a +cleverer woman than you, and that in the end, if I kept on long +enough, I should win. + +Now it will be my turn.' + +Dumbfounded, and overcome with a miserable sense of the truth +of Miss Spencer's words, Nella stood still. The idea of her colossal +foolishness swept through her like a flood. She felt almost +ashamed. But even at this juncture she had no fear. She faced the +woman bravely, her mind leaping about in search of some plan. +She could think of nothing but a bribe - an enormous bribe. + +'I admit you've won,' she said, 'but I've not finished yet. Just listen.' + +Miss Spencer folded her arms, and glanced at the door, smiling +bitterly. + +'You know my father is a millionaire; perhaps you know that he is +one of the richest men in the world. If I give you my word of +honour not to reveal anything that you've told me, what will you +take to let me go free?' + +'What sum do you suggest?' asked Miss Spencer carelessly. + +'Twenty thousand pounds,' said Nella promptly. She had begun to +regard the affair as a business operation. + +Miss Spencer's lip curled. + +'A hundred thousand.' + +Again Miss Spencer's lip curled. + +'Well, say a million. I can rely on my father, and so may you.' + +'You think you are worth a million to him?' + +'I do,' said Nella. + +'And you think we could trust you to see that it was paid?' + +'Of course you could.' + +'And we should not suffer afterwards in any way?' + +'I would give you my word, and my father's word.' + +'Bah!' exclaimed Miss Spencer: 'how do you know I wouldn't let +you go free for nothing? You are only a rash, silly girl.' + +'I know you wouldn't. I can read your face too well.' + +'You are right,' Miss Spencer replied slowly. 'I wouldn't. I wouldn't +let you go for all the dollars in America.' + +Nella felt cold down the spine, and sat down again in her chair. A +draught of air from the broken window blew on her cheek. Steps +sounded in the passage; the door opened, but Nella did not turn +round. She could not move her eyes from Miss Spencer's. There +was a noise of rushing water in her ears. She lost consciousness, +and slipped limply to the ground. + +Chapter Ten AT SEA + +IT seemed to Nella that she was being rocked gently in a vast +cradle, which swayed to and fro with a motion at once slow and +incredibly gentle. This sensation continued for some time, and +there was added to it the sound of a quick, quiet, muffled beat. +Soft, exhilarating breezes wafted her forward in spite of herself, +and yet she remained in a delicious calm. She wondered if her +mother was kneeling by her side, whispering some lullaby in her +childish ears. Then strange colours swam before her eyes, her +eyelids wavered, and at last she awoke. For a few moments her +gaze travelled to and fro in a vain search for some clue to her +surroundings. was aware of nothing except sense of repose and a +feeling of relief that some mighty and fatal struggle was over; she +cared not whether she had conquered or suffered defeat in the +struggle of her soul with some other soul; it was finished, done +with, and the consciousness of its conclusion satisfied and +contented her. Gradually her brain, recovering from its obsession, +began to grasp the phenomena of her surroundings, and she saw +that she was on a yacht, and that the yacht was moving. The +motion of the cradle was the smooth rolling of the vessel; the beat +was the beat of its screw; the strange colours were the cloud tints +thrown by the sun as it rose over a distant and receding shore in the +wake of the yacht; her mother's lullaby was the crooned song of +the man at the wheel. Nella all through her life had had many +experiences of yachting. From the waters of the River Hudson to +those bluer tides of the Mediterranean Sea, she had yachted in all +seasons and all weathers. She loved the water, and now it seemed +deliciously right and proper that she should be on the water again. +She raised her head to look round, and then let it sink back: + +she was fatigued, enervated; she desired only solitude and calm; +she had no care, no anxiety, no responsibility: a hundred years +might have passed since her meeting with Miss Spencer, and the +memory of that meeting appeared to have faded into the remotest +background of her mind. + +It was a small yacht, and her practised eye at once told that it +belonged to the highest aristocracy of pleasure craft. As she +reclined in the deck-chair (it did not occur to her at that moment to +speculate as to the identity of the person who had led her therein) +she examined all visible details of the vessel. The deck was as +white and smooth as her own hand, and the seams ran along its +length like blue veins. All the brass-work, from the band round the +slender funnel to the concave surface of the binnacle, shone like +gold. + +The tapered masts stretched upwards at a rakish angle, and the +rigging seemed like spun silk. No sails were set; the yacht was +under steam, and doing about seven or eight knots. She judged that +it was a boat of a hundred tons or so, probably Clyde-built, and not +more than two or three years old. + +No one was to be seen on deck except the man at the wheel: this +man wore a blue jersey; but there was neither name nor initial on +the jersey, nor was there a name on the white life-buoys lashed to +the main rigging, nor on the polished dinghy which hung on the +starboard davits. She called to the man, and called again, in a +feeble voice, but the steerer took no notice of her, and continued +his quiet song as though nothing else existed in the universe save +the yacht, the sea, the sun, and himself. + +Then her eyes swept the outline of the land from which they were +hastening, and she could just distinguish a lighthouse and a great +white irregular dome, which she recognized as the Kursaal at +Ostend, that gorgeous rival of the gaming palace at Monte Carlo. +So she was leaving Ostend. The rays of the sun fell on her +caressingly, like a restorative. All around the water was changing +from wonderful greys and dark blues to still more wonderful pinks +and translucent unearthly greens; the magic kaleidoscope of dawn +was going forward in its accustomed way, regardless of the +vicissitudes of mortals. + +Here and there in the distance she descried a sail - the brown sail +of some Ostend fishing-boat returning home after a night's +trawling. Then the beat of paddles caught her ear, and a steamer +blundered past, wallowing clumsily among the waves like a +tortoise. It was the Swallow from London. She could see some of +its passengers leaning curiously over the aft-rail. A girl in a +mackintosh signalled to her, and mechanically she answered the +salute with her arm. The officer of the bridge of the Swallow +hailed the yacht, but the man at the wheel offered no reply. In +another minute the Swallow was nothing but a blot in the distance. + +Nella tried to sit straight in the deck-chair, but she found herself +unable to do so. Throwing off the rug which covered her, she +discovered that she had been tied to the chair by means of a piece +of broad webbing. Instantly she was alert, awake, angry; she knew +that her perils were not over; she felt that possibly they had +scarcely yet begun. Her lazy contentment, her dreamy sense of +peace and repose, vanished utterly, and she steeled herself to meet +the dangers of a grave and difficult situation. + +Just at that moment a man came up from below. He was a man of +forty or so, clad in irreproachable blue, with a peaked yachting +cap. He raised the cap politely. + +'Good morning,' he said. 'Beautiful sunrise, isn't it?' The clever and +calculated insolence of his tone cut her like a lash as she lay bound +in the chair. Like all people who have lived easy and joyous lives +in those fair regions where gold smoothes every crease and law +keeps a tight hand on disorder, she found it hard to realize that +there were other regions where gold was useless and law without +power. Twenty-four hours ago she would have declared it +impossible that such an experience as she had suffered could +happen to anyone; she would have talked airily about civilization +and the nineteenth century, and progress and the police. But her +experience was teaching her that human nature remains always the +same, and that beneath the thin crust of security on which we good +citizens exist the dark and secret forces of crime continue to move, +just as they did in the days when you couldn't go from Cheapside +to Chelsea without being set upon by thieves. Her experience was +in a fair way to teach her this lesson better than she could have +learnt it even in the bureaux of the detective police of Paris, +London, and St Petersburg. + +'Good morning,' the man repeated, and she glanced at him with a +sullen, angry gaze. + +'You!' she exclaimed, 'You, Mr Thomas Jackson, if that is your +name! Loose me from this chair, and I will talk to you.' Her eyes +flashed as she spoke, and the contempt in them added mightily to +her beauty. Mr Thomas Jackson, otherwise Jules, erstwhile head +waiter at the Grand Babylon, considered himself a connoisseur in +feminine loveliness, and the vision of Nella Racksole smote him +like an exquisite blow. + +'With pleasure,' he replied. 'I had forgotten that to prevent you from +falling I had secured you to the chair'; and with a quick movement +he unfastened the band. Nella stood up, quivering with fiery +annoyance and scorn. + +'Now,' she said, fronting him, 'what is the meaning of this?' + +'You fainted,' he replied imperturbably. 'Perhaps you don't +remember.' + +The man offered her a deck-chair with a characteristic gesture. +Nella was obliged to acknowledge, in spite of herself, that the +fellow had distinction, an air of breeding. No one would have +guessed that for twenty years he had been an hotel waiter. His +long, lithe figure, and easy, careless carriage seemed to be the +figure and carriage of an aristocrat, and his voice was quiet, +restrained, and authoritative. + +'That has nothing to do with my being carried off in this yacht of +yours.' + +'It is not my yacht,' he said, 'but that is a minor detail. As to the +more important matter, forgive me that I remind you that only a +few hours ago you were threatening a lady in my house with a +revolver.' + +'Then it was your house?' + +'Why not? May I not possess a house?' He smiled. + +'I must request you to put the yacht about at once, instantly, and +take me back.' She tried to speak firmly. + +'Ah!' he said, 'I am afraid that's impossible. I didn't put out to sea +with the intention of returning at once, instantly.' In the last words +he gave a faint imitation of her tone. + +'When I do get back,' she said, 'when my father gets to know of this +affair, it will be an exceedingly bad day for you, Mr Jackson.' + +'But supposing your father doesn't hear of it - ' + +'What?' + +'Supposing you never get back?' + +'Do you mean, then, to have my murder on your conscience?' + +'Talking of murder,' he said, 'you came very near to murdering my +friend, Miss Spencer. At least, so she tells me.' + +'Is Miss Spencer on board?' Nella asked, seeing perhaps a faint ray +of hope in the possible presence of a woman. + +'Miss Spencer is not on board. There is no one on board except you +and myself and a small crew - a very discreet crew, I may add.' + +'I will have nothing more to say to you. You must take your own +course.' + +Thanks for the permission,' he said. 'I will send you up some +breakfast.' + +He went to the saloon stairs and whistled, and a Negro boy +appeared with a tray of chocolate. Nella took it, and, without the +slightest hesitation, threw it overboard. Mr Jackson walked away a +few steps and then returned. + +'You have spirit,' he said, 'and I admire spirit. It is a rare quality.' + +She made no reply. 'Why did you mix yourself up in my affairs at +all?' he went on. Again she made no reply, but the question set her +thinking: why had she mixed herself up in this mysterious +business? It was quite at variance with the usual methods of her +gay and butterfly existence to meddle at all with serious things. +Had she acted merely from a desire to see justice done and +wickedness punished? Or was it the desire of adventure? Or was it, +perhaps, the desire to be of service to His Serene Highness Prince +Aribert? 'It is no fault of mine that you are in this fix,' Jules +continued. 'I didn't bring you into it. You brought yourself into it. +You and your father - you have been moving along at a pace which +is rather too rapid.' + +'That remains to be seen,' she put in coldly. + +'It does,' he admitted. 'And I repeat that I can't help admiring you - +that is, when you aren't interfering with my private affairs. That is +a proceeding which I have never tolerated from anyone - not even +from a millionaire, nor even from a beautiful woman.' He bowed. 'I +will tell you what I propose to do. I propose to escort you to a +place of safety, and to keep you there till my operations are +concluded, and the possibility of interference entirely removed. +You spoke just now of murder. What a crude notion that was of +yours! It is only the amateur who practises murder - ' + +'What about Reginald Dimmock?' she interjected quickly. + +He paused gravely. + +'Reginald Dimmock,' he repeated. 'I had imagined his was a case of +heart disease. Let me send you up some more chocolate. I'm sure +you're hungry.' + +'I will starve before I touch your food,' she said. + +'Gallant creature!' he murmured, and his eyes roved over her face. +Her superb, supercilious beauty overcame him. 'Ah!' he said, 'what +a wife you would make!' He approached nearer to her. 'You and I, +Miss Racksole, your beauty and wealth and my brains - we could +conquer the world. Few men are worthy of you, but I am one of the +few. Listen! You might do worse. Marry me. I am a great man; I +shall be greater. I adore you. Marry me, and I will save your life. +All shall be well. I will begin again. The past shall be as though +there had been no past.' + +'This is somewhat sudden - Jules,' she said with biting contempt. + +'Did you expect me to be conventional?' he retorted. 'I love you.' + +'Granted,' she said, for the sake of the argument. 'Then what will +occur to your present wife?' + +'My present wife?' + +'Yes, Miss Spencer, as she is called.' + +'She told you I was her husband?' + +'Incidentally she did.' + +'She isn't.' + +'Perhaps she isn't. But, nevertheless, I think I won't marry you.' +Nella stood like a statue of scorn before him. + +He went still nearer to her. 'Give me a kiss, then; one kiss - I won't +ask for more; one kiss from those lips, and you shall go free. Men +have ruined themselves for a kiss. I will.' + +'Coward!' she ejaculated. + +'Coward!' he repeated. 'Coward, am I? Then I'll be a coward, and +you shall kiss me whether you will or not.' + +He put a hand on her shoulder. As she shrank back from his +lustrous eyes, with an involuntary scream, a figure sprang out of +the dinghy a few feet away. With a single blow, neatly directed to +Mr Jackson's ear, Mr Jackson was stretched senseless on the deck. +Prince Aribert of Posen stood over him with a revolver. It was +probably the greatest surprise of Mr Jackson's whole life. + +'Don't be alarmed,' said the Prince to Nella, 'my being here is the +simplest thing in the world, and I will explain it as soon as I have +finished with this fellow.' + +Nella could think of nothing to say, but she noticed the revolver in +the Prince's hand. + +'Why,' she remarked, 'that's my revolver.' + +'It is,' he said, 'and I will explain that, too.' + +The man at the wheel gave no heed whatever to the scene. + +Chapter Eleven THE COURT PAWNBROKER + +'MR SAMPSON LEVI wishes to see you, sir.' + +These words, spoken by a servant to Theodore Racksole, aroused +the millionaire from a reverie which had been the reverse of +pleasant. The fact was, and it is necessary to insist on it, that Mr +Racksole, owner of the Grand Babylon Hotel, was by no means in +a state of self-satisfaction. A mystery had attached itself to his +hotel, and with all his acumen and knowledge of things in general +he was unable to solve that mystery. He laughed at the fruitless +efforts of the police, but he could not honestly say that his own +efforts had been less barren. The public was talking, for, after all, +the disappearance of poor Dimmock's body had got noised abroad +in an indirect sort of way, and Theodore Racksole did not like the +idea of his impeccable hotel being the subject of sinister rumours. +He wondered, grimly, what the public and the Sunday newspapers +would say if they were aware of all the other phenomena, not yet +common property: of Miss Spencer's disappearance, of Jules' +strange visits, and of the non-arrival of Prince Eugen of Posen. +Theodore Racksole had worried his brain without result. He had +conducted an elaborate private investigation without result, and he +had spent a certain amount of money without result. The police +said that they had a clue; but Racksole remarked that it was always +the business of the police to have a clue, that they seldom had +more than a clue, and that a clue without some sequel to it was a +pretty stupid business. The only sure thing in the whole affair was +that a cloud rested over his hotel, his beautiful new toy, the finest +of its kind. The cloud was not interfering with business, but, +nevertheless, it was a cloud, and he fiercely resented its presence; +perhaps it would be more correct to say that he fiercely resented +his inability to dissipate it. + +'Mr Sampson Levi wishes to see you, sir,' the servant repeated, +having received no sign that his master had heard him. + +'So I hear,' said Racksole. 'Does he want to see me, personally?' + +'He asked for you, sir.' + +'Perhaps it is Rocco he wants to see, about a menu or something of +that kind?' + +'I will inquire, sir,' and the servant made a move to withdraw. + +'Stop,' Racksole commanded suddenly. 'Desire Mr Sampson Levi +to step this way.' + +The great stockbroker of the 'Kaffir Circus' entered with a simple +unassuming air. He was a rather short, florid man, dressed like a +typical Hebraic financier, with too much watch-chain and too little +waistcoat. In his fat hand he held a gold-headed cane, and an +absolutely new silk hat - for it was Friday, and Mr Levi purchased +a new hat every Friday of his life, holiday times only excepted. He +breathed heavily and sniffed through his nose a good deal, as +though he had just performed some Herculean physical labour. He +glanced at the American millionaire with an expression in which a +slight embarrassment might have been detected, but at the same +time his round, red face disclosed a certain frank admiration and +good nature. + +'Mr Racksole, I believe - Mr Theodore Racksole. Proud to meet +you, sir.' + +Such were the first words of Mr Sampson Levi. In form they were +the greeting of a third-rate chimney-sweep, but, strangely enough, +Theodore Racksole liked their tone. He said to himself that here, +precisely where no one would have expected to find one, was an +honest man. + +'Good day,' said Racksole briefly. 'To what do I owe the pleasure - ' + +'I expect your time is limited,' answered Sampson Levi. 'Anyhow, +mine is, and so I'll come straight to the point, Mr Racksole. I'm a +plain man. I don't pretend to be a gentleman or any nonsense of +that kind. I'm a stockbroker, that's what I am, and I don't care who +knows it. The other night I had a ball in this hotel. It cost me a +couple of thousand and odd pounds, and, by the way, I wrote out a +cheque for your bill this morning. I don't like balls, but they're +useful to me, and my little wife likes 'em, and so we give 'em. +Now, I've nothing to say against the hotel management as regards +that ball: it was very decently done, very decently, but what I want +to know is this - Why did you have a private detective among my +guests?' + +'A private detective?' exclaimed Racksole, somewhat surprised at +this charge. + +'Yes,' Mr Sampson Levi said firmly, fanning himself in his chair, +and gazing at Theodore Racksole with the direct earnest +expression of a man having a grievance. 'Yes; a private detective. +It's a small matter, I know, and I dare say you think you've got a +right, as proprietor of the show, to do what you like in that line; +but I've just called to tell you that I object. I've called as a matter of +principle. I'm not angry; it's the principle of the thing.' + +'My dear Mr Levi,' said Racksole, 'I assure you that, having let the +Gold Room to a private individual for a private entertainment, I +should never dream of doing what you suggest.' + +'Straight?' asked Mr Sampson Levi, using his own picturesque +language. + +'Straight,' said Racksole smiling. + +'There was a gent present at my ball that I didn't ask. I've got a +wonderful memory for faces, and I know. Several fellows asked +me afterwards what he was doing there. I was told by someone that +he was one of your waiters, but I didn't believe that. I know +nothing of the Grand Babylon; it's not quite my style of tavern, but +I don't think you'd send one of your own waiters to watch my +guests - unless, of course, you sent him as a waiter; and this chap +didn't do any waiting, though he did his share of drinking.' + +'Perhaps I can throw some light on this mystery,' said Racksole. 'I +may tell you that I was already aware that man had attended your +ball uninvited.' + +'How did you get to know?' + +'By pure chance, Mr Levi, and not by inquiry. That man was a +former waiter at this hotel - the head waiter, in fact - Jules. No +doubt you have heard of him.' + +'Not I,' said Mr Levi positively. + +'Ah!' said Racksole, 'I was informed that everyone knew Jules, but +it appears not. Well, be that as it may, previously to the night of +your ball, I had dismissed Jules. I had ordered him never to enter +the Babylon again. + +But on that evening I encountered him here - not in the Gold +Room, but in the hotel itself. I asked him to explain his presence, +and he stated he was your guest. That is all I know of the matter, +Mr Levi, and I am extremely sorry that you should have thought +me capable of the enormity of placing a private detective among +your guests.' + +'This is perfectly satisfactory to me,' Mr Sampson Levi said, after a +pause. + +'I only wanted an explanation, and I've got it. I was told by some +pals of mine in the City I might rely on Mr Theodore Racksole +going straight to the point, and I'm glad they were right. Now as to +that feller Jules, I shall make my own inquiries as to him. Might I +ask you why you dismissed him?' + +'I don't know why I dismissed him.' + +'You don't know? Oh! come now! I'm only asking because I +thought you might be able to give me a hint why he turned up +uninvited at my ball. Sorry if I'm too inquisitive.' + +'Not at all, Mr Levi; but I really don't know. I only sort of felt that +he was a suspicious character. I dismissed him on instinct, as it +were. See?' + +Without answering this question Mr Levi asked another. 'If this +Jules is such a well-known person,' he said, 'how could the feller +hope to come to my ball without being recognized?' + +'Give it up,' said Racksole promptly. + +'Well, I'll be moving on,' was Mr Sampson Levi's next remark. +'Good day, and thank ye. I suppose you aren't doing anything in +Kaffirs?' + +Mr Racksole smiled a negative. + +'I thought not,' said Levi. Well, I never touch American rails +myself, and so I reckon we sha'n't come across each other. Good +day.' + +'Good day,' said Racksole politely, following Mr Sampson Levi to +the door. + +With his hand on the handle of the door, Mr Levi stopped, and, +gazing at Theodore Racksole with a shrewd, quizzical expression, +remarked: + +'Strange things been going on here lately, eh?' + +The two men looked very hard at each other for several seconds. + +'Yes,' Racksole assented. 'Know anything about them?' + +'Well - no, not exactly,' said Mr Levi. 'But I had a fancy you and I +might be useful to each other; I had a kind of fancy to that effect.' + +'Come back and sit down again, Mr Levi,' Racksole said, attracted +by the evident straightforwardness of the man's tone. 'Now, how +can we be of service to each other? I flatter myself I'm something +of a judge of character, especially financial character, and I tell +you - if you'll put your cards on the table, I'll do ditto with mine.' + +'Agreed,' said Mr Sampson Levi. 'I'll begin by explaining my +interest in your hotel. I have been expecting to receive a summons +from a certain Prince Eugen of Posen to attend him here, and that +summons hasn't arrived. It appears that Prince Eugen hasn't come +to London at all. Now, I could have taken my dying davy that he +would have been here yesterday at the latest.' + +'Why were you so sure?' + +'Question for question,' said Levi. 'Let's clear the ground first, Mr +Racksole. Why did you buy this hotel? That's a conundrum that's +been puzzling a lot of our fellows in the City for some days past. +Why did you buy the Grand Babylon? And what is the next move +to be?' + +'There is no next move,' answered Racksole candidly, 'and I will +tell you why I bought the hotel; there need be no secret about it. I +bought it because of a whim.' And then Theodore Racksole gave +this little Jew, whom he had begun to respect, a faithful account of +the transaction with Mr Felix Babylon. 'I suppose,' he added, 'you +find a difficulty in appreciating my state of mind when I did the +deal.' + +'Not a bit,' said Mr Levi. 'I once bought an electric launch on the +Thames in a very similar way, and it turned out to be one of the +most satisfactory purchases I ever made. Then it's a simple +accident that you own this hotel at the present moment?' + +'A simple accident - all because of a beefsteak and a bottle of +Bass.' + +'Um!' grunted Mr Sampson Levi, stroking his triple chin. + +'To return to Prince Eugen,' Racksole resumed. 'I was expecting +His Highness here. The State apartments had been prepared for +him. He was due on the very afternoon that young Dimmock died. +But he never came, and I have not heard why he has failed to +arrive; nor have I seen his name in the papers. What his business +was in London, I don't know.' + +'I will tell you,' said Mr Sampson Levi, 'he was coming to arrange a +loan.' + +'A State loan?' + +'No - a private loan.' + +'Whom from?' + +'From me, Sampson Levi. You look surprised. If you'd lived in +London a little longer, you'd know that I was just the person the +Prince would come to. Perhaps you aren't aware that down +Throgmorton Street way I'm called "The Court Pawnbroker", +because I arrange loans for the minor, second-class Princes of +Europe. I'm a stockbroker, but my real business is financing some +of the little Courts of Europe. Now, I may tell you that the +Hereditary Prince of Posen particularly wanted a million, and he +wanted it by a certain date, and he knew that if the affair wasn't +fixed up by a certain time here he wouldn't be able to get it by that +certain date. That's why I'm surprised he isn't in London.' + +'What did he need a million for?' + +'Debts,' answered Sampson Levi laconically. + +'His own?' + +'Certainly.' + +'But he isn't thirty years of age?' + +'What of that? He isn't the only European Prince who has run up a +million of debts in a dozen years. To a Prince the thing is as easy +as eating a sandwich.' + +'And why has he taken this sudden resolution to liquidate them?' + +'Because the Emperor and the lady's parents won't let him marry +till he has done so! And quite right, too! He's got to show a clean +sheet, or the Princess Anna of Eckstein-Schwartzburg will never +be Princess of Posen. Even now the Emperor has no idea how +much Prince Eugen's debts amount to. If he had - !' + +'But would not the Emperor know of this proposed loan?' + +'Not necessarily at once. It could be so managed. Twig?' Mr +Sampson Levi laughed. 'I've carried these little affairs through +before. After marriage it might be allowed to leak out. And you +know the Princess Anna's fortune is pretty big! Now, Mr Racksole,' +he added, abruptly changing his tone, 'where do you suppose +Prince Eugen has disappeared to? Because if he doesn't turn up +to-day he can't have that million. To-day is the last day. +To-morrow the money will be appropriated, elsewhere. Of course, +I'm not alone in this business, and my friends have something to +say.' + +'You ask me where I think Prince Eugen has disappeared to?' + +'I do.' + +'Then you think it's a disappearance?' + +Sampson Levi nodded. 'Putting two and two together,' he said, 'I +do. The Dimmock business is very peculiar - very peculiar, indeed. +Dimmock was a left-handed relation of the Posen family. Twig? +Scarcely anyone knows that. + +He was made secretary and companion to Prince Aribert, just to +keep him in the domestic circle. His mother was an Irishwoman, +whose misfortune was that she was too beautiful. Twig?' (Mr +Sampson Levi always used this extraordinary word when he was in +a communicative mood.) 'My belief is that Dimmock's death has +something to do with the disappearance of Prince Eugen. + +The only thing that passes me is this: Why should anyone want to +make Prince Eugen disappear? The poor little Prince hasn't an +enemy in the world. If he's been "copped", as they say, why has he +been "copped"? It won't do anyone any good.' + +'Won't it?' repeated Racksole, with a sudden flash. + +'What do you mean?' asked Mr Levi. + +'I mean this: Suppose some other European pauper Prince was +anxious to marry Princess Anna and her fortune, wouldn't that +Prince have an interest in stopping this loan of yours to Prince +Eugen? Wouldn't he have an interest in causing Prince Eugen to +disappear - at any rate, for a time?' + +Sampson Levi thought hard for a few moments. + +'Mr Theodore Racksole,' he said at length, 'I do believe you have +hit on something.' + +Chapter Twelve ROCCO AND ROOM NO. 111 + +ON the afternoon of the same day - the interview just described +had occurred in the morning - Racksole was visited by another +idea, and he said to himself that he ought to have thought of it +before. The conversation with Mr Sampson Levi had continued for +a considerable time, and the two men had exchanged various +notions, and agreed to meet again, but the theory that Reginald +Dimmock had probably been a traitor to his family - a traitor +whose repentance had caused his death - had not been thoroughly +discussed; the talk had tended rather to Continental politics, with a +view to discovering what princely family might have an interest in +the temporary disappearance of Prince Eugen. Now, as Racksole +considered in detail the particular affair of Reginald Dimmock, +deceased, he was struck by one point especially, to wit: Why had +Dimmock and Jules manoeuvred to turn Nella Racksole out of +Room No. 111 on that first night? That they had so manoeuvred, +that the broken window-pane was not a mere accident, Racksole +felt perfectly sure. He had felt perfectly sure all along; but the +significance of the facts had not struck him. It was plain to him +now that there must be something of extraordinary and peculiar +importance about Room No. 111. After lunch he wandered quietly +upstairs and looked at Room No. 111; that is to say, he looked at +the outside of it; it happened to be occupied, but the guest was +leaving that evening. The thought crossed his mind that there +could be no object in gazing blankly at the outside of a room; yet +he gazed; then he wandered quickly down again to the next floor, +and in passing along the corridor of that floor he stopped, and with +an involuntary gesture stamped his foot. + +'Great Scott!' he said, 'I've got hold of something - No. 111 is +exactly over the State apartments.' + +He went to the bureau, and issued instructions that No. 111 was +not to be re-let to anyone until further orders. At the bureau they +gave him Nella's note, which ran thus: + +Dearest Papa, - I am going away for a day or two on the trail of a +due. + +If I'm not back in three days, begin to inquire for me at Ostend. Till +then leave me alone. - Your sagacious daughter, NELL. + +These few words, in Nella's large scrawling hand, filled one side of +the paper. At the bottom was a P.T.O. He turned over, and read the +sentence, underlined, 'P.S. - Keep an eye on Rocco.' + +'I wonder what the little creature is up to?' he murmured, as he tore +the letter into small fragments, and threw them into the +waste-paper basket. + +Then, without any delay, he took the lift down to the basement, +with the object of making a preliminary inspection of Rocco in his +lair. He could scarcely bring himself to believe that this suave and +stately gentleman, this enthusiast of gastronomy, was concerned in +the machinations of Jules and other rascals unknown. +Nevertheless, from habit, he obeyed his daughter, giving her credit +for a certain amount of perspicuity and cleverness. + +The kitchens of the Grand Babylon Hotel are one of the wonders +of Europe. + +Only three years before the events now under narration Felix +Babylon had had them newly installed with every device and +patent that the ingenuity of two continents could supply. They +covered nearly an acre of superficial space. + +They were walled and floored from end to end with tiles and +marble, which enabled them to be washed down every morning +like the deck of a man-of-war. + +Visitors were sometimes taken to see the potato-paring machine, +the patent plate-dryer, the Babylon-spit (a contrivance of Felix +Babylon's own), the silver-grill, the system of connected +stock-pots, and other amazing phenomena of the department. +Sometimes, if they were fortunate, they might also see the artist +who sculptured ice into forms of men and beasts for table +ornaments, or the first napkin-folder in London, or the man who +daily invented fresh designs for pastry and blancmanges. Twelve +chefs pursued their labours in those kitchens, helped by ninety +assistant chefs, and a further army of unconsidered menials. Over +all these was Rocco, supreme and unapproachable. Half-way along +the suite of kitchens, Rocco had an apartment of his own, wherein +he thought out those magnificent combinations, those marvellous +feats of succulence and originality, which had given him his fame. +Vistors never caught a glimpse of Rocco in the kitchens, though +sometimes, on a special night, he would stroll nonchalantly +through the dining-room, like the great man he was, to receive the +compliments of the hotel habitués - people of insight who +recognized his uniqueness. + +Theodore Racksole's sudden and unusual appearance in the kitchen +caused a little stir. He nodded to some of the chefs, but said +nothing to anyone, merely wandering about amid the maze of +copper utensils, and white-capped workers. At length he saw +Rocco, surrounded by several admiring chefs. Rocco was bending +over a freshly-roasted partridge which lay on a blue dish. He +plunged a long fork into the back of the bird, and raised it in the +air with his left hand. In his right he held a long glittering +carving-knife. He was giving one of his world-famous exhibitions +of carving. In four swift, unerring, delicate, perfect strokes he +cleanly severed the limbs of the partridge. It was a wonderful +achievement - how wondrous none but the really skilful carver can +properly appreciate. The chefs emitted a hum of applause, and +Rocco, long, lean, and graceful, retired to his own apartment. +Racksole followed him. Rocco sat in a chair, one hand over his +eyes; he had not noticed Theodore Racksole. + +'What are you doing, M. Rocco?' the millionaire asked smiling. +'Ah!' + +exclaimed Rocco, starting up with an apology. 