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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34278-8.txt b/34278-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..393ab0e --- /dev/null +++ b/34278-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7350 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Secrets of Potsdam, by William Le Queux + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Secrets of Potsdam + +Author: William Le Queux + +Release Date: November 11, 2010 [EBook #34278] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRETS OF POTSDAM *** + + + + +Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + +THE SECRETS OF POTSDAM + + + + +_First impression, March, 1917. +Second impression, March, 1917._ + + + + +THE +Secrets of Potsdam + +_A STARTLING EXPOSURE OF THE INNER LIFE +OF THE COURTS OF THE KAISER +AND CROWN-PRINCE_ + +REVEALED FOR THE FIRST TIME +by +COUNT ERNST VON HELTZENDORFF + +_Commander of the Order of the Black Eagle, &c. +Late Personal-Adjutant to the German Crown-Prince_ + + +CHRONICLED BY +WILLIAM LE QUEUX + +LONDON: +LONDON MAIL LTD. +39, KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN. W.C. + + + + +_Copyright in the United States of America by +William Le Queux, 1917 +Translation and Cinema Rights reserved_ + + + + +_"Veneux Nadon, +"par Moret-sur-Loing +"(Seine-et-Marne). +"February 10th, 1917._ + + +"MY DEAR LE QUEUX, + +"_I have just finished reading the proofs of your book describing my +life as an official at the Imperial Court at Potsdam, and the two or +three small errors you made I have duly corrected._ + +"_The gross scandals and wily intrigues which I have related to you +were, many of them, known to yourself, for, as the intimate friend of +Luisa, the Ex-Crown-Princess of Saxony, you were, before the war, +closely associated with many of those at Court whose names appear in the +pages of this book._ + +"_The revelations which I have made, and which you have recorded here, +are but a tithe of the disclosures which I could make, and if your +British public desire more, I shall be pleased to furnish you with other +and even more startling details which you may also put into print._ + +"_My service as personal-adjutant to the German Crown-Prince is, +happily, at an end, and now, with the treachery of Germany against +civilization glaringly revealed, I feel, in my retirement, no +compunction in exposing all I know concerning the secrets of the Kaiser +and his profligate son._ + +"_With most cordial greetings from_ +"_Your sincere friend_, +"ERNST VON HELTZENDORFF." + + + + +The Secrets of Potsdam + +SECRET NUMBER ONE + +THE TRAGEDY OF THE LEUTENBERGS + + +You will recollect our first meeting on that sunny afternoon when, in +the stuffy, nauseating atmosphere of perspiration and a hundred Parisian +perfumes, we sat next each other at the first roulette table on the +right as you enter the rooms at Monte Carlo? + +Ah! how vivid it is still before my eyes, the jingle of gold and the +monotonous cries of the croupiers. + +Ah! my dear friend! In those pre-war days the Riviera--that sea-lapped +Paradise, with its clear, open sky and sapphire Mediterranean, +grey-green olives and tall flowering aloes, its gorgeous blossoms, and +its merry, dark-eyed populace who lived with no thought of the +morrow--was, indeed, the playground of Europe. + +And, let me whisper it, I think I may venture to declare that few of its +annual habitués enjoyed the life more than your dear old ink-stained +self. + +What brought us together, you, an English novelist, and I a--well, how +shall I describe myself? One of your enemies--eh? No, dear old fellow. +Let us sink all our international differences. May I say that I, Count +Ernst von Heltzendorff, of Schloss Heltzendorff, on the Mosel, late +personal-adjutant to His Imperial Highness the Crown-Prince, an official +attached to that precious young scoundrel's immediate person, call you +my dear friend? + +True, our nations are, alas! at war--the war which the Kaiser and his +son long sought, but which, as you well know, I have long ago detested. + +I have repudiated that set of pirates and assassins of whom I was, alas! +born, and among whom I moved until I learned of the vile plot afoot +against the peace of Europe and the chastity of its female inhabitants. + +On August 5th, 1914, I shook the dust of Berlin from my feet, crossed +the French frontier, and have since resided in the comfortable +old-fashioned country house which you assisted me to purchase on the +border of the lovely forest of Fontainebleau. + +And now, you have asked me to reveal to you some of the secrets of +Potsdam--secrets known to me by reason of my official position before +the war. + +You are persuading me to disclose some facts concerning the public and +private life of the Emperor, of my Imperial master the Crown-Prince, +known in his intimate circle as "Willie," and of the handsome but +long-suffering Cecil Duchess of Mecklenbourg, who married him ten years +ago and became known as "Cilli." Phew! Poor woman! she has experienced +ten years of misery, domestic unhappiness, by which she has become +prematurely aged, deep-eyed, her countenance at times when we talked +wearing an almost tragic look. + +No wonder, indeed, that there is a heavy and, alas! broken heart within +the beautiful Marble Palace at Potsdam, that splendid residence where +you once visited me and were afterwards commanded to a reception held by +His Imperial Highness. + +I risk much, I know, in taking up my pen to tell the truth and to make +these exposures to you, but I do so because I think it only just that +your British nation should know the true character of the Emperor and +of the unscrupulous and ubiquitous "Willie," the defiant young +Blackguard of Europe, who is the idol of the swaggering German Army, and +upon whom they pin their hopes. + +It is true that the Commander of the Death's Head Hussars--the +"Commander" who has since the war sanctioned the cold-blooded murder of +women and children, the shooting of prisoners, rapine, incendiarism, and +every other devil's work that his horde of assassins could commit--once +declared that "the day will come when Social Democrats will come to +Court." + +True, he has been known to be present at the golden wedding festivities +of a poor cobbler in Potsdam; that he has picked up in his yellow +ninety-horse-power car--with its black imp as a mascot--a poor tramp and +taken him to the hospital; and that he possesses the charming manner of +his much-worshipped grandfather, the Emperor Frederick. But he is as +clever and cunning as his criminal father, Wilhehm-der-Plötzliche +(William the Sudden) or Der Einzige (The Only), as the Kaiser is called +by the people of the Palace. He shows with double cunning but one side +of his character to the misguided German people, the Prussian Junker +party, and the Tom-Dick-and-Harry of the Empire who have been made +cannon-fodder and whose bones lie rotting in Flanders and on the Aisne. + +Ah, my dear friend, what a strange life was that of the German Court +before the war--a life of mummery, of gay uniforms, tinsel, gilded +decorations, black hearts posing as virtuous, and loose people of both +sexes evilly scandalizing their neighbours and pulling strings which +caused their puppets to dance to the War-Lord's tune. + +I once lifted the veil slightly to you when you stayed at the Palast +Hotel in Potsdam and came to us at the Marble Palace, and I suppose it +is for that reason that you ask me to jot down, for the benefit of your +readers in Great Britain and her Dominions, a few facts concerning the +plots of the Kaiser and his son--the idol of Germany, the Kronprinz +"Willie." + +What did you think of him when I presented you? + +I know how, later on that same night, you remarked upon his height, his +narrow chest, and his corset-waist, and how strangely his animal eyes +set slant-wise in his thin, aquiline face, goggle eyes, which dilate so +strangely when speaking with you, and which yet seem to penetrate your +innermost thoughts. + +I agreed with you when you declared that there was nothing outwardly of +the typical Hohenzollern in the Imperial Rake. True, one seeks in vain +for traces of martial virility. Though his face is so often wreathed in +boyish smiles, yet his heart is as hard as that of the true +Hohenzollern, while his pretended love of sport is only a clever ruse in +order to retain the popularity which, by dint of artful pretence, he has +undoubtedly secured. Indeed, it was because of the All-Highest One's +jealousy of his reckless yet crafty son's growing popularity that we +were one day all suddenly packed off to Danzig to be immured for two +long years in that most dreary and provincial of all garrisons. + +Of the peccadilloes of the elegant young blackguard of Europe--who +became a fully-fledged colonel in the German Army at the age of +thirty-one--I need say but little. His life has been crammed with +disgraceful incidents, most of them hushed up at the Kaiser's command, +though several of them--especially certain occurrences in the Engadine +in the winter of 1912--reached the ears of the Crown-Princess, who, one +memorable day, unable to stand her husband's callous treatment, +threatened seriously to leave him. + +Indeed, it was only by the Kaiser's autocratic order that "Cilli" +remained at the Marmor Palace. She had actually made every preparation +to leave, a fact which I, having learned it, was compelled to report to +the Crown-Prince. We were at the Palace in the Zeughaus-Platz, in +Berlin, at the time, and an hour after I had returned from Potsdam I +chanced to enter the Crown-Prince's study. The door was a self-locking +one, and I had a key. On turning my key I drew back, for His Majesty the +Emperor, a fine figure in the picturesque cavalry uniform of the +Königsjäger--who had just come from a review, and had no doubt heard of +the threatened Royal scandal--was standing astride in the room. + +"I compel it!" cried the Emperor, pale with rage, his eyes flashing as +he spoke. "She shall remain! Go to her at once--make your peace with her +in any way you can--and appear to-night with her at the theatre." + +"But I fear it is impossible. I----" + +"Have you not heard me?" interrupted the Emperor, disregarding his son's +protests. And as I discreetly withdrew I heard the Kaiser add: "Cannot +you, of our House of Hohenzollern, see that we cannot afford to allow +Cilli to leave us? The present state of the public mind is not +encouraging, much as I regret it. Remember Frederick August's position +when that madcap Luisa of Tuscany ran away with the French tutor Giron. +Now return to Marmor without delay and do as I bid." + +"I know Cilli. She will not be appeased. Of that I am convinced," +declared the young man. + +"It is my will--the will of the Emperor," were the last words I heard, +spoken in that hard, intense voice I knew so well. "Tell your wife so. +And do not see that black-haired Englishwoman again. I had a full report +from the Engadine a fortnight ago, and this _contretemps_ is only what I +have expected. It is disgraceful! When will you learn reason?" + +Ten minutes later I was seated beside the Crown-Prince in the car on our +way to Potsdam. + +On the road, driving recklessly as I sat by his side, he laughed lightly +as he turned to me, saying: + +"What an infernal worry women really are--aren't they, +Heltzendorff--more especially if one is an Imperial Prince! Even though +one is a Hohenzollern one cannot escape trouble!" + +How the conjugal relations were resumed I know not. All I know is that I +attended their Imperial Highnesses to the Lessing Theatre, where, in the +Royal box, the Kaiser--ever eager to stifle the shortcomings of the +Hohenzollerns--sat with us, though according to his engagements he +should have been on his way to Düsseldorf for a great review on the +morrow. But such public display allayed all rumour of his son's domestic +infelicity, and both Emperor and Kronprinz smiled benignly upon the +people. + +Early next day the Crown-Prince summoned me, in confidence, and an hour +later I left on a secret mission to a certain lady whom I may call Miss +Lilian Greyford--as it is not fair in certain cases in these exposures +to mention actual names--daughter of an English county gentleman, who +was staying at the "Kulm" at St. Moritz. + +Twenty-four hours afterwards I managed to see the winter-sports young +lady alone in the hotel, and gave her a verbal message, together with a +little package from His Imperial Highness, which, when she opened it, I +found contained a souvenir in the shape of an artistic emerald pendant. +With it were some scribbled lines. The girl--she was not much more than +twenty--read them eagerly, and burst into a torrent of tears. + +Ah! my dear Le Queux, as you yourself know from your own observations, +there are as many broken hearts beating beneath the corsets of +ladies-in-waiting and maids-of-honour, as there are among that frantic +feminine crowd striving to enter the magic circle of the Royal +entourage or the women of the workaday world who pass up +Unter-den-Linden on a Sunday. + +Phew! What a world of fevered artificiality revolves around a throne! + +Very soon after this incident--namely, in the early days of 1912--I +found myself, as the personal-adjutant of His Imperial Highness the +Crown-Prince, involved in a very strange, even inexplicable, affair. + +How shall I explain it? Well, the drama opened in the Emperor's Palace +in Berlin on New Year's night, 1912, when, as usual, a Grand Court +reception was held. + +The scene was one which we who revolve around the throne know so well. +Court gowns, nodding plumes, gay uniforms, and glittering decorations--a +vicious, tinselled, gossip-loving little world which with devilish +intent sows seeds of dark suspicion or struggles for the Kaiser's +favour. + +In the famous White Salon, with its ceiling gaudily emblazoned with the +arms of the Hohenzollerns as Burgraves, Electors, Kings, Emperors, and +what-not, its walls of coloured marble and gilded bronze, and its fine +statues of the Prussian rulers, we had all assembled and were waiting +the entrance of the Emperor. + +Kiderlen-Waechter--the Foreign Secretary--was standing near me, chatting +with Von Jagow, slim, dark-haired and spruce. The latter, who was +serving as German Ambassador in Rome, happened to be in Berlin on leave, +and the pair were laughing merrily with a handsome black-haired woman +whom I recognized as the Baroness Bertieri, wife of the Italian +Ambassador. + +Philip Eulenburg, one of the Emperor's personal friends (by the way, +author, with Von Moltke, of the Kaiser's much-advertised "Song to +Ægir"--a fact not generally known), approached me and began to chat, +recalling a side-splitting incident that had occurred a few days before +at Kiel, whither I had been with the Crown-Prince to open a new bridge. +Oh, those infernal statues and bridges! + +Of a sudden the tap of the Chamberlain's stick was heard thrice, the +gold-and-white doors instantly fell open, and the Emperor, his +decorations gleaming beneath the myriad lights, smilingly entered with +his waddling consort, the Crown-Prince, and their brilliant suite. + +All of us bowed low in homage, but as we did so I saw the shrewd eyes of +the All-Highest One, which nothing escapes, fixed upon a woman who stood +close to my elbow. As he fixed his fierce gaze upon her I saw, knowing +that glance as I did, that it spoke volumes. Hitherto I had not noticed +the lady, for she was probably one of those unimportant persons who are +commanded to a Grand Court, wives and daughters of military nobodies, of +whom we at the Palace never took the trouble to inquire so long as their +gilt command-cards, issued by the Grand Chamberlain, were in proper +order. + +That slight contraction of the Emperor's eyebrows caused me to ponder +deeply, for, knowing him so intimately, I saw that he was intensely +annoyed. + +For what reason? I was much mystified. + +Naturally I turned to glance at the woman whose presence had so +irritated him. She was fair-haired, blue-eyed, _petite_ and pretty. Her +age was about twenty-five, and she was extremely good-looking. Beside +her stood a big, fair-haired giant in the uniform of a captain of the +First Regiment of the Hussars of the Guard, of which the Crown-Prince +was Colonel-in-Chief. + +Within a quarter of an hour I discovered that the officer was Count +Georg von Leutenberg, and that his pretty wife, whom he had married two +years before, was the eldest daughter of an English financier who had +been created a Baron by your rule-of-thumb politicians. + +"Pretty woman, eh?" lisped Eulenburg in my ear, for he had noticed her, +and he was assuredly the best judge of a pretty face in all Berlin. + +Next day, just before noon, on entering the Crown-Prince's private +cabinet, I found "Willie" in the uniform of the 2nd Grenadiers, +apparently awaiting me in that cosy apartment, which is crammed with +effigies, statuettes, and relics of the great Napoleon, whom he worships +just as the War Lord reveres his famous ancestor Frederick the Great. + +"Sit down, Heltzendorff," said his Elegant Highness, waving his white, +well-manicured hand to a chair near by, and puffing at his cigarette. +"It is really pleasant to have an hour's rest!" he laughed, for he +seemed in merry mood that day. "Look here! As you know, after the little +affair with the Crown-Princess I trust to your absolute discretion. Do +you happen to know Count Georg von Leutenberg, of the Hussars of the +Guard?" + +"By sight only," was my reply. Mention of that name caused me to wonder. + +"He is a very good fellow, I understand. Do you know his wife--a pretty +little Englishwoman?" + +"Unfortunately, I have not that pleasure." + +"Neither have I, Heltzendorff," laughed the Prince, with a queer look in +those slant-set eyes which appear so strangely goggly sometimes. "But I +soon shall know her, I expect. In that direction I want your +assistance." + +"I am yours for your Highness to command," I replied, puzzled to know +what was in progress. After a few seconds of silence the Crown-Prince +suddenly exclaimed: + +"So good is the report of Von Leutenberg that has reached the Emperor +that--though he is as yet in ignorance of the fact--he has been promoted +to the rank of major, and ordered upon a foreign mission--as military +attaché in London. He will leave Berlin to-night to take up his new +post." + +"And the Countess?" + +"By a secret report I happen to have here it is shown that they are a +most devoted pair," he said, glancing at a sheet of buff paper upon +which was typed a report, one which I recognized as emanating from the +secret bureau at the Polizei-Prasidium, in Alexander Platz. "They live +in the Lennestrasse, No. 44, facing the Tiergarten. Note the address." + +Then his Highness paused, and, rising, crossed to the big writing-table +set in the window, and there examined another report. Afterwards, +glancing at the pretty buhl clock opposite, he suddenly said: + +"The Count should call here now. I have sent informing him of the +Emperor's goodwill, and ordering him to report here to take leave of me +as his Colonel-in-Chief." + +Scarcely had he spoken when Count von Leutenberg was announced by a +flunkey in pink silk stockings, and a moment later the tall officer +clicked his heels together and saluted smartly on the threshold. + +"I thought you would be pleased at your well-merited promotion," said +his Highness in quite a genial tone. "The Emperor wishes you to leave +for London by the ten o'clock express for Flushing to-night, so as to +report to his Excellency the Ambassador before he departs on leave. +Hence the urgency. The Countess, of course, will remain in Berlin. You +will, naturally, wish for time to make your arrangements in London and +dispose of your house here." + +"I think she will wish to accompany me, your Imperial Highness," replied +the fond husband. "London is her home." + +"Ah! That is absurd!" laughed "Willie." "Why, you who have been married +two whole years are surely not still upon your honeymoon?" and his +close-set eyes glinted strangely. "You will be far too busy on taking up +your new appointment to see much of her. No. Let her remain comfortably +at home in Berlin until you are quite settled. Then I will see that +Kiderlen grants you leave to return to put your house in order." + +From the Count's manner I could see that he was very much puzzled at his +sudden promotion. + +Indeed, on entering he had stammered out his surprise at being singled +out for such high distinction. + +Von Leutenberg's hesitation was the Crown-Prince's opportunity. + +"Good!" went on his Highness in his imperious, impetuous way. "You will +leave for London to-night, and the Countess will remain until you have +settled. I congratulate you most heartily upon your well-deserved +advancement, which I consider is an honour conferred by the Emperor upon +my regiment. I know, too, that you will act to the honour of the +Fatherland abroad." + +And with those words the major was dismissed. + +"A charming man!" remarked the Prince, after the door had closed. "He +has only been brought to my notice quite recently. An enthusiastic +officer, he will be of great use to us at Carlton House Terrace. There +is much yet to be done there, my dear Heltzendorff. Fortunately we have +put our friends the English comfortably to sleep. It has cost us money, +but money talks in London, just as it does in Berlin." + +And he drew a long, ecstatic breath at the mere thought of the great +international plot in progress--of the staggering blow to be struck +against France, and the march upon Paris with those men who were his +boon companions--Von Kluck, Von Hindenburg and Von der Goltz. + +"Heltzendorff," he exclaimed a few moments later, after he had reflected +deeply between the whiffs of his cigarette. "Heltzendorff, I wish you to +become acquainted with the Countess von Leutenberg, and you must +afterwards introduce me. I have a fixed and distinct reason. I could +obtain the assistance of others, but I trust you only." + +"But I do not know the lady," I protested, for I had no desire +whatsoever to become implicated in any double-dealing. + +"Hohenstein knows her well. I will see that he introduces you," replied +the Kaiser's son, with that strange look again in his eyes. "She's +uncommonly pretty, so mind you don't fall in love with her!" he laughed, +holding up his finger reprovingly. "I've heard, too, that Count Georg is +a highly jealous person, but, fortunately, he will be very busy writing +secret reports at Carlton House Terrace. So go and see Hohenstein at +once, and get him to introduce you to the pretty little Englishwoman. +But, remember, not a word of this conversation is to be breathed to a +single soul." + +What did it all mean? Why had the Emperor singled out for advancement +the husband of that woman, the sight of whom had so greatly annoyed him? +I confess that I became more than ever puzzled over the curious affair. + +Within a week, however, thanks to the introduction of that old roué, +Hohenstein, I had dined at Count von Leutenberg's pretty house in the +Lennestrasse in a fine room, the long windows of which commanded a +delightful view over the Tiergarten and the Siegesallee. + +The Countess, extremely charming and refined, having the misfortune of +being English, had not been taken up warmly by Berlin society. She was, +I found, a most delightful hostess. The party included Laroque, the +elegant First Secretary of the French Embassy, and his Parisian wife, +together with Baron Hoffmann, the burly, round-faced Minister of the +Interior, and Doctor Paulssen, Under-Secretary at the Colonial Office, +against whom you will remember there were allegations of atrocities +committed upon the natives in German East Africa. Hohenstein was, +however, not there, as he had been suddenly dispatched by the Emperor +upon a mission to Corfu. + +At table the talk ran upon Leutenberg's sudden promotion, whereupon the +Minister Hoffmann declared: + +"His Majesty only gives reward when it is due. When he discerns talent +he is never mistaken." + +A week later the Crown-Prince had returned from a surprise visit the +Kaiser had made to Stettin. The Emperor had played his old game of +rousing the garrison in the middle of the night, and then laughing at +the ludicrous figures cut by his pompous Generals and Colonels rushing +about in their night attire eager to greet their Sovereign. + +I was in the Prince's private room arranging the details of a military +programme at Potsdam on the following day when he suddenly entered and +exclaimed: + +"Well, Heltzendorff, and how are you proceeding in the Lennestrasse, +eh?" and he looked at me with those crafty eyes of his. "I hear you were +at the house last night." + +I started. Was I being watched? It was quite true that I had called on +the previous evening, and, finding the Countess alone, had sat in her +pretty drawing-room enjoying a long and delightful chat with her. + +"Yes. I called there," I admitted. "The Count is returning from London +next week to take his wife back with him." + +The Crown-Prince smiled mysteriously, and critically examined the +curious snake ring which he always wears upon the little finger of his +left hand. + +"We need not anticipate that, I think. Kiderlen will not grant him +leave. He is far better in Carlton House Terrace than in the +Lennestrasse." + +"I hardly follow your Highness," I remarked, much mystified at his +words. + +"H'm. Probably not, my dear Count," he laughed. "I do not intend that +you should." + +And with that mysterious remark he turned to meet Count von Zeppelin, +the round-faced, snow-haired, somewhat florid inventor, who was one of +his Highness's most intimate friends, and who had at that moment entered +unannounced. Zeppelin was a character in Berlin. He sought no friends, +no advertisement, and shunned notoriety. + +"Ha, my dear Ferdinand!" cried the Prince, shaking the hand of the man +who so suddenly became world-famous at the age of seventy. "You have +travelled from Stuttgart to see me--unwell as you are! It is an honour. +But the matter is one of greatest urgency, as I have already written to +you. I want to show you the correspondence and seek your advice," and +the Prince invited his white-haired friend to the big, carved arm-chair +beside his writing-table. Then, turning to me, he said: "Will you see +Von Glasenapp for me, and hand him those orders for Posen? He must leave +to-night. The General Court-Martial at Stendal I have fixed for the +25th. I shall be with the Emperor this afternoon. Report here at seven +to-night--understand?" + +Thus was I dismissed, while His Imperial Highness and Count Zeppelin sat +together in secret counsel. + +At ten minutes to seven that evening I unlocked the Crown-Prince's room +with the key I carried, the other two keys being in the hands of the +Crown-Princess and her husband. I had placed upon the table a bundle of +reports which had just been brought round from the Ministry of War, and +required that scribbly signature, "Wilhelm Kronprinz," when I noticed +three private letters that had evidently been placed aside. The +envelopes were addressed in a thin, angular, female hand, and bore an +English address. I noted it. The name on each was that of a lady +residing in Aylesbury Avenue, Hampstead, London. The letters bore German +stamps. In keen curiosity, I took one and examined it, wondering whether +it could be the correspondence which the Crown-Prince had been so eager +to show Count von Zeppelin in secret. + +I drew the letter from the envelope and scanned it rapidly. + +What I read caused me to hold my breath. The signature to the letters +was "Enid von Leutenberg." + +Those letters of hers had, it was plain, been seized in the post on +their way to London. The Countess either had a traitor in her household +or secret watch was being kept by the Secret Service upon her +correspondence. + +All three of those letters I read--letters which opened my eyes and +broadened my mind. Then, taking up my bundle of reports, I crept away +from the room, carefully re-latching the door. I intended that his +Highness should return, discover the letters left there inadvertently, +and put them away ere my arrival, in which case he would never suspect +that I had any knowledge of their contents. + +With the papers in my hand I passed along the many carpeted corridors to +the south wing of the Palace, where I found Tresternitz, Marshal of the +Prince's Court, in his room. + +The Crown-Prince imitated his father's sharp punctuality, therefore I +knew that he would be there at seven or soon afterwards. + +Tresternitz was always full of scandal concerning those who lived in the +higher circles of Berlin, and it was to one of these stories of Court +scandal concerning one of the ladies-in-waiting which I listened while I +smoked one of his excellent Russian cigarettes. + +Then, glancing at the clock, I rose suddenly and left him, returning +again to the private room. + +I found his Highness there, and as I entered I noticed that he had +hidden those remarkable letters which he had in secret shown to Count +Zeppelin. + +A fortnight went past. The Kaiser, with his mad love of constant travel, +had been rushing up and down the Empire--to Krupp's at Essen, to the +trials of a newly-invented howitzer, thence to an inspection at Kassel, +and afterwards to unveil monuments at Cologne and at Erfurt. The +Crown-Prince and Princess had accompanied him, the Kaiserin being +indisposed, and I, of course, had been included in "Willie's" suite. + +The week had been a strenuous one of train-travel, luncheons, tiring +dinners, receptions, dancing, and general junketings, and I was glad +enough to get back to my bachelor rooms--those rooms in the +Krausenstrasse that you knew so well before the bursting of the +war-cloud. To dance attendance upon an Imperial Crown-Prince, as well as +upon an autocratic Emperor, becomes after a time a wearisome business, +however gay and cosmopolitan a man may be. + +I had only been at home a few hours when a telephone message summoned me +at five o'clock to the Crown-Prince's Palace. + +His Imperial Highness, who had, I knew, been lunching with the Emperor +at the Königliches Schloss across the bridge, seemed unusually serious +and thoughtful. Perhaps the Emperor had again shown his anger at his +peccadilloes, as he did so frequently. + +"Count," he said, after a few seconds of silence, during which I noted +that upon his table lay a private letter from the German Ambassador in +London. "You will recall my conversation regarding the Countess von +Leutenberg--eh?" + +"Perfectly," was my reply. + +"I told you that I should require you to introduce me," he said. "Well, +I want you to do so this evening. She has taken a box at the Königliche +Opera to-night, where they are to play _Falstaff_. I shall be there, and +you will be with me. Then you will introduce me to your pretty friend. +Understand?" And he grinned. + +That night, in accordance with my instructions, I sat in the Emperor's +box with the Crown-Prince, Tresternitz, and two personal-adjutants, and, +recognizing the Countess von Leutenberg in a box opposite, accompanied +by an elderly lady, I took the Crown-Prince round, and there presented +her to him, greatly to her surprise and undisguised delight. + +The Prince and the Countess chatted together, while I sat with her +elderly companion. Then, when we had withdrawn, my Imperial Master +exclaimed: + +"Ah! my dear Heltzendorff. Why, she is one of the prettiest women in all +Berlin! Surely it is unfortunate--most unfortunate." + +What was unfortunate? I was further puzzled by that last sentence, yet I +dare not ask any explanation, and we went back to our own box. + +After our return to the Palace the Crown-Prince, who was standing in one +of the corridors talking with the slim, fair-haired Baroness von Wedel, +one of his wife's ladies-in-waiting, left her and beckoned me into an +adjoining room. + +"I wish you, Heltzendorff, to call upon the Countess von Leutenberg at +nine o'clock to-morrow evening. She will expect you." + +I looked at his Highness, much puzzled. How did he know that the pretty +Countess would expect me? + +But he gave me no time to reply, merely turning upon his heel, and +striding down the corridor to the private apartments. + +Punctually at nine o'clock that wintry evening I called at the +Lennestrasse, but Josef, the elderly manservant, informed me that his +mistress was engaged, adding that His Imperial Highness the Crown-Prince +had paid a surprise call. + +"The Crown-Prince here!" I gasped, astounded. + +"Yes, Count. And, further, my mistress is in high glee, for my master +returned this morning quite unexpectedly from London. He has been out at +the Ministry for Foreign Affairs all the evening, and I expect him home +at any moment. The Crown-Prince ordered me to ask you to await him +here." + +Count von Leutenberg in Berlin! What did it mean? He was absurdly +jealous, I recollected. He might return at any moment and find the +Crown-Prince alone in the Countess's drawing-room. If so, the situation +might certainly be a most unpleasant one. + +Hardly had the thought crossed my mind when I heard the Count enter, his +spurs clinking and his sabre rattling as he strode up the stairs. + +I crept forth, listening breathlessly. + +A few seconds later I heard the Count's voice raised in anger and high, +bitter words. Next moment I sprang up the stairs and, dashing into the +room, found the pretty Countess standing near the window, white and +rigid as a statue, while the two men in uniform faced each other. Von +Leutenberg's countenance was distorted with rage as he abused the +Crown-Prince, and openly charged him with having brought about his exile +to London. + +His Highness made no reply, but only smiled sarcastically and shrugged +his narrow shoulders. + +So enraged the other became at this latter gesture that, with a sudden +movement, he drew his sword. + +The Countess shrieked and swooned as I sprang forward and stayed her +husband's hand. + +It was a dramatic moment. The Count instantly realized the enormity of +his crime, and his hand dropped. + +"Enough!" cried the Crown-Prince, waving his adversary aside. Then, +turning to me, he said in a calm, hard voice: + +"Heltzendorff, you are witness that this man has drawn his sword upon +the heir to the Throne." + +And with those haughty words he bowed stiffly and strode out of the +room. + +Two hours later I was commanded to the Kaiser's presence, and found him +in counsel with his son. + +The Emperor, who wore the uniform of the Guards, looked pale and +troubled, yet in his eyes there was a keen, determined look. As I +passed the sentries and entered the lofty study, with its upholstery and +walls of pale green damask--that room from which the Empire and the +whole world have so often been addressed--the Kaiser broke off short in +his conversation. + +Turning to me as he still sat at his littered table, he said in that +quick, impetuous way of his: + +"Count Heltzendorff, the Crown-Prince has informed me of what has +occurred this evening in the Lennestrasse. I wish you to convey this at +once to Count von Leutenberg and to give it into his own hand. There is +no reply." + +And His Majesty handed me a rather bulky envelope addressed in his own +bold handwriting, and bearing his own private cipher impressed in black +wax. + +Thus commanded, I bowed, withdrew, and took a taxicab straight to the +Lennestrasse, being ushered by Josef into the presence of husband and +wife in that same room I had quitted a couple of hours before. + +I handed the Count the packet the Emperor had given me, and with +trembling fingers he tore it open. + +From within he drew three letters, those same letters which his wife had +written to London, and which had been intercepted by the Secret +Service--the letters which I had read in his Highness's room. + +As he scanned the lines which the Emperor had penned his face blanched. +A loud cry of dismay escaped his wife as she recognized her own letters, +and she snatched the note from her husband's hand and also read it. + +The light died instantly from her beautiful countenance. Then, turning +to me, she said in a hoarse, hopeless tone: + +"Thank you, Count von Heltzendorff. Tell His Majesty the Emperor that +his command shall be--yes, it shall be obeyed." + +Those last words she spoke in a deep, hoarse whisper, a strange, wild +look of desperation in her blue eyes. + +An hour later I reported again at the Imperial Palace, was granted +audience of the Emperor, and gave him the verbal reply. + +His Majesty uttered no word, merely nodding his head slowly in approval. + +Next afternoon a painful sensation was caused throughout Berlin when the +_Abendpost_ published the news that Count von Leutenberg, the man so +recently promoted by the Emperor, and his pretty wife had both been +found dead in their room. During the night they had evidently burned +some papers, for the tinder was found in the stove, and having agreed to +die together, they being so much attached during life, they had both +taken prussic acid in some wine, the bottle and half-emptied glasses +being still upon the table. + +The romantic affair, the truth of which I here reveal for the first +time, was regarded by all Berlin as an inexplicable tragedy. The public +are still unaware of how those intercepted letters contained serious +warnings to the British Government of the Emperor's hostile intentions +towards Britain, and the probable date of the outbreak of war. Indeed, +they recounted a private conversation which the Countess had overheard +between the Kaiser and Count Zeppelin, repeating certain opprobrious +epithets which the All-Highest had bestowed upon one or two British +statesmen, and she also pointed out the great danger of a pending +rupture between the two Powers, as well as explaining some details +regarding the improved Zeppelins in course of construction secretly on +Lake Constance, and certain scandals regarding the private life of the +Crown-Prince. + +It was for the latter reason that the heir, aided by the War-Lord, took +his revenge in a manner so crafty, so subtle, and so typical of the +innate cunning of the Hohenzollerns. + +Thus the well-meant warnings of one of your good, honest Englishwomen +never reached the unsuspicious address to which they were sent, and thus +did "Willie"--who, as I afterwards discovered, devised that subtle +vengeance--act as the Emperor's catspaw. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER TWO + +THE CROWN-PRINCE'S REVENGE + + +The Trautmann affair was one which caused a wild sensation at Potsdam in +the autumn of 1912. + +In the Emperor's immediate entourage there was a great deal of gossip, +most of it ill-natured and cruel, for most ladies-in-waiting possess +serpents' tongues. Their tongues are as sharp as their features, and +though there may be a few pretty maids-of-honour, yet the majority of +women at Court are, as you know, my dear Le Queux, mostly plain and +uninteresting. + +I became implicated in the unsavoury Trautmann affair, in a somewhat +curious manner. + +A few months after the Leutenberg tragedy I chanced to be lunching at +the "Esplanade" in Berlin, chatting with Laroque, of the French Embassy. +Our hostess was Frau Breitenbach, a wealthy Jewess--a woman who came +from Dortmund--and who was spending money like water in order to wriggle +into Berlin society. As personal-adjutant of the Crown-Prince I was, of +course, one of the principal guests, and I suspected that she was +angling for a card of invitation to the next ball at the Marmor Palace. + +Who introduced me to the portly, black-haired, rather handsome woman I +quite forget. Probably it was some nobody who received a commission upon +the introduction--for at the Berlin Court introductions are bought and +sold just as the succulent sausage is sold over the counter. + +In the big white-and-gold _salle-à-manger_ of the "Esplanade," which, as +you know, is one of the finest in Europe, Frau Breitenbach was lunching +with sixteen guests at one big round table, her daughter Elise, a very +smartly dressed girl of nineteen, seated opposite to her. It was a merry +party, including as it did some of the most renowned persons in the +Empire, among them being the Imperial Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, of +the long, grave face and pointed beard, and that grand seigneur who was +a favourite at Court, the multi-millionaire Serene Highness Prince +Maximilian Egon zu Fürstenberg. Of the latter it may be said that no man +rivalled his influence with the Emperor. What he said was law in +Germany. + +Fürstenberg was head of the famous "Prince's Trust," now dissolved, but +at that time, with its capital of a hundred million pounds, it was a +great force in the German commercial world. Indeed, such a boon +companion was he of the Kaiser's that an august but purely decorative +and ceremonial place was actually invented for him as Colonel-Marshal of +the Prussian Court, an excuse to wear a gay uniform and gorgeous +decorations as befitted a man who, possessing twenty millions sterling, +was an important asset to the Emperor in his deep-laid scheme for +world-power. + +Another Prince of the "Trust" was fat old Kraft zu Hohenlohe Oehringen, +but as he had only a paltry ten millions he did not rank so high in the +War-Lord's favour. + +Fürstenberg, seated next to the estimable Jewess, was chatting affably +with her. Her husband was in America upon some big steel transaction, +but her pretty daughter Elise sat laughing merrily with a young, +square-headed lieutenant of the Death's Head Hussars. + +That merry luncheon party was the prologue of a very curious drama. + +I was discussing the occult with a middle-aged lady on my right, a +sister of Herr Alfred Ballin, the shipping king. In society discussions +upon the occult are always illuminating, and as we chatted I noticed +that far across the crowded room, at a table set in a window, there sat +alone a dark-haired, sallow, good-looking young civilian, who, +immaculate in a grey suit, was eating his lunch in a rather bored +manner, yet his eyes were fixed straight upon the handsome, dark-haired +young girl, Elise Breitenbach, as though she exercised over him some +strange fascination. + +Half a dozen times I glanced across, and on each occasion saw that the +young man had no eyes for the notables around the table, his gaze being +fixed upon the daughter of the great financier, whose interests, +especially in America, were so widespread and profitable. + +Somehow--why I cannot even now decide--I felt a distinct belief that the +young civilian's face was familiar to me. It was not the first time I +had seen him, yet I could not recall the circumstances in which we had +met. I examined my memory, but could not recollect where I had before +seen him, yet I felt convinced that it was in circumstances of a +somewhat mysterious kind. + +Two nights later I had dined with the Breitenbachs at their fine house +in the Alsenstrasse. The only guest beside myself was the thin-faced, +loud-speaking old Countess von Bassewitz, and after dinner, served in a +gorgeous dining-room which everywhere betrayed the florid taste of the +parvenu, Frau Breitenbach took the Countess aside to talk, while I +wandered with her daughter into the winter garden, with its high palms +and gorgeous exotics, that overlooked the gardens of the Austrian +Embassy. + +When we were seated in cane chairs, and the man had brought us coffee, +the pretty Elise commenced to question me about life at the +Crown-Prince's Court, expressing much curiosity concerning the private +life of His Imperial Highness. + +Such questions came often from the lips of young girls in society, and I +knew how to answer them with both humour and politeness. + +"How intensely interesting it must be to be personal-adjutant to the +Crown-Prince! Mother is dying to get a command to one of the receptions +at Potsdam," the girl said. "Only to-day she was wondering--well, +whether you could possibly use your influence in that direction?" + +In an instant I saw why I had been invited to dinners and luncheons so +often, and why I had been left alone with the sweet-faced, dark-eyed +girl. + +I reflected a moment. Then I said: + +"I do not think that will be very difficult. I will see what can be +done. But I hope that if I am successful you will accompany your +mother," I added courteously, as I lit a cigarette. + +"It is really most kind of you," the girl declared, springing up with +delight, for the mere thought of going to Court seemed to give her +intense pleasure. Yet all women, young and old, are alike in that +respect. The struggle to set foot near the throne is, as you yourself +have seen, always an unseemly one, and, alas! the cause of many +heart-burnings. + +When I looked in at Tresternitz's room in the Palace next morning, I +scribbled down the name of mother and daughter for cards. + +"Who are they?" grunted the old marshal, removing a big cigar from his +puffy lips. + +"People I know--they're all right, and the girl is very good-looking." + +"Good. We can do with a little beauty here nowadays. We've had an +infernally ugly lot at the balls lately," declared the man, who was the +greatest gossip at Court, and who thereupon commenced to tell me a +scandalous story regarding one of the ladies-in-waiting to the Kaiserin +who had disappeared from the New Palace, and was believed to be living +in Scotland. + +"The Emperor is furious," he added. "But he doesn't know the real truth, +and never will, I expect." + +A week later the Crown-Prince and Princess gave a grand ball at the +Marmor Palace at Potsdam, and the Emperor himself attended. + +Frau Breitenbach, gorgeously attired, made her bow before the +All-Highest, and her daughter did the same. + +That night I saw that the Kaiser was in no good mood. He seldom was at +the Court functions. Indeed, half an hour before his arrival the +Crown-Prince had told me, in confidence, of his father's annoyance at +the failure of some diplomatic negotiations with Britain. + +The Emperor, in his brilliant uniform, with the Order of the Black +Eagle, of which he was _chef-souverain_, and the diamond stars of many +foreign Orders, presented a truly Imperial figure, his shrewd, +unrelenting gaze everywhere, his upturned moustache accentuated, his +voice unusually sharp and commanding. + +I spoke with Elise, and afterwards, when I danced with her I saw how +impressed she was by the glitter and glamour of the Potsdam Court +circle, and by the fact that she was in the presence of the All-Highest +One, without whose gracious nod nothing could hope to prosper in the +Fatherland, and without whose approval no public work could be +undertaken in Berlin. Those statesmen, admirals and generals present +might plan, but he alone willed. His approval or his frown was as a +decree of Providence, and his autocratic will greater than that of his +"brother," Nicholas of Russia. + +I remember how, one day in the Militär-Kabinett, an old buffer at Court +whom we called "Hans" Hohenlohe--he was one of the hundred and sixty odd +members of the aristocratic family of Hohenlohe which swarm the +Fatherland, mostly penurious, by-the-way, salary-grabbers, all elbowing +each other to secure the Kaiser's favour--made a very true remark which +has ever remained in my memory. It was very soon after Herr von Libenau, +the Imperial Master of Ceremony, had been arrested owing to a scandal at +Court, though perfectly innocent. My friend "Hans" Hohenlohe said in a +low, confidential whisper at a shooting party, after the French +Ambassador had wished us a merry _bon jour_ and passed out: + +"My dear friend Heltzendorff, you, like myself, know that war is +inevitable. It must come soon! The reason is to be found in the madness +of the Emperor, which has spread among our military party and among the +people, till most of them are no more sane than himself. Hypnotized by +good fortune, we have become demented with an overweening vanity and a +philosophy which must end in our undoing. The Emperor's incessant +drum-beating, sabre-rattling, and blasphemous appeals to the Almighty +have brought our German nation to that state which, since the world +began, has ever gone before destruction." + +No truer words were ever spoken of modern Germany. + +They recurred to me as, while waltzing with the pretty daughter of the +Dortmund parvenu, I noticed the Emperor standing aside, chatting with +old Von Zeppelin, who every now and then patted his silvery hair, a +habit of his when in conversation. With the pair stood Ernst Auguste, +the young Duke of Brunswick, who in the following year married the +Emperor's daughter, the rather petulant and go-ahead Victoria Louise. +The Prince, who wore the uniform of the Prussian Guard, was laughing +heartily over some remark of old Zeppelin's as, with my partner, I +passed quite close to them. + +The dainty Elise was, I found, quite an entertaining little person. Old +Tresternitz had already whispered his opinion of her. + +"Undoubtedly the prettiest girl at Court," he had declared, with a +twinkle in his grey eyes. + +From words the pretty Elise let drop that night as she hung upon my arm +I wondered whether she was really as ingenuous as she pretended. And yet +Frau Breitenbach was one of dozens of others who strove to enter the +Court circle, flapping their wings vainly to try and cross the wide gulf +which separated the "high life" in Berlin from "Court life." + +The rooms were stifling, therefore I took my pretty dancing partner +along a corridor and through several deserted apartments into the east +wing of the Palace, showing her some of the Crown-Princess's private +rooms, until at length we stepped through a French window on to the long +terrace before the lake, the Heilige-See. + +There we were alone. The white moon was reflected upon the waters, and +after the heat of the ball-room the balmy air was delightful. + +Against the marble balustrade beside the water I stood chatting with +her. All was silent save for the tramp of soldiers passing near, for the +guard was at that hour changing. As became a courtier, I chaffed and +laughed with her, my intention being to learn more concerning her. + +But she was, I found, an extremely discreet and clever little person, a +fact which further increased the mystery. + +One night about two months later I had an appointment with Max Reinhardt +at the Deutsches Theater, in Berlin, to arrange a Royal visit there, and +after the performance I went back to the Palace, prior to retiring to my +rooms in the Krausenstrasse. The guards saluted as I crossed the dark +courtyard, and having passed through the corridors to the private +apartments I entered with my key the Crown-Prince's locked study. + +To my surprise, I found "Willie" seated there with the Emperor in +earnest discussion. + +With apology, I bowed instantly and withdrew, whereupon the Kaiser +exclaimed: + +"Come in, Heltzendorff. I want you." + +Then he cast a quick, mysterious glance at the young man, who had thrown +himself in lazy attitude into a long cane lounge chair. It was as though +His Majesty was hesitating to speak with me, or asking his son's +permission to do so. + +"Tell me, Heltzendorff," exclaimed His Majesty suddenly, "do you know +this person?" and he placed before my astonished gaze a very artistic +cabinet photograph of the pretty Elise. + +"Yes," I answered frankly, quite taken aback. "It is Fräulein +Breitenbach." + +"And what do you know of her?" inquired His Majesty sharply. "You +introduced her and her mother to Court, I believe." + +I saw that the Emperor had discovered something which annoyed him. What +could it be? + +At once I was compelled to admit that I had set down their names for +invitation, and, further, I explained all that I knew about them. + +"You are certain you know nothing more?" asked the Emperor, his brows +contracted and his eyes fixed steadily upon mine. "Understand that no +blame attaches to you." + +I assured him that I had revealed all that I knew concerning them. + +"Hold no further communication with either mother or daughter," His +Majesty said. "Leave for Paris by the eight o'clock train to-morrow +morning, and go to Baron von Steinmetz, the chief of our confidential +service in France." + +Then, turning to the Crown-Prince, he said: "You have his address." + +"Yes," said the younger man. "He is passing as Monsieur Felix Reumont, +and is living at 114 bis, Avenue de Neuilly, close to the Pont." + +I scribbled the name and address upon the back of an envelope, whereupon +His Majesty said: + +"Carry my verbal orders to Steinmetz, and tell him to act upon the +orders I sent him by courier yesterday. And you will assist him. He will +explain matters fully when you arrive." + +Then, crossing to the Crown-Prince's writing-table, His Majesty took a +large envelope, into which, with the same hand, he dexterously placed +the photograph with several papers, and sealed them with the +Crown-Prince's seal. At the moment the Crown-Princess entered, said some +words to her husband in a low voice, and went out again. + +"Give this to Von Steinmetz from me," His Majesty said after she had +gone. + +I bowed as I took it from His Majesty's hand, my curiosity now greatly +excited regarding Frau Breitenbach and her pretty daughter. What, I +wondered, was in the wind? + +"And, Heltzendorff, please report to me," remarked the Heir, still +lounging lazily in the chair, his white, well-manicured hands clasped +behind his head. "Where shall you stay?" + +"At the Hôtel Chatham. I always stay there in preference to the larger +hotels." + +"And not a bad judge," laughed His Majesty merrily. "I remember when I +used to go to Paris incognito one could dine at the 'Chatham' most +excellently--old-fashioned, but very good. Vian's, across the road, is +also good." + +The Kaiser knows Paris well, though he has never visited the French +capital openly. + +Bowing, I took leave of my Imperial master, and next morning at eight +o'clock, set out upon my mysterious mission. + +I found the Baron von Steinmetz living in a good-sized house in the +leafy Avenue de Neuilly, not far from the bridge. One of the cleverest +and most astute officials that Germany possessed, and a man high in the +Kaiser's favour, he had, in the name of Felix Reumont, purchased, with +Government funds of course, a cinema theatre in the Rue Lafayette, and +ostensibly upon the proceeds of that establishment lived comfortably out +at Neuilly. + +At eleven o'clock in the morning his valet, evidently a German, showed +me in. + +"I quite understand, my dear Heltzendorff," he said, as in his cosy +little den he took from the Emperor's packet the picture of Fräulein +Elise and stood gazing at it thoughtfully. "It is quite plain why you +should have been sent by His Majesty." + +"Why. I don't understand. But His Majesty told me that you would +explain. The young lady and her mother are friends of mine." + +"Exactly. That's just it!" exclaimed the round-faced, rather florid man +whom I had once met before. "You apparently know but little of +them--eh?--or you would not call them your friends!" + +Those mysterious words surprised me, but I was the more astounded when +he continued: + +"You of course know of those disgraceful anonymous letters which have +been continually arriving at Court--of the Emperor's fury concerning +them." + +I replied in the affirmative, for, as a matter of fact, for the past +three months the whole Court had been flooded with most abusive and +disgraceful correspondence concerning the camarilla that had again +sprung up around the Kaiser. The Emperor, the Empress, the Crown-Prince +and Princess, Prince Eitel, Sophie Caroline, Prince Henry of Prussia and +others had received letters, most of them in typewriting, containing the +most intimate details of scandals concerning men and women around the +Emperor. + +Fully a dozen of these letters addressed to the Crown-Prince he had +handed to me--letters denouncing in some cases perfectly innocent +people, destroying the reputations of honest men and women, and abusing +the Heir to the Throne in an outrageous manner. + +On at least three occasions "Willie" had shown me letters addressed to +the Kaiser himself, and intercepted by the Kaiserin, who, in consequence +of this flood of anonymous epistles that had produced such a terrible +sensation at Potsdam, had ordered that all such letters found in the +Imperial post-bag should be handed at once to her. + +The great War-Lord's feelings had been sorely wounded by the vitriolic +shafts, and his vanity much injured by the boldness of the unknown +letter-writer who had dared to speak his mind concerning the Eulenburg +scandals, which Maximilian Harden had some time before exposed in the +_Zukunft_. + +All Berlin was gossiping about the scandal of the letters and the +horrible innuendoes contained in them. The _Allerhöchste Person_, though +boiling over with anger, blissfully believed that outside the Palaces +nothing was known of the contents of the correspondence. But the +Emperor, in his vanity, never accurately gauges the mind of his people. + +"The identity of the writer is the point that is engaging my attention," +the Baron said, as, seating himself at his big, carved-oak +writing-table, he opened a drawer and drew forth a bundle of quite a +hundred letters, adding: "All these that you see here have been +addressed either to the Emperor or the Empress," and he handed me one or +two, which on scanning I saw contained some outrageous statements, +allegations which would make the hair of the All-Highest One bristle +with rage. + +"Well!" I exclaimed, aghast, looking up at the Baron after I had read +an abusive letter, which in cold, even lines of typewriting commenced +with the words: "You, a withered crook in spectacular uniform better +fitted for the stage of the Metropol Theatre, should, instead of +invoking the aid of Providence, clear out your own Augean stable. Its +smell is nauseous to the nostrils of decent people. Surely you should +blush to have feasted in the castle of Liebenberg with the poet, Prince +Philip, and your degenerate companions, Hohenau, Johannes Lynar, and +your dearly beloved Kuno!" + +And the abusive missive proceeded to denounce two of my friends, +ladies-in-waiting at the Neues Palais, and to make some blackguardly +allegations concerning the idol. Von Hindenburg. + +"Well," I exclaimed, "that certainly is a very interesting specimen of +anonymous correspondence." + +"Yes, it is!" exclaimed the Baron. "In Berlin every inquiry has been +made to trace its author. Schunke, head of the detective police, was +charged by the Emperor to investigate. He did so, and both he and +Klewitz failed utterly. Now it has been given into my hands." + +"Have you discovered any clue to the writer?" I asked anxiously, knowing +full well what a storm of indignation those letters had produced in our +own circle. + +Presently, when I sat with the Baron at his table, he switched on an +intense electric light, even though it was day-time, and then spread out +some of the letters above a small, square mirror. + +"You see they are on various kinds of note-paper, bearing all kinds of +watermarks, of French, English, and German manufacture. Some we have +here are upon English paper, because it is heavy and thick. Again, three +different makes of typewriter have been used--one a newly-invented +importation from America. The written letters are, you will see, mostly +in a man's hand." + +"Yes, I see all that," I said. "But what have you discovered concerning +their author? The letter I received bore a French stamp and the postmark +of Angers." + +He placed before me quite a dozen envelopes addressed to the Emperor and +Empress, all bearing the postmark of that town in the Maine-et-Loire. +Others had been posted in Leipzig, Wilhelmshaven, Tours, Antwerp, +Berlin-Wilmersdorf, and other places. + +"The investigation is exceedingly difficult, I can assure you," he said. +"I have had the assistance of some of the best scientific brains of our +Empire in making comparisons and analyses. Indeed, Professor Harbge is +with me from Berlin." + +As he uttered those words the Professor himself, an elderly, spectacled +man in grey tweeds, entered the room. I knew him and greeted him. + +"We have been studying the writing-papers," the Professor said +presently, as he turned over the letters, some of which were upon +commercial typewriting paper, some on cheap thin paper from fashionable +"blocks," and others upon various tinted paper of certain mills, as +their watermarks showed. The papers were various, but the scurrilous +hand was the clever and evasive one of some person who certainly knew +the innermost secrets of the German Court. + +"Sixteen different varieties of paper have been received at the Neues +and Marmor Palaces," the Baron remarked. "Well, I have worked for two +months, night and day, upon the inquiry, for, as you know, the tentacles +of our Teuton octopus are everywhere. I have discovered that eleven of +these varieties of paper can be purchased at a certain small stationer's +shop, Lancry's, in the Boulevard Haussmann, close to the 'Printemps.' +One paper especially is sold nowhere else in Paris. It is this." + +And he held over a mirror a letter upon a small sheet of note-paper +bearing the watermark of a bull's head. + +"That paper was made at a mill in the south of Devonshire, in England, +destroyed by fire five years ago. Paper of that make cannot be obtained +anywhere else in France," he declared. + +I at once realized how much patience must have been expended upon the +inquiry, and said: + +"Then you have actually fixed the shop where the writer purchased his +paper?" + +"Yes," he replied. "And we know that the newly-invented typewriter, a +specimen one, was sold by the Maison Audibert, in Marseilles. The +purchaser of the typewriter in Marseilles purchases his paper and +envelopes at Lancry's, in the Boulevard Haussmann." + +"Splendid!" I said enthusiastically, for it was clear that the Baron, +with the thousand-and-one secret agents at his beck and call, had been +able, with the Professor's aid, to fix the source of the stationery. +"But," I added, "what is wanted from me?" Why, I wondered, had His +Majesty sent the Baron that photograph of Elise Breitenbach? + +"I want you to go with me to the central door of the 'Printemps' at four +o'clock this afternoon, and we will watch Lancry's shop across the way," +the Baron replied. + +This we did, and from four till six o'clock we stood, amid the bustle of +foot passengers, watching the small stationer's on the opposite side of +the boulevard, yet without result. + +Next day and the next I accompanied the prosperous cinema proprietor +upon his daily vigil, but in vain, until his reluctance to tell me the +reason why I had been sent to Paris annoyed me considerably. + +On the fifth afternoon, just before five o'clock, while we were +strolling together, smoking and chatting, the Baron's eyes being fixed +upon the door of the small single-fronted shop, I saw him suddenly +start, and then make pretence of utter indifference. + +"Look!" he whispered beneath his breath. + +I glanced across and saw a young man just about to enter the shop. + +The figure was unfamiliar, but, catching sight of his face, I held my +breath. I had seen that sallow, deep-eyed countenance before. + +It was the young man who, two months previously, had sat eating his +luncheon alone at the "Esplanade," apparently fascinated by the beauty +of little Elise Breitenbach! + +"Well," exclaimed the Baron. "I see you recognize him--eh? He is +probably going to buy more paper for his scurrilous screeds." + +"Yes. But who is he? What is his name?" I asked anxiously. "I have seen +him before, but have no exact knowledge of him." + +The Baron did not reply until we were back again in the cosy room in +Neuilly. Then, opening his cigar-box, he said: + +"That young man, the author of the outrageous insults to His Majesty, is +known as Franz Seeliger, but he is the disgraced, ne'er-do-well son of +General von Trautmann, Captain-General of the Palace Guard." + +"The son of old Von Trautmann!" I gasped in utter amazement. "Does the +father know?" + +The Baron grinned and shrugged his shoulders. + +Then after I had related to him the incident at the "Esplanade," he +said: + +"That is of greatest interest. Will you return to Berlin and report to +the Emperor what you have seen here? His Majesty has given me that +instruction." + +Much mystified, I was also highly excited that the actual writer of +those abominable letters had been traced and identified. The Baron told +me of the long weeks of patient inquiry and careful watching; of how the +young fellow had been followed to Angers and other towns in France where +the letters were posted, and of his frequent visits to Berlin. He had +entered a crack regiment, but had been dismissed the Army for forgery +and undergone two years' imprisonment. Afterwards he had fallen in with +a gang of clever international hotel thieves, and become what is known +as a _rat d'hôtel_. Now, because of a personal grievance against the +Emperor, who had ordered his prosecution, he seemed to have by some +secret means ferreted out every bit of scandal at Potsdam, exaggerated +it, invented amazing additions, and in secret sown it broadcast. + +His hand would have left no trace if he had not been so indiscreet as to +buy his paper from that one shop close to the Rue de Provence, where he +had rooms. + +On the third night following I stood in the Emperor's private room at +Potsdam and made my report, explaining all that I knew and what I had +witnessed in Paris. + +"That man knows a very great deal--but how does he know?" snapped the +Emperor, who had just returned from Berlin, and was in civilian attire, +a garb quite unusual to him. He had no doubt been somewhere +incognito--visiting a friend perhaps. "See Schunke early to-morrow," he +ordered, "and tell him to discover the link between this young +blackguard and your friends the Breitenbachs, and report to me." + +I was about to protest that the Breitenbachs were not my friends, but +next instant drew my breath, for I saw that the great War-Lord, even +though he wore a blue serge suit, was filled with suppressed anger. + +"This mystery must be cleared up!" he declared in a hard voice, +reflecting no doubt upon the terrible abuse which the writer had heaped +upon him, all the allegations, by-the-way, having contained a certain +substratum of truth. + +Next morning I sat with the bald-headed and astute Schunke at the +headquarters of the detective police in Berlin, and there discussed the +affair fully, explaining the result of my journey to Paris and what I +had seen, and giving him the order from the Kaiser. + +"But, Count, if this woman Breitenbach and her pretty daughter are your +friends you will be able to visit them and glean something," he said. + +"I have distinct orders from the Emperor not to visit them while the +inquiry is in process," I replied. + +Schunke grunted in dissatisfaction, stroked his iron-grey beard, but +made no further comment. + +We walked out together, and I left him at the door of the Etat-major of +the Army in the Königsplatz. + +Later that same morning I returned to the Marmor Palace to report to the +Crown-Prince, but found that His Highness was absent upon an official +visit of inspection at Stuttgart. The Marshal of the Court, Tresternitz, +having given me the information, laughed, and added: + +"Officially, according to to-day's newspapers, His Highness is in +Stuttgart, but unofficially I know that he is at the Palace Hotel, in +Brussels, where there is a short-skirted variety attraction singing at +the Eden Theatre. So, my dear Heltzendorff, you can return to the +Krausenstrasse for a day or two." + +I went back to Berlin, the Crown-Princess being away at Wiesbaden, and +from day to day awaited "Willie's" return. + +In the meantime I several times saw the great detective, Schunke, and +found that he was in constant communication with Baron Steinmetz in +Paris. The pair were evidently leaving no stone unturned to elucidate +the mystery of those annoying letters, which were still falling as so +many bombs into the centre of the Kaiser's Court. + +Suddenly, one Sunday night, all Berlin was electrified at the news that +General von Trautmann, Captain-General of the Palace Guard--whom, truth +to tell, the Crown-Prince had long secretly hated because he had once +dared to utter some word of reproach--had been arrested, and sent to a +fortress at the Emperor's order. + +An hour after the arrest His Majesty's personal-adjutant commanded me by +telephone to attend at the Berlin Schloss. When we were alone the Kaiser +turned to me suddenly, and said: + +"Count von Heltzendorff, you will say nothing of your recent visit to +Paris, or of the authorship of those anonymous letters--you understand? +You know absolutely nothing." + +Then, being summarily dismissed by a wave of the Imperial hand, I +retired, more mystified than ever. Why should my mouth be thus closed? I +dared not call at the Alsenstrasse to make my own inquiries, yet I knew +that the police had made theirs. + +When I returned to my rooms that evening Schunke rang me up on the +telephone with the news that my friends the Breitenbachs had closed +their house and left early that morning for Brussels. + +"Where is Seeliger?" I inquired in great surprise. + +"In Brussels. The Breitenbachs have gone there to join him, now that the +truth is out and his father is under arrest." + +The Emperor's fury was that of a lunatic. It knew no bounds. His mind, +poisoned against the poor old General, he had fixed upon him as the +person responsible for that disgraceful correspondence which for so many +weeks had kept the Court in constant turmoil and anxiety. Though His +Majesty was aware of the actual writer of the letters, he would not +listen to reason, and openly declared that he would make an example of +the silver-haired old Captain-General of the Guard, who, after all, was +perfectly innocent of the deeds committed by his vagabond son. + +A prosecution was ordered, and three weeks later it took place _in +camera_, the Baron, Schunke and a number of detectives being ordered to +give evidence. So damning, indeed, was their testimony that the Judge +passed the extreme sentence of twenty years' imprisonment. + +And I, who knew and held proofs of the truth, dared not protest! + +Where was the General's son--the real culprit and author of the letters? +I made inquiry of Schunke, of the Baron, and of others who had, at the +order of the All-Highest, conspired to ruin poor Von Trautmann. All, +however, declared ignorance, and yet, curiously enough, the fine house +in the Alsenstrasse still remained empty. + +Later, I discovered that the Crown-Prince had been the prime mover in +the vile conspiracy to send the elderly Captain-General to prison and to +the grave, for of this his words to me one day--a year afterwards--were +sufficient proof: + +"It is a good job, Heltzendorff, that the Emperor rid himself at last of +that canting old pest, Von Trautmann. He is now in a living tomb, and +should have been there four years ago!" and he laughed. + +I made no response. Instead, I thought of the quiet, innocent old +courtier languishing in prison because he had somehow incurred the +ill-will of the Emperor's son, and I confess that I ground my teeth at +my own inability to expose the disgraceful truth. + +About six months after the secret trial of the unfortunate General I had +accompanied the Crown-Prince on a visit to the Quirinal, and one +afternoon while strolling along the Corso, in Rome, suddenly came face +to face with the dainty little figure of Fräulein Elise Breitenbach. + +In delight I took her into Ronzi's, the noted confectioner's at the +corner of the Piazza Colonna, and there, at one of the little tables, +she explained to me how she and her mother, having become acquainted +with Franz Seeliger--not knowing him to be the General's son--they +suddenly fell under the suspicion of the Berlin Secret Police, and, +though much puzzled, did not again come to Court. + +Some weeks later mother and daughter chanced to be in Paris, and one day +called at Seeliger's rooms in the Rue de Provence, but he was out. They, +however, were shown into his room to wait, and there saw upon his table +an abusive and scurrilous typewritten letter in German addressed to the +Emperor. Then it suddenly dawned upon them that the affable young man +might be the actual author of those infamous letters. It was this visit +which, no doubt, revealed to the Baron the young man's hiding-place. +Both mother and daughter, however, kept their own counsel, met Seeliger +next day, and watched, subsequently learning, to their surprise, that he +was the son of General von Trautmann, and, further, that he had as a +friend one of the personal valets of the Emperor, from whom, no doubt, +he obtained his inside information about persons at Court. + +"When his poor father was sentenced we knew that the young man was +living in Brussels, and at once went there in order to induce him to +come forward, make confession, and so save the General from disgrace," +said the pretty girl seated before me. "On arrival we saw him alone, and +told him what we had discovered in the Rue de Provence, whereupon he +admitted to us that he had written all the letters, and announced that +he intended to return to Berlin next day and give himself up to the +police in order to secure his father's release." + +"And why did he not do so?" I asked eagerly. + +"Because next morning he was found dead in his bed in the hotel." + +"Ah, suicide." + +"No," was her half-whispered reply. "He had been strangled by an unknown +hand--deliberately murdered, as the Brussels police declared. They were, +of course, much mystified, for they did not know, as we know, that +neither the young man's presence nor his confession were desired in +Berlin." + +Fearing the Emperor's wrath, the Breitenbachs, like myself, dare not +reveal what they knew--the truth, which is here set down for the first +time--and, alas! poor General von Trautmann died in prison at Mulheim +last year. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER THREE + +HOW THE KAISER PERSECUTED A PRINCESS + + +The truth of the dastardly plot which caused the downfall of the +unfortunate and much-maligned Imperial Princess Luisa Antoinette Marie, +Archduchess of Austria, and wife of Friedrich-August, now the reigning +King of Saxony, has never yet been revealed. + +I know, my dear Le Queux, that you had a good deal to do with the +"skittish Princess," as she was called, and her affairs after she had +left the Court of Saxony and went to live near you in the Via Benedetto +da Foiano, in Florence. You were her friend, and you were afterwards +present at her secret marriage in London. Therefore, what I here reveal +concerning a disgraceful conspiracy by which a clever, accomplished, and +generous Princess of the blood Royal was hounded out of Germany will, I +think, be of peculiar interest to yourself and to those readers for whom +you are setting down my reminiscences. + +As you know, before being appointed to my recent position in the +Crown-Prince "Willie's" household, I was personal-adjutant to His +Majesty the Emperor, and in that capacity accompanied Der Einzige (the +One) on his constant travels. Always hungry for popular applause, the +Emperor was ever on the move with that morbid restlessness of which he +is possessed, and which drove him from city to city, hunting, yachting, +unveiling statues, opening public buildings, paying ceremonial visits, +or, when all excuses for travel became exhausted, he presented new +colours to some regiment in some far-off garrison. + +Indeed, within that one year, 1902, I accompanied "William-the-Sudden" +and his host of adjutants, military and civil secretaries, valets, +chasseurs and flunkeys, to twenty-eight different cities in Germany and +Scandinavia, where he stopped and held Court. Some cities we visited +several times, being unwelcome always because of the endless trouble, +anxiety and expense caused to the municipal authorities and military +casinos. + +I, of course, knew the charming Imperial Highness the Crown-Princess +Luisa of Saxony, as she often came on visits to the Kaiserin, but I had +never spoken much with her until at Easter the Emperor went to visit +Dresden. He took with him, among other people, one of his untitled boon +companions, Judicial Councillor Löhlein, a stout, flabby-faced +hanger-on, who at the time possessed great influence over him. Indeed, +he was really the Emperor's financial agent. This man had, some time +ago, very fortunately for the Emperor, opened his eyes to the way in +which Kunze had manipulated the amazing Schloss Freiheit Lottery, and +had been able to point out to the All-Highest One what a storm of +ridicule, indignation and defiance must arise in Berlin if he attempted +to carry out his huge reconstruction and building scheme. + +I was present in the Emperor's room at Potsdam when old Löhlein, with +whom sat Herr von Wedell, openly declared to the Emperor that if he +prosecuted his pet building scheme great indignation must arise, not +only in the capital, but in Hanover, Wiesbaden, and Kassel. + +The Kaiser knitted his brows and listened attentively to both of his +advisers. I well remember how, next day, the Press, in order to allay +the public dissatisfaction, declared that the huge building projects of +the Emperor never existed. They had been purely imaginary ideas put +forward by a syndicate of speculative builders and taken up by the +newspapers. + +Without doubt the podgy, fair-haired man in gold-rimmed spectacles, the +Judicial Councillor Löhlein, by crushing the Kaiser's mad scheme gained +considerable popularity in a certain circle. He was, however, a man of +exceptional craft and cunning, and during the eight years or so he +remained the intimate friend of the Emperor he must have, by advising +and looking after the Imperial investments, especially in America, +amassed a great fortune. + +On the occasion of our Easter visit to the Saxon Court--a Court which, +to say the least, was a most dull and uninteresting one--we all went, as +is the custom there, to the shoot at the Vogelschiessen, a large wooden +bird made up of pieces which fall out when hit in a vital part. The bird +target is set up at the Easter fair held close to Dresden, and on that +afternoon the whole Court annually go to try their skill at +marksmanship. We were a merry party. The Emperor went with the old King +and Queen of Saxony, being accompanied by the Crown-Prince +Friedrich-August and the Crown-Princess Luisa, merry, laughing, full of +spirits, and unusually good-looking for a Royalty. + +The Saxon Royal Family all shot, and, thanks to her father's tuition, +the Crown-Princess knocked a piece out of the bird at the first shot, +which sent the public wild with enthusiasm. + +Luisa was the most popular woman in Saxony, and deservedly so, for hers +had been a love match. Her father, Ferdinand IV., Grand Duke of Tuscany, +had, at the suggestion of the Emperor Francis Joseph, endeavoured to +arrange a match between the Princess and the man now known as "foxy" +Ferdinand of Bulgaria. With that object a grand _dîner de cérémonie_ was +held one night at the Imperial Castle of Salzburg, and at that dinner +Luisa, suspecting the conspiracy, publicly insulted the Ruler of +Bulgaria, which for ever put an end to the paternal plans. + +After her marriage to the Saxon Crown-Prince the Kaiser, in one of his +whimsical moods, became greatly attached to her because of her +frankness, her love of outdoor life, and her high educational +attainments, hence we often had her visiting at Potsdam or at the Berlin +Schloss. She was known to be one of the few feminine Royalties in whom +the Kaiser took the slightest interest. + +After our return from the public shooting to the Royal Palace in +Dresden, a banquet was, of course, held in honour of the Emperor in that +great hall where, on the walls, the four estates are represented by +scenes from the history of the Emperor Henry I. + +At the grand ball afterwards I found myself chatting with Luisa, who, I +recollect, wore a most charming and artistic gown of sea-green chiffon, +_décolleté_, of course, with pink carnations in her hair and a few +diamonds upon her corsage, as well as the Order of St. Elizabeth and her +magnificent rope of matched pearls, which went twice round her neck and +reached to her knees--a historic set which had once belonged to Marie +Antoinette. She looked very charming, and, in her frank way, asked me: + +"How do you like my dress, Count? I designed it myself," she added. + +I complimented her upon it, but I afterwards heard that the old King of +Saxony had been horrified at the lowness to which the bodice had been +cut, and, further, that every yard of green chiffon in Dresden had been +sold out before noon next day and the dress copied everywhere. + +As we stood chatting in a corner of the room, watching the scene of +unusual brilliancy because of the Kaiser's presence, the Princess, +turning to me, said suddenly: + +"Do you believe in omens, Count von Heltzendorff?" + +"Omens!" I exclaimed, rather surprised at her question. "Really, I'm +afraid I am a little too matter-of-fact to take such things seriously, +your Highness." + +"Well, a curious thing happened here about a month ago," she said. "I +was----" At that instant the Emperor, in the uniform of the 2nd Regiment +of Saxon Grenadiers, of which he was chief, and wearing the Order of +Crancelin of the House of Saxony, strode up, and, standing before us +exclaimed: + +"Well, Luisa? What is the very interesting topic of conversation, eh?" +He had evidently overheard her words about some curious thing happening, +for, laughing gaily, he asked; "Now, what did happen a month ago?" + +Her Imperial Highness hesitated, as though endeavouring to avoid an +explanation, but next second she waved her lace fan quickly and said: + +"Well, something remarkable. I will tell your Majesty if you really wish +to hear it." + +"By all means, Luisa, by all means," replied His Majesty, placing his +sound hand behind his back and drawing himself up very erect--a habit of +his after asking a question. + +"Well, recently Friedrich-August and myself have moved into rooms in the +older wing of the Palace--rooms that have not been occupied for nearly +forty years. They are old-world, charming, and remind me constantly of +Augustus the Strong and the times in which he lived. Just about a month +ago the King and Queen of Roumania were paying us a visit. We were at +dinner, and while we were all laughing and talking, for 'Carmen Sylva' +had been telling us one of her stories, we heard a great clatter of +horses' hoofs and the heavy rumble of wheels, just as though a stage +coach was crossing the Small Courtyard. All of us listened, and in the +silence we heard it receding quite distinctly. I at once sent my +lady-in-waiting to ascertain who had arrived or departed, four-wheeled +coaches being quite unusual nowadays. It seemed just as though the coach +had driven out of the Palace gate. The message brought back from the +guardroom was that no carriage had entered or left. I told this to +those around the table, and the Queen of Roumania, who had taken much +interest in omens and folk-lore, seated opposite me, seemed much +impressed, and even perturbed." + +"Then the noise you heard must have been quite an uncanny one, eh?" +asked the Emperor, deeply interested. + +"Quite. Two of the women at the table declared that it must have been +thunder, and then the conversation proceeded. I, however, confess to +your Majesty that I was very much puzzled, and the more so because only +two nights ago, while we sat at dinner Friedrich-August and myself _en +famille_, we heard exactly the same sounds again!" + +"Really!" laughed the Emperor. "Quite uncanny. I hope, here in Dresden, +you are not believing in spooks, as London society believes in them." + +"Not at all," said the Princess earnestly. "I don't believe in omens. +But, curiously enough, the King told me yesterday that his two old +aunts, who formerly lived in our wing of the Palace, had sometimes heard +the clatter of horses' hoofs, the jingle of harness, the grinding of the +brakes, and the rumbling of heavy carriage wheels." + +"H'm!" grunted the Emperor. "I've heard that same story before, Luisa. +The departing coach means trouble to the reigning family." + +"That is exactly what the King said to me only last evening," answered +Luisa frankly. "Does it mean trouble to me, I wonder?" + +"Certainly not," I declared. "Your Imperial Highness need not worry for +one moment over such things. Nobody nowadays regards such phenomena as +presage of evil. There is no doubt some perfectly natural explanation of +the sounds. Every old palace, castle, and even private house, has its +traditions." + +"Quite right, Heltzendorff," laughed the Emperor, "especially in England +and Scotland. There they have white ladies, grey ladies, men with heads +like stags, lights in windows, the sound of mysterious bells ringing, +and all sorts of evil omens. Oh, those dear, superstitious English! How +ready they are to take up anything unpractical that may be a pleasant +change to the senses." + +"Your Majesty does not believe in omens?" I ventured to remark. + +"Omens!" he exclaimed, fixing his gaze upon me. "No; none but cowards +and old women believe in them." Then, turning to the Princess, he +smiled, saying: "If I were you, Luisa, I would give your chief of police +orders to question all the servants. Somebody rattled some dishes, +perhaps. You say it was during dinner." + +But the pretty Crown-Princess was serious, for she said: + +"Well, all I can say is that not only did I myself hear, but a dozen +others at table also heard the noise of horses, not dishes." + +"Ah, Luisa! I see you are a trifle nervous," laughed the Emperor. "Well, +as you know, your Royal House of Saxony has lasted from the days of +Albert the Courageous in the early fifteenth century, and the Dynasty of +the Ravensteins has been prosperous from then until to-day, so don't +trouble yourself further. Why, you are really quite pale and unnerved, I +see," His Majesty added, for nothing escapes those shrewd, wide-open +eyes of his. + +Then the Emperor, after acknowledging the salute of Baron Georg von +Metzsch, Controller of the Royal Household--a tall, thin, crafty-eyed +man, with hair tinged with grey, and wearing a dark blue uniform and +many decorations--changed the topic of conversation, and referred to the +Saxon Easter custom which that morning had been carried out. + +The Kaiser was in particularly merry mood that night. He had gone to +Dresden against his inclination, for he had long ago arranged an Easter +review on the Tempelhofer Feld, but the visit was, I knew, for the +purpose of a consultation in secret with the King of Saxony. A week +before, in the Berlin Schloss, I had been sent by the Emperor to obtain +a paper from his table in the upstairs study, and in looking for the +document in question--one that he had signed and wished to send over to +the Reichsamt des Innern (Office of the Interior)--I came across a +letter from King George of Saxony, begging the Emperor to visit him, in +order to discuss "that matter which is so seriously threatening the +honour of our House." + +Several times I wondered to what His Majesty of Saxony had referred. +That morning Emperor and King had been closeted alone together for fully +three hours, and the outcome of the secret conference seemed to have put +the All-Highest into a most excellent mood. + +He left us, accompanied by Baron von Metzsch and Judicial Councillor +Löhlein, and I noticed how both men were talking with the Emperor in an +undertone. To my surprise also I saw how Löhlein cast furtive glances +towards where I still stood with the Crown-Princess. + +A few moments later, however, a smart officer of the Prussian Guard, +whom I recognized as Count von Castell Rudenhausen, a well-known figure +in the gay life of Berlin, came forward, and, bowing, invited the +Princess to waltz. + +And a moment later Luisa was smiling at me across the shoulder of her +good-looking cavalier. + +Suddenly, while waltzing, her magnificent rope of historic matched +pearls accidentally caught in the button of a passing officer, the +string snapped, and many of the pearls fell rattling upon the polished +floor. + +In a moment a dozen officers in tight uniforms were groping about to +recover them from the feet of the dancers when, during the commotion, I +heard the voice of Judicial Councillor Löhlein remark quite loudly: + +"Ah! now we can all see who are the Crown-Princess' admirers!" + +Luisa flushed instantly in anger and annoyance, but said nothing, whilst +her lady-in-waiting in silence took the broken rope of pearls, together +with those recovered from the floor, and a few moments later the +significant incident ended. + +The Saxon Crown-Prince and his wife were at that time a most devoted +couple, though all of us knew that the modern ideas Luisa had brought to +Dresden from the Hapsburg Court had much shocked old King George and his +consort. The Saxon Court was unused to a pretty woman with buoyant +spirits rejoicing in life with a capital "L." According to the Court +whisperings, trouble had started a few days after marriage, when the +King, having given his daughter-in-law a tiara of diamonds, a Royal +heirloom, with strict injunctions to wear them just as they were--a +style of the seventeenth century--he one evening at the opera saw her +wearing the stones re-set in that style known as _art nouveau_. The King +became furious, and ordered them to be set again in their original +settings, whereupon Luisa coolly returned the present. + +Such was the commencement of the old King's ill-feeling towards her. + +The State ball that night was certainly a brilliant one for such a small +Court, and next day we all returned to Potsdam, for the Emperor had +suddenly cancelled a number of engagements and arranged to pay a visit +to Wilhelmshaven, where the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Dockyard) +contained certain naval secrets he wished to see. + +Before we left Dresden, however, I met the Crown-Princess in one of the +corridors. It was nine o'clock in the morning. She wore her +riding-habit, for, being a splendid horsewoman, she had just come in +from her morning canter. + +"Well, Count!" she laughed. "So you are leaving us unexpectedly! I +shall be coming to pay another visit to Potsdam soon. The Emperor +invited me last night. Au revoir!" And after I had bent over her small +white hand she waved it merrily and passed the sentry towards her +private apartments, wherein she had heard the ghostly coach and four. + +Her Imperial Highness paid her promised visit to the Empress at the +Neues Palais in July. + +At the time of her arrival the Emperor had left suddenly and gone away +to Hubertusstock. When anything unusual upset him he always went there. +I overheard him the day before his departure shouting to Löhlein as I +passed along one of the corridors. The Judicial Councillor seemed to be +trying to pacify him, but apparently entirely without avail, for the +Emperor is a man not easily convinced. + +"You are as sly as all the rest!" I heard the Emperor declare in that +shrill, high-pitched tone which always denotes his anger. "I'll hear +none of it--no excuses. I want no fawning, no Jew-juggling." + +Then, fearing to be discovered, I slipped on past the door. + +The next I heard was that the Kaiser had left for that lonely retreat to +which he went when he wished to be alone in those periods of crazy +impetuosity which periodically seized the Mad Dog of Europe; and, +further, that he had taken with him his crafty crony, Löhlein. + +During that mysterious absence--when the tinselled world of Potsdam +seemed at peace--the good-looking Saxon Crown-Princess arrived. + +I was on duty on the railway platform to bow over her hand and to +welcome her. + +"Ah! Count von Heltzendorff! Well, did I not say that I should not be +very long before I returned to Potsdam, eh?" she exclaimed. Then, in a +whisper, she said with a merry laugh: "Do you remember those clattering +hoofs and my broken rope of pearls? Nothing has happened yet." + +"And nothing will," I assured her as, with a courtier's obeisance, I +conducted Her Imperial Highness to the Royal carriage, where the +Crown-Prince "Willie" was awaiting her, chatting with two officers of +the Guard to while away the time. + +Three days later an incident occurred which caused me a good deal of +thought, and, truth to tell, mystified me considerably. + +That somewhat indiscreet journal, the _Militär Wochenblatt_, had +published a statement to the effect that Friedrich-August of Saxony and +the handsome Luisa had had a violent quarrel, a fact which caused a +great deal of gossip throughout Court circles. + +Old Von Donaustauf, who at that time was master of the ceremonies at the +Emperor's Court, busied himself by spreading strange scandals regarding +the Crown-Princess Luisa. Therefore, in the circumstances, it struck me +as strange that Her Highness should have been invited to the puritanical +and hypocritical circle at Potsdam. + +That afternoon, soon after the guard had been changed, I chanced to be +writing in my room, which overlooked the big central courtyard, when I +heard the guard suddenly turn out in great commotion, by which I knew +that His Majesty had suddenly returned from Hubertusstock. + +Ten minutes later my telephone rang, and, passing the sentries, I went +by order to His Majesty's study, that chamber of plots and secrets, hung +with its faded pale green silk damask, its furniture covered with the +same material, and its net curtains at the windows threaded with ribbons +of the same shade. + +The moment I entered the Emperor's countenance showed me that he was +very angry. His low-bowing crony, Löhlein, always a subtle adviser, had +returned with him, and stood watching the Emperor as the latter +impatiently paced the room. + +I saluted, awaiting orders in silence, as was my habit, but so +preoccupied was His Majesty that he did not notice my presence, but +continued his outburst of furious wrath. "Only see what Von Hoensbroech +has reported!" he cried, suddenly halting against one of those big buhl +chests of drawers with grey marble tops--heavy pieces of furniture +veneered with tortoise-shell in which the Emperor keeps his official +papers. "I am being made a laughing-stock--and you know it, Löhlein! It +has been said of us that a woman, a whim, or a word will to-day raise +any person to high rank in our Empire! That blackguard, Harden, has +actually dared to write it in his journal. Well, we shall see. That +woman--she shall----" + +As the Kaiser uttered those words he suddenly realized that I was +present, and hesitated. Next second both his tone and his manner +changed. + +"Heltzendorff--I--I--wish you to go to Dresden and take a private +letter. It will be ready in half an hour. Say nothing to anyone +concerning your departure, but report to me here at"--and he glanced at +the small bronze clock on the overmantel between two elegant +candelabra--"at four o'clock." + +As commanded, I reported, but the Kaiser was with the Empress, who, in +one of her private apartments, was holding _petit cercle_, the Princess +Luisa being present. Indeed, as I entered that semi-circular salon the +Kaiser was standing astride before Luisa's chair laughing gaily with +her. Surely none who saw him at that moment would ever have believed +that not half an hour before his face had been blanched by anger. He +could alter his moods just as he changed his three hundred odd uniforms. + +There was something mysterious in the wind--of that I felt absolutely +convinced. The atmosphere of that faded green upstairs room was always +one of confidential conversations, intimate conferences and secret +plots--plots despicable and vile, as has since been proved--against the +peace of the world. + +The Emperor, noticing that I had entered the Imperial presence, came +forward, and I followed him back into the softly-carpeted corridor. Then +his action further aroused my curiosity, for he took from the inner +pocket of his tunic an envelope of what you in England call "court" +size--linen-lined, as are all envelopes used by the Emperor for his +private correspondence. I saw it had been sealed in black by his own +hand. Then, as he handed it to me, he said: + +"Go to Dresden as quickly as possible and obtain a reply to this." + +I clicked my heels together, and, saluting, left upon my secret mission +to the Saxon Court. + +The letter was addressed to Baron Georg von Metzsch at Dresden. + +Next day, when I presented it to the tall, thin Controller of the +Household, who sat in his small but cosy room in the Royal Palace, I saw +that its contents greatly puzzled him. + +He wrote a reply, and as Imperial messenger I returned at once to +Potsdam, handing it to the Emperor as he strode alone from the Shell +Saloon, through which he was passing after dinner. + +He took it from my hand without a word. The All-Highest never bestows +thanks upon those who obey his orders. It is, indeed, said to-day that +Hindenburg has never once, during his whole official career, been +verbally thanked by his Imperial Master. + +The Emperor, with impatient fingers, tore open the envelope, read its +contents, and then smiled contentedly, after which I went to old Von +Donaustauf's room, and, tired out by the long journey, smoked a good +cigar in his company. + +Next day we were all back at the Berlin Schloss--for we never knew from +day to day where we might be--Hamburg, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf or Danzig. + +During the morning His Majesty inspected the Berlin garrison in the +Tempelhofer Feld, and the Princess Luisa rode with him. That same +afternoon, while I was busy writing in the long room allotted to me in +the Berlin Schloss, Her Imperial Highness, to my surprise, entered, +closing the door quietly after her. + +"Count von Heltzendorff, you have been on a secret mission to that spy, +Von Metzsch, in Dresden, have you not?" + +I rose, bowed, and without replying courteously offered her a chair. + +"Why do you not admit it?" she asked quickly. + +"Princess, if the Emperor gives me orders to preserve secrecy, then it +is my duty to obey," I said. + +"I know," she answered, and then I realized how upset and nervous she +seemed. "But Von Metzsch hates me, and has put about all sorts of +scandalous reports concerning me. Ah! Count," she sighed, "you do not +know how very unhappy I am--how I am surrounded by enemies!" + +These words caused me much surprise, though I had, of course, heard many +unsavoury rumours regarding her unhappy position at the Saxon Court. + +"I much regret to hear that," I said. "But Your Imperial Highness has +also many friends, of whom I hope I may be permitted to number myself." + +"Ah! it is extremely good of you to say that--very good. If +you are really my friend, then you can help me. You are in a +position to watch and discover what is in progress--the reason +the Emperor exchanges those constant confidences with Von Metszch, +the man who has twisted my husband around his little finger, +and who has, with my Lady-of-the-Bedchamber, Frau von Fritsch, +already poisoned his mind against me. Ah!" she sighed again, +"you have no idea how much I have suffered!" + +She seemed on the verge of a nervous crisis, for I saw that in her fine +eyes stood the light of unshed tears, and I confess I was much puzzled, +for I had certainly believed, up to that moment, that she was on +excellent terms with her husband. + +"But surely His Highness the Crown-Prince of Saxony does not believe +any of those wicked reports?" I said. + +"Ah! Then you have heard. Of course, you have. Von Metzsch has taken +good care to let the whole world know the lies that he and the Countess +Paule Starhemberg have concocted between them. It is cruel!" she +declared in a paroxysm of grief. "It is wicked!" + +"No, no. Calm yourself, Princess!" I urged sympathetically. "I am at +least your friend, and will act as such should occasion arise." + +"I thank you," she sighed in relief, and she put out her hand, over +which I bent as I took it in friendship. + +"Ah!" she exclaimed in a low voice. "I fear I shall require the +assistance of a friend very soon. Do you recollect my broken pearls?" + +And a few moments later she left my room. + +Through all that day and the next I wondered what sly, underhand work +could be in progress. I pitied the good-looking, unconventional Imperial +Princess who, because of her somewhat hoydenish high spirits, had +aroused the storm of anger and jealousy in the Saxon Court. But the +Hapsburgs had ever been unfortunate in their loves. + +On the day before the Crown-Princess's visit to the Berlin Court was due +to end, at about six o'clock in the evening, I passed the sentries and +ascended to the Emperor's study with some papers I had been going +through regarding the reorganization of the Stettin garrison. I was one +of the very few persons ever admitted to that wing of the Palace. + +As I approached the door, treading noiselessly upon the soft carpet, I +heard voices raised excitedly, the door being slightly ajar. + +Naturally I halted. In my position I was able to hear a great deal of +Palace intrigue, but never had I listened to a conversation that held me +more breathless than at that moment. + +"Woman," cried the Emperor, "do you, then, openly defy my authority?" + +"What that crafty sycophant, Von Metzsch, has told you is, I repeat, a +foul and abominable lie," was the reply. + +And I knew that the unfortunate Princess was defending her reputation, +which her enemies at the Court of Saxony had torn to shreds. + +"No woman ever admits the truth, of course," sneered the Emperor. "I +consider you a disgrace to the Dresden Court." + +"So this is the manner in which you openly insult your guests!" was the +Princess's bitter retort. "You, who believe yourself the idol of your +people, now exhibit yourself in your true light as the traducer of a +defenceless woman!" + +"How dare you utter those words to me!" cried the All-Highest One, in +fury. + +"I dare defend myself--even though you may be Emperor," replied Luisa, +in a cold, hard tone of defiance. "I repeat that your allegations are +untrue, and that you have no right to make them. Surely you can see that +my enemies, headed by the King of Saxony, are all conspiring to effect +my downfall. I know it! I have written proof of it!" + +"Bosh! You say that because you know that the statements are true!" + +"You lie!" she cried fiercely. "They are not true. You cannot prove +them." + +"Very well," answered the Emperor in that tone of cold determination +that I knew too well. "I will prove the charges to my entire +satisfaction." + +I was startled at the manner in which the Princess had dared to call the +Emperor a liar. Surely nobody had ever done so before. + +I drew a long breath, for as I crept away unseen I recollected the +Kaiser's unrelenting vindictiveness. + +Poor Princess! I knew that the red talons of the Hohenzollern eagle +would sooner or later be laid heavily upon her. + +She left Berlin two hours later, but half an hour before her departure I +found a hurriedly-scribbled note upon my table explaining that she had +had "a few unpleasant words with the Emperor," and that she was leaving +for Dresden a day earlier than had been arranged. + +A fortnight passed. Twice Baron von Metzsch came to Potsdam, and was on +each occasion closely closeted with the Emperor, as well as having +frequent consultations with Judicial Councillor Löhlein. I had strong +suspicion that the vile conspiracy against the lively daughter of the +Hapsburgs was still in progress, for I felt assured that the Kaiser +would never forgive those words of defiance from a woman's lips, and +that his vengeance, slow and subtle, would assuredly fall upon her. + +I did not know at the time--not, indeed, until fully three years +later--how the blackguardly actions of Von Metzsch, who was a creature +of the Kaiser, had from the first been instigated by the All-Highest, +who, from the very day of the Prince's marriage, had, notwithstanding +his apparent graciousness towards her, determined that a Hapsburg should +never become Queen of Saxony. + +For that reason, namely, because the Emperor in his overweening vanity +believes himself to be the Heaven-sent ruler of the destinies of the +German Empire, was much opposed to an Austrian princess as a potential +queen at Dresden, he set himself the task to ruin the poor woman's life +and love and to arouse such a terrible scandal concerning her that she +could not remain in Saxony with every finger pointing at her in +opprobrium and scorn. + +A fresh light, however, was thrown upon what I afterwards realized to be +a dastardly conspiracy by the receipt of a cipher message late one +November night at Potsdam. I was at work alone with the Emperor in the +pale green upstairs room, reading and placing before him a number of +State documents to which he scrawled his scribbly signature, when the +telegram was brought. + +"Decipher that, Heltzendorff," he commanded, and went on with the work +of reading and signing the documents, while I sat down with the red +leather-covered personal code book which bore the Imperial coronet and +cipher, and presently found that the message, which was from Dresden, +read: + + "Frau von Fritsch to-day had an interview with Giron, the French + tutor to the Crown-Princess's children, but unfortunately the + latter refuses to admit any affection for Luisa. Giron angrily + declared his intention to leave Dresden, because of Von Fritsch's + suggestion. This course, I saw, would be unfortunate for our plans, + therefore I urged the King to induce Luisa to request him to + remain. She has done so, but to no avail, and Giron left for + Brussels to-night. May I be permitted to come to discuss with your + Majesty a further elaboration of the plan?--VON METZSCH." + +The Emperor read the secret message twice. Then he paused, with knit +brows, and brushed his moustache with his hand, a habit of his when +perplexed. + +"We go to Erfurt to-morrow, do we not?" he said. "Telegraph in cipher to +Von Metzsch to meet us there to-morrow evening at seven. And destroy +that message," he added. + +I obeyed his orders, and afterwards continued to deal with the State +papers, much enlightened by the news transmitted by the Emperor's +creature. + +The Imperial hand was slowly destroying the conjugal happiness of a pair +who really loved each other, even though they were of the blood royal. +The long arm of the Emperor was outstretched to crush and pulverize the +soul of the woman who had dared to defend herself--who had defied the +imperious will of that man whose hand he had, with awful blasphemy in +addressing his Brandenburgers, declared to be the hand of God. + +I confess that I felt the deepest sympathy for the helpless victim. At +the Schloss, high above the old-world town of Erfurt, the sneaking +sycophant Von Metzsch had a long conference with the Emperor but I was +unable to overhear any word of it. All I know is that the Controller of +the Saxon Household left Erfurt for Dresden by special train at +midnight. + +A quarter of an hour after the Saxon functionary had departed I was with +the Emperor receiving orders for the following day, and found him in +high spirits, by which, knowing him so intimately, I knew that he was +confident in his ultimate triumph. + +Poor, defenceless Luisa! You, my dear Le Queux, to whom the Princess a +few months afterwards flew for advice, know well how sterling, how +womanly and honest she was; how she was one victim of many of the +unholy, unscrupulous intrigues by which the arrogant War-Lord of +Germany, aided by his devil's spawn, has until the present managed to +retain his now tottering throne. + +Well, I watched the course of events; watched eagerly and daily. Twice I +had received letters from Her Imperial Highness, short notes in her +firm, bold handwriting. + +From Von Metzsch came several cipher messages to the Emperor after we +had returned to Potsdam, but Zorn von Bulach, my colleague, deciphered +all of them, and, as he was not my friend, I did not inquire as to their +purport. I knew, however, that matters in Dresden were fast approaching +a crisis, and that the unfortunate Hapsburg Princess could no longer +sustain the cruel and unjust pressure being put upon her for her +undoing. That a hundred of Germany's spies and _agents-provocateurs_ +were busy I realized from the many messages by telephone and telegraph +passing between Berlin and Dresden, and I felt certain that the ruin of +poor Princess Luisa was nigh. + +A significant message came to Potsdam late one December night--a message +which, when I deciphered it and handed it to the Emperor, caused him to +smile in triumph. + +I bit my lip. The Princess had left Dresden! + +Three days later, on December 9th, a further cipher telegram came from +Von Metzsch, the Emperor's sycophant in Dresden, which read: "Luisa has +learnt of the Sonnenstein project, and has left Salsburg for Zurich, her +brother accompanying.--VON METZSCH." + +Sonnenstein! That was a private lunatic asylum! I held my breath at the +awful fate which the Emperor had decided should be hers. + +In a few moments the Kaiser had summoned, by his private telephone, +Koehler, then chief of the Berlin secret police, and given orders that +the Princess was to be watched in Switzerland. Half an hour later three +police agents were on their way to Zurich to follow and persecute the +poor, distracted woman, even beyond the confines of the Empire. + +She was, no doubt, in deadly fear of being sent to a living tomb, so +that her mouth should be closed for ever. + +The Emperor, not content with casting her out of Germany, intended to +wreak a terrible and fiendish revenge upon her by closing her lips and +confining her in an asylum. She knew that, and seeing herself surrounded +by enemies and spies on every hand--for even her brother Leopold, with +whom she had travelled to Switzerland, now refused to assist her--she +adopted the only method of further escape that at the moment presented +itself. + +Alone and without anyone to advise her, she, as you know, took a +desperate resolve, one, alas! fraught with disastrous consequences. + +The iron had indeed entered the poor Princess's soul. + + +NOTE BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX + +_The dénouement of this base intrigue of the Emperor's will be best +related in Her Imperial Highness's own words. In one of her letters, +which I have on my table as I write, she says:_ + +_"I saw before me in those never-to-be-forgotten days all the horrors of +a 'Maison de Santé.' What could I do? I was friendless in a strange +hotel. Even Leopold seemed disinclined to be further troubled by a +runaway sister. I knew Frau von Fritsch, that unscrupulous liar, had +accused me falsely of having secret love affairs, and that the Emperor +had directed the whole plot which was to culminate in my confinement in +an asylum. Suddenly a solution occurred to me. I remembered that +Monsieur Giron, who had already suffered greatly through his friendship +with me. If he joined me, then my flight from Dresden would be +considered as an elopement, and I should escape a living death in a +madhouse! Monsieur Giron was at that moment my only friend, and it was +for that reason that I telegraphed to him at Brussels. Well, he joined +me, and by doing so completed the Emperor's triumph."_ + +_The subtle, ever-scheming Madman of Europe, warped as he is in soul as +in body, had, with his true Hun craftiness and unscrupulousness, aided +by Judicial Councillor Löhlein and the spy Von Metzsch, succeeded in +hounding down an honest, defenceless woman as high born as his own +diseased self, and casting her in ignominy and shame out of his now +doomed Empire._ + + + + +SECRET NUMBER FOUR + +THE MYSTERIOUS FRAU KLEIST + + +The clever intrigues of Frau Kleist were unknown to any outside the +Court circle at Potsdam. + +She was indeed a queer personage, "only less of a personality than His +Majesty," as that shiftiest of German statesmen, Prince Bülow, declared +to me one day as we sat together in my room in the Berlin Schloss. + +Frau Kleist was the Court dancing-mistress, whose fastidious judgment +had to be satisfied by any young débutante or officer before they +presumed to dance before Royalty at the State balls. Before every ball +Frau Kleist held several dance rehearsals in the Weisser-Saal (White +Salon) at the Berlin Schloss, and she was more exacting than any pompous +General on parade. Perhaps she was seventy. Her real age I never knew. +But, friends that we were, she often chatted with me and deplored the +flat-footedness of the coming generation of Teutons, and more than once +I have seen her lift her skirts and, displaying neat silk-stockinged +ankles on the polished floor of the Weisser-Saal, make, for the benefit +of the would-be débutantes, graceful tiptoe turns with a marvellous +grace of movement. + +Truly Frau Kleist, with her neat waist and thin, refined face, was a +very striking figure at the Berlin Court. The intricacies of the minuet +and gavotte, as well as those of the old-world dances in which she +delighted, were taught by the old lady to Prince Joachim and Princess +Victoria Luise, both of whom always went in deadly fear of her caustic +tongue and overbearing manner. + +The Emperor never permitted any dancing at Court which was not up to a +high standard of excellence, and all who sought to dance were compelled +to pass before the critical eye of the sharp-tongued old lady in her +stiff silken gown. + +Once, I remember, certain young people of the smart set of Berlin sought +to introduce irregularities in the Lancers, but they soon discovered +that their cards were cancelled. + +Whence she had come or who had been responsible for her appointment +nobody knew. One thing was quite certain, that though at an age when +usually rheumatism prevents agility, yet she was an expert dancer. +Another thing was also certain, that, if a débutante or a young military +elegant were awkward or flat-footed, she would train them privately in +the Terpsichorean art, especially in the old-world dances which are so +popular at Court, and, accepting a little palm-oil, would then pass +them--after squeezing them sufficiently--as fit to receive the Imperial +command to the Court balls. + +The old woman, sharp-featured and angular as became her age, with her +complexion powdered and rouged, lived in considerable style in a fine +house close to the Glienicke Bridge at Potsdam, beneath the Babelsberg, +a power to be reckoned with by all who desired to enter the Court +circle. + +Regarding her, many strange stories were afloat. One was that she was an +ex-dancer, the mother of the famous Mademoiselle "Clo-Clo" Durand, +_première danseuse_ of the Paris Opera, and another was that she had +been mistress of the ballet at the Imperial Opera in Petrograd in the +days of the Emperor Alexander. But so great a mystery were her +antecedents that nobody knew anything for certain, save that, at the age +of nearly seventy, she had access at any hour to the Kaiser's private +cabinet. I have often seen her whisper to His Majesty strange secrets +which she had picked up here and there--secrets that were often +transferred to certain confidential quarters which control the great +Teuton octopus. + +Those at Court who secured the benignant smiles of Frau Kleist knew that +their future path in life would be full of sunshine, but woe betide +those upon whom she knit her brows in disapproval. It was all a question +of bribery. Frau Kleist kept her pretty house and her big Mercédès car +upon the secret money payments she received from those who "for value" +begged her favours. With many young officers the payment to Frau Kleist +was to open the back door to the Emperor's favour. + +We in the Neues Palais (New Palace) knew it. But surely it did not +concern us, for all of us looked askance at those who strove so +strenuously and eagerly for "commands" to Court functions, and really we +were secretly glad if the parvenus of both sexes were well bled before +they were permitted by Frau Erna to make their obeisance before Royalty. + +The palace world at every European Court is a narrow little world of its +own, unknown and unsuspected by the man in the street. There one sees +the worst side of human nature without any leaven of the best or even +nobler side. The salary-grabber, the military adventurer, the pinchbeck +diplomat, the commercial parvenu, and the scientist, together with their +heavy-jowled, jewel-bedecked women-folk, elbow each other in order to +secure the notice of the All-Highest One, who, in that green-upholstered +private room wherein I worked with him, often smiled at the unseemly +bustle while he calmly discriminated among men and women according to +their merits. + +It is in that calm discretion that the Emperor excels, possessing almost +uncanny foresight, combined with a most unscrupulous conscience. + +"I know! Frau Kleist has told me!" were the words His Majesty used on +many occasions when I had ventured perhaps to express doubt regarding +some scandalous story or serious allegation. Therefore I was confident, +even though a large section of the entourage doubted it, that the +seventy-year-old dancing-mistress, whose past was a complete mystery, +was an important secret agent of the Emperor's. + +And what more likely? The Kaiser, as ruler of that complex empire, would +naturally seek to know the truth concerning those who sought his favour +before they were permitted to click their heels or wag their fans and +bow the knee in his Imperial presence. And he had, no doubt, with that +innate cunning, appointed his creature to the position of Court +dancing-mistress. + +The most elegant, corsetted Prussian officer, even though he could dance +divinely, was good-looking and perfectly-groomed, would never be +permitted to enter the Court circle unless a substantial number of marks +were placed within the old woman's palm. It was her perquisite, and many +in that ill-paid entourage envied her her means of increasing her +income. + +In no Court in Europe are the purse-strings held so tightly as in that +of Potsdam. The Emperor and Empress, though immensely wealthy, practise +the economy of London suburbia. But at every Court bribery is rife in +order to obtain Royal warrants and dozens of other small favours of that +kind, just as open payment is necessary to-day to obtain titles of +nobility. The colour of gold has a fascination which few can resist. If +it were not so there would be no war in progress to-day. + +On October 17th, 1908, I had returned with the Emperor and his suite +from Hamburg, where His Majesty had been present at the launching of one +of Herr Ballin's monster American liners, and at three o'clock, after +the Kaiser had eaten a hurried luncheon, I was seated at the side table +in his private room in the Berlin Schloss, taking down certain +confidential instructions which he wished to be sent at once by one of +the Imperial couriers to the commandant of Posen. + +Suddenly Von Kahlberg, my colleague, entered with a message that had +been taken by the telegraphist attached to the Palace, and handed it to +His Majesty. + +Having read it, the Kaiser at once grew excited, and, turning to me, +said: + +"The Crown-Prince sends word from Potsdam that the American, Orville +Wright, is flying on the Bornstedter Feld. We must go at once. Order the +cars. And, Von Kahlberg, inform Her Majesty at once. She will accompany +us, no doubt." + +Quickly I placed before His Majesty one of his photographs--knowing that +it would be wanted for presentation to the daring American--and he took +up his pen and scrawled his signature across it. Afterwards I placed it +in the small, green-painted dispatch-box of steel which I always carried +when in attendance upon His Imperial Majesty. + +Within a quarter of an hour three of the powerful cars were on their way +to Potsdam, the Emperor with Herr Anton Reitschel--a high German +official at Constantinople--and Professor Vambéry, who happened to be at +the Palace at the time, in the first car; the Kaiserin with her +daughter, Victoria Luise, and the latter's _ober-gouvernante_ +(governess), with one of the Court ladies, in the next; while in the +third I rode with Major von Scholl, one of the equerries. + +Cheers rose from the crowds as we passed through the Berlin streets, and +the Emperor, full of suppressed excitement at the thought of seeing an +aeroplane flight, constantly saluted as we flew along. + +On arrival at the Bornstedter Feld it was already growing dusk, and a +great disappointment awaited us. The Crown-Prince rode up to inform us +gravely that the flying was over for the day. At this the Kaiser grew +angry, for he had been out once before upon a wild-goose chase, only to +find that Orville Wright had gone home, declaring the wind to be too +strong. + +At his father's anger, however, "Willie" burst out laughing, declaring +that he was only joking, and that all was in readiness. Indeed, as he +spoke the aviator, in his leather jacket, came up, and I presented him +to His Majesty, while from everywhere soldiers and police appeared, in +order to keep back the crowd to the road. + +Then, while we stood alone in the centre of the great, sandy plain, Mr. +Orville Wright clambered into his machine and, rising, made many +circuits high above us. + +The Emperor stood with Herr Reitschel and the shaggy old Professor, +straining his eyes with keenest interest. It was the first time His +Majesty had seen an aeroplane in flight. Much had been promised of old +Von Zeppelin's invention, yet the German public had, until those +demonstrations by the American aviator, taken but little heed of the +heavier-than-air machine. At that time, indeed, the Emperor had not +taken up Von Zeppelin, and it was only after seeing Orville Wright's +demonstrations that he entered with any enthusiasm into aeronautical +problems. + +High above us against the clear evening sky, wherein the stars had +already begun to twinkle, the daring American rose, dipped, and banked, +his machine droning like a huge gad-fly, much to the interest and +astonishment of the Emperor. + +"Marvellous!" he exclaimed, as I stood beside him, with the Empress on +his right. "How is it done?" + +The crowds went wild with enthusiasm. The sight of a man flying in the +air, manoeuvring his machine at will, rising swiftly, and then planing +down with the engine cut off, was one of the most amazing spectacles the +loyal Potsdamers had ever seen. Even the Emperor, with all his wild +dreams of world-power, could never for a moment have foreseen what a +great factor aeroplanes would be in the war which he was so carefully +plotting. + +At last Wright came down in a spiral, banked slightly, steadied himself, +and then came lightly to earth within a few yards of where we stood, +having been the first to exhibit to the great War-Lord how completely +the air had been conquered. + +Then, quiet, rather unassuming man that he was, he advanced to receive +the Imperial congratulations, and to be handed the signed photograph +which, at the proper moment, I produced like a conjurer from my +dispatch-box. Afterwards, though it had now grown dark, the Emperor, by +the powerful headlamps of the three cars, thoroughly examined the +American's aeroplane, the aviator explaining every detail. + +From that moment for months afterwards the Kaiser was constantly talking +of aviation. He commanded photographs of various types of aeroplanes, +together with all literature on the subject, to be placed before him. +Indeed, he sent over to Britain, in secret, two officers to attend the +aeroplane meetings held at Doncaster and Blackpool, where a large number +of photographs were secretly taken, and duly found their way to his +table. + +Indeed, it would greatly surprise your English friends, my dear Le +Queux, if they had only seen the many secret reports and secret +photographs of all kinds regarding Britain's military, naval, and social +life, which I have found upon the Emperor's table. + +During my appointment I had through my hands many amazing reports +concerning the financial and social position of well-known English +politicians and officials, reports made with one ulterior motive--that +of attempted bribery. The Emperor meant war, and he knew that before he +could hope for success he must thoroughly "Germanize" Great +Britain--with what result we all now know. + +I have recalled the Emperor's first sight of an aeroplane in flight, in +company with Herr Anton Reitschel and Professor Vambéry, because of an +incident which occurred that same day. Just before midnight the Emperor, +seated in his room in the Berlin Schloss, was giving me certain +instructions to be sent to Carlton House Terrace, when the door opened +without any knock of permission, and upon the threshold there stood +that arch-intriguer, Frau Kleist, in her stiff black silk gown, and +wearing a gleaming diamond brooch, the glitter of which was cold as her +own steely eyes. + +"Have I Your Majesty's permission to enter?" she asked, in her +high-pitched voice. + +"Of course, of course," replied the Emperor, turning in his chair. "Come +in and close the door. It has turned quite cold to-night. Well?" he +asked, looking at her inquiringly. + +The Emperor is a man of very few words, except when he tells a story. + +The Court dancing-mistress hesitated for a second. Their eyes met, and +in that glance I saw complete understanding. + +"May I speak in confidence with Your Majesty?" she asked, advancing into +the room, her stiff, wide skirts rustling. Except the Court ladies she +was the only female at Court whom the sentries stationed at the end of +the corridor allowed to pass to His Majesty's private cabinet. + +But Frau Kleist had access everywhere. Her eyes were the eyes of the +Emperor. Many a diplomat, financier, military or naval commander has +been raised to position of favourite because he first secured--by +payment, of course, according to his means--the good graces of the +_ex-ballerina_. And, alas! many a good, honest man has been cast out of +the Potsdam circle into oblivion, and even to death, because of the +poisonous declaration of that smiling, bejewelled old hag. + +"Of what do you wish to speak?" inquired the Emperor, who, truth to +tell, was very busy upon a most important matter concerning the building +of new submarines, and was perhaps a little annoyed by the intrusion, +though he did not betray it, so clever was he. + +"Of the Reitschel affair," was the old woman's low reply. + +At her words the Kaiser frowned slightly, and dismissed me. I bowed +myself out, and closed the door upon the Emperor and his clever female +spy. + +That she should have at that late hour come from Potsdam--for, looking +down into the courtyard, I saw the lights of her big Mercédès--showed +that some underhand work was in progress. + +Only a week before I had been discussing Anton Reitschel and his +position with my intimate friend, old Von Donaustauf, Master of +Ceremonies, who was supposed to control the ex-dancer, but who in +reality was in a subordinate position to her, because she had the ear of +the Emperor at any hour. Petty jealousies, dastardly plots, and constant +intrigues make up the daily life around the Throne. Half the orders +given in the Emperor's name are issued without his knowledge, and many +an order transmitted to the provinces without his authority. + +By handling, as I did, hundreds of those secret reports which reached +the Emperor I had learned much concerning Herr Anton Reitschel, and from +old Von Donaustauf I had also been able to obtain certain missing links +concerning the intrigue. + +Reitschel, a burly, round-faced, fair-haired Prussian of quite superior +type, held the position of Chief Director of the German-Ottoman Bank in +Constantinople. His duty for the past three years had been to conciliate +the Sultan and to lend German money to any industrial enterprise in +which any grain of merit could possibly be discovered. He had been +singled out, taken from the Dresdner Bank, and sent to Constantinople by +the Kaiser in order to play Germany's secret game in Turkey--especially +that of the Bagdad Railway--and to combat with German gold Great +Britain's diplomacy with Tewfik Pasha and old Abdul Hamid, in view of +"The Day," which the Emperor had long ago determined should soon dawn. +Was he not the War-Lord? And must not a War-Lord make war? + +As old Von Donaustauf had put it, between the whiffs of one of those +exquisite cigarettes, a consignment of the Sultan's own which came from +the Yildiz Kiosk to Potsdam weekly: + +"Our Emperor intends that, notwithstanding Britain's policy in the Near +East, Germany shall soon rule from Berlin to Bagdad. Herr Reitschel is +in reality charged with the work of "Germanizing" the Ottoman Empire." + +That I already knew by the many secret reports of his which arrived so +constantly from Constantinople, reports which showed quite plainly that +though the great German Embassy, with its huge eagles of stone set at +each end, might have been built for the purpose of impressing the Turks, +yet the shrewd, farseeing Herr Anton, as head of that big financial +corporation, held greater sway at that rickety set of offices known to +us as the Sublime Porte than did his Excellency the Ambassador, with all +his beribboned crowd of underlings. + +Truly the game which the Emperor was playing in secret against the other +Powers of Europe was a crooked and desperate one. On the one hand the +Kaiser was making pretence of fair dealing with Great Britain and +France, yet on the other his agent, Herr Reitschel, was ever busy +lending money in all directions, and bribing Turkish officials in order +to secure their favour in Germany's interest. + +Yet a further game was being played--one that, in addition to the +Imperial Chancellor, I alone knew--namely, that while the Kaiser was +making pretence of being the best friend of the Sultan Abdul Hamid, +visiting Constantinople and Palestine, building fountains, endowing +institutes, and bestowing his Imperial grace in so many ways, yet he was +also secretly supporting the Young Turk party so as to effect the +Sultan's downfall as part of his sly, Machiavellian policy--a plot +which, as you know, ultimately succeeded, for poor old Abdul the Damned +and his harem were eventually packed off, bag and baggage, to Salonika, +notwithstanding His Majesty's wild entreaty to Berlin for protection. + +I happened to be with the Emperor on the Imperial yacht at Tromsö when +he received by telegram the personal appeal addressed to him from his +miserable dupe, and I well recollect how grimly he smiled as he remarked +to me that it needed no response. + +Well, at the period of which I am making the present disclosure, Herr +Anton had been paying a number of flying visits to Berlin, and had had +many private audiences of both Kaiser and Sultan, and had on several +occasions been invited informally to the Imperial luncheon table, a mark +of esteem bestowed by the Kaiser upon those who may at the moment be +serving his interests particularly well. + +Suddenly all of us were surprised by the announcement that the Kaiser's +favoured civilian in Turkey had married Mademoiselle Julie de Lagarenne, +daughter of Paul de Lagarenne, son of the great French sugar refiner, +and secretary of the French Embassy at Rome. We heard also that, having +married in Italy, he was bringing his wife to Berlin. Indeed, a week +after that news was spread I met them both in Kranzler's in Unter den +Linden, and there he introduced me to a pretty, dark-haired, vivacious +young Frenchwoman, who spoke German well, and who told me that her +husband had already given in her name for presentation at the next +Court. + +That was about a month prior to Orville Wright's flight and the midnight +visit of Frau Kleist to the Emperor. + +Truth to tell, the old woman's mention of Herr Reitschel's name caused +me considerable misgivings, because three weeks before I had gathered +certain strange facts from a secret report of a spy who in +Constantinople had been set to watch Herr Reitschel's doings. That spy +was Frau Kleist's son. + +The Kaiser trusts nobody. Even his favourites and most intimate cronies +are spied upon, and reports upon those familiar blue papers are +furnished regularly. In view of what I had read in that report from Karl +Kleist, I stood amazed when, at the grand Court a week later, I had +witnessed Herr Reitschel's French wife bow before the Emperor and +Empress and noticed how graciously the Kaiser had smiled upon her. Truly +the Emperor is sphinx-like and imperturbable. Outside the privacy of his +own room, that chamber of cunning plots and fierce revenge, he never +allows his sardonic countenance to betray his inner thoughts, and will +grasp the hand of his most hated enemy with the hearty warmth of +friendship, a Satanic _volte-face_ in which danger and evil lurk always, +a trait inherited to its full degree by the Crown-Prince. + +The days that followed Frau Kleist's midnight visit were indeed busy, +eventful days. Certain diplomatic negotiations with Washington had been +unsuccessful; Von Holleben, the Ambassador, had been recalled, and given +an extremely bad half-hour by both Kaiser and Chancellor. In addition, +some wily American journalist had fathomed the amazing duplicity of +Prince Henry's visit to the States and Germany's Press Bureau in +America, while the Yellow Press of New York had published a ghastly +array of facts and figures concerning the latter, together with +facsimile documents, all of which had sent His Majesty half-crazy with +anger. + +Nearly three months passed. + +Herr Reitschel often came from Constantinople, and frequently brought +his handsome young wife with him, for he was _persona grata_ at Court. +To me this was indeed strange in view of the reports of the ex-opera +dancer's son--who, by the way, lived in Constantinople in the +unsuspicious guise of a carpet-dealer, and unknown to the bank director. + +The latter had, assisted by his wife's fortune, inherited from her +grandmother, purchased the Schloss Langenberg, the splendid ancestral +castle and estates of the Princes of Langenberg, situate on a rock +between Ilmenau and Zella, in the beautiful Thuringian Forest, and +acknowledged to be one of the most famous shooting estates in the +Empire. It was not, therefore, surprising that the Emperor, to mark his +favour, should express a desire to shoot capercailzie there--a desire +which, of course, delighted Herr Reitschel, who had only a few days +before been decorated with the Order of the Black Eagle. + +One afternoon in mid-autumn the Emperor, accompanied by the Crown-Prince +and myself, together with the suite, arrived by the Imperial train at +the little station of Ilmenau, where, of course, Reitschel and his +pretty wife, with the land-rats, head and under foresters, and all sorts +of civil officials in black coats and white ties bowed low as the +All-Highest stepped from his saloon. The Kaiser was most gracious to his +host and hostess, while the schloss, we found, was almost equal in +beauty and extent to that of Prince Max Egon zu Fürstenberg at +Donau-Eschingen, which place we always visited once, if not twice, each +year. + +The Emperor had complained of a slight cold, and in consequence, just +before we left Berlin, I had been instructed to summon by telegraph a +certain Dr. Vollerthun from Augsburg, who was a perfect stranger to us +all, but who had, I supposed, been recommended to the Emperor by +somebody who, for some consideration, wished to advance him in his +profession. + +While the Emperor and his host were out shooting, the Crown-Prince and +several of the suite being of the party, I remained alone in a big, +circular, old-world room in one of the towers of the Castle, where the +long, narrow windows overlooked the forest, dealing with a flood of +important State papers which a courier had brought from Berlin two hours +before. Papers followed us daily wherever we might be, even when +yachting at Cowes or in the Norwegian fjords. + +About midday Dr. Vollerthun was ushered in to me--a short, stout, +guttural-speaking man of about sixty, rather bald, and wearing big, +round, gold-rimmed spectacles. I quickly handed him over to the +major-domo. He was a stranger, and no doubt one who sought the Emperor's +favour, therefore as such I took but little interest in him. + +About three o'clock that same afternoon, however, a light tap came at +the door, and on looking round, I saw my hostess standing upon the +threshold. + +She was quietly but elegantly dressed, presenting the true type of the +smart Parisienne, but in an instant I realized that she was very pale +and agitated. Indeed her voice trembled when she asked permission to +enter. + +Since her marriage I had many times chatted with her, for she often came +to the Palace when her husband visited Berlin, as he did so frequently. +I had danced with her; I had taken her in to dinner at various houses +where we met, always finding her a bright and very intellectual +companion. + +She quietly closed the door, and, crossing the room with uneven steps, +advanced to the table from which I had risen. + +"Count von Heltzendorff!" she exclaimed in a low, strained voice. "I--I +have come to seek your aid because--well, because I'm distracted, and I +know that you are my husband's friend," she exclaimed in French. + +"And yours also, Madame," I said earnestly, bowing and pulling forward a +chair for her. + +"My husband is out with the Emperor!" she gasped in a curious, unnerved +tone. "And I fear; oh, I fear that we are in great peril--deadly peril +every hour--every moment!" + +"Really, Madame, I hardly follow you," I said, standing before the +dark-haired, handsome French girl--for she was little more than a +girl--who had inherited the whole fortune of the biggest sugar refinery +in Europe, the great factory out at St. Denis which supplied nearly +one-sixth of the refined sugar of the world. + +"My husband, whom I love devotedly, has done his best in the interests +of his Emperor. You, Count, know--for you are in a position to know--the +real aims of the Kaiser in Turkey. These last six months I have watched, +and have learned the truth! I know how, when the Emperor went to +Constantinople five months ago in pretence of friendship towards the +Sultan, with Professor Vambéry as interpreter, he practically compelled +Abdul Hamid to give him, in return for certain financial advances, those +wonderful jewels which the Empress Catherine, wife of Peter the Great, +gave in secret to the Grand Vizier to secure the escape of the Russian +Army across the Pruth. I know how the Emperor seized those wonderful +emeralds, and, carrying them back to Potsdam, has given them to the +Empress. I know, too, how he laughed with my husband at the cleverness +by which he is fooling the too trustful Turks. I----" + +"Pardon, Madame," I said, interrupting her, and speaking in French, "but +is it really wise to speak thus of the Emperor's secrets? Your husband +is, I fear, guilty of great indiscretion in mentioning such matters." + +"I am his wife, Count, and he conceals little, if anything, from me." + +I looked the pretty young woman straight in the face in fear and regret. + +Possession of those ancient jewels which, with reluctance, Abdul Hamid +had brought out from his treasury, was one of the Kaiser's greatest +secrets, a secret of Potsdam known to no more than three people, +including myself. The Emperor had specially imposed silence upon me, +because he did not wish the Powers to suspect his true Eastern policy of +bribery and double-dealing, blackmail and plunder. + +And yet she, the daughter of a French diplomat, knew the truth! + +Instantly I realized the serious danger of the secret being betrayed to +France. + +"Madame," I said, leaning against the writing-table as I spoke in +deepest earnestness. "If I may be permitted, I would urge that the +Emperor's diplomacy neither concerns your husband, as an official, nor +yourself. It is his own private affair, and should neither be discussed +nor betrayed." + +"I know," she said. "That is just why I have ventured to come here to +consult you, M'sieur! You have been my good friend as well as my +husband's, and here to-day, while the Emperor is our guest beneath our +roof, I feel that I am in greatest peril!" + +"Why?" I asked with considerable surprise. + +"The Emperor has already learnt that I know the truth regarding his +secret," was her slow reply. "By what means His Majesty has discovered +it, I, alas! know not. But I do know from a confidential quarter that I +have incurred the Emperor's gravest displeasure and hatred." + +"Who is your informant?" I inquired sternly, eager to further +investigate the great intrigue. + +"A certain person who must be nameless." + +"Have you spoken to anybody of the Emperor's secret plans in Turkey, or +of his possession of the Empress Catherine's jewels?" + +"I have not uttered a word to a single soul except my husband. I swear +it." + +"Your husband was extremely indiscreet in revealing anything," I +declared again quite frankly. + +"I fully admit that. But what can I do? How shall I act?" she asked in a +low, tense voice. "Advise me, do." + +For some moments I remained silent. The situation, with a pretty woman +seeking my aid in such circumstances, was difficult. + +"Well, Madame," I replied after reflection, "if you are really ready to +promise the strictest secrecy and leave the matter to me, I will +endeavour to find a way out of the difficulty--providing you--good +German that you are by marriage--will take, before the Emperor himself, +an oath of complete secrecy?" + +"I am ready to do anything--anything for my dear husband's sake," the +handsome young woman assured me, tears welling in her fine dark eyes. + +"In that case, then, please leave the matter entirely in my hands," I +said. And later on she left. + +That same night, about ten o'clock, the Emperor, in the dark-green +uniform which he always wears at dinner after hunting or shooting, +entered the room to which I had just returned to work. + +"Send Frau Kleist to me," he snapped. "And I will summon you later when +I want you, Heltzendorff." + +Frau Kleist! I had no idea the woman had arrived at the castle. But I +dispatched one of the servants to search for her, and afterwards heard +her high-pitched voice as she ascended the stairs to hold secret and, no +doubt, evil counsel with His Majesty. + +Below I found the fat, fair-haired little doctor from Augsburg, who was +still an enigma, but eager to see his Imperial patient, and with him I +smoked a cigarette to while away the time. I was anxious to return to +His Majesty, and, as became my duty as his adjutant, to explain what I +had learnt from the lips of our French hostess. + +Suddenly one of the Imperial flunkeys bowed at the door, commanding the +doctor to the Royal presence, and he left me, hot and flurried, as all +become who are unused to the Court atmosphere, its rigid etiquette, and +its constant bows. + +Had the Emperor called the unknown doctor into consultation with Frau +Kleist? + +Inquiries I had made concerning the doctor from Augsburg showed that he +was quite a well-known specialist on mental diseases, and he had also +written a text-book upon bacteriology and the brain. Why had the Kaiser +summoned him? He required no brain specialist. + +"We leave to-morrow at noon," the Emperor exclaimed brusquely when, an +hour later, I was summoned to his room. This amazed me, for our +arrangements were to remain three days longer. I recollected Madame +Reitschel's words. + +"I do not feel at all well," His Majesty added, "and this Dr. Vollerthun +orders me rest at Potsdam." + +In silence I bowed, and then ventured to refer to what was uppermost in +my mind. + +"May I be permitted to speak to your Majesty upon a certain confidential +subject?" I begged, standing against the table whereat I had been +writing the greater part of that day. + +"What subject?" snapped the All-Highest. + +"Your Majesty's negotiations with the Sultan of Turkey. Frau Reitschel +has learnt of them, but she is eager to come before you and take oath of +entire secrecy." + +The Kaiser's eyes narrowed and glowed in sudden anger. + +"A woman's oath!" he cried. "Bah! Never have I believed in silence +imposed upon any woman's tongue--more especially that of a born enemy! I +appreciate your loyalty and acumen, Von Heltzendorff, but I have, +fortunately, known this for some little time, and in strictest secrecy +have taken certain measures to combat it. Remember that these words have +never been uttered to you! Remember that! You are adjutant, and I am +Emperor. Understand! I fully appreciate and note your loyal report, but +it is not woman's sphere to enter our diplomacy, except as a secret +agent of our Fatherland. Let us say no more." + +Ten minutes later, being dismissed, I wandered back through the great, +silent, echoing corridors of the ancient castle to my own room. A great +human drama, greater than any ever placed upon the stage, was now being +enacted. Throwing his loaded dice, the Emperor, with all his craft, +cunning, and criminal unscrupulousness behind his mask of Christianity, +and aided by his unprincipled son, the Crown-Prince, was actually +plotting the downfall of the Turkish Empire and the overthrow of Islam +in Europe. Between the All-Highest One and the realization of those +dastardly plans for world-power so carefully and cleverly thought out in +every detail night after night in the silence of that dull, faded green +room upstairs at Potsdam, stood one frail little Parisienne, the +vivacious, well-meaning Madame Reitschel! + +Next day we left the Schloss Langenberg, but before doing so we heard +with regret that our charming little hostess had been suddenly taken ill +during the night, and the Kaiser, as a mark of favour, had ordered his +doctor, Vollerthun, to remain behind to attend her. That Herr Reitschel +was in great distress I saw from his face as he stood taking leave of +his Imperial guest on the little platform at Ilmenau. + +Back in Berlin, I wondered what was in progress in that far-off Schloss +in Thuringia, but a week later the truth became vividly apparent when I +read in the _Staats-Anzeiger_ an announcement which disclosed to me the +terrible truth. + +I held my breath as my eyes followed the printed lines. + +Frau Reitschel, the young wife of the famous Anton Reitschel of +Constantinople, had, the journal reported, been seized by a sudden and +somewhat mysterious illness on the night prior to the Emperor's +departure from the Schloss Langenberg, and though His Majesty had +graciously left his own physician behind to attend her, the unfortunate +lady had developed insanity to such a hopeless degree that it had been +necessary to confine her in the Rosenau private asylum at Coburg. + +In a second I realized how the dancing-mistress and the mental +specialist from Augsburg had been the tools of the Emperor. That +"mysterious illness," developing into madness, was surely not the result +of any natural cause, but had been deliberately planned and executed by +means of a hypodermic syringe, in order that the woman who had learnt +the secret of the Emperor's double cunning in the Near East should be +for ever immured in a madhouse. + +Outside the trio responsible for the cruel and dastardly act, I alone +knew the truth how, by the Emperor's drastic action, he had prevented +the secret of his chicanery leaking out to the Powers. + +Poor Madame Reitschel! She died early in 1913, a raving lunatic. Her +devoted husband, having served the Emperor's purpose, had been recalled +to Berlin, where, bereft of the Kaiser's favour, he predeceased her by +about six months, broken-hearted, but in utter ignorance of that foul +plot carried out under his very nose and in his own castle. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER FIVE + +THE GIRL WHO KNEW THE CROWN-PRINCE'S SECRET + + +Late on the night of November 18th, 1912, I was busily at work in the +Crown-Prince's room--that cosy apartment of which I possessed the +key--at the Marble Palace at Potsdam. + +I, as His Imperial Highness's personal-adjutant, had been travelling all +day with him from Cologne to Berlin. We had done a tour of military +inspections in Westphalia, and, as usual, "Willie's" conduct, as became +the heir-apparent of the psalm-singing All-Highest One, had not been +exactly exemplary. + +With his slant eyes and sarcastic grin he openly defied the Emperor, and +frequently referred to him to his intimates as "a hoary old +hypocrite"--the truth of which recent events have surely proved. + +On the night in question, however, much had happened. The Emperor had, a +month before, returned from a visit to England, where he had been +engaged by speeches and hand-shakes, public and private, blowing a +narcotic dust into the nostrils of your dear but, alas! too confiding +nation. + +You British were all dazzled--you dear English drank the Imperial +sleeping-draught, prepared so cunningly for you and your Cabinet +Ministers in what we in Berlin sometimes called "the Downing-Strasse." +You lapped up the cream of German good-fellowship as a cat laps milk, +even while agents of our Imperial War Staff had held Staff-rides in +various parts of your island. All of you were blind, save those whom +your own people denounced as scaremongers when they lifted their voices +in warning. + +We at Potsdam smiled daily at what seemed to us to be the slow but sure +decline of your great nation from its military, naval, and commercial +supremacy. The Kaiser had plotted for fourteen years, and now he was +being actively aided by his eldest son, that shrewd, active agnostic +with a criminal kink. + +"Heltzendorff!" exclaimed the Crown-Prince, as he suddenly entered the +room where I was busy attending to a pile of papers which had +accumulated during our absence in Westphalia, and which had been sorted +into three heaps by my assistant during our absence. "Do get through all +those letters and things. Burn them all if you can. What do they +matter?" + +"Many of them are matters of grave importance. Here, for instance, is a +report from the Chief of Military Intelligence in Washington." + +"Oh, old Friesch! Tear it up! He is but an old fossil at best. And yet, +Heltzendorff, he is designed to be of considerable use," he added. "His +Majesty told me to-night that after his visit to England he has +conceived the idea to establish an official movement for the improvement +of better relations between Britain and Germany. The dear British are +always ready to receive such movements with open arms. At Carlton House +Terrace they strongly endorse the Emperor's ideas, and he tells me that +the movement should first arise in commercial and shipping circles. Herr +Ballin will generate the idea in his offices in London and the various +British ports, while His Majesty has Von Gessler, the ex-Ambassador at +Washington, in view as the man to bring forth the suggestion publicly. +Indeed, to-night from the Wilhelmstrasse there has been sent a message +to his schloss on the Mosel commanding him to consult with His Majesty. +Von Bernstorff took his place at Washington a few months ago." + +"But Von Gessler is an inveterate enemy of Britain," I exclaimed in +surprise, still seated at my table. + +"The world does not know that. The whole scheme is based upon Britain's +ignorance of our intentions. We bring Von Gessler forward as the dear, +good, Anglophile friend with his hand outstretched from the +Wilhelmstrasse. Oh, Heltzendorff!" he laughed. "It is really intensely +amusing, is it not?" + +I was silent. I knew that the deeply-laid plot against Great Britain was +proceeding apace, for had I not seen those many secret reports, and did +I not possess inside knowledge of the evil intentions of the Emperor and +his son. + +"Get through all that--to-night if you can, Heltzendorff," the +Crown-Prince urged. "The Crown-Princess leaves for Treseburg, in the +Harz, to-morrow, and in the evening we go to Nice." + +"To Nice!" I exclaimed, though not at all disinclined to spend a week or +so on the Riviera. + +"Yes," he said. "I have a friend there. The Riviera is only pleasant +before the season, or after. One cannot go with the crowd in January or +February. I have already given orders for the saloon to leave at eleven +to-morrow night. That will give us ample time." + +A friend there! I reflected. I, knowing his partiality to the eternal +petticoat, could only suppose that the attraction in Nice was of the +feminine gender. + +"Then the lady is in Nice!" I remarked, for sometimes I was permitted, +on account of my long service with the Emperor, to speak familiarly. + +"Lady, no!" he retorted. "It is a man. And I want to get to Nice at the +earliest moment. So get through those infernal documents. Burn them all. +They are better out of the way," he laughed. + +And, taking a cigarette from the golden box--a present to him from +"Tino" of Greece--he lit it, and wishing me good night, strode out. + +Just before eleven o'clock on the following night we left the Marmor +Palace. His Imperial Highness travelled incognito as he always did when +visiting France, assuming the name of Count von Grünau. With us was his +personal valet, Schuler, the military secretary, Major Lentze, and +Eckardt, the Commissioner of Secret Police for His Highness's personal +protection, who travelled with us wherever we went. In addition, there +was an under-valet, and Knof, the Crown-Prince's favourite chauffeur. +When abroad cars were either bought and afterwards re-sold, or else +hired, but Knof, who was a celebrated racing motorist and had driven in +Prince Henry's tour of exploration through England, and who had gained +many prizes on the various circuits, was always taken as "driver." + +After a restless night--for there were many stoppages--I spent next day +with the Crown-Prince in long and tiring discussions on military affairs +as we travelled due south in the beautifully-fitted Imperial car, +replete with its smoking saloon with wicker chairs, its four bathrooms, +and other luxuries. I endeavoured to obtain from him some reason why we +were proceeding to Nice, but to all my inquiries he was smilingly dumb. +He noticed my eagerness, and I saw that he was amused by it. + +Yet somehow, as we travelled towards the Italian frontier--for our road +lay through Austria down to Milan, and thence by way of Genoa--he seemed +to become unduly thoughtful and anxious. + +Only a fortnight before he had had one of those ever-recurring and +unseemly quarrels with his long-suffering wife. + +"Cilli is a fool!" he had declared openly to me, after she had left the +room in anger. + +We had been busy arranging a programme of official visits in Eastern +Germany, when suddenly the Crown-Princess entered, pale with anger, and +disregarding my presence--for I suppose I was regarded as one who knew +all the happenings of the palace, and whose discretion could be relied +upon--began to demand fiercely an explanation of a certain anonymous +letter which she held in her hand. + +"Kindly read that!" she said haughtily, "and explain what it means!" + +The Crown-Prince grinned idiotically, that cold, sinister expression +overspreading his countenance, a look which is such a marked +characteristic of his. + +Then, almost snatching the letter from his young wife's fingers, he read +it through, and with a sudden movement tore it up and flung it upon the +carpet, saying: + +"I refuse to discuss any unsigned letter! Really, if we were to notice +every letter written by the common scum we should, indeed, have +sufficient to do." + +His wife's arched brows narrowed. Her pale, delicate face, in which the +lines of care had appeared too prematurely, already betrayed fiercest +anger. + +"I happen to have inquired, and I now know that those allegations are +correct!" she cried. "This dark-haired singer-woman, Irene Speroni, has +attained great success on the variety stage in Italy. She is the star of +the Sala Margherita in Rome." + +"Well?" he asked in defiance. "And what of it, pray?" + +"That letter you have destroyed tells me the truth. I received it a few +days ago, and sent an agent to Italy in order to learn the truth. He has +returned to-night. See!" And suddenly she produced a crannied snapshot +photograph, of postcard size, of the Crown-Prince in his polo-playing +garb, and with him a smartly-dressed young woman, whose features were in +the shadow. I caught sight of that picture, because when he tossed it +from him angrily without glancing at it, I picked it up and handed it +back to the Crown-Princess. + +"Yes," she cried bitterly, "You refuse, of course, to look upon this +piece of evidence! I now know why you went to Wiesbaden. The woman was +singing there, and you gave her a pair of emerald and diamond earrings +which you purchased from Vollgold in Unter den Linden. See! Here is the +bill for them!" + +And again she produced a slip of paper. + +At this the Crown-Prince grew instantly furious, and, pale to the lips, +he roundly abused his long-suffering wife, telling her quite frankly +that, notwithstanding the fact that she might spy upon his movements, he +should act exactly as his impulses dictated. + +That scene was, indeed, a disgraceful one, ending in the poor woman, in +a frantic paroxysm of despair, tearing off the splendid necklet of +diamonds at her throat--his present to her on their marriage--and +casting it full into his face. + +Then, realizing that the scene had become too tragic, I took her small +hand, and, with a word of sympathy, led her out of the room and along +the corridor. + +As I left her she burst into a sudden torrent of tears; yet when I +returned again to the Crown-Prince I found his manner had entirely +changed. He treated his wife's natural resentment and indignation as a +huge joke, and it was then that His Imperial Highness declared to me: + +"Cilli is a fool!" + +That sunny afternoon the Crown-Prince had sprawled himself on the plush +lounge of the smoking car as the train travelled upon that picturesque +line between Genoa and the French frontier at Ventimiglia, the line +which follows the coast for six hours. With the tideless sapphire +Mediterranean lapping the yellow beach on the one side and high brown +rocks upon the other, we went through Savona, Albenga, the old-world +Porto Maurizio to the glaring modern town of San Remo and palm-embowered +Bordighera, that beautiful Italian Riviera that you and I know so well. + +"Listen, Heltzendorff," his Highness exclaimed suddenly between the +whiffs of his cigarette. "In Nice I may disappear for a day or two. I +may be missing. But if I am, please don't raise a fuss about it. I'm +incognito, and nobody will know. I may be absent for seven days. If I am +not back by that time then you may make inquiry." + +"But the Commissary of Police Eckardt! He will surely know?" I remarked +in surprise. + +"No. He won't know. I shall evade him as I've so often done before," +replied His Imperial Highness. "I tell you of my intentions so that you +may curb the activities of our most estimable friend. Tell him not to +worry, and he will be paid a thousand marks on the day Count von Grünau +reappears." + +I smiled, for I saw the influence of the eternal feminine. + +"No, Heltzendorff. You are quite mistaken," he said, reading my +thoughts, and putting down his cigarette end. "There is no lady in this +case. I am out here for secret purposes of my own. For that reason I +take you into my confidence rather than that unnecessary inquiry should +be made and some of those infernal journalists get hold of the fact that +the Count von Grünau and the Crown-Prince are one and the same person. I +was a fool to take this saloon. I ought to have travelled as an ordinary +passenger, I know, but," he laughed, "this is really comfortable and, +after all, what do we care what the world thinks--eh? Surely we can +afford to laugh at it when all the honours of the game are already in +our hands." + +And at that moment we ran into the pretty, flower-decked station of San +Remo, the place freshly painted for the attraction of the winter +visitors who annually went south for sunshine. + +His words mystified me, but I became even more mystified by his actions +a few days later. + +I was in ignorance that a fortnight before Hermann Hardt, one of His +Highness's couriers, had left Potsdam and on arrival at Nice had rented +for three months the fine Villa Lilas--the winter residence of the +American millionaire leather merchant, James G. Jamieson, of Boston, who +had gone yachting to Japan. + +You know Nice, my dear Le Queux--you know it as well as I do, therefore +you know the Villa Lilas, that big white mansion which faces the sea on +Montboron, the hill road between the port of Nice and Villefranche. Half +hidden among the mimosa, the palms, and grey-green olives, it is after +the style of Mr. Gordon Bennett's villa at Beaulieu, with a big glass +front and pretty verandas, with climbing geraniums flowering upon the +terraces. + +We soon settled there, for the household staff had arrived three days +before, and on the evening of our arrival I accompanied the Crown-Prince +down into the town to the Jetée promenade, the pier-pavilion where the +gay cosmopolitan world disports itself to chatter, drink and gamble. + +It was a glorious moonlit night, and "Willie," after strolling through +the great gilded saloons, in one of which was a second-rate variety +entertainment--the season not having yet commenced--went outside. We sat +at the end of the pier smoking. + +"Nice is dull as yet, is it not?" he remarked, for each year he always +spent a month there incognito, the German newspapers announcing that he +was away shooting. But "Willie," leading the gay life of the Imperial +butterfly, much preferred the lively existence of the Côte d'Azur to the +remote schloss in Thuringia or elsewhere. + +I agreed with him that Nice had not yet put on the tinsel and pasteboard +of her Carnival attractions. As you know, Carnival in Nice is gay +enough, but, after all, it is a forced gaiety got up for the profit of +the shops and hotels, combined with the "Cercle des Bains" of +Monaco--the polite title of the Prince's gilded gambling hell. + +We smoked together and chatted, as we often did when His Imperial +Highness became bored. I was still mystified why we had come to the +Riviera so early in the season, because the white and pale green paint +of the hotels was not yet dry, and half of them not yet open. + +Yet our coming had, no doubt, been privately signalled, because within +half an hour of our arrival at the Villa Lilas a short, stout old +Frenchman, with white, bristly hair--whom I afterwards found out was +Monsieur Paul Bavouzet, the newly-appointed Prefect of the Department of +Alpes-Maritimes--called to leave his card upon the Count von Grünau. + +The Imperial incognito only means that the public are to be deluded. +Officialdom never is. They know the ruse, and support it all the world +over. His Highness the Crown-Prince was paying his annual visit to Nice, +and the President had sent his compliments through his representative, +the bristly-haired little Prefect. + +Soon after eleven that night the Crown-Prince, after chatting affably +with me, strolled back to the Promenade des Anglais, where Knof, the +chauffeur, awaited us with a big open car, in which we were whizzed +around the port and up to Montboron in a few minutes. + +As I parted from the Crown-Prince, who yawned and declared that he was +tired, he said: + +"Ah! Heltzendorff. How good it is to get a breath of soft air from the +Mediterranean! We shall have a port on this pleasant sea one day--if we +live as long--eh?" + +That remark showed the trend of events. It showed how, hand in hand with +the Emperor, he was urging preparations for war--a war that had for its +primary object the destruction of the Powers which, when the volcano +erupted, united as allies. + +The bright autumn days passed quite uneventfully, and frequently I went +pleasant motor runs into the mountains with His Highness, up to the +frontier at the Col di Tenda, to La Vésubie, Puget-Théniers, and other +places. Yet I was still mystified at the reason of our sojourn there. + +After we had been at the Villa Lilas about ten days I was one afternoon +seated outside the popular Café de l'Opéra, in the Place Masséna, when a +lady, dressed in deep mourning and wearing the heavy veil in French +style, passed along the pavement, glanced at me, and then, hesitating, +she turned, and, coming back, advanced to the little table in the corner +whereat I was sitting. + +"May I be permitted to have a word with you, Monsieur?" she asked in +French, in a low, refined voice. + +"Certainly," was my reply, and, not without some surprise, I rose and +drew a chair for her. + +She glanced round quickly, as though to satisfy herself that she would +not be overheard, but, as a matter of fact, at that hour the chairs on +the terraces of the café were practically deserted. At the same moment, +viewing her closely, I saw that she was about twenty-four, handsome, +dark-haired, with well-cut features. + +"I know, Monsieur, that I am a complete stranger to you," she exclaimed +with a smile, "but to me you are quite familiar by sight. I have passed +you many times in Berlin and in Potsdam, and I know that you are Count +von Heltzendorff, personal-adjutant to His Highness the +Crown-Prince--or Count von Grünau, as he is known here in France." + +"You know that!" I exclaimed. + +She smiled mysteriously, replying: + +"Yes. I--well, I happen to be a friend of His Highness." + +I held my breath. So this pretty young Frenchwoman was one of my young +Imperial master's friends! + +"The fact is, Count," she went on, "I have travelled a considerable +distance to see you. I said that I was one of the Crown-Prince's +friends. Please do not misunderstand me. I know that he has a good many +lady friends, but, as far as I am concerned, I have never been +introduced to him, and he does not know me. I am his friend because of a +certain friendliness towards him." + +"Really, Madame, I don't quite understand," I said. + +"Of course not," she answered, and then, glancing round, she added: +"This place is a little too public. Cannot we go across to the garden +yonder?" + +At her suggestion I rose and walked with her to a quiet spot in the +gardens, where we sat down, and I listened with interest to her. + +She told me that her name was Julie de Rouville, but she would give no +account of where she lived, though I took it that she was a young widow. + +"I have ventured to approach you, Count, because I cannot approach the +Crown-Prince," she said presently. "You probably do not know the true +reason of his visit here to Nice?" + +"No," I said. "I admit that I do not. Why is he here?" + +"It is a secret of his own. But, curiously enough, I am aware of the +reason, and that is why I have sought you. Would it surprise you if I +told you that in a certain quarter in France it will, in a few days, be +known that the German Emperor is establishing a movement for an +_entente_ between Germany and Britain, and that the whole affair is +based upon a fraud? The Emperor wants no _entente_, but only war with +France and with Britain. The whole plot will be exposed in a few days!" + +"From what source have you derived this knowledge?" I asked, looking at +her in amazement that she should know one of the greatest State secrets +of Germany. + +But she again smiled mysteriously, and said: + +"I merely tell you this in order to prove to you that I am in possession +of certain facts known to but few people." + +"You evidently are," I said. "But who intends to betray the truth to +France?" + +"I regret, Count, that I cannot answer your question." + +"If you are, as you say, the Crown-Prince's friend, it would surely be a +friendly act to let us know the truth, so that steps may be taken, +perhaps, to avoid the secret of Germany's diplomacy from leaking out to +her enemies." + +"All I can tell you, Count, is that the matter is one of gravest +importance." + +"But will you not speak openly, and give us the actual facts?" + +"I will--but to His Imperial Highness alone," was her answer. + +"You wish to meet him, then?" I asked, rather suspicious that it might +after all be only a woman's ruse. And yet what she had said showed that +she knew the Emperor's secret, for she had actually mentioned Von +Gessler's name in connection with the pretended Anglo-German _entente_. + +"If His Highness will honour me with an interview, then I will reveal +all I know, and, further, will suggest a means of preventing the truth +from leaking out." + +"But you are French," I said. + +"I have told you so," she laughed. "But probably His Highness will +refuse to see Julie de Rouville, therefore I think it best if you show +him this." + +From her little gold chain-purse she produced a small, unmounted +photograph of herself, and handed it to me. + +"When he recognizes who wishes to see him he will fully understand," she +said, in a quiet, refined voice. "A letter addressed to Julie de +Rouville at the Post Restante at Marseilles will quickly find me." + +"At Marseilles?" I echoed. + +"Yes. I do not wish the letter to be sent to me here. From Marseilles I +shall duly receive it." + +I was silent for a few moments. + +"I confess," I exclaimed at last. "I confess I do not exactly see the +necessity for an interview with His Highness, when whatever you tell +me--as his personal-adjutant--will be regarded as strictly in +confidence." + +Truth to tell, I was extremely suspicious of her. She might be desirous +of meeting the Prince with some evil intent. + +"I have already said, Count Heltzendorff, that I am His Highness's +friend, and wish to approach him with motives of friendship." + +"You wish for no payment for this information, eh?" I asked +suspiciously, half believing that she might be a secret agent of France. + +"Payment--of course not!" she answered, half indignantly. "Show that +photograph to the Crown-Prince, and tell him that I apply for an +interview." + +Then, rather abruptly, she rose, and, thanking me, wished me good +afternoon, and walked away, leaving me with her photograph in my hand. + +The Crown-Prince was out motoring, and did not get back to the Villa +until after seven o'clock. + +As soon as I heard of his return I went to his room, and recounted my +strange adventure with the dark-haired young woman in black. He became +keenly interested, and the more so when I told him of her secret +knowledge of the Kaiser's intended establishment of a bogus _entente_ +with Great Britain. + +"She wishes to see you," I said. "And she told me to give you her +photograph." + +I handed it to him. + +At sight of it his face instantly changed. He held his breath, and then +examined the photograph beneath the light. Afterwards I noticed a +strange, hard look at the corners of his mouth, while his teeth set +themselves firmly. + +Next second, however, he had recovered his self-possession, and with a +low laugh said: + +"Yes. Of course, I know her. She wants me to write to Julie de Rouville +at the Post Restante at Marseilles, eh? H'm--I'll think it over." + +And I could see that sight of the photograph had not only displeased +him, but it also caused him very considerable uneasiness. + +Late in the afternoon, two days later, His Highness, who had been +walking alone, and who had apparently evaded the vigilance of the +ever-watchful Eckardt, returned to the Villa with a stranger, a tall, +rather thin, fair-haired man, undoubtedly a German, and the pair were +closeted together, holding counsel evidently for a considerable time. +Where His Highness met him I knew not, but when later on I entered the +room I saw that the pair were on quite friendly terms. + +His Highness addressed him as Herr Schäfer, and when he had left he told +me that he was from the Wilhelmstrasse, and had been attached to the +Embassy at Washington, and afterwards in London, "for affairs of the +Press"--which meant that he was conductor of the German Press +propaganda. + +It seemed curious that the young man Schäfer should be in such high +favour with the Crown-Prince. + +I watched closely. Whatever was in progress was a strict secret between +the pair. The more I saw of Hans Schäfer the more I disliked him. He +had cruel eyes and heavy, sensuous lips--a coarse countenance which was +the reverse of prepossessing, though I could see that he was a very +clever and cunning person. + +For a full fortnight the Crown-Prince and the man Schäfer were almost +inseparable. Was it for the purpose of meeting Schäfer that we had gone +to Nice? The man had been back from London about two months, and had, I +learnt, been lately living in Paris. + +One evening while strolling in the sunset by the sea along the +tree-lined Promenade des Anglais, I suddenly encountered Julie de +Rouville, dressed in mourning, a quiet, pathetic figure, just as we had +last met. + +I instantly recollected that since the evening when I had given her +photograph to the Crown-Prince he had never mentioned her, and I could +only believe that for some mysterious reason sight of the picture had +recalled some distasteful memory. + +"Ah, Count!" she cried, as I halted and raised my hat. "This is, indeed, +a welcome meeting! I have been looking out for you for the past two +days." + +"I've been staying over at Cannes," was my reply. "Well?" + +She indicated a seat, and upon it we sat together. + +"I have to thank you for giving my photograph and message to His +Highness," she said in that sweet, refined voice that I so well +remembered. + +"I trust that the Crown-Prince has written to you--eh?" + +She smiled, a trifle sadly I thought. + +"Well, no----" was her rather vague reply. + +"Then how are you aware that I gave your message?" + +She shook her head and again smiled. + +"I had my own means of discovery. By certain signs I knew that you had +carried out your promise," she said. "But as I have heard nothing, I +wish you, if you will, to deliver another message--a very urgent one. +Tell him I must see him, for I dread daily lest the truth of the +Kaiser's real intentions be known at the Quai d'Orsay." + +"Certainly," was my polite reply. "I will deliver your message this +evening." + +"Tell him that my sole desire is to act in the interests of the Emperor +and himself," she urged. + +"But, forgive me," I said, "I cannot see why you should interest +yourself in the Crown-Prince if he declines to communicate with you." + +"I have my reasons, Count von Heltzendorff," was her rather haughty +reply. "Please tell him that the matter will not brook further delay." + +I had seen in the London newspapers during the past week how eagerly the +English journalists, with the dust cast into their eyes, were blindly +advocating that the British public should welcome the great German +national movement, headed by Baron von Gessler, supported by Ballin, +Delbrück, and Von Wedel, with the hearty co-operation of the Emperor and +the Imperial Chancellor--the movement to establish better relations with +Great Britain. + +I knew that the secret should at all hazards be kept, and that night I +told the Crown-Prince of my second meeting with the pretty woman in +black and her urgent request. + +He laughed, but made no remark. Yet I knew by his tone that he was not +so easy in his mind as he desired me to believe. + +It also seemed strange why, if the young Frenchwoman was so desirous of +meeting him, she did not call at the Villa. + +About a week later it suddenly occurred to me to endeavour to discover +the real identity of the lady in black, but as I was not certain whether +she actually lived in Nice it was rather difficult. Nevertheless, by +invoking the aid of my friend Belabre, inspector of the Sûreté of Nice, +and after waiting a few days I made an astounding discovery, namely, +that the lady who called herself De Rouville was an Italian café concert +singer named Irene Speroni--the woman who had aroused the jealousy of +the Crown-Princess! And she knew that important State secret of Germany! + +The situation was, I saw, a most serious one. Indeed, I felt it my duty +to mention my discovery to His Highness, when, to my surprise, he was +not in the least angry. He merely said: + +"It is true, Heltzendorff--true what the Crown-Princess declared--that I +went to Wiesbaden and that I gave the woman a pair of emerald earrings +which I ordered from old Vollgold. But there was no reason for jealousy. +I saw the woman, and gave her the present in the hope of closing her +lips." + +In a moment I understood. The pretty variety artiste was endeavouring to +levy blackmail. But how could she, in her position, have learnt the +secret of the Emperor's intentions? + +She was, I found, living as Signorina Speroni, with her maid, at the +Hôtel Bristol over at Beaulieu, just across the blue bay of +Villefranche, and as the days went on I realized the imminent danger of +exposure, and wondered if the Kaiser knew of it. + +I made a remark to that effect to His Highness one morning, whereupon he +replied: + +"Don't disturb yourself, my dear Heltzendorff! I have not overlooked the +matter, for it is one that closely concerns both the Emperor and myself. +The woman obtained the secret by opening the dispatch-box of one who +believed her to be his friend, and then she attempted to use her +knowledge in order to drag me into her net. But I do not think I am very +likely to be caught--eh?" + +At that moment Herr Schäfer entered the room, therefore further +discussion was out of the question. + +From inquiries I made later on I found that the concert singer had +suddenly left the hotel, therefore I went over to Beaulieu and had an +instructive chat with the hall porter, a German of course. From him I +learnt that the Signorina had been staying there ever since the date +when we had arrived at Nice, and, further, that two gentleman had been +frequently in the habit of calling upon her. One was a smart young +Frenchman who came in a motor-car, and the other was a German. From the +description of the latter I at once came to the conclusion that it was +none other than Herr Schäfer! + +"The one gentleman did not know of the other's visits," said the bearded +porter, with a laugh. "The Signorina always impressed silence upon me, +because she thought one would be jealous of the other. The German +gentleman seemed very deeply in love with her, and she called him Hans. +He accompanied her when she left here for San Remo." + +I reported this to His Highness, but he made no remark. That some +devilish plot was being carried out I suspected. The Hohenzollerns are +ready to go to any length to prevent their black secrets from leaking +out. + +My surmise proved correct, for, a week later, some fishermen found upon +the brown rocks near Capo Verde, beyond San Remo, the body of a woman, +fully dressed, afterwards identified as that of Irene Speroni, the +singer so popular in Rome. + +It was proved that on the previous night she had been seen by two +peasants walking along the sea road near San Lorenzo, accompanied by a +tall, thin man, who seemed greatly excited, and was talking in German. +It was believed by the Italian police that the unknown German, in a fit +of jealousy, threw her into the sea. + +From facts I gathered some months later I realized that the whole plot +had been most cunningly conceived by the Crown-Prince. Schäfer, after +his return from America, had met the woman Speroni, who was performing +in London, and she had, unknown to him, opened his dispatch-box, and +from some secret correspondence had learned the real truth regarding the +proposed _entente_ which the Emperor contemplated. + +Schäfer, alarmed at the woman's knowledge, and yet fascinated by her +charms, had gone to the Crown-Prince, and he, in turn, had seen the +woman in Wiesbaden. Finding her so dangerous to the Emperor's plans, His +Highness then conceived a fiendish plot. He first introduced her to a +young French Marquis, de Vienne by name, who pestered her with his +attentions, and followed her to Beaulieu. Having so far succeeded, the +Crown-Prince went to Nice, and cleverly played upon Schäfer's love for +the woman, pointing out that she was playing a double game, and urging +him to watch. + +He did so, and discovered the truth. Then there occurred the tragedy of +jealousy, exactly as the police believed. + +Herr Schäfer, the tool of His Imperial Highness, had, however, escaped +to Germany, and the police of San Remo are still in ignorance of his +identity. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER SIX + +THE AFFAIR OF THE HUNCHBACKED COUNTESS + + +I suppose that none of your British friends have ever heard the name of +Thyra Adelheid von Kienitz. + +She was a funny little deformed person, aged, perhaps, seventy, widow of +the great General von Kienitz, who had served in the Franco-German +campaign, and who, before his death, had been acknowledged to be as +great a strategist as your own Lord Roberts, whom every good German--I +did not write Prussian--salutes in reverence. + +Countess von Kienitz was the daughter of a certain Countess von Borcke, +and after living for many years in retirement in her picturesque old +schloss perched on a rock not far from the famous wine district of +Berncastel, on the winding Mosel river, became suddenly seized with an +idea to re-enter Berlin society. + +With this view she rented a fine house not far from the Liechtenstein +Bridge, and early in 1911 commenced a series of wildly-extravagant +entertainments--luncheons, dinners, and supper concerts, at which were +artistes to whom three-thousand-mark fees were often paid--with a view, +as it seemed to me, to attract the more modern and go-ahead section of +Berlin society. + +At first the smarter set looked askance at the ugly, deformed, +painted-up old woman with the squeaky voice, and they strenuously +declined invitations to her splendid, newly-furnished mansion in the +Stulerstrasse. Indeed, the name of the Countess von Kienitz became +synonymous for all that was grotesque, and her painted, doll-like +countenance and yellow wig were the laughing-stock of both the upper and +middle classes. + +Nevertheless she strenuously endeavoured to surround herself with young +society of both sexes, and many smart dances were given at the +Stulerstrasse during the season--dances at which the swaggering Prussian +officer was seen at his gorgeous best. + +One afternoon, seated by the Crown-Prince as he drove recklessly his +great Mercédès car along the Bismarckallee in the direction of Potsdam, +we passed an overdressed old woman, very artificial, with yellow hair, +and short of stature. + +"Look, Heltzendorff! Is she not like that old crow, Von Kienitz?" + +"Yes, her figure is very similar," I admitted. + +"Ah! The old woman was introduced to me the other night at +Bismarck-Bohlen's house. _Himmel!_ What a freak! Have you seen her +wig?" + +I replied that I had visited once or twice at the Stulerstrasse, and +that the company I had met there were certainly amusing. I mentioned +some of their names, among them that of young Von Ratibor, Major +Gersdorff, of the Death's Head Hussars, Von Heynitz, of the Königsjäger, +a well-known man about town, his friend Winterfeld, together with a +number of ladies of the very ultra go-ahead set. At this His Highness +seemed highly interested. + +"She certainly seems a very curious old person," he laughed. "Fancies +that she's but twenty-five, and actually had the audacity to dance at +Bismarck-Bohlen's. Somebody was cruel enough to ask her to sing a French +_chansonnette_!" + +"Did she?" I inquired. + +"Of course. She put herself into a martial attitude, and sang something +about 'Le drapeau' of 'Jacques Bonhomme,' as though we wished to know +anything about it. The man who suggested the song was sorry." + +I laughed heartily. Sometimes the Crown-Prince could be humorous, and it +certainly must have been distinctly quaint when, as a result of the joke +played upon the old Countess, she so completely turned the tables upon +the party by singing a song full of French sentiment. + +That circumstance told me that she must be a very clever old lady, even +though she wore that tow-coloured wig which sometimes on nights of +merriment got a trifle askew. + +Judge my great surprise, however, when, about six weeks later, Frau von +Alvensleben, the pretty _Grande Maîtresse_ of the Court of the +Crown-Princess, stopped me in one of the corridors of the Marmor Palace +and, drawing me aside, whispered: + +"I have news for you, my dear Count. We have a new arrival at +Court--Frau Yellow-Wig." + +I looked at her, for the moment puzzled. She saw that I did not follow +her. + +"Countess von Kienitz--a friend of yours, I believe." + +"Friend of mine!" I echoed. "I've only been to her house three or four +times, just in a crowd, and out of curiosity." + +"_Oh, là là!_ Well, she has told the Crown-Princess that you are her +friend, and, in brief, has entirely fascinated Her Imperial Highness." + +I gasped. At what a pass we had arrived when the Crown-Princess was +receiving that old woman whose reputation was of the gayest and most +scandalous! + +What the _Grande Maîtresse_ had told me was perfectly correct, for +three days later a dance was held, and as I entered the room I saw +amid that gay assemblage the yellow-haired old widow of the +long-forgotten military hero wagging her lace fan and talking quite +familiarly with Her Imperial Highness. To my utter amazement also, +His Majesty the Emperor, in the gay uniform of the 3rd Regiment of +Uhlans of Saxony--of whom he was chief, among a hundred-and-one other +high military distinctions--advanced and smiled graciously upon her as +she bowed as low as rheumatism and old age allowed. + +The fascination which the ugly, shrill-voiced old woman exercised over +"Cilli" was quickly remarked, and, of course, gossip became more rife +than ever, especially when, a week later, it was announced that she had +actually been appointed a lady-in-waiting. + +The Crown-Prince, too, soon became on friendly terms with her, and many +times I saw them chatting together as though exchanging confidences. +Why? + +His Highness, usually so utterly piggish towards ladies, given to +snubbing even the highest-born in the Empire, was always smiling and +gracious towards her. + +"I can't make it out," declared Von Behr, the Chamberlain _du service_, +to me one day two months later, while I was smoking with him in his +room. "The old woman has the most complete control over Her Highness. +Because she was averse to the journey, we are not going to Norway this +year. Besides, since her appointment she has succeeded in plotting the +dismissal of both Countess von Scheet-Plessen and Countess von +Brockdorff." + +"I know," I replied. I had been discussing it only a few hours before +with Major von Amsberg, aide-de-camp of the Prince Eitel Frédéric, and +he, too, had expressed himself both mystified and disgusted with the +mysterious power exercised by the old woman in the yellow wig. "It seems +so extraordinary," I went on, "that the Court should so utterly +disregard the woman's reputation." + +"Bah, my dear Heltzendorff!" laughed the Chamberlain. "When a woman +arrives at seventy she has outlived all the peccadilloes of youth. And, +after all, the reputations of most of us here are tarnished--more or +less--eh?" + +His remarks were indeed true. Nevertheless, it did not lessen the +mystery of the appointment of the little old Countess as a +lady-in-waiting, nor did it account for the strange influence which she +held over the Imperial pair. + +One evening I went to the Countess's house in the Stulerstrasse to a +dinner-party, at which there were present the Crown-Prince, Admiral von +Spee from Kiel, and Von Ilberg, the Emperor's doctor, together with the +old Duke von Trachenberg, who held the honorary and out-of-date office +of grand cupbearer to the Emperor, and the eternal "Uncle" Zeppelin. +With us were a number of ladies, including their Serene Highnesses the +Princess von Radolin and the Duchess von Ratibor, both ladies of the +Court of the Kaiserin, and several others of the ultra-smart set. + +After the meal there was a small dance, and about midnight, after +waltzing with a pretty girl, the daughter of the Baron von +Heintze-Weissenrode, we strolled together into the fine winter garden +with its high palms, its plashing fountains, and its cunningly-secreted +electric lights. + +I was seated with her, chatting gaily, for we had met in July at +Stubbenkammer, on the island of Rügen. She had been staying with her +father at Eichstadt's, in Nipmerow, and we had all three been on some +pleasant excursions along the Baltic coast, with its picturesque beech +woods, white cliffs, and blue bays. + +We were recalling a delightful excursion up to the Herthaburg, on the +road to Sassnitz, that "altar of sacrifice" which tradition connects +with the mysterious rites of the beautiful goddess Hertha, mentioned by +Tacitus, when suddenly we overheard voices. + +Two persons were approaching somewhere behind us, conversing in +Italian--a man and a woman. + +"Hush!" I whispered mischievously. "Listen! Do you know Italian?" + +"Alas! no," was her reply. "Do you?" + +I did not answer, for I had already recognized the voices as those of +our hostess and the Crown-Prince. + +Next moment, however, my companion's quick ears caught that unmistakable +squeaky voice. + +"Why, it's the Countess!" she exclaimed. + +I made no reply, but continued to recall that glorious summer's day +beside the blue Baltic, while His Highness and the little old +lady-in-waiting seated themselves out of sight a short distance away, +and continued a very confidential discussion in an undertone in the +language in which, after German, I happened perhaps to be most +proficient. + +The pair were discussing somebody named Karl Krahl, and the curious +discussion was undoubtedly regarding some evil intent. + +"I saw the Emperor to-day," declared the old woman in her sibilant +Italian, so that no one should understand, for Italian is seldom spoken +in Germany. "His Majesty shares my views now, though he did not do so +at first. Indeed, I was very near being dismissed in disgrace when I +first broached the affair. But, fortunately, he now knows the truth and +sees the advantage of--well, you know, eh?" + +"_Certo, Contessa_," replied the Crown-Prince, who speaks Italian +extremely well, though not with half the fluency of his hostess. "I +quite foresee the peril and the force of your argument." + +"How shall we act?" asked the old woman. "It remains for you to devise a +plan. At any moment matters may approach a crisis. One can never account +for the confidences exchanged by those who love each other. And, +remember, Krahl is in love." + +The Crown-Prince grunted, but as several couples entered at that moment +the pair suddenly broke off their confidential chat, and, rising, went +out together. + +Who was this Karl Krahl against whom some deep-laid plot was levelled? + +I searched various directories, lists of persons engaged in the +Government offices in the Wilhelmstrasse, the Leipzigerstrasse, and +Unter den Linden; I consulted the Director of Berlin Police, Von Jagow; +the well-known Detective Schunke, and Heinrich Wesener, +Assistant-Director of the Secret Service of the General Staff; but +nobody knew Karl Krahl. There seemed to be no record of him anywhere. + +In October I went with the Crown-Prince and the Emperor upon a round of +ceremonial military inspections to the garrisons in Silesia--namely, +Breslau, Leignitz, and Oppeln--and afterwards to Lübeck, where we +presented new colours to two regiments. Thence, while the Emperor and +his Staff returned direct to Berlin, I accompanied His Imperial Highness +to Ballenstedt, the beautiful schloss in the Harz Mountains. Here once +or twice each season the Crown-Prince's habit was to invite a few of his +most intimate chums to shoot in the forests of Stecklenberg and the +Lauenberg, and along that curious sandstone ridge known as the +Teufelsmauer, or "Devil's Wall." + +The sport was always excellent, especially about the romantic district +of Neue Schenke, near Suderode. + +The guns consisted of five well-known officers from Berlin, together +with Dr. Zeising, the Master-General of Forests, and Lieut.-General von +Oertzen, the fat old Inspector-General of Cavalry. As usual, we all had +a most enjoyable time. + +On the third day, after a champagne luncheon taken at the forester's +little house at Neue Schenke, we were about to resume our sport. Indeed, +all the guests had gone outside, preparing to go to their allotted +stations, when the head forester, a stalwart man in green livery, +entered, and, addressing the Crown-Prince, said: + +"There is a man to see Your Imperial Highness, and refuses to leave. He +gives his name as Karl Krahl." + +In an instant I pricked up my ears. + +His Highness's brows narrowed for a second, which showed his annoyance, +then, smiling affably, so clever was he, like his Imperial father, in +the concealment of his real feelings--he replied: + +"Oh, yes--Krahl! I recollect. Yes, I will see him here." + +Next moment the person whom I had heard discussed so strangely in the +little old woman's beautiful winter garden was ushered in. + +He was dark-haired, aged about twenty-eight, I judged, with small, +shrewd black eyes, dressed in a well-cut suit of grey country tweeds, +and but for his German name I should have taken him for an English +tourist, one of those familiar objects of the Harz in peace time. His +appearance instantly interested me, the more so owing to the fact that +he had come to that remote spot and at that hour to pay a visit to the +Emperor's son. + +"Come in, Karl!" exclaimed the Crown-Prince affably, as he grasped his +visitor's hand. His Highness did not often offer his manicured hand to +others, and at this I was, I admit, greatly surprised. "The forester did +not know you, of course. Well, I am very pleased to see you. Have you +come straight here?" + +"Yes, your Highness. I went first to Berlin, and learning that you were +here I thought I had better lose no time." + +"Quite right," laughed his Highness who, turning to me, said: +"Heltzendorff, will you tell the others to go on--that I am detained for +an hour on State business, and--and that I will join them as soon as +possible. I will find you in the woods, on the left of the Quedlinburg +Road, before one comes to the Wurmtal. Apologize for me, but the delay +is inevitable. I have a conference with Herr Krahl." + +While His Highness remained behind at the forester's house to chat alone +with the mysterious Karl Krahl, we went out among the birds and had some +excellent sport. Yet the sight of that ferret-eyed young man, whom I had +long endeavoured in vain to trace, caused me considerable wonderment. +Who was that young fellow in whom the little old Countess seemed to take +such deep and peculiar interest? What was his offence that she, with the +Crown-Prince, should concoct, as it seemed to me, such a plot as that I +had partly overheard? + +That there was a woman in the case I felt assured, but her name had not +been mentioned, and I had no suspicion of whom it could be. I realized, +however, that something important must be in progress, otherwise His +Highness, devoted to sport as he was, would never have given up the best +afternoon to consult with that stranger in grey tweeds. + +The forester and beaters had come with us, as the Crown-Prince had, at +his own request, been left alone with his mysterious visitor. + +After a couple of short beats we arrived at the spot on the forest road +to Quedlinburg, a most romantic and picturesque gorge, where His +Highness had arranged to meet us, and there we sat down and waited. Both +Von Oertzen and Dr. Zeising, being unduly stout, had been puffed in +coming up the steep mountain side, and as we sat we gossiped, though +impatient to set forth again. + +A full half-hour had passed, yet the head forester, who was keeping a +look-out along the road, did not signal His Highness's approach. + +"I wonder what can have detained him?" remarked the Inspector-General of +Cavalry. + +I explained that a strange young man had come to the forester's house. + +"Well," laughed a smart young lieutenant of Uhlans, "I could have +understood the delay if it had been a lady!" + +An hour went past. The light would soon fade, and we, knowing "Willie's" +utter disregard for his appointments, at last decided to continue the +shoot, leaving one of the foresters to tell His Highness the direction +we had taken. + +The Crown-Prince did not, however, join us, and darkness had fallen ere +we returned to the forester's house. Of His Highness there was no sign, +a fact which much surprised us. In the room wherein I had left him his +gun and green Tyrolese hat were lying upon a chair, and the fact that +all the cars were still ranged outside showed that he had not driven +back to the castle. + +The Crown-Prince had disappeared! + +Knof, His Highness's chauffeur, who had been walking with us, was sent +back post-haste to the schloss to ascertain whether he had been seen +there, for His Highness's movements were often most erratic. We knew +that if the whim took him he would perhaps go off in an opposite +direction, or trudge back to the castle with utter disregard of our +natural anxiety. + +Lights were lit, and we enjoyed cigars awaiting Knof's return. In an +hour he was back with the news that nothing had been heard of His +Highness. Soon after we had left that morning, however, a young man in a +grey suit had called and seen the major-domo, who had directed him where +His Highness might be found. + +Upon Eckardt--the commissary of police responsible for His Highness's +safety--the onus rested. Yet, had he not been sent out with the party, +as His Highness had expressed to me a wish to be left alone with the +stranger, whose name I alone knew. + +While we were discussing the most judicious mode of action--for I +scented much mystery in this visit of Karl Krahl--one of the party +suddenly discovered, lying upon the ledge of the window, a lady's small +and rather elegant handbag of black _moiré_ silk. + +"Hulloa!" I cried when he held it up for inspection. "This reveals to us +one fact--a woman has been here!" + +I opened the bag, and within found a small lawn handkerchief with a +coronet embroidered in its corner, a tiny tortoise-shell mirror, and +four one-hundred-mark notes, but no clue whatever as to its owner. + +The mystery was increasing hourly, but the gay party, knowing "Willie's" +susceptibility where the fair sex were concerned, only laughed and +declared that His Highness would assuredly turn up before the evening +was over. + +Truth to tell, I did not like the situation. His Highness's +disappearance was now known to fifty or so persons, beaters, and others, +and I feared lest it might get into the Berlin papers. With that object +I called them together and impressed upon them that most complete +silence must be maintained regarding the affair. + +Then Knof drove me alone back to the schloss. I wondered if His +Highness, wishing to get away unobserved, returning in secret there, +had left me a written message in his room. He had done that on one +occasion before. + +I dashed up to the small, old-world room which by day overlooked the +romantic and picturesque valley, but upon the table whereat I had been +writing early that morning there was nothing. + +As I turned to leave I heard a footstep, and next instant saw the little +deformed old Countess facing me. + +Her appearance quite startled me. Apparently she had just arrived, for +she was in a dark blue bonnet and warm travelling coat. + +"Ah! Count von Heltzendorff!" she cried in that squeaky, high-pitched +voice of hers. "Is His Imperial Highness here? I must see him +immediately." + +"No, Countess. His Imperial Highness is not here," was my reply. "This +afternoon he mysteriously disappeared from the forester's lodge at Neue +Schenke, and we are unable to trace him." + +"Disappeared!" gasped the old lady, instantly pale and agitated. + +"Yes," I said, looking her straight in the face. + +"Do you know whether he had a visitor to-day--a young, dark-haired man?" + +"He had, Countess. A man called, and saw him. At His Highness's request +I left him alone with his visitor at the forester's house. The man's +name was Karl Krahl." + +"How did you know his name?" she asked, staring at me with an expression +of distinct suspicion. + +"Because--well, because I happen to have learnt it some time ago," I +said. "And, further, on returning to the house we found this little bag +in the room wherein I had left the Crown-Prince." + +"Why!--a lady's bag!" she exclaimed as I held it out for inspection. + +"Yes," I said in a somewhat hard tone. "Do you happen to recognize it?" + +"Me? Why?" asked the old woman. + +"Well, because I think it is your own property," I said with a sarcastic +smile. "I have some recollection of having seen it in your hand!" + +She took it, examined it well, and then, with a hollow, artificial +laugh, declared: + +"It certainly is not mine. I once had a bag very similar, but mine was +not of such good quality." + +"Are you really quite certain, Countess?" I demanded in a low, +persuasive voice. + +"Quite," she declared, though I knew that she was lying to me. "But why +trouble about that bag while there is a point much more important--the +safety and whereabouts of His Imperial Highness?" she went on in a great +state of agitation. "Tell me, Count, exactly what occurred--as far as +you know." + +I recounted to her the facts just as you have already written them down, +and as I did so I watched her thin, crafty old face, noticing upon it an +expression full of suspicion of myself. She was, I now realized, +undecided as to the exact extent of my knowledge. + +"How did you know that the young man's name was Krahl?" she asked +eagerly. "You had perhaps met him before--eh?" + +But to this leading question I maintained a sphinx-like silence. That +the little old woman who had so unexpectedly become a lady-in-waiting +was playing some desperate double game I felt sure, but its exact import +was still an enigma. + +"In any case," she said, "would it not be as well to return to the Neue +Schenke and make search?" + +I smiled. Then, in order to let her know that I was acquainted with +Italian, the language she had spoken on that well-remembered night in +her own conservatory, I exclaimed: + +"Ahe! alle volte con gli occhi aperti si far dei sogni." (Sometimes one +can dream with one's eyes open.) + +Her thin eyebrows narrowed, and with a shrug of her shoulders the clever +old woman replied: + +"Dal false bene viene il vero male." (From an affected good feeling +comes a real evil.) + +I realized at that moment that there was more mystery in the affair than +I had yet conceived. His Imperial Highness was certainly missing, though +the female element of the affair had become eliminated by my recognition +of her own handbag. She, too, had been in secret to the forester's +house--but with what object? + +Half an hour later we were back at the little house in the forest. + +The guests had all returned to the castle, and only Eckardt, the police +commissary, remained, with the forester and his underlings. Already +search had been made in the surrounding woods, but without result. Of +his Imperial Highness there was no trace. + +In the long room, with its pitch-pine walls, and lit by oil lamps, the +crafty old Countess closely questioned Eckardt as to the result of his +inquiries. But the police official, who had become full of nervous fear, +declared that he had been sent off by His Highness, and had not since +found any trace of him. He spoke of the little black silk bag, of +course, and attached great importance to it. + +Within half an hour we had reorganized the beaters from the +neighbourhood and, with lanterns, set out again to examine some woods to +the east which had not been searched. About ten o'clock we set forth, +the Countess accompanying us and walking well, notwithstanding her age, +though I could see that it was a fearful anxiety that kept her active. +To the men with us every inch of the mountain side was familiar, and for +hours we searched. + +Suddenly, not far away, a horn was blown, followed by loud shouts. +Quickly we approached the spot, and Eckardt and myself, as we came up, +looked upon a strange scene. Close to the trunk of a great beech tree +lay the form of the Crown-Prince, hatless, outstretched upon his face. + +Instantly I bent, tore open his shooting jacket, and to my great relief +found that his heart was still beating. He was, however, quite +unconscious, though there seemed no sign of a struggle. As he had left +his hat and gun in the house, it seemed that he had gone forth only for +a moment. And yet we were quite a mile from the forester's house! + +The Countess had thrown herself upon her knees and stroked his brow +tenderly when I announced that he was still living. By her actions I saw +that she was filled by some bitter self-reproach. + +With the lanterns shining around him--surely a weird and remarkable +scene which would, if described by the journalists, have caused a great +sensation in Europe--the Crown-Prince was brought slowly back to +consciousness, until at last he sat up, dazed and wondering. + +His first words to me were: + +"That fellow! Where is he? That--that glass globe!" + +Glass globe! Surely His Highness's mind was wandering. + +An hour later he was comfortably in bed in the great old-world room in +the castle, attended by a local doctor--upon whom I set the seal of +official silence--and before dawn he had completely recovered. + +Yet, even to me, he declared that he retained absolutely no knowledge of +what had occurred. + +"I went out quickly, and I--well, I don't know what happened," he told +me soon after dawn, as he lay in bed. Strangely enough, he made no +mention of the man, Karl Krahl. + +Later on he summoned the Countess von Kienitz, and for twenty minutes or +so he had an animated discussion with her. Being outside the room, +however, I was unable to hear distinctly. + +Well, I succeeded, by bribes and threats, in hushing up the whole affair +and keeping it out of the papers, while by those who knew of the +incident it was soon forgotten. + +I suppose it must have been fully three months later when one evening, +having taken some documents over to the Emperor for signature at the +Berlin Schloss, I returned to the Prince's private room in the Palace, +when, to my great surprise, I found the man Karl Krahl seated there. He +looked very pale and worn, quite unlike the rather athletic figure he +presented at the forester's house. + +"If you still refuse to tell me the truth, then I shall take my own +measures to find out--severe measures! So I give you full warning," the +Crown-Prince was declaring angrily, as I entered so unexpectedly. + +I did not withdraw, pretending not to notice the presence of a visitor, +therefore His Highness himself beckoned the young man, who followed him +down the corridor to another room. + +The whole affair was most puzzling. What had happened on that afternoon +in the Harz Mountains I could not at all imagine. By what means had His +Highness been rendered unconscious, and what part could the little old +Countess have played in the curious affair? + +In about half an hour the Crown-Prince returned in a palpably bad +humour, and, flinging himself into his chair, wrote a long letter, which +he addressed to Countess von Kienitz. This he sealed carefully, and +ordered me to take it at once to the Stulerstrasse and deliver it to her +personally. + +"The Countess left for Stockholm this morning," I was informed by the +bearded manservant. "She left by the eight o'clock train, and has +already left Sassnitz by now." + +"When do you expect her to return?" + +The man did not know. + +On going back to His Highness and telling him of the Countess's +departure, he bit his lip and then smiled grimly. + +"That infernal old woman has left Germany, and will never again put her +foot upon our soil, Heltzendorff," he said. "You may open that letter. +It will explain something which I know must have mystified you." + +I did so. And as I read what he had written I held my breath. Truly, it +did explain much. + +Imposing the strictest silence upon me, the Crown-Prince then revealed +how utterly he and the Crown-Princess had been misled, and how very +narrowly he had escaped being the victim of a cunning plot to effect his +death. + +The little old Countess von Kienitz had, it seemed, sworn to avenge the +degradation and dismissal of her son, who had been in the famous Death's +Head Hussars. She had secretly traced the Crown-Prince as author of a +subtle conspiracy against him, the underlying motive being jealousy. +With that end in view she had slowly wormed her way into His Highness's +confidence, and introduced to him Karl Krahl, a neurotic young Saxon who +lived in London, and who pretended he had unearthed a plot against the +Kaiser himself. + +"It was to tell me the truth concerning the conspiracy that Krahl came +to me in secret at Ballenstedt. He remained with me for half an hour, +when, to my great surprise, we were joined by the Countess. The story +they told me of the plot against the Emperor was a very alarming one, +and I intended to return at once to Berlin. The Countess had left to +walk back to the schloss, when presently we heard a woman's scream--her +voice--and we both went forth to discover what was in progress. As I ran +along a little distance behind Krahl, suddenly what seemed like a thin +glass globe struck me in the chest and burst before my face. It had +been thrown by an unknown hand, and, on breaking, must have emitted some +poisonous gas which was intended to kill me, but which happily failed. +Until yesterday the whole affair was a complete mystery, but Krahl has +now confessed that the Countess conceived the plot, and that the hand +that had thrown the glass bomb was that of her son, who had concealed +himself in the bushes for that purpose." + +Though, of course, I hastened to congratulate His Highness upon his +fortunate escape, yet I now often wonder whether, if the plot had +succeeded, the present world-conflict would ever have occurred. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER SEVEN + +THE BRITISH GIRL WHO BAULKED THE KAISER + + +"How completely we have put to sleep these very dear cousins of ours, +the British!" His Imperial Highness the Crown-Prince made this remark to +me as he sat in the corner of a first-class compartment of an express +that had ten minutes before left Paddington Station for the West of +England--that much-advertised train known as the Cornish-Riviera +Express. + +The Crown-Prince, though not generally known, frequently visited England +and Scotland incognito, usually travelling as Count von Grünau, and we +were upon one of these flying visits on that bright summer's morning as +the express tore through your delightful English scenery of the Thames +Valley, with the first stopping-place at Plymouth, our destination. + +The real reason for the visit of my young hotheaded Imperial Master was +concealed from me. + +Four days before he had dashed into my room at the Marmor Palace at +Potsdam greatly excited. He had been with the Emperor in Berlin all the +morning, and had motored back with all speed. Something had occurred, +but what it was I failed to discern. He carried some papers in the +pocket of his military tunic. From their colour I saw that they were +secret reports--those documents prepared solely for the eyes of the +Kaiser and those of his precious son. + +He took a big linen-lined envelope and, placing the papers in it, +carefully sealed it with wax. + +"We are going to London, Heltzendorff. Put that in your dispatch-box. I +may want it when we are in England." + +"To London--when?" I asked, much surprised at the suddenness of our +journey, because I knew that we were due at Weimar in two days' time. + +"We leave at six o'clock this evening," was the Crown-Prince's reply. +"Koehler has ordered the saloon to be attached to the Hook of Holland +train. Hardt has already left Berlin to engage rooms for us at the +'Ritz,' in London." + +"And the suite?" I asked, for it was one of my duties to arrange who +travelled with His Imperial Highness. + +"Oh! we'll leave Eckardt at home," he said, for he always hated the +surveillance of the Commissioner of Secret Police. "We shall only want +Schuler, my valet, and Knof." + +We never travelled anywhere without Knof, the chauffeur, who was an +impudent, arrogant young man, intensely disliked by everyone. + +And so it was that the four of us duly landed at Harwich and travelled +to London, our identity unknown to the jostling crowd of Cook's tourists +returning from their annual holiday on the Continent. + +At the "Ritz," too, though we took our meals in the restaurant, that +great square white room overlooking the Park, "Willie" was not +recognized, because all photographs of him show him in elegant uniform. +In a tweed suit, or in evening clothes, he presents an unhealthy, weedy +and somewhat insignificant figure, save for those slant animal eyes of +his which are always so striking in his every mood. + +His Imperial Highness had been on the previous day to Carlton House +Terrace to a luncheon given by the Ambassador's wife, but to which +nobody was invited but the Embassy staff. + +And that afternoon in the great dining-room, in full view of +St. James's Park and Whitehall, the toast of "The Day" was drunk +enthusiastically--the day of Great Britain's intended downfall. + +That same evening an Imperial courier arrived from Berlin and called at +the "Ritz," where, on being shown into the Crown-Prince's sitting-room, +he handed His Highness a sealed letter from his wife. + +"Willie," on reading it, became very grave. Then, striking a match, he +lit it, and held it until it was consumed. There was a second +letter--which I saw was from the Emperor. This he also read, and then +gave vent to an expression of impatience. For a few minutes he +reflected, and it was then he announced that we must go to Plymouth next +day. + +On arrival there we went to the Royal Hotel, where the Crown-Prince +registered as Mr. Richter, engaging a private suite of rooms for himself +and his secretary, myself. For three days we remained there, taking +motor runs to Dartmoor, and also down into Cornwall, until on the +morning of the fourth day the Crown-Prince suddenly said: + +"I shall probably have a visitor this morning about eleven o'clock--a +young lady named King. Tell them at the bureau to send her up to my +sitting-room." + +At the time appointed the lady came. I received her in the lobby of the +self-contained flat, and found her to be about twenty-four, +well-dressed, fair-haired and extremely good-looking. Knowing the +Crown-Prince's _penchant_ for the petticoat, I saw at once the reason of +our journey down to Plymouth. + +Miss King, I learned, was an English girl who some years previously had +gone to America with her people, and by the heavy travelling coat and +close-fitting hat she wore I concluded that she had just come off one of +the incoming American liners. + +One thing which struck me as I looked at her was the brooch she wore. It +was a natural butterfly of a rare tropical variety, with bright golden +wings, the delicate sheen of which was protected by small plates of +crystal--one of the most charming ornaments I had ever seen. + +As I ushered her in she greeted the Crown-Prince as "Mr. Richter," being +apparently entirely unaware of his real identity. I concluded that she +was somebody whom His Highness had met in Germany, and to whom he had +been introduced under his assumed name. + +"Ah! Miss King!" he exclaimed pleasantly in his excellent English, +shaking hands with her. "Your boat should have been in yesterday. I fear +you encountered bad weather--eh?" + +"Yes, rather," replied the girl. "But it did not trouble me much. We had +almost constant gales ever since we left New York," she laughed +brightly. She appeared to be quite a charming little person. But his +fast-living Highness was perhaps one of the best judges of a pretty face +in all Europe, and I now realized why we had travelled all the way from +Potsdam to Plymouth. + +"Heltzendorff, would you please bring me that sealed packet from your +dispatch-box?" he asked, suddenly turning to me. + +The sealed packet! I had forgotten all about it ever since he had handed +it me at the door of the Marmor Palace. I knew that it contained some +secret reports prepared for the eye of the Emperor. The latter had no +doubt seen them, for the Crown-Prince had brought them with him from +Berlin. + +As ordered, I took the packet into the room where His Highness sat with +his fair visitor, and then I retired and closed the door. + +Hotel doors are never very heavy, as a rule, therefore I was able to +hear conversation, but unfortunately few words were distinct. The +interview had lasted nearly half an hour. Finding that I could hear +nothing, I contented myself in reading the paper and holding myself in +readiness should "Mr. Richter" want me. + +Of a sudden I heard His Highness's voice raised in anger, that shrill, +high-pitched note which is peculiar both to the Emperor and to his son +when they are unusually annoyed. + +"But I tell you, Miss King, there is no other way," I heard him shout. +"It can be done quite easily, and nobody can possibly know." + +"Never!" cried the girl. "What would people think of me?" + +"You wish to save your brother," he said. "Very well, I have shown you +how you can effect this. And I will help you if you agree to the +terms--if you will find out what I want to know." + +"I can't!" cried the girl, in evident distress. "I really can't! It +would be dishonest--criminal!" + +"Bah! my dear girl, you are looking at the affair from far too high a +standpoint," replied the man she knew as Richter. "It is a mere matter +of business. You ask me to assist you to save your brother, and I have +simply stated my terms. Surely you would not think that I should travel +from Berlin here to Plymouth in order to meet you if I were not ready +and eager to help you?" + +"I must ask my father. I can speak to him in confidence." + +"Your father!" shrieked Mr. Richter in alarm. "By no means. Why, you +must not breathe a single word to him. This affair is a strict secret +between us. Please understand that." Then, after a pause, he asked in a +lower and more serious voice: + +"Your brother is, I quite admit, in direst peril, and you alone can save +him. Now, what is your decision?" + +The girl's reply was in a tone too low for me to overhear. Its tenor, +however, was quickly apparent from the Crown-Prince's words: + +"You refuse! Very well, then, I cannot assist you. I regret, Miss King, +that you have had your journey to England for nothing." + +"But won't you help me, Mr. Richter?" cried the girl appealingly. "Do, +do, Mr. Richter!" + +"No," was his cold answer. "I will, however, give you opportunity to +reconsider your decision. You are, no doubt, going to London. So am I. +You will meet me in the hall of the Carlton Hotel at seven o'clock on +Thursday evening, and we will dine together." + +"But I can't--I really can't do as you wish. You surely will not compel +me to--to commit a crime!" + +"Hush!" he cried. "I have shown you these papers, and you know my +instructions. Remember that your father must know nothing. Nobody must +suspect, or you will find yourself in equal peril with your brother." + +"You--you are cruel!" sobbed the girl. "Horribly cruel!" + +"No, no," he said cheerfully. "Don't cry, please. Think it all over, +Miss King, and meet me in London on Thursday night." + +After listening to the appointment I discreetly withdrew into the +corridor on pretence of summoning a waiter, and when I returned the +pretty English girl was taking leave of "Mr. Richter." + +Her blue eyes betrayed traces of emotion, and she was, I saw, very pale, +her bearing quite unlike her attitude when she had entered there. + +"Well, good-bye, Miss King," said His Highness, grasping her hand. "It +was really awfully good of you to call. We shall meet again very +soon--eh? Good-bye." + +Then, turning to me, he asked me to conduct her out. + +I walked by her side along the corridor and down the stairs, but as we +went along she suddenly turned to me, remarking: + +"I wonder if all men are alike?" + +"Alike, why?" I asked, surprised. + +"Mr. Richter--ah! he has a heart of stone," she declared. "My poor +brother!" she added, in a voice broken in emotion. "I have travelled +from America in order to try and save him ere it is too late." + +"Mr. Richter is your friend--eh?" I asked as we descended. + +"Yes. I met him at Frankenhausen two years ago. I had gone there with my +father to visit the Barbarossa Cavern." + +"Then you have lived in Germany?" + +"Yes, for several years." + +By this time we were at the door of the hotel, and I bowed to her as she +smiled sadly and, wishing me adieu, passed out into the street. + +On returning to the Crown-Prince, I found him in a decidedly savage +mood. He was pacing the floor impatiently, muttering angrily to himself, +for it was apparent that some deeply-laid plan of his was being thwarted +by the girl's refusal to conform to his wishes and obtain certain +information he was seeking. + +The Crown-Prince, when in a foreign country, was never idle. His energy +was such that he was ever on the move, with eyes and ears always open to +learn whatever he could. Hence it was at two o'clock that afternoon Knof +brought round a big grey open car, and in it I sat beside the Emperor's +son while we were driven around the defences of Plymouth, just as on +previous occasions we had inspected those of Portsmouth and of Dover. + +On the following Thursday evening we had returned to London, and the +Crown-Prince, without telling me where he was going, left the Ritz +Hotel, merely explaining that he might not be back till midnight. It was +on that occasion, my dear Le Queux, you will remember, that I dined with +you at the Devonshire Club, and we afterwards spent a pleasant evening +together at the "Empire." + +I merely told you that His Highness was out at dinner with a friend. You +were, naturally, inquisitive, but I did not satisfy your curiosity. +Secrecy was my duty. + +On returning to the hotel I found the Crown-Prince arranging with Knof a +motor run along the Surrey hills on the following day. He had a large +map spread before him--a German military map, the curious marks upon +which would have no doubt astonished any of your War Office officials. +The map indicated certain spots which had been secretly prepared by +Germany in view of the projected invasion. + +To those spots we motored on the following day. His Imperial Highness, +at the instigation of the Emperor, actually made a tour of inspection of +those cunningly-concealed points of vantage which the Imperial General +Staff had, with their marvellous forethought and bold enterprise, +already prepared right beneath the very nose of the sleeping British +lion. + +From the Crown-Prince's jaunty manner and good spirits I felt assured +that by the subtle persuasive powers he possessed towards women--nearly +all of whom admired his corseted figure and his gay nonchalance--he had +brought the mysterious Miss King into line with his own +cunningly-conceived plans--whatever they might be. + +We lunched at the Burford Bridge Hotel, that pretty old-fashioned house +beneath Box Hill, not far from Dorking. + +After our meal in the long public room, newly built as an annexe, we +strolled into the grounds for a smoke. + +"Well, Heltzendorff," he said presently, as we strolled together along +the gravelled walks, "we will return to the Continent to-morrow. Our +visit has not been altogether abortive. We will remain a few days in +Ostend, before we return to Potsdam." + +Next afternoon we had taken up our quarters at a small but very select +hotel on the Digue at Ostend, a place called the "Beau Séjour." It was +patronized by old-fashioned folk, and "Herr Richter" was well known +there. There may have been some who suspected that Richter was not the +visitor's real name, but they were few, and it always surprised me how +well the Crown-Prince succeeded in preserving his incognito--though, of +course, the authorities knew of the Imperial visit. + +Whenever "Willie" went to Ostend his conduct became anything but that of +the exemplary husband. Ostend in the season was assuredly a gay place, +and the Crown-Prince had a small and select coterie of friends there who +drank, gambled and enjoyed themselves even more than they did at Nice in +winter. + +But his mind was always obsessed by the coming war. Indeed, on that very +evening of our arrival, as we strolled along the gaily-illuminated Digue +towards the big, bright Kursaal, he turned to me suddenly and said: + +"When the hour comes, and Prussia in her greatness strikes them, this +place will soon become German territory. I shall make that building +yonder my headquarters," and he jerked his thumb in the direction of the +summer palace of the King of the Belgians. + +The following day, about three o'clock, while the Crown-Prince was +carelessly going through some letters brought by courier from Potsdam, a +waiter came to me with a message that a Miss King desired to see Mr. +Richter. + +In surprise I received her, welcoming her to Ostend. From the neat dress +of the pretty English girl I concluded that she had just crossed from +Dover, and she seemed most anxious to see His Highness. I noted, too, +that she still wore the beautiful golden butterfly. + +When I entered his room to announce her his slant brows knit, and his +thin lips compressed. + +"H'm! More trouble for us, Heltzendorff, I suppose!" he whispered +beneath his breath. "Very well, show her in." + +The fair visitor was in the room for a long time--indeed, for over an +hour. Their voices were raised, and now and then, curiously enough, I +received the impression that, whatever might have been the argument, the +pretty girl had gained her own point, for when she came out she smiled +at me in triumph, and walked straight forth and down the stairs. + +The Crown-Prince threw himself into a big arm-chair in undisguised +dissatisfaction. Towards me he never wore a mask, though, like his +father, he invariably did so in the presence of strangers. + +"Those accursed women!" he cried. "Ah! Heltzendorff, when a woman is in +love she will defy even Satan himself! And yet they are fools, these +women, for they are in ignorance of the irresistible power of our +Imperial house. The enemies of the Hohenzollerns are as a cloud of gnats +on a summer's night. The dew comes, and they are no more. It is a pity," +he added, with a sigh of regret. "But those who are either conscientious +or defiant must suffer. Has not one of our greatest German philosophers +written: 'It is no use breathing against the wind'?" + +"True," I said. Then, hoping to learn something further, I added: +"Surely it is a nuisance to be followed and worried by that little +English girl!" + +"Worried! Yes. You are quite right, my dear Heltzendorff," he said. "But +I do not mind worry, if it is in the interests of Prussia, and of our +House of Hohenzollern. I admit the girl, though distinctly pretty, is a +most irritating person. She does not appeal to me, but I am compelled to +humour her, because I have a certain object in view." + +I could not go further, or I might have betrayed the knowledge I had +gained by eavesdropping. + +"I was surprised that she should turn up here, in Ostend," I said. + +"I had written to her. I expected her." + +"She does not know your real rank or station?" + +"No. To her I am merely Herr Emil Richter, whom she first met away in +the country. She was a tourist, and I was Captain Emil Richter, of the +Prussian Guards. We met while you were away on holiday at Vienna." + +I was anxious to learn something about Miss King's brother, but "Willie" +was generally discreet, and at that moment unusually so. One fact was +plain, however, that some secret report presented to the Emperor had +been shown to her. Why? I wondered if His Highness had been successful +in coercing her into acting as he desired. + +Certainly the girl's attitude as she had left the hotel went to show +that, in the contest, she had won by her woman's keen wit and foresight. +I recollected, too, that she was British. + +A fortnight afterwards we were back again at Potsdam. + +About three months passed. The Crown-Prince had accompanied the Emperor +to shoot on the Glatzer Gebirge, that wild mountainous district beyond +Breslau. For a week we had been staying at a great, high-up, prison-like +schloss, the ancestral home of Prince Ludwig Lichtenau, in the +Wölfelsgrund. + +The Emperor and his suite had left, and our host had been suddenly +called to Berlin by telegram, his daughter having been taken ill. +Therefore, the Crown-Prince and we of the suite had remained for some +further sport. + +On the day after the Emperor's departure I spent the afternoon in a +small panelled room which overlooked a deep mountain gorge, and which +had been given up to me for work. I was busy with correspondence when +the courier from Potsdam entered and gave me the battered leather pouch +containing the Crown-Prince's letters. Having unlocked it with my key, I +found among the correspondence a small square packet addressed to His +Imperial Highness, and marked "Private." + +Now, fearing bombs or attempts by other means upon his son's precious +life, the Emperor had commanded me always to open packets addressed to +him. This one, however, being marked "Private," and, moreover, the +inscription being in a feminine hand, I decided to await His Highness's +return. + +When at last he came in, wet and very muddy after a long day's sport, I +showed him the packet. With a careless air he said: + +"Oh, open it, Heltzendorff. Open all packets, whether marked private or +not." + +I obeyed, and to my surprise found within the paper a small +leather-covered jewel-case, in which, reposing upon a bed of dark blue +velvet, was the beautiful ornament which I had admired at the throat of +the fair-haired British girl--the golden butterfly. + +I handed it to His Highness just as he was taking a cigarette from the +box on a side table. + +The sight of it electrified him! He held his breath, standing for a few +seconds staring wildly at it as though he were gazing upon some hideous +spectre, sight of which had frozen his senses. + +He stood rigid, his thin countenance as white as paper. + +"When did that arrive?" he managed to ask, though in a hoarse voice, +which showed how completely sight of it had upset him. + +"This afternoon. It was in the courier's pouch from Potsdam." + +He had grasped the back of a chair as though to steady himself, and for +a few seconds stood there, with his left hand clapped over his eyes, +endeavouring to collect his thoughts. + +He seemed highly nervous, and at the same time extremely puzzled. +Receipt of that unique and beautiful brooch was, I saw, some sign, but +of its real significance I remained in entire ignorance. + +That it had a serious meaning I quickly realized, for within half an +hour the Crown-Prince and myself were in the train on our +two-hundred-mile journey back to Berlin. + +On arrival His Imperial Highness drove straight to the Berlin Schloss, +and there had a long interview with the Emperor. At last I was called +into the familiar pale-green room, the Kaiser's private cabinet, and at +once saw that something untoward had occurred. + +The Emperor's face was dark and thoughtful. Yet another of the black +plots of the Hohenzollerns was in process of being carried out! Of that +I felt only too confident. The Crown-Prince, in his badly-creased +uniform, betraying a long journey--so unlike his usual spick-and-span +appearance--stood nervously by as the Kaiser threw himself into his +writing-chair with a deep grunt and distinctly evil grace. + +"I suppose it must be done," he growled viciously to his son. "Did I not +foresee that the girl would constitute a serious menace? When she was in +Germany she might easily have been arrested upon some charge and her +mouth closed. Bah! our political police service grows worse and worse. +We will have it entirely reorganized. The Director, Laubach, is far too +sentimental, far too chicken-hearted." + +As he spoke he took up his pen and commenced to write rapidly, drawing a +deep breath as his quill scratched upon the paper. + +"You realize," he exclaimed angrily to his son, taking no notice of my +presence there, because I was part and parcel of the great machinery of +the Court, "you realize what this order means?" he added, as he appended +his signature. "It is a blow struck against our cause--struck by a mere +slip of a girl. Think, if the truth came out! Why, all our propaganda in +the United States and Britain would be nullified in a single day, and +the 'good relations' we are now extending on every hand throughout the +world in order to mislead our enemies would be exposed in all their true +meaning. We cannot afford that. It would be far cheaper to pay twenty +million marks--the annual cost of the whole propaganda in America--than +to allow the truth to be known." + +Suddenly the Crown-Prince's face brightened, as though he had had some +sudden inspiration. + +"The truth will not be known, I promise you," he said, with a strange, +evil grin. I knew that expression. It meant that he had devised some +fresh and devilish plan. "The girl is defiant to-day, but she will not +remain so long. I will take your order, but I may not have occasion to +put it in force." + +"Ah! You have perhaps devised something--eh? I hope so," said the +Emperor. "You are usually ingenious in a crisis. Good! Here is the +order; act just as you think fit." + +"I was summoned, Your Majesty," I said, in order to remind him of my +presence there. + +"Ah! Yes. You know this Miss King, do you not?" + +"I received her in Plymouth," was my reply. + +"Ah! then you will again recognize her. Probably your services may be +very urgently required within the next few hours. You may go," and His +Majesty curtly dismissed me. + +I waited in the corridor until His Imperial Highness came forth. When he +did so he looked flushed and seemed agitated. + +There had, I knew, occurred a violent scene between father and son, for +to me it seemed as though "Willie" had again fallen beneath the +influence of a pretty face. + +He drove me in the big Mercédès over to Potsdam, where I had a quantity +of military documents awaiting attention, and, after a change of +clothes, I tackled them. + +Yet my mind kept constantly reverting to the mystery surrounding the +golden butterfly. + +After dinner that night I returned again to my workroom, when, upon my +blotting-pad, I found a note addressed to me in the Crown-Prince's +sprawling hand. + +Opening it, I found that he had scribbled this message: + + "_I have left. Tell Eckardt not to trouble. Come alone, and meet me + to-morrow night at the Palast Hotel, in Hamburg. I shall call at + seven o'clock and ask for Herr Richter. I shall also use that name. + Tell nobody of my journey, not even the Crown-Princess. Explain + that I have gone to Berlin._--WILHELM, KRONPRINZ." + +I read the note through a second time, and then burned it. + +Next day I arrived at the Palast Hotel, facing the Binnenalster, in +Hamburg, giving my name as Herr Richter. + +At seven o'clock I awaited His Highness. Eight o'clock +came--nine--ten--even eleven--midnight, but, though I sat in the private +room I had engaged, no visitor arrived. + +Just after twelve, however, a waiter brought up a note addressed to Herr +Richter. + +Believing it to be meant for me, I opened it. To my great surprise, I +found that it was from the mysterious Miss King, and evidently intended +for the Crown-Prince. It said: + + "_My brother was released from the Altona Prison this evening--I + presume, owing to your intervention--and we are now both safely on + our way across to Harwich. You have evidently discovered at last + that I am not the helpless girl you believed me to be. When your + German police arrested my brother Walter in Bremen as a spy of + Britain I think you will admit that they acted very injudiciously, + in face of all that my brother and myself know to-day. At Plymouth + you demanded, as the price of Walter's liberty, that I should + become attached to your secret service in America and betray the + man who adopted me and brought me up as his own daughter. But you + never dreamed the extent of my knowledge of your country's vile + intrigues; you did not know that, through my brother and the man + who adopted me as his daughter, I know the full extent of your + subtle propaganda. You were, I admit, extremely clever, Herr + Richter, and I confess that I was quite charmed when you sent me, + as souvenir, that golden butterfly to the hotel in + Frankenhausen--that pretty ornament which I returned to you as a + mark of my refusal and defiance of the conditions you imposed upon + me for the release of my brother from the sentence of fifteen years + in a fortress. This time, Herr Richter, a woman wins! Further, I + warn you that if you attempt any reprisal my brother will at once + expose Germany's machinations abroad. He has, I assure you, many + good friends, both in Britain and America. Therefore if you desire + silence you will make no effort to trace me further. At + Frankenhausen you called me 'the golden-haired butterfly,' but you + regarded me merely as a moth! Adieu!