'Pardon! I was +inventing a new mayonnaise, which I shall need for a certain menu +next week.' + +'Do you invent these things without materials, then?' questioned +Racksole. + +'Certainly. I do dem in my mind. I tink dem. Why should I want +materials? I know all flavours. I tink, and tink, and tink, and it is +done. I write down. + +I give the recipe to my best chef - dere you are. I need not even +taste, I know how it will taste. It is like composing music. De great +composers do not compose at de piano.' + +'I see,' said Racksole. + +'It is because I work like dat dat you pay me three thousand a year,' +Rocco added gravely. + +'Heard about Jules?' said Racksole abruptly. + +'Jules?' + +'Yes. He's been arrested in Ostend,' the millionaire continued, lying +cleverly at a venture. 'They say that he and several others are +implicated in a murder case - the murder of Reginald Dimmock.' + +'Truly?' drawled Rocco, scarcely hiding a yawn. His indifference +was so superb, so gorgeous, that Racksole instantly divined that it +was assumed for the occasion. + +'It seems that, after all, the police are good for something. But this +is the first time I ever knew them to be worth their salt. There is to +be a thorough and systematic search of the hotel to-morrow,' +Racksole went on. 'I have mentioned it to you to warn you that so +far as you are concerned the search is of course merely a matter of +form. You will not object to the detectives looking through your +rooms?' + +'Certainly not,' and Rocco shrugged his shoulders. + +'I shall ask you to say nothing about this to anyone,' said Racksole. +'The news of Jules' arrest is quite private to myself. The papers +know nothing of it. You comprehend?' + +Rocco smiled in his grand manner, and Rocco's master thereupon +went away. + +Racksole was very well satisfied with the little conversation. It was +perhaps dangerous to tell a series of mere lies to a clever fellow +like Rocco, and Racksole wondered how he should ultimately +explain them to this great master-chef if his and Nella's suspicions +should be unfounded, and nothing came of them. Nevertheless, +Rocco's manner, a strange elusive something in the man's eyes, had +nearly convinced Racksole that he was somehow implicated in +Jules' schemes - and probably in the death of Reginald Dimmock +and the disappearance of Prince Eugen of Posen. + +That night, or rather about half-past one the next morning, when +the last noises of the hotel's life had died down, Racksole made his +way to Room 111 on the second floor. He locked the door on the +inside, and proceeded to examine the place, square foot by square +foot. Every now and then some creak or other sound startled him, +and he listened intently for a few seconds. The bedroom was +furnished in the ordinary splendid style of bedrooms at the Grand +Babylon Hotel, and in that respect called for no remark. What most +interested Racksole was the flooring. He pulled up the thick +Oriental carpet, and peered along every plank, but could discover +nothing unusual. + +Then he went to the dressing-room, and finally to the bathroom, +both of which opened out of the main room. But in neither of these +smaller chambers was he any more successful than in the bedroom +itself. Finally he came to the bath, which was enclosed in a +panelled casing of polished wood, after the manner of baths. Some +baths have a cupboard beneath the taps, with a door at the side, but +this one appeared to have none. He tapped the panels, but not a +single one of them gave forth that 'curious hollow sound' which +usually betokens a secret place. Idly he turned the cold-tap of the +bath, and the water began to rush in. He turned off the cold-tap and +turned on the waste-tap, and as he did so his knee, which was +pressing against the panelling, slipped forward. The panelling had +given way, and he saw that one large panel was hinged from the +inside, and caught with a hasp, also on the inside. A large space +within the casing of the end of the bath was thus revealed. Before +doing anything else, Racksole tried to repeat the trick with the +waste-tap, but he failed; it would not work again, nor could he in +any way perceive that there was any connection between the rod of +the waste-tap and the hasp of the panel. Racksole could not see +into the cavity within the casing, and the electric light was fixed, +and could not be moved about like a candle. He felt in his pockets, +and fortunately discovered a box of matches. Aided by these, he +looked into the cavity, and saw nothing; nothing except a rather +large hole at the far end - some three feet from the casing. With +some difficulty he squeezed himself through the open panel, and +took a half-kneeling, half-sitting posture within. There he struck a +match, and it was a most unfortunate thing that in striking, the box +being half open, he set fire to all the matches, and was half +smothered in the atrocious stink of phosphorus which resulted. +One match burned clear on the floor of the cavity, and, rubbing his +eyes, Racksole picked it up, and looked down the hole which he +had previously descried. It was a hole apparently bottomless, and +about eighteen inches square. The curious part about the hole was +that a rope-ladder hung down it. When he saw that rope-ladder +Racksole smiled the smile of a happy man. + +The match went out. + +Should he make a long journey, perhaps to some distant corner of +the hotel, for a fresh box of matches, or should he attempt to +descend that rope-ladder in the dark? He decided on the latter +course, and he was the more strongly moved thereto as he could +now distinguish a faint, a very faint tinge of light at the bottom of +the hole. + +With infinite care he compressed himself into the well-like hole, +and descended the latter. At length he arrived on firm ground, +perspiring, but quite safe and quite excited. He saw now that the +tinge of light came through a small hole in the wood. He put his +eye to the wood, and found that he had a fine view of the State +bathroom, and through the door of the State bathroom into the +State bedroom. At the massive marble-topped washstand in the +State bedroom a man was visible, bending over some object which +lay thereon. + +The man was Rocco! + +Chapter Thirteen IN THE STATE BEDROOM + +IT was of course plain to Racksole that the peculiar passageway +which he had, at great personal inconvenience, discovered between +the bathroom of No. 111 and the State bathroom on the floor +below must have been specially designed by some person or +persons for the purpose of keeping a nefarious watch upon the +occupants of the State suite of apartments. It was a means of +communication at once simple and ingenious. At that moment he +could not be sure of the precise method employed for it, but he +surmised that the casing of the waterpipes had been used as a +'well', while space for the pipes themselves had been found in the +thickness of the ample brick walls of the Grand Babylon. The +eye-hole, through which he now had a view of the bedroom, was a +very minute one, and probably would scarcely be noticed from the +exterior. One thing he observed concerning it, namely, that it had +been made for a man somewhat taller than himself; he was obliged +to stand on tiptoe in order to get his eye in the correct position. He +remembered that both Jules and Rocco were distinctly above the +average height; also that they were both thin men, and could have +descended the well with comparative ease. Theodore Racksole, +though not stout, was a well-set man with large bones. + +These things flashed through his mind as he gazed, spellbound, at +the mysterious movements of Rocco. The door between the +bathroom and the bedroom was wide open, and his own situation +was such that his view embraced a considerable portion of the +bedroom, including the whole of the immense and +gorgeously-upholstered bedstead, but not including the whole of +the marble washstand. He could see only half of the washstand, +and at intervals Rocco passed out of sight as his lithe hands moved +over the object which lay on the marble. At first Theodore +Racksole could not decide what this object was, but after a time, as +his eyes grew accustomed to the position and the light, he made it +out. + +It was the body of a man. Or, rather, to be more exact, Racksole +could discern the legs of a man on that half of the table which was +visible to him. Involuntarily he shuddered, as the conviction forced +itself upon him that Rocco had some unconscious human being +helpless on that cold marble surface. The legs never moved. +Therefore, the hapless creature was either asleep or under the +influence of an anaesthetic - or (horrible thought!) dead. + +Racksole wanted to call out, to stop by some means or other the +dreadful midnight activity which was proceeding before his +astonished eyes; but fortunately he restrained himself. + +On the washstand he could see certain strangely-shaped utensils +and instruments which Rocco used from time to time. The work +seemed to Racksole to continue for interminable hours, and then at +last Rocco ceased, gave a sign of satisfaction, whistled several bars +from 'Cavalleria Rusticana', and came into the bath-room, where +he took off his coat, and very quietly washed his hands. As he +stood calmly and leisurely wiping those long fingers of his, he was +less than four feet from Racksole, and the cooped-up millionaire +trembled, holding his breath, lest Rocco should detect his presence +behind the woodwork. But nothing happened, and Rocco returned +unsuspectingly to the bedroom. Racksole saw him place some sort +of white flannel garment over the prone form on the table, and +then lift it bodily on to the great bed, where it lay awfully still. The +hidden watcher was sure now that it was a corpse upon which +Rocco had been exercising his mysterious and sinister functions. + +But whose corpse? And what functions? Could this be a West End +hotel, Racksole's own hotel, in the very heart of London, the +best-policed city in the world? It seemed incredible, impossible; +yet so it was. Once more he remembered what Felix Babylon had +said to him and realized the truth of the saying anew. The +proprietor of a vast and complicated establishment like the Grand +Babylon could never know a tithe of the extraordinary and queer +occurrences which happened daily under his very nose; the +atmosphere of such a caravanserai must necessarily be an +atmosphere of mystery and problems apparently inexplicable. +Nevertheless, Racksole thought that Fate was carrying things with +rather a high hand when she permitted his chef to spend the night +hours over a man's corpse in his State bedroom, this sacred +apartment which was supposed to be occupied only by individuals +of Royal Blood. Racksole would not have objected to a certain +amount of mystery, but he decidedly thought that there was a little +too much mystery here for his taste. He thought that even Felix +Babylon would have been surprised at this. + +The electric chandelier in the centre of the ceiling was not lighted; +only the two lights on either side of the washstand were switched +on, and these did not sufficiently illuminate the features of the man +on the bed to enable Racksole to see them clearly. In vain the +millionaire strained his eyes; he could only make out that the +corpse was probably that of a young man. Just as he was +wondering what would be the best course of action to pursue, he +saw Rocco with a square-shaped black box in his hand. Then the +chef switched off the two electric lights, and the State bedroom +was in darkness. In that swift darkness Racksole heard Rocco +spring on to the bed. Another half-dozen moments of suspense, +and there was a blinding flash of white, which endured for several +seconds, and showed Rocco standing like an evil spirit over the +corpse, the black box in one hand and a burning piece of +aluminium wire in the other. The aluminium wire burnt out, and +darkness followed blacker than before. + +Rocco had photographed the corpse by flashlight. + +But the dazzling flare which had disclosed the features of the dead +man to the insensible lens of the camera had disclosed them also +to Theodore Racksole. The dead man was Reginald Dimmock! + +Stung into action by this discovery, Racksole tried to find the exit +from his place of concealment. He felt sure that there existed some +way out into the State bathroom, but he sought for it fruitlessly, +groping with both hands and feet. Then he decided that he must +ascend the rope-ladder, make haste for the first-floor corridor, and +intercept Rocco when he left the State apartments. It was a painful +and difficult business to ascend that thin and yielding ladder in +such a confined space, but Racksole was managing it very nicely, +and had nearly reached the top, when, by some untoward freak of +chance, the ladder broke above his weight, and he slipped +ignominiously down to the bottom of the wooden tube. Smothering +an excusable curse, Racksole crouched, baffled. Then he saw that +the force of his fall had somehow opened a trap-door at his feet. +He squeezed through, pushed open another tiny door, and in +another second stood in the State bathroom. He was dishevelled, +perspiring, rather bewildered; but he was there. In the next second +he had resumed absolute command of all his faculties. + +Strange to say, he had moved so quietly that Rocco had apparently +not heard him. He stepped noiselessly to the door between the +bathroom and the bedroom, and stood there in silence. Rocco had +switched on again the lights over the washstand and was busy with +his utensils. + +Racksole deliberately coughed. + +Chapter Fourteen ROCCO ANSWERS SOME QUESTIONS + +ROCCO turned round with the swiftness of a startled tiger, and +gave Theodore Racksole one long piercing glance. + +'D--n!' said Rocco, with as pure an Anglo-Saxon accent and +intonation as Racksole himself could have accomplished. + +The most extraordinary thing about the situation was that at this +juncture Theodore Racksole did not know what to say. He was so +dumbfounded by the affair, and especially by Rocco's absolute and +sublime calm, that both speech and thought failed him. + +'I give in,' said Rocco. 'From the moment you entered this cursed +hotel I was afraid of you. I told Jules I was afraid of you. I knew +there would be trouble with a man of your kidney, and I was right; +confound it! I tell you I give in. I know when I'm beaten. I've got +no revolver and no weapons of any kind. I surrender. Do what you +like.' + +And with that Rocco sat down on a chair. It was magnificently +done. Only a truly great man could have done it. Rocco actually +kept his dignity. + +For answer, Racksole walked slowly into the vast apartment, +seized a chair, and, dragging it up to Rocco's chair, sat down +opposite to him. Thus they faced each other, their knees almost +touching, both in evening dress. On Rocco's right hand was the +bed, with the corpse of Reginald Dimmock. On Racksole's right +hand, and a little behind him, was the marble washstand, still +littered with Rocco's implements. The electric light shone on +Rocco's left cheek, leaving the other side of his face in shadow. +Racksole tapped him on the knee twice. + +'So you're another Englishman masquerading as a foreigner in my +hotel,' + +Racksole remarked, by way of commencing the interrogation. + +'I'm not,' answered Rocco quietly. 'I'm a citizen of the United +States.' + +'The deuce you are!' Racksole exclaimed. + +'Yes, I was born at West Orange, New Jersey, New York State. I +call myself an Italian because it was in Italy that I first made a +name as a chef - at Rome. It is better for a great chef like me to be +a foreigner. Imagine a great chef named Elihu P. Rucker. You can't +imagine it. I changed my nationality for the same reason that my +friend and colleague, Jules, otherwise Mr Jackson, changed his.' + +'So Jules is your friend and colleague, is he?' + +'He was, but from this moment he is no longer. I began to +disapprove of his methods no less than a week ago, and my +disapproval will now take active form.' + +'Will it?' said Racksole. 'I calculate it just won't, Mr Elihu P. +Rucker, citizen of the United States. Before you are very much +older you'll be in the kind hands of the police, and your activities, +in no matter what direction, will come to an abrupt conclusion.' + +'It is possible,' sighed Rocco. + +'In the meantime, I'll ask you one or two questions for my own +private satisfaction. You've acknowledged that the game is up, and +you may as well answer them with as much candour as you feel +yourself capable of. See?' + +'I see,' replied Rocco calmly, 'but I guess I can't answer all +questions. + +I'll do what I can.' + +'Well,' said Racksole, clearing his throat, 'what's the scheme all +about? Tell me in a word.' + +'Not in a thousand words. It isn't my secret, you know.' + +'Why was poor little Dimmock poisoned?' The millionaire's voice +softened as he looked for an instant at the corpse of the +unfortunate young man. + +'I don't know,' said Rocco. 'I don't mind informing you that I +objected to that part of the business. I wasn't made aware of it till +after it was done, and then I tell you it got my dander up +considerable.' + +'You mean to say you don't know why Dimmock was done to +death?' + +'I mean to say I couldn't see the sense of it. Of course he - er - died, +because he sort of cried off the scheme, having previously taken a +share of it. I don't mind saying that much, because you probably +guessed it for yourself. But I solemnly state that I have a +conscientious objection to murder.' + +'Then it was murder?' + +'It was a kind of murder,' Rocco admitted. Who did it?' + +'Unfair question,' said Rocco. + +'Who else is in this precious scheme besides Jules and yourself?' + +'Don't know, on my honour.' + +'Well, then, tell me this. What have you been doing to Dimmock's +body?' + +'How long were you in that bathroom?' Rocco parried with sublime +impudence. + +'Don't question me, Mr Rucker,' said Theodore Racksole. 'I feel +very much inclined to break your back across my knee. Therefore I +advise you not to irritate me. What have you been doing to +Dimmock's body?' + +'I've been embalming it.' + +'Em - balming it.' + +'Certainly; Richardson's system of arterial fluid injection, as +improved by myself. You weren't aware that I included the art of +embalming among my accomplishments. Nevertheless, it is so.' + +'But why?' asked Racksole, more mystified than ever. 'Why should +you trouble to embalm the poor chap's corpse?' + +'Can't you see? Doesn't it strike you? That corpse has to be taken +care of. + +It contains, or rather, it did contain, very serious evidence against +some person or persons unknown to the police. It may be +necessary to move it about from place to place. A corpse can't be +hidden for long; a corpse betrays itself. One couldn't throw it in the +Thames, for it would have been found inside twelve hours. One +couldn't bury it - it wasn't safe. The only thing was to keep it handy +and movable, ready for emergencies. I needn't inform you that, +without embalming, you can't keep a corpse handy and movable +for more than four or five days. It's the kind of thing that won't +keep. And so it was suggested that I should embalm it, and I did. +Mind you, I still objected to the murder, but I couldn't go back on a +colleague, you understand. You do understand that, don't you? +Well, here you are, and here it is, and that's all.' + +Rocco leaned back in his chair as though he had said everything +that ought to be said. He closed his eyes to indicate that so far as +he was concerned the conversation was also closed. Theodore +Racksole stood up. + +'I hope,' said Rocco, suddenly opening his eyes, 'I hope you'll call +in the police without any delay. It's getting late, and I don't like +going without my night's rest.' + +'Where do you suppose you'll get a night's rest?' Racksole asked. + +'In the cells, of course. Haven't I told you I know when I'm beaten. +I'm not so blind as not to be able to see that there's at any rate a +prima facie case against me. I expect I shall get off with a year or +two's imprisonment as accessory after the fact - I think that's what +they call it. Anyhow, I shall be in a position to prove that I am not +implicated in the murder of this unfortunate nincompoop.' He +pointed, with a strange, scornful gesture of his elbow, to the bed. +'And now, shall we go? Everyone is asleep, but there will be a +policeman within call of the watchman in the portico. I am at your +service. Let us go down together, Mr Racksole. I give you my word +to go quietly.' + +'Stay a moment,' said Theodore Racksole curtly; 'there is no hurry. +It won't do you any harm to forego another hour's sleep, especially +as you will have no work to do to-morrow. I have one or two more +questions to put to you.' + +'Well?' Rocco murmured, with an air of tired resignation, as if to +say, 'What must be must be.' + +'Where has Dimmock's corpse been during the last three or four +days, since he - died?' + +'Oh!' answered Rocco, apparently surprised at the simplicity of the +question. 'It's been in my room, and one night it was on the roof; +once it went out of the hotel as luggage, but it came back the next +day as a case of Demerara sugar. I forgot where else it has been, +but it's been kept perfectly safe and treated with every +consideration.' + +'And who contrived all these manoeuvres?' asked Racksole as +calmly as he could. + +'I did. That is to say, I invented them and I saw that they were +carried out. You see, the suspicions of your police obliged me to +be particularly spry.' + +'And who carried them out?' + +'Ah! that would be telling tales. But I don't mind assuring you that +my accomplices were innocent accomplices. It is absurdly easy for +a man like me to impose on underlings - absurdly easy.' + +'What did you intend to do with the corpse ultimately?' Racksole +pursued his inquiry with immovable countenance. + +'Who knows?' said Rocco, twisting his beautiful moustache. 'That +would have depended on several things - on your police, for +instance. But probably in the end we should have restored this +mortal clay' - again he jerked his elbow - 'to the man's sorrowing +relatives.' + +'Do you know who the relatives are?' + +'Certainly. Don't you? If you don't I need only hint that Dimmock +had a Prince for his father.' + +'It seems to me,' said Racksole, with cold sarcasm, 'that you +behaved rather clumsily in choosing this bedroom as the scene of +your operations.' + +'Not at all,' said Rocco. 'There was no other apartment so suitable +in the whole hotel. Who would have guessed that anything was +going on here? It was the very place for me.' + +'I guessed,' said Racksole succinctly. + +'Yes, you guessed, Mr Racksole. But I had not counted on you. +You are the only smart man in the business. You are an American +citizen, and I hadn't reckoned to have to deal with that class of +person.' + +'Apparently I frightened you this afternoon?' + +'Not in the least.' + +'You were not afraid of a search?' + +'I knew that no search was intended. I knew that you were trying to +frighten me. You must really credit me with a little sagacity and +insight, Mr Racksole. Immediately you began to talk to me in the +kitchen this afternoon I felt you were on the track. But I was not +frightened. I merely decided that there was no time to be lost - that +I must act quickly. I did act quickly, but, it seems, not quickly +enough. I grant that your rapidity exceeded mine. Let us go +downstairs, I beg.' + +Rocco rose and moved towards the door. With an instinctive +action Racksole rushed forward and seized him by the shoulder. + +'No tricks!' said Racksole. 'You're in my custody and don't forget +it.' + +Rocco turned on his employer a look of gentle, dignified scorn. +'Have I not informed you,' he said, 'that I have the intention of +going quietly?' + +Racksole felt almost ashamed for the moment. It flashed across +him that a man can be great, even in crime. + +'What an ineffable fool you were,' said Racksole, stopping him at +the threshold, 'with your talents, your unique talents, to get +yourself mixed up in an affair of this kind. You are ruined. And, by +Jove! you were a great man in your own line.' + +'Mr Racksole,' said Rocco very quickly, 'that is the truest word you +have spoken this night. I was a great man in my own line. And I +am an ineffable fool. Alas!' He brought his long arms to his sides +with a thud. + +'Why did you do it?' + +'I was fascinated - fascinated by Jules. He, too, is a great man. We +had great opportunities, here in the Grand Babylon. It was a great +game. It was worth the candle. The prizes were enormous. You +would admit these things if you knew the facts. Perhaps some day +you will know them, for you are a fairly clever person at getting to +the root of a matter. Yes, I was blinded, hypnotized.' + +'And now you are ruined.' + +'Not ruined, not ruined. Afterwards, in a few years, I shall come up +again. + +A man of genius like me is never ruined till he is dead. Genius is +always forgiven. I shall be forgiven. Suppose I am sent to prison. +When I emerge I shall be no gaol-bird. I shall be Rocco - the great +Rocco. And half the hotels in Europe will invite me to join them.' + +'Let me tell you, as man to man, that you have achieved your own +degradation. There is no excuse.' + +'I know it,' said Rocco. 'Let us go.' + +Racksole was distinctly and notably impressed by this man - by +this master spirit to whom he was to have paid a salary at the rate +of three thousand pounds a year. He even felt sorry for him. And +so, side by side, the captor and the captured, they passed into the +vast deserted corridor of the hotel. + +Rocco stopped at the grating of the first lift. + +'It will be locked,' said Racksole. 'We must use the stairs to-night.' + +'But I have a key. I always carry one,' said Rocco, and he pulled +one out of his pocket, and, unfastening the iron screen, pushed it +open. Racksole smiled at his readiness and aplomb. + +'After you,' said Rocco, bowing in his finest manner, and Racksole +stepped into the lift. + +With the swiftness of lighting Rocco pushed forward the iron +screen, which locked itself automatically. Theodore Racksole was +hopelessly a prisoner within the lift, while Rocco stood free in the +corridor. + +'Good-bye, Mr Racksole,' he remarked suavely, bowing again, +lower than before. 'Good-bye: I hate to take a mean advantage of +you in this fashion, but really you must allow that you have been +very simple. You are a clever man, as I have already said, up to a +certain point. It is past that point that my own cleverness comes in. +Again, good-bye. After all, I shall have no rest to-night, but +perhaps even that will be better that sleeping in a police cell. If you +make a great noise you may wake someone and ultimately get +released from this lift. But I advise you to compose yourself, and +wait till morning. It will be more dignified. For the third time, +good-bye.' + +And with that Rocco, without hastening, walked down the corridor +and so out of sight. + +Racksole said never a word. He was too disgusted with himself to +speak. He clenched his fists, and put his teeth together, and held +his breath. In the silence he could hear the dwindling sound of +Rocco's footsteps on the thick carpet. + +It was the greatest blow of Racksole's life. + +The next morning the high-born guests of the Grand Babylon were +aroused by a rumour that by some accident the millionaire +proprietor of the hotel had remained all night locked up m the lift. +It was also stated that Rocco had quarrelled with his new master +and incontinently left the place. A duchess said that Rocco's +departure would mean the ruin of the hotel, whereupon her +husband advised her not to talk nonsense. + +As for Racksole, he sent a message for the detective in charge of +the Dimmock affair, and bravely told him the happenings of the +previous night. + +The narration was a decided ordeal to a man of Racksole's +temperament. + +'A strange story!' commented Detective Marshall, and he could not +avoid a smile. 'The climax was unfortunate, but you have certainly +got some valuable facts.' + +Racksole said nothing. + +'I myself have a clue,' added the detective. When your message +arrived I was just coming up to see you. I want you to accompany +me to a certain spot not far from here. Will you come, now, at +once?' + +'With pleasure,' said Racksole. + +At that moment a page entered with a telegram. Racksole opened +it read: + +'Please come instantly. Nella. Hotel Wellington, Ostend.' + +He looked at his watch. + +'I can't come,' he said to the detective. Tm going to Ostend.' + +'To Ostend?' + +'Yes, now.' + +'But really, Mr Racksole,' protested the detective. 'My business is +urgent.' + + 'So's mine,' said Racksole. + +In ten minutes he was on his way to Victoria Station. + +Chapter Fifteen END OF THE YACHT ADVENTURE + +WE must now return to Nella Racksole and Prince Aribert of +Posen on board the yacht without a name. The Prince's first +business was to make Jules, otherwise Mr Tom Jackson, perfectly +secure by means of several pieces of rope. Although Mr Jackson +had been stunned into a complete unconsciousness, and there was +a contused wound under his ear, no one could say how soon he +might not come to himself and get very violent. So the Prince, +having tied his arms and legs, made him fast to a stanchion. + +'I hope he won't die,' said Nella. 'He looks very white.' + +'The Mr Jacksons of this world,' said Prince Aribert sententiously, +'never die till they are hung. By the way, I wonder how it is that no +one has interfered with us. Perhaps they are discreetly afraid of my +revolver - of your revolver, I mean.' + +Both he and Nella glanced up at the imperturbable steersman, who +kept the yacht's head straight out to sea. By this time they were +about a couple of miles from the Belgian shore. + +Addressing him in French, the Prince ordered the sailor to put the +yacht about, and make again for Ostend Harbour, but the fellow +took no notice whatever of the summons. The Prince raised the +revolver, with the idea of frightening the steersman, and then the +man began to talk rapidly in a mixture of French and Flemish. He +said that he had received Jules' strict orders not to interfere in any +way, no matter what might happen on the deck of the yacht. He +was the captain of the yacht, and he had to make for a certain +English port, the name of which he could not divulge: he was to +keep the vessel at full steam ahead under any and all +circumstances. He seemed to be a very big, a very strong, and a +very determined man, and the Prince was at a loss what course of +action to pursue. He asked several more questions, but the only +effect of them was to render the man taciturn and ill-humoured. + +In vain Prince Aribert explained that Miss Nella Racksole, +daughter of millionaire Racksole, had been abducted by Mr Tom +Jackson; in vain he flourished the revolver threateningly; the surly +but courageous captain said merely that that had nothing to do +with him; he had instructions, and he should carry them out. He +sarcastically begged to remind his interlocutor that he was the +captain of the yacht. + +'It won't do to shoot him, I suppose,' said the Prince to Nella. 'I +might bore a hole into his leg, or something of that kind.' + +'It's rather risky, and rather hard on the poor captain, with his +extraordinary sense of duty,' said Nella. 'And, besides, the whole +crew might turn on us. No, we must think of something else.' + +'I wonder where the crew is,' said the Prince. + +Just then Mr Jackson, prone and bound on the deck, showed signs +of recovering from his swoon. His eyes opened, and he gazed +vacantly around. At length he caught sight of the Prince, who +approached him with the revolver well in view. + +'It's you, is it?' he murmured faintly. 'What are you doing on board? +Who's tied me up like this?' + +'See here!' replied the Prince, 'I don't want to have any arguments, +but this yacht must return to Ostend at once, where you will be +given up to the authorities.' + +'Really!' snarled Mr Tom Jackson. 'Shall I!' Then he called out in +French to the man at the wheel, 'Hi André! let these two be put off +in the dinghy.' + +It was a peculiar situation. Certain of nothing but the possession of +Nella's revolver, the Prince scarcely knew whether to carry the +argument further, and with stronger measures, or to accept the +situation with as much dignity as the circumstances would permit. + +'Let us take the dinghy,' said Nella; 'we can row ashore in an hour.' + +He felt that she was right. To leave the yacht in such a manner +seemed somewhat ignominious, and it certainly involved the +escape of that profound villain, Mr Thomas Jackson. But what else +could be done? The Prince and Nella constituted one party on the +vessel; they knew their own strength, but they did not know the +strength of their opponents. They held the hostile ringleader bound +and captive, but this man had proved himself capable of giving +orders, and even to gag him would not help them if the captain of +the yacht persisted in his obstinate course. Moreover, there was a +distinct objection to promiscuous shooting; the Prince felt that; +there was no knowing how promiscuous shooting might end. + +'We will take the dinghy,' said the Prince quickly, to the captain. + +A bell rang below, and a sailor and the Negro boy appeared on +deck. The pulsations of the screw grew less rapid. The yacht +stopped. The dinghy was lowered. As the Prince and Nella +prepared to descend into the little cock-boat Mr Tom Jackson +addressed Nella, all bound as he lay. + +'Good-bye,' he said, 'I shall see you again, never fear.' . + +In another moment they were in the dinghy, and the dinghy was +adrift. The yacht's screw chumed the water, and the beautiful +vessel slipped away from them. As it receded a figure appeared at +the stem. It was Mr Thomas Jackson. + +He had been released by his minions. He held a white +handkerchief to his ear, and offered a calm, enigmatic smile to the +two forlorn but victorious occupants of the dinghy. Jules had been +defeated for once in his life; or perhaps it would be more just to +say that he had been out-manoeuvred. Men like Jules are incapable +of being defeated. It was characteristic of his luck that now, in the +very hour when he had been caught red-handed in a serious crime +against society, he should be effecting a leisurely escape - an +escape which left no clue behind. + +The sea was utterly calm and blue in the morning sun. The dinghy +rocked itself lazily in the swell of the yacht's departure. As the mist +cleared away the outline of the shore became more distinct, and it +appeared as if Ostend was distant scarcely a cable's length. The +white dome of the great Kursaal glittered in the pale turquoise sky, +and the smoke of steamers in the harbour could be plainly +distinguished. On the offing was a crowd of brown-sailed fishing +luggers returning with the night's catch. The many-hued +bathing-vans could be counted on the distant beach. Everything +seemed perfectly normal. It was difficult for either Nella or her +companion to realize that anything extraordinary had happened +within the last hour. Yet there was the yacht, not a mile off, to +prove to them that something very extraordinary had, in fact, +happened. The yacht was no vision, nor was that sinister watching +figure at its stern a vision, either. + +'I suppose Jules was too surprised and too feeble to inquire how I +came to be on board his yacht,' said the Prince, taking the oars. + +'Oh! How did you?' asked Nella, her face lighting up. 'Really, I had +almost forgotten that part of the affair.' + +'I must begin at the beginning and it will take some time,' answered +the Prince. 'Had we not better postpone the recital till we get +ashore?' + +'I will row and you shall talk,' said Nella. 'I want to know now.' + +He smiled happily at her, but gently declined to yield up the oars. + +'Is it not sufficient that I am here?' he said. + +'It is sufficient, yes,' she replied, 'but I want to know.' + +With a long, easy stroke he was pulling the dinghy shorewards. +She sat in the stern-sheets. + +'There is no rudder,' he remarked, 'so you must direct me. Keep the +boat's head on the lighthouse. The tide seems to be running in +strongly; that will help us. The people on shore will think that we +have only been for a little early morning excursion.' + +'Will you kindly tell me how it came about that you were able to +save my life, Prince?' she said. + +'Save your life, Miss Racksole? I didn't save your life; I merely +knocked a man down.' + +'You saved my life,' she repeated. 'That villain would have stopped +at nothing. I saw it in his eye.' + +'Then you were a brave woman, for you showed no fear of death.' +His admiring gaze rested full on her. For a moment the oars ceased +to move. + +She gave a gesture of impatience. + +'It happened that I saw you last night in your carriage,' he said. 'The +fact is, I had not had the audacity to go to Berlin with my story. I +stopped in Ostend to see whether I could do a little detective work +on my own account. + +It was a piece of good luck that I saw you. I followed the carriage +as quickly as I could, and I just caught a glimpse of you as you +entered that awful house. I knew that Jules had something to do +with that house. I guessed what you were doing. I was afraid for +you. Fortunately I had surveyed the house pretty thoroughly. There +is an entrance to it at the back, from a narrow lane. I made my way +there. I got into the yard at the back, and I stood under the window +of the room where you had the interview with Miss Spencer. I +heard everything that was said. It was a courageous enterprise on +your part to follow Miss Spencer from the Grand Babylon to +Ostend. Well, I dared not force an entrance, lest I might precipitate +matters too suddenly, and involve both of us in a difficulty. I +merely kept watch. Ah, Miss Racksole! you were magnificent with +Miss Spencer; as I say, I could hear every word, for the window +was slightly open. I felt that you needed no assistance from me. +And then she cheated you with a trick, and the revolver came +flying through the window. I picked it up, I thought it would +probably be useful. There was a silence. I did not guess at first that +you had fainted. I thought that you had escaped. When I found out +the truth it was too late for me to intervene. There were two men, +both desperate, besides Miss Spencer - ' + +'Who was the other man?' asked Nella. + +'I do not know. It was dark. They drove away with you to the +harbour. Again I followed. I saw them carry you on board. Before +the yacht weighed anchor I managed to climb unobserved into the +dinghy. I lay down full length in it, and no one suspected that I was +there. I think you know the rest.' + +'Was the yacht all ready for sea?' + +'The yacht was all ready for sea. The captain fellow was on the +bridge, and steam was up.' + +'Then they expected me! How could that be?' + +'They expected some one. I do not think they expected you.' + +'Did the second man go on board?' + +'He helped to carry you along the gangway, but he came back again +to the carriage. He was the driver.' + +'And no one else saw the business?' + +'The quay was deserted. You see, the last steamer had arrived for +the night.' + +There was a brief silence, and then Nella ejaculated, under her +breath. + +'Truly, it is a wonderful world!' + +And it was a wonderful world for them, though scarcely perhaps, +in the sense which Nella Racksole had intended. They had just +emerged from a highly disconcerting experience. Among other +minor inconveniences, they had had no breakfast. They were out in +the sea in a tiny boat. Neither of them knew what the day might +bring forth. The man, at least, had the most serious anxieties for +the safety of his Royal nephew. And yet - and yet - neither of them +wished that that voyage of the little boat on the summer tide +should come to an end. Each, perhaps unconsciously, had a vague +desire that it might last for ever, he lazily pulling, she directing his +course at intervals by a movement of her distractingly pretty head. +How was this condition of affairs to be explained? Well, they were +both young; they both had superb health, and all the ardour of +youth; and - they were together. + +The boat was very small indeed; her face was scarcely a yard from +his. She, in his eyes, surrounded by the glamour of beauty and vast +wealth; he, in her eyes, surrounded by the glamour of masculine +intrepidity and the brilliance of a throne. + +But all voyages come to an end, either at the shore or at the bottom +of the sea, and at length the dinghy passed between the stone +jetties of the harbour. The Prince rowed to the nearest steps, tied +up the boat, and they landed. It was six o'clock in the morning, and +a day of gorgeous sunlight had opened. Few people were about at +that early hour. + +'And now, what next?' said the Prince. 'I must take you to an hotel.' + +'I am in your hands,' she acquiesced, with a smile which sent the +blood racing through his veins. He perceived now that she was +tired and overcome, suffering from a sudden and natural reaction. + +At the Hôtel Wellington the Prince told the sleepy door-keeper that +they had come by the early train from Bruges, and wanted +breakfast at once. It was absurdly early, but a common English +sovereign will work wonders in any Belgian hotel, and in a very +brief time Nella and the Prince were breakfasting on the verandah +of the hotel upon chocolate that had been specially and hastily +brewed for them. + +'I never tasted such excellent chocolate,' claimed the Prince. + +The statement was wildly untrue, for the Hôtel Wellington is not +celebrated for its chocolate. Nevertheless Nella replied +enthusiastically, 'Nor I.' + +Then there was a silence, and Nella, feeling possibly that she had +been too ecstatic, remarked in a very matter-of-fact tone: 'I must +telegraph to Papa instantly.' + +Thus it was that Theodore Racksole received the telegram which +drew him away from Detective Marshall. + +Chapter Sixteen THE WOMAN WITH THE RED HAT + +'THERE is one thing, Prince, that we have just got to settle straight +off,' + +said Theodore Racksole. + +They were all three seated - Racksole, his daughter, and Prince +Aribert - round a dinner table in a private room at the Hôtel +Wellington. Racksole had duly arrived by the afternoon boat, and +had been met on the quay by the other two. They had dined early, +and Racksole had heard the full story of the adventures by sea and +land of Nella and the Prince. As to his own adventure of the +previous night he said very little, merely explaining, with as little +detail as possible, that Dimmock's body had come to light. + +'What is that?' asked the Prince, in answer to Racksole's remark. + +'We have got to settle whether we shall tell the police at once all +that has occurred, or whether we shall proceed on our own +responsibility. There can be no doubt as to which course we ought +to pursue. Every consideration of prudence points to the +advisability of taking the police into our confidence, and leaving +the matter entirely in their hands.' + +'Oh, Papa!' Nella burst out in her pouting, impulsive way. 'You +surely can't think of such a thing. Why, the fun has only just +begun.' + +'Do you call last night fun?' questioned Racksole, gazing at her +solemnly. + +'Yes, I do,' she said promptly. 'Now.' + +'Well, I don't,' was the millionaire's laconic response; but perhaps +he was thinking of his own situation in the lift. + +'Do you not think we might investigate a little further,' said the +Prince judiciously, as he cracked a walnut, 'just a little further - +and then, if we fail to accomplish anything, there would still be +ample opportunity to consult the police?' + +'How do you suggest we should begin?' asked Racksole. + +'Well, there is the house which Miss Racksole so intrepidly entered +last evening' - he gave her the homage of an admiring glance; 'you +and I, Mr Racksole, might examine that abode in detail.' + +'To-night?' + +'Certainly. We might do something.' + +'We might do too much.' + +'For example?' + +'We might shoot someone, or get ourselves mistaken for burglars. +If we outstepped the law, it would be no excuse for us that we had +been acting in a good cause.' + +'True,' said the Prince. 'Nevertheless - ' He stopped. + +'Nevertheless you have a distaste for bringing the police into the +business. + +You want the hunt all to yourself. You are on fire with the ardour +of the chase. Is not that it? Accept the advice of an older man, +Prince, and sleep on this affair. I have little fancy for nocturnal +escapades two nights together. As for you, Nella, off with you to +bed. The Prince and I will have a yarn over such fluids as can be +obtained in this hole.' + +'Papa,' she said, 'you are perfectly horrid to-night.' + +'Perhaps I am,' he said. 'Decidedly I am very cross with you for +coming over here all alone. It was monstrous. If I didn't happen to +be the most foolish of parents - There! Good-night. It's nine +o'clock. The Prince, I am sure, will excuse you.' + +If Nella had not really been very tired Prince Aribert might have +been the witness of a good-natured but stubborn conflict between +the millionaire and his spirited offspring. As it was, Nella departed +with surprising docility, and the two men were left alone. + +'Now,' said Racksole suddenly, changing his tone, 'I fancy that after +all I'm your man for a little amateur investigation to-night. And, if +I must speak the exact truth, I think that to sleep on this affair +would be about the very worst thing we could do. But I was +anxious to keep Nella out of harm's way at any rate till to-morrow. +She is a very difficult creature to manage, Prince, and I may warn +you,' he laughed grimly, 'that if we do succeed in doing anything +to-night we shall catch it from her ladyship in the morning. Are +you ready to take that risk?' + +'I am,' the Prince smiled. 'But Miss Racksole is a young lady of +quite remarkable nerve.' + +'She is,' said Racksole drily. 'I wish sometimes she had less.' + +'I have the highest admiration for Miss Racksole,' said the Prince, +and he looked Miss Racksole's father full in the face. + +'You honour us, Prince,' Racksole observed. 'Let us come to +business. Am I right in assuming that you have a reason for +keeping the police out of this business, if it can possibly be done?' + +'Yes,' said the Prince, and his brow clouded. 'I am very much afraid +that my poor nephew has involved himself in some scrape that he +would wish not to be divulged.' + +'Then you do not believe that he is the victim of foul play?' + +'I do not.' + +'And the reason, if I may ask it?' + +'Mr Racksole, we speak in confidence - is it not so? Some years +ago my foolish nephew had an affair - an affair with a feminine +star of the Berlin stage. For anything I know, the lady may have +been the very pattern of her sex, but where a reigning Prince is +concerned scandal cannot be avoided in such a matter. I had +thought that the affair was quite at an end, since my nephew's +betrothal to Princess Anna of Eckstein-Schwartzburg is shortly to +be announced. But yesterday I saw the lady to whom I have +referred driving on the Digue. The coincidence of her presence +here with my nephew's disappearance is too extraordinary to be +disregarded.' + +'But how does this theory square with the murder of Reginald +Dimmock?' + +'It does not square with it. My idea is that the murder of poor +Dimmock and the disappearance of my nephew are entirely +unconnected - unless, indeed, this Berlin actress is playing into the +hands of the murderers. I had not thought of that.' + +'Then what do you propose to do to-night?' + +'I propose to enter the house which Miss Racksole entered last +night and to find out something definite.' + +'I concur,' said Racksole. 'I shall heartily enjoy it. But let me tell +you, Prince, and pardon me for speaking bluntly, your surmise is +incorrect. I would wager a hundred thousand dollars that Prince +Eugen has been kidnapped.' + +'What grounds have you for being so sure?' + +'Ah! said Racksole, 'that is a long story. Let me begin by asking +you this. + +Are you aware that your nephew, Prince Eugen, owes a million of +money?' + +'A million of money!' cried Prince Aribert astonished. 'It is +impossible!' + +'Nevertheless, he does,' said Racksole calmly. Then he told him all +he had learnt from Mr Sampson Levi. + +'What have you to say to that?' Racksole ended. Prince Aribert +made no reply. + +'What have you to say to that?' Racksole insisted. + +'Merely that Eugen is ruined, even if he is alive.' + +'Not at all,' Racksole returned with cheerfulness. 'Not at all. We +shall see about that. The special thing that I want to know just now +from you is this: + +Has any previous application ever been made for the hand of the +Princess Anna?' + +'Yes. Last year. The King of Bosnia sued for it, but his proposal +was declined.' + +'Why?' + +'Because my nephew was considered to be a more suitable match +for her.' + +'Not because the personal character of his Majesty of Bosnia is +scarcely of the brightest?' + +'No. Unfortunately it is usually impossible to consider questions of +personal character when a royal match is concerned.' + +'Then, if for any reason the marriage of Princess Anna with your +nephew was frustrated, the King of Bosnia would have a fair +chance in that quarter?' + +'He would. The political aspect of things would be perfectly +satisfactory.' + +'Thanks!' said Racksole. 'I will wager another hundred thousand +dollars that someone in Bosnia - I don't accuse the King himself - +is at the bottom of this business. The methods of Balkan +politicians have always been half-Oriental. Let us go.' + +'Where?' + +'To this precious house of Nella's adventure.' + +'But surely it is too early?' + +'So it is,' said Racksole, 'and we shall want a few things, too. For +instance, a dark lantern. I think I will go out and forage for a +lantern.' + +'And a revolver?' suggested Prince Aribert. + +'Does it mean revolvers?' The millionaire laughed. 'It may come to +that.' 'Here you are, then, my friend,' said Racksole, and he pulled +one out of his hip pocket. 'And yours?' + +'I,' said the Prince, 'I have your daughter's.' + +'The deuce you have!' murmured Racksole to himself. + +It was then half past nine. They decided that it would be impolitic +to begin their operations till after midnight. There were three hours +to spare. + +'Let us go and see the gambling,' Racksole suggested. 'We might +encounter the Berlin lady.' + +The suggestion, in the first instance, was not made seriously, but it +appeared to both men that they might do worse than spend the +intervening time in the gorgeous saloon of the Kursaal, where, in +the season, as much money is won and lost as at Monte Carlo. It +was striking ten o'clock as they entered the rooms. There was a +large company present - a company which included some of the +most notorious persons in Europe. In that multifarious assemblage +all were equal. The electric light shone coldly and impartially on +the just and on the unjust, on the fool and the knave, on the +European and the Asiatic. As usual, women monopolized the best +places at the tables. + +The scene was familiar enough to Prince Aribert, who had +witnessed it frequently at Monaco, but Theodore Racksole had +never before entered any European gaming palace; he had only the +haziest idea of the rules of play, and he was at once interested. For +some time they watched the play at the table which happened to be +nearest to them. Racksole never moved his lips. + +With his eyes glued on the table, and ears open for every remark, +of the players and the croupier, he took his first lesson in roulette. +He saw a mere youth win fifteen thousand francs, which were +stolen in the most barefaced mariner by a rouged girl scarcely +older than the youth; he saw two old gamesters stake their coins, +and lose, and walk quietly out of the place; he saw the bank win +fifty thousand francs at a single turn. + +'This is rather good fun,' he said at length, 'but the stakes are too +small to make it really exciting. I'll try my luck, just for the +experience. I'm bound to win.' + +'Why?' asked the Prince. + +'Because I always do, in games of chance,' Racksole answered with +gay confidence. 'It is my fate. Then to-night, you must remember, I +shall be a beginner, and you know the tyro's luck.' + +In ten minutes the croupier of that table was obliged to suspend +operations pending the arrival of a further supply of coin. + +'What did I tell you?' said Racksole, leading the way to another +table further up the room. A hundred curious glances went after +him. One old woman, whose gay attire suggested a false +youthfulness, begged him in French to stake a five-franc piece for +her. She offered him the coin. He took it, and gave her a +hundred-franc note in exchange. She clutched the crisp rustling +paper, and with hysterical haste scuttled back to her own table. + +At the second table there was a considerable air of excitement. In +the forefront of the players was a woman in a low-cut evening +dress of black silk and a large red picture hat. Her age appeared to +be about twenty-eight; she had dark eyes, full lips, and a distinctly +Jewish nose. She was handsome, but her beauty was of that +forbidding, sinister order which is often called Junoesque. This +woman was the centre of attraction. People said to each other that +she had won a hundred and sixty thousand francs that day at the +table. + +'You were right,' Prince Aribert whispered to Theodore Racksole; +'that is the Berlin lady.' + +'The deuce she is! Has she seen you? Will she know you?' + +'She would probably know me, but she hasn't looked up yet.' + +'Keep behind her, then. I propose to find her a little occupation.' By +dint of a carefully-exercised diplomacy, Racksole manoeuvred +himself into a seat opposite to the lady in the red hat. The fame of +his success at the other table had followed him, and people +regarded him as a serious and formidable player. In the first turn +the lady put a thousand francs on double zero; Racksole put a +hundred on number nineteen and a thousand on the odd numbers. + +Nineteen won. Racksole received four thousand four hundred +francs. Nine times in succession Racksole backed number nineteen +and the odd numbers; nine times the lady backed double zero. +Nine times Racksole won and the lady lost. The other players, +perceiving that the affair had resolved itself into a duel, stood back +for the most part and watched those two. Prince Aribert never +stirred from his position behind the great red hat. The game +continued. Racksole lost trifles from time to time, but ninety-nine +hundredths of the luck was with him. As an English spectator at +the table remarked, 'he couldn't do wrong.' When midnight struck +the lady in the red hat was reduced to a thousand francs. Then she +fell into a winning vein for half an hour, but at one o'clock her +resources were exhausted. Of the hundred and sixty thousand +francs which she was reputed to have had early in the evening, +Racksole held about ninety thousand, and the bank had the rest. + +It was a calamity for the Juno of the red hat. She jumped up, +stamped her foot, and hurried from the room. At a discreet +distance Racksole and the Prince pursued her. + +'It might be well to ascertain her movements,' said Racksole. + +Outside, in the glare of the great arc lights, and within sound of the +surf which beats always at the very foot of the Kursaal, the Juno of +the red hat summoned a fiacre and drove rapidly away. Racksole +and the Prince took an open carriage and started in pursuit. They +had not, however, travelled more than half a mile when Prince +Aribert stopped the carriage, and, bidding Racksole get out, paid +the driver and dismissed him. + +'I feel sure I know where she is going,' he explained, 'and it will be +better for us to follow on foot.' + +'You mean she is making for the scene of last night's affair?' said +Racksole. + +'Exactly. We shall - what you call, kill two birds with one stone.' + +Prince Aribert's guess was correct. The lady's carriage stopped in +front of the house where Nella Racksole and Miss Spencer had had +their interview on the previous evening, and the lady vanished into +the building just as the two men appeared at the end of the street. +Instead of proceeding along that street, the Prince led Racksole to +the lane which gave on to the backs of the houses, and he counted +the houses as they went up the lane. In a few minutes they had +burglariously climbed over a wall, and crept, with infinite caution, +up a long, narrow piece of ground - half garden, half paved yard, +till they crouched under a window - a window which was shielded +by curtains, but which had been left open a little. + +'Listen,' said the Prince in his lightest whisper, 'they are talking.' + +'Who?' + +'The Berlin lady and Miss Spencer. I'm sure it's Miss Spencer's +voice.' + +Racksole boldly pushed the french window a little wider open, and +put his ear to the aperture, through which came a beam of yellow +light. + +'Take my place,' he whispered to the Prince, 'they're talking +German. You'll understand better.' + +Silently they exchanged places under the window, and the Prince +listened intently. + +'Then you refuse?' Miss Spencer's visitor was saying. + +There was no answer from Miss Spencer. + +'Not even a thousand francs? I tell you I've lost the whole +twenty-five thousand.' + +Again no answer. + +'Then I'll tell the whole story,' the lady went on, in an angry rush of +words. 'I did what I promised to do. I enticed him here, and you've +got him safe in your vile cellar, poor little man, and you won't give +me a paltry thousand francs.' + +'You have already had your price.' The words were Miss Spencer's. +They fell cold and calm on the night air. + +'I want another thousand.' + +'I haven't it.' + +'Then we'll see.' + +Prince Aribert heard a rustle of flying skirts; then another +movement - a door banged, and the beam of light through the +aperture of the window suddenly disappeared. He pushed the +window wide open. The room was in darkness, and apparently +empty. + +'Now for that lantern of yours,' he said eagerly to Theodore +Racksole, after he had translated to him the conversation of the +two women, Racksole produced the dark lantern from the +capacious pocket of his dust coat, and lighted it. The ray flashed +about the ground. + +'What is it?' exclaimed Prince Aribert with a swift cry, pointing to +the ground. The lantern threw its light on a perpendicular grating +at their feet, through which could be discerned a cellar. They both +knelt down, and peered into the subterranean chamber. On a +broken chair a young man sat listlessly with closed eyes, his head +leaning heavily forward on his chest. + +In the feeble light of the lantern he had the livid and ghastly +appearance of a corpse. + +'Who can it be?' said Racksole. + +'It is Eugen,' was the Prince's low answer. + +Chapter Seventeen THE RELEASE OF PRINCE EUGEN + +'EUGEN,' Prince Aribert called softly. At the sound of his own +name the young man in the cellar feebly raised his head and stared +up at the grating which separated him from his two rescuers. But +his features showed no recognition. He gazed in an aimless, vague, +silly manner for a few seconds, his eyes blinking under the glare of +the lantern, and then his head slowly drooped again on to his chest. +He was dressed in a dark tweed travelling suit, and Racksole +observed that one sleeve - the left - was torn across the upper part +of the cuff, and that there were stains of dirt on the left shoulder. A +soiled linen collar, which had lost all its starch and was half +unbuttoned, partially encircled the captive's neck; his brown boots +were unlaced; a cap, a handkerchief, a portion of a watch-chain, +and a few gold coins lay on the floor. Racksole flashed the lantern +into the corners of the cellar, but he could discover no other +furniture except the chair on which the Hereditary Prince of Posen +sat and a small deal table on which were a plate and a cup. + +'Eugen,' cried Prince Aribert once more, but this time his forlorn +nephew made no response whatever, and then Aribert added in a +low voice to Racksole: 'Perhaps he cannot see us clearly.' + +'But he must surely recognize your voice,' said Racksole, in a hard, +gloomy tone. There was a pause, and the two men above ground +looked at each other hesitatingly. Each knew that they must enter +that cellar and get Prince Eugen out of it, and each was somehow +afraid to take the next step. + +'Thank God he is not dead!' said Aribert. + +'He may be worse than dead!' Racksole replied. + +'Worse than - What do you mean?' + +'I mean - he may be mad.' + +'Come,' Aribert almost shouted, with a sudden access of energy - a +wild impulse for action. And, snatching the lantern from Racksole, +he rushed into the dark room where they had heard the +conversation of Miss Spencer and the lady in the red hat. For a +moment Racksole did not stir from the threshold of the window. +'Come,' Prince Aribert repeated, and there was an imperious +command in his utterance. 'What are you afraid of?' + +'I don't know,' said Racksole, feeling stupid and queer; 'I don't +know.' + +Then he marched heavily after Prince Aribert into the room. On +the mantelpiece were a couple of candles which had been blown +out, and in a mechanical, unthinking way, Racksole lighted them, +and the two men glanced round the room. It presented no peculiar +features: it was just an ordinary room, rather small, rather mean, +rather shabby, with an ugly wallpaper and ugly pictures in ugly +frames. Thrown over a chair was a man's evening-dress jacket. The +door was closed. Prince Aribert turned the knob, but he could not +open it. + +'It's locked,' he said. 'Evidently they know we're here.' + +'Nonsense,' said Racksole brusquely; 'how can they know?' And, +taking hold of the knob, he violently shook the door, and it opened. +'I told you it wasn't locked,' he added, and this small success of +opening the door seemed to steady the man. It was a curious +psychological effect, this terrorizing (for it amounted to that) of +two courageous full-grown men by the mere apparition of a +helpless creature in a cellar. Gradually they both recovered from it. +The next moment they were out in the passage which led to the +front door of the house. The front door stood open. They looked +into the street, up and down, but there was not a soul in sight. The +street, lighted by three gas-lamps only, seemed strangely sinister +and mysterious. + +'She has gone, that's clear,' said Racksole, meaning the woman +with the red hat. + +'And Miss Spencer after her, do you think?' questioned Aribert. + +'No. She would stay. She would never dare to leave. Let us find the +cellar steps.' + +The cellar steps were happily not difficult to discover, for in +moving a pace backwards Prince Aribert had a narrow escape of +precipitating himself to the bottom of them. The lantern showed +that they were built on a curve. + +Silently Racksole resumed possession of the lantern and went first, +the Prince close behind him. At the foot was a short passage, and +in this passage crouched the figure of a woman. Her eyes threw +back the rays of the lantern, shining like a cat's at midnight. Then, +as the men went nearer, they saw that it was Miss Spencer who +barred their way. She seemed half to kneel on the stone floor, and +in one hand she held what at first appeared to be a dagger, but +which proved to be nothing more romantic than a rather long +bread-knife. + +'I heard you, I heard you,' she exclaimed. 'Get back; you mustn't +come here.' + +There was a desperate and dangerous look on her face, and her +form shook with scarcely controlled passionate energy. + +'Now see here, Miss Spencer,' Racksole said calmly, 'I guess we've +had enough of this fandango. You'd better get up and clear out, or +we'll just have to drag you off.' + +He went calmly up to her, the lantern in his hand. Without another +word she struck the knife into his arm, and the lantern fell +extinguished. Racksole gave a cry, rather of angry surprise than of +pain, and retreated a few steps. In the darkness they could still +perceive the glint of her eyes. + +'I told you you mustn't come here,' the woman said. 'Now get back.' + +Racksole positively laughed. It was a queer laugh, but he laughed, +and he could not help it. The idea of this woman, this bureau clerk, +stopping his progress and that of Prince Aribert by means of a +bread-knife aroused his sense of humour. He struck a match, +relighted the candle, and faced Miss Spencer once more. + +'I'll do it again,' she said, with a note of hard resolve. + +'Oh, no, you won't, my girl,' said Racksole; and he pulled out his +revolver, cocked it, raised his hand. + +'Put down that plaything of yours,' he said firmly. + +'No,' she answered. + +'I shall shoot.' + +She pressed her lips together. + +'I shall shoot,' he repeated. 