_" + +Twelve hours later I handed that letter to the Crown-Prince in Potsdam. +Where he had been in the meantime I did not know. He read it through; +then, with a fierce curse upon his thin, curled lips, he crushed it in +his hand and tossed it into the fire. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER EIGHT + +HOW THE CROWN-PRINCE WAS BLACKMAILED + + +The Crown-Prince had accompanied the Emperor on board the _Hohenzollern_ +on his annual cruise up the Norwegian fjords, and the Kaiserin and the +Crown-Princess were of the party. + +I had been left at home because I had not been feeling well, and with +relief had gone south to the Lake of Garda, taking up my quarters in +that long, white hotel which faces the blue lake at Gardone-Riviera. A +truly beautiful spot, where the gardens of the hotel run down to the +lake's edge, with a long veranda covered with trailing roses and +geraniums, peaceful indeed after the turmoil and glitter of our Court +life in Germany. + +One morning at luncheon, however, just as I had seated myself at my +table set in the window overlooking the sunlit waters, a tall, rather +thin-faced, bald-headed man entered, accompanied by an extremely pretty +girl, with very fair hair and eyes of an unusual, child-like blue. The +man I judged to be about fifty-five, whose blotchy face marked him as +one addicted to strong liquors, and whose dress and bearing proclaimed +him to be something of a roué. He walked jauntily to the empty table +next mine, while his companion stared vacantly about her as she followed +him to the place which the obsequious _maître d'hôtel_ had indicated. + +The stranger's eyes were dark, penetrating, and shifty, while there was +something about the young girl's demeanour that aroused my interest. +Her face, undeniably beautiful, was marred by a stare of complete +vacancy. She glanced at me, but I saw that she did not see. It was as +though her thoughts were far away, or else that she was under the spell +of some weird fascination. + +That strange, blank expression in her countenance caused me to watch +her. On the one hand, the man had all the appearance of a person who had +run the whole gamut of the vices; while the fair-haired, blue-eyed girl +was the very incarnation of maiden innocence. + +Perhaps it was because I kept my eyes upon her that the dark-eyed man +knit his brows and stared at me in defiance. Instinctively I did not +like the fellow, for as they started their meal I saw plainly the rough, +almost uncouth, manner in which he treated her. + +At first I believed that they might be father and daughter, but this +suggestion was negatived when, on inquiry at the bureau, I was told that +the man was Martinez Aranda, of Seville, and that his companion was his +niece, Lola Serrano. + +The latter always appeared exquisitely dressed, and the gay young men, +Italian officers and others, were all eager to make her acquaintance. +Yet it seemed to me that the man Aranda forbade her to speak to anyone. +Indeed, I watched the pair closely during the days following, and could +plainly discern that the girl went in mortal fear of him. + +On the third day, while walking along the terrace facing the lake, I +came across the Spaniard, who, in affable mood, started a conversation, +and as we leaned upon the stone balustrade, smoking and gossiping, the +pretty girl with hair so fair even though she were a Southerner came up, +and I was introduced. + +She wore a cool white linen gown, a big sun-hat, and carried a pale blue +sunshade. But my eye, expert where a woman's gown is concerned, told me +that that linen frock was the creation of one of the Paris +men-dressmakers, whose lowest charge for such a garment is one thousand +francs. Aranda and his pretty niece were certainly persons of +considerable means. + +"How very beautiful the lake always appears at any hour!" the girl +exclaimed in French after her uncle had exchanged cards with me. "Truly +Italy is delightful." + +"Ah, Mademoiselle," I replied. "But your brilliant Spain is ever +attractive." + +"You know Spain?" inquired the bald-headed man at once. + +"Yes, I know Spain, but only as a spring visitor," was my reply. + +And from that conversation there grew in a few days quite an affable +friendship. We went together on excursions, all three of us, once by the +steamer up to Riva, where on landing and passing through the Customs we +sat at the café and sipped that delicious coffee topped by a foam of +cream, the same as one got at the "Bristol" in Vienna, or the "Hungaria" +in Budapest. Then at evening, while the pretty Lola gossiped with a +weedy old Italian Marchioness, whose acquaintance she had made, her +uncle played billiards with me, and he was no bad player either! + +As soon as the Spaniard learnt of my position as personal-adjutant of +His Imperial Highness the Crown-Prince he became immediately interested, +as most people were, and plied me with all sorts of questions regarding +the truth of certain scandals that were at the moment afloat concerning +"Willie." As you know, I am usually pretty discreet. Therefore, I do not +think that he learned very much from me. + +We were alone in the billiard-room, having a game after luncheon one +day, when a curious conversation took place. + +"Ah, Count! You must have a very intimate knowledge of life at the +Berlin Court," he remarked quite suddenly, in French. + +"Yes. But it is a strenuous life, I assure you," I declared, laughing. + +"The Crown-Prince sometimes goes abroad incognito," he said, pausing and +looking me straight in the face. + +"Yes--sometimes," I admitted. + +"He was in Rome in the first week of last December. He disappeared from +Potsdam, and the Emperor and yourself were extremely anxious as to what +had become of him. He had gone to Berlin alone, without any attendant, +and completely disappeared. Yet, while you were all making secret +inquiries, and fearing lest the truth should leak out to the Press, His +Imperial Highness was living as plain Herr Wilhelm Nebelthau in an +apartment at Number Seventeen, Lungtevere Mellini. Isn't that so?" + +I stared agape at the Spaniard. + +I thought myself the only person who knew that fact--a fact which the +Crown-Prince had revealed to me in the strictest secrecy. + +Could this man Martinez Aranda be an agent of police? Yet that seemed +quite impossible. + +"You appear to have a more intimate knowledge of His Highness's +movements than I have myself," I replied, utterly amazed at the extent +of the man's information. + +His dark, sallow face relaxed into a mysterious smile, and he bent to +make another stroke without replying. + +"His Highness should be very careful in the concealment of his movements +when he is incognito," he remarked presently. + +"You met him there, eh?" I asked, eager to ascertain the truth, for that +secret visit to Rome had been a most mysterious one, even to me. + +"I do not think I need reply to that question," he said. "All I can say +is that the Crown-Prince kept rather queer company on that occasion." + +Those words only served to confirm my suspicions. Whenever "Willie" +disappeared alone from Potsdam I could afterwards always trace the +disappearance to his _penchant_ for the eternal feminine. How often, +indeed, had I been present at scenes between the Crown-Princess and her +husband, and how often I had heard the Emperor storm at his son in that +high-pitched voice so peculiar to the Hohenzollerns when unduly excited. + +The subject soon dropped, but his statements filled me with +apprehension. It was quite plain that this well-dressed, bald-headed +Spaniard was in possession of some secret of the Crown-Prince's, a +secret which had not been revealed to me. + +More than once in the course of the next few days, when we were alone +together, I endeavoured to learn something of the nature of the secret +which took his Highness to the Eternal City, but Aranda was very clever +and discreet. In addition, the attitude of the girl Lola became more +than ever strange. There was a blank look in those big, beautiful eyes +of hers that betrayed something abnormal. But what it was I failed to +decide. + +One evening after dinner I saw her walking alone in the moonlight along +the terrace by the lake, and joined her. So preoccupied she seemed that +she scarcely replied to my remarks. Then suddenly she halted, and as +though unable to restrain her feelings longer I heard a low sob escape +her. + +"Mademoiselle, what is the matter?" I asked in French. "Tell me." + +"Oh, nothing, Monsieur, nothing," she declared in a low, broken voice. +"I--I know I am very foolish, only----" + +"Only what? Tell me. That you are in distress I know. Let me assist +you." + +She shook her handsome head mournfully. + +"No, you cannot assist me," she declared in a tone that told me how +desperate she had now become. "My uncle," she exclaimed, staring +straight before her across the moonlit waters, whence the dark mountains +rose from the opposite bank. "Count, be careful! Do--my--my uncle." + +"I don't understand," I said, standing at her side and gazing at her +pale countenance beneath the full light of the moon. + +"My uncle--he knows something--be careful--warn the Crown-Prince." + +"What does he know?" + +"He has never told me." + +"Are you in entire ignorance of the reason of the visit of His Highness +to Rome? Try and remember all you know," I urged. + +The girl put both her palms to her brow, and, shaking her head, said: + +"I can remember nothing--nothing--oh! my poor head! Only warn the man +who in Rome called himself Herr Nebelthau!" + +She spoke in a low, nervous tone, and I could see that she was decidedly +hysterical and much unstrung. + +"Did you meet Herr Nebelthau?" I asked eagerly. + +"Me? Ah, no. But I saw him, though he never saw me." + +"But what is the secret that your uncle knows?" I demanded. "If I know, +then I can warn the Crown-Prince." + +"I do not know," she replied, again shaking her head. "Only--only--well, +by some means my uncle knew that you had left Potsdam, and we travelled +here on purpose to meet you to obtain from you some facts concerning the +Crown-Prince's movements." + +"To meet me?" I echoed in surprise. In a moment I saw that Aranda's +intentions were evidently evil ones. But just at that juncture the +Spaniard came forth in search of his niece. + +"Why are you out here?" he asked her gruffly. "Go in. It is too cold for +you." + +"I came out with the Count to see the glorious panorama of the lake," +explained the girl in strange humbleness, and then, turning reluctantly, +she obeyed him. + +"Come and have a hand at bridge," her uncle urged cheerfully. "The +Signora Montalto and young Boileau are ready to make up the four." + +To this I agreed, and we followed the girl into the big, white-panelled +lounge of the hotel. + +Two days later, about four o'clock in the afternoon, Aranda received a +telegram, and an hour later left with his niece, who, as she parted from +me, whispered: + +"Warn the Crown-Prince, won't you?" + +I promised, and as they drove off to the station I stood waving my hand +to the departing visitors. + +A week later I had word from Cuxhaven of the arrival of the +_Hohenzollern_ from Trondhjem, and at once returned to the Marmor +Palace, where on the night of my arrival the Crown-Prince, wearing his +Saxon Uhlan uniform, entered my room, gaily exclaiming: + +"Well, Heltzendorff, how are things on the Lake of Garda, eh?" + +I briefly explained where I had been, and then, as he lit a cigarette, +standing astride near the fireplace, I asked permission to speak upon a +confidential matter. + +"More trouble, eh?" he asked, with a grin and a shrug of the shoulders. + +"I do not know," I said seriously, and then, in brief, I related how the +man Aranda had arrived with the girl Lola at the hotel, and what had +followed. + +As soon as I mentioned the Lungtevere Mellini, that rather aristocratic +street, which runs parallel with the Tiber on the outskirts of Rome, His +Highness started, his face blanched instantly, and he bit his thin lip. + +"_Himmel!_" he gasped. "The fellow knows that I took the name of +Nebelthau! Impossible!" + +"But he does," I said quietly. "He is undoubtedly in possession of some +secret concerning your visit to Rome last December." + +In His Highness's eyes I noticed a keen, desperate expression which I +had scarcely ever seen there before. + +"You are quite certain of this, Heltzendorff, eh?" he asked. "The man's +name is Martinez Aranda?" + +"Yes. He says he is from Seville. His niece, Lola Serrano, told me to +warn you that he means mischief." + +"Who is the girl? Do I know her?" + +"No." + +"Why does she warn me?" + +"I cannot say," was my reply. "As you are aware, I have no knowledge of +the nature of Your Highness's visit to Rome. I merely report all that I +could gather from the pair, who evidently went to Gardone to meet me." + +"Where are they now?" + +"In Paris--at the Hotel Terminus, Gare St. Lazare. I found out that they +had taken tickets to Verona and thence to Paris, therefore I telegraphed +to my friend Pinaud, of the Sûreté, who quickly found them and reported +to me by wire within twenty-four hours." + +"H'm! This is serious, Heltzendorff--infernally serious," declared the +Crown-Prince, with knit brows, as he commenced to pace the room with his +hands clasped behind his back. + +Suddenly he halted in front of me and smoothed his hair--a habit of his +when perplexed. + +"First, the Emperor must know nothing, and the Crown-Princess must be +kept in entire ignorance at all costs," he declared. "I can now foresee +a great amount of trouble. Curse the women! I trusted one, and she--ah! +I can see it all now." + +"Is it very serious?" I asked, still anxious to glean the truth. + +"Serious!" he cried, staring at me wildly. "Serious! Why, Heltzendorff, +it means everything to me--everything!" + +The Crown-Prince was not the kind of man to exhibit fear. Though +degenerate in every sense of the word, and without the slightest idea of +moral obligations, yet he was, nevertheless, utterly oblivious to danger +of any sort, being wildly reckless, with an entire disregard of +consequences. Here, however, he saw that the secret, which he had fondly +believed to be his alone, was known to this mysterious Spaniard. + +"I cannot understand why this girl, Lola--or whatever she calls +herself--should warn me. I wonder who she is. What is she like?" + +I described her as minutely as I could, more especially the unusual +fairness of her hair, and the large, wide-open, blue eyes. She had a +tiny mole upon her chin, a little to the left. + +The description seemed to recall some memory, for suddenly he exclaimed: + +"Really, the girl you describe is very like one that I met about a year +ago--a thief-girl in the Montmartre, in Paris, called Lizette Sabin. I +came across her one night in one of the cabarets." + +As he spoke he went across to a big antique chest of drawers, one of +which he unlocked with his key, and after a long search he drew out a +cabinet photograph and handed it to me. + +I started. It was a picture of the pretty Lola! + +He watched my face, and saw that I recognized it. + +Then he drew a long sigh, tossed his cigarette away savagely, and +throwing back the photograph into the drawer, relocked it. + +"Yes," he declared, turning to me again. "The situation is most +abnormally disturbing, Heltzendorff. A storm is brewing, without a +doubt. But the Emperor must know nothing, remember--not the slightest +suspicion. Ah! What an infernal fool I was to believe in that woman. +Bah! They are all alike. And yet----" and he paused--"and yet if it were +not for the petticoat Germany's secret diplomacy--the preparation for +the great 'Day' when we shall stagger the world--could not proceed. +This, my dear Heltzendorff, has shown me that you may with advantage use +a woman of whatever age as your catspaw, your secret agent, your bait +when angling for important information, or your go-between in secret +transactions; but never trust one with knowledge of your own personal +affairs." + +"Then I take it that this girl-thief of the Montmartre whom you met when +out for an evening's amusement is the cause of all this trouble? And yet +she said that she did not know you!" + +"Because it was to her advantage to disclaim knowledge of me. Personally +I do not think that the pretty Lizette is my enemy or she would not warn +me against this infernal Spaniard, whoever he may be." + +"If the matter is so serious, had I not better go to Paris to-morrow and +see Pinaud?" I suggested. + +"Excellent!" he exclaimed. "Watch must be kept upon them. The one thing +to bear in mind, however, is that neither the Emperor nor my wife learn +anything. Go to Paris to-morrow, and tell Pinaud from me to do his best +on my behalf." + +Next morning I left for Paris, and on arrival spent half an hour with +Georges Pinaud in his room at the Sûreté. + +"So His Imperial Highness does not wish the arrest of the girl Lizette +Sabin?" he exclaimed presently. "I have her _dossier_ here," and he +indicated a cardboard portfolio before him. "It is a pretty bad one. Her +last sentence was one of twelve months for robbing an English baronet at +a dancing-hall in the Rue du Bac." + +"His Highness does not wish for her arrest. He only desires the pair to +be kept under close observation." + +"The man Aranda is, I have discovered, a dangerous person," said the +famous detective, leaning back in his chair. "He has served a sentence +at Cayenne for the attempted murder of a woman in Lyons. He is, of +course, an adventurer of the most expert type." + +I longed to reveal to my friend Pinaud the whole facts, but this was +against my instructions. I merely asked him as a favour to institute a +strict vigilance upon the pair, and to report to me by telegraph if +either of them left Paris. + +Aranda was still living at the Hotel Terminus, but the pretty Lizette +had gone to stay with two girl friends, professional dancers, who lived +on the third floor of a house half-way up the Rue Blanche. So having +discharged my mission, I returned on the following day to Potsdam, +where, on meeting me, the Crown-Prince seemed much relieved. + +His only fear--and it was a very serious one--was that to the Emperor +there might be revealed the reason of that secret visit of his to Italy. +I confess that I myself began to regard that visit with considerable +suspicion. Its nature must have been, to say the least, unusual if he +had been so aghast at the real truth being discovered. + +In the strenuous days that followed, weeks, indeed, I frequently +reflected, and found myself much mystified. More than once His Highness +had asked me: "Any news from Pinaud?" And when I replied in the negative +"Willie's" relief was at once apparent. + +One day I had been lunching in Berlin at the "Bristol," in Unter den +Linden, at a big party given by the Baroness von Bülow. Among the dozen +or so present were Von Ruxeben, the Grand Marshal of the Court of +Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; Gertrud, Baroness von Wangenheim, Grand Mistress of +the Court of the Duchess; the Minister Dr. Rasch; and, of course, old +"Uncle" Zeppelin, full of plans, as always, of new airships and of the +destruction of London. Indeed, he sat next me, and bored me to death +with his assurances that on "The Day" he would in twenty-four hours lay +London in ruins. + +The guests around the table, a gay and clever circle, saw that "Uncle" +had button-holed me, and knew from my face how utterly bored I was. +Truth to tell, I was much relieved when suddenly, when the meal was +nearly over, a waiter whispered that somebody wished to see me out in +the lounge. + +It was a messenger from Potsdam with a telegram that had come over the +private wire. It read: "Aranda left Paris two days ago. Destination +unknown.--PINAUD." + +The information showed that the fellow had cleverly evaded the agents of +the Sûreté, a very difficult feat in such circumstances. That very fact +went to prove that he was a cunning and elusive person. + +Half an hour later I was sitting with Heinrich Wesener, +Assistant-Director of the Secret Service of the General Staff. I sought +him in preference to the famous detective, Schunke, because, while +matters passing through the Secret Service Bureau were always regarded +as confidential, those submitted to the Berlin police were known to many +subordinates who had access to the _dossiers_ and informations. + +I told Wesener but little--merely that His Imperial Highness the +Crown-Prince was desirous of knowing at the earliest moment if a +Spaniard named Martinez Aranda should arrive in Berlin. + +The curiosity of the Assistant-Director was immediately aroused. So many +scandals were rife regarding "Willie" that the stout, fair-haired +official was hoping to obtain some further details. + +"Excuse me for a moment," he said, and, after ringing his bell, a clerk +appeared. To the man he gave orders to go across and inspect the police +register of strangers, and ascertain if the man Aranda had arrived in +the capital. + +Ten minutes later the clerk returned, saying that a Spaniard named +Aranda had arrived from Paris early that morning with a young lady named +Sabin, and that they were staying at the Central Hotel, opposite the +Friedrich-Strasse Station. + +Upon this information I went to the "Central," and from the hall-porter +discovered that Aranda had left the hotel an hour before, but that his +supposed niece was upstairs in her room. + +Afterwards I hurried back to Potsdam as quickly as possible, only to +find that the Crown-Prince was out with Knof motoring somewhere. Of the +Crown-Princess I inquired whither he had gone, but, as usual, she had no +idea. "Willie" was ever erratic, and ever on the move. + +Six o'clock had already struck when he returned, and the sentry informed +him that I was extremely anxious to see him. Therefore, without removing +his coat, he ascended to my room, where he burst in breezily. + +When I told him what I had discovered in Berlin the light died instantly +out of his face. + +"Is the fellow really here, Heltzendorff?" he gasped. "I had a letter +from him a week ago declaring his intention to come here." + +"You did not reply, I hope?" + +"No. The letter I found upon my dressing-table, but I have not +discovered who placed it there," he said. "The fellow evidently intends +to carry out his threat and expose me to the Emperor." + +"What can he expose?" I queried. + +But "Willie" was not to be caught like that. He merely replied: + +"Well--something which must at all hazards be concealed. How this +Spaniard can know I cannot in the least imagine--unless that woman gave +me away!" + +For the next two days I was mostly out with his Highness in the car, and +in addition the Kaiser reviewed the Prussian Guard, a ceremony which +always gave me much extra work. + +On the third day I had in the morning been out to the Wildpark Station, +and, passing the sentries, had re-entered the Palace, when one of the +footmen approached me, saying: + +"Pardon, Count, but there is a gentleman to see his Imperial Highness. +He will give no name, and refuses to leave. I called the captain of the +guard, who has interrogated him, and he has been put into the blue +ante-room until your return." + +At that moment I saw the captain of the guard striding down the corridor +towards me. + +"A bald-headed man is here to see His Highness, and will give no name," +he told me. "He is waiting now. Will you see him?" + +"No," I said, my suspicions aroused. "I will first see the +Crown-Prince." + +After some search I found the latter lolling at his ease in his own +smoking-room in the private apartments, reading a French novel and +consuming cigarettes. + +"Hulloa, Heltzendorff! Well, what's the trouble?" he asked. "I see +something is wrong from your face." + +"The man Aranda is here," I replied. + +"Here!" he gasped, starting up and flinging the book aside. "Who let him +in?" + +"I don't know, but he is below demanding to see you." + +"Has he made any statement? Has he told anybody what he knows?" demanded +the Crown-Prince, who at that moment presented what might be termed a +white-livered appearance, cowed, and even trembling. In his slant eyes +showed a look of undisguised terror, and I realized that the truth, +whatever it might be, was a damning and most disgraceful one. + +"I can't see him, Heltzendorff," he whined to me. "See him; hear what +he has to say--and--and you will keep my secret? Promise me." + +I promised. And I should have kept that promise were it not for his +brutal and blackguardly acts after the outbreak of war--acts which +placed him, with his Imperial father, beyond the pale of respectable +society. + +I was turning to leave the room, when he sprang towards me with that +quick agility of his, and, placing his white, manicured hand upon my +arm, said: + +"Whatever he may say you will not believe--will you?" + +"And if he wants money?" I asked. + +"Ascertain the amount, and come here to me." + +A quarter of an hour later Martinez Aranda sat in my room opposite my +table. I had told him that unfortunately His Imperial Highness was +engaged, for the Emperor had come over from the Neues Palace for +luncheon. Then I inquired the nature of his business. + +"Well, Count, you and I are not altogether strangers, are we?" was his +reply, as he sat back calmly and crossed his legs, perfectly at his +ease. "But my business is only with His Highness, and with nobody else." + +"His Highness sees nobody upon business. I am appointed to deal with all +his business affairs, and anything told to me is the same as though +spoken into his ear." + +The Spaniard from Montmartre was silent for a moment. + +"If that is the case, then I would be glad if you will obtain his +permission for me to speak. He will remember my name." + +"I already received orders before I invited you up," I said. "His +Highness wishes you to deal with me. He knows that you are here to +settle some delicate little piece of business concerning that secret +visit of his to Rome--eh?" + +"Yes," he answered, after a few seconds' pause. "I am well aware, Count, +that for mention of the reason I am here you might call the guard to +arrest me for blackmail. But first let me assure His Highness that such +action would not be advisable in the interests of either himself or of +the Emperor. I have already made arrangements for exposure in case His +Highness endeavours to close my mouth by such means." + +"Good. We understand each other. What is your complaint?" I inquired. + +"I know the truth concerning the mysterious death of the woman, Claudia +Ferrona, in Rome last December," he said briefly. + +"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Perhaps you will tell me next that the Crown-Prince +is an assassin? Come, that will be really interesting," I laughed. +"Perhaps you will tell me how it all happened--the extent of your +knowledge." + +"Why should I do that? Go to the Crown-Prince and tell him what I +allege--tell him that the girl, Lizette Sabin, whom he knows, was a +witness." + +"Well, let us come to business," I said. "How much do you want for your +silence?" + +"I want nothing--not a sou!" was the hard reply. "All I want is to +reveal to the Emperor that his son is responsible for a woman's death. +And that is what I intend doing. You hear that! Well, Count von +Heltzendorff, please go and tell him so." + +Quickly realizing the extreme gravity of the situation, I returned to +the Crown-Prince and told him the startling allegation made against him. + +His face went as white as paper. + +"We must pay the fellow off. Close his mouth somehow. Help me, +Heltzendorff," he implored. "What can I do? He must not reveal the truth +to the Emperor!" + +"Then it really is the truth!" I exclaimed, astounded. + +The Crown-Prince hung his head, and in a low, hoarse voice replied: + +"It is my accursed luck! The woman must have told the truth to this +scoundrel of a Spaniard before--before she died!" + +"And Lizette?" I asked. "She is a witness, the fellow says." + +"No, no!" cried His Highness wildly, covering his white face with his +hands as though to hide the guilt written upon his countenance. "Say no +more! Ask the fellow's price, and pay him. We must not allow him to go +to the Emperor." + +Three minutes later I went back to my room, but it was empty. The +Spaniard had walked out, and would, no doubt, be wandering somewhere in +the private apartments. + +At that instant the telephone rang, and, answering it, I heard that His +Majesty had just arrived by car, and was on his way up to the room +wherein I stood--the room in which he generally met his son. + +For a moment I was perplexed, but a few seconds later I held my breath +when I saw coming down the corridor the Emperor, and walking with him +the adventurer, who had apparently met him on his way downstairs. + +I confess that at that most dramatic moment I was entirely nonplussed. I +saw how cleverly Aranda had timed his visit, and how, by some means, he +knew of the internal arrangements of the Marmor Palace. + +"Yes," the Emperor exclaimed to the Spaniard. "You wish to have +audience. Well?" + +In a second I broke in. + +"May I be permitted to say a word, Your Majesty?" I said. "There is a +little business matter pending between this gentleman and His Imperial +Highness the Crown-Prince--a little dispute over money. I regret that +Your Majesty should be disturbed by it. The matter is in course of +settlement." + +"Oh, money matters!" exclaimed the Emperor, who always hated mention of +them, believing himself to be far too important a person to trouble +about them. "Of course, you will see to a settlement, Count." And the +Emperor turned his back deliberately upon the man who accosted him. + +"It is not money that I want," shouted the adventurer from Paris, "but +I----" + +I did not allow him to conclude his sentence, but hustled him into an +adjoining room, closing the door after him. + +"Now, Monsieur Aranda, you want money, I know. How much?" I asked +determinedly. + +"Two hundred thousand marks," was his prompt reply, "and also fifty +thousand for Lola." + +I pretended to reflect. He saw my hesitation, and then added: + +"For that sum, and not a sou less, I am prepared to sign a statement +that I have lied, and that there is no truth in the allegation." + +"Of what? Tell me the facts, as you know them, and I will then repeat +them to His Imperial Highness." + +For a few seconds he was silent, then in a cold, hard voice he revealed +to me what was evidently the truth of the Crown-Prince's secret visit to +Rome. I listened to his statement utterly dumbfounded. + +The allegations were terrible. It seemed that a popular Spanish variety +actress, whom the populace of Rome knew as "La Bella," but whose real +name was Claudia Ferrona, lived in a pretty apartment on the Lungtevere +Mellini, facing the Tiber. His Highness had met her in Coblenz, where +she had been singing. "La Bella" had as her particular friend a certain +high official in the Italian Ministry of War, and through him she was +enabled to furnish the Crown-Prince with certain important information. +The General Staff in the Wilhelmstrasse were eager to obtain some very +definite facts regarding Italy's new armaments, and His Highness had +taken upon himself the task of obtaining it. + +As Herr Nebelthau he went in secret to Rome as guest of the vivacious +Claudia, whose maid was none other than the thief-girl of the +Montmartre, Lizette Sabin. This girl, whose intellect had become +weakened, was entirely under the influence of the clever adventurer +Aranda. On the second night after the arrival of the Crown-Prince in +Rome, he and the actress had taken supper together in her apartment, +after which a fierce quarrel had arisen between them. + +Seized by a fit of remorse, the variety singer blankly refused to +further betray the man to whom her advancement in her profession was +due, whereupon His Highness grew furious at being thwarted at the last +moment. After listening to his insults, "La Bella" openly declared that +she intended to reveal the whole truth to the Italian official in +question. Then the Crown-Prince became seized by one of those mad, +frenzied fits of uncontrollable anger to which he is at times, like all +the Hohenzollerns, subject, and with his innate brutality he took up a +bottle from the table and struck the poor girl heavily upon the skull, +felling her like a log. Afterwards with an imprecation on his lips, he +walked out. So terribly injured was the girl that she expired just +before noon next day. Not, however, before she had related the whole +circumstances to the maid, Lizette, and to the man Aranda, who, truth to +tell, had placed the maid in the actress's service with a view of +robbing her of her jewels. He saw, however, that, with the death of +Claudia Ferrona, blackmail would be much more profitable. + +Having heard this amazing story, I was careful to lock the Spaniard in +the room, and then returned to where the Crown-Prince was so anxiously +awaiting me. + +Half an hour later the adventurer left the Palace, bearing in his pocket +a draft upon the private banking house of Mendelsohn, in the +Jägerstrasse in Berlin, for two hundred and fifty thousand marks. + +In return for that draft the wily Spaniard signed a declaration that he +had invented the whole story, and that there was not a word of truth in +it. + +It was only, however, when I placed that document into the hands of the +Crown-Prince that His Imperial Highness breathed freely again. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER NINE + +THE CROWN-PRINCE'S ESCAPADE IN LONDON + + +It was five o'clock on a bright September morning when His Imperial +Highness climbed with unsteady gait the three flights of stairs leading +to the handsome flat which he sometimes rented in a big block of +buildings half-way along Jermyn Street when he made secret visits to +London. + +As his personal-adjutant and keeper of his secrets I had been awaiting +him for hours. + +I heard him fumbling with the latch-key, and, rising, went along the +hall and opened the door. + +"Hulloa, Heltzendorff!" he exclaimed in a thick, husky voice. "_Himmel!_ +I'm very glad to be back." + +"And I am glad to see Your Highness back," I said. "I was beginning to +fear that something unpleasant had happened. I tell you frankly, I do +not like you going out like this alone in London. Somebody is certain to +discover you one day." + +"Oh, bosh! my dear Heltzendorff. You are just like a pastor--always +preaching." And as he tossed his crush hat upon the table and divested +himself of his evening overcoat he gave vent to a half-drunken laugh, +and then, just as he was, in his dress-coat and crumpled shirt-front, +with the stains of overnight wine upon it, he curled himself upon the +couch, saying: + +"Tell that idiot of a valet not to disturb me. I'm tired." + +"But don't you think you ought to go to bed?" I queried. + +"Too tired to undress, Heltzendorff--too tired," he declared with an +inane grin. "Oh, I've had a time--phew! my head--such a time! Oh, old +Lung Ching is a real old sport!" + +And then he settled himself and closed his eyes--surely a fine spectacle +for the German nation if he could then have been publicly exhibited. + +His mention of Lung Ching caused me to hold my breath. That wily +Chinaman kept an establishment in the underworld of Limehouse, an opium +den of the worst description, frequented by yellow men and white women +of the most debased class. + +A year before one of the Crown-Prince's friends, an attaché at the +Embassy on Carlton House Terrace, had introduced him to the place. The +fascinations of the opium pipe had attracted him, and he had been there +many times to smoke and to dream, but always accompanied by others. The +night before, however, he had declared his intention to go out alone, as +he had been invited to dine by a great German financier living in Park +Lane. It was now evident, however, that he had not been there, but had +gone alone to that terrible den kept by Lung Ching. + +There, in the grey light of dawn, I stood gazing down upon the +be-drugged son of the Emperor, feeling relief that he was back again, +and that no trouble had resulted from his escapade. + +I called the valet, and, having handed his master over to him, I went +out, and, finding a taxi, drove out to Lung Ching's place in Limehouse. +I knew the sign, and was soon admitted into the close, sickly-smelling +place, which reeked with opium. The villainous Chinaman, with a face +like parchment, came forward, and instantly recognized me as the +companion of the young German millionaire, Herr Lehnhardt. Of him I +inquired what my master had been doing during the night. + +"Oh, 'e smoke--'e likee pipee!" was the evil, yellow-faced ruffian's +reply. + +"Was he alone?" + +"Oh, no. 'E no alonee. 'E lil ladee," and he grinned. "She likee pipee. +Come, you see--eh?" + +The fellow took me into the long, low-ceilinged room, fitted with bunks, +in which were a dozen or so sleeping Chinamen. Suddenly he indicated a +bunk wherein lay a girl huddled up--a well-dressed English girl. Her hat +and jacket had been removed, and she lay, her face full in the light, +her arm above her head, her eyes closed in sound slumber, with the +deadly pipe beside her. + +I bent to examine her pale countenance more closely. I started. Yes! I +had not been mistaken. She was the young daughter of one of the +best-known and most popular leaders of London society. + +I had no idea until that moment that she and the Crown-Prince were such +friends. A fortnight before the Crown-Prince, as Herr Lehnhardt, had +attended a gay river party at Henley, and I had accompanied him. At the +party the pair had been introduced in my presence. And now, within those +few days, I found her oblivious to the world in the worst opium den in +London! + +After considerable effort, I aroused her. But she was still dazed from +the effect of the drug, so dazed, indeed, that she did not recognize me. +However, I got her into a taxi, and having ascertained her mother's +address from the "Royal Blue Book" in the London club of which I was a +member, and where I arrived at an unearthly hour, I took her to Upper +Brocklion Street. + +Of the woman who opened the door I learned, to my relief, that the +family were at their place in Scotland, and that the house, enshrouded +in dust-sheets, was in the hands of herself and her husband as +caretakers. + +When I half lifted the young lady--whom I will here call Miss Violet +Hewitt for the sake of the good name of her family--out of the taxi the +woman became greatly alarmed. But I assured her there was nothing wrong; +her young mistress had been taken ill, but was now much better. A doctor +was not needed. + +For half an hour I remained there with her, and then, as she had +recovered sufficiently, I rose to go, intending to let her make her own +explanations to the caretaker. + +We were alone, and she was seated in a big arm-chair. She saw my +intention to leave, whereupon she struggled to her feet, for she now +realized to her horror what had occurred. + +"You are Count von Heltzendorff!" she exclaimed, passing her hand across +her brow, as though suddenly recollecting. "We met at Henley. Ah! I know +I--I can't help it. I have been very foolish--but I can't help it. The +craving grows upon me." + +"You met my friend Lehnhardt last night, did you not?" + +"Yes, I did. Quite accidentally. I was waiting in the lounge of the +'Ritz' for a man-friend with whom I had promised to dine when Mr. +Lehnhardt came in and recognized me. My friend had not turned up, so I +accepted his invitation to have dinner at Claridge's. This we did, and +during the meal he spoke of opium, and I admitted that I was fond of it, +for I smoke it sometimes at a girl-friend's at Hampstead. Therefore we +agreed to go together to Lung Ching's." + +"He left you there," I said. + +"I know. I certainly did not expect him to go away and leave me in such +a place," said the girl, who was very pretty and not more than twenty, +even though addicted to the terrible opium habit. "But," she added, "you +will keep my secret--won't you?" + +"Most certainly, Miss Hewitt," was my reply. "This should serve as a +severe lesson to you." + +Then I bade her farewell, and left her in the good hands of the +caretaker. + +On my return to Jermyn Street the Crown-Prince was in bed, sleeping +soundly. + +I remember standing at the window of that well-furnished bachelor's +sitting-room--for the place was owned by an old German-American +merchant, who, I expect, had a shrewd suspicion of the identity of the +reckless young fellow named Lehnhardt who sometimes, through a +well-known firm of house-agents, rented his quarters at a high figure. +The Crown-Prince used eight different names when abroad incognito, +Lehnhardt being one of them. + +"His Highness is very tired," the valet declared to me, as he entered +the room. "Before I got him to bed he asked for you. I said you had gone +out." + +"And what did he say?" + +"Well, Count, all he said was, 'Ah, our dear Heltzendorff is always an +early riser. He gets up before I go to bed!'" And the ever-faithful +valet laughed grimly. When the Crown-Prince went upon those frequent +debauches in the capitals of Europe, his valet always carried with him a +certain drug, a secret known to the Chinese, an injection of which at +once sobered him, and put both sense and dignity into him. I have seen +him in the most extreme state of helpless intoxication at five in the +morning, and yet at eight, he having received his injection, I have +watched him mount his horse and ride at the head of his regiment to an +inspection, as bright and level-headed as any trooper following. + +The drug had a marvellous and almost instantaneous effect. But it was +used only in case of great emergency, when, for instance, he was +suddenly summoned by the Emperor, or perchance he had to accompany his +wife to some public function. + +That the drug had bad effects I knew quite well. I have often seen him +pacing the room holding his hands to his head, when, three hours later, +the dope was gradually losing its potency, leaving him inert and ill. + +When the valet had retired, I stood gazing down into the growing life of +Jermyn Street, deploring the state of society which had resulted in the +pretty Violet Hewitt becoming, at twenty, a victim to opium. + +Truly in the world of London, as in Berlin, there are many strange +phases of life, and even I, familiar as I was with the gaieties of the +capitals, and the night life of Berlin, the Montmartre in Paris, and the +West End in London, here confess that when I discovered the pretty girl +sleeping in that dirty bunk in that fetid atmosphere I was staggered. + +Before three o'clock in the afternoon "Willie" reappeared, well groomed +and perfectly dressed. I had been out lunching at the "Berkeley" with a +friend, and on re-entering the chambers, found him in the sitting-room +smoking a cigarette. + +The effects of his overnight dissipation had entirely passed. He seated +himself upon the arm of a chair and asked: + +"Well, Heltzendorff, I suppose you've been out to lunch--eh? Anything +interesting in this town?" + +"The usual set at the 'Berkeley,'" I replied. + +"Oh! The 'Berkeley!' Very nice, but too respectable. That is where one +takes one's aunt, is it not?" he laughed. + +I admitted that it was a most excellent restaurant. + +"Good food and good amusement, my dear Heltzendorff, one can never find +together. The worse the food the better the entertainment. Do you +remember the 'Rat Mort'--eh?" + +"No," I said sharply. "That is a long-past and unwelcome memory." + +The Imperial profligate laughed heartily. + +"Oh, my dear Heltzendorff, you are becoming quite pharisaical. You! Oh! +that is really amusing!" + +"The 'Rat Mort' never amused me," I said, "a café of the Montmartre +where those who dined were----" + +I did not finish my sentence. + +"Were very pretty and interesting women, Heltzendorff," he declared. +"Ah! don't you recollect when you and I dined there not long ago, all of +us at a long table--so many charming ladies--oh!" + +"I have forgotten it, Prince," I said, rebuking him. "It has passed from +my memory. That place is just as unfitted for you as is Lung Ching's." + +"Lung Ching's! Ah--yes, the old yellow fellow is a good sort," he +exclaimed, as though recollecting. + +"And the lady you took there--eh?" + +"The lady?" he echoed. "Why, _Gott!_ I left her there. I did not +remember. _Gott!_ I left little Miss Violet in that place!" he gasped. + +"Well?" I asked. + +"Well, what can I do. I must go and see." + +I smiled, and then told him what I had done. + +"H'm," he exclaimed. "You are always a good diplomat, +Heltzendorff--always a good friend of the erratic Hohenzollerns. What +can I do to-night--eh? Suggest something." + +"I would suggest that you dined _en famille_ at the Embassy," I replied. + +"The Embassy! Never. I'm sick and tired of His Excellency and his +hideous old wife. They bore me to death. No, my dear Heltzendorff. I +wonder----" + +And he paused. + +"Well?" I asked. + +"I wonder if Miss Hewitt would go to the theatre to-night--eh?" + +"No," I snapped, for my long service gave me permission to speak my mind +pretty freely. "She is, I admit, a very charming young lady, but +remember she does not know your identity, and if her parents discover +what happened last night there will be a most infernal lot of trouble. +Recollect that her father, a financial magnate, is acquainted with the +Emperor. They have raced their yachts against each other. Indeed, Henry +Hewitt's won the Kiel Cup last year. So, personally, I think the game +that your Imperial Highness is playing is a distinctly dangerous one." + +"Bah! It is only amusement. She amuses me. And she is so fond of the +pipe. She has been a visitor of Lung Ching's for over a year. She has a +faithful maid who goes with her, and I suppose she pays the old Chinaman +well." + +"I suppose so," I remarked, for I knew that if the villainous old Ching +were paid well he would guarantee her safety in that den of his. + +I could see by the Crown-Prince's face that he was unimpressed by my +warning. Too well did I know to what mad, impetuous lengths he would go +when of a sudden a pretty face attracted him. So utterly devoid is he of +self-control that a woman's eyes could lead him anywhere. A glance at +that weak chin of his will at once substantiate my statement. + +His visit to Lung Ching's had left him somewhat muddled and limp, and +the next few days passed uneventfully. We went down into Surrey to stay +with a certain Baron von Rechberg, who had been a fellow-student of His +Highness's at Bonn. He was now head of a German bank in London, and +lived in a beautiful house surrounded by a large park high among the +Surrey hills. Count von Hochberg, "Willie's" bosom friend, whom he +always addressed as "Mickie," while the Count in turn called him +"Cæsar," being in London at the time, accompanied us, and so merrily did +the time pass that the incident at Lung Ching's went out of my memory. + +One night when we had all three returned to London "Willie" and Von +Hochberg spent the evening in the lounge of the Empire Theatre, and both +returned to the Prince's rooms about one o'clock in the morning. + +"Heltzendorff, Mickie is going with me to Scotland to-morrow morning," +said His Highness, as he tossed his overcoat upon the couch of that +luxurious little sitting-room within sight of the Maison Jules. "You +will stay here and attend to anything that may come through from +Potsdam. A courier should arrive to-morrow night, or is it Knof who is +coming? I forget." + +"Your Highness sent Knof over to get the correspondence," I reminded +him, for it was necessary that all pressing matters should be attended +to, or the Emperor's suspicions might be aroused that his son was absent +abroad. + +"Ah, the good Knof! Of course, he will be back to-morrow night. He will +have seen the Princess and told her how ill I have been, and how I am +gradually growing better," he laughed. "Trust Knof to tell a good, sound +lie." + +"All chauffeurs can do that, my dear Cæsar," exclaimed Von Hochberg, +with a grin. + +Naturally I was filled with wonder regarding the nature of the +expedition which the pair were about to undertake, but, though we all +three smoked together for an hour, "Willie" seemed unusually sober, and +did not let drop a single hint regarding their mysterious destination. + +Von Hochberg was living at the Coburg Hotel, and before he left "Willie" +arranged to breakfast with him at eight o'clock next morning, so that +they might leave Euston together by the ten o'clock express. + +I roused the valet, who worked for an hour packing His Highness's +suit-case. + +"One case only," the Crown-Prince had ordered. "I shall only be up there +a couple or three days. No evening clothes. I shall not want them." + +That remark told me that he did not intend to pay any formal visit, as +he had done on most of his journeys to Scotland. + +"Your Imperial Highness will take guns, of course," I remarked. + +"Guns!" he echoed. "No--no guns this time. If I want to shoot rabbits I +can borrow a farmer's blunderbuss," he laughed. + +That "Mickie," the hare-brained seeker after pleasure, was to be his +companion caused me some uneasiness. It was all very well for the +Crown-Prince to live in London as Herr Lehnhardt. London was a big +place, and those who catered for his Imperial pleasures were paid well, +and did not seek to inquire into his antecedents or whether he was +really what he represented himself to be. + +Money talks in the underground London, just as it does on the Stock +Exchange. But it sometimes, I assure you, took a long purse to keep the +foreign papers quiet regarding the wild escapades of the Kaiser's heir. + +That night somehow I felt a good deal of apprehension regarding this +mysterious flying visit to Scotland. That the pair had some deeply-laid +scheme on hand I knew from their evasiveness. But what it was I failed +to discover. + +Early that morning I put "Cæsar" into a taxi with his suit-case. He wore +a rough suit of tweeds, and took with him his walking-stick and a +khaki-coloured waterproof coat, presenting the picture of a young man +going North to shoot. + +"I'll be back in a few days, Heltzendorff. Attend to the letters," he +urged. "Throw away as many as you can. If I want you I will telegraph." + +And with that he drove to the "Coburg" to meet his old chum, "Mickie." + +About three o'clock that same afternoon, while walking along Piccadilly, +I was surprised to come face to face with Von Hochberg. + +"Why! I thought you had gone North!" I exclaimed. + +"No, Heltzendorff. Cæsar went alone," he replied, somewhat confounded at +our unexpected meeting. "He wanted to be alone, I think." + +"Where has he gone?" I inquired. "He left me no address." + +"No. And I have none either," the Count replied. + +This set me thinking. The situation was even worse with the Crown-Prince +wandering in Scotland alone. His indiscretions were such that his +identity might very easily leak out, and the truth concerning his +absence would quickly reach the Emperor's ears. + +As I stood chatting with His Highness's gay companion I confess that I +felt annoyed at the manner in which I had been tricked. He was often +afraid of my caustic tongue when I spoke of his indiscretions, and it +was further quite plain to me that Von Hochberg had simply pretended +that he was accompanying his friend North. + +That evening Knof arrived from Potsdam with a satchelful of +correspondence, and until a late hour I was kept busy inventing replies +which would eventually be taken to Holzemme, in the Harz Mountains, and +posted from there. We always made arrangements for such things when His +Highness was secretly out of Germany. + +I snatched a meal at Jules', close by, and resumed my work till long +after midnight, inventing some picturesque fictions in reply to many +official documents. + +One letter was from Her Imperial Highness. At her husband's order I +opened it, read it, and sealed it up again. It contained reproaches, but +nothing of extreme urgency. There had been occasions when I had read +"Cilli's" letters in the absence of her erratic husband, and sent to her +little untruths by wire, signed "Wilhelm, Kronprinz." + +Truly my position was one of curious intimacy. Sometimes His Highness +trusted me with his innermost secrets, while at others he regarded me +with distinct suspicion. That the elegant Von Hochberg knew of +"Willie's" whereabouts I felt convinced, but apparently His Highness had +given him orders not to divulge it to me. + +The next day and the next I waited in vain for some word from His +Highness. I had sent Knof back to the Harz to post the replies I had +written, and with nothing to do I idled about London. + +On the third day, when I returned to Jermyn Street after lunch, I found +a stout German, named Henkel, who carried on a hairdresser's business +near High Street, Kensington, but who was really a secret agent. He was +one of the few persons who knew of the Crown-Prince's visit, for each +time we came to London we took this man into our confidence. + +"I have received a telegram from Holzemme, Count," he said as I entered, +and then he handed me the message, which, after a few minutes' +examination--for though in plain language it was nevertheless not what +it purported to be--I saw to my dismay was an important message to +"Willie" from the Emperor, who was at that moment in Corfu. + +The message had been received by Koch, my assistant, whom I had left at +Holzemme. He had disguised it and re-transmitted it to Henkel to hand to +me. We always took this precaution, because when abroad incognito, both +the Crown-Prince and myself frequently changed our names. So, by +employing Henkel in London and a man named Behm in Paris, we were +always certain of receiving any important message. + +When the spy Henkel had left I stood looking out of the window down into +Jermyn Street, quite at a loss how to act. The message was one of the +greatest importance, and, if not replied to at once, the Emperor would, +I knew, institute inquiries, for he was well aware of his son's wild +escapades. + +My first impulse was to wire Koch a reply to be dispatched to His +Majesty, but on reflection I realized that the question was one which I +could not answer with truth. No. I must find His Highness at all +hazards. + +At once I went to the Coburg Hotel, and fortunately found Count von +Hochberg, who at first refused to reveal where his friend was hidden. +But when I showed him the telegram and explained the great urgency of a +reply, in order to prevent the Emperor from inquiring and knowing the +truth, he realized the necessity. + +"Well, Heltzendorff," he said, somewhat reluctantly, "Cæsar is at some +little place they call St. Fillans, in Scotland." + +"I know it," I cried eagerly. "A place at the end of Loch Earn! We +motored past it one day about two years ago. I shall go North at once." + +"But you can telegraph to him," the Count suggested. + +"To what address?" + +"Ah! Why, of course, I don't know his address--only that he is at St. +Fillans. I had a note yesterday." + +Travelling by way of Perth and Gleneagles, I next morning found myself +strolling along the picturesque village at the end of the beautiful +loch, which presented a truly delightful picture in the autumn sunlight. +At the hotel nothing was known of Mr. Lehnhardt, and though I devoted +the whole morning to making inquiries I could find no trace of His +Highness. The latter would certainly not betray himself as a German, +for, speaking English so well, he might very easily adopt an English +name. I ate my lunch at the hotel which faces the loch, with Ben +Voirlich rising high beyond, and afterwards resumed my wanderings. In +many quarters I described my "friend" of whom I was in search, but +nobody seemed to have seen him. The precious hours were flying, and I +knew that the Emperor at Corfu was impatiently awaiting a reply. + +I hired a car and drove seven miles to the farther end of the loch, to +the village of Lochearnhead. There I made inquiry at the hotel and +elsewhere, afterwards going on to Balquidder with similar result. It was +past six o'clock when I returned to St. Fillans with the feeling that +His Highness had deceived even his friend "Mickie," and that I had had +my long journey and quest for nothing. Not a soul seemed to have seen +anybody answering to "Willie's" description. I snatched another hasty +meal at the hotel, and then, in the dusk, set off in the opposite +direction along the pretty road which led to Comrie. The light was fast +fading, but I knew that there would be a full moon, and the night was +perfect. + +I had walked about three miles, and had probably lost my way, for I was +off the main road, when, on my left, saw the lighted windows of a +comfortable-looking cottage standing back from the road behind a +well-kept flower garden. There were woods on each side of the road, and +I concluded that it was a keeper's house. As I passed I heard voices, +and saw two figures standing at the garden gate--a man and a +woman--chatting confidentially. + +In the next second I recognized the man's voice as that of the +Crown-Prince, and as quickly I stepped upon the grass so that they might +not be attracted by my footsteps. Concealed by the shadow of the hedge +on the opposite side of the road, I stealthily approached until I could +distinguish, by the light from the open door of the cottage, that the +woman was a stout, elderly person, probably the keeper's wife. + +Both surprised and interested, I stood there watching. It seemed as +though they were awaiting someone, for after a few moments, they both +retired inside the cottage. + +Presently, however, "Willie" emerged alone. He had on his hat and +carried a stick, and as he swung through the gate and went forward he +whistled softly to himself the air of a gay waltz of which he was +particularly fond. + +Within myself I chuckled at being thus able to watch his mysterious +movements, for he seemed entirely preoccupied and quite unconscious of +being followed, though I fear my footsteps fell heavily at times. + +Suddenly, while passing along a part of the road overshadowed by woods +on either side, he halted in the darkness. I heard him speak, and I also +heard the welcome he received in a girl's voice. It was as I had +surmised, and I drew a long breath. + +I heard the pair talking, but from where I stood I could not overhear +any of their conversation. I heard His Highness laugh gaily, and though +he lit a cigarette his companion's face was turned from me so that I +could not catch a glimpse of it in the fitful light. + +Presently, after he had held her in his arms and kissed her, they turned +back in my direction. + +As they passed I heard the girl say: + +"I've been waiting for quite a quarter of an hour, Mr. Lehnhardt. I +thought perhaps something had prevented you from keeping the +appointment." + +"All my mistake, dear," was his reply. "My mistake. Forgive me." + +"Of course," she said, laughing, and I saw that she had her arm linked +in his as they walked back in the direction of the keeper's cottage. + +I followed in wonder, and not without anger. For the Heir of the +Hohenzollerns to ramble upon such rural escapades was, I knew, +distinctly dangerous. Exposure might come at any moment. + +They had strolled together nearly half a mile when of a sudden, as they +again passed into the deep shadows, the girl gave vent to a loud scream +for help, and at the same moment men's angry voices were heard. + +The pair had been attacked by three men who had apparently been lying +hidden in the wood. + +I heard a man shout, and then a sharp crack like that of a whip. The +Kaiser's son was shouting, too, while the girl was screaming and crying +shame upon those who had attacked the man with whom she had been +walking. + +"You infernal German!" I heard one of the men shriek. "I'll teach you to +come sneaking here and take my sister out for midnight walks! Take +that--you cur--and that!--whoever you are!" + +Next second the startling truth was plain to me. + +His Imperial Highness the German Crown-Prince was being ignominiously +and soundly thrashed by an irate brother! + +I saw that it was high time that I interfered. The Crown-Prince had been +flung upon the ground, and the angry young man was lashing him as I +dashed in among them with my revolver drawn. + +"Come, cease that," I shouted. "Down with that whip. You've attacked +these people on the high road, and if you strike again I'll fire." + +"Hulloa!" cried one man. "Why, here's another German!" + +"German or not--enough!" I commanded, and bending down, assisted the +fallen Prince to rise. + +"You--you shall pay for this, I swear!" declared "Willie," angrily +facing the man who had struck him. Then, turning to me, he apparently +recognized my voice, for he asked--"How in the name of Fate did you come +here, Heltzendorff?" + +"I will explain later," I replied in German. "Let us get out of this." + +"But I cannot leave Violet. I--I----" + +He had replied in the same language, which the men apparently did not +understand. + +"Enough; come," I said. Then in English I added, "We will wish these +gentlemen good-night." + +I took his arm and led him away amid the derisive laughter of the irate +brother and his two friends, leaving the girl with them. + +When we were out of earshot I told him of the Emperor's telegram, and +added: + +"That lady was Miss Hewitt, was she not?" + +"Yes. Her father's estate is a few miles from here. She's a perfect +little fiend for opium--got bitten with the habit when she was +travelling with her married sister in China, and Maggie, her old nurse, +who lives in the cottage we shall pass in a minute, lets her go there on +the quiet and smoke. I have had two or three pipes there lately," he +added merrily. + +"_Himmel!_" I gasped. "How dangerous! She has no idea of who you are, I +hope?" + +"Not in the least." + +"Good. Let us attend to the Emperor's telegram at once." + +And a quarter of an hour later we were discussing the Kaiser's inquiry +in a clean, comfortable, but out-of-the-way cottage in which "Willie" +had established himself so as to be near the pretty girl for whom he had +conceived that passing fascination. + +Until to-day Violet Hewitt has been entirely ignorant of the identity of +the man who, like herself, was so addicted to opium. These lines, if +they meet her eye, will reveal to her a curious and, no doubt, startling +truth. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER TEN + +HOW THE KAISER ESCAPED ASSASSINATION + + +"The Emperor commands you to audience at once in the private +dining-room," said one of the Imperial servants, entering the Kaiser's +study, where I was awaiting him. + +It was seven o'clock on a cold, cheerless morning, and I had just +arrived at Potsdam from Altona, the bearer of a message from the +Crown-Prince to his father. + +I knew that the Emperor always rose at five, and that he was +breakfasting, as was his habit, alone with the Empress in that +coquettish private dining-room of the Sovereigns, a room into which no +servant is permitted, Augusta preparing and serving the coffee with her +own hands. It was the one hour which the All-Highest before the war +devoted to domesticity, when husband and wife could gossip and discuss +matters alone and in secret. + +As I passed downstairs to the room, to which entrance was forbidden even +to the Crown-Prince himself, I naturally wondered why I had been +commanded to audience there. + +On tapping upon the mahogany door of the little private salon the +Empress's hard voice gave permission to enter, whereupon I bowed myself +into the cosy little place, hung with reseda silk and with pictures by +Loncret, Perne and Watteau. Upon one side of the room was a beautiful +buhl cabinet, and at the little round table placed near the window sat +the Imperial pair. + +The Empress was reading a letter, but His Majesty rose as I entered. He +was wearing a grey tweed suit, a well-worn and, no doubt, easy one, in +which nobody ever saw him, for he always changed into uniform before he +went to his study. + +"Have you any knowledge of the contents of the letter which you have +brought from the Crown-Prince?" he asked me bluntly, and I saw by his +eyes that he seemed somewhat mystified. + +I replied in the negative, explaining that I had been with His Imperial +Highness to Kiel, and afterwards to Altona, where the Crown-Princess had +performed the opening ceremony of a new dock. + +"Where are you going now?" he asked suddenly. "There are other +engagements, I believe?" + +"To Thorn. His Imperial Highness inspects the garrison there on +Thursday," I said. + +"Ah! of course. I intended to go, but it is impossible." + +Then, after a pause, the Emperor looked me straight in the face and +suddenly said: + +"Heltzendorff, have you any knowledge of any man called Minckwitz?" + +I reflected. + +"I know Count von Minckwitz, Grand-Master of the Court of the Duke of +Saxe-Altenbourg," was my reply. + +"No. This is a man, Wilhelm Minckwitz, who poses as a musician." + +I shook my head. + +"You are quite certain that you have never heard the name? Try to +recollect whether the Crown-Prince has ever mentioned him in your +presence." + +I endeavoured to recall the circumstance, for somehow very gradually I +felt a distinct recollection of having once heard that name before. + +"At the moment I fail to recall anything, Your Majesty," was my answer. + +The Emperor knit his brows as though annoyed at my reply, and then +grunted deeply in dissatisfaction. + +"Remain here in Potsdam," he said. "Telegraph to the Crown-Prince +recalling him at my orders, and I will cancel the inspection at Thorn. +Tell the Crown-Prince that I wish to see him to-night immediately upon +his return." + +Then, noticing for the first time that the Emperor held a paper in his +hand, I realized that by its colour it was one of those secret reports +furnished for the Kaiser's eye alone--a report of one of the thousands +of spies of Germany spread everywhere. + +Minckwitz! I impressed that name upon my memory, and, being dismissed, +bowed myself out of the Imperial presence. + +Returning to the Marmor Palace I sent a long and urgent message over the +private wire to "Willie" at Altona, repeating His Majesty's orders, and +recalling him at once. Quite well I knew that such an unusual message +would arouse His Highness's apprehension that for some offence or other +he was about to receive a paternal castigation. But I could not be +explicit, because I had no knowledge of the reason the Emperor was +cancelling our engagement at Thorn. + +At nine o'clock that night the Crown-Prince, gay in his Hussar uniform, +burst into the room wherein I was attending to the correspondence. + +"What in the name of Fate does all this mean, Heltzendorff?" he +demanded. "Why did the Emperor fail to reply to my message?" + +"I delivered it," I said. And then I described what took place in the +Emperor's private dining-room. When I mentioned the name of Minckwitz +the Crown-Prince started and his cheeks blanched. + +"Did he ask you that?" he gasped. + +"Yes. I told him the only person I knew of that name was Count von +Minckwitz." + +"Ah, that little fat, old Master of the Court. Oh! The Emperor knows him +well enough. It is somebody else he is referring to." + +"Do you know him?" I asked eagerly. + +"Me? Why--why, of course not!" was "Willie's" quick reply, in a tone +which showed me that he was not telling the truth. + +"His Majesty wishes to see you at once," I urged, full of wonder. + +I could plainly see that His Imperial Highness had been much upset at +mention of the mysterious person called Minckwitz. What could the +Emperor know of him? Was there some scandal at the root of it all, some +facts which the Crown-Prince feared might be revealed? + +Travel-stained, and without changing his tunic, "Willie" went to the +telephone and ordered Knof to bring back the car. And in it he drove +across to the Neues Palais to see the Emperor. + +I had an important appointment in Berlin that night, and waited until +quite late for "Willie's" return. As he did not come I left for the +capital, and on arrival at my rooms rang up Wolff's Agency, and gave out +a paragraph to the Press that His Imperial Highness the Crown-Prince had +been compelled to abandon his journey to Thorn, owing to having +contracted a chill. His wife "Cilli"--the contraction for Cecilia--had, +however, gone to visit Princess Henry of Rohnstock at Fürstenstein. + +Several weeks went by, and one day we were at the ancient schloss at +Oels, in far Silesia, the great estate which the Crown-Prince inherited +on coming of age. The castle is a big, prison-like place, surrounded by +wide lands and dense forests, lying between the town of Breslau and the +Polish frontier, a remote, rural place to which "Willie" loved sometimes +to retire with a few kindred spirits in order to look over the estate +and to shoot. + +The guests included old Count von Reisenach, Court Chamberlain, of the +Prince of Schombourg-Lippe, who was a noted raconteur and bon-vivant, +with Major von Heidkämper, of the 4th Bavarian Light Cavalry, a constant +companion of "Willie's," and Karl von Pappenheim, a captain of the +Prussian Guard, who had been educated at Oxford, and who was so English +that it was often difficult for people from London to believe that he +was a Prussian. + +Von Pappenheim, a tall, good-looking, fair-moustached man under thirty, +was one of "Willie's" new friends. He was the son of a great landowner +of Erfurt, and the pair had for the past month been inseparable. He was +a shrewd, keen-eyed man, who seemed ever on the alert, but, of course, +obsessed by military dignity, and as full of swagger as any Prussian +officer could be. He had a sister, Margarete, a pretty girl, a year or +so his junior, who had been to the Marmor Palace on one occasion. The +Crown-Princess had received her, but from the fact that she was not +invited a second time I concluded that the inevitable jealousy had +arisen, because in my presence "Willie" had more than once referred to +her beauty. + +I sometimes suspected that "Willie's" sudden and close friendship with +Von Pappenheim had some connection with his intense admiration of the +latter's sister. I, however, learnt the truth concerning their intimacy +in a curious way while at the Schloss Oels. + +One day I had accompanied the party out after stag, for, being a fair +shot, I frequently snatched a day's sport. Soon after luncheon, which we +took at a forester's house, we went forth again, and I concealed myself +at a point of vantage, lying behind a screen of ferns and branches +specially constructed as cover. + +I was alone, at some considerable distance from the others, and had been +there waiting for nearly an hour with my gun in readiness when suddenly +I heard the cracking of dried wood not far away. + +Something was moving. I raised my gun in breathless eagerness. + +Next moment, however, I heard the voices of two men.--"Willie" and his +friend, Von Pappenheim. They were approaching me, speaking in low, +confidential tones. + +"You quite understand," "Willie" was saying. "My position is a terrible +one. I don't know how to extricate myself. If I dare reveal the truth +then I know full well what their vengeance will be." + +"But, my dear Cæsar," was Karl von Pappenheim's reply, for he was on +such intimate terms that he called His Highness by the name Von Hochberg +had bestowed upon him, "is it not your duty to risk all and tell the +truth?" he suggested seriously. + +The pair had halted only a few yards from me and taken cover behind a +dead bush which had been cut down and placed conveniently at the spot, +in case the shooting party were a large one and the screen behind which +I had concealed myself was insufficient. So near were they that I could +hear all that was said. + +"The Emperor would neither believe me nor forgive me," "Willie" said. +"Minckwitz is a clever devil. He would bring manufactured evidence which +must implicate me." + +Minckwitz! That was the name which the Emperor had uttered, asking me if +I knew him! That incident at the Neues Palais flashed across my memory. +I recollected, too, how, when I had referred to the circumstance, His +Highness had become pale and agitated. Mention of the name had affected +him curiously. + +"But can he bring evidence?" asked his companion. + +"Yes, curse him!--he can!" + +"You can refute it, surely?" + +"No, I can't. If I could I should make a clean breast of the whole +matter," "Willie" declared. From the tone of his voice I realized how +utterly bewildered he was. + +"But cannot I help you? Cannot I see Minckwitz and bluff him?" his +friend suggested. + +"You don't know him," was the reply. "He holds me in the hollow of his +hand." + +"Ah! Then you have been horribly indiscreet--eh?" + +"I have. I admit I have, Karl; and I do not see any way out of it." + +"But, my dear Cæsar, think of the danger existing day by day--hour by +hour!" cried Von Pappenheim. "Think what there is at stake! That letter +you showed me this morning reveals only too plainly what is intended." + +"It is a letter of defiance, I admit." + +"And a catastrophe must inevitably occur if you do not act." + +"But how can I act?" cried the Crown-Prince, in despair. "Suggest +something--I cannot. If I utter a syllable Minckwitz will most certainly +carry out his threat against me." + +"Contrive to have him arrested upon some charge or other," Karl +suggested. + +"If I did he would produce the evidence against me," declared the +Crown-Prince. + +A silence then fell between the pair. Suddenly Karl asked: + +"Does Von Heltzendorff know?" + +"He knows nothing," was "Willie's" answer. "The Emperor questioned him, +but he was in ignorance of Minckwitz's existence. He was naturally +surprised, but I did not regard it as judicious to enlighten him." + +"He is your confidential adjutant. If I were you I should tell him the +truth. No time should be lost, remember." + +Then, after a few seconds of silence. Von Pappenheim went on: + +"Why, I never thought of it! My sister Margarete knows Minckwitz. She +might perhaps be useful to us--eh?" + +"Why, yes!" cried "Willie," "a woman can frequently accomplish a thing +where a man would fail. A most excellent idea. Let us leave the others +to their sport and get back to the schloss and discuss a line of +action--eh?" + +And in agreement the pair emerged from their ambush, and retraced their +steps along the path they had come. + +Still greatly puzzled at the nature of the secret which the Crown-Prince +was withholding from me, I came out of my hiding-place and presently +rejoined the party. + +That night we all dined together, as was our habit when at Oels, but I +saw that "Willie" was upset and nervous, and noticed that he drank his +champagne heavily. On the contrary, Von Pappenheim was wary and +watchful. + +Next evening Von Pappenheim's sister Margarete, fair-haired, _petite_ +and rather doll-like, arrived at the Castle. + +During dinner an Imperial courier arrived from Berlin with a letter from +the Emperor, and "Willie" opened it, read it, and then, excusing +himself, left the table. I rose and followed him, as was my duty, but +when outside the room His Highness sent me back, saying in a thick, +husky voice: + +"I shall not want you. Von Heltzendorff; I will write the reply myself." + +On my return the guests were discussing the effect of the Emperor's +message upon their host, Von Pappenheim being particularly anxious. He +said something in a low voice to his sister, when the latter became at +once thoughtful. Indeed, the remainder of the meal was a very dull +affair, and it was with relief that we rose and went out into the big +ancient hall, with its vaulted ceiling, where coffee was always served. + +The courier had left on his return journey to the capital, yet "Willie" +did not again reappear. At eleven o'clock I found him lying in a very +advanced state of intoxication upon the sofa in the room set apart for +me for my writing. Near him stood an empty brandy bottle and an empty +syphon of soda-water. + +I called his faithful valet, and together we half carried him to his +room, where he was undressed and put to bed. Hardly had I returned to my +room when Von Pappenheim entered in search of his host. + +"His Highness is not well, and has retired to his room," I said. "He +expressed a desire to see nobody to-night." + +Von Pappenheim's face changed. + +"Oh!" he cried in despair. "Why did he not see me and tell me the truth! +Precious hours are flying, and we must act if the situation is to be +saved." + +"What situation?" I asked, in pretended ignorance. + +"You know nothing, Von Heltzendorff, eh?" he asked, looking me straight +in the face. + +"Nothing," was my reply. + +"You have no knowledge of the trap into which the Crown-Prince fell when +he was in Paris with you six months ago, and when he and I first met?" + +"A trap! What do you mean?" + +"Has he told you nothing?" + +"Not a syllable." + +"Ah! Then I cannot be frank with you until I obtain His Highness's +permission. He told me that you knew nothing, but I did not believe it. +Knowing well what implicit confidence he places in you, I believed that +you knew the ghastly truth." + +"You alarm me," I said. "If the situation is grave, then I may be able +to be of some assistance, more especially if time is pressing." + +He hesitated, but refused to reveal a single fact before receiving the +Crown-Prince's permission. + +Into what trap had "Willie" fallen during our last visit to Paris I +could not conceive. His wild orgies in the Montmartre, his constant +absences alone, his terrible craving for excitement, his wild and +reckless search for pleasure in the lowest haunts of vice, had ever been +a source of anxiety to me. Times without number had I lifted a warning +finger, only to be derided and ridiculed by the son of the All-Highest +One. + +Next day, soon after His Highness was dressed, he entered my room. + +"Heltzendorff," he said, "I have been chatting with Von Pappenheim and +his sister upon a little matter of business which closely concerns +myself. I want you to leave in an hour's time and go to Hanover. In the +Kirchröder Strasse, No. 16, out at Kleefeld there lives a certain man +named Minckwitz--a Pole by birth. He has two nieces--one about twenty +and the other two years older. With them you have no concern. All I want +is that you engage a photographer, or, better, yourself take a snapshot +of this man Minckwitz, and bring it to me. Be discreet and trust no one +with the secret of your journey." + +"Exactly. There is a doubt as to the man's identity, eh?" + +"Willie" nodded in the affirmative. + +Satisfied that I should at last see the mysterious person whose identity +the Emperor had wished to establish, I set out from Oels on my long +journey right across Germany. + +In due course I arrived in Hanover, and found the house situate in the +pleasant suburb. Here I found that "Willie's" suspicions were correct, +and the man Minckwitz was living under the name of Sembach and +pretending to be a musician. I watched, and very soon with my own camera +took in secret a snapshot of the mysterious individual as he walked in +the street. With this I left two days later on my return to Oels. + +The photograph was that of a thin, narrow-faced, deep-eyed man, with a +scraggy, pointed beard--a typical Pole, and when I handed it to +"Willie" he held his breath. + +"Look!" he cried, turning to Von Pappenheim and his sister, who were +both present. "Look! There is no mistake! That is the man. What shall we +do? No time must be lost. How can I act?" + +Brother and sister exchanged glances blankly. From inquiries I had made +in Hanover, it seemed that the man was a stranger, a music-master, who +had arrived there about a month ago. I feared to make inquiry through +the police, because my official capacity as personal-adjutant to the +Crown-Prince was too well known, and suspicion might have thus been +aroused. + +The trio again held secret counsel, but I was not told the nature of +their deliberations. All I knew was that the Crown-Prince was in some +terrible and most dangerous difficulty. + +That afternoon I met the girl Margarete walking alone in the grounds +near the Schloss. The autumn sun was pleasant, though there was a sharp +nip in the air, which told of the coming of the early Silesian winter. +Most of the trees were already bare, and the ground was carpeted with +the gold-brown leaves of the great beeches. + +We had walked together for some distance, when I suddenly halted and +asked her point-blank why they were all in such great fear of Herr +Minckwitz. + +She started, staring at me with her big blue eyes. + +"His Highness has not told you, Count. Therefore, it would ill become me +to reveal his secret," was her cold rebuke. + +"But if the situation is so grave, and if I have been entrusted with the +secret mission to Hanover, I may, perhaps, be of service in the matter. +I understand that you are acquainted with Herr Minckwitz, _alias_ +Sembach--eh?" + +"Who told you that?" + +"Nobody. I learnt it myself," I answered, with a smile. + +For a second she reflected, then, with a woman's cleverness, she said: + +"I can tell you nothing. Ask the Crown-Prince himself." And she refused +to discuss the matter further. Indeed, she left the Castle two hours +later. + +That night I went boldly to "Willie," finding him alone in a little +circular room in one of the towers of the Castle, to which he often +retired to smoke and snooze. + +I stood before him, and without mincing matters told him what I had +overheard and all I knew. + +The effect of my words was almost electrical. He sat up, staring at me +almost dazed at my statement. + +"It is true, Heltzendorff. Alas! True!" he replied. But he would even +then give me no inkling of the reason of his fear. + +"If this Herr Minckwitz means mischief, then surely it would be easy to +secure his arrest for some offence or other, and you need not appear in +it," I suggested. + +"I've thought of all that. But if the police lay hands upon him, then he +will revenge himself on me. He will carry out his threat--and--and, +Heltzendorff, I could never hold up my head again." + +"Why?" + +"I can't be more explicit. I'm in a hole, and I cannot extricate +myself." + +I reflected for a moment. Then I said: + +"You appear to fear some action of Minckwitz's. If that is so, I will +return to Hanover and watch. If there is any hostile intent, I will +endeavour to prevent it. Fortunately, he does not know me." + +Next night I was back again in Hanover, having stopped in Berlin to pick +up a friend of mine upon whose discretion I could rely implicitly--a +retired member of the detective force named Hartwieg. Together we +started to watch the movements of the mysterious Polish musician, and +to our surprise we found that he had three friends, one of them a +furrier living in the Burgstrasse, who visited him regularly each +evening. They always arrived at the same hour, and generally left about +eleven o'clock. Through five days we kept watch, alternately closely +shadowing the man who called himself Sembach, and becoming acquainted +with his friends, most of whom seemed of a very queer set. + +There was no doubt that Minckwitz and the two young women were +associates of some criminal gang, and, further, I was staggered one +evening to watch the arrival at the house of a young man whom I +recognized as Brosch, an under-valet of the Emperor's at the Neues +Palais. + +For what reason had he come from Potsdam? + +He remained there till noon on the following day. When he emerged, +accompanied by Minckwitz, the pair went into the city, and we followed, +when, curiously enough, I came face to face with Von Pappenheim's +sister, who was apparently there for the same purpose as myself! Happily +she was too intent in her conversation with Minckwitz, whom she met as +though accidentally, to notice my presence. + +Then, at last, the musician raised his hat and left her, rejoining the +young man Brosch. + +The pair went to a bookshop in the Herschelstrasse, and presently, when +they came forth again, Brosch was carrying a good-sized volume wrapped +in brown paper. + +My curiosity was aroused, therefore I went into the shop, made a +purchase, and learned from the shopman that the younger of the pair had +purchased a well-known German reference-book, Professor Nebendahl's +"Dictionary of Classical Quotations." + +Strange that such a book should be purchased by an under-valet! + +Leaving the detective Hartwieg to watch, I took the next train back to +Potsdam, where I was fortunate enough to find the Emperor giving +audience to the Imperial Chancellor. At the conclusion of the audience I +sought, and was accorded, a private interview, at which I recalled His +Majesty's anxiety to ascertain something regarding the man Minckwitz. + +"Well--and have you found him?" asked the Emperor very eagerly. + +I replied in the affirmative. Then he told me something which held me +breathless, for, unlocking a drawer, he showed me an anonymous letter of +warning he had received, a letter which, posted in Paris, stated that an +attempt was to be made upon his life, and hinting that the Crown-Prince +might be aware of it. + +"Of course," he laughed, "I do not regard it seriously, but I thought we +ought to know the whereabouts of this man Minckwitz, who is probably an +anarchist." + +"Will Your Majesty leave the matter entirely in my hands?" I suggested. +"The police must not be informed." + +"It shall be as you wish. I give you authority to act just as you deem +best if you really anticipate danger." + +"I do anticipate it," I replied, and a few moments later bowed myself +out of the Imperial presence. + +During that day I idled about the Palace, gossiping with the officials +and _dames du palais_, awaiting the return of the young man Brosch. That +night he did not come back, but he arrived at the Palace about seven +o'clock on the following morning. The head valet was furious at his +absence, but the young man made a very plausible excuse that his sister +out at Lichtenberg was very dangerously ill. + +I had had no sleep that night, but as soon as I was informed of the +under-valet's return, I repaired to the Emperor's study and secreted +myself beneath a great damask-covered settee which runs along the wall +opposite the door. For nearly an hour I remained there, when the door +was opened stealthily and there entered the young man whom I had seen in +Hanover on the previous day. He carried a book in his hand. This he +swiftly exchanged for another similar book of the same appearance, and a +moment later crept out again, closing the door noiselessly. + +Quickly I came forth and took up the classical dictionary, a copy of +which was usually upon the Emperor's table. It presented just the same +appearance as the book that Brosch had taken away, only it was +considerably heavier. + +Without delay I dashed out, sought the Emperor's valet, and was admitted +to His Majesty's presence. + +Three minutes later we were both in the study. I took up the book and +held it to his ear. Just as I had heard, he could detect the faint +ticking of a watch within. + +The book had been hollowed out and a time bomb inserted! It was, no +doubt, set to explode between eight and nine o'clock, when the Emperor +would be at his desk. + +"Take it out quickly!" shrieked the Kaiser in terror, when he realized +the true import of the plot. + +In obedience, handling the book very carefully, I rushed with it +downstairs out into the open. I placed it on the grass some distance +away, while the Emperor followed me, utterly astounded at the discovery. + +Having deposited it, I dashed back to where the Emperor was standing +upon the steps, greatly to the surprise of the sentries, when hardly had +I reached him than there showed a blood-red flash, followed by a +terrific report and concussion--an explosion which, had it occurred in +the upstairs study, must have blown the Emperor's head off as he sat. + +His Majesty stood white and rigid, instantly realizing what a narrow +escape he had had, while the noise caused the greatest alarm, and +people began rushing hither and thither to ascertain the cause. + +In a few seconds His Majesty was calm again. + +"Say nothing of this, Heltzendorff," he said. "Let it remain a mystery. +Come upstairs and I will speak on the telephone to the police." + +"Your Majesty gave the matter unreservedly into my hands," I reminded +him. + +"Ah! that is so. I forgot," he exclaimed, and after thanking me he +added: "Take what steps you like, but have the offenders punished, and +also try to discover who sent me that anonymous warning." + +The young valet, who had been, no doubt, heavily bribed by Minckwitz to +substitute the book, had already disappeared, and, as a matter of fact, +has never been seen in Germany since. + +The man Minckwitz had also, it seemed, suddenly left Hanover on the +night of my departure, for Hartwieg, following him, reported to me by +wire that he was in Paris. + +Without delay I travelled to the French capital, saw my old friend +Pinaud of the Sûreté, and told him the whole story, explaining in +confidence that for some mysterious reason the Crown-Prince feared that +if the man were arrested he might reveal something unpleasant. + +"I quite understand," replied the French detective, with a smile. "I +know that, six months ago, while the Crown-Prince was in Paris, he was +one night enticed by a girl into the gaming-house kept by the notorious +Minckwitz. There a quarrel ensued, and the Crown-Prince, fearing attack, +drew his revolver, which went off and shot one of Minckwitz's +confederates stone dead. The Crown-Prince has ever since been paying big +sums to hush up the affair. Until recently Minckwitz conceived the idea +that if the Emperor died and the Crown-Prince came to the Throne it +would mean to him considerably more money each year. Therefore he +conceived that diabolical plot. I warned the Crown-Prince of it, and he +threatened to expose Minckwitz and have him arrested. Minckwitz, in +turn, threatened that if His Highness made the slightest movement to +thwart his plans he would expose to the world that the German +Crown-Prince, during his latest escapade in the Montmartre, had killed a +man. Finding this to be the case, I myself wrote that anonymous letter +of warning, which I addressed to the Emperor." + +"And which has had the effect of saving His Majesty's life," I remarked. + +That night Minckwitz found himself arrested upon a charge of +blackmailing a Portugese nobleman, and was later on sentenced to fifteen +years' imprisonment. + +In his solitary hours in prison he often wonders, I expect, why his +dastardly plot failed. Had it been successful, however, it certainly +would have had a great effect upon the future history of the world. + + + + +THE END + + +_Printed at The Chapel River Press, Kingston, Surrey._ + + + + +NOTE ADDED BY COUNT ERNST VON HELTZENDORFF: + +_I propose, with the assistance of my friend the Commendatore William Le +Queux, to issue in Great Britain a further instalment of my revelations +of "The Secrets of Potsdam" at an early date._ + + + + +_In the Press. Uniform with this volume._ + +FOR THE QUEEN + +By +E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM +Author of +"Those Other Days," "Mr. Wingrave, Millionaire." etc., etc. + +LONDON: +LONDON MAIL LTD. +39, KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. + + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + +Both Hotel and Hôtel appear and were not changed. + +Page 28: Umlaut added to three occurrences of "Fürstenberg". + +Page 103: hyphen removed from "ear[-]rings". + +Page 106: "Leichtenstein" changed to "Liechtenstein" (Liechtenstein +Bridge). + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Secrets of Potsdam, by William Le Queux + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRETS OF POTSDAM *** + +***** This file should be named 34278-8.txt or 34278-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/2/7/34278/ + +Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Secrets of Potsdam + +Author: William Le Queux + +Release Date: November 11, 2010 [EBook #34278] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRETS OF POTSDAM *** + + + + +Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h1>THE SECRETS OF POTSDAM</h1> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#SECRET_NUMBER_ONE"><b>Secret Number One: The Tragedy of the Leutenbergs</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SECRET_NUMBER_TWO"><b>Secret Number Two: The Crown-prince's Revenge</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SECRET_NUMBER_THREE"><b>Secret Number Three: How The Kaiser Persecuted a Princess</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SECRET_NUMBER_FOUR"><b>Secret Number Four: The Mysterious Frau Kleist</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SECRET_NUMBER_FIVE"><b>Secret Number Five: The Girl Who Knew the Crown-prince's Secret</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SECRET_NUMBER_SIX"><b>Secret Number Six: The Affair of the Hunchbacked Countess</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SECRET_NUMBER_SEVEN"><b>Secret Number Seven: The British Girl Who Baulked the Kaiser</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SECRET_NUMBER_EIGHT"><b>Secret Number Eight: How the Crown-prince Was Blackmailed</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SECRET_NUMBER_NINE"><b>Secret Number Nine: The Crown-prince's Escapade in London</b></a><br /> +<a href="#SECRET_NUMBER_TEN"><b>Secret Number Ten: How the Kaiser Escaped Assassination</b></a><br /> +<a href="#NOTE_ADDED_BY_COUNT_ERNST_VON"><b>Note Added by Count Ernst Von Heltzendorff</b></a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> +<div class='center'> +<i>First impression, March, 1917.<br /> +Second impression, March, 1917.</i> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> +<h1>The Secrets of Potsdam</h1> +<h3><i>A STARTLING EXPOSURE OF THE INNER LIFE<br /> +OF THE COURTS OF THE KAISER<br /> +AND CROWN-PRINCE</i></h3> +<div class='center'> +REVEALED FOR THE FIRST TIME<br /> +<br /> +by +</div> +<h2>COUNT ERNST VON HELTZENDORFF</h2> +<div class='center'> +<i>Commander of the Order of the Black Eagle, &c.<br /> +Late Personal-Adjutant to the German Crown-Prince</i><br /> +<br /> +CHRONICLED BY +</div> + +<h3>WILLIAM LE QUEUX</h3> + +<div class='center'> +LONDON:<br /> +LONDON MAIL LTD.<br /> +39, KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN. W.C.<br /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='center'> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +<i>Copyright in the United States of America by<br /> +William Le Queux, 1917<br /> +Translation and Cinema Rights reserved</i><br /> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +<i>"Veneux Nadon,<br /> +"par Moret-sur-Loing<br /> +"(Seine-et-Marne).<br /> +"February 10th, 1917.</i><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +"<span class="smcap">My dear Le Queux</span>,<br /> +</p> + +<p>"<i>I have just finished reading the proofs of +your book describing my life as an official at the Imperial +Court at Potsdam, and the two or three small +errors you made I have duly corrected.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>The gross scandals and wily intrigues which I +have related to you were, many of them, known to +yourself, for, as the intimate friend of Luisa, the Ex-Crown-Princess +of Saxony, you were, before the war, +closely associated with many of those at Court whose +names appear in the pages of this book.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>The revelations which I have made, and which +you have recorded here, are but a tithe of the disclosures +which I could make, and if your British public desire +more, I shall be pleased to furnish you with other and +even more startling details which you may also put +into print.</i></p> + +<p>"<i>My service as personal-adjutant to the German +Crown-Prince is, happily, at an end, and now, with +the treachery of Germany against civilization glaringly +revealed, I feel, in my retirement, no compunction +in exposing all I know concerning the secrets of the +Kaiser and his profligate son.</i></p> + +<p> +"<i>With most cordial greetings from</i><br /> +"<i>Your sincere friend</i>,<br /> +<br /> +"<span class="smcap">Ernst von Heltzendorff.</span>"<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="The_Secrets_of_Potsdam" id="The_Secrets_of_Potsdam"></a>The Secrets of Potsdam</h2> +<h2><a name="SECRET_NUMBER_ONE" id="SECRET_NUMBER_ONE"></a>SECRET NUMBER ONE</h2> +<h3>THE TRAGEDY OF THE LEUTENBERGS</h3> + + +<p>You will recollect our first meeting on that +sunny afternoon when, in the stuffy, nauseating +atmosphere of perspiration and a hundred +Parisian perfumes, we sat next each other at the +first roulette table on the right as you enter the +rooms at Monte Carlo?</p> + +<p>Ah! how vivid it is still before my eyes, the +jingle of gold and the monotonous cries of the +croupiers.</p> + +<p>Ah! my dear friend! In those pre-war days +the Riviera—that sea-lapped Paradise, with its +clear, open sky and sapphire Mediterranean, grey-green +olives and tall flowering aloes, its gorgeous +blossoms, and its merry, dark-eyed populace who +lived with no thought of the morrow—was, indeed, +the playground of Europe.</p> + +<p>And, let me whisper it, I think I may venture to +declare that few of its annual habitués enjoyed the +life more than your dear old ink-stained self.</p> + +<p>What brought us together, you, an English +novelist, and I a—well, how shall I describe myself? +One of your enemies—eh? No, dear old fellow. +Let us sink all our international differences. May I +say that I, Count Ernst von Heltzendorff, of Schloss<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +Heltzendorff, on the Mosel, late personal-adjutant +to His Imperial Highness the Crown-Prince, an +official attached to that precious young scoundrel's +immediate person, call you my dear friend?</p> + +<p>True, our nations are, alas! at war—the war +which the Kaiser and his son long sought, but which, +as you well know, I have long ago detested.</p> + +<p>I have repudiated that set of pirates and assassins +of whom I was, alas! born, and among whom I +moved until I learned of the vile plot afoot against +the peace of Europe and the chastity of its female +inhabitants.</p> + +<p>On August 5th, 1914, I shook the dust of Berlin +from my feet, crossed the French frontier, and have +since resided in the comfortable old-fashioned +country house which you assisted me to purchase on +the border of the lovely forest of Fontainebleau.</p> + +<p>And now, you have asked me to reveal to you +some of the secrets of Potsdam—secrets known to +me by reason of my official position before the war.</p> + +<p>You are persuading me to disclose some facts concerning +the public and private life of the Emperor, +of my Imperial master the Crown-Prince, known +in his intimate circle as "Willie," and of the handsome +but long-suffering Cecil Duchess of Mecklenbourg, +who married him ten years ago and became +known as "Cilli." Phew! Poor woman! she has +experienced ten years of misery, domestic unhappiness, +by which she has become prematurely aged, +deep-eyed, her countenance at times when we talked +wearing an almost tragic look.</p> + +<p>No wonder, indeed, that there is a heavy and, +alas! broken heart within the beautiful Marble +Palace at Potsdam, that splendid residence where +you once visited me and were afterwards commanded +to a reception held by His Imperial Highness.</p> + +<p>I risk much, I know, in taking up my pen to tell +the truth and to make these exposures to you, but +I do so because I think it only just that your British<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +nation should know the true character of the Emperor +and of the unscrupulous and ubiquitous +"Willie," the defiant young Blackguard of Europe, +who is the idol of the swaggering German Army, +and upon whom they pin their hopes.</p> + +<p>It is true that the Commander of the Death's +Head Hussars—the "Commander" who has since +the war sanctioned the cold-blooded murder of +women and children, the shooting of prisoners, +rapine, incendiarism, and every other devil's work +that his horde of assassins could commit—once +declared that "the day will come when Social +Democrats will come to Court."</p> + +<p>True, he has been known to be present at the +golden wedding festivities of a poor cobbler in +Potsdam; that he has picked up in his yellow +ninety-horse-power car—with its black imp as a +mascot—a poor tramp and taken him to the hospital; +and that he possesses the charming manner +of his much-worshipped grandfather, the Emperor +Frederick. But he is as clever and cunning as his +criminal father, Wilhehm-der-Plötzliche (William the +Sudden) or Der Einzige (The Only), as the Kaiser +is called by the people of the Palace. He shows +with double cunning but one side of his character +to the misguided German people, the Prussian Junker +party, and the Tom-Dick-and-Harry of the Empire +who have been made cannon-fodder and whose bones +lie rotting in Flanders and on the Aisne.</p> + +<p>Ah, my dear friend, what a strange life was that +of the German Court before the war—a life of mummery, +of gay uniforms, tinsel, gilded decorations, +black hearts posing as virtuous, and loose people of +both sexes evilly scandalizing their neighbours and +pulling strings which caused their puppets to dance +to the War-Lord's tune.</p> + +<p>I once lifted the veil slightly to you when you +stayed at the Palast Hotel in Potsdam and came to +us at the Marble Palace, and I suppose it is for that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +reason that you ask me to jot down, for the benefit +of your readers in Great Britain and her Dominions, +a few facts concerning the plots of the Kaiser and +his son—the idol of Germany, the Kronprinz +"Willie."</p> + +<p>What did you think of him when I presented you?</p> + +<p>I know how, later on that same night, you remarked +upon his height, his narrow chest, and his +corset-waist, and how strangely his animal eyes +set slant-wise in his thin, aquiline face, goggle eyes, +which dilate so strangely when speaking with you, +and which yet seem to penetrate your innermost +thoughts.</p> + +<p>I agreed with you when you declared that there +was nothing outwardly of the typical Hohenzollern +in the Imperial Rake. True, one seeks in vain for +traces of martial virility. Though his face is so often +wreathed in boyish smiles, yet his heart is as hard +as that of the true Hohenzollern, while his pretended +love of sport is only a clever ruse in order to retain +the popularity which, by dint of artful pretence, +he has undoubtedly secured. Indeed, it was because +of the All-Highest One's jealousy of his reckless +yet crafty son's growing popularity that we were one +day all suddenly packed off to Danzig to be immured +for two long years in that most dreary and provincial +of all garrisons.</p> + +<p>Of the peccadilloes of the elegant young blackguard +of Europe—who became a fully-fledged +colonel in the German Army at the age of thirty-one—I +need say but little. His life has been crammed +with disgraceful incidents, most of them hushed +up at the Kaiser's command, though several of +them—especially certain occurrences in the Engadine +in the winter of 1912—reached the ears of the +Crown-Princess, who, one memorable day, unable +to stand her husband's callous treatment, threatened +seriously to leave him.</p> + +<p>Indeed, it was only by the Kaiser's autocratic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +order that "Cilli" remained at the Marmor Palace. +She had actually made every preparation to leave, +a fact which I, having learned it, was compelled to +report to the Crown-Prince. We were at the Palace +in the Zeughaus-Platz, in Berlin, at the time, and +an hour after I had returned from Potsdam I chanced +to enter the Crown-Prince's study. The door was +a self-locking one, and I had a key. On turning +my key I drew back, for His Majesty the Emperor, +a fine figure in the picturesque cavalry uniform of +the Königsjäger—who had just come from a review, +and had no doubt heard of the threatened Royal +scandal—was standing astride in the room.</p> + +<p>"I compel it!" cried the Emperor, pale with +rage, his eyes flashing as he spoke. "She shall +remain! Go to her at once—make your peace with +her in any way you can—and appear to-night with +her at the theatre."</p> + +<p>"But I fear it is impossible. I——"</p> + +<p>"Have you not heard me?" interrupted the +Emperor, disregarding his son's protests. And as +I discreetly withdrew I heard the Kaiser add: +"Cannot you, of our House of Hohenzollern, see +that we cannot afford to allow Cilli to leave us? +The present state of the public mind is not encouraging, +much as I regret it. Remember Frederick +August's position when that madcap Luisa of Tuscany +ran away with the French tutor Giron. Now +return to Marmor without delay and do as I bid."</p> + +<p>"I know Cilli. She will not be appeased. Of +that I am convinced," declared the young man.</p> + +<p>"It is my will—the will of the Emperor," were +the last words I heard, spoken in that hard, intense +voice I knew so well. "Tell your wife so. And +do not see that black-haired Englishwoman again. +I had a full report from the Engadine a fortnight +ago, and this <i>contretemps</i> is only what I have expected. +It is disgraceful! When will you learn +reason?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> + +<p>Ten minutes later I was seated beside the Crown-Prince +in the car on our way to Potsdam.</p> + +<p>On the road, driving recklessly as I sat by his +side, he laughed lightly as he turned to me, saying:</p> + +<p>"What an infernal worry women really are—aren't +they, Heltzendorff—more especially if one is +an Imperial Prince! Even though one is a Hohenzollern +one cannot escape trouble!"</p> + +<p>How the conjugal relations were resumed I know +not. All I know is that I attended their Imperial +Highnesses to the Lessing Theatre, where, in the +Royal box, the Kaiser—ever eager to stifle the shortcomings +of the Hohenzollerns—sat with us, though +according to his engagements he should have been +on his way to Düsseldorf for a great review on the +morrow. But such public display allayed all rumour +of his son's domestic infelicity, and both Emperor +and Kronprinz smiled benignly upon the people.</p> + +<p>Early next day the Crown-Prince summoned +me, in confidence, and an hour later I left on a +secret mission to a certain lady whom I may call +Miss Lilian Greyford—as it is not fair in certain +cases in these exposures to mention actual names—daughter +of an English county gentleman, who was +staying at the "Kulm" at St. Moritz.</p> + +<p>Twenty-four hours afterwards I managed to see +the winter-sports young lady alone in the hotel, and +gave her a verbal message, together with a little +package from His Imperial Highness, which, when +she opened it, I found contained a souvenir in the +shape of an artistic emerald pendant. With it were +some scribbled lines. The girl—she was not much +more than twenty—read them eagerly, and burst +into a torrent of tears.</p> + +<p>Ah! my dear Le Queux, as you yourself know +from your own observations, there are as many +broken hearts beating beneath the corsets of ladies-in-waiting +and maids-of-honour, as there are among +that frantic feminine crowd striving to enter the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +magic circle of the Royal entourage or the women +of the workaday world who pass up Unter-den-Linden +on a Sunday.</p> + +<p>Phew! What a world of fevered artificiality +revolves around a throne!</p> + +<p>Very soon after this incident—namely, in the +early days of 1912—I found myself, as the personal-adjutant +of His Imperial Highness the Crown-Prince, +involved in a very strange, even inexplicable, affair.</p> + +<p>How shall I explain it? Well, the drama opened +in the Emperor's Palace in Berlin on New Year's +night, 1912, when, as usual, a Grand Court reception +was held.</p> + +<p>The scene was one which we who revolve around +the throne know so well. Court gowns, nodding +plumes, gay uniforms, and glittering decorations—a +vicious, tinselled, gossip-loving little world which +with devilish intent sows seeds of dark suspicion or +struggles for the Kaiser's favour.</p> + +<p>In the famous White Salon, with its ceiling gaudily +emblazoned with the arms of the Hohenzollerns as +Burgraves, Electors, Kings, Emperors, and what-not, +its walls of coloured marble and gilded bronze, +and its fine statues of the Prussian rulers, we had +all assembled and were waiting the entrance of the +Emperor.</p> + +<p>Kiderlen-Waechter—the Foreign Secretary—was +standing near me, chatting with Von Jagow, slim, +dark-haired and spruce. The latter, who was serving +as German Ambassador in Rome, happened to be +in Berlin on leave, and the pair were laughing +merrily with a handsome black-haired woman whom +I recognized as the Baroness Bertieri, wife of the +Italian Ambassador.</p> + +<p>Philip Eulenburg, one of the Emperor's personal +friends (by the way, author, with Von Moltke, of +the Kaiser's much-advertised "Song to Ægir"—a +fact not generally known), approached me and +began to chat, recalling a side-splitting incident that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +had occurred a few days before at Kiel, whither I had +been with the Crown-Prince to open a new bridge. +Oh, those infernal statues and bridges!</p> + +<p>Of a sudden the tap of the Chamberlain's stick +was heard thrice, the gold-and-white doors instantly +fell open, and the Emperor, his decorations gleaming +beneath the myriad lights, smilingly entered with his +waddling consort, the Crown-Prince, and their +brilliant suite.</p> + +<p>All of us bowed low in homage, but as we did so +I saw the shrewd eyes of the All-Highest One, which +nothing escapes, fixed upon a woman who stood close +to my elbow. As he fixed his fierce gaze upon her +I saw, knowing that glance as I did, that it spoke +volumes. Hitherto I had not noticed the lady, for +she was probably one of those unimportant persons +who are commanded to a Grand Court, wives and +daughters of military nobodies, of whom we at the +Palace never took the trouble to inquire so long as +their gilt command-cards, issued by the Grand +Chamberlain, were in proper order.</p> + +<p>That slight contraction of the Emperor's eyebrows +caused me to ponder deeply, for, knowing him +so intimately, I saw that he was intensely annoyed.</p> + +<p>For what reason? I was much mystified.</p> + +<p>Naturally I turned to glance at the woman whose +presence had so irritated him. She was fair-haired, +blue-eyed, <i>petite</i> and pretty. Her age was about +twenty-five, and she was extremely good-looking. +Beside her stood a big, fair-haired giant in the +uniform of a captain of the First Regiment of the +Hussars of the Guard, of which the Crown-Prince +was Colonel-in-Chief.</p> + +<p>Within a quarter of an hour I discovered that +the officer was Count Georg von Leutenberg, and +that his pretty wife, whom he had married two +years before, was the eldest daughter of an English +financier who had been created a Baron by your +rule-of-thumb politicians.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Pretty woman, eh?" lisped Eulenburg in my +ear, for he had noticed her, and he was assuredly +the best judge of a pretty face in all Berlin.</p> + +<p>Next day, just before noon, on entering the +Crown-Prince's private cabinet, I found "Willie" +in the uniform of the 2nd Grenadiers, apparently +awaiting me in that cosy apartment, which is +crammed with effigies, statuettes, and relics of the +great Napoleon, whom he worships just as the War +Lord reveres his famous ancestor Frederick the Great.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Heltzendorff," said his Elegant Highness, +waving his white, well-manicured hand to a +chair near by, and puffing at his cigarette. "It is +really pleasant to have an hour's rest!" he laughed, +for he seemed in merry mood that day. "Look +here! As you know, after the little affair with the +Crown-Princess I trust to your absolute discretion. +Do you happen to know Count Georg von Leutenberg, +of the Hussars of the Guard?"</p> + +<p>"By sight only," was my reply. Mention of that +name caused me to wonder.</p> + +<p>"He is a very good fellow, I understand. Do you +know his wife—a pretty little Englishwoman?"</p> + +<p>"Unfortunately, I have not that pleasure."</p> + +<p>"Neither have I, Heltzendorff," laughed the +Prince, with a queer look in those slant-set eyes +which appear so strangely goggly sometimes. "But +I soon shall know her, I expect. In that direction +I want your assistance."</p> + +<p>"I am yours for your Highness to command," +I replied, puzzled to know what was in progress. +After a few seconds of silence the Crown-Prince +suddenly exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"So good is the report of Von Leutenberg that +has reached the Emperor that—though he is as yet +in ignorance of the fact—he has been promoted to the +rank of major, and ordered upon a foreign mission—as +military attaché in London. He will leave Berlin +to-night to take up his new post."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And the Countess?"</p> + +<p>"By a secret report I happen to have here it is +shown that they are a most devoted pair," he said, +glancing at a sheet of buff paper upon which was +typed a report, one which I recognized as emanating +from the secret bureau at the Polizei-Prasidium, in +Alexander Platz. "They live in the Lennestrasse, +No. 44, facing the Tiergarten. Note the address."</p> + +<p>Then his Highness paused, and, rising, crossed to +the big writing-table set in the window, and there +examined another report. Afterwards, glancing at +the pretty buhl clock opposite, he suddenly said:</p> + +<p>"The Count should call here now. I have sent informing +him of the Emperor's goodwill, and ordering +him to report here to take leave of me as his Colonel-in-Chief."</p> + +<p>Scarcely had he spoken when Count von Leutenberg +was announced by a flunkey in pink silk stockings, +and a moment later the tall officer clicked his +heels together and saluted smartly on the threshold.</p> + +<p>"I thought you would be pleased at your well-merited +promotion," said his Highness in quite a +genial tone. "The Emperor wishes you to leave for +London by the ten o'clock express for Flushing +to-night, so as to report to his Excellency the Ambassador +before he departs on leave. Hence the +urgency. The Countess, of course, will remain in +Berlin. You will, naturally, wish for time to make +your arrangements in London and dispose of your +house here."</p> + +<p>"I think she will wish to accompany me, your +Imperial Highness," replied the fond husband. +"London is her home."</p> + +<p>"Ah! That is absurd!" laughed "Willie." +"Why, you who have been married two whole years +are surely not still upon your honeymoon?" and his +close-set eyes glinted strangely. "You will be far +too busy on taking up your new appointment to see +much of her. No. Let her remain comfortably at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +home in Berlin until you are quite settled. Then I +will see that Kiderlen grants you leave to return to +put your house in order."</p> + +<p>From the Count's manner I could see that he was +very much puzzled at his sudden promotion.</p> + +<p>Indeed, on entering he had stammered out his +surprise at being singled out for such high distinction.</p> + +<p>Von Leutenberg's hesitation was the Crown-Prince's +opportunity.</p> + +<p>"Good!" went on his Highness in his imperious, +impetuous way. "You will leave for London to-night, +and the Countess will remain until you have +settled. I congratulate you most heartily upon +your well-deserved advancement, which I consider +is an honour conferred by the Emperor upon my +regiment. I know, too, that you will act to the +honour of the Fatherland abroad."</p> + +<p>And with those words the major was dismissed.</p> + +<p>"A charming man!" remarked the Prince, after +the door had closed. "He has only been brought +to my notice quite recently. An enthusiastic officer, +he will be of great use to us at Carlton House Terrace. +There is much yet to be done there, my dear Heltzendorff. +Fortunately we have put our friends the +English comfortably to sleep. It has cost us money, +but money talks in London, just as it does in Berlin."</p> + +<p>And he drew a long, ecstatic breath at the mere +thought of the great international plot in progress—of +the staggering blow to be struck against France, +and the march upon Paris with those men who were +his boon companions—Von Kluck, Von Hindenburg +and Von der Goltz.</p> + +<p>"Heltzendorff," he exclaimed a few moments +later, after he had reflected deeply between the whiffs +of his cigarette. "Heltzendorff, I wish you to become +acquainted with the Countess von Leutenberg, +and you must afterwards introduce me. I have a +fixed and distinct reason. I could obtain the assistance +of others, but I trust you only."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But I do not know the lady," I protested, for +I had no desire whatsoever to become implicated in +any double-dealing.</p> + +<p>"Hohenstein knows her well. I will see that he +introduces you," replied the Kaiser's son, with that +strange look again in his eyes. "She's uncommonly +pretty, so mind you don't fall in love with her!" he +laughed, holding up his finger reprovingly. "I've +heard, too, that Count Georg is a highly jealous person, +but, fortunately, he will be very busy writing +secret reports at Carlton House Terrace. So go and +see Hohenstein at once, and get him to introduce +you to the pretty little Englishwoman. But, remember, +not a word of this conversation is to be +breathed to a single soul."</p> + +<p>What did it all mean? Why had the Emperor +singled out for advancement the husband of that +woman, the sight of whom had so greatly annoyed +him? I confess that I became more than ever +puzzled over the curious affair.</p> + +<p>Within a week, however, thanks to the introduction +of that old roué, Hohenstein, I had dined at +Count von Leutenberg's pretty house in the Lennestrasse +in a fine room, the long windows of which +commanded a delightful view over the Tiergarten +and the Siegesallee.</p> + +<p>The Countess, extremely charming and refined, +having the misfortune of being English, had not been +taken up warmly by Berlin society. She was, I +found, a most delightful hostess. The party included +Laroque, the elegant First Secretary of the French +Embassy, and his Parisian wife, together with Baron +Hoffmann, the burly, round-faced Minister of the +Interior, and Doctor Paulssen, Under-Secretary at +the Colonial Office, against whom you will remember +there were allegations of atrocities committed upon +the natives in German East Africa. Hohenstein +was, however, not there, as he had been suddenly +dispatched by the Emperor upon a mission to Corfu.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p> + +<p>At table the talk ran upon Leutenberg's sudden promotion, +whereupon the Minister Hoffmann declared:</p> + +<p>"His Majesty only gives reward when it is due. +When he discerns talent he is never mistaken."</p> + +<p>A week later the Crown-Prince had returned from +a surprise visit the Kaiser had made to Stettin. +The Emperor had played his old game of rousing the +garrison in the middle of the night, and then +laughing at the ludicrous figures cut by his pompous +Generals and Colonels rushing about in their night +attire eager to greet their Sovereign.</p> + +<p>I was in the Prince's private room arranging the +details of a military programme at Potsdam on the +following day when he suddenly entered and exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Well, Heltzendorff, and how are you proceeding +in the Lennestrasse, eh?" and he looked at me with +those crafty eyes of his. "I hear you were at the +house last night."</p> + +<p>I started. Was I being watched? It was quite +true that I had called on the previous evening, and, +finding the Countess alone, had sat in her pretty +drawing-room enjoying a long and delightful chat +with her.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I called there," I admitted. "The Count +is returning from London next week to take his wife +back with him."</p> + +<p>The Crown-Prince smiled mysteriously, and +critically examined the curious snake ring which he +always wears upon the little finger of his left hand.</p> + +<p>"We need not anticipate that, I think. Kiderlen +will not grant him leave. He is far better in Carlton +House Terrace than in the Lennestrasse."</p> + +<p>"I hardly follow your Highness," I remarked, +much mystified at his words.</p> + +<p>"H'm. Probably not, my dear Count," he +laughed. "I do not intend that you should."</p> + +<p>And with that mysterious remark he turned to +meet Count von Zeppelin, the round-faced, snow-haired,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +somewhat florid inventor, who was one of +his Highness's most intimate friends, and who had +at that moment entered unannounced. Zeppelin +was a character in Berlin. He sought no friends, no +advertisement, and shunned notoriety.</p> + +<p>"Ha, my dear Ferdinand!" cried the Prince, +shaking the hand of the man who so suddenly became +world-famous at the age of seventy. "You have +travelled from Stuttgart to see me—unwell as you +are! It is an honour. But the matter is one of +greatest urgency, as I have already written to you. +I want to show you the correspondence and seek +your advice," and the Prince invited his white-haired +friend to the big, carved arm-chair beside his +writing-table. Then, turning to me, he said: "Will +you see Von Glasenapp for me, and hand him those +orders for Posen? He must leave to-night. The +General Court-Martial at Stendal I have fixed for +the 25th. I shall be with the Emperor this afternoon. +Report here at seven to-night—understand?"</p> + +<p>Thus was I dismissed, while His Imperial Highness +and Count Zeppelin sat together in secret counsel.</p> + +<p>At ten minutes to seven that evening I unlocked +the Crown-Prince's room with the key I carried, the +other two keys being in the hands of the Crown-Princess +and her husband. I had placed upon the +table a bundle of reports which had just been brought +round from the Ministry of War, and required that +scribbly signature, "Wilhelm Kronprinz," when I +noticed three private letters that had evidently been +placed aside. The envelopes were addressed in a +thin, angular, female hand, and bore an English +address. I noted it. The name on each was that +of a lady residing in Aylesbury Avenue, Hampstead, +London. The letters bore German stamps. In keen +curiosity, I took one and examined it, wondering +whether it could be the correspondence which the +Crown-Prince had been so eager to show Count +von Zeppelin in secret.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> + +<p>I drew the letter from the envelope and scanned +it rapidly.</p> + +<p>What I read caused me to hold my breath. The +signature to the letters was "Enid von Leutenberg."</p> + +<p>Those letters of hers had, it was plain, been seized +in the post on their way to London. The Countess +either had a traitor in her household or secret watch +was being kept by the Secret Service upon her +correspondence.</p> + +<p>All three of those letters I read—letters which +opened my eyes and broadened my mind. Then, +taking up my bundle of reports, I crept away from +the room, carefully re-latching the door. I intended +that his Highness should return, discover the +letters left there inadvertently, and put them away +ere my arrival, in which case he would never suspect +that I had any knowledge of their contents.</p> + +<p>With the papers in my hand I passed along the +many carpeted corridors to the south wing of the +Palace, where I found Tresternitz, Marshal of the +Prince's Court, in his room.</p> + +<p>The Crown-Prince imitated his father's sharp punctuality, +therefore I knew that he would be there at +seven or soon afterwards.</p> + +<p>Tresternitz was always full of scandal concerning +those who lived in the higher circles of Berlin, and +it was to one of these stories of Court scandal concerning +one of the ladies-in-waiting which I listened +while I smoked one of his excellent Russian cigarettes.</p> + +<p>Then, glancing at the clock, I rose suddenly and +left him, returning again to the private room.</p> + +<p>I found his Highness there, and as I entered I +noticed that he had hidden those remarkable letters +which he had in secret shown to Count Zeppelin.</p> + +<p>A fortnight went past. The Kaiser, with his mad +love of constant travel, had been rushing up and +down the Empire—to Krupp's at Essen, to the trials +of a newly-invented howitzer, thence to an inspection +at Kassel, and afterwards to unveil monuments at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +Cologne and at Erfurt. The Crown-Prince and +Princess had accompanied him, the Kaiserin being +indisposed, and I, of course, had been included in +"Willie's" suite.</p> + +<p>The week had been a strenuous one of train-travel, +luncheons, tiring dinners, receptions, dancing, +and general junketings, and I was glad enough to +get back to my bachelor rooms—those rooms in the +Krausenstrasse that you knew so well before the +bursting of the war-cloud. To dance attendance +upon an Imperial Crown-Prince, as well as upon an +autocratic Emperor, becomes after a time a wearisome +business, however gay and cosmopolitan a +man may be.</p> + +<p>I had only been at home a few hours when a +telephone message summoned me at five o'clock to +the Crown-Prince's Palace.</p> + +<p>His Imperial Highness, who had, I knew, been +lunching with the Emperor at the Königliches +Schloss across the bridge, seemed unusually serious +and thoughtful. Perhaps the Emperor had again +shown his anger at his peccadilloes, as he did so +frequently.</p> + +<p>"Count," he said, after a few seconds of silence, +during which I noted that upon his table lay a +private letter from the German Ambassador in +London. "You will recall my conversation regarding +the Countess von Leutenberg—eh?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly," was my reply.</p> + +<p>"I told you that I should require you to introduce +me," he said. "Well, I want you to do so this +evening. She has taken a box at the Königliche +Opera to-night, where they are to play <i>Falstaff</i>. I +shall be there, and you will be with me. Then you +will introduce me to your pretty friend. Understand?" +And he grinned.</p> + +<p>That night, in accordance with my instructions, +I sat in the Emperor's box with the Crown-Prince, +Tresternitz, and two personal-adjutants, and, recognizing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +the Countess von Leutenberg in a box opposite, +accompanied by an elderly lady, I took the +Crown-Prince round, and there presented her to him, +greatly to her surprise and undisguised delight.</p> + +<p>The Prince and the Countess chatted together, +while I sat with her elderly companion. Then, when +we had withdrawn, my Imperial Master exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Ah! my dear Heltzendorff. Why, she is one +of the prettiest women in all Berlin! Surely it is +unfortunate—most unfortunate."</p> + +<p>What was unfortunate? I was further puzzled +by that last sentence, yet I dare not ask any explanation, +and we went back to our own box.</p> + +<p>After our return to the Palace the Crown-Prince, +who was standing in one of the corridors talking +with the slim, fair-haired Baroness von Wedel, one +of his wife's ladies-in-waiting, left her and beckoned +me into an adjoining room.</p> + +<p>"I wish you, Heltzendorff, to call upon the Countess +von Leutenberg at nine o'clock to-morrow evening. +She will expect you."</p> + +<p>I looked at his Highness, much puzzled. How +did he know that the pretty Countess would expect +me?</p> + +<p>But he gave me no time to reply, merely turning +upon his heel, and striding down the corridor to the +private apartments.</p> + +<p>Punctually at nine o'clock that wintry evening +I called at the Lennestrasse, but Josef, the elderly +manservant, informed me that his mistress was +engaged, adding that His Imperial Highness the +Crown-Prince had paid a surprise call.</p> + +<p>"The Crown-Prince here!" I gasped, astounded.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Count. And, further, my mistress is in +high glee, for my master returned this morning quite +unexpectedly from London. He has been out at the +Ministry for Foreign Affairs all the evening, and +I expect him home at any moment. The Crown-Prince +ordered me to ask you to await him here."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> + +<p>Count von Leutenberg in Berlin! What did it +mean? He was absurdly jealous, I recollected. +He might return at any moment and find the Crown-Prince +alone in the Countess's drawing-room. If +so, the situation might certainly be a most unpleasant +one.</p> + +<p>Hardly had the thought crossed my mind when +I heard the Count enter, his spurs clinking and his +sabre rattling as he strode up the stairs.</p> + +<p>I crept forth, listening breathlessly.</p> + +<p>A few seconds later I heard the Count's voice +raised in anger and high, bitter words. Next moment +I sprang up the stairs and, dashing into the room, +found the pretty Countess standing near the window, +white and rigid as a statue, while the two men in +uniform faced each other. Von Leutenberg's countenance +was distorted with rage as he abused the +Crown-Prince, and openly charged him with having +brought about his exile to London.</p> + +<p>His Highness made no reply, but only smiled +sarcastically and shrugged his narrow shoulders.</p> + +<p>So enraged the other became at this latter gesture +that, with a sudden movement, he drew his sword.</p> + +<p>The Countess shrieked and swooned as I sprang +forward and stayed her husband's hand.</p> + +<p>It was a dramatic moment. The Count instantly +realized the enormity of his crime, and his hand +dropped.</p> + +<p>"Enough!" cried the Crown-Prince, waving his +adversary aside. Then, turning to me, he said in +a calm, hard voice:</p> + +<p>"Heltzendorff, you are witness that this man has +drawn his sword upon the heir to the Throne."</p> + +<p>And with those haughty words he bowed stiffly +and strode out of the room.</p> + +<p>Two hours later I was commanded to the Kaiser's +presence, and found him in counsel with his son.</p> + +<p>The Emperor, who wore the uniform of the Guards, +looked pale and troubled, yet in his eyes there was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +a keen, determined look. As I passed the sentries +and entered the lofty study, with its upholstery and +walls of pale green damask—that room from which +the Empire and the whole world have so often been +addressed—the Kaiser broke off short in his conversation.</p> + +<p>Turning to me as he still sat at his littered table, +he said in that quick, impetuous way of his:</p> + +<p>"Count Heltzendorff, the Crown-Prince has informed +me of what has occurred this evening in the +Lennestrasse. I wish you to convey this at once +to Count von Leutenberg and to give it into his own +hand. There is no reply."</p> + +<p>And His Majesty handed me a rather bulky +envelope addressed in his own bold handwriting, +and bearing his own private cipher impressed in +black wax.</p> + +<p>Thus commanded, I bowed, withdrew, and took +a taxicab straight to the Lennestrasse, being +ushered by Josef into the presence of husband and +wife in that same room I had quitted a couple of +hours before.</p> + +<p>I handed the Count the packet the Emperor had +given me, and with trembling fingers he tore it open.</p> + +<p>From within he drew three letters, those same +letters which his wife had written to London, and +which had been intercepted by the Secret Service—the +letters which I had read in his Highness's room.</p> + +<p>As he scanned the lines which the Emperor had +penned his face blanched. A loud cry of dismay +escaped his wife as she recognized her own letters, +and she snatched the note from her husband's hand +and also read it.</p> + +<p>The light died instantly from her beautiful countenance. +Then, turning to me, she said in a hoarse, +hopeless tone:</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Count von Heltzendorff. Tell His +Majesty the Emperor that his command shall be—yes, +it shall be obeyed."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> + +<p>Those last words she spoke in a deep, hoarse whisper, +a strange, wild look of desperation in her blue eyes.</p> + +<p>An hour later I reported again at the Imperial +Palace, was granted audience of the Emperor, and +gave him the verbal reply.</p> + +<p>His Majesty uttered no word, merely nodding his +head slowly in approval.</p> + +<p>Next afternoon a painful sensation was caused +throughout Berlin when the <i>Abendpost</i> published the +news that Count von Leutenberg, the man so recently +promoted by the Emperor, and his pretty wife had +both been found dead in their room. During the +night they had evidently burned some papers, for +the tinder was found in the stove, and having agreed +to die together, they being so much attached during +life, they had both taken prussic acid in some wine, +the bottle and half-emptied glasses being still upon +the table.</p> + +<p>The romantic affair, the truth of which I here +reveal for the first time, was regarded by all Berlin +as an inexplicable tragedy. The public are still +unaware of how those intercepted letters contained +serious warnings to the British Government of the +Emperor's hostile intentions towards Britain, and +the probable date of the outbreak of war. Indeed, +they recounted a private conversation which the +Countess had overheard between the Kaiser and +Count Zeppelin, repeating certain opprobrious +epithets which the All-Highest had bestowed upon +one or two British statesmen, and she also pointed +out the great danger of a pending rupture between the +two Powers, as well as explaining some details regarding +the improved Zeppelins in course of construction +secretly on Lake Constance, and certain scandals regarding +the private life of the Crown-Prince.</p> + +<p>It was for the latter reason that the heir, aided +by the War-Lord, took his revenge in a manner so +crafty, so subtle, and so typical of the innate cunning +of the Hohenzollerns.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thus the well-meant warnings of one of your good, +honest Englishwomen never reached the unsuspicious +address to which they were sent, and thus did +"Willie"—who, as I afterwards discovered, devised +that subtle vengeance—act as the Emperor's +catspaw.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SECRET_NUMBER_TWO" id="SECRET_NUMBER_TWO"></a>SECRET NUMBER TWO</h2> +<h3>THE CROWN-PRINCE'S REVENGE</h3> + + +<p>The Trautmann affair was one which caused +a wild sensation at Potsdam in the autumn +of 1912.</p> + +<p>In the Emperor's immediate entourage there was +a great deal of gossip, most of it ill-natured and +cruel, for most ladies-in-waiting possess serpents' +tongues. Their tongues are as sharp as their +features, and though there may be a few pretty +maids-of-honour, yet the majority of women at +Court are, as you know, my dear Le Queux, mostly +plain and uninteresting.</p> + +<p>I became implicated in the unsavoury Trautmann +affair, in a somewhat curious manner.</p> + +<p>A few months after the Leutenberg tragedy I +chanced to be lunching at the "Esplanade" in +Berlin, chatting with Laroque, of the French Embassy. +Our hostess was Frau Breitenbach, a wealthy +Jewess—a woman who came from Dortmund—and +who was spending money like water in order to +wriggle into Berlin society. As personal-adjutant +of the Crown-Prince I was, of course, one of the +principal guests, and I suspected that she was angling +for a card of invitation to the next ball at the Marmor +Palace.</p> + +<p>Who introduced me to the portly, black-haired, +rather handsome woman I quite forget. Probably it +was some nobody who received a commission upon +the introduction—for at the Berlin Court introductions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +are bought and sold just as the succulent +sausage is sold over the counter.</p> + +<p>In the big white-and-gold <i>salle-à-manger</i> of the +"Esplanade," which, as you know, is one of the +finest in Europe, Frau Breitenbach was lunching +with sixteen guests at one big round table, her +daughter Elise, a very smartly dressed girl of nineteen, +seated opposite to her. It was a merry party, +including as it did some of the most renowned persons +in the Empire, among them being the Imperial +Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, of the long, grave +face and pointed beard, and that grand seigneur +who was a favourite at Court, the multi-millionaire +Serene Highness Prince Maximilian Egon zu Fürstenberg. +Of the latter it may be said that no man +rivalled his influence with the Emperor. What he +said was law in Germany.</p> + +<p>Fürstenberg was head of the famous "Prince's +Trust," now dissolved, but at that time, with its +capital of a hundred million pounds, it was a great +force in the German commercial world. Indeed, +such a boon companion was he of the Kaiser's that +an august but purely decorative and ceremonial +place was actually invented for him as Colonel-Marshal +of the Prussian Court, an excuse to wear +a gay uniform and gorgeous decorations as befitted +a man who, possessing twenty millions sterling, was +an important asset to the Emperor in his deep-laid +scheme for world-power.</p> + +<p>Another Prince of the "Trust" was fat old Kraft +zu Hohenlohe Oehringen, but as he had only a +paltry ten millions he did not rank so high in the +War-Lord's favour.</p> + +<p>Fürstenberg, seated next to the estimable Jewess, +was chatting affably with her. Her husband was +in America upon some big steel transaction, but her +pretty daughter Elise sat laughing merrily with a +young, square-headed lieutenant of the Death's +Head Hussars.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p> + +<p>That merry luncheon party was the prologue of +a very curious drama.</p> + +<p>I was discussing the occult with a middle-aged +lady on my right, a sister of Herr Alfred Ballin, the +shipping king. In society discussions upon the +occult are always illuminating, and as we chatted +I noticed that far across the crowded room, at a +table set in a window, there sat alone a dark-haired, +sallow, good-looking young civilian, who, immaculate +in a grey suit, was eating his lunch in a rather bored +manner, yet his eyes were fixed straight upon the +handsome, dark-haired young girl, Elise Breitenbach, +as though she exercised over him some strange +fascination.</p> + +<p>Half a dozen times I glanced across, and on each +occasion saw that the young man had no eyes for +the notables around the table, his gaze being fixed +upon the daughter of the great financier, whose +interests, especially in America, were so widespread +and profitable.</p> + +<p>Somehow—why I cannot even now decide—I felt +a distinct belief that the young civilian's face was +familiar to me. It was not the first time I had seen +him, yet I could not recall the circumstances in +which we had met. I examined my memory, but +could not recollect where I had before seen him, yet +I felt convinced that it was in circumstances of a +somewhat mysterious kind.</p> + +<p>Two nights later I had dined with the Breitenbachs +at their fine house in the Alsenstrasse. The +only guest beside myself was the thin-faced, loud-speaking +old Countess von Bassewitz, and after +dinner, served in a gorgeous dining-room which +everywhere betrayed the florid taste of the parvenu, +Frau Breitenbach took the Countess aside to talk, +while I wandered with her daughter into the winter +garden, with its high palms and gorgeous exotics, +that overlooked the gardens of the Austrian Embassy.</p> + +<p>When we were seated in cane chairs, and the man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +had brought us coffee, the pretty Elise commenced +to question me about life at the Crown-Prince's +Court, expressing much curiosity concerning the +private life of His Imperial Highness.</p> + +<p>Such questions came often from the lips of young +girls in society, and I knew how to answer them with +both humour and politeness.</p> + +<p>"How intensely interesting it must be to be +personal-adjutant to the Crown-Prince! Mother +is dying to get a command to one of the receptions +at Potsdam," the girl said. "Only to-day she was +wondering—well, whether you could possibly use +your influence in that direction?"</p> + +<p>In an instant I saw why I had been invited to +dinners and luncheons so often, and why I had been +left alone with the sweet-faced, dark-eyed girl.</p> + +<p>I reflected a moment. Then I said:</p> + +<p>"I do not think that will be very difficult. I will +see what can be done. But I hope that if I am successful +you will accompany your mother," I added +courteously, as I lit a cigarette.</p> + +<p>"It is really most kind of you," the girl declared, +springing up with delight, for the mere thought of +going to Court seemed to give her intense pleasure. +Yet all women, young and old, are alike in that +respect. The struggle to set foot near the throne +is, as you yourself have seen, always an unseemly +one, and, alas! the cause of many heart-burnings.</p> + +<p>When I looked in at Tresternitz's room in the +Palace next morning, I scribbled down the name of +mother and daughter for cards.</p> + +<p>"Who are they?" grunted the old marshal, +removing a big cigar from his puffy lips.</p> + +<p>"People I know—they're all right, and the girl +is very good-looking."</p> + +<p>"Good. We can do with a little beauty here +nowadays. We've had an infernally ugly lot at +the balls lately," declared the man, who was the +greatest gossip at Court, and who thereupon commenced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +to tell me a scandalous story regarding one +of the ladies-in-waiting to the Kaiserin who had +disappeared from the New Palace, and was believed +to be living in Scotland.</p> + +<p>"The Emperor is furious," he added. "But he +doesn't know the real truth, and never will, I +expect."</p> + +<p>A week later the Crown-Prince and Princess gave +a grand ball at the Marmor Palace at Potsdam, and +the Emperor himself attended.</p> + +<p>Frau Breitenbach, gorgeously attired, made her +bow before the All-Highest, and her daughter did +the same.</p> + +<p>That night I saw that the Kaiser was in no good +mood. He seldom was at the Court functions. +Indeed, half an hour before his arrival the Crown-Prince +had told me, in confidence, of his father's +annoyance at the failure of some diplomatic negotiations +with Britain.</p> + +<p>The Emperor, in his brilliant uniform, with the +Order of the Black Eagle, of which he was <i>chef-souverain</i>, +and the diamond stars of many foreign +Orders, presented a truly Imperial figure, his shrewd, +unrelenting gaze everywhere, his upturned moustache +accentuated, his voice unusually sharp and commanding.</p> + +<p>I spoke with Elise, and afterwards, when I danced +with her I saw how impressed she was by the glitter +and glamour of the Potsdam Court circle, and by +the fact that she was in the presence of the All-Highest +One, without whose gracious nod nothing +could hope to prosper in the Fatherland, and +without whose approval no public work could be +undertaken in Berlin. Those statesmen, admirals +and generals present might plan, but he alone willed. +His approval or his frown was as a decree of Providence, +and his autocratic will greater than that of +his "brother," Nicholas of Russia.</p> + +<p>I remember how, one day in the Militär-Kabinett,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +an old buffer at Court whom we called "Hans" +Hohenlohe—he was one of the hundred and sixty +odd members of the aristocratic family of Hohenlohe +which swarm the Fatherland, mostly penurious, by-the-way, +salary-grabbers, all elbowing each other +to secure the Kaiser's favour—made a very true +remark which has ever remained in my memory. +It was very soon after Herr von Libenau, the Imperial +Master of Ceremony, had been arrested owing +to a scandal at Court, though perfectly innocent. +My friend "Hans" Hohenlohe said in a low, confidential +whisper at a shooting party, after the +French Ambassador had wished us a merry <i>bon jour</i> +and passed out:</p> + +<p>"My dear friend Heltzendorff, you, like myself, +know that war is inevitable. It must come soon! +The reason is to be found in the madness of the +Emperor, which has spread among our military +party and among the people, till most of them are +no more sane than himself. Hypnotized by good +fortune, we have become demented with an overweening +vanity and a philosophy which must end +in our undoing. The Emperor's incessant drum-beating, +sabre-rattling, and blasphemous appeals +to the Almighty have brought our German nation +to that state which, since the world began, has +ever gone before destruction."</p> + +<p>No truer words were ever spoken of modern +Germany.</p> + +<p>They recurred to me as, while waltzing with the +pretty daughter of the Dortmund parvenu, I +noticed the Emperor standing aside, chatting with +old Von Zeppelin, who every now and then patted +his silvery hair, a habit of his when in conversation. +With the pair stood Ernst Auguste, the young +Duke of Brunswick, who in the following year married +the Emperor's daughter, the rather petulant and +go-ahead Victoria Louise. The Prince, who wore +the uniform of the Prussian Guard, was laughing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +heartily over some remark of old Zeppelin's as, +with my partner, I passed quite close to them.</p> + +<p>The dainty Elise was, I found, quite an entertaining +little person. Old Tresternitz had already whispered +his opinion of her.</p> + +<p>"Undoubtedly the prettiest girl at Court," he +had declared, with a twinkle in his grey eyes.</p> + +<p>From words the pretty Elise let drop that night +as she hung upon my arm I wondered whether she +was really as ingenuous as she pretended. And yet +Frau Breitenbach was one of dozens of others +who strove to enter the Court circle, flapping their +wings vainly to try and cross the wide gulf which +separated the "high life" in Berlin from "Court +life."</p> + +<p>The rooms were stifling, therefore I took my pretty +dancing partner along a corridor and through several +deserted apartments into the east wing of the Palace, +showing her some of the Crown-Princess's private +rooms, until at length we stepped through a French +window on to the long terrace before the lake, the +Heilige-See.</p> + +<p>There we were alone. The white moon was +reflected upon the waters, and after the heat of the +ball-room the balmy air was delightful.</p> + +<p>Against the marble balustrade beside the water +I stood chatting with her. All was silent save for +the tramp of soldiers passing near, for the guard +was at that hour changing. As became a courtier, +I chaffed and laughed with her, my intention being +to learn more concerning her.</p> + +<p>But she was, I found, an extremely discreet +and clever little person, a fact which further increased +the mystery.</p> + +<p>One night about two months later I had an appointment +with Max Reinhardt at the Deutsches +Theater, in Berlin, to arrange a Royal visit there, +and after the performance I went back to the Palace, +prior to retiring to my rooms in the Krausenstrasse.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +The guards saluted as I crossed the dark courtyard, +and having passed through the corridors to the +private apartments I entered with my key the +Crown-Prince's locked study.</p> + +<p>To my surprise, I found "Willie" seated there +with the Emperor in earnest discussion.</p> + +<p>With apology, I bowed instantly and withdrew, +whereupon the Kaiser exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Come in, Heltzendorff. I want you."</p> + +<p>Then he cast a quick, mysterious glance at the +young man, who had thrown himself in lazy attitude +into a long cane lounge chair. It was as though +His Majesty was hesitating to speak with me, or +asking his son's permission to do so.</p> + +<p>"Tell me, Heltzendorff," exclaimed His Majesty +suddenly, "do you know this person?" and he +placed before my astonished gaze a very artistic +cabinet photograph of the pretty Elise.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I answered frankly, quite taken aback. +"It is Fräulein Breitenbach."</p> + +<p>"And what do you know of her?" inquired His +Majesty sharply. "You introduced her and her +mother to Court, I believe."</p> + +<p>I saw that the Emperor had discovered something +which annoyed him. What could it be?</p> + +<p>At once I was compelled to admit that I had set +down their names for invitation, and, further, I +explained all that I knew about them.</p> + +<p>"You are certain you know nothing more?" +asked the Emperor, his brows contracted and his +eyes fixed steadily upon mine. "Understand that +no blame attaches to you."</p> + +<p>I assured him that I had revealed all that I knew +concerning them.</p> + +<p>"Hold no further communication with either +mother or daughter," His Majesty said. "Leave for +Paris by the eight o'clock train to-morrow morning, +and go to Baron von Steinmetz, the chief of our +confidential service in France."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then, turning to the Crown-Prince, he said: "You +have his address."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the younger man. "He is passing as +Monsieur Felix Reumont, and is living at 114 bis, +Avenue de Neuilly, close to the Pont."</p> + +<p>I scribbled the name and address upon the back +of an envelope, whereupon His Majesty said:</p> + +<p>"Carry my verbal orders to Steinmetz, and tell +him to act upon the orders I sent him by courier +yesterday. And you will assist him. He will explain +matters fully when you arrive."</p> + +<p>Then, crossing to the Crown-Prince's writing-table, +His Majesty took a large envelope, into +which, with the same hand, he dexterously placed +the photograph with several papers, and sealed +them with the Crown-Prince's seal. At the +moment the Crown-Princess entered, said some +words to her husband in a low voice, and went +out again.</p> + +<p>"Give this to Von Steinmetz from me," His Majesty +said after she had gone.</p> + +<p>I bowed as I took it from His Majesty's hand, my +curiosity now greatly excited regarding Frau Breitenbach +and her pretty daughter. What, I wondered, +was in the wind?</p> + +<p>"And, Heltzendorff, please report to me," remarked +the Heir, still lounging lazily in the chair, his white, +well-manicured hands clasped behind his head. +"Where shall you stay?"</p> + +<p>"At the Hôtel Chatham. I always stay there in +preference to the larger hotels."</p> + +<p>"And not a bad judge," laughed His Majesty +merrily. "I remember when I used to go to Paris +incognito one could dine at the 'Chatham' most +excellently—old-fashioned, but very good. Vian's, +across the road, is also good."</p> + +<p>The Kaiser knows Paris well, though he has never +visited the French capital openly.</p> + +<p>Bowing, I took leave of my Imperial master, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +next morning at eight o'clock, set out upon my +mysterious mission.</p> + +<p>I found the Baron von Steinmetz living in a good-sized +house in the leafy Avenue de Neuilly, not far +from the bridge. One of the cleverest and most +astute officials that Germany possessed, and a man +high in the Kaiser's favour, he had, in the name of +Felix Reumont, purchased, with Government funds +of course, a cinema theatre in the Rue Lafayette, and +ostensibly upon the proceeds of that establishment +lived comfortably out at Neuilly.</p> + +<p>At eleven o'clock in the morning his valet, evidently +a German, showed me in.