'One - two - three.' + +Bang, bang! He had fired twice, purposely missing her. Miss +Spencer never blenched. Racksole was tremendously surprised - +and he would have been a thousandfold more surprised could he +have contrasted her behaviour now with her abject terror on the +previous evening when Nella had threatened her. + +'You've got a bit of pluck,' he said, 'but it won't help you. Why +won't you let us pass?' + +As a matter of fact, pluck was just what she had not, really; she +had merely subordinated one terror to another. She was +desperately afraid of Racksole's revolver, but she was much more +afraid of something else. + +'Why won't you let us pass?' + +'I daren't,' she said, with a plaintive tremor; 'Tom put me in charge.' + +That was all. The men could see tears running down her poor +wrinkled face. + +Theodore Racksole began to take off his light overcoat. + +'I see I must take my coat off to you,' he said, and he almost +smiled. Then, with a quick movement, he threw the coat over Miss +Spencer's head and flew at her, seizing both her arms, while Prince +Aribert assisted. + +Her struggles ceased - she was beaten. + +'That's all right,' said Racksole: 'I could never have used that +revolver - to mean business with it, of course.' + +They carried her, unresisting, upstairs and on to the upper floor, +where they locked her in a bedroom. She lay in the bed as if +exhausted. + +'Now for my poor Eugen,' said Prince Aribert. + +'Don't you think we'd better search the house first?' Racksole +suggested; 'it will be safer to know just how we stand. We can't +afford any ambushes or things of that kind, you know.' + +The Prince agreed, and they searched the house from top to +bottom, but found no one. Then, having locked the front door and +the french window of the sitting-room, they proceeded again to the +cellar. + +Here a new obstacle confronted them. The cellar door was, of +course, locked; there was no sign of a key, and it appeared to be a +heavy door. They were compelled to return to the bedroom where +Miss Spencer was incarcerated, in order to demand the key of the +cellar from her. She still lay without movement on the bed. + +'Tom's got it,' she replied, faintly, to their question: 'Tom's got it, I +swear to you. He took it for safety.' + +'Then how do you feed your prisoner?' Racksole asked sharply. + +'Through the grating,' she answered. + +Both men shuddered. They felt she was speaking the truth. For the +third time they went to the cellar door. In vain Racksole thrust +himself against it; he could do no more than shake it. + +'Let's try both together,' said Prince Aribert. 'Now!' There was a +crack. + +'Again,' said Prince Aribert. There was another crack, and then the +upper hinge gave way. The rest was easy. Over the wreck of the +door they entered Prince Eugen's prison. + +The captive still sat on his chair. The terrific noise and bustle of +breaking down the door seemed not to have aroused him from his +lethargy, but when Prince Aribert spoke to him in German he +looked at his uncle. + +'Will you not come with us, Eugen?' said Prince Aribert; 'you +needn't stay here any longer, you know.' + +'Leave me alone,' was the strange reply; 'leave me alone. What do +you want?' + + 'We are here to get you out of this scrape,' said Aribert gently. +Racksole stood aside. + +'Who is that fellow?' said Eugen sharply. + +'That is my friend Mr Racksole, an Englishman - or rather, I should +say, an American - to whom we owe a great deal. Come and have +supper, Eugen.' + +'I won't,' answered Eugen doggedly. 'I'm waiting here for her. You +didn't think anyone had kept me here, did you, against my will? I +tell you I'm waiting for her. She said she'd come.' + +'Who is she?' Aribert asked, humouring him. + +'She! Why, you know! I forgot, of course, you don't know. You +mustn't ask. + +Don't pry, Uncle Aribert. She was wearing a red hat.' + +'I'll take you to her, my dear Eugen.' Prince Aribert put his hands +on the other's shoulder, but Eugen shook him off violently, stood +up, and then sat down again. + +Aribert looked at Racksole, and they both looked at Prince Eugen. +The latter's face was flushed, and Racksole observed that the left +pupil was more dilated than the right. The man started, muttered +odd, fragmentary scraps of sentences, now grumbling, now +whining. + +'His mind is unhinged,' Racksole whispered in English. + +'Hush!' said Prince Aribert. 'He understands English.' But Prince +Eugen took no notice of the brief colloquy. + +'We had better get him upstairs, somehow,' said Racksole. + +'Yes,' Aribert assented. 'Eugen, the lady with the red hat, the lady +you are waiting for, is upstairs. She has sent us down to ask you to +come up. Won't you come?' + +'Himmel!' the poor fellow exclaimed, with a kind of weak anger. +'Why did you not say this before?' + +He rose, staggered towards Aribert, and fell headlong on the floor. +He had swooned. The two men raised him, carried him up the +stone steps, and laid him with infinite care on a sofa. He lay, +breathing queerly through the nostrils, his eyes closed, his fingers +contracted; every now and then a convulsion ran through his +frame. + +'One of us must fetch a doctor,' said Prince Aribert. + +'I will,' said Racksole. At that moment there was a quick, curt rap +on the french window, and both Racksole and the Prince glanced +round startled. A girl's face was pressed against the large +window-pane. It was Nella's. + +Racksole unfastened the catch, and she entered. + +'I have found you,' she said lightly; 'you might have told me. I +couldn't sleep. I inquired from the hotel-folks if you had retired, +and they said no; so I slipped out. I guessed where you were.' +Racksole interrupted her with a question as to what she meant by +this escapade, but she stopped him with a careless gesture. What's +this?' She pointed to the form on the sofa. + +'That is my nephew, Prince Eugen,' said Aribert. + +'Hurt?' she inquired coldly. 'I hope not.' + +'He is ill,' said Racksole, 'his brain is turned.' + +Nella began to examine the unconscious Prince with the expert +movements of a girl who had passed through the best hospital +course to be obtained in New York. + +'He has got brain fever,' she said. 'That is all, but it will be enough. +Do you know if there is a bed anywhere in this remarkable house?' + +Chapter Eighteen IN THE NIGHT-TIME + +'HE must on no account be moved,' said the dark little Belgian +doctor, whose eyes seemed to peer so quizzically through his +spectacles; and he said it with much positiveness. + +That pronouncement rather settled their plans for them. It was +certainly a professional triumph for Nella, who, previous to the +doctor's arrival, had told them the very same thing. Considerable +argument had passed before the doctor was sent for. Prince Aribert +was for keeping the whole affair a deep secret among their three +selves. Theodore Racksole agreed so far, but he suggested further +that at no matter what risk they should transport the patient over to +England at once. Racksole had an idea that he should feel safer in +that hotel of his, and better able to deal with any situation that +might arise. Nella scorned the idea. In her quality of an amateur +nurse, she assured them that Prince Eugen was much more +seriously ill than either of them suspected, and she urged that they +should take absolute possession of the house, and keep possession +till Prince Eugen was convalescent. + +'But what about the Spencer female?' Racksole had said. + +'Keep her where she is. Keep her a prisoner. And hold the house +against all comers. If Jules should come back, simply defy him to +enter - that is all. + +There are two of you, so you must keep an eye on the former +occupiers, if they return, and on Miss Spencer, while I nurse the +patient. But first, you must send for a doctor.' + +'Doctor!' Prince Aribert had said, alarmed. 'Will it not be necessary +to make some awkward explanation to the doctor?' + +'Not at all!' she replied. 'Why should it be? In a place like Ostend +doctors are far too discreet to ask questions; they see too much to +retain their curiosity. Besides, do you want your nephew to die?' + +Both the men were somewhat taken aback by the girl's sagacious +grasp of the situation, and it came about that they began to obey +her like subordinates. + +She told her father to sally forth in search of a doctor, and he went. +She gave Prince Aribert certain other orders, and he promptly +executed them. + +By the evening of the following day, everything was going +smoothly. The doctor came and departed several times, and sent +medicine, and seemed fairly optimistic as to the issue of the +illness. An old woman had been induced to come in and cook and +clean. Miss Spencer was kept out of sight on the attic floor, +pending some decision as to what to do with her. And no one +outside the house had asked any questions. The inhabitants of that +particular street must have been accustomed to strange behaviour +on the part of their neighbours, unaccountable appearances and +disappearances, strange flittings and arrivals. This strong-minded +and active trio - Racksole, Nella, and Prince Aribert - might have +been the lawful and accustomed tenants of the house, for any +outward evidence to the contrary. + +On the afternoon of the third day Prince Eugen was distinctly and +seriously worse. Nella had sat up with him the previous night and +throughout the day. + +Her father had spent the morning at the hotel, and Prince Aribert +had kept watch. The two men were never absent from the house at +the same time, and one of them always did duty as sentinel at +night. On this afternoon Prince Aribert and Nella sat together in +the patient's bedroom. The doctor had just left. Theodore Racksole +was downstairs reading the New York Herald. The Prince and +Nella were near the window, which looked on to the back-garden. + +It was a queer shabby little bedroom to shelter the august body of a +European personage like Prince Eugen of Posen. Curiously +enough, both Nella and her father, ardent democrats though they +were, had been somehow impressed by the royalty and importance +of the fever-stricken Prince - impressed as they had never been by +Aribert. They had both felt that here, under their care, was a +species of individuality quite new to them, and different from +anything they had previously encountered. Even the gestures and +tones of his delirium had an air of abrupt yet condescending +command - an imposing mixture of suavity and haughtiness. As for +Nella, she had been first struck by the beautiful 'E' over a crown on +the sleeves of his linen, and by the signet ring on his pale, +emaciated hand. After all, these trifling outward signs are at least +as effective as others of deeper but less obtrusive significance. The +Racksoles, too, duly marked the attitude of Prince Aribert to his +nephew: it was at once paternal and reverential; it disclosed clearly +that Prince Aribert continued, in spite of everything, to regard his +nephew as his sovereign lord and master, as a being surrounded by +a natural and inevitable pomp and awe. This attitude, at the +beginning, seemed false and unreal to the Americans; it seemed to +them to be assumed; but gradually they came to perceive that they +were mistaken, and that though America might have cast out 'the +monarchial superstition', nevertheless that 'superstition' had +vigorously survived in another part of the world. + +'You and Mr Racksole have been extraordinarily kind to me,' said +Prince Aribert very quietly, after the two had sat some time in +silence. + +'Why? How?' she asked unaffectedly. 'We are interested in this +affair ourselves, you know. It began at our hotel - you mustn't +forget that, Prince.' + +'I don't,' he said. 'I forget nothing. But I cannot help feeling that I +have led you into a strange entanglement. Why should you and Mr +Racksole be here - you who are supposed to be on a holiday! - +hiding in a strange house in a foreign country, subject to all sorts +of annoyances and all sorts of risks, simply because I am anxious +to avoid scandal, to avoid any sort of talk, in connection with my +misguided nephew? It is nothing to you that the Hereditary Prince +of Posen should be liable to a public disgrace. What will it matter +to you if the throne of Posen becomes the laughing-stock of +Europe?' + +'I really don't know, Prince,' Nella smiled roguishly. 'But we +Americans have, a habit of going right through with anything we +have begun.' + +'Ah!' he said, 'who knows how this thing will end? All our trouble, +our anxieties, our watchfulness, may come to nothing. I tell you +that when I see Eugen lying there, and think that we cannot learn +his story until he recovers, I am ready to go mad. We might be +arranging things, making matters smooth, preparing for the future, +if only we knew - knew what he can tell us. I tell you that I am +ready to go mad. If anything should happen to you, Miss Racksole, +I would kill myself.' + +'But why?' she questioned. 'Supposing, that is, that anything could +happen to me - which it can't.' + +'Because I have dragged you into this,' he replied, gazing at her. 'It +is nothing to you. You are only being kind.' + +'How do you know it is nothing to me, Prince?' she asked him +quickly. + +Just then the sick man made a convulsive movement, and Nella +flew to the bed and soothed him. From the head of the bed she +looked over at Prince Aribert, and he returned her bright, excited +glance. She was in her travelling-frock, with a large white Belgian +apron tied over it. Large dark circles of fatigue and sleeplessness +surrounded her eyes, and to the Prince her cheek seemed hollow +and thin; her hair lay thick over the temples, half covering the ears. +Aribert gave no answer to her query - merely gazed at her with +melancholy intensity. + +'I think I will go and rest,' she said at last. 'You will know all about +the medicine.' + +'Sleep well,' he said, as he softly opened the door for her. And then +he was alone with Eugen. It was his turn that night to watch, for +they still half-expected some strange, sudden visit, or onslaught, or +move of one kind or another from Jules. Racksole slept in the +parlour on the ground floor. + +Nella had the front bedroom on the first floor; Miss Spencer was +immured in the attic; the last-named lady had been singularly quiet +and incurious, taking her food from Nella and asking no questions, +the old woman went at nights to her own abode in the purlieus of +the harbour. Hour after hour Aribert sat silent by his nephew's +bed-side, attending mechanically to his wants, and every now and +then gazing hard into the vacant, anguished face, as if trying to +extort from that mask the secrets which it held. Aribert was +tortured by the idea that if he could have only half an hour's, only a +quarter of an hour's, rational speech with Prince Eugen, all might +be cleared up and put right, and by the fact that that rational talk +was absolutely impossible on Eugen's part until the fever had run +its course. As the minutes crept on to midnight the watcher, made +nervous by the intense, electrical atmosphere which seems always +to surround a person who is dangerously ill, grew more and more a +prey to vague and terrible apprehensions. His mind dwelt +hysterically on the most fatal possibilities. + +He wondered what would occur if by any ill-chance Eugen should +die in that bed - how he would explain the affair to Posen and to +the Emperor, how he would justify himself. He saw himself being +tried for murder, sentenced (him - a Prince of the blood!), led to +the scaffold . . . a scene unparalleled in Europe for over a century! +. . . Then he gazed anew at the sick man, and thought he saw death +in every drawn feature of that agonized face. He could have +screamed aloud. His ears heard a peculiar resonant boom. He +started - it was nothing but the city clock striking twelve. But there +was another sound - a mysterious shuffle at the door. He listened; +then jumped from his chair. Nothing now! Nothing! But still he +felt drawn to the door, and after what seemed an interminable +interval he went and opened it, his heart beating furiously. Nella +lay in a heap on the door mat. She was fully dressed, but had +apparently lost consciousness. He clutched at her slender body, +picked her up, carried her to the chair by the fire-place, and laid +her in it. He had forgotten all about Eugen. + +'What is it, my angel?' he whispered, and then he kissed her - +kissed her twice. He could only look at her; he did not know what +to do to succour her. + + At last she opened her eyes and sighed. + +'Where am I?' she asked. vaguely, in a tremulous tone. as she +recognized him. 'Is it you? Did I do anything silly? Did I faint?' + +'What has happened? Were you ill?' he questioned anxiously. He +was kneeling at her feet, holding her hand tight. + +'I saw Jules by the side of my bed,' she murmured; 'I'm sure I saw +him; he laughed at me. I had not undressed. I sprang up, +frightened, but he had gone, and then I ran downstairs - to you.' + +'You were dreaming,' he soothed her. + +'Was I?' + +'You must have been. I have not heard a sound. No one could have +entered. + +But if you like I will wake Mr Racksole.' + +'Perhaps I was dreaming,' she admitted. 'How foolish!' + +'You were over-tired,' he said, still unconsciously holding her hand. +They gazed at each other. She smiled at him. + +'You kissed me,' she said suddenly, and he blushed red and stood +up before her. 'Why did you kiss me?' + +'Ah! Miss Racksole,' he murmured, hurrying the words out. +'Forgive me. It is unforgivable, but forgive me. I was overpowered +by my feelings. I did not know what I was doing.' + +'Why did you kiss me?' she repeated. + +'Because - Nella! I love you. I have no right to say it.' + +'Why have you no right to say it?' + +'If Eugen dies, I shall owe a duty to Posen - I shall be its ruler.' + +'Well!' she said calmly, with an adorable confidence. 'Papa is worth +forty millions. Would you not abdicate?' + +'Ah!' he gave a low cry. 'Will you force me to say these things? I +could not shirk my duty to Posen, and the reigning Prince of Posen +can only marry a Princess.' + +'But Prince Eugen will live,' she said positively, 'and if he lives - ' + +'Then I shall be free. I would renounce all my rights to make you +mine, if - if - ' + +'If what, Prince?' + +'If you would deign to accept my hand.' + +'Am I, then, rich enough?' + +'Nella!' He bent down to her. + +Then there was a crash of breaking glass. Aribert went to the +window and opened it. In the starlit gloom he could see that a +ladder had been raised against the back of the house. He thought +he heard footsteps at the end of the garden. + +'It was Jules,' he exclaimed to Nella, and without another word +rushed upstairs to the attic. The attic was empty. Miss Spencer had +mysteriously vanished. + +Chapter Nineteen ROYALTY AT THE GRAND BABYLON + +THE Royal apartments at the Grand Babylon are famous in the +world of hotels, and indeed elsewhere, as being, in their own way, +unsurpassed. Some of the palaces of Germany, and in particular +those of the mad Ludwig of Bavaria, may possess rooms and +saloons which outshine them in gorgeous luxury and the mere wild +fairy-like extravagance of wealth; but there is nothing, anywhere, +even on Eighth Avenue, New York, which can fairly be called +more complete, more perfect, more enticing, or - not least +important - more comfortable. + +The suite consists of six chambers - the ante-room, the saloon or +audience chamber, the dining-room, the yellow drawing-room +(where Royalty receives its friends), the library, and the State +bedroom - to the last of which we have already been introduced. +The most important and most impressive of these is, of course, the +audience chamber, an apartment fifty feet long by forty feet broad, +with a superb outlook over the Thames, the Shot Tower, and the +higher signals of the South-Western Railway. The decoration of +this room is mainly in the German taste, since four out of every six +of its Royal occupants are of Teutonic blood; but its chief glory is +its French ceiling, a masterpiece by Fragonard, taken bodily from a +certain famous palace on the Loire. The walls are of panelled oak, +with an eight-foot dado of Arras cloth imitated from unique +Continental examples. The carpet, woven in one piece, is an +antique specimen of the finest Turkish work, and it was obtained, a +bargain, by Felix Babylon, from an impecunious Roumanian +Prince. The silver candelabra, now fitted with electric light, came +from the Rhine, and each had a separate history. The Royal chair - +it is not etiquette to call it a throne, though it amounts to a throne - +was looted by Napoleon from an Austrian city, and bought by Felix +Babylon at the sale of a French collector. At each corner of the +room stands a gigantic grotesque vase of German faïence of the +sixteenth century. These were presented to Felix Babylon by +William the First of Germany, upon the conclusion of his first +incognito visit to London in connection with the French trouble of +1875. + +There is only one picture in the audience chamber. It is a portrait +of the luckless but noble Dom Pedro, Emperor of the Brazils. +Given to Felix Babylon by Dom Pedro himself, it hangs there +solitary and sublime as a reminder to Kings and Princes that +Empires may pass away and greatness fall. A certain Prince who +was occupying the suite during the Jubilee of 1887 - when the +Grand Babylon had seven persons of Royal blood under its roof - +sent a curt message to Felix that the portrait must be removed. +Felix respectfully declined to remove it, and the Prince left for +another hotel, where he was robbed of two thousand pounds' worth +of jewellery. The Royal audience chamber of the Grand Babylon, +if people only knew it, is one of the sights of London, but it is +never shown, and if you ask the hotel servants about its wonders +they will tell you only foolish facts concerning it, as that the +Turkey carpet costs fifty pounds to clean, and that one of the great +vases is cracked across the pedestal, owing to the rough treatment +accorded to it during a riotous game of Blind Man's Buff, played +one night by four young Princesses, a Balkan King, and his +aides-de-camp. + +In one of the window recesses of this magnificent apartment, on a +certain afternoon in late July, stood Prince Aribert of Posen. He +was faultlessly dressed in the conventional frock-coat of English +civilization, with a gardenia in his button-hole, and the +indispensable crease down the front of the trousers. He seemed to +be fairly amused, and also to expect someone, for at frequent +intervals he looked rapidly over his shoulder in the direction of the +door behind the Royal chair. At last a little wizened, stooping old +man, with a distinctly German cast of countenance, appeared +through the door, and laid some papers on a small table by the side +of the chair. + +'Ah, Hans, my old friend!' said Aribert, approaching the old man. 'I +must have a little talk with you about one or two matters. How do +you find His Royal Highness?' + +The old man saluted, military fashion. 'Not very well, your +Highness,' he answered. 'I've been valet to your Highness's nephew +since his majority, and I was valet to his Royal father before him, +but I never saw - ' He stopped, and threw up his wrinkled hands +deprecatingly. + +'You never saw what?' Aribert smiled affectionately on the old +fellow. You could perceive that these two, so sharply +differentiated in rank, had been intimate in the past, and would be +intimate again. + +'Do you know, my Prince,' said the old man, 'that we are to receive +the financier, Sampson Levi - is that his name? - in the audience +chamber? Surely, if I may humbly suggest, the library would have +been good enough for a financier?' + +'One would have thought so,' agreed Prince Aribert, 'but perhaps +your master has a special reason. Tell me,' he went on, changing +the subject quickly, 'how came it that you left the Prince, my +nephew, at Ostend, and returned to Posen?' + +'His orders, Prince,' and old Hans, who had had a wide experience +of Royal whims and knew half the secrets of the Courts of Europe, +gave Aribert a look which might have meant anything. 'He sent me +back on an - an errand, your Highness.' + +'And you were to rejoin him here?' + +'Just so, Highness. And I did rejoin him here, although, to tell the +truth, I had begun to fear that I might never see my master again.' + +'The Prince has been very ill in Ostend, Hans.' + +'So I have gathered,' Hans responded drily, slowly rubbing his +hands together. 'And his Highness is not yet perfectly recovered.' + +'Not yet. We despaired of his life, Hans, at one time, but thanks to +an excellent constitution, he came safely through the ordeal.' + +'We must take care of him, your Highness.' + +'Yes, indeed,' said Aribert solemnly, 'his life is very precious to +Posen.' + +At that moment, Eugen, Hereditary Prince of Posen, entered the +audience chamber. He was pale and languid, and his uniform +seemed to be a trouble to him. His hair had been slightly ruffled, +and there was a look of uneasiness, almost of alarmed unrest, in +his fine dark eyes. He was like a man who is afraid to look behind +him lest he should see something there which ought not to be +there. But at the same time, here beyond doubt was Royalty. +Nothing could have been more striking than the contrast between +Eugen, a sick man in the shabby house at Ostend, and this Prince +Eugen in the Royal apartments of the Grand Babylon Hotel, +surrounded by the luxury and pomp which modern civilization can +offer to those born in high places. All the desperate episode of +Ostend was now hidden, passed over. It was supposed never to +have occurred. It existed only like a secret shame in the hearts of +those who had witnessed it. Prince Eugen had recovered; at any +rate, he was convalescent, and he had been removed to London, +where he took up again the dropped thread of his princely life. The +lady with the red hat, the incorruptible and savage Miss Spencer, +the unscrupulous and brilliant Jules, the dark, damp cellar, the +horrible little bedroom - these things were over. Thanks to Prince +Aribert and the Racksoles, he had emerged from them in safety. +He was able to resume his public and official career. The Emperor +had been informed of his safe arrival in London, after an +unavoidable delay in Ostend; his name once more figured in the +Court chronicle of the newspapers. In short, everything was +smothered over. Only - only Jules, Rocco, and Miss Spencer were +still at large; and the body of Reginald Dimmock lay buried in the +domestic mausoleum of the palace at Posen; and Prince Eugen had +still to interview Mr Sampson Levi. + +That various matters lay heavy on the mind of Prince Eugen was +beyond question. He seemed to have withdrawn within himself. +Despite the extraordinary experiences through which he had +recently passed, events which called aloud for explanations and +confidence between the nephew and the uncle, he would say +scarcely a word to Prince Aribert. Any allusion, however direct, to +the days at Ostend, was ignored by him with more or less +ingenuity, and Prince Aribert was really no nearer a full solution of +the mystery of Jules' plot than he had been on the night when he +and Racksole visited the gaming tables at Ostend. Eugen was well +aware that he had been kidnapped through the agency of the +woman in the red hat, but, doubtless ashamed at having been her +dupe, he would not proceed in any way with the clearing-up of the +matter. + +'You will receive in this room, Eugen?' Aribert questioned him. + +'Yes,' was the answer, given pettishly. 'Why not? Even if I have no +proper retinue here, surely that is no reason why I should not hold +audience in a proper manner? . . . Hans, you can go.' The old valet +promptly disappeared. + +'Aribert,' the Hereditary Prince continued, when they were alone in +the chamber, 'you think I am mad.' + +'My dear Eugen,' said Prince Aribert, startled in spite of himself. +'Don't be absurd.' + +'I say you think I am mad. You think that that attack of brain fever +has left its permanent mark on me. Well, perhaps I am mad. Who +can tell? God knows that I have been through enough lately to +drive me mad.' + +Aribert made no reply. As a matter of strict fact, the thought had +crossed his mind that Eugen's brain had not yet recovered its +normal tone and activity. This speech of his nephew's, however, +had the effect of immediately restoring his belief in the latter's +entire sanity. He felt convinced that if only he could regain his +nephew's confidence, the old brotherly confidence which had +existed between them since the years when they played together as +boys, all might yet be well. But at present there appeared to be no +sign that Eugen meant to give his confidence to anyone. + +The young Prince had come up out of the valley of the shadow of +death, but some of the valley's shadow had clung to him, and it +seemed he was unable to dissipate it. + +'By the way,' said Eugen suddenly, 'I must reward these Racksoles, +I suppose. I am indeed grateful to them. If I gave the girl a +bracelet, and the father a thousand guineas - how would that meet +the case?' + +'My dear Eugen!' exclaimed Aribert aghast. 'A thousand guineas! +Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from +end to end without making himself a pauper. A thousand guineas! +You might as well offer him sixpence.' + + 'Then what must I offer?' + +'Nothing, except your thanks. Anything else would be an insult. +These are no ordinary hotel people.' + +'Can't I give the little girl a bracelet?' Prince Eugen gave a sinister +laugh. + +Aribert looked at him steadily. 'No,' he said. + +'Why did you kiss her - that night?' asked Prince Eugen carelessly. + +'Kiss whom?' said Aribert, blushing and angry, despite his most +determined efforts to keep calm and unconcerned. + +'The Racksole girl.' + +'When do you mean?' + +'I mean,' said Prince Eugen, 'that night in Ostend when I was ill. +You thought I was in a delirium. Perhaps I was. But somehow I +remember that with extraordinary distinctness. I remember raising +my head for a fraction of an instant, and just in that fraction of an +instant you kissed her. Oh, Uncle Aribert!' + +'Listen, Eugen, for God's sake. I love Nella Racksole. I shall marry +her.' + +'You!' There was a long pause, and then Eugen laughed. 'Ah!' he +said. 'They all talk like that to start with. I have talked like that +myself, dear uncle; it sounds nice, and it means nothing.' + +'In this case it means everything, Eugen,' said Aribert quietly. +Some accent of determination in the latter's tone made Eugen +rather more serious. + +'You can't marry her,' he said. 'The Emperor won't permit a +morganatic marriage.' + +'The Emperor has nothing to do with the affair. I shall renounce +my rights. + +I shall become a plain citizen.' + +'In which case you will have no fortune to speak of.' + +'But my wife will have a fortune. Knowing the sacrifices which I +shall have made in order to marry her, she will not hesitate to +place that fortune in my hands for our mutual use,' said Aribert +stiffly. + +'You will decidedly be rich,' mused Eugen, as his ideas dwelt on +Theodore Racksole's reputed wealth. 'But have you thought of this,' +he asked, and his mild eyes glowed again in a sort of madness. +'Have you thought that I am unmarried, and might die at any +moment, and then the throne will descend to you - to you, Aribert?' + +'The throne will never descend to me, Eugen,' said Aribert softly, +'for you will live. You are thoroughly convalescent. You have +nothing to fear.' + +'It is the next seven days that I fear,' said Eugen. + +'The next seven days! Why?' + +'I do not know. But I fear them. If I can survive them - ' + +'Mr Sampson Levi, sire,' Hans announced in a loud tone. + +Chapter Twenty MR SAMPSON LEVI BIDS PRINCE EUGEN +GOOD MORNING + +PRINCE EUGEN started. 'I will see him,' he said, with a gesture to +Hans as if to indicate that Mr Sampson Levi might enter at once. + +'I beg one moment first,' said Aribert, laying a hand gently on his +nephew's arm, and giving old Hans a glance which had the effect +of precipitating that admirably trained servant through the +doorway. + +'What is it?' asked Prince Eugen crossly. 'Why this sudden +seriousness? Don't forget that I have an appointment with Mr +Sampson Levi, and must not keep him waiting. Someone said that +punctuality is the politeness of princes.' + +'Eugen,' said Aribert, 'I wish you to be as serious as I am. Why +cannot we have faith in each other? I want to help you. I have +helped you. You are my titular Sovereign; but on the other hand I +have the honour to be your uncle: + +I have the honour to be the same age as you, and to have been your +companion from youth up. Give me your confidence. I thought you +had given it me years ago, but I have lately discovered that you had +your secrets, even then. And now, since your illness, you are still +more secretive.' + +'What do you mean, Aribert?' said Eugen, in a tone which might +have been either inimical or friendly. 'What do you want to say?' + +'Well, in the first place, I want to say that you will not succeed +with the estimable Mr Sampson Levi.' + +'Shall I not?' said Eugen lightly. 'How do you know what my +business is with him?' + +'Suffice it to say that I know. You will never get that million +pounds out of him.' + +Prince Eugen gasped, and then swallowed his excitement. 'Who +has been talking? What million?' His eyes wandered uneasily +round the room. 'Ah!' he said, pretending to laugh. 'I see how it is. I +have been chattering in my delirium. You mustn't take any notice +of that, Aribert. When one has a fever one's ideas become +grotesque and fanciful.' + +'You never talked in your delirium,' Aribert replied; 'at least not +about yourself. I knew about this projected loan before I saw you +in Ostend.' + +'Who told you?' demanded Eugen fiercely. + +'Then you admit that you are trying to raise a loan?' + +'I admit nothing. Who told you?' + +'Theodore Racksole, the millionaire. These rich men have no +secrets from each other. They form a coterie, closer than any +coterie of ours. Eugen, and far more powerful. They talk, and in +talking they rule the world, these millionaires. They are the real +monarchs.' + +'Curse them!' said Eugen. + +'Yes, perhaps so. But let me return to your case. Imagine my +shame, my disgust, when I found that Racksole could tell me more +about your affairs than I knew myself. Happily, he is a good +fellow; one can trust him; otherwise I should have been tempted to +do something desperate when I discovered that all your private +history was in his hands. Eugen, let us come to the point; why do +you want that million? Is it actually true that you are so deeply in +debt? I have no desire to improve the occasion. I merely ask.' + +'And what if I do owe a million?' said Prince Eugen with assumed +valour. + +'Oh, nothing, my dear Eugen, nothing. Only it is rather a large sum +to have scattered in ten years, is it not? How did you manage it?' + +'Don't ask me, Aribert. I've been a fool. But I swear to you that the +woman whom you call "the lady in the red hat" is the last of my +follies. I am about to take a wife, and become a respectable +Prince.' + +'Then the engagement with Princess Anna is an accomplished +fact?' + +'Practically so. As soon as I have settled with Levi, all will be +smooth. + +Aribert, I wouldn't lose Anna for the Imperial throne. She is a good +and pure woman, and I love her as a man might love an angel.' + +'And yet you would deceive her as to your debts, Eugen?' + +'Not her, but her absurd parents, and perhaps the Emperor. They +have heard rumours, and I must set those rumours at rest by +presenting to them a clean sheet.' + +'I am glad you have been frank with me, Eugen,' said Prince +Aribert, 'but I will be plain with you. You will never marry the +Princess Anna.' + +'And why?' said Eugen, supercilious again. + +'Because her parents will not permit it. Because you will not be +able to present a clean sheet to them. Because this Sampson Levi +will never lend you a million.' + +'Explain yourself.' + +'I propose to do so. You were kidnapped - it is a horrid word, but +we must use it - in Ostend.' + +'True.' + +'Do you know why?' + +'I suppose because that vile old red-hatted woman and her +accomplices wanted to get some money out of me. Fortunately, +thanks to you, they didn't.' + +'Not at all,' said Aribert. 