</p> + +<p>"I quite understand, my dear Heltzendorff," he +said, as in his cosy little den he took from the +Emperor's packet the picture of Fräulein Elise and +stood gazing at it thoughtfully. "It is quite plain +why you should have been sent by His Majesty."</p> + +<p>"Why. I don't understand. But His Majesty +told me that you would explain. The young lady +and her mother are friends of mine."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. That's just it!" exclaimed the round-faced, +rather florid man whom I had once met before. +"You apparently know but little of them—eh?—or +you would not call them your friends!"</p> + +<p>Those mysterious words surprised me, but I was +the more astounded when he continued:</p> + +<p>"You of course know of those disgraceful anonymous +letters which have been continually arriving +at Court—of the Emperor's fury concerning them."</p> + +<p>I replied in the affirmative, for, as a matter of fact, +for the past three months the whole Court had been +flooded with most abusive and disgraceful correspondence +concerning the camarilla that had again +sprung up around the Kaiser. The Emperor, the +Empress, the Crown-Prince and Princess, Prince +Eitel, Sophie Caroline, Prince Henry of Prussia and +others had received letters, most of them in typewriting, +containing the most intimate details of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +scandals concerning men and women around the +Emperor.</p> + +<p>Fully a dozen of these letters addressed to the +Crown-Prince he had handed to me—letters denouncing +in some cases perfectly innocent people, destroying +the reputations of honest men and women, and +abusing the Heir to the Throne in an outrageous +manner.</p> + +<p>On at least three occasions "Willie" had shown +me letters addressed to the Kaiser himself, and +intercepted by the Kaiserin, who, in consequence of +this flood of anonymous epistles that had produced +such a terrible sensation at Potsdam, had ordered +that all such letters found in the Imperial post-bag +should be handed at once to her.</p> + +<p>The great War-Lord's feelings had been sorely +wounded by the vitriolic shafts, and his vanity much +injured by the boldness of the unknown letter-writer +who had dared to speak his mind concerning the +Eulenburg scandals, which Maximilian Harden had +some time before exposed in the <i>Zukunft</i>.</p> + +<p>All Berlin was gossiping about the scandal of the +letters and the horrible innuendoes contained in them. +The <i>Allerhöchste Person</i>, though boiling over with +anger, blissfully believed that outside the Palaces +nothing was known of the contents of the correspondence. +But the Emperor, in his vanity, never +accurately gauges the mind of his people.</p> + +<p>"The identity of the writer is the point that is +engaging my attention," the Baron said, as, seating +himself at his big, carved-oak writing-table, he +opened a drawer and drew forth a bundle of quite a +hundred letters, adding: "All these that you see +here have been addressed either to the Emperor or +the Empress," and he handed me one or two, which +on scanning I saw contained some outrageous statements, +allegations which would make the hair of the +All-Highest One bristle with rage.</p> + +<p>"Well!" I exclaimed, aghast, looking up at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +Baron after I had read an abusive letter, which in +cold, even lines of typewriting commenced with the +words: "You, a withered crook in spectacular +uniform better fitted for the stage of the Metropol +Theatre, should, instead of invoking the aid of Providence, +clear out your own Augean stable. Its +smell is nauseous to the nostrils of decent people. +Surely you should blush to have feasted in the castle +of Liebenberg with the poet, Prince Philip, and your +degenerate companions, Hohenau, Johannes Lynar, +and your dearly beloved Kuno!"</p> + +<p>And the abusive missive proceeded to denounce +two of my friends, ladies-in-waiting at the Neues +Palais, and to make some blackguardly allegations +concerning the idol. Von Hindenburg.</p> + +<p>"Well," I exclaimed, "that certainly is a very +interesting specimen of anonymous correspondence."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is!" exclaimed the Baron. "In Berlin +every inquiry has been made to trace its author. +Schunke, head of the detective police, was charged +by the Emperor to investigate. He did so, and both +he and Klewitz failed utterly. Now it has been +given into my hands."</p> + +<p>"Have you discovered any clue to the writer?" +I asked anxiously, knowing full well what a storm of +indignation those letters had produced in our own +circle.</p> + +<p>Presently, when I sat with the Baron at his table, +he switched on an intense electric light, even though +it was day-time, and then spread out some of the +letters above a small, square mirror.</p> + +<p>"You see they are on various kinds of note-paper, +bearing all kinds of watermarks, of French, +English, and German manufacture. Some we have +here are upon English paper, because it is heavy and +thick. Again, three different makes of typewriter +have been used—one a newly-invented importation +from America. The written letters are, you will +see, mostly in a man's hand."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes, I see all that," I said. "But what have +you discovered concerning their author? The letter +I received bore a French stamp and the postmark +of Angers."</p> + +<p>He placed before me quite a dozen envelopes +addressed to the Emperor and Empress, all bearing the +postmark of that town in the Maine-et-Loire. Others +had been posted in Leipzig, Wilhelmshaven, Tours, +Antwerp, Berlin-Wilmersdorf, and other places.</p> + +<p>"The investigation is exceedingly difficult, I can +assure you," he said. "I have had the assistance of +some of the best scientific brains of our Empire in +making comparisons and analyses. Indeed, Professor +Harbge is with me from Berlin."</p> + +<p>As he uttered those words the Professor himself, +an elderly, spectacled man in grey tweeds, entered +the room. I knew him and greeted him.</p> + +<p>"We have been studying the writing-papers," +the Professor said presently, as he turned over the +letters, some of which were upon commercial typewriting +paper, some on cheap thin paper from fashionable +"blocks," and others upon various tinted paper +of certain mills, as their watermarks showed. The +papers were various, but the scurrilous hand was the +clever and evasive one of some person who certainly +knew the innermost secrets of the German Court.</p> + +<p>"Sixteen different varieties of paper have been +received at the Neues and Marmor Palaces," the +Baron remarked. "Well, I have worked for two +months, night and day, upon the inquiry, for, as you +know, the tentacles of our Teuton octopus are everywhere. +I have discovered that eleven of these +varieties of paper can be purchased at a certain +small stationer's shop, Lancry's, in the Boulevard +Haussmann, close to the 'Printemps.' One paper +especially is sold nowhere else in Paris. It is this."</p> + +<p>And he held over a mirror a letter upon a small +sheet of note-paper bearing the watermark of a bull's +head.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That paper was made at a mill in the south of +Devonshire, in England, destroyed by fire five years +ago. Paper of that make cannot be obtained anywhere +else in France," he declared.</p> + +<p>I at once realized how much patience must have +been expended upon the inquiry, and said:</p> + +<p>"Then you have actually fixed the shop where the +writer purchased his paper?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied. "And we know that the +newly-invented typewriter, a specimen one, was sold +by the Maison Audibert, in Marseilles. The purchaser +of the typewriter in Marseilles purchases his +paper and envelopes at Lancry's, in the Boulevard +Haussmann."</p> + +<p>"Splendid!" I said enthusiastically, for it was +clear that the Baron, with the thousand-and-one +secret agents at his beck and call, had been able, with +the Professor's aid, to fix the source of the stationery. +"But," I added, "what is wanted from me?" +Why, I wondered, had His Majesty sent the Baron +that photograph of Elise Breitenbach?</p> + +<p>"I want you to go with me to the central door of +the 'Printemps' at four o'clock this afternoon, and we +will watch Lancry's shop across the way," the Baron +replied.</p> + +<p>This we did, and from four till six o'clock we stood, +amid the bustle of foot passengers, watching the small +stationer's on the opposite side of the boulevard, +yet without result.</p> + +<p>Next day and the next I accompanied the prosperous +cinema proprietor upon his daily vigil, but in vain, +until his reluctance to tell me the reason why I had +been sent to Paris annoyed me considerably.</p> + +<p>On the fifth afternoon, just before five o'clock, +while we were strolling together, smoking and +chatting, the Baron's eyes being fixed upon the door +of the small single-fronted shop, I saw him suddenly +start, and then make pretence of utter indifference.</p> + +<p>"Look!" he whispered beneath his breath.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p> + +<p>I glanced across and saw a young man just about +to enter the shop.</p> + +<p>The figure was unfamiliar, but, catching sight of +his face, I held my breath. I had seen that sallow, +deep-eyed countenance before.</p> + +<p>It was the young man who, two months previously, +had sat eating his luncheon alone at the "Esplanade," +apparently fascinated by the beauty of little Elise +Breitenbach!</p> + +<p>"Well," exclaimed the Baron. "I see you +recognize him—eh? He is probably going to buy +more paper for his scurrilous screeds."</p> + +<p>"Yes. But who is he? What is his name?" I +asked anxiously. "I have seen him before, but +have no exact knowledge of him."</p> + +<p>The Baron did not reply until we were back again +in the cosy room in Neuilly. Then, opening his +cigar-box, he said:</p> + +<p>"That young man, the author of the outrageous +insults to His Majesty, is known as Franz Seeliger, +but he is the disgraced, ne'er-do-well son of General +von Trautmann, Captain-General of the Palace +Guard."</p> + +<p>"The son of old Von Trautmann!" I gasped in +utter amazement. "Does the father know?"</p> + +<p>The Baron grinned and shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>Then after I had related to him the incident at +the "Esplanade," he said:</p> + +<p>"That is of greatest interest. Will you return to +Berlin and report to the Emperor what you have +seen here? His Majesty has given me that +instruction."</p> + +<p>Much mystified, I was also highly excited that the +actual writer of those abominable letters had been +traced and identified. The Baron told me of the +long weeks of patient inquiry and careful watching; +of how the young fellow had been followed to Angers +and other towns in France where the letters were +posted, and of his frequent visits to Berlin. He had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +entered a crack regiment, but had been dismissed the +Army for forgery and undergone two years' imprisonment. +Afterwards he had fallen in with a gang of +clever international hotel thieves, and become what +is known as a <i>rat d'hôtel</i>. Now, because of a personal +grievance against the Emperor, who had ordered his +prosecution, he seemed to have by some secret +means ferreted out every bit of scandal at Potsdam, +exaggerated it, invented amazing additions, and in +secret sown it broadcast.</p> + +<p>His hand would have left no trace if he had not +been so indiscreet as to buy his paper from that +one shop close to the Rue de Provence, where he +had rooms.</p> + +<p>On the third night following I stood in the Emperor's +private room at Potsdam and made my +report, explaining all that I knew and what I had +witnessed in Paris.</p> + +<p>"That man knows a very great deal—but how +does he know?" snapped the Emperor, who had +just returned from Berlin, and was in civilian attire, +a garb quite unusual to him. He had no doubt +been somewhere incognito—visiting a friend perhaps. +"See Schunke early to-morrow," he ordered, "and +tell him to discover the link between this young +blackguard and your friends the Breitenbachs, and +report to me."</p> + +<p>I was about to protest that the Breitenbachs were +not my friends, but next instant drew my breath, +for I saw that the great War-Lord, even though he +wore a blue serge suit, was filled with suppressed +anger.</p> + +<p>"This mystery must be cleared up!" he declared +in a hard voice, reflecting no doubt upon the terrible +abuse which the writer had heaped upon him, all +the allegations, by-the-way, having contained a +certain substratum of truth.</p> + +<p>Next morning I sat with the bald-headed and +astute Schunke at the headquarters of the detective<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +police in Berlin, and there discussed the affair fully, +explaining the result of my journey to Paris and what +I had seen, and giving him the order from the Kaiser.</p> + +<p>"But, Count, if this woman Breitenbach and her +pretty daughter are your friends you will be able +to visit them and glean something," he said.</p> + +<p>"I have distinct orders from the Emperor not to +visit them while the inquiry is in process," I replied.</p> + +<p>Schunke grunted in dissatisfaction, stroked his +iron-grey beard, but made no further comment.</p> + +<p>We walked out together, and I left him at the door +of the Etat-major of the Army in the Königsplatz.</p> + +<p>Later that same morning I returned to the Marmor +Palace to report to the Crown-Prince, but found that +His Highness was absent upon an official visit of +inspection at Stuttgart. The Marshal of the Court, +Tresternitz, having given me the information, +laughed, and added:</p> + +<p>"Officially, according to to-day's newspapers, His +Highness is in Stuttgart, but unofficially I know that +he is at the Palace Hotel, in Brussels, where there is +a short-skirted variety attraction singing at the Eden +Theatre. So, my dear Heltzendorff, you can return +to the Krausenstrasse for a day or two."</p> + +<p>I went back to Berlin, the Crown-Princess being +away at Wiesbaden, and from day to day awaited +"Willie's" return.</p> + +<p>In the meantime I several times saw the great +detective, Schunke, and found that he was in constant +communication with Baron Steinmetz in Paris. +The pair were evidently leaving no stone unturned +to elucidate the mystery of those annoying letters, +which were still falling as so many bombs into the +centre of the Kaiser's Court.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, one Sunday night, all Berlin was electrified +at the news that General von Trautmann, +Captain-General of the Palace Guard—whom, truth +to tell, the Crown-Prince had long secretly hated +because he had once dared to utter some word of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +reproach—had been arrested, and sent to a fortress +at the Emperor's order.</p> + +<p>An hour after the arrest His Majesty's personal-adjutant +commanded me by telephone to attend at +the Berlin Schloss. When we were alone the Kaiser +turned to me suddenly, and said:</p> + +<p>"Count von Heltzendorff, you will say nothing of +your recent visit to Paris, or of the authorship of +those anonymous letters—you understand? You +know absolutely nothing."</p> + +<p>Then, being summarily dismissed by a wave of +the Imperial hand, I retired, more mystified than +ever. Why should my mouth be thus closed? I +dared not call at the Alsenstrasse to make my own +inquiries, yet I knew that the police had made theirs.</p> + +<p>When I returned to my rooms that evening +Schunke rang me up on the telephone with the news +that my friends the Breitenbachs had closed their +house and left early that morning for Brussels.</p> + +<p>"Where is Seeliger?" I inquired in great surprise.</p> + +<p>"In Brussels. The Breitenbachs have gone there +to join him, now that the truth is out and his father +is under arrest."</p> + +<p>The Emperor's fury was that of a lunatic. It +knew no bounds. His mind, poisoned against the +poor old General, he had fixed upon him as the +person responsible for that disgraceful correspondence +which for so many weeks had kept the Court +in constant turmoil and anxiety. Though His +Majesty was aware of the actual writer of the letters, +he would not listen to reason, and openly declared +that he would make an example of the silver-haired +old Captain-General of the Guard, who, after all, was +perfectly innocent of the deeds committed by his +vagabond son.</p> + +<p>A prosecution was ordered, and three weeks later +it took place <i>in camera</i>, the Baron, Schunke and a +number of detectives being ordered to give evidence. +So damning, indeed, was their testimony that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +Judge passed the extreme sentence of twenty years' +imprisonment.</p> + +<p>And I, who knew and held proofs of the truth, +dared not protest!</p> + +<p>Where was the General's son—the real culprit and +author of the letters? I made inquiry of Schunke, +of the Baron, and of others who had, at the order +of the All-Highest, conspired to ruin poor Von Trautmann. +All, however, declared ignorance, and yet, +curiously enough, the fine house in the Alsenstrasse +still remained empty.</p> + +<p>Later, I discovered that the Crown-Prince had been +the prime mover in the vile conspiracy to send the +elderly Captain-General to prison and to the grave, +for of this his words to me one day—a year afterwards—were +sufficient proof:</p> + +<p>"It is a good job, Heltzendorff, that the Emperor +rid himself at last of that canting old pest, Von +Trautmann. He is now in a living tomb, and should +have been there four years ago!" and he laughed.</p> + +<p>I made no response. Instead, I thought of the +quiet, innocent old courtier languishing in prison +because he had somehow incurred the ill-will of the +Emperor's son, and I confess that I ground my teeth +at my own inability to expose the disgraceful truth.</p> + +<p>About six months after the secret trial of the +unfortunate General I had accompanied the Crown-Prince +on a visit to the Quirinal, and one afternoon +while strolling along the Corso, in Rome, suddenly +came face to face with the dainty little figure of +Fräulein Elise Breitenbach.</p> + +<p>In delight I took her into Ronzi's, the noted confectioner's +at the corner of the Piazza Colonna, and +there, at one of the little tables, she explained to me +how she and her mother, having become acquainted +with Franz Seeliger—not knowing him to be the +General's son—they suddenly fell under the suspicion +of the Berlin Secret Police, and, though much +puzzled, did not again come to Court.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p> + +<p>Some weeks later mother and daughter chanced to +be in Paris, and one day called at Seeliger's rooms +in the Rue de Provence, but he was out. They, +however, were shown into his room to wait, and there +saw upon his table an abusive and scurrilous typewritten +letter in German addressed to the Emperor. +Then it suddenly dawned upon them that the affable +young man might be the actual author of those +infamous letters. It was this visit which, no doubt, +revealed to the Baron the young man's hiding-place. +Both mother and daughter, however, kept their own +counsel, met Seeliger next day, and watched, subsequently +learning, to their surprise, that he was +the son of General von Trautmann, and, further, +that he had as a friend one of the personal valets of +the Emperor, from whom, no doubt, he obtained his +inside information about persons at Court.</p> + +<p>"When his poor father was sentenced we knew +that the young man was living in Brussels, and at +once went there in order to induce him to come forward, +make confession, and so save the General from +disgrace," said the pretty girl seated before me. +"On arrival we saw him alone, and told him what +we had discovered in the Rue de Provence, whereupon +he admitted to us that he had written all the +letters, and announced that he intended to return +to Berlin next day and give himself up to the police +in order to secure his father's release."</p> + +<p>"And why did he not do so?" I asked eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Because next morning he was found dead in his +bed in the hotel."</p> + +<p>"Ah, suicide."</p> + +<p>"No," was her half-whispered reply. "He had +been strangled by an unknown hand—deliberately +murdered, as the Brussels police declared. They +were, of course, much mystified, for they did not +know, as we know, that neither the young man's +presence nor his confession were desired in Berlin."</p> + +<p>Fearing the Emperor's wrath, the Breitenbachs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +like myself, dare not reveal what they knew—the +truth, which is here set down for the first time—and, +alas! poor General von Trautmann died in +prison at Mulheim last year.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SECRET_NUMBER_THREE" id="SECRET_NUMBER_THREE"></a>SECRET NUMBER THREE</h2> +<h3>HOW THE KAISER PERSECUTED A PRINCESS</h3> + + +<p>The truth of the dastardly plot which caused +the downfall of the unfortunate and much-maligned +Imperial Princess Luisa Antoinette Marie, +Archduchess of Austria, and wife of Friedrich-August, +now the reigning King of Saxony, has never yet been +revealed.</p> + +<p>I know, my dear Le Queux, that you had a good +deal to do with the "skittish Princess," as she was +called, and her affairs after she had left the Court of +Saxony and went to live near you in the Via Benedetto +da Foiano, in Florence. You were her friend, +and you were afterwards present at her secret marriage +in London. Therefore, what I here reveal concerning +a disgraceful conspiracy by which a clever, +accomplished, and generous Princess of the blood +Royal was hounded out of Germany will, I think, be +of peculiar interest to yourself and to those readers +for whom you are setting down my reminiscences.</p> + +<p>As you know, before being appointed to my recent +position in the Crown-Prince "Willie's" household, +I was personal-adjutant to His Majesty the Emperor, +and in that capacity accompanied Der Einzige (the +One) on his constant travels. Always hungry for +popular applause, the Emperor was ever on the move +with that morbid restlessness of which he is possessed, +and which drove him from city to city, hunting, +yachting, unveiling statues, opening public buildings, +paying ceremonial visits, or, when all excuses for +travel became exhausted, he presented new colours +to some regiment in some far-off garrison.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + +<p>Indeed, within that one year, 1902, I accompanied +"William-the-Sudden" and his host of adjutants, +military and civil secretaries, valets, chasseurs and +flunkeys, to twenty-eight different cities in Germany +and Scandinavia, where he stopped and held Court. +Some cities we visited several times, being unwelcome +always because of the endless trouble, anxiety and +expense caused to the municipal authorities and +military casinos.</p> + +<p>I, of course, knew the charming Imperial Highness +the Crown-Princess Luisa of Saxony, as she often +came on visits to the Kaiserin, but I had never spoken +much with her until at Easter the Emperor went to +visit Dresden. He took with him, among other +people, one of his untitled boon companions, Judicial +Councillor Löhlein, a stout, flabby-faced hanger-on, +who at the time possessed great influence over him. +Indeed, he was really the Emperor's financial agent. +This man had, some time ago, very fortunately for the +Emperor, opened his eyes to the way in which Kunze +had manipulated the amazing Schloss Freiheit Lottery, +and had been able to point out to the All-Highest +One what a storm of ridicule, indignation and +defiance must arise in Berlin if he attempted to carry +out his huge reconstruction and building scheme.</p> + +<p>I was present in the Emperor's room at Potsdam +when old Löhlein, with whom sat Herr von Wedell, +openly declared to the Emperor that if he prosecuted +his pet building scheme great indignation must arise, +not only in the capital, but in Hanover, Wiesbaden, +and Kassel.</p> + +<p>The Kaiser knitted his brows and listened attentively +to both of his advisers. I well remember how, +next day, the Press, in order to allay the public dissatisfaction, +declared that the huge building projects +of the Emperor never existed. They had been purely +imaginary ideas put forward by a syndicate of speculative +builders and taken up by the newspapers.</p> + +<p>Without doubt the podgy, fair-haired man in gold-rimmed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +spectacles, the Judicial Councillor Löhlein, by +crushing the Kaiser's mad scheme gained considerable +popularity in a certain circle. He was, however, a +man of exceptional craft and cunning, and during the +eight years or so he remained the intimate friend of +the Emperor he must have, by advising and looking +after the Imperial investments, especially in America, +amassed a great fortune.</p> + +<p>On the occasion of our Easter visit to the Saxon +Court—a Court which, to say the least, was a most +dull and uninteresting one—we all went, as is the +custom there, to the shoot at the Vogelschiessen, a +large wooden bird made up of pieces which fall out +when hit in a vital part. The bird target is set up at +the Easter fair held close to Dresden, and on that +afternoon the whole Court annually go to try their +skill at marksmanship. We were a merry party. +The Emperor went with the old King and Queen of +Saxony, being accompanied by the Crown-Prince +Friedrich-August and the Crown-Princess Luisa, +merry, laughing, full of spirits, and unusually good-looking +for a Royalty.</p> + +<p>The Saxon Royal Family all shot, and, thanks to +her father's tuition, the Crown-Princess knocked a +piece out of the bird at the first shot, which sent the +public wild with enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>Luisa was the most popular woman in Saxony, and +deservedly so, for hers had been a love match. Her +father, Ferdinand IV., Grand Duke of Tuscany, had, +at the suggestion of the Emperor Francis Joseph, +endeavoured to arrange a match between the Princess +and the man now known as "foxy" Ferdinand of +Bulgaria. With that object a grand <i>dîner de cérémonie</i> +was held one night at the Imperial Castle of +Salzburg, and at that dinner Luisa, suspecting the +conspiracy, publicly insulted the Ruler of Bulgaria, +which for ever put an end to the paternal plans.</p> + +<p>After her marriage to the Saxon Crown-Prince the +Kaiser, in one of his whimsical moods, became greatly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +attached to her because of her frankness, her love of +outdoor life, and her high educational attainments, +hence we often had her visiting at Potsdam or at the +Berlin Schloss. She was known to be one of the few +feminine Royalties in whom the Kaiser took the +slightest interest.</p> + +<p>After our return from the public shooting to the +Royal Palace in Dresden, a banquet was, of course, +held in honour of the Emperor in that great hall +where, on the walls, the four estates are represented +by scenes from the history of the Emperor Henry I.</p> + +<p>At the grand ball afterwards I found myself chatting +with Luisa, who, I recollect, wore a most charming +and artistic gown of sea-green chiffon, <i>décolleté</i>, of +course, with pink carnations in her hair and a few +diamonds upon her corsage, as well as the Order of +St. Elizabeth and her magnificent rope of matched +pearls, which went twice round her neck and reached +to her knees—a historic set which had once belonged +to Marie Antoinette. She looked very charming, and, +in her frank way, asked me:</p> + +<p>"How do you like my dress, Count? I designed +it myself," she added.</p> + +<p>I complimented her upon it, but I afterwards heard +that the old King of Saxony had been horrified at the +lowness to which the bodice had been cut, and, +further, that every yard of green chiffon in Dresden had +been sold out before noon next day and the dress +copied everywhere.</p> + +<p>As we stood chatting in a corner of the room, +watching the scene of unusual brilliancy because of +the Kaiser's presence, the Princess, turning to me, said +suddenly:</p> + +<p>"Do you believe in omens, Count von Heltzendorff?"</p> + +<p>"Omens!" I exclaimed, rather surprised at her +question. "Really, I'm afraid I am a little too +matter-of-fact to take such things seriously, your +Highness."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, a curious thing happened here about a +month ago," she said. "I was——" At that +instant the Emperor, in the uniform of the 2nd Regiment +of Saxon Grenadiers, of which he was chief, and +wearing the Order of Crancelin of the House of +Saxony, strode up, and, standing before us +exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Well, Luisa? What is the very interesting topic +of conversation, eh?" He had evidently overheard +her words about some curious thing happening, for, +laughing gaily, he asked; "Now, what did happen a +month ago?"</p> + +<p>Her Imperial Highness hesitated, as though endeavouring +to avoid an explanation, but next second +she waved her lace fan quickly and said:</p> + +<p>"Well, something remarkable. I will tell your +Majesty if you really wish to hear it."</p> + +<p>"By all means, Luisa, by all means," replied His +Majesty, placing his sound hand behind his back and +drawing himself up very erect—a habit of his after +asking a question.</p> + +<p>"Well, recently Friedrich-August and myself have +moved into rooms in the older wing of the Palace—rooms +that have not been occupied for nearly forty +years. They are old-world, charming, and remind me +constantly of Augustus the Strong and the times in +which he lived. Just about a month ago the King +and Queen of Roumania were paying us a visit. We +were at dinner, and while we were all laughing and +talking, for 'Carmen Sylva' had been telling us one +of her stories, we heard a great clatter of horses' hoofs +and the heavy rumble of wheels, just as though a stage +coach was crossing the Small Courtyard. All of us +listened, and in the silence we heard it receding quite +distinctly. I at once sent my lady-in-waiting to +ascertain who had arrived or departed, four-wheeled +coaches being quite unusual nowadays. It seemed +just as though the coach had driven out of the Palace +gate. The message brought back from the guardroom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +was that no carriage had entered or left. I told +this to those around the table, and the Queen of +Roumania, who had taken much interest in omens and +folk-lore, seated opposite me, seemed much impressed, +and even perturbed."</p> + +<p>"Then the noise you heard must have been quite +an uncanny one, eh?" asked the Emperor, deeply +interested.</p> + +<p>"Quite. Two of the women at the table declared +that it must have been thunder, and then the conversation +proceeded. I, however, confess to your +Majesty that I was very much puzzled, and the more +so because only two nights ago, while we sat at dinner +Friedrich-August and myself <i>en famille</i>, we heard +exactly the same sounds again!"</p> + +<p>"Really!" laughed the Emperor. "Quite uncanny. +I hope, here in Dresden, you are not believing +in spooks, as London society believes in them."</p> + +<p>"Not at all," said the Princess earnestly. "I +don't believe in omens. But, curiously enough, the +King told me yesterday that his two old aunts, who +formerly lived in our wing of the Palace, had sometimes +heard the clatter of horses' hoofs, the jingle of +harness, the grinding of the brakes, and the rumbling +of heavy carriage wheels."</p> + +<p>"H'm!" grunted the Emperor. "I've heard that +same story before, Luisa. The departing coach +means trouble to the reigning family."</p> + +<p>"That is exactly what the King said to me only +last evening," answered Luisa frankly. "Does it +mean trouble to me, I wonder?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not," I declared. "Your Imperial +Highness need not worry for one moment over such +things. Nobody nowadays regards such phenomena +as presage of evil. There is no doubt some perfectly +natural explanation of the sounds. Every old palace, +castle, and even private house, has its traditions."</p> + +<p>"Quite right, Heltzendorff," laughed the Emperor, +"especially in England and Scotland. There they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +have white ladies, grey ladies, men with heads like +stags, lights in windows, the sound of mysterious +bells ringing, and all sorts of evil omens. Oh, those +dear, superstitious English! How ready they are +to take up anything unpractical that may be a pleasant +change to the senses."</p> + +<p>"Your Majesty does not believe in omens?" I +ventured to remark.</p> + +<p>"Omens!" he exclaimed, fixing his gaze upon me. +"No; none but cowards and old women believe +in them." Then, turning to the Princess, he smiled, +saying: "If I were you, Luisa, I would give your +chief of police orders to question all the servants. +Somebody rattled some dishes, perhaps. You say +it was during dinner."</p> + +<p>But the pretty Crown-Princess was serious, for +she said:</p> + +<p>"Well, all I can say is that not only did I myself +hear, but a dozen others at table also heard the noise +of horses, not dishes."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Luisa! I see you are a trifle nervous," +laughed the Emperor. "Well, as you know, your +Royal House of Saxony has lasted from the days of +Albert the Courageous in the early fifteenth century, +and the Dynasty of the Ravensteins has been +prosperous from then until to-day, so don't trouble +yourself further. Why, you are really quite pale and +unnerved, I see," His Majesty added, for nothing +escapes those shrewd, wide-open eyes of his.</p> + +<p>Then the Emperor, after acknowledging the salute +of Baron Georg von Metzsch, Controller of the Royal +Household—a tall, thin, crafty-eyed man, with hair +tinged with grey, and wearing a dark blue uniform and +many decorations—changed the topic of conversation, +and referred to the Saxon Easter custom which that +morning had been carried out.</p> + +<p>The Kaiser was in particularly merry mood that +night. He had gone to Dresden against his inclination, +for he had long ago arranged an Easter review<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +on the Tempelhofer Feld, but the visit was, I knew, for +the purpose of a consultation in secret with the King +of Saxony. A week before, in the Berlin Schloss, I +had been sent by the Emperor to obtain a paper from +his table in the upstairs study, and in looking for the +document in question—one that he had signed and +wished to send over to the Reichsamt des Innern +(Office of the Interior)—I came across a letter from +King George of Saxony, begging the Emperor to visit +him, in order to discuss "that matter which is so +seriously threatening the honour of our House."</p> + +<p>Several times I wondered to what His Majesty of +Saxony had referred. That morning Emperor and +King had been closeted alone together for fully three +hours, and the outcome of the secret conference +seemed to have put the All-Highest into a most +excellent mood.</p> + +<p>He left us, accompanied by Baron von Metzsch and +Judicial Councillor Löhlein, and I noticed how both +men were talking with the Emperor in an undertone. +To my surprise also I saw how Löhlein cast furtive +glances towards where I still stood with the Crown-Princess.</p> + +<p>A few moments later, however, a smart officer of +the Prussian Guard, whom I recognized as Count von +Castell Rudenhausen, a well-known figure in the gay +life of Berlin, came forward, and, bowing, invited the +Princess to waltz.</p> + +<p>And a moment later Luisa was smiling at me across +the shoulder of her good-looking cavalier.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, while waltzing, her magnificent rope of +historic matched pearls accidentally caught in the +button of a passing officer, the string snapped, and +many of the pearls fell rattling upon the polished floor.</p> + +<p>In a moment a dozen officers in tight uniforms were +groping about to recover them from the feet of the +dancers when, during the commotion, I heard the +voice of Judicial Councillor Löhlein remark quite +loudly:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah! now we can all see who are the Crown-Princess' +admirers!"</p> + +<p>Luisa flushed instantly in anger and annoyance, +but said nothing, whilst her lady-in-waiting in silence +took the broken rope of pearls, together with those +recovered from the floor, and a few moments later the +significant incident ended.</p> + +<p>The Saxon Crown-Prince and his wife were at that +time a most devoted couple, though all of us knew that +the modern ideas Luisa had brought to Dresden from +the Hapsburg Court had much shocked old King +George and his consort. The Saxon Court was unused +to a pretty woman with buoyant spirits rejoicing in +life with a capital "L." According to the Court +whisperings, trouble had started a few days after +marriage, when the King, having given his daughter-in-law +a tiara of diamonds, a Royal heirloom, with +strict injunctions to wear them just as they were—a +style of the seventeenth century—he one evening +at the opera saw her wearing the stones re-set in that +style known as <i>art nouveau</i>. The King became +furious, and ordered them to be set again in their +original settings, whereupon Luisa coolly returned the +present.</p> + +<p>Such was the commencement of the old King's +ill-feeling towards her.</p> + +<p>The State ball that night was certainly a brilliant +one for such a small Court, and next day we all returned +to Potsdam, for the Emperor had suddenly +cancelled a number of engagements and arranged to +pay a visit to Wilhelmshaven, where the Kaiserliche +Werft (Imperial Dockyard) contained certain naval +secrets he wished to see.</p> + +<p>Before we left Dresden, however, I met the Crown-Princess +in one of the corridors. It was nine o'clock +in the morning. She wore her riding-habit, for, being +a splendid horsewoman, she had just come in from +her morning canter.</p> + +<p>"Well, Count!" she laughed. "So you are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +leaving us unexpectedly! I shall be coming to pay +another visit to Potsdam soon. The Emperor invited +me last night. Au revoir!" And after I had bent +over her small white hand she waved it merrily and +passed the sentry towards her private apartments, +wherein she had heard the ghostly coach and four.</p> + +<p>Her Imperial Highness paid her promised visit to +the Empress at the Neues Palais in July.</p> + +<p>At the time of her arrival the Emperor had left +suddenly and gone away to Hubertusstock. When +anything unusual upset him he always went there. +I overheard him the day before his departure shouting +to Löhlein as I passed along one of the corridors. +The Judicial Councillor seemed to be trying to pacify +him, but apparently entirely without avail, for the +Emperor is a man not easily convinced.</p> + +<p>"You are as sly as all the rest!" I heard the Emperor +declare in that shrill, high-pitched tone which +always denotes his anger. "I'll hear none of it—no +excuses. I want no fawning, no Jew-juggling."</p> + +<p>Then, fearing to be discovered, I slipped on past +the door.</p> + +<p>The next I heard was that the Kaiser had left for +that lonely retreat to which he went when he wished +to be alone in those periods of crazy impetuosity +which periodically seized the Mad Dog of Europe; +and, further, that he had taken with him his crafty +crony, Löhlein.</p> + +<p>During that mysterious absence—when the tinselled +world of Potsdam seemed at peace—the good-looking +Saxon Crown-Princess arrived.</p> + +<p>I was on duty on the railway platform to bow +over her hand and to welcome her.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Count von Heltzendorff! Well, did I not +say that I should not be very long before I returned +to Potsdam, eh?" she exclaimed. Then, in a +whisper, she said with a merry laugh: "Do you +remember those clattering hoofs and my broken rope +of pearls? Nothing has happened yet."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And nothing will," I assured her as, with a +courtier's obeisance, I conducted Her Imperial Highness +to the Royal carriage, where the Crown-Prince +"Willie" was awaiting her, chatting with two officers +of the Guard to while away the time.</p> + +<p>Three days later an incident occurred which caused +me a good deal of thought, and, truth to tell, mystified +me considerably.</p> + +<p>That somewhat indiscreet journal, the <i>Militär +Wochenblatt</i>, had published a statement to the effect +that Friedrich-August of Saxony and the handsome +Luisa had had a violent quarrel, a fact which caused +a great deal of gossip throughout Court circles.</p> + +<p>Old Von Donaustauf, who at that time was master +of the ceremonies at the Emperor's Court, busied +himself by spreading strange scandals regarding the +Crown-Princess Luisa. Therefore, in the circumstances, +it struck me as strange that Her Highness +should have been invited to the puritanical and +hypocritical circle at Potsdam.</p> + +<p>That afternoon, soon after the guard had been +changed, I chanced to be writing in my room, which +overlooked the big central courtyard, when I heard +the guard suddenly turn out in great commotion, by +which I knew that His Majesty had suddenly returned +from Hubertusstock.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later my telephone rang, and, passing +the sentries, I went by order to His Majesty's study, +that chamber of plots and secrets, hung with its +faded pale green silk damask, its furniture covered +with the same material, and its net curtains at the +windows threaded with ribbons of the same shade.</p> + +<p>The moment I entered the Emperor's countenance +showed me that he was very angry. His low-bowing +crony, Löhlein, always a subtle adviser, had returned +with him, and stood watching the Emperor as the +latter impatiently paced the room.</p> + +<p>I saluted, awaiting orders in silence, as was my +habit, but so preoccupied was His Majesty that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +did not notice my presence, but continued his outburst +of furious wrath. "Only see what Von Hoensbroech +has reported!" he cried, suddenly halting +against one of those big buhl chests of drawers with +grey marble tops—heavy pieces of furniture veneered +with tortoise-shell in which the Emperor keeps his +official papers. "I am being made a laughing-stock—and +you know it, Löhlein! It has been said of us +that a woman, a whim, or a word will to-day raise +any person to high rank in our Empire! That blackguard, +Harden, has actually dared to write it in his +journal. Well, we shall see. That woman—she +shall——"</p> + +<p>As the Kaiser uttered those words he suddenly +realized that I was present, and hesitated. Next +second both his tone and his manner changed.</p> + +<p>"Heltzendorff—I—I—wish you to go to Dresden +and take a private letter. It will be ready in half an +hour. Say nothing to anyone concerning your +departure, but report to me here at"—and he +glanced at the small bronze clock on the overmantel +between two elegant candelabra—"at four o'clock."</p> + +<p>As commanded, I reported, but the Kaiser was +with the Empress, who, in one of her private apartments, +was holding <i>petit cercle</i>, the Princess Luisa being +present. Indeed, as I entered that semi-circular salon +the Kaiser was standing astride before Luisa's chair +laughing gaily with her. Surely none who saw him +at that moment would ever have believed that not +half an hour before his face had been blanched by +anger. He could alter his moods just as he changed +his three hundred odd uniforms.</p> + +<p>There was something mysterious in the wind—of +that I felt absolutely convinced. The atmosphere +of that faded green upstairs room was always one of +confidential conversations, intimate conferences and +secret plots—plots despicable and vile, as has since +been proved—against the peace of the world.</p> + +<p>The Emperor, noticing that I had entered the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +Imperial presence, came forward, and I followed him +back into the softly-carpeted corridor. Then his +action further aroused my curiosity, for he took from +the inner pocket of his tunic an envelope of what you +in England call "court" size—linen-lined, as are all +envelopes used by the Emperor for his private correspondence. +I saw it had been sealed in black by +his own hand. Then, as he handed it to me, he said:</p> + +<p>"Go to Dresden as quickly as possible and obtain +a reply to this."</p> + +<p>I clicked my heels together, and, saluting, left upon +my secret mission to the Saxon Court.</p> + +<p>The letter was addressed to Baron Georg von +Metzsch at Dresden.</p> + +<p>Next day, when I presented it to the tall, thin +Controller of the Household, who sat in his small but +cosy room in the Royal Palace, I saw that its contents +greatly puzzled him.</p> + +<p>He wrote a reply, and as Imperial messenger +I returned at once to Potsdam, handing it to the +Emperor as he strode alone from the Shell Saloon, +through which he was passing after dinner.</p> + +<p>He took it from my hand without a word. The +All-Highest never bestows thanks upon those who +obey his orders. It is, indeed, said to-day that +Hindenburg has never once, during his whole official +career, been verbally thanked by his Imperial Master.</p> + +<p>The Emperor, with impatient fingers, tore open the +envelope, read its contents, and then smiled contentedly, +after which I went to old Von Donaustauf's +room, and, tired out by the long journey, smoked a +good cigar in his company.</p> + +<p>Next day we were all back at the Berlin Schloss—for +we never knew from day to day where we might +be—Hamburg, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf or Danzig.</p> + +<p>During the morning His Majesty inspected the +Berlin garrison in the Tempelhofer Feld, and the +Princess Luisa rode with him. That same afternoon, +while I was busy writing in the long room<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +allotted to me in the Berlin Schloss, Her Imperial +Highness, to my surprise, entered, closing the door +quietly after her.</p> + +<p>"Count von Heltzendorff, you have been on a +secret mission to that spy, Von Metzsch, in Dresden, +have you not?"</p> + +<p>I rose, bowed, and without replying courteously +offered her a chair.</p> + +<p>"Why do you not admit it?" she asked quickly.</p> + +<p>"Princess, if the Emperor gives me orders to preserve +secrecy, then it is my duty to obey," I said.</p> + +<p>"I know," she answered, and then I realized how +upset and nervous she seemed. "But Von Metzsch +hates me, and has put about all sorts of scandalous +reports concerning me. Ah! Count," she sighed, +"you do not know how very unhappy I am—how +I am surrounded by enemies!"</p> + +<p>These words caused me much surprise, though I +had, of course, heard many unsavoury rumours +regarding her unhappy position at the Saxon Court.</p> + +<p>"I much regret to hear that," I said. "But Your +Imperial Highness has also many friends, of whom +I hope I may be permitted to number myself."</p> + +<p>"Ah! it is extremely good of you to say that—very +good. If you are really my friend, then you +can help me. You are in a position to watch and +discover what is in progress—the reason the Emperor +exchanges those constant confidences with Von +Metszch, the man who has twisted my husband +around his little finger, and who has, with my Lady-of-the-Bedchamber, +Frau von Fritsch, already +poisoned his mind against me. Ah!" she sighed +again, "you have no idea how much I have suffered!"</p> + +<p>She seemed on the verge of a nervous crisis, for I +saw that in her fine eyes stood the light of unshed +tears, and I confess I was much puzzled, for I had +certainly believed, up to that moment, that she was +on excellent terms with her husband.</p> + +<p>"But surely His Highness the Crown-Prince of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +Saxony does not believe any of those wicked +reports?" I said.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Then you have heard. Of course, you +have. Von Metzsch has taken good care to let the +whole world know the lies that he and the Countess +Paule Starhemberg have concocted between them. +It is cruel!" she declared in a paroxysm of grief. +"It is wicked!"</p> + +<p>"No, no. Calm yourself, Princess!" I urged +sympathetically. "I am at least your friend, and +will act as such should occasion arise."</p> + +<p>"I thank you," she sighed in relief, and she put +out her hand, over which I bent as I took it in +friendship.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she exclaimed in a low voice. "I fear I +shall require the assistance of a friend very soon. +Do you recollect my broken pearls?"</p> + +<p>And a few moments later she left my room.</p> + +<p>Through all that day and the next I wondered +what sly, underhand work could be in progress. +I pitied the good-looking, unconventional Imperial +Princess who, because of her somewhat hoydenish +high spirits, had aroused the storm of anger and +jealousy in the Saxon Court. But the Hapsburgs had +ever been unfortunate in their loves.</p> + +<p>On the day before the Crown-Princess's visit to the +Berlin Court was due to end, at about six o'clock in +the evening, I passed the sentries and ascended to +the Emperor's study with some papers I had been +going through regarding the reorganization of the +Stettin garrison. I was one of the very few persons +ever admitted to that wing of the Palace.</p> + +<p>As I approached the door, treading noiselessly +upon the soft carpet, I heard voices raised excitedly, +the door being slightly ajar.</p> + +<p>Naturally I halted. In my position I was able +to hear a great deal of Palace intrigue, but never +had I listened to a conversation that held me more +breathless than at that moment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Woman," cried the Emperor, "do you, then, +openly defy my authority?"</p> + +<p>"What that crafty sycophant, Von Metzsch, has +told you is, I repeat, a foul and abominable lie," +was the reply.</p> + +<p>And I knew that the unfortunate Princess was +defending her reputation, which her enemies at the +Court of Saxony had torn to shreds.</p> + +<p>"No woman ever admits the truth, of course," +sneered the Emperor. "I consider you a disgrace +to the Dresden Court."</p> + +<p>"So this is the manner in which you openly insult +your guests!" was the Princess's bitter retort. +"You, who believe yourself the idol of your people, +now exhibit yourself in your true light as the +traducer of a defenceless woman!"</p> + +<p>"How dare you utter those words to me!" cried +the All-Highest One, in fury.</p> + +<p>"I dare defend myself—even though you may be +Emperor," replied Luisa, in a cold, hard tone of +defiance. "I repeat that your allegations are +untrue, and that you have no right to make them. +Surely you can see that my enemies, headed by +the King of Saxony, are all conspiring to effect +my downfall. I know it! I have written proof +of it!"</p> + +<p>"Bosh! You say that because you know that +the statements are true!"</p> + +<p>"You lie!" she cried fiercely. "They are not +true. You cannot prove them."</p> + +<p>"Very well," answered the Emperor in that tone +of cold determination that I knew too well. "I +will prove the charges to my entire satisfaction."</p> + +<p>I was startled at the manner in which the Princess +had dared to call the Emperor a liar. Surely nobody +had ever done so before.</p> + +<p>I drew a long breath, for as I crept away unseen +I recollected the Kaiser's unrelenting vindictiveness.</p> + +<p>Poor Princess! I knew that the red talons of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +Hohenzollern eagle would sooner or later be laid +heavily upon her.</p> + +<p>She left Berlin two hours later, but half an hour +before her departure I found a hurriedly-scribbled +note upon my table explaining that she had had +"a few unpleasant words with the Emperor," and +that she was leaving for Dresden a day earlier than +had been arranged.</p> + +<p>A fortnight passed. Twice Baron von Metzsch +came to Potsdam, and was on each occasion closely +closeted with the Emperor, as well as having frequent +consultations with Judicial Councillor Löhlein. I +had strong suspicion that the vile conspiracy against +the lively daughter of the Hapsburgs was still in +progress, for I felt assured that the Kaiser would +never forgive those words of defiance from a woman's +lips, and that his vengeance, slow and subtle, would +assuredly fall upon her.</p> + +<p>I did not know at the time—not, indeed, until +fully three years later—how the blackguardly actions +of Von Metzsch, who was a creature of the Kaiser, had +from the first been instigated by the All-Highest, +who, from the very day of the Prince's marriage, had, +notwithstanding his apparent graciousness towards +her, determined that a Hapsburg should never become +Queen of Saxony.</p> + +<p>For that reason, namely, because the Emperor in +his overweening vanity believes himself to be the +Heaven-sent ruler of the destinies of the German +Empire, was much opposed to an Austrian princess +as a potential queen at Dresden, he set himself +the task to ruin the poor woman's life and love and +to arouse such a terrible scandal concerning her that +she could not remain in Saxony with every finger +pointing at her in opprobrium and scorn.</p> + +<p>A fresh light, however, was thrown upon what I +afterwards realized to be a dastardly conspiracy by +the receipt of a cipher message late one November +night at Potsdam. I was at work alone with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +Emperor in the pale green upstairs room, reading and +placing before him a number of State documents to +which he scrawled his scribbly signature, when the +telegram was brought.</p> + +<p>"Decipher that, Heltzendorff," he commanded, +and went on with the work of reading and signing the +documents, while I sat down with the red leather-covered +personal code book which bore the Imperial +coronet and cipher, and presently found that the +message, which was from Dresden, read:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Frau von Fritsch to-day had an interview with +Giron, the French tutor to the Crown-Princess's +children, but unfortunately the latter refuses to admit +any affection for Luisa. Giron angrily declared his +intention to leave Dresden, because of Von Fritsch's +suggestion. This course, I saw, would be unfortunate +for our plans, therefore I urged the King to induce +Luisa to request him to remain. She has done so, +but to no avail, and Giron left for Brussels to-night. +May I be permitted to come to discuss with your +Majesty a further elaboration of the plan?—<span class="smcap">Von +Metzsch</span>."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The Emperor read the secret message twice. Then +he paused, with knit brows, and brushed his moustache +with his hand, a habit of his when perplexed.</p> + +<p>"We go to Erfurt to-morrow, do we not?" he +said. "Telegraph in cipher to Von Metzsch to meet +us there to-morrow evening at seven. And destroy +that message," he added.</p> + +<p>I obeyed his orders, and afterwards continued to +deal with the State papers, much enlightened by the +news transmitted by the Emperor's creature.</p> + +<p>The Imperial hand was slowly destroying the +conjugal happiness of a pair who really loved each +other, even though they were of the blood royal. +The long arm of the Emperor was outstretched to +crush and pulverize the soul of the woman who had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +dared to defend herself—who had defied the imperious +will of that man whose hand he had, with +awful blasphemy in addressing his Brandenburgers, +declared to be the hand of God.</p> + +<p>I confess that I felt the deepest sympathy for the +helpless victim. At the Schloss, high above the old-world +town of Erfurt, the sneaking sycophant +Von Metzsch had a long conference with the Emperor +but I was unable to overhear any word of it. All I +know is that the Controller of the Saxon Household +left Erfurt for Dresden by special train at midnight.</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour after the Saxon functionary +had departed I was with the Emperor receiving orders +for the following day, and found him in high spirits, +by which, knowing him so intimately, I knew that he +was confident in his ultimate triumph.</p> + +<p>Poor, defenceless Luisa! You, my dear Le Queux, +to whom the Princess a few months afterwards flew +for advice, know well how sterling, how womanly and +honest she was; how she was one victim of many of +the unholy, unscrupulous intrigues by which the +arrogant War-Lord of Germany, aided by his devil's +spawn, has until the present managed to retain his +now tottering throne.</p> + +<p>Well, I watched the course of events; watched +eagerly and daily. Twice I had received letters +from Her Imperial Highness, short notes in her +firm, bold handwriting.</p> + +<p>From Von Metzsch came several cipher messages to +the Emperor after we had returned to Potsdam, but +Zorn von Bulach, my colleague, deciphered all of +them, and, as he was not my friend, I did not inquire +as to their purport. I knew, however, that matters +in Dresden were fast approaching a crisis, and that +the unfortunate Hapsburg Princess could no longer +sustain the cruel and unjust pressure being put upon +her for her undoing. That a hundred of Germany's +spies and <i>agents-provocateurs</i> were busy I realized +from the many messages by telephone and telegraph<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +passing between Berlin and Dresden, and I felt +certain that the ruin of poor Princess Luisa was +nigh.</p> + +<p>A significant message came to Potsdam late one +December night—a message which, when I deciphered +it and handed it to the Emperor, caused him to smile +in triumph.</p> + +<p>I bit my lip. The Princess had left Dresden!</p> + +<p>Three days later, on December 9th, a further +cipher telegram came from Von Metzsch, the Emperor's +sycophant in Dresden, which read: "Luisa has +learnt of the Sonnenstein project, and has left Salsburg +for Zurich, her brother accompanying.—<span class="smcap">Von +Metzsch</span>."</p> + +<p>Sonnenstein! That was a private lunatic asylum! +I held my breath at the awful fate which the Emperor +had decided should be hers.</p> + +<p>In a few moments the Kaiser had summoned, by +his private telephone, Koehler, then chief of the +Berlin secret police, and given orders that the Princess +was to be watched in Switzerland. Half an hour +later three police agents were on their way to Zurich +to follow and persecute the poor, distracted woman, +even beyond the confines of the Empire.</p> + +<p>She was, no doubt, in deadly fear of being sent to +a living tomb, so that her mouth should be closed +for ever.</p> + +<p>The Emperor, not content with casting her out of +Germany, intended to wreak a terrible and fiendish +revenge upon her by closing her lips and confining her +in an asylum. She knew that, and seeing herself +surrounded by enemies and spies on every hand—for +even her brother Leopold, with whom she had +travelled to Switzerland, now refused to assist her—she +adopted the only method of further escape that +at the moment presented itself.</p> + +<p>Alone and without anyone to advise her, she, as +you know, took a desperate resolve, one, alas! fraught +with disastrous consequences.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> + +<p>The iron had indeed entered the poor Princess's +soul.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Note by William Le Queux</span></p> + +<p><i>The dénouement of this base intrigue of the Emperor's +will be best related in Her Imperial Highness's own +words. In one of her letters, which I have on my table +as I write, she says:</i></p> + +<p><i>"I saw before me in those never-to-be-forgotten days +all the horrors of a 'Maison de Santé.' What could I +do? I was friendless in a strange hotel. Even +Leopold seemed disinclined to be further troubled by +a runaway sister. I knew Frau von Fritsch, that +unscrupulous liar, had accused me falsely of having +secret love affairs, and that the Emperor had directed +the whole plot which was to culminate in my confinement +in an asylum. Suddenly a solution occurred to +me. I remembered that Monsieur Giron, who had +already suffered greatly through his friendship with me. +If he joined me, then my flight from Dresden would be +considered as an elopement, and I should escape a living +death in a madhouse! Monsieur Giron was at that +moment my only friend, and it was for that reason that +I telegraphed to him at Brussels. Well, he joined me, +and by doing so completed the Emperor's triumph."</i></p> + +<p><i>The subtle, ever-scheming Madman of Europe, +warped as he is in soul as in body, had, with his true +Hun craftiness and unscrupulousness, aided by Judicial +Councillor Löhlein and the spy Von Metzsch, succeeded +in hounding down an honest, defenceless woman as +high born as his own diseased self, and casting her in +ignominy and shame out of his now doomed Empire.</i></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="SECRET_NUMBER_FOUR" id="SECRET_NUMBER_FOUR"></a>SECRET NUMBER FOUR</h2> +<h3>THE MYSTERIOUS FRAU KLEIST</h3> + + +<p>The clever intrigues of Frau Kleist were unknown +to any outside the Court circle at Potsdam.</p> + +<p>She was indeed a queer personage, "only less of a +personality than His Majesty," as that shiftiest of +German statesmen, Prince Bülow, declared to me +one day as we sat together in my room in the Berlin +Schloss.</p> + +<p>Frau Kleist was the Court dancing-mistress, whose +fastidious judgment had to be satisfied by any young +débutante or officer before they presumed to dance +before Royalty at the State balls. Before every ball +Frau Kleist held several dance rehearsals in the +Weisser-Saal (White Salon) at the Berlin Schloss, +and she was more exacting than any pompous +General on parade. Perhaps she was seventy. Her +real age I never knew. But, friends that we were, +she often chatted with me and deplored the flat-footedness +of the coming generation of Teutons, and +more than once I have seen her lift her skirts and, +displaying neat silk-stockinged ankles on the polished +floor of the Weisser-Saal, make, for the benefit of +the would-be débutantes, graceful tiptoe turns with +a marvellous grace of movement.</p> + +<p>Truly Frau Kleist, with her neat waist and thin, +refined face, was a very striking figure at the Berlin +Court. The intricacies of the minuet and gavotte, +as well as those of the old-world dances in which she +delighted, were taught by the old lady to Prince +Joachim and Princess Victoria Luise, both of whom +always went in deadly fear of her caustic tongue and +overbearing manner.</p> + +<p>The Emperor never permitted any dancing at Court<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +which was not up to a high standard of excellence, +and all who sought to dance were compelled to pass +before the critical eye of the sharp-tongued old lady +in her stiff silken gown.</p> + +<p>Once, I remember, certain young people of the smart +set of Berlin sought to introduce irregularities in the +Lancers, but they soon discovered that their cards +were cancelled.</p> + +<p>Whence she had come or who had been responsible +for her appointment nobody knew. One thing was +quite certain, that though at an age when usually +rheumatism prevents agility, yet she was an expert +dancer. Another thing was also certain, that, if a +débutante or a young military elegant were awkward +or flat-footed, she would train them privately in the +Terpsichorean art, especially in the old-world dances +which are so popular at Court, and, accepting a little +palm-oil, would then pass them—after squeezing +them sufficiently—as fit to receive the Imperial +command to the Court balls.</p> + +<p>The old woman, sharp-featured and angular as +became her age, with her complexion powdered and +rouged, lived in considerable style in a fine house +close to the Glienicke Bridge at Potsdam, beneath the +Babelsberg, a power to be reckoned with by all who +desired to enter the Court circle.</p> + +<p>Regarding her, many strange stories were afloat. +One was that she was an ex-dancer, the mother of +the famous Mademoiselle "Clo-Clo" Durand, +<i>première danseuse</i> of the Paris Opera, and another +was that she had been mistress of the ballet +at the Imperial Opera in Petrograd in the days of +the Emperor Alexander. But so great a mystery +were her antecedents that nobody knew anything for +certain, save that, at the age of nearly seventy, she +had access at any hour to the Kaiser's private cabinet. +I have often seen her whisper to His Majesty strange +secrets which she had picked up here and there—secrets +that were often transferred to certain confidential<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +quarters which control the great Teuton +octopus.</p> + +<p>Those at Court who secured the benignant smiles +of Frau Kleist knew that their future path in life +would be full of sunshine, but woe betide those upon +whom she knit her brows in disapproval. It was all +a question of bribery. Frau Kleist kept her pretty +house and her big Mercédès car upon the secret +money payments she received from those who "for +value" begged her favours. With many young +officers the payment to Frau Kleist was to open the +back door to the Emperor's favour.</p> + +<p>We in the Neues Palais (New Palace) knew it. +But surely it did not concern us, for all of us looked +askance at those who strove so strenuously and +eagerly for "commands" to Court functions, and +really we were secretly glad if the parvenus of both +sexes were well bled before they were permitted by +Frau Erna to make their obeisance before Royalty.</p> + +<p>The palace world at every European Court is a +narrow little world of its own, unknown and unsuspected +by the man in the street. There one sees +the worst side of human nature without any leaven of +the best or even nobler side. The salary-grabber, the +military adventurer, the pinchbeck diplomat, the +commercial parvenu, and the scientist, together with +their heavy-jowled, jewel-bedecked women-folk, elbow +each other in order to secure the notice of the All-Highest +One, who, in that green-upholstered private +room wherein I worked with him, often smiled at the +unseemly bustle while he calmly discriminated among +men and women according to their merits.</p> + +<p>It is in that calm discretion that the Emperor +excels, possessing almost uncanny foresight, combined +with a most unscrupulous conscience.</p> + +<p>"I know! Frau Kleist has told me!" were the +words His Majesty used on many occasions when I +had ventured perhaps to express doubt regarding +some scandalous story or serious allegation. Therefore<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +I was confident, even though a large section of +the entourage doubted it, that the seventy-year-old +dancing-mistress, whose past was a complete mystery, +was an important secret agent of the Emperor's.</p> + +<p>And what more likely? The Kaiser, as ruler of +that complex empire, would naturally seek to know +the truth concerning those who sought his favour +before they were permitted to click their heels or wag +their fans and bow the knee in his Imperial presence. +And he had, no doubt, with that innate cunning, +appointed his creature to the position of Court +dancing-mistress.</p> + +<p>The most elegant, corsetted Prussian officer, even +though he could dance divinely, was good-looking +and perfectly-groomed, would never be permitted to +enter the Court circle unless a substantial number of +marks were placed within the old woman's palm. It +was her perquisite, and many in that ill-paid entourage +envied her her means of increasing her income.</p> + +<p>In no Court in Europe are the purse-strings held so +tightly as in that of Potsdam. The Emperor and +Empress, though immensely wealthy, practise the +economy of London suburbia. But at every Court +bribery is rife in order to obtain Royal warrants and +dozens of other small favours of that kind, just as +open payment is necessary to-day to obtain titles of +nobility. The colour of gold has a fascination which +few can resist. If it were not so there would be no +war in progress to-day.</p> + +<p>On October 17th, 1908, I had returned with the +Emperor and his suite from Hamburg, where His +Majesty had been present at the launching of one of +Herr Ballin's monster American liners, and at three +o'clock, after the Kaiser had eaten a hurried luncheon, +I was seated at the side table in his private room in +the Berlin Schloss, taking down certain confidential +instructions which he wished to be sent at once by one +of the Imperial couriers to the commandant of Posen.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Von Kahlberg, my colleague, entered with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +a message that had been taken by the telegraphist +attached to the Palace, and handed it to His Majesty.</p> + +<p>Having read it, the Kaiser at once grew excited, and, +turning to me, said:</p> + +<p>"The Crown-Prince sends word from Potsdam that +the American, Orville Wright, is flying on the Bornstedter +Feld. We must go at once. Order the cars. +And, Von Kahlberg, inform Her Majesty at once. +She will accompany us, no doubt."</p> + +<p>Quickly I placed before His Majesty one of his +photographs—knowing that it would be wanted for +presentation to the daring American—and he took up +his pen and scrawled his signature across it. Afterwards +I placed it in the small, green-painted dispatch-box +of steel which I always carried when in attendance +upon His Imperial Majesty.</p> + +<p>Within a quarter of an hour three of the powerful +cars were on their way to Potsdam, the Emperor with +Herr Anton Reitschel—a high German official at +Constantinople—and Professor Vambéry, who happened +to be at the Palace at the time, in the first car; +the Kaiserin with her daughter, Victoria Luise, and +the latter's <i>ober-gouvernante</i> (governess), with one of +the Court ladies, in the next; while in the third I +rode with Major von Scholl, one of the equerries.</p> + +<p>Cheers rose from the crowds as we passed through +the Berlin streets, and the Emperor, full of suppressed +excitement at the thought of seeing an aeroplane +flight, constantly saluted as we flew along.</p> + +<p>On arrival at the Bornstedter Feld it was already +growing dusk, and a great disappointment awaited us. +The Crown-Prince rode up to inform us gravely that +the flying was over for the day. At this the Kaiser +grew angry, for he had been out once before upon a +wild-goose chase, only to find that Orville Wright +had gone home, declaring the wind to be too strong.</p> + +<p>At his father's anger, however, "Willie" burst out +laughing, declaring that he was only joking, and that +all was in readiness. Indeed, as he spoke the aviator,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +in his leather jacket, came up, and I presented him to +His Majesty, while from everywhere soldiers and police +appeared, in order to keep back the crowd to the road.</p> + +<p>Then, while we stood alone in the centre of the great, +sandy plain, Mr. Orville Wright clambered into his +machine and, rising, made many circuits high +above us.</p> + +<p>The Emperor stood with Herr Reitschel and the +shaggy old Professor, straining his eyes with keenest +interest. It was the first time His Majesty had seen +an aeroplane in flight. Much had been promised of +old Von Zeppelin's invention, yet the German public +had, until those demonstrations by the American +aviator, taken but little heed of the heavier-than-air +machine. At that time, indeed, the Emperor had +not taken up Von Zeppelin, and it was only after seeing +Orville Wright's demonstrations that he entered with +any enthusiasm into aeronautical problems.</p> + +<p>High above us against the clear evening sky, wherein +the stars had already begun to twinkle, the daring +American rose, dipped, and banked, his machine +droning like a huge gad-fly, much to the interest and +astonishment of the Emperor.</p> + +<p>"Marvellous!" he exclaimed, as I stood beside him, +with the Empress on his right. "How is it done?"</p> + +<p>The crowds went wild with enthusiasm. The sight +of a man flying in the air, manœuvring his machine +at will, rising swiftly, and then planing down with +the engine cut off, was one of the most amazing +spectacles the loyal Potsdamers had ever seen. Even +the Emperor, with all his wild dreams of world-power, +could never for a moment have foreseen what a great +factor aeroplanes would be in the war which he was +so carefully plotting.</p> + +<p>At last Wright came down in a spiral, banked +slightly, steadied himself, and then came lightly to +earth within a few yards of where we stood, having +been the first to exhibit to the great War-Lord how +completely the air had been conquered.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then, quiet, rather unassuming man that he was, +he advanced to receive the Imperial congratulations, +and to be handed the signed photograph which, at +the proper moment, I produced like a conjurer from +my dispatch-box. Afterwards, though it had now +grown dark, the Emperor, by the powerful headlamps +of the three cars, thoroughly examined the +American's aeroplane, the aviator explaining every +detail.</p> + +<p>From that moment for months afterwards the +Kaiser was constantly talking of aviation. He commanded +photographs of various types of aeroplanes, +together with all literature on the subject, to be +placed before him. Indeed, he sent over to Britain, +in secret, two officers to attend the aeroplane meetings +held at Doncaster and Blackpool, where a large +number of photographs were secretly taken, and duly +found their way to his table.</p> + +<p>Indeed, it would greatly surprise your English +friends, my dear Le Queux, if they had only seen the +many secret reports and secret photographs of all +kinds regarding Britain's military, naval, and social +life, which I have found upon the Emperor's table.</p> + +<p>During my appointment I had through my hands +many amazing reports concerning the financial and +social position of well-known English politicians and +officials, reports made with one ulterior motive—that +of attempted bribery. The Emperor meant +war, and he knew that before he could hope for +success he must thoroughly "Germanize" Great +Britain—with what result we all now know.</p> + +<p>I have recalled the Emperor's first sight of an +aeroplane in flight, in company with Herr Anton +Reitschel and Professor Vambéry, because of an incident +which occurred that same day. Just before +midnight the Emperor, seated in his room in the +Berlin Schloss, was giving me certain instructions +to be sent to Carlton House Terrace, when the door +opened without any knock of permission, and upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +the threshold there stood that arch-intriguer, Frau +Kleist, in her stiff black silk gown, and wearing a +gleaming diamond brooch, the glitter of which was +cold as her own steely eyes.</p> + +<p>"Have I Your Majesty's permission to enter?" +she asked, in her high-pitched voice.</p> + +<p>"Of course, of course," replied the Emperor, turning +in his chair. "Come in and close the door. It +has turned quite cold to-night. Well?" he asked, +looking at her inquiringly.</p> + +<p>The Emperor is a man of very few words, except +when he tells a story.</p> + +<p>The Court dancing-mistress hesitated for a second. +Their eyes met, and in that glance I saw complete +understanding.</p> + +<p>"May I speak in confidence with Your Majesty?" +she asked, advancing into the room, her stiff, wide +skirts rustling. Except the Court ladies she was the +only female at Court whom the sentries stationed at +the end of the corridor allowed to pass to His Majesty's +private cabinet.</p> + +<p>But Frau Kleist had access everywhere. Her eyes +were the eyes of the Emperor. Many a diplomat, +financier, military or naval commander has been +raised to position of favourite because he first +secured—by payment, of course, according to his +means—the good graces of the <i>ex-ballerina</i>. And, +alas! many a good, honest man has been cast out +of the Potsdam circle into oblivion, and even to death, +because of the poisonous declaration of that smiling, +bejewelled old hag.</p> + +<p>"Of what do you wish to speak?" inquired the +Emperor, who, truth to tell, was very busy upon a +most important matter concerning the building of +new submarines, and was perhaps a little annoyed by +the intrusion, though he did not betray it, so clever +was he.</p> + +<p>"Of the Reitschel affair," was the old woman's +low reply.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> + +<p>At her words the Kaiser frowned slightly, and +dismissed me. I bowed myself out, and closed the +door upon the Emperor and his clever female spy.</p> + +<p>That she should have at that late hour come from +Potsdam—for, looking down into the courtyard, I +saw the lights of her big Mercédès—showed that some +underhand work was in progress.</p> + +<p>Only a week before I had been discussing Anton +Reitschel and his position with my intimate friend, +old Von Donaustauf, Master of Ceremonies, who was +supposed to control the ex-dancer, but who in reality +was in a subordinate position to her, because she had +the ear of the Emperor at any hour. Petty jealousies, +dastardly plots, and constant intrigues make up the +daily life around the Throne. Half the orders given +in the Emperor's name are issued without his knowledge, +and many an order transmitted to the provinces +without his authority.