'They wanted no money from you. They +knew well enough that you had no money. They knew you were +the naughty schoolboy among European Princes, with no sense of +responsibility or of duty towards your kingdom. Shall I tell you +why they kidnapped you?' + +'When you have done abusing me, my dear uncle.' + +'They kidnapped you merely to keep you out of England for a few +days, merely to compel you to fail in your appointment with +Sampson Levi. And it appears to me that they succeeded. +Assuming that you don't obtain the money from Levi, is there +another financier in all Europe from whom you can get it - on such +strange security as you have to offer?' + +'Possibly there is not,' said Prince Eugen calmly. 'But, you see, I +shall get it from Sampson Levi. Levi promised it, and I know from +other sources that he is a man of his word. He said that the money, +subject to certain formalities, would be available till - ' + +'Till?' + +'Till the end of June.' + +'And it is now the end of July.' + +'Well, what is a month? He is only too glad to lend the money. He +will get excellent interest. How on earth have you got into your +sage old head this notion of a plot against me? The idea is +ridiculous. A plot against me? What for?' + +'Have you ever thought of Bosnia?' asked Aribert coldly. + +'What of Bosnia?' + +'I need not tell you that the King of Bosnia is naturally under +obligations to Austria, to whom he owes his crown. Austria is +anxious for him to make a good influential marriage.' + +'Well, let him.' + +'He is going to. He is going to marry the Princess Anna.' + +'Not while I live. He made overtures there a year ago, and was +rebuffed.' + +'Yes; but he will make overtures again, and this time he will not be +rebuffed. Oh, Eugen! can't you see that this plot against you is +being engineered by some persons who know all about your +affairs, and whose desire is to prevent your marriage with Princess +Anna? Only one man in Europe can have any motive for wishing +to prevent your marriage with Princess Anna, and that is the man +who means to marry her himself.' Eugen went very pale. + +'Then, Aribert, do you mean to oonvey to me that my detention in +Ostend was contrived by the agents of the King of Bosnia?' + +'I do.' + +'With a view to stopping my negotiations with Sampson Levi, and +so putting an end to the possibility of my marriage with Anna?' + +Aribert nodded. + +'You are a good friend to me, Aribert. You mean well. But you are +mistaken. + +You have been worrying about nothing.' + +'Have you forgotten about Reginald Dimmock?' + +'I remember you said that he had died.' + +'I said nothing of the sort. I said that he had been assassinated. That +was part of it, my poor Eugen.' + +'Pooh!' said Eugen. 'I don't believe he was assassinated. And as for +Sampson Levi, I will bet you a thousand marks that he and I come +to terms this morning, and that the million is in my hands before I +leave London.' Aribert shook his head. + +'You seem to be pretty sure of Mr Levi's character. Have you had +much to do with him before?' + +'Well,' Eugen hesitated a second, 'a little. What young man in my +position hasn't had something to do with Mr Sampson Levi at one +time or another?' + +'I haven't,' said Aribert. + +'You! You are a fossil.' He rang a silver bell. 'Hans! I will receive +Mr Sampson Levi.' + +Whereupon Aribert discreetly departed, and Prince Eugen sat +down in the great velvet chair, and began to look at the papers +which Hans had previously placed upon the table. + +'Good morning, your Royal Highness,' said Sampson Levi, bowing +as he entered. 'I trust your Royal Highness is well.' + +'Moderately, thanks,' returned the Prince. + +In spite of the fact that he had had as much to do with people of +Royal blood as any plain man in Europe, Sampson Levi had never +yet learned how to be at ease with these exalted individuals during +the first few minutes of an interview. Afterwards, he resumed +command of himself and his faculties, but at the beginning he was +invariably flustered, scarlet of face, and inclined to perspiration. + +'We will proceed to business at once,' said Prince Eugen. 'Will you +take a seat, Mr Levi?' + +'I thank your Royal Highness.' + +'Now as to that loan which we had already practically arranged - a +million, I think it was,' said the Prince airily. + +'A million,' Levi acquiesced, toying with his enormous watch +chain. + +'Everything is now in order. Here are the papers and I should like +to finish the matter up at once.' + +'Exactly, your Highness, but - ' + +'But what? You months ago expressed the warmest satisfaction at +the security, though I am quite prepared to admit that the security, +is of rather an unusual nature. You also agreed to the rate of +interest. It is not everyone, Mr Levi, who can lend out a million at +5-1/2 per cent. And in ten years the whole amount will be paid +back. I - er - I believe I informed you that the fortune of Princess +Anna, who is about to accept my hand, will ultimately amount to +something like fifty millions of marks, which is over two million +pounds in your English money.' Prince Eugen stopped. He had no +fancy for talking in this confidential manner to financiers, but he +felt that circumstances demanded it. + +'You see, it's like this, your Royal Highness,' began Mr Sampson +Levi, in his homely English idiom. 'It's like this. I said I could keep +that bit of money available till the end of June, and you were to +give me an interview here before that date. Not having heard from +your Highness, and not knowing your Highness's address, though +my German agents made every inquiry, I concluded, that you had +made other arrangements, money being so cheap this last few +months.' + +'I was unfortunately detained at Ostend,' said Prince Eugen, with as +much haughtiness as he could assume, 'by - by important business. +I have made no other arangements, and I shall have need of the +million. If you will be so good as to pay it to my London bankers - ' + +'I'm very sorry,' said Mr Sampson Levi, with a tremendous and +dazzling air of politeness, which surprised even himself, 'but my +syndicate has now lent the money elsewhere. It's in South America +- I don't mind telling your Highness that we've lent it to the Chilean +Government.' + +'Hang the Chilean Government, Mr Levi,' exclaimed the Prince, +and he went white. 'I must have that million. It was an +arrangement.' + +'It was an arrangement, I admit,' said Mr Sampson Levi, 'but your +Highness broke the arrangement.' + +There was a long silence. + +'Do you mean to say,' began the Prince with tense calmness, 'that +you are not in a position to let me have that million?' + +'I could let your Highness have a million in a couple of years' time.' + +The Prince made a gesture of annoyance. 'Mr Levi,' he said, 'if you +do not place the money in my hands to-morrow you will ruin one +of the oldest of reigning families, and, incidentally, you will alter +the map of Europe. You are not keeping faith, and I had relied on +you.' + +'Pardon me, your Highness,' said little Levi, rising in resentment, 'it +is not I who have not kept faith. I beg to repeat that the money is +no longer at my disposal, and to bid your Highness good morning.' + +And Mr Sampson Levi left the audience chamber with an +awkward, aggrieved bow. It was a scene characteristic of the end +of the nineteenth century - an overfed, commonplace, pursy little +man who had been born in a Brixton semi-detached villa, and +whose highest idea of pleasure was a Sunday up the river in an +expensive electric launch, confronting and utterly routing, in a +hotel belonging to an American millionaire, the representative of a +race of men who had fingered every page of European history for +centuries, and who still, in their native castles, were surrounded +with every outward circumstance of pomp and power. + +'Aribert,' said Prince Eugen, a little later, 'you were right. It is all +over. I have only one refuge - ' + +'You don't mean - ' Aribert stopped, dumbfounded. + +'Yes, I do,' he said quickly. 'I can manage it so that it will look like +an accident.' + + + +Chapter Twenty-One THE RETURN OF FÉLIX BABYLON + +ON the evening of Prince Eugen's fateful interview with Mr +Sampson Levi, Theodore Racksole was wandering somewhat +aimlessly and uneasily about the entrance hail and adjacent +corridors of the Grand Babylon. He had returned from Ostend only +a day or two previously, and had endeavoured with all his might to +forget the affair which had carried him there - to regard it, in fact, +as done with. But he found himself unable to do so. In vain he +remarked, under his breath, that there were some things which +were best left alone: if his experience as a manipulator of markets, +a contriver of gigantic schemes in New York, had taught him +anything at all, it should surely have taught him that. Yet he could +not feel reconciled to such a position. The mere presence of the +princes in his hotel roused the fighting instincts of this man, who +had never in his whole career been beaten. He had, as it were, +taken up arms on their side, and if the princes of Posen would not +continue their own battle, nevertheless he, Theodore Racksole, +wanted to continue it for them. To a certain extent, of course, the +battle had been won, for Prince Eugen had been rescued from an +extremely difficult and dangerous position, and the enemy - +consisting of Jules, Rocco, Miss Spencer, and perhaps others - had +been put to flight. But that, he conceived, was not enough; it was +very far from being enough. That the criminals, for criminals they +decidedly were, should still be at large, he regarded as an absurd +anomaly. And there was another point: he had said nothing to the +police of all that had occurred. He disdained the police, but he +could scarcely fail to perceive that if the police should by accident +gain a clue to the real state of the case he might be placed rather +awkwardly, for the simple reason that in the eyes of the law it +amounted to a misdemeanour to conceal as much as he had +concealed. He asked himself, for the thousandth time, why he had +adopted a policy of concealment from the police, why he had +become in any way interested in the Posen matter, and why, at this +present moment, he should be so anxious to prosecute it further? +To the first two questions he replied, rather lamely, that he had +been influenced by Nella, and also by a natural spirit of adventure; +to the third he replied that he had always been in the habit of +carrying things through, and was now actuated by a mere childish, +obstinate desire to carry this one through. Moreover, he was +spendidly conscious of his perfect ability to carry it through. One +additional impulse he had, though he did not admit it to himself, +being by nature adverse to big words, and that was an abstract love +of justice, the Anglo-Saxon's deep-found instinct for helping the +right side to conquer, even when grave risks must thereby be run, +with no corresponding advantage. + +He was turning these things over in his mind as he walked about +the vast hotel on that evening of the last day in July. The Society +papers had been stating for a week past that London was empty, +but, in spite of the Society papers, London persisted in seeming to +be just as full as ever. The Grand Babylon was certainly not as +crowded as it had been a month earlier, but it was doing a very +passable business. At the close of the season the gay butterflies of +the social community have a habit of hovering for a day or two in +the big hotels before they flutter away to castle and country-house, +meadow and moor, lake and stream. The great basket-chairs in the +portico were well filled by old and middle-aged gentlemen +engaged in enjoying the varied delights of liqueurs, cigars, and the +full moon which floated so serenely above the Thames. Here and +there a pretty woman on the arm of a cavalier in immaculate attire +swept her train as she turned to and fro in the promenade of the +terrace. Waiters and uniformed commissionaires and gold-braided +doorkeepers moved noiselessly about; at short intervals the chief +of the doorkeepers blew his shrill whistle and hansoms drove up +with tinkling bell to take away a pair of butterflies to some place +of amusement or boredom; occasionally a private carriage drawn +by expensive and self-conscious horses put the hansoms to shame +by its mere outward glory. It was a hot night, a night for the +summer woods, and save for the vehicles there was no rapid +movement of any kind. It seemed as though the world - the world, +that is to say, of the Grand Babylon - was fully engaged in the +solemn processes of digestion and small-talk. Even the long row of +the Embankment gas-lamps, stretching right and left, scarcely +trembled in the still, warm, caressing air. The stars overhead +looked down with many blinkings upon the enormous pile of the +Grand Babylon, and the moon regarded it with bland and +changeless face; what they thought of it and its inhabitants cannot, +unfortunately, be recorded. What Theodore Racksole thought of +the moon can be recorded: he thought it was a nuisance. It +somehow fascinated his gaze with its silly stare, and so interfered +with his complex meditations. He glanced round at the +well-dressed and satisfied people - his guests, his customers. They +appeared to ignore him absolutely. + +Probably only a very small percentage of them had the least idea +that this tall spare man, with the iron-grey hair and the thin, firm, +resolute face, who wore his American-cut evening clothes with +such careless ease, was the sole proprietor of the Grand Babylon, +and possibly the richest man in Europe. As has already been stated, +Racksole was not a celebrity in England. + +The guests of the Grand Babylon saw merely a restless male +person, whose restlessness was rather a disturber of their quietude, +but with whom, to judge by his countenance, it would be +inadvisable to remonstrate. Therefore Theodore Racksole +continued his perambulations unchallenged, and kept saying to +himself, 'I must do something.' But what? He could think of no +course to pursue. + +At last he walked straight through the hotel and out at the other +entrance, and so up the little unassuming side street into the +roaring torrent of the narrow and crowded Strand. He jumped on a +Putney bus, and paid his fair to Putney, fivepence, and then, +finding that the humble occupants of the vehicle stared at the +spectacle of a man in evening dress but without a dustcoat, he +jumped off again, oblivious of the fact that the conductor jerked a +thumb towards him and winked at the passengers as who should +say, 'There goes a lunatic.' He went into a tobacconist's shop and +asked for a cigar. The shopman mildly inquired what price. + +'What are the best you've got?' asked Theodore Racksole. + +'Five shillings each, sir,' said the man promptly. + +'Give me a penny one,' was Theodore Racksole's laconic request, +and he walked out of the shop smoking the penny cigar. It was a +new sensation for him. + +He was inhaling the aromatic odours of Eugène Rimmel's +establishment for the sale of scents when a gentleman, walking +slowly in the opposite direction, accosted him with a quiet, 'Good +evening, Mr Racksole.' The millionaire did not at first recognize +his interlocutor, who wore a travelling overcoat, and was carrying +a handbag. Then a slight, pleased smile passed over his features, +and he held out his hand. + +'Well, Mr Babylon,' he greeted the other, 'of all persons in the wide +world you are the man I would most have wished to meet.' + +'You flatter me,' said the little Anglicized Swiss. + +'No, I don't,' answered Racksole; 'it isn't my custom, any more than +it's yours. I wanted to have a real good long yarn with you, and lo! +here you are! Where have you sprung from?' + +'From Lausanne,' said Felix Babylon. 'I had finished my duties +there, I had nothing else to do, and I felt homesick. I felt the +nostalgia of London, and so I came over, just as you see,' and he +raised the handbag for Racksole's notice. 'One toothbrush, one +razor, two slippers, ehl' He laughed. 'I was wondering as I walked +along where I should stay - me, Felix Babylon, homeless in +London.' + +'I should advise you to stay at the Grand Babylon,' Racksole +laughed back. + +'It is a good hotel, and I know the proprietor personally.' + +'Rather expensive, is it not?' said Babylon. + +'To you, sir,' answered Racksole, 'the inclusive terms will be +exactly half a crown a week. Do you accept?' + +'I accept,' said Babylon, and added, 'You are very good, Mr +Racksole.' + +They strolled together back to the hotel, saying nothing in +particular, but feeling very content with each other's company. + +'Many customers?' asked Felix Babylon. + +'Very tolerable,' said Racksole, assuming as much of the air of the +professional hotel proprietor as he could. 'I think I may say in the +storekeeper's phrase, that if there is any business about I am doing +it. + +To-night the people are all on the terrace in the portico - it's so +confoundedly hot - and the consumption of ice is simply enormous +- nearly as large as it would be in New York.' + +'In that case,' said Babylon politely, 'let me offer you another cigar.' + +'But I have not finished this one.' + +'That is just why I wish to offer you another one. A cigar such as +yours, my good friend, ought never to be smoked within the +precincts of the Grand Babylon, not even by the proprietor of the +Grand Babylon, and especially when all the guests are assembled +in the portico. The fumes of it would ruin any hotel.' + +Theodore Racksole laughingly lighted the Rothschild Havana +which Babylon gave him, and they entered the hotel arm in arm. +But no sooner had they mounted the steps than little Felix became +the object of numberless greetings. It appeared that he had been +highly popular among his quondam guests. At last they reached the +managerial room, where Babylon was regaled on a chicken, and +Racksole assisted him in the consumption of a bottle of Heidsieck +Monopole, Carte d'Or. + +'This chicken is almost perfectly grilled,' said Babylon at length. 'It +is a credit to the house. But why, my dear Racksole, why in the +name of Heaven did you quarrel with Rocco?' + +'Then you have heard?' + +'Heard! My dear friend, it was in every newspaper on the +Continent. Some journals prophesied that the Grand Babylon +would have to close its doors within half a year now that Rocco +had deserted it. But of course I knew better. I knew that you must +have a good reason for allowing Rocco to depart, and that you +must have made arrangements in advance for a substitute.' + +'As a matter of fact, I had not made arrangements in advance,' said +Theodore Racksole, a little ruefully; 'but happily we have found in +our second sous-chef an artist inferior only to Rocco himself. That, +however, was mere good fortune.' + +'Surely,' said Babylon, 'it was indiscreet to trust to mere good +fortune in such a serious matter?' + +'I didn't trust to mere good fortune. I didn't trust to anything except +Rocco, and he deceived me.' + +'But why did you quarrel with him?' + +'I didn't quarrel with him. I found him embalming a corpse in the +State bedroom one night - ' + +'You what?' Babylon almost screamed. + +'I found him embalming a corpse in the State bedroom,' repeated +Racksole in his quietest tones. + +The two men gazed at each other, and then Racksole replenished +Babylon's glass. + +'Tell me,' said Babylon, settling himself deep in an easy chair and +lighting a cigar. + +And Racksole thereupon recounted to him the whole of the Posen +episode, with every circumstantial detail so far as he knew it. It +was a long and complicated recital, and occupied about an hour. +During that time little Felix never spoke a word, scarcely moved a +muscle; only his small eyes gazed through the bluish haze of +smoke. The clock on the mantelpiece tinkled midnight. + +'Time for whisky and soda,' said Racksole, and got up as if to ring +the bell; but Babylon waved him back. + +'You have told me that this Sampson Levi had an audience of +Prince Eugen to-day, but you have not told me the result of that +audience,' said Babylon. + + 'Because I do not yet know it. But I shall doubtless know +to-morrow. In the meantime, I feel fairly sure that Levi declined to +produce Prince Eugen's required million. I have reason to believe +that the money was lent elsewhere.' + +'H'm!' mused Babylon; and then, carelessly, 'I am not at all +surprised at that arrangement for spying through the bathroom of +the State apartments.' + +'Why are you not surprised?' + +'Oh!' said Babylon, 'it is such an obvious dodge - so easy to carry +out. As for me, I took special care never to involve myself in these +affairs. I knew they existed; I somehow felt that they existed. But I +also felt that they lay outside my sphere. My business was to +provide board and lodging of the most sumptuous kind to those +who didn't mind paying for it; and I did my business. If anything +else went on in the hotel, under the rose, I long determined to +ignore it unless it should happen to be brought before my notice; +and it never was brought before my notice. However, I admit that +there is a certain pleasurable excitement in this kind of affair and +doubtless you have experienced that.' + +'I have,' said Racksole simply, 'though I believe you are laughing at +me.' + +'By no means,' Babylon replied. 'Now what, if I may ask the +question, is going to be your next step?' + +'That is just what I desire to know myself,' said Theodore +Racksole. + +'Well,' said Babylon, after a pause, 'let us begin. In the first place, it +is possible you may be interested to hear that I happened to see +Jules to-day.' + +'You did!' Racksole remarked with much calmness. 'Where?' + +'Well, it was early this morning, in Paris, just before I left there. +The meeting was quite accidental, and Jules seemed rather +surprised at meeting me. He respectfully inquired where I was +going, and I said that I was going to Switzerland. At that moment I +thought I was going to Switzerland. It had occurred to me that after +all I should be happier there, and that I had better turn back and +not see London any more. However, I changed my mind once +again, and decided to come on to London, and accept the risks of +being miserable there without my hotel. Then I asked Jules +whither he was bound, and he told me that he was off to +Constantinople, being interested in a new French hotel there. I +wished him good luck, and we parted.' + +'Constantinople, eh!' said Racksole. 'A highly suitable place for +him, I should say.' + +'But,' Babylon resumed, 'I caught sight of him again.' + +'Where?' + +'At Charing Cross, a few minutes before I had the pleasure of +meeting you. + +Mr Jules had not gone to Constantinople after all. He did not see +me, or I should have suggested to him that in going from Paris to +Constantinople it is not usual to travel via London.' + +'The cheek of the fellow!' exclaimed Theodore Racksole. 'The +gorgeous and colossal cheek of the fellow!' + +Chapter Twenty-Two IN THE WINE CELLARS OF THE GRAND +BABYLON + +'DO you know anything of the antecedents of this Jules,' asked +Theodore Racksole, helping himself to whisky. + +'Nothing whatever,' said Babylon. 'Until you told me, I don't think I +was aware that his true name was Thomas Jackson, though of +course I knew that it was not Jules. I certainly was not aware that +Miss Spencer was his wife, but I had long suspected that their +relations were somewhat more intimate than the nature of their +respective duties in the hotel absolutely demanded. All that I do +know of Jules - he will always be called Jules - is that he +gradually, by some mysterious personal force, acquired a +prominent position in the hotel. Decidedly he was the cleverest +and most intellectual waiter I have ever known, and he was +specially skilled in the difficult task of retaining his own dignity +while not interfering with that of other people. + +I'm afraid this information is a little too vague to be of any +practical assistance in the present difficulty.' + +'What is the present difficulty?' Racksole queried, with a simple +air. + +'I should imagine that the present difficulty is to account for the +man's presence in London.' + +'That is easily accounted for,' said Racksole. + +'How? Do you suppose he is anxious to give himself up to justice, +or that the chains of habit bind him to the hotel?' + +'Neither,' said Racksole. 'Jules is going to have another try - that's +all.' + + 'Another try at what?' + +'At Prince Eugen. Either at his life or his liberty. Most probably the +former this time; almost certainly the former. He has guessed that +we are somewhat handicapped by our anxiety to keep Prince +Eugen's predicament quite quiet, and he is taking advantage, of +that fact. As he already is fairly rich, on his own admission, the +reward which has been offered to him must be enormous, and he is +absolutely determined to get it. He has several times recently +proved himself to be a daring fellow; unless I am mistaken he will +shortly prove himself to be still more daring.' + +'But what can he do? Surely you don't suggest that he will attempt +the life of Prince Eugen in this hotel?' + +'Why not? If Reginald Dimmock fell on mere suspicion that he +would turn out unfaithful to the conspiracy, why not Prince +Eugen?' + +'But it would be an unspeakable crime, and do infinite harm to the +hotel!' + +'True!' Racksole admitted, smiling. Little Felix Babylon seemed to +brace himself for the grasping of his monstrous idea. + +'How could it possibly be done?' he asked at length. + +'Dimmock was poisoned.' + +'Yes, but you had Rocco here then, and Rocco was in the plot. It is +conceivable that Rocco could have managed it - barely +conceivable. But without Rocco I cannot think it possible. I cannot +even think that Jules would attempt it. You see, in a place like the +Grand Babylon, as probably I needn't point out to you, food has to +pass through so many hands that to poison one person without +killing perhaps fifty would be a most delicate operation. Moreover, +Prince Eugen, unless he has changed his habits, is always served +by his own attendant, old Hans, and therefore any attempt to +tamper with a cooked dish immediately before serving would be +hazardous in the extreme.' + +'Granted,' said Racksole. 'The wine, however, might be more easily +got at. + +Had you thought of that?' + +'I had not,' Babylon admitted. 'You are an ingenious theorist, but I +happen to know that Prince Eugen always has his wine opened in +his own presence. No doubt it would be opened by Hans. +Therefore the wine theory is not tenable, my friend.' + +'I do not see why,' said Racksole. 'I know nothing of wine as an +expert, and I very seldom drink it, but it seems to me that a bottle +of wine might be tampered with while it was still in the cellar, +especially if there was an accomplice in the hotel.' + +'You think, then, that you are not yet rid of all your conspirators?' + +'I think that Jules might still have an accomplice within the +building.' + +'And that a bottle of wine could be opened and recorked without +leaving any trace of the operation?' Babylon was a trifle sarcastic. + +'I don't see the necessity of opening the bottle in order to poison +the wine,' said Racksole. 'I have never tried to poison anybody by +means of a bottle of wine, and I don't lay claim to any natural +talent as a poisoner, but I think I could devise several ways of +managing the trick. Of course, I admit I may be entirely mistaken +as to Jules' intentions.' + +'Ah!' said Felix Babylon. 'The wine cellars beneath us are one of +the wonders of London. I hope you are aware, Mr Racksole, that +when you bought the Grand Babylon you bought what is probably +the finest stock of wines in England, if not in Europe. In the +valuation I reckoned them at sixty thousand pounds. And I may say +that I always took care that the cellars were properly guarded. +Even Jules would experience a serious difficulty in breaking into +the cellars without the connivance of the wine-clerk, and the +wine-clerk is, or was, incorruptible.' + +'I am ashamed to say that I have not yet inspected my wines,' +smiled Racksole; 'I have never given them a thought. Once or +twice I have taken the trouble to make a tour of the hotel, but I +omitted the cellars in my excursions.' + +'Impossible, my dear fellow!' said Babylon, amused at such a +confession, to him - a great connoisseur and lover of fine wines - +almost incredible. 'But really you must see them to-morrow. If I +may, I will accompany you.' + +'Why not to-night?' Racksole suggested, calmly. + +'To-night! It is very late: Hubbard will have gone to bed.' + +'And may I ask who is Hubbard? I remember the name but dimly.' + +'Hubbard is the wine-clerk of the Grand Babylon,' said Felix , with +a certain emphasis. 'A sedate man of forty. He has the keys of the +cellars. He knows every bottle of every bin, its date, its qualities, +its value. And he's a teetotaler. Hubbard is a curiosity. No wine can +leave the cellars without his knowledge, and no person can enter +the cellars without his knowledge. At least, that is how it was in +my time,' Babylon added. + +'We will wake him,' said Racksole. + +'But it is one o'clock in the morning,' Babylon protested. + +'Never mind - that is, if you consent to accompany me. A cellar is +the same by night as by day. Therefore, why not now?' + +Babylon shrugged his shoulders. 'As you wish,' he agreed, with his +indestructible politeness. + +'And now to find this Mr Hubbard, with his key of the cupboard,' +said Racksole, as they walked out of the room together. Although +the hour was so late, the hotel was not, of course, closed for the +night. A few guests still remained about in the public rooms, and a +few fatigued waiters were still in attendance. One of these latter +was despatched in search of the singular Mr Hubbard, and it +fortunately turned out that this gentleman had not actually retired, +though he was on the point of doing so. He brought the keys to Mr +Racksole in person, and after he had had a little chat with his +former master, the proprietor and the ex-proprietor of the Grand +Babylon Hotel proceeded on their way to the cellars. + +These cellars extend over, or rather under, quite half the +superficial areas of the whole hotel - the longitudinal half which +lies next to the Strand. + +Owing to the fact that the ground slopes sharply from the Strand to +the river, the Grand Babylon is, so to speak, deeper near the Strand +than it is near the Thames. Towards the Thames there is, below the +entrance level, a basement and a sub-basement. Towards the +Strand there is basement, sub-basement, and the huge wine cellars +beneath all. After descending the four flights of the service stairs, +and traversing a long passage running parallel with the kitchen, the +two found themselves opposite a door, which, on being unlocked, +gave access to another flight of stairs. At the foot of this was the +main entrance to the cellars. Outside the entrance was the +wine-lift, for the ascension of delicious fluids to the upper floors, +and, opposite, Mr Hubbard's little office. There was electric light +everywhere. + +Babylon, who, as being most accustomed to them, held the bunch +of keys, opened the great door, and then they were in the first +cellar - the first of a suite of five. Racksole was struck not only by +the icy coolness of the place, but also by its vastness. Babylon had +seized a portable electric handlight, attached to a long wire, which +lay handy, and, waving it about, disclosed the dimensions of the +place. By that flashing illumination the subterranean chamber +looked unutterably weird and mysterious, with its rows of +numbered bins, stretching away into the distance till the radiance +was reduced to the occasional far gleam of the light on the +shoulder of a bottle. Then Babylon switched on the fixed electric +lights, and Theodore Racksole entered upon a +personally-conducted tour of what was quite the most interesting +part of his own property. + +To see the innocent enthusiasm of Felix Babylon for these stores +of exhilarating liquid was what is called in the North 'a sight for +sair een'. + +He displayed to Racksole's bewildered gaze, in their due order, all +the wines of three continents - nay, of four, for the superb and +luscious Constantia wine of Cape Colony was not wanting in that +most catholic collection of vintages. Beginning with the +unsurpassed products of Burgundy, he continued with the clarets +of Médoc, Bordeaux, and Sauterne; then to the champagnes of Ay, +Hautvilliers, and Pierry; then to the hocks and moselles of +Germany, and the brilliant imitation champagnes of Main, Neckar, +and Naumburg; then to the famous and adorable Tokay of +Hungary, and all the Austrian varieties of French wines, including +Carlowitz and Somlauer; then to the dry sherries of Spain, +including purest Manzanilla, and Amontillado, and Vino de Pasto; +then to the wines of Malaga, both sweet and dry, and all the +'Spanish reds' from Catalonia, including the dark 'Tent' so often +used sacramentally; then to the renowned port of Oporto. Then he +proceeded to the Italian cellar, and descanted upon the excellence +of Barolo from Piedmont, of Chianti from Tuscany, of Orvieto +from the Roman States, of the 'Tears of Christ' from Naples, and +the commoner Marsala from Sicily. And so on, to an extent and +with a fullness of detail which cannot be rendered here. + +At the end of the suite of cellars there was a glazed door, which, as +could be seen, gave access to a supplemental and smaller cellar, an +apartment about fifteen or sixteen feet square. + +'Anything special in there?' asked Racksole curiously, as they stood +before the door, and looked within at the seined ends of bottles. + +'Ah!' exclaimed Babylon, almost smacking his lips, 'therein lies the +cream of all.' + +'The best champagne, I suppose?' said Racksole. + +'Yes,' said Babylon, 'the best champagne is there - a very special +Sillery, as exquisite as you will find anywhere. But I see, my +friend, that you fall into the common error of putting champagne +first among wines. That distinction belongs to Burgundy. You have +old Burgundy in that cellar, Mr Racksole, which cost me - how +much do you think? - eighty pounds a bottle. + +Probably it will never be drunk,' he added with a sigh. 'It is too +expensive even for princes and plutocrats.' + +'Yes, it will,' said Racksole quickly. 'You and I will have a bottle +up to-morrow.' + +'Then,' continued Babylon, still riding his hobby-horse, 'there is a +sample of the Rhine wine dated 1706 which caused such a +sensation at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873. There is also a +singularly glorious Persian wine from Shiraz, the like of which I +have never seen elsewhere. Also there is an unrivalled vintage of +Romanée-Conti, greatest of all modern Burgundies. If I remember +right Prince Eugen invariably has a bottle when he comes to stay +here. It is not on the hotel wine list, of course, and only a few +customers know of it. We do not precisely hawk it about the +dining-room.' + +'Indeed!' said Racksole. 'Let us go inside.' + +They entered the stone apartment, rendered almost sacred by the +preciousness of its contents, and Racksole looked round with a +strangely intent and curious air. At the far side was a grating, +through which came a feeble light. + +'What is that?' asked the millionaire sharply. + +'That is merely a ventilation grating. Good ventilation is absolutely +essential.' + +'Looks broken, doesn't it?' Racksole suggested and then, putting a +finger quickly on Babylon's shoulder, 'there's someone in the +cellar. Can't you hear breathing, down there, behind that bin?' + +The two men stood tense and silent for a while, listening, under +the ray of the single electric light in the ceiling. Half the cellar was +involved in gloom. At length Racksole walked firmly down the +central passage-way between the bins and turned to the corner at +the right. + +'Come out, you villain!' he said in a low, well-nigh vicious tone, +and dragged up a cowering figure. + +He had expected to find a man, but it was his own daughter, Nella +Racksole, upon whom he had laid angry hands. + +Chapter Twenty-Three FURTHER EVENTS IN THE CELLAR + +'WELL, Father,' Nella greeted her astounded parent. 'You should +make sure that you have got hold of the right person before you +use all that terrible muscular force of yours. I do believe you have +broken my shoulder bone.' She rubbed her shoulder with a comical +expression of pain, and then stood up before the two men. The +skirt of her dark grey dress was torn and dirty, and the usually trim +Nella looked as though she had been shot down a canvas +fire-escape. Mechanically she smoothed her frock, and gave a +straightening touch to her hair. + +'Good evening, Miss Racksole,' said Felix Babylon, bowing +formally. 'This is an unexpected pleasure.' Felix 's drawing-room +manners never deserted him upon any occasion whatever. + +'May I inquire what you are doing in my wine cellar, Nella +Racksole?' said the millionaire a little stiffly He was certainly +somewhat annoyed at having mistaken his daughter for a criminal; +moreover, he hated to be surprised, and upon this occasion he had +been surprised beyond any ordinary surprise; lastly, he was not at +all pleased that Nella should be observed in that strange +predicament by a stranger. + +'I will tell you,' said Nella. 'I had been reading rather late in my +room - the night was so close. I heard Big Ben strike half-past +twelve, and then I put the book down, and went out on to the +balcony of my window for a little fresh air before going to bed. I +leaned over the balcony very quietly - you will remember that I am +on the third floor now - and looked down below into the little sunk +yard which separates the wall of the hotel from Salisbury Lane. I +was rather astonished to see a figure creeping across the yard. I +knew there was no entrance into the hotel from that yard, and +besides, it is fifteen or twenty feet below the level of the street. So +I watched. The figure went close up against the wall, and +disappeared from my view. I leaned over the balcony as far as I +dared, but I couldn't see him. I could hear him, however.' + +'What could you hear?' questioned Racksole sharply. + +'It sounded like a sawing noise,' said Nella; 'and it went on for +quite a long time - nearly a quarter of an hour, I should think - a +rasping sort of noise.' + +'Why on earth didn't you come and warn me or someone else in the +hotel?' + +asked Racksole. + +'Oh, I don't know, Dad,' she replied sweetly. 'I had got interested in +it, and I thought I would see it out myself. Well, as I was saying, +Mr Babylon,' + +she continued, addressing her remarks to Felix , with a dazzling +smile, 'that noise went on for quite a long time. At last it stopped, +and the figure reappeared from under the wall, crossed the yard, +climbed up the opposite wall by some means or other, and so over +the railings into Salisbury Lane. I felt rather relieved then, because +I knew he hadn't actually broken into the hotel. He walked down +Salisbury Lane very slowly. A policeman was just coming up. +"Goodnight, officer," I heard him say to the policeman, and he +asked him for a match. The policeman supplied the match, and the +other man lighted a cigarette, and proceeded further down the lane. +By cricking your neck from my window, Mr Babylon, you can get +a glimpse of the Embankment and the river. I saw the man cross +the Embankment, and lean over the river wall, where he seemed to +be talking to some one. He then walked along the Embankment to +Westminster and that was the last I saw of him. I waited a minute +or two for him to come back, but he didn't come back, and so I +thought it was about time I began to make inquiries into the affair. +I went downstairs instantly, and out of the hotel, through the +quadrangle, into Salisbury Lane, and I looked over those railings. +There was a ladder on the other side, by which it was perfectly +easy - once you had got over the railings - to climb down into the +yard. I was horribly afraid lest someone might walk up Salisbury +Lane and catch me in the act of negotiating those railings, but no +one did, and I surmounted them, with no worse damage than a torn +skirt. I crossed the yard on tiptoe, and I found that in the wall, +close to the ground and almost exactly under my window, there +was an iron grating, about one foot by fourteen inches. I suspected, +as there was no other ironwork near, that the mysterious visitor +must have been sawing at this grating for private purposes of his +own. I gave it a good shake, and I was not at all surprised that a +good part of it came off in my hand, leaving just enough room for +a person to creep through. I decided that I would creep through, +and now wish I hadn't. I don't know, Mr Babylon, whether you +have ever tried to creep through a small hole with a skirt on. Have +you?' + +'I have not had that pleasure,' said little Felix , bowing again, and +absently taking up a bottle which lay to his hand. + +'Well, you are fortunate,' the imperturbable Nella resumed. 'For +quite three minutes I thought I should perish in that grating, Dad, +with my shoulder inside and the rest of me outside. However, at +last, by the most amazing and agonizing efforts, I pulled myself +through and fell into this extraordinary cellar more dead than alive. +Then I wondered what I should do next. Should I wait for the +mysterious visitor to return, and stab him with my pocket scissors +if he tried to enter, or should I raise an alarm? First of all I +replaced the broken grating, then I struck a match, and I saw that I +had got landed in a wilderness of bottles. The match went out, and +I hadn't another one. So I sat down in the corner to think. I had just +decided to wait and see if the visitor returned, when I heard +footsteps, and then voices; and then you came in. I must say I was +rather taken aback, especially as I recognized the voice of Mr +Babylon. You see, I didn't want to frighten you. + +If I had bobbed up from behind the bottles and said "Booh!" you +would have had a serious shock. I wanted to think of a way of +breaking my presence gently to you. But you saved me the trouble, +Dad. Was I really breathing so loudly that you could hear me?' + +The girl ended her strange recital, and there was a moment's +silence in the cellar. Racksole merely nodded an affirmative to her +concluding question. + +'Well, Nell, my girl,' said the millionaire at length, 'we are much +obliged for your gymnastic efforts - very much obliged. But now, I +think you had better go off to bed. There is going to be some +serious trouble here, I'll lay my last dollar on that?' + +'But if there is to be a burglary I should so like to see it, Dad,' Nella +pleaded. 'I've never seen a burglar caught red-handed.' + +'This isn't a burglary, my dear. I calculate it's something far worse +than a burglary.' + +'What?' she cried. 'Murder? Arson? Dynamite plot? How perfectly +splendid!' + +'Mr Babylon informs me that Jules is in London,' said Racksole +quietly. + +'Jules!' she exclaimed under her breath, and her tone changed +instantly to the utmost seriousness. 'Switch off the light, quick!' +Springing to the switch, she put the cellar in darkness. + +'What's that for?' said her father. + +'If he comes back he would see the light, and be frightened away,' +said Nella. 'That wouldn't do at all.' + +'It wouldn't, Miss Racksole,' said Babylon, and there was in his +voice a note of admiration for the girl's sagacity which Racksole +heard with high paternal pride. + +'Listen, Nella,' said the latter, drawing his daughter to him in the +profound gloom of the cellar. 'We fancy that Jules may be trying to +tamper with a certain bottle of wine - a bottle which might +possibly be drunk by Prince Eugen. Now do you think that the man +you saw might have been Jules?' + +'I hadn't previously thought of him as being Jules, but immediately +you mentioned the name I somehow knew that he was. Yes, I am +sure it was Jules.' + + 'Well, just hear what I have to say. There is no time to lose. If he +is coming at all he will be here very soon - and you can help.' +Racksole explained what he thought Jules' tactics might be. He +proposed that if the man returned he should not be interfered with, +but merely watched from the other side of the glass door. + +'You want, as it were, to catch Mr Jules alive?' said Babylon, who +seemed rather taken aback at this novel method of dealing with +criminals. 'Surely,' + +he added, 'it would be simpler and easier to inform the police of +your suspicion, and to leave everything to them.' + +'My dear fellow,' said Racksole, 'we have already gone much too +far without the police to make it advisable for us to call them in at +this somewhat advanced stage of the proceedings. Besides, if you +must know it, I have a particular desire to capture the scoundrel +myself. I will leave you and Nella here, since Nella insists on +seeing everything, and I will arrange things so that once he has +entered the cellar Jules will not get out of it again - at any rate +through the grating. You had better place yourselves on the other +side of the glass door, in the big cellar; you will be in a position to +observe from there, I will skip off at once. All you have to do is to +take note of what the fellow does. If he has any accomplices +within the hotel we shall probably be able by that means to +discover who the accomplice is.' + +Lighting a match and shading it with his hands, Racksole showed +them both out of the little cellar. 'Now if you lock this glass door +on the outside he can't escape this way: the panes of glass are too +small, and the woodwork too stout. So, if he comes into the trap, +you two will have the pleasure of actually seeing him frantically +writhe therein, without any personal danger; but perhaps you'd +better not show yourselves.' + +In another moment Felix Babylon and Nella were left to +themselves in the darkness of the cellar, listening to the receding +footfalls of Theodore Racksole. But the sound of these footfalls +had not died away before another sound greeted their ears - the +grating of the small cellar was being removed. + +'I hope your father will be in time,' whispered Felix + +'Hush!' the girl warned him, and they stooped side by side in tense +silence. + + A man cautiously but very neatly wormed his body through the +aperture of the grating. The watchers could only see his form +indistinctly in the darkness. + +Then, being fairly within the cellar, he walked without the least +hesitation to the electric switch and turned on the light. It was +unmistakably Jules, and he knew the geography of the cellar very +well. Babylon could with difficulty repress a start as he saw this +bold and unscrupulous ex-waiter moving with such an air of +assurance and determination about the precious cellar. Jules went +directly to a small bin which was numbered 17, and took there +from the topmost bottle. + +'The Romanee-Conti - Prince Eugen's wine!' Babylon exclaimed +under his breath. + +Jules neatly and quickly removed the seal with an instrument +which he had clearly brought for the purpose. He then took a little +flat box from his pocket, which seemed to contain a sort of black +salve. Rubbing his finger in this, he smeared the top of the neck of +the bottle with it, just where the cork came against the glass. In +another instant he had deftly replaced the seal and restored the +bottle to its position. He then turned off the light, and made for the +aperture. When he was half-way through Nella exclaimed, 'He will +escape, after all. Dad has not had time - we must stop him.' + +But Babylon, that embodiment of caution, forcibly, but +nevertheless politely, restrained this Yankee girl, whom he deemed +so rash and imprudent, and before she could free herself the lithe +form of Jules had disappeared. + +Chapter Twenty-Four THE BOTTLE OF WINE + +AS regards Theodore Racksole, who was to have caught his man +from the outside of the cellar, he made his way as rapidly as +possible from the wine-cellars, up to the ground floor, out of the +hotel by the quadrangle, through the quadrangle, and out into the +top of Salisbury Lane. Now, owing to the vastness of the structure +of the Grand Babylon, the mere distance thus to be traversed +amounted to a little short of a quarter of a mile, and, as it included +a number of stairs, about two dozen turnings, and several passages +which at that time of night were in darkness more or less +complete, Racksole could not have been expected to accomplish +the journey in less than five minutes. As a matter of fact, six +minutes had elapsed before he reached the top of Salisbury Lane, +because he had been delayed nearly a minute by some questions +addressed to him by a muddled and whisky-laden guest who had +got lost in the corridors. As everybody knows, there is a sharp +short bend in Salisbury Lane near the top. Racksole ran round this +at good racing speed, but he was unfortunate enough to run straight +up against the very policeman who had not long before so +courteously supplied Jules with a match. The policeman seemed to +be scarcely in so pliant a mood just then. + +'Hullo!' he said, his naturally suspicious nature being doubtless +aroused by the spectacle of a bareheaded man in evening dress +running violently down the lane. 'What's this? Where are you for in +such a hurry?' and he forcibly detained Theodore Racksole for a +moment and scrutinized his face. + +'Now, officer,' said Racksole quietly, 'none of your larks, if you +please. + +I've no time to lose.' + +'Beg your pardon, sir,' the policeman remarked, though hesitatingly +and not quite with good temper, and Racksole was allowed to +proceed on his way. The millionaire's scheme for trapping Jules +was to get down into the little sunk yard by means of the ladder, +and then to secrete himself behind some convenient abutment of +brickwork until Mr Tom Jackson should have got into the cellar. +He therefore nimbly surmounted the railings - the railings of his +own hotel - and was gingerly descending the ladder, when lo! a +rough hand seized him by the coat-collar and with a ferocious jerk +urged him backwards. The fact was, Theodore Racksole had +counted without the policeman. That guardian of the peace, +mistrusting Racksole's manner, quietly followed him down the +lane. The sight of the millionaire climbing the railings had put him +on his mettle, and the result was the ignominious capture of +Racksole. In vain Theodore expostulated, explained, +anathematized. Only one thing would satisfy the stolid policeman - +namely, that Racksole should return with him to the hotel and +there establish his identity. If Racksole then proved to be +Racksole, owner of the Grand Babylon, well and good - the +policeman promised to apologize. So Theodore had no alternative +but to accept the suggestion. To prove his identity was, of course, +the work of only a few minutes, after which Racksole, annoyed, +but cool as ever, returned to his railings, while the policeman went +off to another part of his beat, where he would be likely to meet a +comrade and have a chat. + +In the meantime, our friend Jules, sublimely unconscious of the +altercation going on outside, and of the special risk which he ran, +was of course actually in the cellar, which he had reached before +Racksole got to the railings for the first time. It was, indeed, a +happy chance for Jules that his exit from the cellar coincided with +the period during which Racksole was absent from the railings. As +Racksole came down the lane for the second time, he saw a figure +walking about fifty yards in front of him towards the Embankment. +Instantly he divined that it was Jules, and that the policeman had +thrown him just too late. He ran, and Jules, hearing the noise of +pursuit, ran also. The ex-waiter was fleet; he made direct for a +certain spot in the Embankment wall, and, to the intense +astonishment of Racksole, jumped clean over the wall, as it +seemed, into the river. 'Is he so desperate as to commit suicide?' +Racksole exclaimed as he ran, but a second later the puff and snort +of a steam launch told him that Jules was not quite driven to +suicide. As the millionaire crossed the Embankment roadway he +saw the funnel of the launch move out from under the river-wall. It +swerved into midstream and headed towards London Bridge. There +was a silent mist over the river. Racksole was helpless. . . . + +Although Racksole had now been twice worsted in a contest of +wits within the precincts of the Grand Babylon, once by Rocco and +once by Jules, he could not fairly blame himself for the present +miscarriage of his plans - a miscarriage due to the +meddlesomeness of an extraneous person, combined with pure +ill-fortune. He did not, therefore, permit the accident to interfere +with his sleep that night. + +On the following day he sought out Prince Aribert, between whom +and himself there now existed a feeling of unmistakable, frank +friendship, and disclosed to him the happenings of the previous +night, and particularly the tampering with the bottle of +Romanée-Conti. + +'I believe you dined with Prince Eugen last night?' + +'I did. And curiously enough we had a bottle of Romanée-Conti, +an admirable wine, of which Eugen is passionately fond.' + +'And you will dine with him to-night?' + +'Most probably. To-day will, I fear, be our last day here. Eugen +wishes to return to Posen early to-morrow.' + +'Has it struck you, Prince,' said Racksole, 'that if Jules had +succeeded in poisoning your nephew, he would probably have +succeeded also in poisoning you?' + +'I had not thought of it,' laughed Aribert, 'but it would seem so. It +appears that so long as he brings down his particular quarry, Jules +is careless of anything else that may be accidentally involved in +the destruction. However, we need have no fear on that score now. +You know the bottle, and you can destroy it at once.' + +'But I do not propose to destroy it,' said Racksole calmly. 'If Prince +Eugen asks for Romanée-Conti to be served to-night, as he +probably will, I propose that that precise bottle shall be served to +him - and to you.' + +'Then you would poison us in spite of ourselves?' + +'Scarcely,' Racksole smiled. 'My notion is to discover the +accomplices within the hotel. I have already inquired as to the +wine-clerk, Hubbard. Now does it not occur to you as +extraordinary that on this particular day Mr Hubbard should be ill +in bed? Hubbard, I am informed, is suffering from an attack of +stomach poisoning, which has supervened during the night. He +says that he does not know what can have caused it. His place in +the wine cellars will be taken to-day by his assistant, a mere youth, +but to all appearances a fairly smart youth. I need not say that we +shall keep an eye on that youth.' + +'One moment,' Prince Aribert interrupted. 'I do not quite +understand how you think the poisoning was to have been +effected.' + +'The bottle is now under examination by an expert, who has +instructions to remove as little as possible of the stuff which Jules +put on the rim of the mouth of it. It will be secretly replaced in its +bin during the day. My idea is that by the mere action of pouring +out the wine takes up some of the poison, which I deem to be very +strong, and thus becomes fatal as it enters the glass.' + +'But surely the servant in attendance would wipe the mouth of the +bottle?' + +'Very carelessly, perhaps. And moreover he would be extremely +unlikely to wipe off all the stuff; some of it has been ingeniously +placed just on the inside edge of the rim. Besides, suppose he +forgot to wipe the bottle?' + +'Prince Eugen is always served at dinner by Hans. It is an honour +which the faithful old fellow reserves for himself.' + +'But suppose Hans - ' Racksole stopped. + +'Hans an accomplice! My dear Racksole, the suggestion is wildly +impossible.' + + That night Prince Aribert dined with his august nephew in the +superb dining-room of the Royal apartments. Hans served, the +dishes being brought to the door by other servants. Aribert found +his nephew despondent and taciturn. On the previous day, when, +after the futile interview with Sampson Levi, Prince Eugen had +despairingly threatened to commit suicide, in such a manner as to +make it 'look like an accident', Aribert had compelled him to give +his word of honour not to do so. + +'What wine will your Royal Highness take?' asked old Hans in his +soothing tones, when the soup was served. + +'Sherry,' was Prince Eugen's curt order. + +'And Romanée-Conti afterwards?' said Hans. Aribert looked up +quickly. + +'No, not to-night. I'll try Sillery to-night,' said Prince Eugen. + +'I think I'll have Romanée-Conti, Hans, after all,' he said. 'It suits +me better than champagne.' + +The famous and unsurpassable Burgundy was served with the +roast. Old Hans brought it tenderly in its wicker cradle, inserted +the corkscrew with mathematical precision, and drew the cork, +which he offered for his master's inspection. Eugen nodded, and +told him to put it down. Aribert watched with intense interest. He +could not for an instant believe that Hans was not the very soul of +fidelity, and yet, despite himself, Racksole's words had caused him +a certain uneasiness. At that moment Prince Eugen murmured +across the table: + +'Aribert, I withdraw my promise. Observe that, I withdraw it.' +Aribert shook his head emphatically, without removing his gaze +from Hans. The white-haired servant perfunctorily dusted his +napkin round the neck of the bottle of Romanée-Conti, and +poured out a glass. Aribert trembled from head to foot. + +Eugen took up the glass and held it to the light. + +'Don't drink it,' said Aribert very quietly. 'It is poisoned.' + +'Poisoned!' exclaimed Prince Eugen. + +'Poisoned, sire!' exclaimed old Hans, with an air of profound +amazement and concern, and he seized the glass. 'Impossible, sire. +I myself opened the bottle. No one else has touched it, and the +cork was perfect.' + +'I tell you it is poisoned,' Aribert repeated. + +'Your Highness will pardon an old man,' said Hans, 'but to say that +this wine is poison is to say that I am a murderer. I will prove to +you that it is not poisoned. I will drink it.' And he raised the glass +to his trembling lips. In that moment Aribert saw that old Hans, at +any rate, was not an accomplice of Jules. Springing up from his +seat, he knocked the glass from the aged servitor's hands, and the +fragments of it fell with a light tinkling crash partly on the table +and partly on the floor. The Prince and the servant gazed at one +another in a distressing and terrible silence. + +There was a slight noise, and Aribert looked aside. He saw that +Eugen's body had slipped forward limply over the left arm of his +chair; the Prince's arms hung straight and lifeless; his eyes were +closed; he was unconscious. + +'Hans!' murmured Aribert. 'Hans! What is this?' + +Chapter Twenty-Five THE STEAM LAUNCH + +MR TOM JACKSON's notion of making good his escape from the +hotel by means of a steam launch was an excellent one, so far as it +went, but Theodore Racksole, for his part, did not consider that it +went quite far enough. + +Theodore Racksole opined, with peculiar glee, that he now had a +tangible and definite clue for the catching of the Grand Babylon's +ex-waiter. He knew nothing of the Port of London, but he +happened to know a good deal of the far more complicated, though +somewhat smaller, Port of New York, and he sure there ought to +be no extraordinary difficulty in getting hold of Jules' + +steam launch. To those who are not thoroughly familiar with it the +River Thames and its docks, from London Bridge to Gravesend, +seems a vast and uncharted wilderness of craft - a wilderness in +which it would be perfectly easy to hide even a three-master +successfully. To such people the idea of looking for a steam launch +on the river would be about equivalent to the idea of looking for a +needle in a bundle of hay. But the fact is, there are hundreds of +men between St Katherine's Wharf and Blackwall who literally +know the Thames as the suburban householder knows his +back-garden - who can recognize thousands of ships and put a +name to them at a distance of half a mile, who are informed as to +every movement of vessels on the great stream, who know all the +captains, all the engineers, all the lightermen, all the pilots, all the +licensed watermen, and all the unlicensed scoundrels from the +Tower to Gravesend, and a lot further. By these experts of the +Thames the slightest unusual event on the water is noticed and +discussed - a wherry cannot change hands but they will guess +shrewdly upon the price paid and the intentions of the new owner +with regard to it. They have a habit of watching the river for the +mere interest of the sight, and they talk about everything like +housewives gathered of an evening round the cottage door. If the +first mate of a Castle Liner gets the sack they will be able to tell +you what he said to the captain, what the old man said to him, and +what both said to the Board, and having finished off that affair +they will cheerfully turn to discussing whether Bill Stevens sank +his barge outside the West Indian No.2 by accident or on purpose. + +Theodore Racksole had no satisfactory means of identifying the +steam launch which carried away Mr Tom Jackson. The sky had +clouded over soon after midnight, and there was also a slight mist, +and he had only been able to make out that it was a low craft, +about sixty feet long, probably painted black. He had personally +kept a watch all through the night on vessels going upstream, and +during the next morning he had a man to take his place who +warned him whenever a steam launch went towards Westminster. +At noon, after his conversation with Prince Aribert, he went down +the river in a hired row-boat as far as the Custom House, and +poked about everywhere, in search of any vessel which could by +any possibility be the one he was in search of. + +But he found nothing. He was, therefore, tolerably sure that the +mysterious launch lay somewhere below the Custom House. At the +Custom House stairs, he landed, and asked for a very high official +- an official inferior only to a Commissioner - whom he had +entertained once in New York, and who had met him in London on +business at Lloyd's. In the large but dingy office of this great man a +long conversation took place - a conversation in which Racksole +had to exercise a certain amount of persuasive power, and which +ultimately ended in the high official ringing his bell. + +'Desire Mr Hazell - room No. 332 - to speak to me,' said the +official to the boy who answered the summons, and then, turning +to Racksole: 'I need hardly repeat, my dear Mr Racksole, that this +is strictly unofficial.' + +'Agreed, of course,' said Racksole. + +Mr Hazell entered. He was a young man of about thirty, dressed in +blue serge, with a pale, keen face, a brown moustache and a rather +handsome brown beard. + +'Mr Hazell,' said the high official, 'let me introduce you to Mr +Theodore Racksole - you will doubtless be familiar with his name. +Mr Hazell,' he went on to Racksole, 'is one of our outdoor staff - +what we call an examining officer. Just now he is doing night duty. +He has a boat on the river and a couple of men, and the right to +board and examine any craft whatever. What Mr Hazell and his +crew don't know about the Thames between here and Gravesend +isn't knowledge.' + +'Glad to meet you, sir,' said Racksole simply, and they shook +hands. + +Racksole observed with satisfaction that Mr Hazell was entirely at +his ease. + + 'Now, Hazell,' the high official continued, 'Mr Racksole wants you +to help in a little private expedition on the river to-night. I will +give you a night's leave. I sent for you partly because I thought you +would enjoy the affair and partly because I think I can rely on you +to regard it as entirely unofficial and not to talk about it. You +understand? I dare say you will have no cause to regret having +obliged Mr Racksole.' + +'I think I grasp the situation,' said Hazell, with a slight smile. + +'And, by the way,' added the high official, 'although the business is +unofficial, it might be well if you wore your official overcoat. +See?' + +'Decidedly,' said Hazell; 'I should have done so in any case.' + +'And now, Mr Hazell,' said Racksole, 'will you do me the pleasure +of lunching with me? If you agree, I should like to lunch at the +place you usually frequent.' + +So it came to pass that Theodore Racksole and George Hazell, +outdoor clerk in the Customs, lunched together at 'Thomas's +Chop-House', in the city of London, upon mutton-chops and +coffee. The millionaire soon discovered that he had got hold of a +keen-witted man and a person of much insight. + +'Tell me,' said Hazell, when they had reached the cigarette stage, +'are the magazine writers anything like correct?' + +'What do you mean?' asked Racksole, mystified. + +'Well, you're a millionaire - "one of the best", I believe. One often +sees articles on and interviews with millionaires, which describe +their private railroad cars, their steam yachts on the Hudson, their +marble stables, and so on, and so on. Do you happen to have those +things?' + +'I have a private car on the New York Central, and I have a two +thousand ton schooner-yacht - though it isn't on the Hudson. It +happens just now to be on East River. And I am bound to admit +that the stables of my uptown place are fitted with marble.' +Racksole laughed. + +'Ah!' said Hazell. 'Now I can believe that I am lunching with a +millionaire. + +It's strange how facts like those - unimportant in themselves - +appeal to the imagination. You seem to me a real millionaire now. +You've given me some personal information; I'll give you some in +return. I earn three hundred a year, and perhaps sixty pounds a year +extra for overtime. I live by myself in two rooms in Muscovy +Court. I've as much money as I need, and I always do exactly what +I like outside office. As regards the office, I do as little work as I +can, on principle - it's a fight between us and the Commissioners +who shall get the best. They try to do us down, and we try to do +them down - it's pretty even on the whole. All's fair in war, you +know, and there ain't no ten commandments in a Government +office.' + +Racksole laughed. 