</p> + +<p>By handling, as I did, hundreds of those secret +reports which reached the Emperor I had learned +much concerning Herr Anton Reitschel, and from old +Von Donaustauf I had also been able to obtain +certain missing links concerning the intrigue.</p> + +<p>Reitschel, a burly, round-faced, fair-haired Prussian +of quite superior type, held the position of Chief +Director of the German-Ottoman Bank in Constantinople. +His duty for the past three years had +been to conciliate the Sultan and to lend German +money to any industrial enterprise in which any grain +of merit could possibly be discovered. He had been +singled out, taken from the Dresdner Bank, and sent +to Constantinople by the Kaiser in order to play +Germany's secret game in Turkey—especially that +of the Bagdad Railway—and to combat with German +gold Great Britain's diplomacy with Tewfik Pasha +and old Abdul Hamid, in view of "The Day," which +the Emperor had long ago determined should soon +dawn. Was he not the War-Lord? And must not +a War-Lord make war?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p> + +<p>As old Von Donaustauf had put it, between the +whiffs of one of those exquisite cigarettes, a consignment +of the Sultan's own which came from the Yildiz +Kiosk to Potsdam weekly:</p> + +<p>"Our Emperor intends that, notwithstanding +Britain's policy in the Near East, Germany shall soon +rule from Berlin to Bagdad. Herr Reitschel is in +reality charged with the work of "Germanizing" the +Ottoman Empire."</p> + +<p>That I already knew by the many secret reports +of his which arrived so constantly from Constantinople, +reports which showed quite plainly that though +the great German Embassy, with its huge eagles of +stone set at each end, might have been built for the +purpose of impressing the Turks, yet the shrewd, farseeing +Herr Anton, as head of that big financial +corporation, held greater sway at that rickety set of +offices known to us as the Sublime Porte than did his +Excellency the Ambassador, with all his beribboned +crowd of underlings.</p> + +<p>Truly the game which the Emperor was playing in +secret against the other Powers of Europe was a +crooked and desperate one. On the one hand the +Kaiser was making pretence of fair dealing with +Great Britain and France, yet on the other his agent, +Herr Reitschel, was ever busy lending money in all +directions, and bribing Turkish officials in order to +secure their favour in Germany's interest.</p> + +<p>Yet a further game was being played—one that, in +addition to the Imperial Chancellor, I alone knew—namely, +that while the Kaiser was making pretence +of being the best friend of the Sultan Abdul Hamid, +visiting Constantinople and Palestine, building fountains, +endowing institutes, and bestowing his Imperial +grace in so many ways, yet he was also secretly +supporting the Young Turk party so as to effect the +Sultan's downfall as part of his sly, Machiavellian +policy—a plot which, as you know, ultimately succeeded, +for poor old Abdul the Damned and his harem<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +were eventually packed off, bag and baggage, to +Salonika, notwithstanding His Majesty's wild entreaty +to Berlin for protection.</p> + +<p>I happened to be with the Emperor on the Imperial +yacht at Tromsö when he received by telegram the +personal appeal addressed to him from his miserable +dupe, and I well recollect how grimly he smiled as he +remarked to me that it needed no response.</p> + +<p>Well, at the period of which I am making the +present disclosure, Herr Anton had been paying a +number of flying visits to Berlin, and had had many +private audiences of both Kaiser and Sultan, and had +on several occasions been invited informally to the +Imperial luncheon table, a mark of esteem bestowed +by the Kaiser upon those who may at the moment be +serving his interests particularly well.</p> + +<p>Suddenly all of us were surprised by the announcement +that the Kaiser's favoured civilian in Turkey +had married Mademoiselle Julie de Lagarenne, +daughter of Paul de Lagarenne, son of the great +French sugar refiner, and secretary of the French +Embassy at Rome. We heard also that, having +married in Italy, he was bringing his wife to Berlin. +Indeed, a week after that news was spread I met them +both in Kranzler's in Unter den Linden, and there he +introduced me to a pretty, dark-haired, vivacious +young Frenchwoman, who spoke German well, and +who told me that her husband had already given in +her name for presentation at the next Court.</p> + +<p>That was about a month prior to Orville Wright's +flight and the midnight visit of Frau Kleist to the +Emperor.</p> + +<p>Truth to tell, the old woman's mention of Herr +Reitschel's name caused me considerable misgivings, +because three weeks before I had gathered certain +strange facts from a secret report of a spy who in +Constantinople had been set to watch Herr Reitschel's +doings. That spy was Frau Kleist's son.</p> + +<p>The Kaiser trusts nobody. Even his favourites<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +and most intimate cronies are spied upon, and +reports upon those familiar blue papers are furnished +regularly. In view of what I had read in that +report from Karl Kleist, I stood amazed when, at the +grand Court a week later, I had witnessed Herr +Reitschel's French wife bow before the Emperor and +Empress and noticed how graciously the Kaiser had +smiled upon her. Truly the Emperor is sphinx-like +and imperturbable. Outside the privacy of his own +room, that chamber of cunning plots and fierce +revenge, he never allows his sardonic countenance to +betray his inner thoughts, and will grasp the hand of +his most hated enemy with the hearty warmth of +friendship, a Satanic <i>volte-face</i> in which danger and +evil lurk always, a trait inherited to its full degree +by the Crown-Prince.</p> + +<p>The days that followed Frau Kleist's midnight +visit were indeed busy, eventful days. Certain +diplomatic negotiations with Washington had been +unsuccessful; Von Holleben, the Ambassador, had +been recalled, and given an extremely bad half-hour +by both Kaiser and Chancellor. In addition, some +wily American journalist had fathomed the amazing +duplicity of Prince Henry's visit to the States and +Germany's Press Bureau in America, while the Yellow +Press of New York had published a ghastly array of +facts and figures concerning the latter, together with +facsimile documents, all of which had sent His +Majesty half-crazy with anger.</p> + +<p>Nearly three months passed.</p> + +<p>Herr Reitschel often came from Constantinople, +and frequently brought his handsome young wife +with him, for he was <i>persona grata</i> at Court. To +me this was indeed strange in view of the reports +of the ex-opera dancer's son—who, by the way, lived +in Constantinople in the unsuspicious guise of a +carpet-dealer, and unknown to the bank director.</p> + +<p>The latter had, assisted by his wife's fortune, +inherited from her grandmother, purchased the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +Schloss Langenberg, the splendid ancestral castle +and estates of the Princes of Langenberg, situate on +a rock between Ilmenau and Zella, in the beautiful +Thuringian Forest, and acknowledged to be one of +the most famous shooting estates in the Empire. It +was not, therefore, surprising that the Emperor, to +mark his favour, should express a desire to shoot +capercailzie there—a desire which, of course, delighted +Herr Reitschel, who had only a few days before been +decorated with the Order of the Black Eagle.</p> + +<p>One afternoon in mid-autumn the Emperor, accompanied +by the Crown-Prince and myself, together +with the suite, arrived by the Imperial train at the +little station of Ilmenau, where, of course, Reitschel +and his pretty wife, with the land-rats, head and +under foresters, and all sorts of civil officials in black +coats and white ties bowed low as the All-Highest +stepped from his saloon. The Kaiser was most +gracious to his host and hostess, while the schloss, +we found, was almost equal in beauty and extent to +that of Prince Max Egon zu Fürstenberg at Donau-Eschingen, +which place we always visited once, if not +twice, each year.</p> + +<p>The Emperor had complained of a slight cold, and +in consequence, just before we left Berlin, I had been +instructed to summon by telegraph a certain Dr. +Vollerthun from Augsburg, who was a perfect +stranger to us all, but who had, I supposed, been +recommended to the Emperor by somebody who, +for some consideration, wished to advance him in +his profession.</p> + +<p>While the Emperor and his host were out shooting, +the Crown-Prince and several of the suite being of +the party, I remained alone in a big, circular, old-world +room in one of the towers of the Castle, where +the long, narrow windows overlooked the forest, +dealing with a flood of important State papers which +a courier had brought from Berlin two hours before. +Papers followed us daily wherever we might be,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +even when yachting at Cowes or in the Norwegian +fjords.</p> + +<p>About midday Dr. Vollerthun was ushered in to +me—a short, stout, guttural-speaking man of about +sixty, rather bald, and wearing big, round, gold-rimmed +spectacles. I quickly handed him over to +the major-domo. He was a stranger, and no doubt +one who sought the Emperor's favour, therefore +as such I took but little interest in him.</p> + +<p>About three o'clock that same afternoon, however, +a light tap came at the door, and on looking round, +I saw my hostess standing upon the threshold.</p> + +<p>She was quietly but elegantly dressed, presenting +the true type of the smart Parisienne, but in an +instant I realized that she was very pale and agitated. +Indeed her voice trembled when she asked permission +to enter.</p> + +<p>Since her marriage I had many times chatted with +her, for she often came to the Palace when her +husband visited Berlin, as he did so frequently. I +had danced with her; I had taken her in to dinner +at various houses where we met, always finding her +a bright and very intellectual companion.</p> + +<p>She quietly closed the door, and, crossing the room +with uneven steps, advanced to the table from which +I had risen.</p> + +<p>"Count von Heltzendorff!" she exclaimed in a +low, strained voice. "I—I have come to seek your +aid because—well, because I'm distracted, and I +know that you are my husband's friend," she +exclaimed in French.</p> + +<p>"And yours also, Madame," I said earnestly, bowing +and pulling forward a chair for her.</p> + +<p>"My husband is out with the Emperor!" she +gasped in a curious, unnerved tone. "And I fear; +oh, I fear that we are in great peril—deadly peril +every hour—every moment!"</p> + +<p>"Really, Madame, I hardly follow you," I said, +standing before the dark-haired, handsome French<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +girl—for she was little more than a girl—who had inherited +the whole fortune of the biggest sugar refinery +in Europe, the great factory out at St. Denis which supplied +nearly one-sixth of the refined sugar of the world.</p> + +<p>"My husband, whom I love devotedly, has done +his best in the interests of his Emperor. You, +Count, know—for you are in a position to know—the +real aims of the Kaiser in Turkey. These last six +months I have watched, and have learned the truth! +I know how, when the Emperor went to Constantinople +five months ago in pretence of friendship +towards the Sultan, with Professor Vambéry as interpreter, +he practically compelled Abdul Hamid to +give him, in return for certain financial advances, +those wonderful jewels which the Empress Catherine, +wife of Peter the Great, gave in secret to the Grand +Vizier to secure the escape of the Russian Army +across the Pruth. I know how the Emperor seized +those wonderful emeralds, and, carrying them back to +Potsdam, has given them to the Empress. I know, +too, how he laughed with my husband at the cleverness +by which he is fooling the too trustful Turks. I——"</p> + +<p>"Pardon, Madame," I said, interrupting her, and +speaking in French, "but is it really wise to speak +thus of the Emperor's secrets? Your husband is, I +fear, guilty of great indiscretion in mentioning such +matters."</p> + +<p>"I am his wife, Count, and he conceals little, if +anything, from me."</p> + +<p>I looked the pretty young woman straight in the +face in fear and regret.</p> + +<p>Possession of those ancient jewels which, with +reluctance, Abdul Hamid had brought out from his +treasury, was one of the Kaiser's greatest secrets, a +secret of Potsdam known to no more than three +people, including myself. The Emperor had specially +imposed silence upon me, because he did not wish +the Powers to suspect his true Eastern policy of +bribery and double-dealing, blackmail and plunder.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p> + +<p>And yet she, the daughter of a French diplomat, +knew the truth!</p> + +<p>Instantly I realized the serious danger of the +secret being betrayed to France.</p> + +<p>"Madame," I said, leaning against the writing-table +as I spoke in deepest earnestness. "If I may +be permitted, I would urge that the Emperor's diplomacy +neither concerns your husband, as an official, +nor yourself. It is his own private affair, and should +neither be discussed nor betrayed."</p> + +<p>"I know," she said. "That is just why I have +ventured to come here to consult you, M'sieur! You +have been my good friend as well as my husband's, +and here to-day, while the Emperor is our guest +beneath our roof, I feel that I am in greatest peril!"</p> + +<p>"Why?" I asked with considerable surprise.</p> + +<p>"The Emperor has already learnt that I know the +truth regarding his secret," was her slow reply. +"By what means His Majesty has discovered it, I, +alas! know not. But I do know from a confidential +quarter that I have incurred the Emperor's gravest +displeasure and hatred."</p> + +<p>"Who is your informant?" I inquired sternly, +eager to further investigate the great intrigue.</p> + +<p>"A certain person who must be nameless."</p> + +<p>"Have you spoken to anybody of the Emperor's +secret plans in Turkey, or of his possession of the +Empress Catherine's jewels?"</p> + +<p>"I have not uttered a word to a single soul except +my husband. I swear it."</p> + +<p>"Your husband was extremely indiscreet in revealing +anything," I declared again quite frankly.</p> + +<p>"I fully admit that. But what can I do? How +shall I act?" she asked in a low, tense voice. +"Advise me, do."</p> + +<p>For some moments I remained silent. The situation, +with a pretty woman seeking my aid in such +circumstances, was difficult.</p> + +<p>"Well, Madame," I replied after reflection, "if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +you are really ready to promise the strictest secrecy +and leave the matter to me, I will endeavour to find +a way out of the difficulty—providing you—good +German that you are by marriage—will take, before +the Emperor himself, an oath of complete secrecy?"</p> + +<p>"I am ready to do anything—anything for my +dear husband's sake," the handsome young woman +assured me, tears welling in her fine dark eyes.</p> + +<p>"In that case, then, please leave the matter entirely +in my hands," I said. And later on she left.</p> + +<p>That same night, about ten o'clock, the Emperor, +in the dark-green uniform which he always wears at +dinner after hunting or shooting, entered the room to +which I had just returned to work.</p> + +<p>"Send Frau Kleist to me," he snapped. "And I +will summon you later when I want you, Heltzendorff."</p> + +<p>Frau Kleist! I had no idea the woman had +arrived at the castle. But I dispatched one of the +servants to search for her, and afterwards heard her +high-pitched voice as she ascended the stairs to hold +secret and, no doubt, evil counsel with His Majesty.</p> + +<p>Below I found the fat, fair-haired little doctor +from Augsburg, who was still an enigma, but eager +to see his Imperial patient, and with him I smoked a +cigarette to while away the time. I was anxious to +return to His Majesty, and, as became my duty as +his adjutant, to explain what I had learnt from the +lips of our French hostess.</p> + +<p>Suddenly one of the Imperial flunkeys bowed at +the door, commanding the doctor to the Royal +presence, and he left me, hot and flurried, as all +become who are unused to the Court atmosphere, its +rigid etiquette, and its constant bows.</p> + +<p>Had the Emperor called the unknown doctor into +consultation with Frau Kleist?</p> + +<p>Inquiries I had made concerning the doctor from +Augsburg showed that he was quite a well-known +specialist on mental diseases, and he had also written +a text-book upon bacteriology and the brain. Why<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +had the Kaiser summoned him? He required no +brain specialist.</p> + +<p>"We leave to-morrow at noon," the Emperor +exclaimed brusquely when, an hour later, I was +summoned to his room. This amazed me, for our +arrangements were to remain three days longer. I +recollected Madame Reitschel's words.</p> + +<p>"I do not feel at all well," His Majesty added, +"and this Dr. Vollerthun orders me rest at Potsdam."</p> + +<p>In silence I bowed, and then ventured to refer to +what was uppermost in my mind.</p> + +<p>"May I be permitted to speak to your Majesty +upon a certain confidential subject?" I begged, +standing against the table whereat I had been writing +the greater part of that day.</p> + +<p>"What subject?" snapped the All-Highest.</p> + +<p>"Your Majesty's negotiations with the Sultan of +Turkey. Frau Reitschel has learnt of them, but +she is eager to come before you and take oath of +entire secrecy."</p> + +<p>The Kaiser's eyes narrowed and glowed in sudden +anger.</p> + +<p>"A woman's oath!" he cried. "Bah! Never +have I believed in silence imposed upon any woman's +tongue—more especially that of a born enemy! I +appreciate your loyalty and acumen, Von Heltzendorff, +but I have, fortunately, known this for some +little time, and in strictest secrecy have taken certain +measures to combat it. Remember that these words +have never been uttered to you! Remember that! +You are adjutant, and I am Emperor. Understand! +I fully appreciate and note your loyal report, but it +is not woman's sphere to enter our diplomacy, except +as a secret agent of our Fatherland. Let us say no +more."</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later, being dismissed, I wandered +back through the great, silent, echoing corridors of +the ancient castle to my own room. A great human +drama, greater than any ever placed upon the stage,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +was now being enacted. Throwing his loaded dice, +the Emperor, with all his craft, cunning, and criminal +unscrupulousness behind his mask of Christianity, +and aided by his unprincipled son, the Crown-Prince, +was actually plotting the downfall of the Turkish +Empire and the overthrow of Islam in Europe. +Between the All-Highest One and the realization of +those dastardly plans for world-power so carefully +and cleverly thought out in every detail night after +night in the silence of that dull, faded green room +upstairs at Potsdam, stood one frail little Parisienne, +the vivacious, well-meaning Madame Reitschel!</p> + +<p>Next day we left the Schloss Langenberg, but +before doing so we heard with regret that our charming +little hostess had been suddenly taken ill during +the night, and the Kaiser, as a mark of favour, had +ordered his doctor, Vollerthun, to remain behind to +attend her. That Herr Reitschel was in great distress +I saw from his face as he stood taking leave of his +Imperial guest on the little platform at Ilmenau.</p> + +<p>Back in Berlin, I wondered what was in progress +in that far-off Schloss in Thuringia, but a week later +the truth became vividly apparent when I read in +the <i>Staats-Anzeiger</i> an announcement which disclosed +to me the terrible truth.</p> + +<p>I held my breath as my eyes followed the printed +lines.</p> + +<p>Frau Reitschel, the young wife of the famous +Anton Reitschel of Constantinople, had, the journal +reported, been seized by a sudden and somewhat +mysterious illness on the night prior to the Emperor's +departure from the Schloss Langenberg, and though +His Majesty had graciously left his own physician +behind to attend her, the unfortunate lady had +developed insanity to such a hopeless degree that it +had been necessary to confine her in the Rosenau +private asylum at Coburg.</p> + +<p>In a second I realized how the dancing-mistress +and the mental specialist from Augsburg had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +the tools of the Emperor. That "mysterious illness," +developing into madness, was surely not the +result of any natural cause, but had been deliberately +planned and executed by means of a hypodermic +syringe, in order that the woman who had learnt the +secret of the Emperor's double cunning in the Near +East should be for ever immured in a madhouse.</p> + +<p>Outside the trio responsible for the cruel and +dastardly act, I alone knew the truth how, by the +Emperor's drastic action, he had prevented the +secret of his chicanery leaking out to the Powers.</p> + +<p>Poor Madame Reitschel! She died early in 1913, +a raving lunatic. Her devoted husband, having +served the Emperor's purpose, had been recalled to +Berlin, where, bereft of the Kaiser's favour, he predeceased +her by about six months, broken-hearted, +but in utter ignorance of that foul plot carried out +under his very nose and in his own castle.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SECRET_NUMBER_FIVE" id="SECRET_NUMBER_FIVE"></a>SECRET NUMBER FIVE</h2> +<h3>THE GIRL WHO KNEW THE CROWN-PRINCE'S SECRET</h3> + + +<p>Late on the night of November 18th, 1912, I +was busily at work in the Crown-Prince's +room—that cosy apartment of which I possessed the +key—at the Marble Palace at Potsdam.</p> + +<p>I, as His Imperial Highness's personal-adjutant, had +been travelling all day with him from Cologne to +Berlin. We had done a tour of military inspections +in Westphalia, and, as usual, "Willie's" conduct, as +became the heir-apparent of the psalm-singing All-Highest +One, had not been exactly exemplary.</p> + +<p>With his slant eyes and sarcastic grin he openly +defied the Emperor, and frequently referred to him to +his intimates as "a hoary old hypocrite"—the truth +of which recent events have surely proved.</p> + +<p>On the night in question, however, much had +happened. The Emperor had, a month before,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +returned from a visit to England, where he had been +engaged by speeches and hand-shakes, public and +private, blowing a narcotic dust into the nostrils of +your dear but, alas! too confiding nation.</p> + +<p>You British were all dazzled—you dear English +drank the Imperial sleeping-draught, prepared so +cunningly for you and your Cabinet Ministers in what +we in Berlin sometimes called "the Downing-Strasse." +You lapped up the cream of German good-fellowship +as a cat laps milk, even while agents of our Imperial +War Staff had held Staff-rides in various parts of your +island. All of you were blind, save those whom your +own people denounced as scaremongers when they +lifted their voices in warning.</p> + +<p>We at Potsdam smiled daily at what seemed to us +to be the slow but sure decline of your great nation +from its military, naval, and commercial supremacy. +The Kaiser had plotted for fourteen years, and now +he was being actively aided by his eldest son, that +shrewd, active agnostic with a criminal kink.</p> + +<p>"Heltzendorff!" exclaimed the Crown-Prince, as he +suddenly entered the room where I was busy attending +to a pile of papers which had accumulated during +our absence in Westphalia, and which had been +sorted into three heaps by my assistant during our +absence. "Do get through all those letters and +things. Burn them all if you can. What do they +matter?"</p> + +<p>"Many of them are matters of grave importance. +Here, for instance, is a report from the Chief of +Military Intelligence in Washington."</p> + +<p>"Oh, old Friesch! Tear it up! He is but an old +fossil at best. And yet, Heltzendorff, he is designed +to be of considerable use," he added. "His Majesty +told me to-night that after his visit to England he +has conceived the idea to establish an official movement +for the improvement of better relations between +Britain and Germany. The dear British are always +ready to receive such movements with open arms.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +At Carlton House Terrace they strongly endorse the +Emperor's ideas, and he tells me that the movement +should first arise in commercial and shipping circles. +Herr Ballin will generate the idea in his offices in +London and the various British ports, while His +Majesty has Von Gessler, the ex-Ambassador at +Washington, in view as the man to bring forth the +suggestion publicly. Indeed, to-night from the +Wilhelmstrasse there has been sent a message to his +schloss on the Mosel commanding him to consult with +His Majesty. Von Bernstorff took his place at +Washington a few months ago."</p> + +<p>"But Von Gessler is an inveterate enemy of +Britain," I exclaimed in surprise, still seated at my +table.</p> + +<p>"The world does not know that. The whole +scheme is based upon Britain's ignorance of our intentions. +We bring Von Gessler forward as the dear, +good, Anglophile friend with his hand outstretched +from the Wilhelmstrasse. Oh, Heltzendorff!" he +laughed. "It is really intensely amusing, is it not?"</p> + +<p>I was silent. I knew that the deeply-laid plot +against Great Britain was proceeding apace, for had I +not seen those many secret reports, and did I not +possess inside knowledge of the evil intentions of the +Emperor and his son.</p> + +<p>"Get through all that—to-night if you can, +Heltzendorff," the Crown-Prince urged. "The +Crown-Princess leaves for Treseburg, in the Harz, +to-morrow, and in the evening we go to Nice."</p> + +<p>"To Nice!" I exclaimed, though not at all disinclined +to spend a week or so on the Riviera.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he said. "I have a friend there. The +Riviera is only pleasant before the season, or after. +One cannot go with the crowd in January or February. +I have already given orders for the saloon to leave at +eleven to-morrow night. That will give us ample +time."</p> + +<p>A friend there! I reflected. I, knowing his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +partiality to the eternal petticoat, could only suppose +that the attraction in Nice was of the feminine gender.</p> + +<p>"Then the lady is in Nice!" I remarked, for sometimes +I was permitted, on account of my long service +with the Emperor, to speak familiarly.</p> + +<p>"Lady, no!" he retorted. "It is a man. And I +want to get to Nice at the earliest moment. So get +through those infernal documents. Burn them all. +They are better out of the way," he laughed.</p> + +<p>And, taking a cigarette from the golden box—a +present to him from "Tino" of Greece—he lit it, +and wishing me good night, strode out.</p> + +<p>Just before eleven o'clock on the following night +we left the Marmor Palace. His Imperial Highness +travelled incognito as he always did when visiting +France, assuming the name of Count von Grünau. +With us was his personal valet, Schuler, the military +secretary, Major Lentze, and Eckardt, the Commissioner +of Secret Police for His Highness's personal +protection, who travelled with us wherever we went. +In addition, there was an under-valet, and Knof, the +Crown-Prince's favourite chauffeur. When abroad +cars were either bought and afterwards re-sold, or +else hired, but Knof, who was a celebrated racing +motorist and had driven in Prince Henry's tour of +exploration through England, and who had gained +many prizes on the various circuits, was always taken +as "driver."</p> + +<p>After a restless night—for there were many stoppages—I +spent next day with the Crown-Prince in +long and tiring discussions on military affairs as we +travelled due south in the beautifully-fitted Imperial +car, replete with its smoking saloon with wicker +chairs, its four bathrooms, and other luxuries. I +endeavoured to obtain from him some reason why we +were proceeding to Nice, but to all my inquiries he +was smilingly dumb. He noticed my eagerness, +and I saw that he was amused by it.</p> + +<p>Yet somehow, as we travelled towards the Italian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +frontier—for our road lay through Austria down to +Milan, and thence by way of Genoa—he seemed to +become unduly thoughtful and anxious.</p> + +<p>Only a fortnight before he had had one of those +ever-recurring and unseemly quarrels with his long-suffering +wife.</p> + +<p>"Cilli is a fool!" he had declared openly to me, +after she had left the room in anger.</p> + +<p>We had been busy arranging a programme of +official visits in Eastern Germany, when suddenly the +Crown-Princess entered, pale with anger, and disregarding +my presence—for I suppose I was regarded +as one who knew all the happenings of the palace, +and whose discretion could be relied upon—began +to demand fiercely an explanation of a certain anonymous +letter which she held in her hand.</p> + +<p>"Kindly read that!" she said haughtily, "and +explain what it means!"</p> + +<p>The Crown-Prince grinned idiotically, that cold, +sinister expression overspreading his countenance, a +look which is such a marked characteristic of his.</p> + +<p>Then, almost snatching the letter from his young +wife's fingers, he read it through, and with a sudden +movement tore it up and flung it upon the carpet, +saying:</p> + +<p>"I refuse to discuss any unsigned letter! Really, if +we were to notice every letter written by the common +scum we should, indeed, have sufficient to do."</p> + +<p>His wife's arched brows narrowed. Her pale, +delicate face, in which the lines of care had appeared +too prematurely, already betrayed fiercest anger.</p> + +<p>"I happen to have inquired, and I now know that +those allegations are correct!" she cried. "This +dark-haired singer-woman, Irene Speroni, has attained +great success on the variety stage in Italy. She is the +star of the Sala Margherita in Rome."</p> + +<p>"Well?" he asked in defiance. "And what of +it, pray?"</p> + +<p>"That letter you have destroyed tells me the truth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +I received it a few days ago, and sent an agent to +Italy in order to learn the truth. He has returned +to-night. See!" And suddenly she produced a +crannied snapshot photograph, of postcard size, of +the Crown-Prince in his polo-playing garb, and with +him a smartly-dressed young woman, whose features +were in the shadow. I caught sight of that picture, +because when he tossed it from him angrily without +glancing at it, I picked it up and handed it back to +the Crown-Princess.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she cried bitterly, "You refuse, of course, +to look upon this piece of evidence! I now know why +you went to Wiesbaden. The woman was singing +there, and you gave her a pair of emerald and diamond +earrings which you purchased from Vollgold in Unter +den Linden. See! Here is the bill for them!"</p> + +<p>And again she produced a slip of paper.</p> + +<p>At this the Crown-Prince grew instantly furious, +and, pale to the lips, he roundly abused his long-suffering +wife, telling her quite frankly that, notwithstanding +the fact that she might spy upon his movements, +he should act exactly as his impulses dictated.</p> + +<p>That scene was, indeed, a disgraceful one, ending +in the poor woman, in a frantic paroxysm of despair, +tearing off the splendid necklet of diamonds at her +throat—his present to her on their marriage—and +casting it full into his face.</p> + +<p>Then, realizing that the scene had become too +tragic, I took her small hand, and, with a word of +sympathy, led her out of the room and along the +corridor.</p> + +<p>As I left her she burst into a sudden torrent of +tears; yet when I returned again to the Crown-Prince +I found his manner had entirely changed. He treated +his wife's natural resentment and indignation as a +huge joke, and it was then that His Imperial Highness +declared to me:</p> + +<p>"Cilli is a fool!"</p> + +<p>That sunny afternoon the Crown-Prince had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +sprawled himself on the plush lounge of the smoking +car as the train travelled upon that picturesque line +between Genoa and the French frontier at Ventimiglia, +the line which follows the coast for six hours. +With the tideless sapphire Mediterranean lapping the +yellow beach on the one side and high brown rocks +upon the other, we went through Savona, Albenga, +the old-world Porto Maurizio to the glaring modern +town of San Remo and palm-embowered Bordighera, +that beautiful Italian Riviera that you and I know +so well.</p> + +<p>"Listen, Heltzendorff," his Highness exclaimed +suddenly between the whiffs of his cigarette. "In +Nice I may disappear for a day or two. I may be +missing. But if I am, please don't raise a fuss about +it. I'm incognito, and nobody will know. I may +be absent for seven days. If I am not back by that +time then you may make inquiry."</p> + +<p>"But the Commissary of Police Eckardt! He +will surely know?" I remarked in surprise.</p> + +<p>"No. He won't know. I shall evade him as I've +so often done before," replied His Imperial Highness. +"I tell you of my intentions so that you may curb +the activities of our most estimable friend. Tell +him not to worry, and he will be paid a thousand +marks on the day Count von Grünau reappears."</p> + +<p>I smiled, for I saw the influence of the eternal +feminine.</p> + +<p>"No, Heltzendorff. You are quite mistaken," he +said, reading my thoughts, and putting down his +cigarette end. "There is no lady in this case. I +am out here for secret purposes of my own. For that +reason I take you into my confidence rather than +that unnecessary inquiry should be made and some of +those infernal journalists get hold of the fact that the +Count von Grünau and the Crown-Prince are one and +the same person. I was a fool to take this saloon. +I ought to have travelled as an ordinary passenger, +I know, but," he laughed, "this is really comfortable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +and, after all, what do we care what the world thinks—eh? +Surely we can afford to laugh at it when all +the honours of the game are already in our hands."</p> + +<p>And at that moment we ran into the pretty, +flower-decked station of San Remo, the place freshly +painted for the attraction of the winter visitors who +annually went south for sunshine.</p> + +<p>His words mystified me, but I became even more +mystified by his actions a few days later.</p> + +<p>I was in ignorance that a fortnight before Hermann +Hardt, one of His Highness's couriers, had left +Potsdam and on arrival at Nice had rented for three +months the fine Villa Lilas—the winter residence of +the American millionaire leather merchant, James G. +Jamieson, of Boston, who had gone yachting to Japan.</p> + +<p>You know Nice, my dear Le Queux—you know it +as well as I do, therefore you know the Villa Lilas, +that big white mansion which faces the sea on Montboron, +the hill road between the port of Nice and +Villefranche. Half hidden among the mimosa, the +palms, and grey-green olives, it is after the style of +Mr. Gordon Bennett's villa at Beaulieu, with a big +glass front and pretty verandas, with climbing +geraniums flowering upon the terraces.</p> + +<p>We soon settled there, for the household staff had +arrived three days before, and on the evening of our +arrival I accompanied the Crown-Prince down into +the town to the Jetée promenade, the pier-pavilion +where the gay cosmopolitan world disports itself to +chatter, drink and gamble.</p> + +<p>It was a glorious moonlit night, and "Willie," +after strolling through the great gilded saloons, in +one of which was a second-rate variety entertainment—the +season not having yet commenced—went outside. +We sat at the end of the pier smoking.</p> + +<p>"Nice is dull as yet, is it not?" he remarked, for +each year he always spent a month there incognito, +the German newspapers announcing that he was +away shooting. But "Willie," leading the gay life<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +of the Imperial butterfly, much preferred the lively +existence of the Côte d'Azur to the remote schloss in +Thuringia or elsewhere.</p> + +<p>I agreed with him that Nice had not yet put on +the tinsel and pasteboard of her Carnival attractions. +As you know, Carnival in Nice is gay enough, but, +after all, it is a forced gaiety got up for the profit of +the shops and hotels, combined with the "Cercle des +Bains" of Monaco—the polite title of the Prince's +gilded gambling hell.</p> + +<p>We smoked together and chatted, as we often did +when His Imperial Highness became bored. I was +still mystified why we had come to the Riviera so +early in the season, because the white and pale green +paint of the hotels was not yet dry, and half of them +not yet open.</p> + +<p>Yet our coming had, no doubt, been privately signalled, +because within half an hour of our arrival at +the Villa Lilas a short, stout old Frenchman, with +white, bristly hair—whom I afterwards found out was +Monsieur Paul Bavouzet, the newly-appointed Prefect +of the Department of Alpes-Maritimes—called +to leave his card upon the Count von Grünau.</p> + +<p>The Imperial incognito only means that the public +are to be deluded. Officialdom never is. They know +the ruse, and support it all the world over. His +Highness the Crown-Prince was paying his annual +visit to Nice, and the President had sent his compliments +through his representative, the bristly-haired +little Prefect.</p> + +<p>Soon after eleven that night the Crown-Prince, +after chatting affably with me, strolled back to the +Promenade des Anglais, where Knof, the chauffeur, +awaited us with a big open car, in which we were +whizzed around the port and up to Montboron in a +few minutes.</p> + +<p>As I parted from the Crown-Prince, who yawned +and declared that he was tired, he said:</p> + +<p>"Ah! Heltzendorff. How good it is to get a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +breath of soft air from the Mediterranean! We +shall have a port on this pleasant sea one day—if we +live as long—eh?"</p> + +<p>That remark showed the trend of events. It +showed how, hand in hand with the Emperor, he +was urging preparations for war—a war that had for +its primary object the destruction of the Powers +which, when the volcano erupted, united as allies.</p> + +<p>The bright autumn days passed quite uneventfully, +and frequently I went pleasant motor runs into the +mountains with His Highness, up to the frontier at +the Col di Tenda, to La Vésubie, Puget-Théniers, +and other places. Yet I was still mystified at the +reason of our sojourn there.</p> + +<p>After we had been at the Villa Lilas about ten +days I was one afternoon seated outside the popular +Café de l'Opéra, in the Place Masséna, when a lady, +dressed in deep mourning and wearing the heavy veil +in French style, passed along the pavement, glanced +at me, and then, hesitating, she turned, and, coming +back, advanced to the little table in the corner +whereat I was sitting.</p> + +<p>"May I be permitted to have a word with you, +Monsieur?" she asked in French, in a low, refined +voice.</p> + +<p>"Certainly," was my reply, and, not without some +surprise, I rose and drew a chair for her.</p> + +<p>She glanced round quickly, as though to satisfy +herself that she would not be overheard, but, as a +matter of fact, at that hour the chairs on the terraces +of the café were practically deserted. At the same +moment, viewing her closely, I saw that she was about +twenty-four, handsome, dark-haired, with well-cut +features.</p> + +<p>"I know, Monsieur, that I am a complete stranger +to you," she exclaimed with a smile, "but to me you +are quite familiar by sight. I have passed you many +times in Berlin and in Potsdam, and I know that you +are Count von Heltzendorff, personal-adjutant to His<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +Highness the Crown-Prince—or Count von Grünau, +as he is known here in France."</p> + +<p>"You know that!" I exclaimed.</p> + +<p>She smiled mysteriously, replying:</p> + +<p>"Yes. I—well, I happen to be a friend of His +Highness."</p> + +<p>I held my breath. So this pretty young Frenchwoman +was one of my young Imperial master's +friends!</p> + +<p>"The fact is, Count," she went on, "I have +travelled a considerable distance to see you. I said +that I was one of the Crown-Prince's friends. Please +do not misunderstand me. I know that he has a +good many lady friends, but, as far as I am concerned, +I have never been introduced to him, and he does +not know me. I am his friend because of a certain +friendliness towards him."</p> + +<p>"Really, Madame, I don't quite understand," +I said.</p> + +<p>"Of course not," she answered, and then, glancing +round, she added: "This place is a little too public. +Cannot we go across to the garden yonder?"</p> + +<p>At her suggestion I rose and walked with her to a +quiet spot in the gardens, where we sat down, and +I listened with interest to her.</p> + +<p>She told me that her name was Julie de Rouville, +but she would give no account of where she lived, +though I took it that she was a young widow.</p> + +<p>"I have ventured to approach you, Count, because +I cannot approach the Crown-Prince," she said presently. +"You probably do not know the true reason +of his visit here to Nice?"</p> + +<p>"No," I said. "I admit that I do not. Why is +he here?"</p> + +<p>"It is a secret of his own. But, curiously enough, +I am aware of the reason, and that is why I have +sought you. Would it surprise you if I told you that +in a certain quarter in France it will, in a few days, +be known that the German Emperor is establishing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +a movement for an <i>entente</i> between Germany and +Britain, and that the whole affair is based upon a +fraud? The Emperor wants no <i>entente</i>, but only +war with France and with Britain. The whole plot +will be exposed in a few days!"</p> + +<p>"From what source have you derived this knowledge?" +I asked, looking at her in amazement that +she should know one of the greatest State secrets of +Germany.</p> + +<p>But she again smiled mysteriously, and said:</p> + +<p>"I merely tell you this in order to prove to you +that I am in possession of certain facts known to +but few people."</p> + +<p>"You evidently are," I said. "But who intends +to betray the truth to France?"</p> + +<p>"I regret, Count, that I cannot answer your +question."</p> + +<p>"If you are, as you say, the Crown-Prince's friend, +it would surely be a friendly act to let us know the +truth, so that steps may be taken, perhaps, to avoid +the secret of Germany's diplomacy from leaking out +to her enemies."</p> + +<p>"All I can tell you, Count, is that the matter is +one of gravest importance."</p> + +<p>"But will you not speak openly, and give us the +actual facts?"</p> + +<p>"I will—but to His Imperial Highness alone," was +her answer.</p> + +<p>"You wish to meet him, then?" I asked, rather +suspicious that it might after all be only a woman's +ruse. And yet what she had said showed that she +knew the Emperor's secret, for she had actually mentioned +Von Gessler's name in connection with the +pretended Anglo-German <i>entente</i>.</p> + +<p>"If His Highness will honour me with an interview, +then I will reveal all I know, and, further, will suggest +a means of preventing the truth from leaking out."</p> + +<p>"But you are French," I said.</p> + +<p>"I have told you so," she laughed. "But probably<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +His Highness will refuse to see Julie de Rouville, +therefore I think it best if you show him this."</p> + +<p>From her little gold chain-purse she produced a +small, unmounted photograph of herself, and handed +it to me.</p> + +<p>"When he recognizes who wishes to see him he will +fully understand," she said, in a quiet, refined voice. +"A letter addressed to Julie de Rouville at the Post +Restante at Marseilles will quickly find me."</p> + +<p>"At Marseilles?" I echoed.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I do not wish the letter to be sent to me +here. From Marseilles I shall duly receive it."</p> + +<p>I was silent for a few moments.</p> + +<p>"I confess," I exclaimed at last. "I confess I +do not exactly see the necessity for an interview +with His Highness, when whatever you tell me—as +his personal-adjutant—will be regarded as strictly +in confidence."</p> + +<p>Truth to tell, I was extremely suspicious of her. +She might be desirous of meeting the Prince with +some evil intent.</p> + +<p>"I have already said, Count Heltzendorff, that I +am His Highness's friend, and wish to approach him +with motives of friendship."</p> + +<p>"You wish for no payment for this information, +eh?" I asked suspiciously, half believing that she +might be a secret agent of France.</p> + +<p>"Payment—of course not!" she answered, half +indignantly. "Show that photograph to the Crown-Prince, +and tell him that I apply for an interview."</p> + +<p>Then, rather abruptly, she rose, and, thanking me, +wished me good afternoon, and walked away, leaving +me with her photograph in my hand.</p> + +<p>The Crown-Prince was out motoring, and did not +get back to the Villa until after seven o'clock.</p> + +<p>As soon as I heard of his return I went to his room, +and recounted my strange adventure with the dark-haired +young woman in black. He became keenly +interested, and the more so when I told him of her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +secret knowledge of the Kaiser's intended establishment +of a bogus <i>entente</i> with Great Britain.</p> + +<p>"She wishes to see you," I said. "And she told +me to give you her photograph."</p> + +<p>I handed it to him.</p> + +<p>At sight of it his face instantly changed. He held +his breath, and then examined the photograph +beneath the light. Afterwards I noticed a strange, +hard look at the corners of his mouth, while his teeth +set themselves firmly.</p> + +<p>Next second, however, he had recovered his self-possession, +and with a low laugh said:</p> + +<p>"Yes. Of course, I know her. She wants me +to write to Julie de Rouville at the Post Restante at +Marseilles, eh? H'm—I'll think it over."</p> + +<p>And I could see that sight of the photograph had +not only displeased him, but it also caused him very +considerable uneasiness.</p> + +<p>Late in the afternoon, two days later, His Highness, +who had been walking alone, and who had apparently +evaded the vigilance of the ever-watchful Eckardt, +returned to the Villa with a stranger, a tall, rather +thin, fair-haired man, undoubtedly a German, and +the pair were closeted together, holding counsel +evidently for a considerable time. Where His Highness +met him I knew not, but when later on I entered +the room I saw that the pair were on quite friendly +terms.</p> + +<p>His Highness addressed him as Herr Schäfer, and +when he had left he told me that he was from the +Wilhelmstrasse, and had been attached to the Embassy +at Washington, and afterwards in London, +"for affairs of the Press"—which meant that he was +conductor of the German Press propaganda.</p> + +<p>It seemed curious that the young man Schäfer +should be in such high favour with the Crown-Prince.</p> + +<p>I watched closely. Whatever was in progress was +a strict secret between the pair. The more I saw of +Hans Schäfer the more I disliked him. He had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +cruel eyes and heavy, sensuous lips—a coarse countenance +which was the reverse of prepossessing, +though I could see that he was a very clever and +cunning person.</p> + +<p>For a full fortnight the Crown-Prince and the +man Schäfer were almost inseparable. Was it for +the purpose of meeting Schäfer that we had gone to +Nice? The man had been back from London about +two months, and had, I learnt, been lately living +in Paris.</p> + +<p>One evening while strolling in the sunset by the +sea along the tree-lined Promenade des Anglais, I +suddenly encountered Julie de Rouville, dressed in +mourning, a quiet, pathetic figure, just as we had +last met.</p> + +<p>I instantly recollected that since the evening when +I had given her photograph to the Crown-Prince he +had never mentioned her, and I could only believe +that for some mysterious reason sight of the picture +had recalled some distasteful memory.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Count!" she cried, as I halted and raised +my hat. "This is, indeed, a welcome meeting! I +have been looking out for you for the past two days."</p> + +<p>"I've been staying over at Cannes," was my +reply. "Well?"</p> + +<p>She indicated a seat, and upon it we sat together.</p> + +<p>"I have to thank you for giving my photograph +and message to His Highness," she said in that sweet, +refined voice that I so well remembered.</p> + +<p>"I trust that the Crown-Prince has written to +you—eh?"</p> + +<p>She smiled, a trifle sadly I thought.</p> + +<p>"Well, no——" was her rather vague reply.</p> + +<p>"Then how are you aware that I gave your +message?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head and again smiled.</p> + +<p>"I had my own means of discovery. By certain +signs I knew that you had carried out your promise," +she said. "But as I have heard nothing, I wish you,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +if you will, to deliver another message—a very urgent +one. Tell him I must see him, for I dread daily lest +the truth of the Kaiser's real intentions be known at +the Quai d'Orsay."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," was my polite reply. "I will deliver +your message this evening."</p> + +<p>"Tell him that my sole desire is to act in the +interests of the Emperor and himself," she urged.</p> + +<p>"But, forgive me," I said, "I cannot see why you +should interest yourself in the Crown-Prince if he +declines to communicate with you."</p> + +<p>"I have my reasons, Count von Heltzendorff," was +her rather haughty reply. "Please tell him that the +matter will not brook further delay."</p> + +<p>I had seen in the London newspapers during the +past week how eagerly the English journalists, with +the dust cast into their eyes, were blindly advocating +that the British public should welcome the great +German national movement, headed by Baron von +Gessler, supported by Ballin, Delbrück, and Von +Wedel, with the hearty co-operation of the Emperor +and the Imperial Chancellor—the movement to +establish better relations with Great Britain.</p> + +<p>I knew that the secret should at all hazards be kept, +and that night I told the Crown-Prince of my second +meeting with the pretty woman in black and her +urgent request.</p> + +<p>He laughed, but made no remark. Yet I knew by +his tone that he was not so easy in his mind as he +desired me to believe.</p> + +<p>It also seemed strange why, if the young Frenchwoman +was so desirous of meeting him, she did not +call at the Villa.</p> + +<p>About a week later it suddenly occurred to me to +endeavour to discover the real identity of the lady in +black, but as I was not certain whether she actually +lived in Nice it was rather difficult. Nevertheless, +by invoking the aid of my friend Belabre, inspector +of the Sûreté of Nice, and after waiting a few days<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +I made an astounding discovery, namely, that the +lady who called herself De Rouville was an Italian +café concert singer named Irene Speroni—the woman +who had aroused the jealousy of the Crown-Princess! +And she knew that important State secret of +Germany!</p> + +<p>The situation was, I saw, a most serious one. +Indeed, I felt it my duty to mention my discovery to +His Highness, when, to my surprise, he was not in the +least angry. He merely said:</p> + +<p>"It is true, Heltzendorff—true what the Crown-Princess +declared—that I went to Wiesbaden and +that I gave the woman a pair of emerald earrings +which I ordered from old Vollgold. But there was +no reason for jealousy. I saw the woman, and gave +her the present in the hope of closing her lips."</p> + +<p>In a moment I understood. The pretty variety +artiste was endeavouring to levy blackmail. But +how could she, in her position, have learnt the secret +of the Emperor's intentions?</p> + +<p>She was, I found, living as Signorina Speroni, with +her maid, at the Hôtel Bristol over at Beaulieu, just +across the blue bay of Villefranche, and as the days +went on I realized the imminent danger of exposure, +and wondered if the Kaiser knew of it.</p> + +<p>I made a remark to that effect to His Highness one +morning, whereupon he replied:</p> + +<p>"Don't disturb yourself, my dear Heltzendorff! +I have not overlooked the matter, for it is one that +closely concerns both the Emperor and myself. The +woman obtained the secret by opening the dispatch-box +of one who believed her to be his friend, and then +she attempted to use her knowledge in order to drag +me into her net. But I do not think I am very likely +to be caught—eh?"</p> + +<p>At that moment Herr Schäfer entered the room, +therefore further discussion was out of the question.</p> + +<p>From inquiries I made later on I found that the +concert singer had suddenly left the hotel, therefore<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +I went over to Beaulieu and had an instructive chat +with the hall porter, a German of course. From him +I learnt that the Signorina had been staying there +ever since the date when we had arrived at Nice, +and, further, that two gentleman had been frequently +in the habit of calling upon her. One was a smart +young Frenchman who came in a motor-car, and the +other was a German. From the description of the +latter I at once came to the conclusion that it was +none other than Herr Schäfer!</p> + +<p>"The one gentleman did not know of the other's +visits," said the bearded porter, with a laugh. "The +Signorina always impressed silence upon me, because +she thought one would be jealous of the other. The +German gentleman seemed very deeply in love with +her, and she called him Hans. He accompanied her +when she left here for San Remo."</p> + +<p>I reported this to His Highness, but he made no +remark. That some devilish plot was being carried +out I suspected. The Hohenzollerns are ready to go +to any length to prevent their black secrets from +leaking out.</p> + +<p>My surmise proved correct, for, a week later, some +fishermen found upon the brown rocks near Capo +Verde, beyond San Remo, the body of a woman, +fully dressed, afterwards identified as that of Irene +Speroni, the singer so popular in Rome.</p> + +<p>It was proved that on the previous night she had +been seen by two peasants walking along the sea road +near San Lorenzo, accompanied by a tall, thin man, +who seemed greatly excited, and was talking in +German. It was believed by the Italian police that +the unknown German, in a fit of jealousy, threw her +into the sea.</p> + +<p>From facts I gathered some months later I realized +that the whole plot had been most cunningly conceived +by the Crown-Prince. Schäfer, after his return +from America, had met the woman Speroni, who was +performing in London, and she had, unknown to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +him, opened his dispatch-box, and from some secret +correspondence had learned the real truth regarding +the proposed <i>entente</i> which the Emperor contemplated.</p> + +<p>Schäfer, alarmed at the woman's knowledge, and +yet fascinated by her charms, had gone to the Crown-Prince, +and he, in turn, had seen the woman in Wiesbaden. +Finding her so dangerous to the Emperor's +plans, His Highness then conceived a fiendish plot. +He first introduced her to a young French Marquis, +de Vienne by name, who pestered her with his attentions, +and followed her to Beaulieu. Having so far +succeeded, the Crown-Prince went to Nice, and +cleverly played upon Schäfer's love for the woman, +pointing out that she was playing a double game, and +urging him to watch.</p> + +<p>He did so, and discovered the truth. Then there +occurred the tragedy of jealousy, exactly as the police +believed.</p> + +<p>Herr Schäfer, the tool of His Imperial Highness, +had, however, escaped to Germany, and the police +of San Remo are still in ignorance of his identity.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SECRET_NUMBER_SIX" id="SECRET_NUMBER_SIX"></a>SECRET NUMBER SIX</h2> +<h3>THE AFFAIR OF THE HUNCHBACKED COUNTESS</h3> + + +<p>I suppose that none of your British friends have +ever heard the name of Thyra Adelheid von +Kienitz.</p> + +<p>She was a funny little deformed person, aged, +perhaps, seventy, widow of the great General von +Kienitz, who had served in the Franco-German +campaign, and who, before his death, had been +acknowledged to be as great a strategist as your own +Lord Roberts, whom every good German—I did not +write Prussian—salutes in reverence.</p> + +<p>Countess von Kienitz was the daughter of a certain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +Countess von Borcke, and after living for many +years in retirement in her picturesque old schloss +perched on a rock not far from the famous wine +district of Berncastel, on the winding Mosel river, +became suddenly seized with an idea to re-enter Berlin +society.</p> + +<p>With this view she rented a fine house not far from +the Liechtenstein Bridge, and early in 1911 commenced +a series of wildly-extravagant entertainments—luncheons, +dinners, and supper concerts, at which +were artistes to whom three-thousand-mark fees were +often paid—with a view, as it seemed to me, to attract +the more modern and go-ahead section of Berlin +society.</p> + +<p>At first the smarter set looked askance at the +ugly, deformed, painted-up old woman with the +squeaky voice, and they strenuously declined invitations +to her splendid, newly-furnished mansion in +the Stulerstrasse. Indeed, the name of the Countess +von Kienitz became synonymous for all that was +grotesque, and her painted, doll-like countenance and +yellow wig were the laughing-stock of both the upper +and middle classes.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless she strenuously endeavoured to +surround herself with young society of both sexes, +and many smart dances were given at the Stulerstrasse +during the season—dances at which the swaggering +Prussian officer was seen at his gorgeous best.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, seated by the Crown-Prince as he +drove recklessly his great Mercédès car along the +Bismarckallee in the direction of Potsdam, we passed +an overdressed old woman, very artificial, with yellow +hair, and short of stature.</p> + +<p>"Look, Heltzendorff! Is she not like that old +crow, Von Kienitz?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, her figure is very similar," I admitted.</p> + +<p>"Ah! The old woman was introduced to me the +other night at Bismarck-Bohlen's house. <i>Himmel!</i> +What a freak! Have you seen her wig?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p> + +<p>I replied that I had visited once or twice at the +Stulerstrasse, and that the company I had met there +were certainly amusing. I mentioned some of their +names, among them that of young Von Ratibor, +Major Gersdorff, of the Death's Head Hussars, Von +Heynitz, of the Königsjäger, a well-known man about +town, his friend Winterfeld, together with a number +of ladies of the very ultra go-ahead set. At this His +Highness seemed highly interested.</p> + +<p>"She certainly seems a very curious old person," +he laughed. "Fancies that she's but twenty-five, +and actually had the audacity to dance at Bismarck-Bohlen's. +Somebody was cruel enough to ask her +to sing a French <i>chansonnette</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Did she?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"Of course. She put herself into a martial attitude, +and sang something about 'Le drapeau' of 'Jacques +Bonhomme,' as though we wished to know anything +about it. The man who suggested the song was +sorry."</p> + +<p>I laughed heartily. Sometimes the Crown-Prince +could be humorous, and it certainly must have been +distinctly quaint when, as a result of the joke played +upon the old Countess, she so completely turned the +tables upon the party by singing a song full of French +sentiment.</p> + +<p>That circumstance told me that she must be a +very clever old lady, even though she wore that tow-coloured +wig which sometimes on nights of merriment +got a trifle askew.</p> + +<p>Judge my great surprise, however, when, about +six weeks later, Frau von Alvensleben, the pretty +<i>Grande Maîtresse</i> of the Court of the Crown-Princess, +stopped me in one of the corridors of the Marmor +Palace and, drawing me aside, whispered:</p> + +<p>"I have news for you, my dear Count. We have a +new arrival at Court—Frau Yellow-Wig."</p> + +<p>I looked at her, for the moment puzzled. She saw +that I did not follow her.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Countess von Kienitz—a friend of yours, I +believe."</p> + +<p>"Friend of mine!" I echoed. "I've only been to +her house three or four times, just in a crowd, and out +of curiosity."</p> + +<p>"<i>Oh, là là!</i> Well, she has told the Crown-Princess +that you are her friend, and, in brief, has entirely +fascinated Her Imperial Highness."</p> + +<p>I gasped. At what a pass we had arrived when +the Crown-Princess was receiving that old woman +whose reputation was of the gayest and most scandalous!</p> + +<p>What the <i>Grande Maîtresse</i> had told me was perfectly +correct, for three days later a dance was held, +and as I entered the room I saw amid that gay +assemblage the yellow-haired old widow of the long-forgotten +military hero wagging her lace fan and talking +quite familiarly with Her Imperial Highness. To +my utter amazement also, His Majesty the Emperor, +in the gay uniform of the 3rd Regiment of Uhlans +of Saxony—of whom he was chief, among a hundred-and-one +other high military distinctions—advanced +and smiled graciously upon her as she bowed as low +as rheumatism and old age allowed.</p> + +<p>The fascination which the ugly, shrill-voiced old +woman exercised over "Cilli" was quickly remarked, +and, of course, gossip became more rife than ever, +especially when, a week later, it was announced that +she had actually been appointed a lady-in-waiting.</p> + +<p>The Crown-Prince, too, soon became on friendly +terms with her, and many times I saw them chatting +together as though exchanging confidences. Why?</p> + +<p>His Highness, usually so utterly piggish towards +ladies, given to snubbing even the highest-born in the +Empire, was always smiling and gracious towards her.</p> + +<p>"I can't make it out," declared Von Behr, the +Chamberlain <i>du service</i>, to me one day two months +later, while I was smoking with him in his room. +"The old woman has the most complete control over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +Her Highness. Because she was averse to the +journey, we are not going to Norway this year. +Besides, since her appointment she has succeeded in +plotting the dismissal of both Countess von Scheet-Plessen +and Countess von Brockdorff."</p> + +<p>"I know," I replied. I had been discussing it +only a few hours before with Major von Amsberg, +aide-de-camp of the Prince Eitel Frédéric, and he, too, +had expressed himself both mystified and disgusted +with the mysterious power exercised by the old woman +in the yellow wig. "It seems so extraordinary," I +went on, "that the Court should so utterly disregard +the woman's reputation."</p> + +<p>"Bah, my dear Heltzendorff!" laughed the +Chamberlain. "When a woman arrives at seventy +she has outlived all the peccadilloes of youth. And, +after all, the reputations of most of us here are +tarnished—more or less—eh?"</p> + +<p>His remarks were indeed true. Nevertheless, it +did not lessen the mystery of the appointment of the +little old Countess as a lady-in-waiting, nor did it +account for the strange influence which she held over +the Imperial pair.</p> + +<p>One evening I went to the Countess's house in the +Stulerstrasse to a dinner-party, at which there +were present the Crown-Prince, Admiral von Spee +from Kiel, and Von Ilberg, the Emperor's doctor, +together with the old Duke von Trachenberg, who held +the honorary and out-of-date office of grand cupbearer +to the Emperor, and the eternal "Uncle" +Zeppelin. With us were a number of ladies, including +their Serene Highnesses the Princess von Radolin +and the Duchess von Ratibor, both ladies of the Court +of the Kaiserin, and several others of the ultra-smart +set.</p> + +<p>After the meal there was a small dance, and about +midnight, after waltzing with a pretty girl, the +daughter of the Baron von Heintze-Weissenrode, we +strolled together into the fine winter garden with its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +high palms, its plashing fountains, and its cunningly-secreted +electric lights.</p> + +<p>I was seated with her, chatting gaily, for we had +met in July at Stubbenkammer, on the island of +Rügen. She had been staying with her father at +Eichstadt's, in Nipmerow, and we had all three been +on some pleasant excursions along the Baltic coast, +with its picturesque beech woods, white cliffs, and +blue bays.</p> + +<p>We were recalling a delightful excursion up to +the Herthaburg, on the road to Sassnitz, that "altar +of sacrifice" which tradition connects with the +mysterious rites of the beautiful goddess Hertha, +mentioned by Tacitus, when suddenly we overheard +voices.</p> + +<p>Two persons were approaching somewhere behind +us, conversing in Italian—a man and a woman.</p> + +<p>"Hush!" I whispered mischievously. "Listen! +Do you know Italian?"</p> + +<p>"Alas! no," was her reply. "Do you?"</p> + +<p>I did not answer, for I had already recognized the +voices as those of our hostess and the Crown-Prince.</p> + +<p>Next moment, however, my companion's quick +ears caught that unmistakable squeaky voice.</p> + +<p>"Why, it's the Countess!" she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>I made no reply, but continued to recall that +glorious summer's day beside the blue Baltic, while +His Highness and the little old lady-in-waiting seated +themselves out of sight a short distance away, and +continued a very confidential discussion in an undertone +in the language in which, after German, I +happened perhaps to be most proficient.</p> + +<p>The pair were discussing somebody named Karl +Krahl, and the curious discussion was undoubtedly +regarding some evil intent.</p> + +<p>"I saw the Emperor to-day," declared the old +woman in her sibilant Italian, so that no one should +understand, for Italian is seldom spoken in Germany. +"His Majesty shares my views now, though he did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +not do so at first. Indeed, I was very near being +dismissed in disgrace when I first broached the +affair. But, fortunately, he now knows the truth and +sees the advantage of—well, you know, eh?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Certo, Contessa</i>," replied the Crown-Prince, who +speaks Italian extremely well, though not with half +the fluency of his hostess. "I quite foresee the peril +and the force of your argument."</p> + +<p>"How shall we act?" asked the old woman. +"It remains for you to devise a plan. At any +moment matters may approach a crisis. One can +never account for the confidences exchanged by +those who love each other. And, remember, Krahl +is in love."</p> + +<p>The Crown-Prince grunted, but as several couples +entered at that moment the pair suddenly broke off +their confidential chat, and, rising, went out together.</p> + +<p>Who was this Karl Krahl against whom some deep-laid +plot was levelled?</p> + +<p>I searched various directories, lists of persons +engaged in the Government offices in the Wilhelmstrasse, +the Leipzigerstrasse, and Unter den Linden; +I consulted the Director of Berlin Police, Von Jagow; +the well-known Detective Schunke, and Heinrich +Wesener, Assistant-Director of the Secret Service of +the General Staff; but nobody knew Karl Krahl. +There seemed to be no record of him anywhere.</p> + +<p>In October I went with the Crown-Prince and the +Emperor upon a round of ceremonial military inspections +to the garrisons in Silesia—namely, Breslau, +Leignitz, and Oppeln—and afterwards to Lübeck, +where we presented new colours to two regiments. +Thence, while the Emperor and his Staff returned +direct to Berlin, I accompanied His Imperial Highness +to Ballenstedt, the beautiful schloss in the Harz +Mountains. Here once or twice each season the +Crown-Prince's habit was to invite a few of his most +intimate chums to shoot in the forests of Stecklenberg +and the Lauenberg, and along that curious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +sandstone ridge known as the Teufelsmauer, or +"Devil's Wall."</p> + +<p>The sport was always excellent, especially about +the romantic district of Neue Schenke, near Suderode.</p> + +<p>The guns consisted of five well-known officers from +Berlin, together with Dr. Zeising, the Master-General +of Forests, and Lieut.-General von Oertzen, the fat +old Inspector-General of Cavalry. As usual, we all +had a most enjoyable time.</p> + +<p>On the third day, after a champagne luncheon +taken at the forester's little house at Neue Schenke, +we were about to resume our sport. Indeed, all the +guests had gone outside, preparing to go to their +allotted stations, when the head forester, a stalwart +man in green livery, entered, and, addressing the +Crown-Prince, said:</p> + +<p>"There is a man to see Your Imperial Highness, +and refuses to leave. He gives his name as Karl +Krahl."</p> + +<p>In an instant I pricked up my ears.</p> + +<p>His Highness's brows narrowed for a second, +which showed his annoyance, then, smiling affably, +so clever was he, like his Imperial father, in the +concealment of his real feelings—he replied:</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes—Krahl! I recollect. Yes, I will see +him here."</p> + +<p>Next moment the person whom I had heard discussed +so strangely in the little old woman's beautiful +winter garden was ushered in.</p> + +<p>He was dark-haired, aged about twenty-eight, I +judged, with small, shrewd black eyes, dressed in a +well-cut suit of grey country tweeds, and but for his +German name I should have taken him for an English +tourist, one of those familiar objects of the Harz in +peace time. His appearance instantly interested me, +the more so owing to the fact that he had come to +that remote spot and at that hour to pay a visit to +the Emperor's son.</p> + +<p>"Come in, Karl!" exclaimed the Crown-Prince<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +affably, as he grasped his visitor's hand. His Highness +did not often offer his manicured hand to others, +and at this I was, I admit, greatly surprised. "The +forester did not know you, of course. Well, I am +very pleased to see you. Have you come straight +here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, your Highness. I went first to Berlin, and +learning that you were here I thought I had better +lose no time."</p> + +<p>"Quite right," laughed his Highness who, turning +to me, said: "Heltzendorff, will you tell the others +to go on—that I am detained for an hour on State +business, and—and that I will join them as soon as +possible. I will find you in the woods, on the left of +the Quedlinburg Road, before one comes to the +Wurmtal. Apologize for me, but the delay is +inevitable. I have a conference with Herr Krahl."</p> + +<p>While His Highness remained behind at the +forester's house to chat alone with the mysterious +Karl Krahl, we went out among the birds and had +some excellent sport. Yet the sight of that ferret-eyed +young man, whom I had long endeavoured in +vain to trace, caused me considerable wonderment. +Who was that young fellow in whom the little old +Countess seemed to take such deep and peculiar +interest? What was his offence that she, with the +Crown-Prince, should concoct, as it seemed to me, +such a plot as that I had partly overheard?</p> + +<p>That there was a woman in the case I felt assured, +but her name had not been mentioned, and I had no +suspicion of whom it could be. I realized, however, +that something important must be in progress, otherwise +His Highness, devoted to sport as he was, +would never have given up the best afternoon to +consult with that stranger in grey tweeds.</p> + +<p>The forester and beaters had come with us, as the +Crown-Prince had, at his own request, been left alone +with his mysterious visitor.</p> + +<p>After a couple of short beats we arrived at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +spot on the forest road to Quedlinburg, a most +romantic and picturesque gorge, where His Highness +had arranged to meet us, and there we sat down and +waited. Both Von Oertzen and Dr. Zeising, being +unduly stout, had been puffed in coming up the +steep mountain side, and as we sat we gossiped, +though impatient to set forth again.</p> + +<p>A full half-hour had passed, yet the head forester, +who was keeping a look-out along the road, did not +signal His Highness's approach.</p> + +<p>"I wonder what can have detained him?" +remarked the Inspector-General of Cavalry.</p> + +<p>I explained that a strange young man had come +to the forester's house.</p> + +<p>"Well," laughed a smart young lieutenant of +Uhlans, "I could have understood the delay if it +had been a lady!"</p> + +<p>An hour went past. The light would soon fade, +and we, knowing "Willie's" utter disregard for his +appointments, at last decided to continue the shoot, +leaving one of the foresters to tell His Highness the +direction we had taken.</p> + +<p>The Crown-Prince did not, however, join us, and +darkness had fallen ere we returned to the forester's +house. Of His Highness there was no sign, a fact +which much surprised us. In the room wherein I +had left him his gun and green Tyrolese hat were +lying upon a chair, and the fact that all the cars +were still ranged outside showed that he had not +driven back to the castle.</p> + +<p>The Crown-Prince had disappeared!</p> + +<p>Knof, His Highness's chauffeur, who had been +walking with us, was sent back post-haste to the +schloss to ascertain whether he had been seen there, +for His Highness's movements were often most +erratic. We knew that if the whim took him he +would perhaps go off in an opposite direction, or +trudge back to the castle with utter disregard of our +natural anxiety.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p> + +<p>Lights were lit, and we enjoyed cigars awaiting +Knof's return. In an hour he was back with the +news that nothing had been heard of His Highness. +Soon after we had left that morning, however, a +young man in a grey suit had called and seen the +major-domo, who had directed him where His Highness +might be found.</p> + +<p>Upon Eckardt—the commissary of police responsible +for His Highness's safety—the onus rested. +Yet, had he not been sent out with the party, as His +Highness had expressed to me a wish to be left alone +with the stranger, whose name I alone knew.</p> + +<p>While we were discussing the most judicious mode +of action—for I scented much mystery in this visit +of Karl Krahl—one of the party suddenly discovered, +lying upon the ledge of the window, a lady's small +and rather elegant handbag of black <i>moiré</i> silk.</p> + +<p>"Hulloa!" I cried when he held it up for inspection. +"This reveals to us one fact—a woman has +been here!"</p> + +<p>I opened the bag, and within found a small lawn +handkerchief with a coronet embroidered in its +corner, a tiny tortoise-shell mirror, and four one-hundred-mark +notes, but no clue whatever as to its +owner.</p> + +<p>The mystery was increasing hourly, but the gay +party, knowing "Willie's" susceptibility where the +fair sex were concerned, only laughed and declared +that His Highness would assuredly turn up before +the evening was over.</p> + +<p>Truth to tell, I did not like the situation. His +Highness's disappearance was now known to fifty +or so persons, beaters, and others, and I feared lest +it might get into the Berlin papers. With that +object I called them together and impressed upon +them that most complete silence must be maintained +regarding the affair.</p> + +<p>Then Knof drove me alone back to the schloss. +I wondered if His Highness, wishing to get away<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +unobserved, returning in secret there, had left me a +written message in his room. He had done that on +one occasion before.</p> + +<p>I dashed up to the small, old-world room which by +day overlooked the romantic and picturesque valley, +but upon the table whereat I had been writing early +that morning there was nothing.</p> + +<p>As I turned to leave I heard a footstep, and next +instant saw the little deformed old Countess facing +me.</p> + +<p>Her appearance quite startled me. Apparently +she had just arrived, for she was in a dark blue bonnet +and warm travelling coat.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Count von Heltzendorff!" she cried in +that squeaky, high-pitched voice of hers. "Is His +Imperial Highness here? I must see him immediately."</p> + +<p>"No, Countess. His Imperial Highness is not +here," was my reply. "This afternoon he mysteriously +disappeared from the forester's lodge at +Neue Schenke, and we are unable to trace him."