'Can you get off this afternoon?' he asked. + +'Certainly,' said Hazell; 'I'll get one of my pals to sign on for me, +and then I shall be free.' + +'Well,' said Racksole, 'I should like you to come down with me to +the Grand Babylon. Then we can talk over my little affair at +length. And may we go on your boat? I want to meet your crew.' + +'That will be all right,' Hazell remarked. 'My two men are the +idlest, most soul-less chaps you ever saw. They eat too much, and +they have an enormous appetite for beer; but they know the river, +and they know their business, and they will do anything within the +fair game if they are paid for it, and aren't asked to hurry.' + +That night, just after dark, Theodore Racksole embarked with his +new friend George Hazell in one of the black-painted Customs +wherries, manned by a crew of two men - both the later freemen of +the river, a distinction which carries with it certain privileges +unfamiliar to the mere landsman. It was a cloudy and oppressive +evening, not a star showing to illumine the slow tide, now just past +its flood. The vast forms of steamers at anchor - chiefly those of +the General Steam Navigation and the Aberdeen Line - heaved +themselves high out of the water, straining sluggishly at their +mooring buoys. On either side the naked walls of warehouses rose +like grey precipices from the stream, holding forth quaint arms of +steam-cranes. To the west the Tower Bridge spanned the river with +its formidable arch, and above that its suspended footpath - a +hundred and fifty feet from earth. + +Down towards the east and the Pool of London a forest of funnels +and masts was dimly outlined against the sinister sky. Huge barges, +each steered by a single man at the end of a pair of giant oars, +lumbered and swirled down-stream at all angles. Occasionally a +tug snorted busily past, flashing its red and green signals and +dragging an unwieldy tail of barges in its wake. Then a Margate +passenger steamer, its electric lights gleaming from every porthole, +swerved round to anchor, with its load of two thousand fatigued +excursionists. Over everything brooded an air of mystery - a spirit +and feeling of strangeness, remoteness, and the inexplicable. As +the broad flat little boat bobbed its way under the shadow of +enormous hulks, beneath stretched hawsers, and past buoys +covered with green slime, Racksole could scarcely believe that he +was in the very heart of London - the most prosaic city in the +world. He had a queer idea that almost anything might happen in +this seeming waste of waters at this weird hour of ten o'clock. It +appeared incredible to him that only a mile or two away people +were sitting in theatres applauding farces, and that at Cannon +Street Station, a few yards off, other people were calmly taking the +train to various highly respectable suburbs whose names he was +gradually learning. He had the uplifting sensation of being in +another world which comes to us sometimes amid surroundings +violently different from our usual surroundings. The most ordinary +noises - of men calling, of a chain running through a slot, of a +distant siren - translated themselves to his ears into terrible and +haunting sounds, full of portentous significance. He looked over +the side of the boat into the brown water, and asked himself what +frightful secrets lay hidden in its depth. Then he put his hand into +his hip-pocket and touched the stock of his Colt revolver - that +familiar substance comforted him. + +The oarsmen had instructions to drop slowly down to the Pool, as +the wide reach below the Tower is called. These two men had not +been previously informed of the precise object of the expedition, +but now that they were safely afloat Hazell judged it expedient to +give them some notion of it. 'We expect to come across a rather +suspicious steam launch,' he said. 'My friend here is very anxious +to get a sight of her, and until he has seen her nothing definite can +be done.' + +'What sort of a craft is she, sir?' asked the stroke oar, a fat-faced +man who seemed absolutely incapable of any serious exertion. + +'I don't know,' Racksole replied; 'but as near as I can judge, she's +about sixty feet in length, and painted black. I fancy I shall +recognize her when I see her.' + +'Not much to go by, that,' exclaimed the other man curtly. But he +said no more. He, as well as his mate, had received from Theodore +Racksole one English sovereign as a kind of preliminary fee, and +an English sovereign will do a lot towards silencing the natural +sarcastic tendencies and free speech of a Thames waterman. + +'There's one thing I noticed,' said Racksole suddenly, 'and I forgot +to tell you of it, Mr Hazell. Her screw seemed to move with a +rather irregular, lame sort of beat.' + +Both watermen burst into a laugh. + +'Oh,' said the fat rower, 'I know what you're after, sir - it's Jack +Everett's launch, commonly called "Squirm". She's got a +four-bladed propeller, and one blade is broken off short.' + +'Ay, that's it, sure enough,' agreed the man in the bows. 'And if it's +her you want, I seed her lying up against Cherry Gardens Pier this +very morning.' + +'Let us go to Cherry Gardens Pier by all means, as soon as +possible,' + +Racksole said, and the boat swung across stream and then began to +creep down by the right bank, feeling its way past wharves, many +of which, even at that hour, were still busy with their cranes, that +descended empty into the bellies of ships and came up full. As the +two watermen gingerly manoeuvred the boat on the ebbing tide, +Hazell explained to the millionaire that the 'Squirm' was one of the +most notorious craft on the river. It appeared that when anyone had +a nefarious or underhand scheme afoot which necessitated river +work Everett's launch was always available for a suitable monetary +consideration. The 'Squirm' had got itself into a thousand scrapes, +and out of those scrapes again with safety, if not precisely with +honour. The river police kept a watchful eye on it, and the chief +marvel about the whole thing was that old Everett, the owner, had +never yet been seriously compromised in any illegal escapade. Not +once had the officer of the law been able to prove anything definite +against the proprietor of the 'Squirm', though several of its +quondam hirers were at that very moment in various of Her +Majesty's prisons throughout the country. Latterly, however, the +launch, with its damaged propeller, which Everett consistently +refused to have repaired, had acquired an evil reputation, even +among evil-doers, and this fraternity had gradually come to +abandon it for less easily recognizable craft. + +'Your friend, Mr Tom Jackson,' said Hazell to Racksole, +'committed an error of discretion when he hired the "Squirm". A +scoundrel of his experience and calibre ought certainly to have +known better than that. You cannot fail to get a clue now.' + +By this time the boat was approaching Cherry Gardens Pier, but +unfortunately a thin night-fog had swept over the river, and objects +could not be discerned with any clearness beyond a distance of +thirty yards. As the Customs boat scraped down past the pier all its +occupants strained eyes for a glimpse of the mysterious launch, but +nothing could be seen of it. The boat continued to float idly +down-stream, the men resting on their oars. + +Then they narrowly escaped bumping a large Norwegian sailing +vessel at anchor with her stem pointing down-stream. This ship +they passed on the port side. Just as they got clear of her bowsprit +the fat man cried out excitedly, 'There's her nose!' and he put the +boat about and began to pull back against the tide. And surely the +missing 'Squirm' was comfortably anchored on the starboard +quarter of the Norwegian ship, hidden neatly between the ship and +the shore. The men pulled very quietly alongside. + +Chapter Twenty-Six THE NIGHT CHASE AND THE MUDLARK + +'I'LL board her to start with,' said Hazell, whispering to Racksole. +'I'll make out that I suspect they've got dutiable goods on board, +and that will give me a chance to have a good look at her.' + +Dressed in his official overcoat and peaked cap, he stepped, rather +jauntily as Racksole thought, on to the low deck of the launch. +'Anyone aboard?' + +Racksole heard him cry out, and a woman's voice answered. 'I'm a +Customs examining officer, and I want to search the launch,' +Hazell shouted, and then disappeared down into the little saloon +amidships, and Racksole heard no more. It seemed to the +millionaire that Hazell had been gone hours, but at length he +returned. + +'Can't find anything,' he said, as he jumped into the boat, and then +privately to Racksole: 'There's a woman on board. Looks as if she +might coincide with your description of Miss Spencer. Steam's up, +but there's no engineer. I asked where the engineer was, and she +inquired what business that was of mine, and requested me to get +through with my own business and clear off. Seems rather a smart +sort. I poked my nose into everything, but I saw no sign of any one +else. Perhaps we'd better pull away and lie near for a bit, just to see +if anything queer occurs.' + +'You're quite sure he isn't on board?' Racksole asked. + +'Quite,' said Hazell positively: 'I know how to search a vessel. See +this,' + +and he handed to Racksole a sort of steel skewer, about two feet +long, with a wooden handle. 'That,' he said, 'is one of the Customs' +aids to searching.' + +'I suppose it wouldn't do to go on board and carry off the lady?' +Racksole suggested doubtfully. + +'Well,' Hazell began, with equal doubtfulness, 'as for that - ' + +'Where's 'e orf?' It was the man in the bows who interrupted Hazell. + +Following the direction of the man's finger, both Hazell and +Racksole saw with more or less distinctness a dinghy slip away +from the forefoot of the Norwegian vessel and disappear +downstream into the mist. + +'It's Jules, I'll swear,' cried Racksole. 'After him, men. Ten pounds +apiece if we overtake him!' + +'Lay down to it now, boys!' said Hazell, and the heavy Customs +boat shot out in pursuit. + +'This is going to be a lark,' Racksole remarked. + +'Depends on what you call a lark,' said Hazell; 'it's not much of a +lark tearing down midstream like this in a fog. You never know +when you mayn't be in kingdom come with all these barges +knocking around. I expect that chap hid in the dinghy when he first +caught sight of us, and then slipped his painter as soon as I'd gone.' + +The boat was moving at a rapid pace with the tide. Steering was a +matter of luck and instinct more than anything else. Every now and +then Hazell, who held the lines, was obliged to jerk the boat's head +sharply round to avoid a barge or an anchored vessel. It seemed to +Racksole that vessels were anchored all over the stream. He +looked about him anxiously, but for a long time he could see +nothing but mist and vague nautical forms. Then suddenly he said, +quietly enough, 'We're on the right road; I can see him ahead. + +We're gaining on him.' In another minute the dinghy was plainly +visible, not twenty yards away, and the sculler - sculling frantically +now - was unmistakably Jules - Jules in a light tweed suit and a +bowler hat. + +'You were right,' Hazell said; 'this is a lark. I believe I'm getting +quite excited. It's more exciting than playing the trombone in an +orchestra. I'll run him down, eh? - and then we can drag the chap in +from the water.' + +Racksole nodded, but at that moment a barge, with her red sails +set, stood out of the fog clean across the bows of the Customs boat, +which narrowly escaped instant destruction. When they got clear, +and the usual interchange of calm, nonchalant swearing was over, +the dinghy was barely to be discerned in the mist, and the fat man +was breathing in such a manner that his sighs might almost have +been heard on the banks. Racksole wanted violently to do +something, but there was nothing to do; he could only sit supine by +Hazell's side in the stern-sheets. Gradually they began again to +overtake the dinghy, whose one-man crew was evidently tiring. As +they came up, hand over fist, the dinghy's nose swerved aside, and +the tiny craft passed down a water-lane between two anchored +mineral barges, which lay black and deserted about fifty yards +from the Surrey shore. 'To starboard,' said Racksole. 'No, man!' + +Hazell replied; 'we can't get through there. He's bound to come Out +below; it's only a feint. I'll keep our nose straight ahead.' + +And they went on, the fat man pounding away, with a face which +glistened even in the thick gloom. It was an empty dinghy which +emerged from between the two barges and went drifting and +revolving down towards Greenwich. + +The fat man gasped a word to his comrade, and the Customs boat +stopped dead. + + ''E's all right,' said the man in the bows. 'If it's 'im you want, 'e's on +one o' them barges, so you've only got to step on and take 'im orf.' + +'That's all,' said a voice out of the depths of the nearest barge, and +it was the voice of Jules, otherwise known as Mr Tom Jackson. + +"Ear 'im?' said the fat man smiling. ''E's a good 'un, 'e is. But if I +was you, Mr Hazell, or you, sir, I shouldn't step on to that barge so +quick as all that.' + +They backed the boat under the stem of the nearest barge and +gazed upwards. + +'It's all right,' said Racksole to Hazell; 'I've got a revolver. How can +I clamber up there?' + +'Yes, I dare say you've got a revolver all right,' Hazell replied +sharply. + +'But you mustn't use it. There mustn't be any noise. We should +have the river police down on us in a twinkling if there was a +revolver shot, and it would be the ruin of me. If an inquiry was +held the Commissioners wouldn't take any official notice of the +fact that my superior officer had put me on to this job, and I should +be requested to leave the service.' + +'Have no fear on that score,' said Racksole. 'I shall, of course, take +all responsibility.' + +'It wouldn't matter how much responsibility you took,' Hazell +retorted; 'you wouldn't put me back into the service, and my career +would be at an end.' + +'But there are other careers,' said Racksole, who was really anxious +to lame his ex-waiter by means of a judiciously-aimed bullet. +'There are other careers.' + +'The Customs is my career,' said Hazell, 'so let's have no shooting. +We'll wait about a bit; he can't escape. You can have my skewer if +you like' - and he gave Racksole his searching instrument. 'And +you can do what you please, provided you do it neatly and don't +make a row over it.' + +For a few moments the four men were passive in the boat, +surrounded by swirling mist, with black water beneath them, and +towering above them a half-loaded barge with a desperate and +resourceful man on board. Suddenly the mist parted and shrivelled +away in patches, as though before the breath of some monster. The +sky was visible; it was a clear sky, and the moon was shining. The +transformation was just one of those meteorological quick-changes +which happen most frequently on a great river. + +'That's a sight better,' said the fat man. At the same moment a head +appeared over the edge of the barge. It was Jules' face - dark, +sinister and leering. + +'Is it Mr Racksole in that boat?' he inquired calmly; 'because if so, +let Mr Racksole step up. Mr Racksole has caught me, and he can +have me for the asking. Here I am.' He stood up to his full height +on the barge, tall against the night sky, and all the occupants of the +boat could see that he held firmly clasped in his right hand a short +dagger. 'Now, Mr Racksole, you've been after me for a long time,' +he continued; 'here I am. Why don't you step up? If you haven't got +the pluck yourself, persuade someone else to step up in your place +. . . the same fair treatment will be accorded to all.' And Jules +laughed a low, penetrating laugh. + +He was in the midst of this laugh when he lurched suddenly +forward. + +'What'r' you doing of aboard my barge? Off you goes!' It was a +boy's small shrill voice that sounded in the night. A ragged boy's +small form had appeared silently behind Jules, and two small arms +with a vicious shove precipitated him into the water. He fell with a +fine gurgling splash. It was at once obvious that swimming was not +among Jules' accomplishments. He floundered wildly and sank. +When he reappeared he was dragged into the Customs boat. Rope +was produced, and in a minute or two the man lay ignominiously +bound in the bottom of the boat. With the aid of a mudlark - a +mere barge boy, who probably had no more right on the barge than +Jules himself - Racksole had won his game. For the first time for +several weeks the millionaire experienced a sensation of +equanimity and satisfaction. He leaned over the prostrate form of +Jules, Hazell's professional skewer in his hand. + +'What are you going to do with him now?' asked Hazell. + +'We'll row up to the landing steps in front of the Grand Babylon. +He shall be well lodged at my hotel, I promise him.' + +Jules spoke no word. + +Before Racksole parted company with the Customs man that night +Jules had been safely transported into the Grand Babylon Hotel +and the two watermen had received their £10 apiece. + +'You will sleep here?' said the millionaire to Mr George Hazell. 'It +is late.' + +'With pleasure,' said Hazell. The next morning he found a +sumptuous breakfast awaiting him, and in his table-napkin was a +Bank of England note for a hundred pounds. But, though he did +not hear of them till much later, many things had happened before +Hazell consumed that sumptuous breakfast. + +Chapter Twenty-Seven THE CONFESSION OF MR TOM +JACKSON + +IT happened that the small bedroom occupied by Jules during the +years he was head-waiter at the Grand Babylon had remained +empty since his sudden dismissal by Theodore Racksole. No other +head-waiter had been formally appointed in his place; and, indeed, +the absence of one man - even the unique Jules - could scarcely +have been noticed in the enormous staff of a place like the Grand +Babylon. The functions of a head-waiter are generally more +ornamental, spectacular, and morally impressive than useful, and it +was so at the great hotel on the Embankment. Racksole +accordingly had the excellent idea of transporting his prisoner, +with as much secrecy as possible, to this empty bedroom. There +proved to be no difficulty in doing so; Jules showed himself +perfectly amenable to a show of superior force. + +Racksole took upstairs with him an old commissionaire who had +been attached to the outdoor service of the hotel for many years - a +grey-haired man, wiry as a terrier and strong as a mastiff. Entering +the bedroom with Jules, whose hands were bound, he told the +commissionaire to remain outside the door. + +Jules' bedroom was quite an ordinary apartment, though perhaps +slightly superior to the usual accommodation provided for servants +in the caravanserais of the West End. It was about fourteen by +twelve. It was furnished with a bedstead, a small wardrobe, a -mall +washstand and dressing-table, and two chairs. There were two +hooks behind the door, a strip of carpet by the bed, and some +cheap ornaments on the iron mantelpiece. There was also one +electric light. The window was a little square one, high up from +the floor, and it looked on the inner quadrangle. + +The room was on the top storey - the eighth - and from it you had a +view sheer to the ground. Twenty feet below ran a narrow cornice +about a foot wide; three feet or so above the window another and +wider cornice jutted out, and above that was the high steep roof of +the hotel, though you could not see it from the window. As +Racksole examined the window and the outlook, he said to himself +that Jules could not escape by that exit, at any rate. He gave a +glance up the chimney, and saw that the flue was far too small to +admit a man's body. + +Then he called in the commissionaire, and together they bound +Jules firmly to the bedstead, allowing him, however, to lie down. +All the while the captive never opened his mouth - merely smiled a +smile of disdain. Finally Racksole removed the ornaments, the +carpet, the chairs and the hooks, and wrenched away the switch of +the electric light. Then he and the commissionaire left the room, +and Racksole locked the door on the outside and put the key in his +pocket. + +'You will keep watch here,' he said to the commissionaire, 'through +the night. You can sit on this chair. Don't go to sleep. If you hear +the slightest noise in the room blow your cab-whistle; I will +arrange to answer the signal. If there is no noise do nothing +whatever. I don't want this talked about, you understand. I shall +trust you; you can trust me.' + +'But the servants will see me here when they get up to-morrow,' +said the commissionaire, with a faint smile, 'and they will be pretty +certain to ask what I'm doing of up here. What shall I say to 'em?' + +'You've been a soldier, haven't you?' asked Racksole. + +'I've seen three campaigns, sir,' was the reply, and, with a gesture +of pardonable pride, the grey-haired fellow pointed to the medals +on his breast. + +'Well, supposing you were on sentry duty and some meddlesome +person in camp asked you what you were doing - what should you +say?' + +'I should tell him to clear off or take the consequences, and pretty +quick too.' + +'Do that to-morrow morning, then, if necessary,' said Racksole, and +departed. + +It was then about one o'clock a.m. The millionaire retired to bed - +not his own bed, but a bed on the seventh storey. He did not, +however, sleep very long. Shortly after dawn he was wide awake, +and thinking busily about Jules. + +He was, indeed, very curious to know Jules' story, and he +determined, if the thing could be done at all, by persuasion or +otherwise, to extract it from him. With a man of Theodore +Racksole's temperament there is no time like the present, and at +six o'clock, as the bright morning sun brought gaiety into the +window, he dressed and went upstairs again to the eighth storey. +The commissionaire sat stolid, but alert on his chair, and, at the +sight of his master, rose and saluted. + +'Anything happened?' Racksole asked. + +'Nothing, sir.' + +'Servants say anything?' + +'Only a dozen or so of 'em are up yet, sir. One of 'em asked what I +was playing at, and so I told her I was looking after a bull bitch +and a litter of pups that you was very particular about, sir.' + +'Good,' said Racksole, as he unlocked the door and entered the +room. All was exactly as he had left it, except that Jules who had +been lying on his back, had somehow turned over and was now +lying on his face. He gazed silently, scowling at the millionaire. +Racksole greeted him and ostentatiously took a revolver from his +hip-pocket and laid it on the dressing-table. Then he seated himself +on the dressing-table by the side of the revolver, his legs dangling +an inch or two above the floor. + +'I want to have a talk to you, Jackson,' he began. + +'You can talk to me as much as you like,' said Jules. 'I shan't +interfere, you may bet on that.' + +'I should like you to answer some questions.' + +'That's different,' said Jules. 'I'm not going to answer any questions +while I'm tied up like this. You may bet on that, too.' + +'It will pay you to be reasonable,' said Racksole. + +'I'm not going to answer any questions while I'm tied up.' + +'I'll unfasten your legs, if you like,' Racksole suggested politely, +'then you can sit up. It's no use you pretending you've been +uncomfortable, because I know you haven't. I calculate you've been +treated very handsomely, my son. There you are!' and he loosened +the lower extremities of his prisoner from their bonds. 'Now I +repeat you may as well be reasonable. You may as well admit that +you've been fairly beaten in the game and act accordingly. I was +determined to beat you, by myself, without the police, and I've +done it.' + +'You've done yourself,' retorted Jules. 'You've gone against the law. +If you'd had any sense you wouldn't have meddled; you'd have left +everything to the police. They'd have muddled about for a year or +two, and then done nothing. Who's going to tell the police now? +Are you? Are you going to give me up to 'em, and say, "Here, I've +caught him for you". If you do they'll ask you to explain several +things, and then you'll look foolish. One crime doesn't excuse +another, and you'll find that out.' + +With unerring insight, Jules had perceived exactly the difficulty of +Racksole's position, and it was certainly a difficulty which +Racksole did not attempt to minimize to himself. He knew well +that it would have to be faced. He did not, however, allow Jules to +guess his thoughts. + +'Meanwhile,' he said calmly to the other, 'you're here and my +prisoner. + +You've committed a variegated assortment of crimes, and among +them is murder. You are due to be hung. You know that. There is +no reason why I should call in the police at all. It will be perfectly +easy for me to finish you off, as you deserve, myself. I shall only +be carrying out justice, and robbing the hangman of his fee. +Precisely as I brought you into the hotel, I can take you out again. +A few days ago you borrowed or stole a steam yacht at Ostend. +What you have done with it I don't know, nor do I care. But I +strongly suspect that my daughter had a narrow escape of being +murdered on your steam yacht. Now I have a steam yacht of my +own. Suppose I use it as you used yours! Suppose I smuggle you on +to it, steam out to sea, and then ask you to step off it into the ocean +one night. Such things have been done. + +Such things will be done again. If I acted so, I should at least, have +the satisfaction of knowing that I had relieved society from the +incubus of a scoundrel.' + +'But you won't,' Jules murmured. + +'No,' said Racksole steadily, 'I won't - if you behave yourself this +morning. But I swear to you that if you don't I will never rest till +you are dead, police or no police. You don't know Theodore +Racksole.' + +'I believe you mean it,' Jules exclaimed, with an air of surprised +interest, as though he had discovered something of importance. + +'I believe I do,' Racksole resumed. 'Now listen. At the best, you +will be given up to the police. At the worst, I shall deal with you +myself. With the police you may have a chance - you may get off +with twenty years' penal servitude, because, though it is absolutely +certain that you murdered Reginald Dimmock, it would be a little +difficult to prove the case against you. But with me you would +have no chance whatever. I have a few questions to put to you, and +it will depend on how you answer them whether I give you up to +the police or take the law into my own hands. And let me tell you +that the latter course would be much simpler for me. And I would +take it, too, did I not feel that you were a very clever and +exceptional man; did I not have a sort of sneaking admiration for +your detestable skill and ingenuity.' + + 'You think, then, that I am clever?' said Jules. 'You are right. I am. +I should have been much too clever for you if luck had not been +against me. + +You owe your victory, not to skill, but to luck.' + +'That is what the vanquished always say. Waterloo was a bit of +pure luck for the English, no doubt, but it was Waterloo all the +same.' + +Jules yawned elaborately. 'What do you want to know?' he +inquired, with politeness. + +'First and foremost, I want to know the names of your accomplices +inside this hotel.' + +'I have no more,' said Jules. 'Rocco was the last.' + +'Don't begin by lying to me. If you had no accomplice, how did you +contrive that one particular bottle of Romanée-Conti should be +served to his Highness Prince Eugen?' + +'Then you discovered that in time, did you?' said Jules. 'I was afraid +so. + +Let me explain that that needed no accomplice. The bottle was +topmost in the bin, and naturally it would be taken. Moreover, I +left it sticking out a little further than the rest.' + +'You did not arrange, then, that Hubbard should be taken ill the +night before last?' + +'I had no idea,' said Jules, 'that the excellent Hubbard was not +enjoying his accustomed health.' + +'Tell me,' said Racksole, 'who or what is the origin of your vendetta +against the life of Prince Eugen?' + +'I had no vendetta against the life of Prince Eugen,' said Jules, 'at +least, not to begin with. I merely undertook, for a consideration, to +see that Prince Eugen did not have an interview with a certain Mr +Sampson Levi in London before a certain date, that was all. It +seemed simple enough. I had been engaged in far more +complicated transactions before. I was convinced that I could +manage it, with the help of Rocco and Em - and Miss Spencer.' + +'Is that woman your wife?' + +'She would like to be,' he sneered. 'Please don't interrupt. I had +completed my arrangements, when you so inconsiderately bought +the hotel. I don't mind admitting now that from the very moment +when you came across me that night in the corridor I was secretly +afraid of you, though I scarcely admitted the fact even to myself +then. I thought it safer to shift the scene of our operations to +Ostend. I had meant to deal with Prince Eugen in this hotel, but I +decided, then, to intercept him on the Continent, and I despatched +Miss Spencer with some instructions. Troubles never come singly, +and it happened that just then that fool Dimmock, who had been in +the swim with us, chose to prove refractory. The slightest hitch +would have upset everything, and I was obliged to - to clear him +off the scene. He wanted to back out - he had a bad attack of +conscience, and violent measures were essential. I regret his +untimely decease, but he brought it on himself. Well, everything +was going serenely when you and your brilliant daughter, +apparently determined to meddle, turned up again among us at +Ostend. Only twenty-four hours, however, had to elapse before the +date which had been mentioned to me by my employers. I kept +poor little Eugen for the allotted time, and then you managed to +get hold of him. I do not deny that you scored there, though, +according to my original instructions, you scored too late. The +time had passed, and so, so far as I knew, it didn't matter a pin +whether Prince Eugen saw Mr Sampson Levi or not. But my +employers were still uneasy. They were uneasy even after little +Eugen had lain ill in Ostend for several weeks. It appears that they +feared that even at that date an interview between Prince Eugen +and Mr Sampson Levi might work harm to them. So they applied +to me again. This time they wanted Prince Eugen to be - em - +finished off entirely. They offered high terms.' + +'What terms?' + +'I had received fifty thousand pounds for the first job, of which +Rocco had half. Rocco was also to be made a member of a certain +famous European order, if things went right. That was what he +coveted far more than the money - the vain fellow! For the second +job I was offered a hundred thousand. A tolerably large sum. I +regret that I have not been able to earn it.' + +'Do you mean to tell me,' asked Racksole, horror-struck by this +calm confession, in spite of his previous knowledge, 'that you were +offered a hundred thousand pounds to poison Prince Eugen?' + +'You put it rather crudely,' said Jules in reply. 'I prefer to say that I +was offered a hundred thousand pounds if Prince Eugen should die +within a reasonable time.' + +'And who were your damnable employers?' + +'That, honestly, I do not know.' + +'You know, I suppose, who paid you the first fifty thousand +pounds, and who promised you the hundred thousand.' + +'Well,' said Jules, 'I know vaguely. I know that he came via Vienna +from - em - Bosnia. My impression was that the affair had some +bearing, direct or indirect, on the projected marriage of the King of +Bosnia. He is a young monarch, scarcely out of political +leading-strings, as it were, and doubtless his Ministers thought that +they had better arrange his marriage for him. They tried last year, +and failed because the Princess whom they had in mind had cast +her sparkling eyes on another Prince. That Prince happened to be +Prince Eugen of Posen. The Ministers of the King of Bosnia knew +exactly the circumstances of Prince Eugen. They knew that he +could not marry without liquidating his debts, and they knew that +he could only liquidate his debts through this Jew, Sampson Levi. +Unfortunately for me, they ultimately wanted to make too sure of +Prince Eugen. They were afraid he might after all arrange his +marriage without the aid of Mr Sampson Levi, and so - well, you +know the rest. . . . It is a pity that the poor little innocent King of +Bosnia can't have the Princess of his Ministers' choice.' + +'Then you think that the King himself had no part in this +abominable crime?' + + 'I think decidedly not.' + +'I am glad of that,' said Racksole simply. 'And now, the name of +your immediate employer.' + +'He was merely an agent. He called himself Sleszak - S-l-e-s-z-a-k. +But I imagine that that wasn't his real name. I don't know his real +name. An old man, he often used to be found at the Hôtel Ritz, +Paris.' + +'Mr Sleszak and I will meet,' said Racksole. + +'Not in this world,' said Jules quickly. 'He is dead. I heard only last +night - just before our little tussle.' + +There was a silence. + +'It is well,' said Racksole at length. 'Prince Eugen lives, despite all +plots. After all, justice is done.' + +'Mr Racksole is here, but he can see no one, Miss.' The words +came from behind the door, and the voice was the +commissionaire's. Racksole started up, and went towards the door. + +'Nonsense,' was the curt reply, in feminine tones. 'Move aside +instantly.' + +The door opened, and Nella entered. There were tears in her eyes. + +'Oh! Dad,' she exclaimed, 'I've only just heard you were in the +hotel. We looked for you everywhere. Come at once, Prince Eugen +is dying - ' Then she saw the man sitting on the bed, and stopped. + +Later, when Jules was alone again, he remarked to himself, 'I may +get that hundred thousand.' + +Chapter Twenty-Eight THE STATE BEDROOM ONCE MORE + +WHEN, immediately after the episode of the bottle of +Romanée-Conti in the State dining-room, Prince Aribert and old +Hans found that Prince Eugen had sunk in an unconscious heap +over his chair, both the former thought, at the first instant, that +Eugen must have already tasted the poisoned wine. But a moment's +reflection showed that this was not possible. If the Hereditary +Prince of Posen was dying or dead, his condition was due to some +other agency than the Romanée-Conti. Aribert bent over him, and +a powerful odour from the man's lips at once disclosed the cause of +the disaster: it was the odour of laudanum. Indeed, the smell of +that sinister drug seemed now to float heavily over the whole table. +Across Aribert's mind there flashed then the true explanation. +Prince Eugen, taking advantage of Aribert's attention being +momentarily diverted; and yielding to a sudden impulse of despair, +had decided to poison himself, and had carried out his intention on +the spot. + +The laudanum must have been already in his pocket, and this fact +went to prove that the unfortunate Prince had previously +contemplated such a proceeding, even after his definite promise. +Aribert remembered now with painful vividness his nephew's +words: 'I withdraw my promise. Observe that - I withdraw it.' It +must have been instantly after the utterance of that formal +withdrawal that Eugen attempted to destroy himself. + +'It's laudanum, Hans,' Aribert exclaimed, rather helplessly. + +'Surely his Highness has not taken poison?' said Hans. 'It is +impossible!' + +'I fear it is only too possible,' said the other. 'It's laudanum. What +are we to do? Quick, man!' + +'His Highness must be roused, Prince. He must have an emetic. We +had better carry him to the bedroom.' + +They did, and laid him on the great bed; and then Aribert mixed an +emetic of mustard and water, and administered it, but without any +effect. The sufferer lay motionless, with every muscle relaxed. His +skin was ice-cold to the touch, and the eyelids, half-drawn, showed +that the pupils were painfully contracted. + +'Go out, and send for a doctor, Hans. Say that Prince Eugen has +been suddenly taken ill, but that it isn't serious. The truth must +never be known.' + +'He must be roused, sire,' Hans said again, as he hurried from the +room. + +Aribert lifted his nephew from the bed, shook him, pinched him, +flicked him cruelly, shouted at him, dragged him about, but to no +avail. At length he desisted, from mere physical fatigue, and laid +the Prince back again on the bed. Every minute that elapsed +seemed an hour. Alone with the unconscious organism in the +silence of the great stately chamber, under the cold yellow glare of +the electric lights, Aribert became a prey to the most despairing +thoughts. The tragedy of his nephew's career forced itself upon +him, and it occurred to him that an early and shameful death had +all along been inevitable for this good-natured, weak-purposed, +unhappy child of a historic throne. A little good fortune, and his +character, so evenly balanced between right and wrong, might +have followed the proper path, and Eugen might have figured at +any rate with dignity on the European stage. But now it appeared +that all was over, the last stroke played. And in this disaster +Aribert saw the ruin of his own hopes. For Aribert would have to +occupy his nephew's throne, and he felt instinctively that nature +had not cut him out for a throne. By a natural impulse he inwardly +rebelled against the prospect of monarchy. Monarchy meant so +much for which he knew himself to be entirely unfitted. It meant a +political marriage, which means a forced marriage, a union against +inclination. And then what of Nella - Nella! + +Hans returned. 'I have sent for the nearest doctor, and also for a +specialist,' he said. + +'Good,' said Aribert. 'I hope they will hurry.' Then he sat down and +wrote a card. 'Take this yourself to Miss Racksole. If she is out of +the hotel, ascertain where she is and follow her. Understand, it is +of the first importance.' + +Hans bowed, and departed for the second time, and Aribert was +alone again. + +He gazed at Eugen, and made another frantic attempt to rouse him +from the deadly stupor, but it was useless. He walked away to the +window: through the opened casement he could hear the tinkle of +passing hansoms on the Embankment below, whistles of +door-keepers, and the hoot of steam tugs on the river. The world +went on as usual, it appeared. It was an absurd world. + +He desired nothing better than to abandon his princely title, and +live as a plain man, the husband of the finest woman on earth. . . . +But now! . . . + +Pah! How selfish he was, to be thinking of himself when Eugen lay +dying. Yet - Nella! + +The door opened, and a man entered, who was obviously the +doctor. A few curt questions, and he had grasped the essentials of +the case. 'Oblige me by ringing the bell, Prince. I shall want some +hot water, and an able-bodied man and a nurse.' + +'Who wants a nurse?' said a voice, and Nella came quietly in. 'I am +a nurse,' she added to the doctor, 'and at your orders.' + +The next two hours were a struggle between life and death. The +first doctor, a specialist who followed him, Nella, Prince Aribert, +and old Hans formed, as it were, a league to save the dying man. +None else in the hotel knew the real seriousness of the case. When +a Prince falls ill, and especially by his own act, the precise truth is +not issued broadcast to the universe. + +According to official intelligence, a Prince is never seriously ill +until he is dead. Such is statecraft. + +The worst feature of Prince Eugen's case was that emetics proved +futile. + +Neither of the doctors could explain their failure, but it was only +too apparent. The league was reduced to helplessness. At last the +great specialist from Manchester Square gave it out that there was +no chance for Prince Eugen unless the natural vigour of his +constitution should prove capable of throwing off the poison +unaided by scientific assistance, as a drunkard can sleep off his +potion. Everything had been tried, even to artificial respiration and +the injection of hot coffee. Having emitted this pronouncement, +the great specialist from Manchester Square left. It was one o'clock +in the morning. By one of those strange and futile coincidences +which sometimes startle us by their subtle significance, the +specialist met Theodore Racksole and his captive as they were +entering the hotel. Neither had the least suspicion of the other's +business. + +In the State bedroom the small group of watchers surrounded the +bed. The slow minutes filed away in dreary procession. Another +hour passed. Then the figure on the bed, hitherto so motionless, +twitched and moved; the lips parted. + +'There is hope,' said the doctor, and administered a stimulant +which was handed to him by Nella. + +In a quarter of an hour the patient had regained consciousness. For +the ten thousandth time in the history of medicine a sound +constitution had accomplished a miracle impossible to the +accumulated medical skill of centuries. + +In due course the doctor left, saying that Prince Eugen was 'on the +high road to recovery,' and promising to come again within a few +hours. Morning had dawned. Nella drew the great curtains, and let +in a flood of sunlight. + +Old Hans, overcome by fatigue, dozed in a chair in a far corner of +the room. + +The reaction had been too much for him. Nella and Prince Aribert +looked at each other. They had not exchanged a word about +themselves, yet each knew what the other had been thinking. They +clasped hands with a perfect understanding. Their brief +love-making had been of the silent kind, and it was silent now. No +word was uttered. A shadow had passed from over them, but only +their eyes expressed relief and joy. + +'Aribert!' The faint call came from the bed. Aribert went to the +bedside, while Nella remained near the window. + +'What is it, Eugen?' he said. 'You are better now.' + +'You think so?' murmured the other. 'I want you to forgive me for +all this, Aribert. I must have caused you an intolerable trouble. I +did it so clumsily; that is what annoys me. Laudanum was a feeble +expedient; but I could think of nothing else, and I daren't ask +anyone for advice. I was obliged to go out and buy the stuff for +myself. It was all very awkward. + +But, thank goodness, it has not been ineffectual.' + +'What do you mean, Eugen? You are better. In a day or so you will +be perfectly recovered.' + +'I am dying,' said Eugen quietly. 'Do not be deceived. I die because +I wish to die. It is bound to be so. I know by the feel of my heart. +In a few hours it will be over. The throne of Posen will be yours, +Aribert. You will fill it more worthily than I have done. Don't let +them know over there that I poisoned myself. Swear Hans to +secrecy; swear the doctors to secrecy; and breathe no word +yourself. I have been a fool, but I do not wish it to be known that I +was also a coward. Perhaps it is not cowardice; perhaps it is +courage, after all - courage to cut the knot. I could not have +survived the disgrace of any revelations, Aribert, and revelations +would have been sure to come. I have made a fool of myself, but I +am ready to pay for it. We of Posen - we always pay - everything +except our debts. Ah! those debts! Had it not been for those I could +have faced her who was to have been my wife, to have shared my +throne. I could have hidden my past, and begun again. With her +help I really could have begun again. But Fate has been against me +- always! always! By the way, what was that plot against me, +Aribert? I forget, I forget.' + +His eyes closed. There was a sudden noise. Old Hans had slipped +from his chair to the floor. He picked himself up, dazed, and crept +shamefacedly out of the room. + +Aribert took his nephew's hand. + +'Nonsense, Eugen! You are dreaming. You will be all right soon. +Pull yourself together.' + +'All because of a million,' the sick man moaned. 'One miserable +million English pounds. The national debt of Posen is fifty +millions, and I, the Prince of Posen, couldn't borrow one. If I could +have got it, I might have held my head up again. Good-bye, +Aribert... . Who is that girl?' + +Aribert looked up. Nella was standing silent at the foot of the bed, +her eyes moist. She came round to the bedside, and put her hand +on the patient's heart. Scarcely could she feel its pulsation, and to +Aribert her eyes expressed a sudden despair. + +At that moment Hans re-entered the room and beckoned to her. + +'I have heard that Herr Racksole has returned to the hotel,' he +whispered, 'and that he has captured that man Jules, who they say +is such a villain.' + +Several times during the night Nella inquired for her father, but +could gain no knowledge of his whereabouts. Now, at half-past six +in the morning, a rumour had mysteriously spread among the +servants of the hotel about the happenings of the night before. How +it had originated no one could have determined, but it had +originated. + +'Where is my father?' Nella asked of Hans. + +He shrugged his shoulders, and pointed upwards. 'Somewhere at +the top, they say.' + +Nella almost ran out of the room. Her interruption of the interview +between Jules and Theodore Racksole has already been described. +As she came downstairs with her father she said again, 'Prince +Eugen is dying - but I think you can save him.' + +'I?' exclaimed Theodore. + +'Yes,' she repeated positively. 'I will tell you what I want you to do, +and you must do it.' + +Chapter Twenty-Nine THEODORE IS CALLED TO THE +RESCUE + +AS Nella passed downstairs from the top storey with her father - +the lifts had not yet begun to work - she drew him into her own +room, and closed the door. + +'What's this all about?' he asked, somewhat mystified, and even +alarmed by the extreme seriousness of her face. + +'Dad,' the girl began. 'you are very rich, aren't you? very, very rich?' +She smiled anxiously, timidly. He did not remember to have seen +that expression on her face before. He wanted to make a facetious +reply, but checked himself. + +'Yes,' he said, 'I am. You ought to know that by this time.' + +'How soon could you realize a million pounds?' + +'A million - what?' he cried. Even he was staggered by her calm +reference to this gigantic sum. 'What on earth are you driving at?' + +'A million pounds, I said. That is to say, five million dollars. How +soon could you realize as much as that?' + +'Oh!' he answered, 'in about a month, if I went about it neatly +enough. I could unload as much as that in a month without scaring +Wall Street and other places. But it would want some +arrangement.' + +'Useless!' she exclaimed. 'Couldn't you do it quicker, if you really +had to?' + +'If I really had to, I could fix it in a week, but it would make things +lively, and I should lose on the job.' + +'Couldn't you,' she persisted, 'couldn't you go down this morning +and raise a million, somehow, if it was a matter of life and death?' + +He hesitated. 'Look here, Nella,' he said, 'what is it you've got up +your sleeve?' + +'Just answer my question, Dad, and try not to think that I'm a stark, +staring lunatic.' + +'I rather expect I could get a million this morning, even in London. +But it would cost pretty dear. It might cost me fifty thousand +pounds, and there would be the dickens of an upset in New York - +a sort of grand universal slump in my holdings.' + +'Why should New York know anything about it?' + +'Why should New York know anything about it!' he repeated. 'My +girl, when anyone borrows a million sovereigns the whole world +knows about it. Do you reckon that I can go up to the Governors of +the Bank of England and say, "Look here, lend Theodore Racksole +a million for a few weeks, and he'll give you an IOU and a +covering note on stocks"?' + +'But you could get it?' she asked again. + +'If there's a million in London I guess I could handle it,' he replied. + +'Well, Dad,' and she put her arms round his neck, 'you've just got to +go out and fix it. See? It's for me. I've never asked you for anything +really big before. But I do now. And I want it so badly.' + +He stared at her. 'I award you the prize,' he said, at length. 'You +deserve it for colossal and immense coolness. Now you can tell me +the true inward meaning of all this rigmarole. What is it?' + +'I want it for Prince Eugen,' she began, at first hesitatingly, with +pauses. + +'He's ruined unless he can get a million to pay off his debts. He's +dreadfully in love with a Princess, and he can't marry her because +of this. + +Her parents wouldn't allow it. He was to have got it from Sampson +Levi, but he arrived too late - owing to Jules.' + +'I know all about that - perhaps more than you do. But I don't see +how it affects you or me.' + +'The point is this, Dad,' Nella continued. 'He's tried to commit +suicide - he's so hipped. Yes, real suicide. He took laudanum last +night. It didn't kill him straight off - he's got over the first shock, +but he's in a very weak state, and he means to die. And I truly +believe he will die. Now, if you could let him have that million, +Dad, you would save his life.' + +Nella's item of news was a considerable and disconcerting surprise +to Racksole, but he hid his feelings fairly well. + +'I haven't the least desire to save his life, Nell. I don't overmuch +respect your Prince Eugen. I've done what I could for him - but +only for the sake of seeing fair play, and because I object to +conspiracies and secret murders. + +It's a different thing if he wants to kill himself. What I say is: Let +him. + +Who is responsible for his being in debt to the tune of a million +pounds? He's only got himself and his bad habits to thank for that. +I suppose if he does happen to peg out, the throne of Posen will go +to Prince Aribert. And a good thing, too! Aribert is worth twenty of +his nephew.' + +'That's just it, Dad,' she said, eagerly following up her chance. 'I +want you to save Prince Eugen just because Aribert - Prince +Aribert - doesn't wish to occupy the throne. He'd much prefer not +to have it.' + +'Much prefer not to have it! Don't talk nonsense. If he's honest with +himself, he'll admit that he'll be jolly glad to have it. Thrones are in +his blood, so to speak.' + +'You are wrong, Father. And the reason is this: If Prince Aribert +ascended the throne of Posen he would be compelled to marry a +Princess.' + +'Well! A Prince ought to marry a Princess.' + +'But he doesn't want to. He wants to give up all his royal rights, and +live as a subject. He wants to marry a woman who isn't a Princess.' + +'Is she rich?' + +'Her father is,' said the girl. 'Oh, Dad! can't you guess? He - he +loves me.' Her head fell on Theodore's shoulder and she began to +cry. + +The millionaire whistled a very high note. 'Nell!' he said at length. +'And you?. Do you sort of cling to him?' + +'Dad,' she answered, 'you are stupid. Do you imagine I should +worry myself like this if I didn't?' She smiled through her tears. +She knew from her father's tone that she had accomplished a +victory. + +'It's a mighty queer arrangement,' Theodore remarked. 'But of +course if you think it'll be of any use, you had better go down and +tell your Prince Eugen that that million can be fixed up, if he really +needs it. I expect there'll be decent security, or Sampson Levi +wouldn't have mixed himself up in it.' + +'Thanks, Dad. Don't come with me; I may manage better alone.' + +She gave a formal little curtsey and disappeared. Racksole, who +had the talent, so necessary to millionaires, of attending to several +matters at once, the large with the small, went off to give orders +about the breakfast and the remuneration of his assistant of the +evening before, Mr George Hazell. He then sent an invitation to +Mr Felix Babylon's room, asking that gentleman to take breakfast +with him. After he had related to Babylon the history of Jules' +capture, and had a long discussion with him upon several points of +hotel management, and especially as to the guarding of +wine-cellars, Racksole put on his hat, sallied forth into the Strand, +hailed a hansom, and was driven to the City. The order and nature +of his operations there were, too complex and technical to be +described here. + +When Nella returned to the State bedroom both the doctor and the +great specialist were again in attendance. The two physicians +moved away from the bedside as she entered, and began to talk +quietly together in the embrasure of the window. + +'A curious case!' said the specialist. + +'Yes. Of course, as you say, it's a neurotic temperament that's at the +bottom of the trouble. When you've got that and a vigorous +constitution working one against the other, the results are apt to be +distinctly curious. + +Do you consider there is any hope, Sir Charles?' + +'If I had seen him when he recovered consciousness I should have +said there was hope. Frankly, when I left last night, or rather this +morning, I didn't expect to see the Prince alive again - let alone +conscious, and able to talk. According to all the rules of the game, +he ought to get over the shock to the system with perfect ease and +certainty. But I don't think he will. I don't think he wants to. And +moreover, I think he is still under the influence of suicidal mania. +If he had a razor he would cut his throat. You must keep his +strength up. Inject, if necessary. I will come in this afternoon. I am +due now at St James's Palace.' And the specialist hurried away, +with an elaborate bow and a few hasty words of polite +reassurances to Prince Aribert. + +When he had gone Prince Aribert took the other doctor aside. +'Forget everything, doctor,' he said, 'except that I am one man and +you are another, and tell me the truth. Shall you be able to save his +Highness? Tell me the truth.' + +'There is no truth,' was the doctor's reply. 'The future is not in our +hands, Prince.' + +'But you are hopeful? Yes or no.' + +The doctor looked at Prince Aribert. 'No!' he said shortly. 'I am not. +I am never hopeful when the patient is not on my side.' + +'You mean - ?' + +'I mean that his Royal Highness has no desire to live. You must +have observed that.' + +'Only too well,' said Aribert. + +'And you are aware of the cause?' + +Aribert nodded an affirmative. + +'But cannot remove it?' + +'No,' said Aribert. He felt a touch on his sleeve. It was Nella's +finger. + +With a gesture she beckoned him towards the ante-room. + +'If you choose,' she said, when they were alone, 'Prince Eugen can +be saved. + +I have arranged it.' + +'You have arranged it?' He bent over her, almost with an air of +alarm. 'Go and tell him that the million pounds which is so +necessary to his happiness will be forthcoming. Tell him that it +will be forthcoming today, if that will be any satisfaction to him.' + +'But what do you mean by this, Nella?' + +'I mean what I say, Aribert,' and she sought his hand and took it in +hers. + +'Just what I say. If a million pounds will save Prince Eugen's life, it +is at his disposal.' + +'But how - how have you managed it? By what miracle?' + +'My father,' she replied softly, 'will do anything that I ask him. Do +not let us waste time. Go and tell Eugen it is arranged, that all will +be well. + +Go!' + +'But we cannot accept this - this enormous, this incredible favour. +It is impossible.' + +'Aribert,' she said quickly, 'remember you are not in Posen holding +a Court reception. You are in England and you are talking to an +American girl who has always been in the habit of having her own +way.' + +The Prince threw up his hands and went back in to the bedroom. +The doctor was at a table writing out a prescription. Aribert +approached the bedside, his heart beating furiously. Eugen greeted +him with a faint, fatigued smile. + + 'Eugen,' he whispered, 'listen carefully to me. I have news. With +the assistance of friends I have arranged to borrow that million for +you. It is quite settled, and you may rely on it. But you must get +better. Do you hear me?' + +Eugen almost sat up in bed. 'Tell me I am not delirious,' he +exclaimed. + +'Of course you aren't,' Aribert replied. 'But you mustn't sit up. You +must take care of yourself.' + +'Who will lend the money?' Eugen asked in a feeble, happy +whisper. + +'Never mind. You shall hear later. Devote yourself now to getting +better.' + +The change in the patient's face was extraordinary. His mind +seemed to have put on an entirely different aspect. The doctor was +startled to hear him murmur a request for food. As for Aribert, he +sat down, overcome by the turmoil of his own thoughts. Till that +moment he felt that he had never appreciated the value and the +marvellous power of mere money, of the lucre which philosophers +pretend to despise and men sell their souls for. His heart almost +burst in its admiration for that extraordinary Nella, who by mere +personal force had raised two men out of the deepest slough of +despair to the blissful heights of hope and happiness. 'These +Anglo-Saxons,' he said to himself, 'what a race!' + +By the afternoon Eugen was noticeably and distinctly better. The +physicians, puzzled for the third time by the progress of the case, +announced now that all danger was past. The tone of the +announcement seemed to Aribert to imply that the fortunate issue +was due wholly to unrivalled medical skill, but perhaps Aribert +was mistaken. Anyhow, he was in a most charitable mood, and +prepared to forgive anything. + +'Nella,' he said a little later, when they were by themselves again in +the ante-chamber, 'what am I to say to you? How can I thank you? +How can I thank your father?' + +'You had better not thank my father,' she said. 'Dad will affect to +regard the thing as a purely business transaction, as, of course, it +is. As for me, you can - you can - ' + +'Well?' + +'Kiss me,' she said. 'There! Are you sure you've formally proposed +to me, mon prince?' + +'Ah! Nell!' he exclaimed, putting his arms round her again. 'Be +mine! That is all I want!' + +'You'll find,' she said, 'that you'll want Dad's consent too!' + +'Will he make difficulties? He could not, Nell - not with you!' + +'Better ask him,' she said sweetly. + +A moment later Racksole himself entered the room. 'Going on all +right?' he enquired, pointing to the bedroom. 'Excellently,' the +lovers answered together, and they both blushed. + +'Ah!' said Racksole. 'Then, if that's so, and you can spare a minute, +I've something to show you, Prince.' + +Chapter Thirty CONCLUSION + +'I'VE a great deal to tell you, Prince,' Racksole began, as soon as +they were out of the room, 'and also, as I said, something to show +you. Will you come to my room? We will talk there first. The +whole hotel is humming with excitement.' + +'With pleasure,' said Aribert. + +'Glad his Highness Prince Eugen is recovering,' Racksole said, +urged by considerations of politeness. + +'Ah! As to that - ' Aribert began. 'If you don't mind, we'll discuss +that later, Prince,' Racksole interrupted him. + +They were in the proprietor's private room. + +'I want to tell you all about last night,' Racksole resumed, 'about +my capture of Jules, and my examination of him this morning.' +And he launched into a full acount of the whole thing, down to the +least details. 'You see,' + +he concluded, 'that our suspicions as to Bosnia were tolerably +correct. But as regards Bosnia, the more I think about it, the surer I +feel that nothing can be done to bring their criminal politicians to +justice.' + +'And as to Jules, what do you propose to do?' + +'Come this way,' said Racksole, and led Aribert to another room. A +sofa in this room was covered with a linen cloth. Racksole lifted +the cloth - he could never deny himself a dramatic moment - and +disclosed the body of a dead man. + +It was Jules, dead, but without a scratch or mark on him. + +'I have sent for the police - not a street constable, but an official +from Scotland Yard,' said Racksole. + +'How did this happen?' Aribert asked, amazed and startled. 'I +understood you to say that he was safely immured in the bedroom.' + +'So he was,' Racksole replied. 'I went up there this afternoon, +chiefly to take him some food. The commissionaire was on guard +at the door. He had heard no noise, nothing unusual. Yet when I +entered the room Jules was gone. + +He had by some means or other loosened his fastenings; he had +then managed to take the door off the wardrobe. He had moved the +bed in front of the window, and by pushing the wardrobe door +three parts out of the window and lodging the inside end of it +under the rail at the head of the bed, he had provided himself with +a sort of insecure platform outside the window. All this he did +without making the least sound. He must then have got through the +window, and stood on the little platform. With his fingers he +would just be able to reach the outer edge of the wide cornice +under the roof of the hotel. By main strength of arms he had swung +himself on to this cornice, and so got on to the roof proper. He +would then have the run of the whole roof. + +At the side of the building facing Salisbury Lane there is an iron +fire-escape, which runs right down from the ridge of the roof into a +little sunk yard level with the cellars. Jules must have thought that +his escape was accomplished. But it unfortunately happened that +one rung in the iron escape-ladder had rusted rotten through being +badly painted. It gave way, and Jules, not expecting anything of the +kind, fell to the ground. That was the end of all his cleverness and +ingenuity.' + +As Racksole ceased, speaking he replaced the linen cloth with a +gesture from which reverence was not wholly absent. + +When the grave had closed over the dark and tempestuous career +of Tom Jackson, once the pride of the Grand Babylon, there was +little trouble for the people whose adventures we have described. +Miss Spencer, that yellow-haired, faithful slave and attendant of a +brilliant scoundrel, was never heard of again. Possibly to this day +she survives, a mystery to her fellow-creatures, in the pension of +some cheap foreign boarding-house. As for Rocco, he certainly +was heard of again. Several years after the events set down, it +came to the knowledge of Felix Babylon that the unrivalled Rocco +had reached Buenos Aires, and by his culinary skill was there +making the fortune of a new and splendid hotel. Babylon +transmitted the information to Theodore Racksole, and Racksole +might, had he chosen, have put the forces of the law in motion +against him. But Racksole, seeing that everything pointed to the +fact that Rocco was now pursuing his vocation honestly, decided +to leave him alone. The one difficulty which Racksole experienced +after the demise of Jules - and it was a difficulty which he had, of +course, anticipated - was connected with the police. The police, +very properly, wanted to know things. They desired to be informed +what Racksole had been doing in the Dimmock affair, between his +first visit to Ostend and his sending for them to take charge of +Jules' dead body. And Racksole was by no means inclined to tell +them everything. Beyond question he had transgressed the laws of +England, and possibly also the laws of Belgium; and the moral +excellence of his motives in doing so was, of course, in the eyes of +legal justice, no excuse for such conduct. The inquest upon Jules +aroused some bother; and about ninety-and-nine separate and +distinct rumours. In the end, however, a compromise was arrived +at. Racksole's first aim was to pacify the inspector whose clue, +which by the way was a false one, he had so curtly declined to +follow up. That done, the rest needed only tact and patience. He +proved to the satisfaction of the authorities that he had acted in a +perfectly honest spirit, though with a high hand, and that +substantial justice had been done. Also, he subtly indicated that, if +it came to the point, he should defy them to do their worst. Lastly, +he was able, through the medium of the United States +Ambassador, to bring certain soothing influences to bear upon the +situation. + +One afternoon, a fortnight after the recovery of the Hereditary +Prince of Posen, Aribert, who was still staying at the Grand +Babylon, expressed a wish to hold converse with the millionaire. +Prince Eugen, accompanied by Hans and some Court officials +whom he had sent for, had departed with immense éclat, armed +with the comfortable million, to arrange formally for his betrothal. + +Touching the million, Eugen had given satisfactory personal +security, and the money was to be paid off in fifteen years. + +'You wish to talk to me, Prince,' said Racksole to Aribert, when +they were seated together in the former's room. + +'I wish to tell you,' replied Aribert, 'that it is my intention to +renounce all my rights and titles as a Royal Prince of Posen, and to +be known in future as Count Hartz - a rank to which I am entitled +through my mother. + +Also that I have a private income of ten thousand pounds a year, +and a château and a town house in Posen. I tell you this because I +am here to ask the hand of your daughter in marriage. I love her, +and I am vain enough to believe that she loves me. I have already +asked her to be my wife, and she has consented. We await your +approval.' + +'You honour us, Prince,' said Racksole with a slight smile, 'and in +more ways than one, May I ask your reason for renouncing your +princely titles?' + +'Simply because the idea of a morganatic marriage would be as +repugnant to me as it would be to yourself and to Nella.' + +'That is good.' The Prince laughed. 'I suppose it has occurred to you +that ten thousand pounds per annum, for a man in your position, is +a somewhat small income. Nella is frightfully extravagant. I have +known her to spend sixty thousand dollars in a single year, and +have nothing to show for it at the end. Why! she would ruin you in +twelve months.' + +'Nella must reform her ways,' Aribert said. + +'If she is content to do so,' Racksole went on, 'well and good! I +consent.' + +'In her name and my own, I thank you,' said Aribert gravely. + +'And,' the millionaire continued, 'so that she may not have to +reform too fiercely, I shall settle on her absolutely, with reversion +to your children, if you have any, a lump sum of fifty million +dollars, that is to say, ten million pounds, in sound, selected +railway stock. I reckon that is about half my fortune. Nella and I +have always shared equally.' + +Aribert made no reply. The two men shook hands in silence, and +then it happened that Nella entered the room. + +That night, after dinner, Racksole and his friend Felix Babylon +were walking together on the terrace of the Grand Babylon Hotel. + +Felix had begun the conversation. + +'I suppose, Racksole,' he had said, 'you aren't getting tired of the +Grand Babylon?' + +'Why do you ask?' + +'Because I am getting tired of doing without it. A thousand times +since I sold it to you I have wished I could undo the bargain. I can't +bear idleness. Will you sell?' + +'I might,' said Racksole, 'I might be induced to sell.' + +'What will you take, my friend?' asked Felix + +'What I gave,' was the quick answer. + +'Eh!' Felix exclaimed. 'I sell you my hotel with Jules, with Rocco, +with Miss Spencer. You go and lose all those three inestimable +servants, and then offer me the hotel without them at the same +price! It is monstrous.' The little man laughed heartily at his own +wit. 'Nevertheless,' he added, 'we will not quarrel about the price. I +accept your terms.' + +And so was brought to a close the complex chain of events which +had begun when Theodore Racksole ordered a steak and a bottle of +Bass at the table d'hôte of the Grand Babylon Hotel. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Grand Babylon Hotel, by Arnold Bennett + |