</p> + +<p>"Disappeared!" gasped the old lady, instantly +pale and agitated.</p> + +<p>"Yes," I said, looking her straight in the face.</p> + +<p>"Do you know whether he had a visitor to-day—a +young, dark-haired man?"</p> + +<p>"He had, Countess. A man called, and saw him. +At His Highness's request I left him alone with his +visitor at the forester's house. The man's name was +Karl Krahl."</p> + +<p>"How did you know his name?" she asked, +staring at me with an expression of distinct suspicion.</p> + +<p>"Because—well, because I happen to have learnt +it some time ago," I said. "And, further, on returning +to the house we found this little bag in the room +wherein I had left the Crown-Prince."</p> + +<p>"Why!—a lady's bag!" she exclaimed as I held +it out for inspection.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," I said in a somewhat hard tone. "Do +you happen to recognize it?"</p> + +<p>"Me? Why?" asked the old woman.</p> + +<p>"Well, because I think it is your own property," +I said with a sarcastic smile. "I have some recollection +of having seen it in your hand!"</p> + +<p>She took it, examined it well, and then, with a +hollow, artificial laugh, declared:</p> + +<p>"It certainly is not mine. I once had a bag very +similar, but mine was not of such good quality."</p> + +<p>"Are you really quite certain, Countess?" I +demanded in a low, persuasive voice.</p> + +<p>"Quite," she declared, though I knew that she +was lying to me. "But why trouble about that +bag while there is a point much more important—the +safety and whereabouts of His Imperial Highness?" +she went on in a great state of agitation. +"Tell me, Count, exactly what occurred—as far as +you know."</p> + +<p>I recounted to her the facts just as you have +already written them down, and as I did so I watched +her thin, crafty old face, noticing upon it an expression +full of suspicion of myself. She was, I now +realized, undecided as to the exact extent of my +knowledge.</p> + +<p>"How did you know that the young man's name +was Krahl?" she asked eagerly. "You had perhaps +met him before—eh?"</p> + +<p>But to this leading question I maintained a sphinx-like +silence. That the little old woman who had so +unexpectedly become a lady-in-waiting was playing +some desperate double game I felt sure, but its exact +import was still an enigma.</p> + +<p>"In any case," she said, "would it not be as well +to return to the Neue Schenke and make search?"</p> + +<p>I smiled. Then, in order to let her know that I +was acquainted with Italian, the language she had +spoken on that well-remembered night in her own +conservatory, I exclaimed:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ahe! alle volte con gli occhi aperti si far dei +sogni." (Sometimes one can dream with one's eyes +open.)</p> + +<p>Her thin eyebrows narrowed, and with a shrug of +her shoulders the clever old woman replied:</p> + +<p>"Dal false bene viene il vero male." (From an +affected good feeling comes a real evil.)</p> + +<p>I realized at that moment that there was more +mystery in the affair than I had yet conceived. His +Imperial Highness was certainly missing, though the +female element of the affair had become eliminated by +my recognition of her own handbag. She, too, had +been in secret to the forester's house—but with what +object?</p> + +<p>Half an hour later we were back at the little house +in the forest.</p> + +<p>The guests had all returned to the castle, and only +Eckardt, the police commissary, remained, with the +forester and his underlings. Already search had +been made in the surrounding woods, but without +result. Of his Imperial Highness there was no trace.</p> + +<p>In the long room, with its pitch-pine walls, and lit +by oil lamps, the crafty old Countess closely questioned +Eckardt as to the result of his inquiries. But +the police official, who had become full of nervous +fear, declared that he had been sent off by His Highness, +and had not since found any trace of him. +He spoke of the little black silk bag, of course, and +attached great importance to it.</p> + +<p>Within half an hour we had reorganized the +beaters from the neighbourhood and, with lanterns, +set out again to examine some woods to the east +which had not been searched. About ten o'clock we +set forth, the Countess accompanying us and walking +well, notwithstanding her age, though I could see +that it was a fearful anxiety that kept her active. +To the men with us every inch of the mountain side +was familiar, and for hours we searched.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, not far away, a horn was blown, followed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +by loud shouts. Quickly we approached the spot, +and Eckardt and myself, as we came up, looked upon +a strange scene. Close to the trunk of a great beech +tree lay the form of the Crown-Prince, hatless, outstretched +upon his face.</p> + +<p>Instantly I bent, tore open his shooting jacket, +and to my great relief found that his heart was still +beating. He was, however, quite unconscious, +though there seemed no sign of a struggle. As he +had left his hat and gun in the house, it seemed that +he had gone forth only for a moment. And yet we +were quite a mile from the forester's house!</p> + +<p>The Countess had thrown herself upon her knees +and stroked his brow tenderly when I announced that +he was still living. By her actions I saw that she +was filled by some bitter self-reproach.</p> + +<p>With the lanterns shining around him—surely a +weird and remarkable scene which would, if described +by the journalists, have caused a great sensation in +Europe—the Crown-Prince was brought slowly back +to consciousness, until at last he sat up, dazed and +wondering.</p> + +<p>His first words to me were:</p> + +<p>"That fellow! Where is he? That—that glass +globe!"</p> + +<p>Glass globe! Surely His Highness's mind was +wandering.</p> + +<p>An hour later he was comfortably in bed in the +great old-world room in the castle, attended by a local +doctor—upon whom I set the seal of official silence—and +before dawn he had completely recovered.</p> + +<p>Yet, even to me, he declared that he retained +absolutely no knowledge of what had occurred.</p> + +<p>"I went out quickly, and I—well, I don't know +what happened," he told me soon after dawn, as he +lay in bed. Strangely enough, he made no mention +of the man, Karl Krahl.</p> + +<p>Later on he summoned the Countess von Kienitz, +and for twenty minutes or so he had an animated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +discussion with her. Being outside the room, however, +I was unable to hear distinctly.</p> + +<p>Well, I succeeded, by bribes and threats, in hushing +up the whole affair and keeping it out of the papers, +while by those who knew of the incident it was soon +forgotten.</p> + +<p>I suppose it must have been fully three months +later when one evening, having taken some documents +over to the Emperor for signature at the Berlin +Schloss, I returned to the Prince's private room in +the Palace, when, to my great surprise, I found the +man Karl Krahl seated there. He looked very pale +and worn, quite unlike the rather athletic figure he +presented at the forester's house.</p> + +<p>"If you still refuse to tell me the truth, then I shall +take my own measures to find out—severe measures! +So I give you full warning," the Crown-Prince was +declaring angrily, as I entered so unexpectedly.</p> + +<p>I did not withdraw, pretending not to notice the +presence of a visitor, therefore His Highness himself +beckoned the young man, who followed him down +the corridor to another room.</p> + +<p>The whole affair was most puzzling. What had +happened on that afternoon in the Harz Mountains +I could not at all imagine. By what means had His +Highness been rendered unconscious, and what part +could the little old Countess have played in the curious +affair?</p> + +<p>In about half an hour the Crown-Prince returned +in a palpably bad humour, and, flinging himself +into his chair, wrote a long letter, which he addressed +to Countess von Kienitz. This he sealed carefully, +and ordered me to take it at once to the Stulerstrasse +and deliver it to her personally.</p> + +<p>"The Countess left for Stockholm this morning," +I was informed by the bearded manservant. "She +left by the eight o'clock train, and has already left +Sassnitz by now."</p> + +<p>"When do you expect her to return?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> + +<p>The man did not know.</p> + +<p>On going back to His Highness and telling him of +the Countess's departure, he bit his lip and then +smiled grimly.</p> + +<p>"That infernal old woman has left Germany, and +will never again put her foot upon our soil, Heltzendorff," +he said. "You may open that letter. It +will explain something which I know must have +mystified you."</p> + +<p>I did so. And as I read what he had written I +held my breath. Truly, it did explain much.</p> + +<p>Imposing the strictest silence upon me, the Crown-Prince +then revealed how utterly he and the Crown-Princess +had been misled, and how very narrowly he +had escaped being the victim of a cunning plot to +effect his death.</p> + +<p>The little old Countess von Kienitz had, it seemed, +sworn to avenge the degradation and dismissal of her +son, who had been in the famous Death's Head +Hussars. She had secretly traced the Crown-Prince +as author of a subtle conspiracy against him, the +underlying motive being jealousy. With that end +in view she had slowly wormed her way into His +Highness's confidence, and introduced to him Karl +Krahl, a neurotic young Saxon who lived in London, +and who pretended he had unearthed a plot against +the Kaiser himself.</p> + +<p>"It was to tell me the truth concerning the conspiracy +that Krahl came to me in secret at Ballenstedt. +He remained with me for half an hour, when, +to my great surprise, we were joined by the Countess. +The story they told me of the plot against the Emperor +was a very alarming one, and I intended to return +at once to Berlin. The Countess had left to walk +back to the schloss, when presently we heard a +woman's scream—her voice—and we both went +forth to discover what was in progress. As I ran +along a little distance behind Krahl, suddenly what +seemed like a thin glass globe struck me in the chest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +and burst before my face. It had been thrown by an +unknown hand, and, on breaking, must have emitted +some poisonous gas which was intended to kill me, +but which happily failed. Until yesterday the whole +affair was a complete mystery, but Krahl has now +confessed that the Countess conceived the plot, and +that the hand that had thrown the glass bomb was +that of her son, who had concealed himself in the +bushes for that purpose."</p> + +<p>Though, of course, I hastened to congratulate His +Highness upon his fortunate escape, yet I now often +wonder whether, if the plot had succeeded, the +present world-conflict would ever have occurred.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SECRET_NUMBER_SEVEN" id="SECRET_NUMBER_SEVEN"></a>SECRET NUMBER SEVEN</h2> +<h3>THE BRITISH GIRL WHO BAULKED THE KAISER</h3> + + +<p>"How completely we have put to sleep these +very dear cousins of ours, the British!" +His Imperial Highness the Crown-Prince made this +remark to me as he sat in the corner of a first-class +compartment of an express that had ten minutes +before left Paddington Station for the West of England—that +much-advertised train known as the +Cornish-Riviera Express.</p> + +<p>The Crown-Prince, though not generally known, +frequently visited England and Scotland incognito, +usually travelling as Count von Grünau, and we were +upon one of these flying visits on that bright summer's +morning as the express tore through your delightful +English scenery of the Thames Valley, with the first +stopping-place at Plymouth, our destination.</p> + +<p>The real reason for the visit of my young hotheaded +Imperial Master was concealed from me.</p> + +<p>Four days before he had dashed into my room at +the Marmor Palace at Potsdam greatly excited. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +had been with the Emperor in Berlin all the morning, +and had motored back with all speed. Something had +occurred, but what it was I failed to discern. He +carried some papers in the pocket of his military +tunic. From their colour I saw that they were secret +reports—those documents prepared solely for the eyes +of the Kaiser and those of his precious son.</p> + +<p>He took a big linen-lined envelope and, placing +the papers in it, carefully sealed it with wax.</p> + +<p>"We are going to London, Heltzendorff. Put that +in your dispatch-box. I may want it when we are +in England."</p> + +<p>"To London—when?" I asked, much surprised +at the suddenness of our journey, because I knew +that we were due at Weimar in two days' time.</p> + +<p>"We leave at six o'clock this evening," was the +Crown-Prince's reply. "Koehler has ordered the +saloon to be attached to the Hook of Holland train. +Hardt has already left Berlin to engage rooms for +us at the 'Ritz,' in London."</p> + +<p>"And the suite?" I asked, for it was one of my +duties to arrange who travelled with His Imperial +Highness.</p> + +<p>"Oh! we'll leave Eckardt at home," he said, for +he always hated the surveillance of the Commissioner +of Secret Police. "We shall only want Schuler, my +valet, and Knof."</p> + +<p>We never travelled anywhere without Knof, the +chauffeur, who was an impudent, arrogant young +man, intensely disliked by everyone.</p> + +<p>And so it was that the four of us duly landed at +Harwich and travelled to London, our identity unknown +to the jostling crowd of Cook's tourists returning +from their annual holiday on the Continent.</p> + +<p>At the "Ritz," too, though we took our meals in +the restaurant, that great square white room overlooking +the Park, "Willie" was not recognized, +because all photographs of him show him in elegant +uniform. In a tweed suit, or in evening clothes, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +presents an unhealthy, weedy and somewhat insignificant +figure, save for those slant animal eyes of his +which are always so striking in his every mood.</p> + +<p>His Imperial Highness had been on the previous +day to Carlton House Terrace to a luncheon given +by the Ambassador's wife, but to which nobody was +invited but the Embassy staff.</p> + +<p>And that afternoon in the great dining-room, in +full view of St. James's Park and Whitehall, the toast +of "The Day" was drunk enthusiastically—the +day of Great Britain's intended downfall.</p> + +<p>That same evening an Imperial courier arrived from +Berlin and called at the "Ritz," where, on being +shown into the Crown-Prince's sitting-room, he handed +His Highness a sealed letter from his wife.</p> + +<p>"Willie," on reading it, became very grave. +Then, striking a match, he lit it, and held it until +it was consumed. There was a second letter—which +I saw was from the Emperor. This he also read, +and then gave vent to an expression of impatience. +For a few minutes he reflected, and it was then he +announced that we must go to Plymouth next day.</p> + +<p>On arrival there we went to the Royal Hotel, where +the Crown-Prince registered as Mr. Richter, engaging +a private suite of rooms for himself and his secretary, +myself. For three days we remained there, taking +motor runs to Dartmoor, and also down into Cornwall, +until on the morning of the fourth day the +Crown-Prince suddenly said:</p> + +<p>"I shall probably have a visitor this morning about +eleven o'clock—a young lady named King. Tell +them at the bureau to send her up to my sitting-room."</p> + +<p>At the time appointed the lady came. I received +her in the lobby of the self-contained flat, and found +her to be about twenty-four, well-dressed, fair-haired +and extremely good-looking. Knowing the Crown-Prince's +<i>penchant</i> for the petticoat, I saw at once the +reason of our journey down to Plymouth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> + +<p>Miss King, I learned, was an English girl who some +years previously had gone to America with her +people, and by the heavy travelling coat and close-fitting +hat she wore I concluded that she had just +come off one of the incoming American liners.</p> + +<p>One thing which struck me as I looked at her was +the brooch she wore. It was a natural butterfly of +a rare tropical variety, with bright golden wings, +the delicate sheen of which was protected by small +plates of crystal—one of the most charming ornaments +I had ever seen.</p> + +<p>As I ushered her in she greeted the Crown-Prince +as "Mr. Richter," being apparently entirely unaware +of his real identity. I concluded that she was somebody +whom His Highness had met in Germany, and +to whom he had been introduced under his assumed +name.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Miss King!" he exclaimed pleasantly in his +excellent English, shaking hands with her. "Your +boat should have been in yesterday. I fear you +encountered bad weather—eh?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, rather," replied the girl. "But it did not +trouble me much. We had almost constant gales +ever since we left New York," she laughed brightly. +She appeared to be quite a charming little person. +But his fast-living Highness was perhaps one of the +best judges of a pretty face in all Europe, and I now +realized why we had travelled all the way from +Potsdam to Plymouth.</p> + +<p>"Heltzendorff, would you please bring me that +sealed packet from your dispatch-box?" he asked, +suddenly turning to me.</p> + +<p>The sealed packet! I had forgotten all about it +ever since he had handed it me at the door of the +Marmor Palace. I knew that it contained some +secret reports prepared for the eye of the Emperor. +The latter had no doubt seen them, for the Crown-Prince +had brought them with him from Berlin.</p> + +<p>As ordered, I took the packet into the room where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +His Highness sat with his fair visitor, and then I +retired and closed the door.</p> + +<p>Hotel doors are never very heavy, as a rule, therefore +I was able to hear conversation, but unfortunately +few words were distinct. The interview had +lasted nearly half an hour. Finding that I could +hear nothing, I contented myself in reading the +paper and holding myself in readiness should "Mr. +Richter" want me.</p> + +<p>Of a sudden I heard His Highness's voice raised +in anger, that shrill, high-pitched note which is +peculiar both to the Emperor and to his son when +they are unusually annoyed.</p> + +<p>"But I tell you, Miss King, there is no other +way," I heard him shout. "It can be done quite +easily, and nobody can possibly know."</p> + +<p>"Never!" cried the girl. "What would people +think of me?"</p> + +<p>"You wish to save your brother," he said. +"Very well, I have shown you how you can effect +this. And I will help you if you agree to the terms—if +you will find out what I want to know."</p> + +<p>"I can't!" cried the girl, in evident distress. +"I really can't! It would be dishonest—criminal!"</p> + +<p>"Bah! my dear girl, you are looking at the affair +from far too high a standpoint," replied the man +she knew as Richter. "It is a mere matter of business. +You ask me to assist you to save your brother, +and I have simply stated my terms. Surely you +would not think that I should travel from Berlin +here to Plymouth in order to meet you if I were not +ready and eager to help you?"</p> + +<p>"I must ask my father. I can speak to him in +confidence."</p> + +<p>"Your father!" shrieked Mr. Richter in alarm. +"By no means. Why, you must not breathe a +single word to him. This affair is a strict secret +between us. Please understand that." Then, after +a pause, he asked in a lower and more serious voice:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Your brother is, I quite admit, in direst peril, +and you alone can save him. Now, what is your +decision?"</p> + +<p>The girl's reply was in a tone too low for me to +overhear. Its tenor, however, was quickly apparent +from the Crown-Prince's words:</p> + +<p>"You refuse! Very well, then, I cannot assist +you. I regret, Miss King, that you have had your +journey to England for nothing."</p> + +<p>"But won't you help me, Mr. Richter?" cried the +girl appealingly. "Do, do, Mr. Richter!"</p> + +<p>"No," was his cold answer. "I will, however, +give you opportunity to reconsider your decision. +You are, no doubt, going to London. So am I. +You will meet me in the hall of the Carlton Hotel at +seven o'clock on Thursday evening, and we will dine +together."</p> + +<p>"But I can't—I really can't do as you wish. +You surely will not compel me to—to commit a +crime!"</p> + +<p>"Hush!" he cried. "I have shown you these +papers, and you know my instructions. Remember +that your father must know nothing. Nobody +must suspect, or you will find yourself in equal peril +with your brother."</p> + +<p>"You—you are cruel!" sobbed the girl. "Horribly +cruel!"</p> + +<p>"No, no," he said cheerfully. "Don't cry, please. +Think it all over, Miss King, and meet me in London +on Thursday night."</p> + +<p>After listening to the appointment I discreetly +withdrew into the corridor on pretence of summoning +a waiter, and when I returned the pretty English +girl was taking leave of "Mr. Richter."</p> + +<p>Her blue eyes betrayed traces of emotion, and she +was, I saw, very pale, her bearing quite unlike her +attitude when she had entered there.</p> + +<p>"Well, good-bye, Miss King," said His Highness, +grasping her hand. "It was really awfully good<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +of you to call. We shall meet again very soon—eh? +Good-bye."</p> + +<p>Then, turning to me, he asked me to conduct +her out.</p> + +<p>I walked by her side along the corridor and down +the stairs, but as we went along she suddenly turned +to me, remarking:</p> + +<p>"I wonder if all men are alike?"</p> + +<p>"Alike, why?" I asked, surprised.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Richter—ah! he has a heart of stone," she +declared. "My poor brother!" she added, in a +voice broken in emotion. "I have travelled from +America in order to try and save him ere it is too +late."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Richter is your friend—eh?" I asked as we +descended.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I met him at Frankenhausen two years +ago. I had gone there with my father to visit the +Barbarossa Cavern."</p> + +<p>"Then you have lived in Germany?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, for several years."</p> + +<p>By this time we were at the door of the hotel, +and I bowed to her as she smiled sadly and, wishing +me adieu, passed out into the street.</p> + +<p>On returning to the Crown-Prince, I found him in +a decidedly savage mood. He was pacing the floor +impatiently, muttering angrily to himself, for it was +apparent that some deeply-laid plan of his was being +thwarted by the girl's refusal to conform to his +wishes and obtain certain information he was seeking.</p> + +<p>The Crown-Prince, when in a foreign country, was +never idle. His energy was such that he was ever +on the move, with eyes and ears always open to +learn whatever he could. Hence it was at two +o'clock that afternoon Knof brought round a big +grey open car, and in it I sat beside the Emperor's +son while we were driven around the defences of +Plymouth, just as on previous occasions we had +inspected those of Portsmouth and of Dover.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> + +<p>On the following Thursday evening we had returned +to London, and the Crown-Prince, without telling me +where he was going, left the Ritz Hotel, merely explaining +that he might not be back till midnight. +It was on that occasion, my dear Le Queux, you will +remember, that I dined with you at the Devonshire +Club, and we afterwards spent a pleasant evening +together at the "Empire."</p> + +<p>I merely told you that His Highness was out at +dinner with a friend. You were, naturally, inquisitive, +but I did not satisfy your curiosity. +Secrecy was my duty.</p> + +<p>On returning to the hotel I found the Crown-Prince +arranging with Knof a motor run along the Surrey +hills on the following day. He had a large map +spread before him—a German military map, the +curious marks upon which would have no doubt +astonished any of your War Office officials. The map +indicated certain spots which had been secretly +prepared by Germany in view of the projected +invasion.</p> + +<p>To those spots we motored on the following day. +His Imperial Highness, at the instigation of the Emperor, +actually made a tour of inspection of those +cunningly-concealed points of vantage which the +Imperial General Staff had, with their marvellous +forethought and bold enterprise, already prepared +right beneath the very nose of the sleeping British lion.</p> + +<p>From the Crown-Prince's jaunty manner and good +spirits I felt assured that by the subtle persuasive +powers he possessed towards women—nearly all of +whom admired his corseted figure and his gay nonchalance—he +had brought the mysterious Miss King +into line with his own cunningly-conceived plans—whatever +they might be.</p> + +<p>We lunched at the Burford Bridge Hotel, that +pretty old-fashioned house beneath Box Hill, not +far from Dorking.</p> + +<p>After our meal in the long public room, newly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +built as an annexe, we strolled into the grounds +for a smoke.</p> + +<p>"Well, Heltzendorff," he said presently, as we +strolled together along the gravelled walks, "we will +return to the Continent to-morrow. Our visit has +not been altogether abortive. We will remain a few +days in Ostend, before we return to Potsdam."</p> + +<p>Next afternoon we had taken up our quarters at +a small but very select hotel on the Digue at Ostend, +a place called the "Beau Séjour." It was patronized +by old-fashioned folk, and "Herr Richter" was well +known there. There may have been some who suspected +that Richter was not the visitor's real name, +but they were few, and it always surprised me how +well the Crown-Prince succeeded in preserving his +incognito—though, of course, the authorities knew +of the Imperial visit.</p> + +<p>Whenever "Willie" went to Ostend his conduct +became anything but that of the exemplary husband. +Ostend in the season was assuredly a gay place, and +the Crown-Prince had a small and select coterie of +friends there who drank, gambled and enjoyed themselves +even more than they did at Nice in winter.</p> + +<p>But his mind was always obsessed by the coming +war. Indeed, on that very evening of our arrival, as +we strolled along the gaily-illuminated Digue towards +the big, bright Kursaal, he turned to me suddenly +and said:</p> + +<p>"When the hour comes, and Prussia in her greatness +strikes them, this place will soon become German +territory. I shall make that building yonder +my headquarters," and he jerked his thumb in the +direction of the summer palace of the King of the +Belgians.</p> + +<p>The following day, about three o'clock, while the +Crown-Prince was carelessly going through some +letters brought by courier from Potsdam, a waiter +came to me with a message that a Miss King desired +to see Mr. Richter.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p> + +<p>In surprise I received her, welcoming her to Ostend. +From the neat dress of the pretty English girl I concluded +that she had just crossed from Dover, and +she seemed most anxious to see His Highness. I +noted, too, that she still wore the beautiful golden +butterfly.</p> + +<p>When I entered his room to announce her his slant +brows knit, and his thin lips compressed.</p> + +<p>"H'm! More trouble for us, Heltzendorff, I +suppose!" he whispered beneath his breath. "Very +well, show her in."</p> + +<p>The fair visitor was in the room for a long time—indeed, +for over an hour. Their voices were raised, +and now and then, curiously enough, I received the +impression that, whatever might have been the argument, +the pretty girl had gained her own point, for +when she came out she smiled at me in triumph, and +walked straight forth and down the stairs.</p> + +<p>The Crown-Prince threw himself into a big arm-chair +in undisguised dissatisfaction. Towards me he +never wore a mask, though, like his father, he invariably +did so in the presence of strangers.</p> + +<p>"Those accursed women!" he cried. "Ah! +Heltzendorff, when a woman is in love she will defy +even Satan himself! And yet they are fools, these +women, for they are in ignorance of the irresistible +power of our Imperial house. The enemies of the +Hohenzollerns are as a cloud of gnats on a summer's +night. The dew comes, and they are no more. It +is a pity," he added, with a sigh of regret. "But +those who are either conscientious or defiant must +suffer. Has not one of our greatest German philosophers +written: 'It is no use breathing against the +wind'?"</p> + +<p>"True," I said. Then, hoping to learn something +further, I added: "Surely it is a nuisance to be +followed and worried by that little English girl!"</p> + +<p>"Worried! Yes. You are quite right, my dear +Heltzendorff," he said. "But I do not mind worry,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +if it is in the interests of Prussia, and of our House +of Hohenzollern. I admit the girl, though distinctly +pretty, is a most irritating person. She does not +appeal to me, but I am compelled to humour her, +because I have a certain object in view."</p> + +<p>I could not go further, or I might have betrayed +the knowledge I had gained by eavesdropping.</p> + +<p>"I was surprised that she should turn up here, in +Ostend," I said.</p> + +<p>"I had written to her. I expected her."</p> + +<p>"She does not know your real rank or station?"</p> + +<p>"No. To her I am merely Herr Emil Richter, +whom she first met away in the country. She was a +tourist, and I was Captain Emil Richter, of the +Prussian Guards. We met while you were away on +holiday at Vienna."</p> + +<p>I was anxious to learn something about Miss +King's brother, but "Willie" was generally discreet, +and at that moment unusually so. One fact was +plain, however, that some secret report presented +to the Emperor had been shown to her. Why? I +wondered if His Highness had been successful in +coercing her into acting as he desired.</p> + +<p>Certainly the girl's attitude as she had left the +hotel went to show that, in the contest, she had +won by her woman's keen wit and foresight. I recollected, +too, that she was British.</p> + +<p>A fortnight afterwards we were back again at +Potsdam.</p> + +<p>About three months passed. The Crown-Prince +had accompanied the Emperor to shoot on the +Glatzer Gebirge, that wild mountainous district +beyond Breslau. For a week we had been staying +at a great, high-up, prison-like schloss, the ancestral +home of Prince Ludwig Lichtenau, in the Wölfelsgrund.</p> + +<p>The Emperor and his suite had left, and our host +had been suddenly called to Berlin by telegram, his +daughter having been taken ill. Therefore, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +Crown-Prince and we of the suite had remained for +some further sport.</p> + +<p>On the day after the Emperor's departure I spent +the afternoon in a small panelled room which overlooked +a deep mountain gorge, and which had been +given up to me for work. I was busy with correspondence +when the courier from Potsdam entered +and gave me the battered leather pouch containing +the Crown-Prince's letters. Having unlocked it +with my key, I found among the correspondence a +small square packet addressed to His Imperial Highness, +and marked "Private."</p> + +<p>Now, fearing bombs or attempts by other means +upon his son's precious life, the Emperor had +commanded me always to open packets addressed +to him. This one, however, being marked "Private," +and, moreover, the inscription being in a +feminine hand, I decided to await His Highness's +return.</p> + +<p>When at last he came in, wet and very muddy after +a long day's sport, I showed him the packet. With +a careless air he said:</p> + +<p>"Oh, open it, Heltzendorff. Open all packets, +whether marked private or not."</p> + +<p>I obeyed, and to my surprise found within the +paper a small leather-covered jewel-case, in which, +reposing upon a bed of dark blue velvet, was the +beautiful ornament which I had admired at the +throat of the fair-haired British girl—the golden +butterfly.</p> + +<p>I handed it to His Highness just as he was taking +a cigarette from the box on a side table.</p> + +<p>The sight of it electrified him! He held his breath, +standing for a few seconds staring wildly at it as +though he were gazing upon some hideous spectre, +sight of which had frozen his senses.</p> + +<p>He stood rigid, his thin countenance as white as +paper.</p> + +<p>"When did that arrive?" he managed to ask,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +though in a hoarse voice, which showed how completely +sight of it had upset him.</p> + +<p>"This afternoon. It was in the courier's pouch +from Potsdam."</p> + +<p>He had grasped the back of a chair as though +to steady himself, and for a few seconds stood there, +with his left hand clapped over his eyes, endeavouring +to collect his thoughts.</p> + +<p>He seemed highly nervous, and at the same time +extremely puzzled. Receipt of that unique and +beautiful brooch was, I saw, some sign, but of its +real significance I remained in entire ignorance.</p> + +<p>That it had a serious meaning I quickly realized, +for within half an hour the Crown-Prince and myself +were in the train on our two-hundred-mile journey +back to Berlin.</p> + +<p>On arrival His Imperial Highness drove straight +to the Berlin Schloss, and there had a long interview +with the Emperor. At last I was called into the +familiar pale-green room, the Kaiser's private +cabinet, and at once saw that something untoward +had occurred.</p> + +<p>The Emperor's face was dark and thoughtful. +Yet another of the black plots of the Hohenzollerns +was in process of being carried out! Of that I felt +only too confident. The Crown-Prince, in his badly-creased +uniform, betraying a long journey—so unlike +his usual spick-and-span appearance—stood nervously +by as the Kaiser threw himself into his writing-chair +with a deep grunt and distinctly evil grace.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it must be done," he growled viciously +to his son. "Did I not foresee that the girl would +constitute a serious menace? When she was in +Germany she might easily have been arrested upon +some charge and her mouth closed. Bah! our +political police service grows worse and worse. We +will have it entirely reorganized. The Director, +Laubach, is far too sentimental, far too chicken-hearted."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p> + +<p>As he spoke he took up his pen and commenced to +write rapidly, drawing a deep breath as his quill +scratched upon the paper.</p> + +<p>"You realize," he exclaimed angrily to his son, +taking no notice of my presence there, because I was +part and parcel of the great machinery of the Court, +"you realize what this order means?" he added, as +he appended his signature. "It is a blow struck +against our cause—struck by a mere slip of a girl. +Think, if the truth came out! Why, all our propaganda +in the United States and Britain would be +nullified in a single day, and the 'good relations' we +are now extending on every hand throughout the +world in order to mislead our enemies would be +exposed in all their true meaning. We cannot afford +that. It would be far cheaper to pay twenty million +marks—the annual cost of the whole propaganda in +America—than to allow the truth to be known."</p> + +<p>Suddenly the Crown-Prince's face brightened, as +though he had had some sudden inspiration.</p> + +<p>"The truth will not be known, I promise you," he +said, with a strange, evil grin. I knew that +expression. It meant that he had devised some fresh +and devilish plan. "The girl is defiant to-day, but +she will not remain so long. I will take your order, +but I may not have occasion to put it in force."</p> + +<p>"Ah! You have perhaps devised something—eh? +I hope so," said the Emperor. "You are +usually ingenious in a crisis. Good! Here is the +order; act just as you think fit."</p> + +<p>"I was summoned, Your Majesty," I said, in order +to remind him of my presence there.</p> + +<p>"Ah! Yes. You know this Miss King, do you +not?"</p> + +<p>"I received her in Plymouth," was my reply.</p> + +<p>"Ah! then you will again recognize her. Probably +your services may be very urgently required +within the next few hours. You may go," and His +Majesty curtly dismissed me.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> + +<p>I waited in the corridor until His Imperial Highness +came forth. When he did so he looked flushed and +seemed agitated.</p> + +<p>There had, I knew, occurred a violent scene between +father and son, for to me it seemed as though +"Willie" had again fallen beneath the influence of +a pretty face.</p> + +<p>He drove me in the big Mercédès over to Potsdam, +where I had a quantity of military documents awaiting +attention, and, after a change of clothes, I tackled +them.</p> + +<p>Yet my mind kept constantly reverting to the +mystery surrounding the golden butterfly.</p> + +<p>After dinner that night I returned again to my +workroom, when, upon my blotting-pad, I found a +note addressed to me in the Crown-Prince's sprawling +hand.</p> + +<p>Opening it, I found that he had scribbled this +message:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<i>I have left. Tell Eckardt not to trouble. Come +alone, and meet me to-morrow night at the Palast Hotel, +in Hamburg. I shall call at seven o'clock and ask for +Herr Richter. I shall also use that name. Tell nobody +of my journey, not even the Crown-Princess. Explain +that I have gone to Berlin.</i>—<span class="smcap">Wilhelm, Kronprinz.</span>"</p></blockquote> + +<p>I read the note through a second time, and then +burned it.</p> + +<p>Next day I arrived at the Palast Hotel, facing the +Binnenalster, in Hamburg, giving my name as Herr +Richter.</p> + +<p>At seven o'clock I awaited His Highness. Eight +o'clock came—nine—ten—even eleven—midnight, +but, though I sat in the private room I had engaged, +no visitor arrived.</p> + +<p>Just after twelve, however, a waiter brought up +a note addressed to Herr Richter.</p> + +<p>Believing it to be meant for me, I opened it. To +my great surprise, I found that it was from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +mysterious Miss King, and evidently intended for +the Crown-Prince. It said:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<i>My brother was released from the Altona Prison this +evening—I presume, owing to your intervention—and +we are now both safely on our way across to Harwich. +You have evidently discovered at last that I am not the +helpless girl you believed me to be. When your German +police arrested my brother Walter in Bremen as a spy of +Britain I think you will admit that they acted very +injudiciously, in face of all that my brother and myself +know to-day. At Plymouth you demanded, as the price +of Walter's liberty, that I should become attached to your +secret service in America and betray the man who +adopted me and brought me up as his own daughter. +But you never dreamed the extent of my knowledge of +your country's vile intrigues; you did not know that, +through my brother and the man who adopted me as his +daughter, I know the full extent of your subtle propaganda. +You were, I admit, extremely clever, Herr +Richter, and I confess that I was quite charmed when +you sent me, as souvenir, that golden butterfly to the hotel +in Frankenhausen—that pretty ornament which I +returned to you as a mark of my refusal and defiance +of the conditions you imposed upon me for the release +of my brother from the sentence of fifteen years in a +fortress. This time, Herr Richter, a woman wins! +Further, I warn you that if you attempt any reprisal +my brother will at once expose Germany's machinations +abroad. He has, I assure you, many good friends, both +in Britain and America. Therefore if you desire silence +you will make no effort to trace me further. At Frankenhausen +you called me 'the golden-haired butterfly,' but +you regarded me merely as a moth! Adieu!</i>"</p></blockquote> + +<p>Twelve hours later I handed that letter to the +Crown-Prince in Potsdam. Where he had been in the +meantime I did not know. He read it through; +then, with a fierce curse upon his thin, curled lips, +he crushed it in his hand and tossed it into the fire.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="SECRET_NUMBER_EIGHT" id="SECRET_NUMBER_EIGHT"></a>SECRET NUMBER EIGHT</h2> +<h3>HOW THE CROWN-PRINCE WAS BLACKMAILED</h3> + + +<p>The Crown-Prince had accompanied the Emperor +on board the <i>Hohenzollern</i> on his annual +cruise up the Norwegian fjords, and the Kaiserin and +the Crown-Princess were of the party.</p> + +<p>I had been left at home because I had not been +feeling well, and with relief had gone south to the +Lake of Garda, taking up my quarters in that long, +white hotel which faces the blue lake at Gardone-Riviera. +A truly beautiful spot, where the gardens +of the hotel run down to the lake's edge, with a long +veranda covered with trailing roses and geraniums, +peaceful indeed after the turmoil and glitter of our +Court life in Germany.</p> + +<p>One morning at luncheon, however, just as I had +seated myself at my table set in the window overlooking +the sunlit waters, a tall, rather thin-faced, +bald-headed man entered, accompanied by an +extremely pretty girl, with very fair hair and eyes of +an unusual, child-like blue. The man I judged to be +about fifty-five, whose blotchy face marked him as +one addicted to strong liquors, and whose dress and +bearing proclaimed him to be something of a roué. +He walked jauntily to the empty table next mine, +while his companion stared vacantly about her as she +followed him to the place which the obsequious +<i>maître d'hôtel</i> had indicated.</p> + +<p>The stranger's eyes were dark, penetrating, and +shifty, while there was something about the young +girl's demeanour that aroused my interest. Her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +face, undeniably beautiful, was marred by a stare of +complete vacancy. She glanced at me, but I saw that +she did not see. It was as though her thoughts were +far away, or else that she was under the spell of some +weird fascination.</p> + +<p>That strange, blank expression in her countenance +caused me to watch her. On the one hand, the man +had all the appearance of a person who had run the +whole gamut of the vices; while the fair-haired, +blue-eyed girl was the very incarnation of maiden +innocence.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it was because I kept my eyes upon her +that the dark-eyed man knit his brows and stared at +me in defiance. Instinctively I did not like the +fellow, for as they started their meal I saw plainly +the rough, almost uncouth, manner in which he +treated her.</p> + +<p>At first I believed that they might be father and +daughter, but this suggestion was negatived when, on +inquiry at the bureau, I was told that the man was +Martinez Aranda, of Seville, and that his companion +was his niece, Lola Serrano.</p> + +<p>The latter always appeared exquisitely dressed, +and the gay young men, Italian officers and others, +were all eager to make her acquaintance. Yet it +seemed to me that the man Aranda forbade her to +speak to anyone. Indeed, I watched the pair closely +during the days following, and could plainly discern +that the girl went in mortal fear of him.</p> + +<p>On the third day, while walking along the terrace +facing the lake, I came across the Spaniard, who, in +affable mood, started a conversation, and as we +leaned upon the stone balustrade, smoking and gossiping, +the pretty girl with hair so fair even though she +were a Southerner came up, and I was introduced.</p> + +<p>She wore a cool white linen gown, a big sun-hat, and +carried a pale blue sunshade. But my eye, expert +where a woman's gown is concerned, told me that +that linen frock was the creation of one of the Paris<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +men-dressmakers, whose lowest charge for such a +garment is one thousand francs. Aranda and his +pretty niece were certainly persons of considerable +means.</p> + +<p>"How very beautiful the lake always appears at +any hour!" the girl exclaimed in French after her +uncle had exchanged cards with me. "Truly Italy +is delightful."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Mademoiselle," I replied. "But your +brilliant Spain is ever attractive."</p> + +<p>"You know Spain?" inquired the bald-headed +man at once.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know Spain, but only as a spring visitor," +was my reply.</p> + +<p>And from that conversation there grew in a few +days quite an affable friendship. We went together +on excursions, all three of us, once by the steamer up +to Riva, where on landing and passing through the +Customs we sat at the café and sipped that delicious +coffee topped by a foam of cream, the same as one +got at the "Bristol" in Vienna, or the "Hungaria" +in Budapest. Then at evening, while the pretty Lola +gossiped with a weedy old Italian Marchioness, whose +acquaintance she had made, her uncle played billiards +with me, and he was no bad player either!</p> + +<p>As soon as the Spaniard learnt of my position as +personal-adjutant of His Imperial Highness the Crown-Prince +he became immediately interested, as most +people were, and plied me with all sorts of questions +regarding the truth of certain scandals that were at +the moment afloat concerning "Willie." As you +know, I am usually pretty discreet. Therefore, I +do not think that he learned very much from me.</p> + +<p>We were alone in the billiard-room, having a game +after luncheon one day, when a curious conversation +took place.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Count! You must have a very intimate +knowledge of life at the Berlin Court," he remarked +quite suddenly, in French.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes. But it is a strenuous life, I assure you," I +declared, laughing.</p> + +<p>"The Crown-Prince sometimes goes abroad incognito," +he said, pausing and looking me straight in +the face.</p> + +<p>"Yes—sometimes," I admitted.</p> + +<p>"He was in Rome in the first week of last December. +He disappeared from Potsdam, and the +Emperor and yourself were extremely anxious as to +what had become of him. He had gone to Berlin +alone, without any attendant, and completely disappeared. +Yet, while you were all making secret +inquiries, and fearing lest the truth should leak out +to the Press, His Imperial Highness was living as +plain Herr Wilhelm Nebelthau in an apartment at +Number Seventeen, Lungtevere Mellini. Isn't that +so?"</p> + +<p>I stared agape at the Spaniard.</p> + +<p>I thought myself the only person who knew that +fact—a fact which the Crown-Prince had revealed to +me in the strictest secrecy.</p> + +<p>Could this man Martinez Aranda be an agent of +police? Yet that seemed quite impossible.</p> + +<p>"You appear to have a more intimate knowledge +of His Highness's movements than I have myself," I +replied, utterly amazed at the extent of the man's +information.</p> + +<p>His dark, sallow face relaxed into a mysterious +smile, and he bent to make another stroke without +replying.</p> + +<p>"His Highness should be very careful in the concealment +of his movements when he is incognito," he +remarked presently.</p> + +<p>"You met him there, eh?" I asked, eager to ascertain +the truth, for that secret visit to Rome had been +a most mysterious one, even to me.</p> + +<p>"I do not think I need reply to that question," he +said. "All I can say is that the Crown-Prince kept +rather queer company on that occasion."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p> + +<p>Those words only served to confirm my suspicions. +Whenever "Willie" disappeared alone from Potsdam +I could afterwards always trace the disappearance to +his <i>penchant</i> for the eternal feminine. How often, +indeed, had I been present at scenes between the +Crown-Princess and her husband, and how often I +had heard the Emperor storm at his son in that high-pitched +voice so peculiar to the Hohenzollerns when +unduly excited.</p> + +<p>The subject soon dropped, but his statements filled +me with apprehension. It was quite plain that this +well-dressed, bald-headed Spaniard was in possession +of some secret of the Crown-Prince's, a secret which +had not been revealed to me.</p> + +<p>More than once in the course of the next few days, +when we were alone together, I endeavoured to learn +something of the nature of the secret which took his +Highness to the Eternal City, but Aranda was very +clever and discreet. In addition, the attitude of the +girl Lola became more than ever strange. There was +a blank look in those big, beautiful eyes of hers that +betrayed something abnormal. But what it was I +failed to decide.</p> + +<p>One evening after dinner I saw her walking alone +in the moonlight along the terrace by the lake, and +joined her. So preoccupied she seemed that she +scarcely replied to my remarks. Then suddenly she +halted, and as though unable to restrain her feelings +longer I heard a low sob escape her.</p> + +<p>"Mademoiselle, what is the matter?" I asked in +French. "Tell me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing, Monsieur, nothing," she declared +in a low, broken voice. "I—I know I am very +foolish, only——"</p> + +<p>"Only what? Tell me. That you are in distress +I know. Let me assist you."</p> + +<p>She shook her handsome head mournfully.</p> + +<p>"No, you cannot assist me," she declared in a +tone that told me how desperate she had now become.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +"My uncle," she exclaimed, staring straight before +her across the moonlit waters, whence the dark +mountains rose from the opposite bank. "Count, be +careful! Do—my—my uncle."</p> + +<p>"I don't understand," I said, standing at her side +and gazing at her pale countenance beneath the full +light of the moon.</p> + +<p>"My uncle—he knows something—be careful—warn +the Crown-Prince."</p> + +<p>"What does he know?"</p> + +<p>"He has never told me."</p> + +<p>"Are you in entire ignorance of the reason of the +visit of His Highness to Rome? Try and remember +all you know," I urged.</p> + +<p>The girl put both her palms to her brow, and, +shaking her head, said:</p> + +<p>"I can remember nothing—nothing—oh! my +poor head! Only warn the man who in Rome +called himself Herr Nebelthau!"</p> + +<p>She spoke in a low, nervous tone, and I could see +that she was decidedly hysterical and much unstrung.</p> + +<p>"Did you meet Herr Nebelthau?" I asked eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Me? Ah, no. But I saw him, though he never +saw me."</p> + +<p>"But what is the secret that your uncle knows?" +I demanded. "If I know, then I can warn the Crown-Prince."</p> + +<p>"I do not know," she replied, again shaking her +head. "Only—only—well, by some means my +uncle knew that you had left Potsdam, and we +travelled here on purpose to meet you to obtain from +you some facts concerning the Crown-Prince's +movements."</p> + +<p>"To meet me?" I echoed in surprise. In a +moment I saw that Aranda's intentions were evidently +evil ones. But just at that juncture the Spaniard +came forth in search of his niece.</p> + +<p>"Why are you out here?" he asked her gruffly. +"Go in. It is too cold for you."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I came out with the Count to see the glorious +panorama of the lake," explained the girl in strange +humbleness, and then, turning reluctantly, she obeyed +him.</p> + +<p>"Come and have a hand at bridge," her uncle +urged cheerfully. "The Signora Montalto and young +Boileau are ready to make up the four."</p> + +<p>To this I agreed, and we followed the girl into the +big, white-panelled lounge of the hotel.</p> + +<p>Two days later, about four o'clock in the afternoon, +Aranda received a telegram, and an hour later left +with his niece, who, as she parted from me, whispered:</p> + +<p>"Warn the Crown-Prince, won't you?"</p> + +<p>I promised, and as they drove off to the station I +stood waving my hand to the departing visitors.</p> + +<p>A week later I had word from Cuxhaven of the +arrival of the <i>Hohenzollern</i> from Trondhjem, and at +once returned to the Marmor Palace, where on the +night of my arrival the Crown-Prince, wearing his +Saxon Uhlan uniform, entered my room, gaily +exclaiming:</p> + +<p>"Well, Heltzendorff, how are things on the Lake +of Garda, eh?"</p> + +<p>I briefly explained where I had been, and then, as +he lit a cigarette, standing astride near the fireplace, +I asked permission to speak upon a confidential +matter.</p> + +<p>"More trouble, eh?" he asked, with a grin and a +shrug of the shoulders.</p> + +<p>"I do not know," I said seriously, and then, in +brief, I related how the man Aranda had arrived with +the girl Lola at the hotel, and what had followed.</p> + +<p>As soon as I mentioned the Lungtevere Mellini, +that rather aristocratic street, which runs parallel +with the Tiber on the outskirts of Rome, His Highness +started, his face blanched instantly, and he bit +his thin lip.</p> + +<p>"<i>Himmel!</i>" he gasped. "The fellow knows that +I took the name of Nebelthau! Impossible!"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> + +<p>"But he does," I said quietly. "He is undoubtedly +in possession of some secret concerning +your visit to Rome last December."</p> + +<p>In His Highness's eyes I noticed a keen, desperate +expression which I had scarcely ever seen there +before.</p> + +<p>"You are quite certain of this, Heltzendorff, +eh?" he asked. "The man's name is Martinez +Aranda?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. He says he is from Seville. His niece, +Lola Serrano, told me to warn you that he means +mischief."</p> + +<p>"Who is the girl? Do I know her?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Why does she warn me?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot say," was my reply. "As you are +aware, I have no knowledge of the nature of Your +Highness's visit to Rome. I merely report all that +I could gather from the pair, who evidently went to +Gardone to meet me."</p> + +<p>"Where are they now?"</p> + +<p>"In Paris—at the Hotel Terminus, Gare St. Lazare. +I found out that they had taken tickets to Verona +and thence to Paris, therefore I telegraphed to my +friend Pinaud, of the Sûreté, who quickly found them +and reported to me by wire within twenty-four hours."</p> + +<p>"H'm! This is serious, Heltzendorff—infernally +serious," declared the Crown-Prince, with knit brows, +as he commenced to pace the room with his hands +clasped behind his back.</p> + +<p>Suddenly he halted in front of me and smoothed +his hair—a habit of his when perplexed.</p> + +<p>"First, the Emperor must know nothing, and the +Crown-Princess must be kept in entire ignorance at +all costs," he declared. "I can now foresee a great +amount of trouble. Curse the women! I trusted +one, and she—ah! I can see it all now."</p> + +<p>"Is it very serious?" I asked, still anxious to +glean the truth.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Serious!" he cried, staring at me wildly. +"Serious! Why, Heltzendorff, it means everything +to me—everything!"</p> + +<p>The Crown-Prince was not the kind of man to +exhibit fear. Though degenerate in every sense of +the word, and without the slightest idea of moral +obligations, yet he was, nevertheless, utterly oblivious +to danger of any sort, being wildly reckless, with an +entire disregard of consequences. Here, however, +he saw that the secret, which he had fondly believed +to be his alone, was known to this mysterious +Spaniard.</p> + +<p>"I cannot understand why this girl, Lola—or +whatever she calls herself—should warn me. I +wonder who she is. What is she like?"</p> + +<p>I described her as minutely as I could, more +especially the unusual fairness of her hair, and the +large, wide-open, blue eyes. She had a tiny mole +upon her chin, a little to the left.</p> + +<p>The description seemed to recall some memory, for +suddenly he exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"Really, the girl you describe is very like one that +I met about a year ago—a thief-girl in the Montmartre, +in Paris, called Lizette Sabin. I came across +her one night in one of the cabarets."</p> + +<p>As he spoke he went across to a big antique chest of +drawers, one of which he unlocked with his key, and +after a long search he drew out a cabinet photograph +and handed it to me.</p> + +<p>I started. It was a picture of the pretty Lola!</p> + +<p>He watched my face, and saw that I recognized +it.</p> + +<p>Then he drew a long sigh, tossed his cigarette away +savagely, and throwing back the photograph into the +drawer, relocked it.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he declared, turning to me again. "The +situation is most abnormally disturbing, Heltzendorff. +A storm is brewing, without a doubt. But +the Emperor must know nothing, remember—not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +the slightest suspicion. Ah! What an infernal fool +I was to believe in that woman. Bah! They are +all alike. And yet——" and he paused—"and yet +if it were not for the petticoat Germany's secret +diplomacy—the preparation for the great 'Day' +when we shall stagger the world—could not proceed. +This, my dear Heltzendorff, has shown me that you +may with advantage use a woman of whatever age +as your catspaw, your secret agent, your bait when +angling for important information, or your go-between +in secret transactions; but never trust one +with knowledge of your own personal affairs."</p> + +<p>"Then I take it that this girl-thief of the Montmartre +whom you met when out for an evening's +amusement is the cause of all this trouble? And +yet she said that she did not know you!"</p> + +<p>"Because it was to her advantage to disclaim +knowledge of me. Personally I do not think that +the pretty Lizette is my enemy or she would not +warn me against this infernal Spaniard, whoever he +may be."</p> + +<p>"If the matter is so serious, had I not better go +to Paris to-morrow and see Pinaud?" I suggested.</p> + +<p>"Excellent!" he exclaimed. "Watch must be +kept upon them. The one thing to bear in mind, +however, is that neither the Emperor nor my wife +learn anything. Go to Paris to-morrow, and tell +Pinaud from me to do his best on my behalf."</p> + +<p>Next morning I left for Paris, and on arrival spent +half an hour with Georges Pinaud in his room at the +Sûreté.</p> + +<p>"So His Imperial Highness does not wish the +arrest of the girl Lizette Sabin?" he exclaimed +presently. "I have her <i>dossier</i> here," and he +indicated a cardboard portfolio before him. "It is +a pretty bad one. Her last sentence was one of +twelve months for robbing an English baronet at a +dancing-hall in the Rue du Bac."</p> + +<p>"His Highness does not wish for her arrest. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +only desires the pair to be kept under close +observation."</p> + +<p>"The man Aranda is, I have discovered, a +dangerous person," said the famous detective, leaning +back in his chair. "He has served a sentence at +Cayenne for the attempted murder of a woman in +Lyons. He is, of course, an adventurer of the most +expert type."</p> + +<p>I longed to reveal to my friend Pinaud the whole +facts, but this was against my instructions. I merely +asked him as a favour to institute a strict vigilance +upon the pair, and to report to me by telegraph if +either of them left Paris.</p> + +<p>Aranda was still living at the Hotel Terminus, +but the pretty Lizette had gone to stay with two +girl friends, professional dancers, who lived on the +third floor of a house half-way up the Rue Blanche. +So having discharged my mission, I returned on the +following day to Potsdam, where, on meeting me, +the Crown-Prince seemed much relieved.</p> + +<p>His only fear—and it was a very serious one—was +that to the Emperor there might be revealed the +reason of that secret visit of his to Italy. I confess +that I myself began to regard that visit with considerable +suspicion. Its nature must have been, to +say the least, unusual if he had been so aghast at the +real truth being discovered.</p> + +<p>In the strenuous days that followed, weeks, indeed, +I frequently reflected, and found myself much +mystified. More than once His Highness had asked +me: "Any news from Pinaud?" And when I +replied in the negative "Willie's" relief was at once +apparent.</p> + +<p>One day I had been lunching in Berlin at the +"Bristol," in Unter den Linden, at a big party given +by the Baroness von Bülow. Among the dozen or +so present were Von Ruxeben, the Grand Marshal of +the Court of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; Gertrud, Baroness +von Wangenheim, Grand Mistress of the Court of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +Duchess; the Minister Dr. Rasch; and, of course, +old "Uncle" Zeppelin, full of plans, as always, of +new airships and of the destruction of London. +Indeed, he sat next me, and bored me to death with +his assurances that on "The Day" he would in +twenty-four hours lay London in ruins.</p> + +<p>The guests around the table, a gay and clever +circle, saw that "Uncle" had button-holed me, and +knew from my face how utterly bored I was. Truth +to tell, I was much relieved when suddenly, when the +meal was nearly over, a waiter whispered that somebody +wished to see me out in the lounge.</p> + +<p>It was a messenger from Potsdam with a telegram +that had come over the private wire. It read: +"Aranda left Paris two days ago. Destination +unknown.—<span class="smcap">Pinaud.</span>"</p> + +<p>The information showed that the fellow had +cleverly evaded the agents of the Sûreté, a very difficult +feat in such circumstances. That very fact went +to prove that he was a cunning and elusive person.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later I was sitting with Heinrich +Wesener, Assistant-Director of the Secret Service of +the General Staff. I sought him in preference to the +famous detective, Schunke, because, while matters +passing through the Secret Service Bureau were +always regarded as confidential, those submitted to +the Berlin police were known to many subordinates +who had access to the <i>dossiers</i> and informations.</p> + +<p>I told Wesener but little—merely that His Imperial +Highness the Crown-Prince was desirous of knowing +at the earliest moment if a Spaniard named Martinez +Aranda should arrive in Berlin.</p> + +<p>The curiosity of the Assistant-Director was immediately +aroused. So many scandals were rife regarding +"Willie" that the stout, fair-haired official was +hoping to obtain some further details.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me for a moment," he said, and, after +ringing his bell, a clerk appeared. To the man he +gave orders to go across and inspect the police register<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +of strangers, and ascertain if the man Aranda had +arrived in the capital.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes later the clerk returned, saying that +a Spaniard named Aranda had arrived from Paris +early that morning with a young lady named Sabin, +and that they were staying at the Central Hotel, +opposite the Friedrich-Strasse Station.</p> + +<p>Upon this information I went to the "Central," +and from the hall-porter discovered that Aranda had +left the hotel an hour before, but that his supposed +niece was upstairs in her room.</p> + +<p>Afterwards I hurried back to Potsdam as quickly +as possible, only to find that the Crown-Prince was +out with Knof motoring somewhere. Of the Crown-Princess +I inquired whither he had gone, but, as usual, +she had no idea. "Willie" was ever erratic, and +ever on the move.</p> + +<p>Six o'clock had already struck when he returned, and +the sentry informed him that I was extremely anxious +to see him. Therefore, without removing his coat, he +ascended to my room, where he burst in breezily.</p> + +<p>When I told him what I had discovered in Berlin +the light died instantly out of his face.</p> + +<p>"Is the fellow really here, Heltzendorff?" he +gasped. "I had a letter from him a week ago declaring +his intention to come here."</p> + +<p>"You did not reply, I hope?"</p> + +<p>"No. The letter I found upon my dressing-table, +but I have not discovered who placed it there," he +said. "The fellow evidently intends to carry out +his threat and expose me to the Emperor."</p> + +<p>"What can he expose?" I queried.</p> + +<p>But "Willie" was not to be caught like that. +He merely replied:</p> + +<p>"Well—something which must at all hazards be concealed. +How this Spaniard can know I cannot in the +least imagine—unless that woman gave me away!"</p> + +<p>For the next two days I was mostly out with his +Highness in the car, and in addition the Kaiser<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +reviewed the Prussian Guard, a ceremony which +always gave me much extra work.</p> + +<p>On the third day I had in the morning been out +to the Wildpark Station, and, passing the sentries, +had re-entered the Palace, when one of the footmen +approached me, saying:</p> + +<p>"Pardon, Count, but there is a gentleman to see his +Imperial Highness. He will give no name, and +refuses to leave. I called the captain of the guard, +who has interrogated him, and he has been put into +the blue ante-room until your return."</p> + +<p>At that moment I saw the captain of the guard +striding down the corridor towards me.</p> + +<p>"A bald-headed man is here to see His Highness, +and will give no name," he told me. "He is waiting +now. Will you see him?"</p> + +<p>"No," I said, my suspicions aroused. "I will first +see the Crown-Prince."</p> + +<p>After some search I found the latter lolling at +his ease in his own smoking-room in the private +apartments, reading a French novel and consuming +cigarettes.</p> + +<p>"Hulloa, Heltzendorff! Well, what's the +trouble?" he asked. "I see something is wrong +from your face."</p> + +<p>"The man Aranda is here," I replied.</p> + +<p>"Here!" he gasped, starting up and flinging the +book aside. "Who let him in?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, but he is below demanding to +see you."</p> + +<p>"Has he made any statement? Has he told +anybody what he knows?" demanded the Crown-Prince, +who at that moment presented what might +be termed a white-livered appearance, cowed, and +even trembling. In his slant eyes showed a look of +undisguised terror, and I realized that the truth, +whatever it might be, was a damning and most +disgraceful one.</p> + +<p>"I can't see him, Heltzendorff," he whined to me.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +"See him; hear what he has to say—and—and you +will keep my secret? Promise me."</p> + +<p>I promised. And I should have kept that promise +were it not for his brutal and blackguardly acts after +the outbreak of war—acts which placed him, with his +Imperial father, beyond the pale of respectable +society.</p> + +<p>I was turning to leave the room, when he sprang +towards me with that quick agility of his, and, placing +his white, manicured hand upon my arm, said:</p> + +<p>"Whatever he may say you will not believe—will +you?"</p> + +<p>"And if he wants money?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Ascertain the amount, and come here to me."</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour later Martinez Aranda sat in +my room opposite my table. I had told him that +unfortunately His Imperial Highness was engaged, +for the Emperor had come over from the Neues +Palace for luncheon. Then I inquired the nature of +his business.</p> + +<p>"Well, Count, you and I are not altogether strangers, +are we?" was his reply, as he sat back calmly +and crossed his legs, perfectly at his ease. "But my +business is only with His Highness, and with nobody +else."</p> + +<p>"His Highness sees nobody upon business. I am +appointed to deal with all his business affairs, and +anything told to me is the same as though spoken +into his ear."</p> + +<p>The Spaniard from Montmartre was silent for a +moment.</p> + +<p>"If that is the case, then I would be glad if you will +obtain his permission for me to speak. He will +remember my name."</p> + +<p>"I already received orders before I invited you up," +I said. "His Highness wishes you to deal with me. +He knows that you are here to settle some delicate +little piece of business concerning that secret visit +of his to Rome—eh?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yes," he answered, after a few seconds' pause. +"I am well aware, Count, that for mention of the +reason I am here you might call the guard to arrest +me for blackmail. But first let me assure His Highness +that such action would not be advisable in the +interests of either himself or of the Emperor. I have +already made arrangements for exposure in case His +Highness endeavours to close my mouth by such +means."</p> + +<p>"Good. We understand each other. What is +your complaint?" I inquired.</p> + +<p>"I know the truth concerning the mysterious +death of the woman, Claudia Ferrona, in Rome last +December," he said briefly.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Perhaps you will tell me +next that the Crown-Prince is an assassin? Come, +that will be really interesting," I laughed. "Perhaps +you will tell me how it all happened—the extent of +your knowledge."</p> + +<p>"Why should I do that? Go to the Crown-Prince +and tell him what I allege—tell him that the girl, +Lizette Sabin, whom he knows, was a witness."</p> + +<p>"Well, let us come to business," I said. "How +much do you want for your silence?"</p> + +<p>"I want nothing—not a sou!" was the hard reply. +"All I want is to reveal to the Emperor that his son +is responsible for a woman's death. And that is +what I intend doing. You hear that! Well, Count +von Heltzendorff, please go and tell him so."</p> + +<p>Quickly realizing the extreme gravity of the +situation, I returned to the Crown-Prince and told +him the startling allegation made against him.</p> + +<p>His face went as white as paper.</p> + +<p>"We must pay the fellow off. Close his mouth +somehow. Help me, Heltzendorff," he implored. +"What can I do? He must not reveal the truth to +the Emperor!"</p> + +<p>"Then it really is the truth!" I exclaimed, +astounded.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Crown-Prince hung his head, and in a low, +hoarse voice replied:</p> + +<p>"It is my accursed luck! The woman must have +told the truth to this scoundrel of a Spaniard before—before +she died!"</p> + +<p>"And Lizette?" I asked. "She is a witness, +the fellow says."</p> + +<p>"No, no!" cried His Highness wildly, covering +his white face with his hands as though to hide the +guilt written upon his countenance. "Say no more! +Ask the fellow's price, and pay him. We must not +allow him to go to the Emperor."</p> + +<p>Three minutes later I went back to my room, but +it was empty. The Spaniard had walked out, and +would, no doubt, be wandering somewhere in the +private apartments.</p> + +<p>At that instant the telephone rang, and, answering +it, I heard that His Majesty had just arrived by car, +and was on his way up to the room wherein I stood—the +room in which he generally met his son.</p> + +<p>For a moment I was perplexed, but a few seconds +later I held my breath when I saw coming down the +corridor the Emperor, and walking with him the +adventurer, who had apparently met him on his way +downstairs.</p> + +<p>I confess that at that most dramatic moment I +was entirely nonplussed. I saw how cleverly Aranda +had timed his visit, and how, by some means, he knew +of the internal arrangements of the Marmor Palace.</p> + +<p>"Yes," the Emperor exclaimed to the Spaniard. +"You wish to have audience. Well?"</p> + +<p>In a second I broke in.</p> + +<p>"May I be permitted to say a word, Your +Majesty?" I said. "There is a little business matter +pending between this gentleman and His Imperial +Highness the Crown-Prince—a little dispute over +money. I regret that Your Majesty should be +disturbed by it. The matter is in course of +settlement."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, money matters!" exclaimed the Emperor, +who always hated mention of them, believing himself +to be far too important a person to trouble about +them. "Of course, you will see to a settlement, +Count." And the Emperor turned his back deliberately +upon the man who accosted him.</p> + +<p>"It is not money that I want," shouted the +adventurer from Paris, "but I——"</p> + +<p>I did not allow him to conclude his sentence, but +hustled him into an adjoining room, closing the door +after him.</p> + +<p>"Now, Monsieur Aranda, you want money, I +know. How much?" I asked determinedly.</p> + +<p>"Two hundred thousand marks," was his prompt +reply, "and also fifty thousand for Lola."</p> + +<p>I pretended to reflect. He saw my hesitation, and +then added:</p> + +<p>"For that sum, and not a sou less, I am prepared +to sign a statement that I have lied, and that there is +no truth in the allegation."</p> + +<p>"Of what? Tell me the facts, as you know +them, and I will then repeat them to His Imperial +Highness."</p> + +<p>For a few seconds he was silent, then in a cold, +hard voice he revealed to me what was evidently the +truth of the Crown-Prince's secret visit to Rome. I +listened to his statement utterly dumbfounded.</p> + +<p>The allegations were terrible. It seemed that a +popular Spanish variety actress, whom the populace +of Rome knew as "La Bella," but whose real name +was Claudia Ferrona, lived in a pretty apartment on +the Lungtevere Mellini, facing the Tiber. His +Highness had met her in Coblenz, where she had been +singing. "La Bella" had as her particular friend a +certain high official in the Italian Ministry of War, +and through him she was enabled to furnish the Crown-Prince +with certain important information. The +General Staff in the Wilhelmstrasse were eager to +obtain some very definite facts regarding Italy's new<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +armaments, and His Highness had taken upon himself +the task of obtaining it.</p> + +<p>As Herr Nebelthau he went in secret to Rome as +guest of the vivacious Claudia, whose maid was none +other than the thief-girl of the Montmartre, Lizette +Sabin. This girl, whose intellect had become weakened, +was entirely under the influence of the clever +adventurer Aranda. On the second night after the +arrival of the Crown-Prince in Rome, he and the +actress had taken supper together in her apartment, +after which a fierce quarrel had arisen between +them.</p> + +<p>Seized by a fit of remorse, the variety singer blankly +refused to further betray the man to whom her advancement +in her profession was due, whereupon His +Highness grew furious at being thwarted at the last +moment. After listening to his insults, "La Bella" +openly declared that she intended to reveal the whole +truth to the Italian official in question. Then the +Crown-Prince became seized by one of those mad, +frenzied fits of uncontrollable anger to which he is at +times, like all the Hohenzollerns, subject, and with +his innate brutality he took up a bottle from the +table and struck the poor girl heavily upon the skull, +felling her like a log. Afterwards with an imprecation +on his lips, he walked out. So terribly injured +was the girl that she expired just before noon next +day. Not, however, before she had related the whole +circumstances to the maid, Lizette, and to the man +Aranda, who, truth to tell, had placed the maid in +the actress's service with a view of robbing her of her +jewels. He saw, however, that, with the death of +Claudia Ferrona, blackmail would be much more +profitable.</p> + +<p>Having heard this amazing story, I was careful to +lock the Spaniard in the room, and then returned to +where the Crown-Prince was so anxiously awaiting me.</p> + +<p>Half an hour later the adventurer left the Palace, +bearing in his pocket a draft upon the private banking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +house of Mendelsohn, in the Jägerstrasse in Berlin, for +two hundred and fifty thousand marks.</p> + +<p>In return for that draft the wily Spaniard signed a +declaration that he had invented the whole story, and +that there was not a word of truth in it.</p> + +<p>It was only, however, when I placed that document +into the hands of the Crown-Prince that His +Imperial Highness breathed freely again.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SECRET_NUMBER_NINE" id="SECRET_NUMBER_NINE"></a>SECRET NUMBER NINE</h2> +<h3>THE CROWN-PRINCE'S ESCAPADE IN LONDON</h3> + + +<p>It was five o'clock on a bright September morning +when His Imperial Highness climbed with +unsteady gait the three flights of stairs leading to +the handsome flat which he sometimes rented in a +big block of buildings half-way along Jermyn Street +when he made secret visits to London.</p> + +<p>As his personal-adjutant and keeper of his secrets +I had been awaiting him for hours.</p> + +<p>I heard him fumbling with the latch-key, and, +rising, went along the hall and opened the door.</p> + +<p>"Hulloa, Heltzendorff!" he exclaimed in a thick, +husky voice. "<i>Himmel!</i> I'm very glad to be +back."</p> + +<p>"And I am glad to see Your Highness back," I +said. "I was beginning to fear that something +unpleasant had happened. I tell you frankly, I do +not like you going out like this alone in London. +Somebody is certain to discover you one day."</p> + +<p>"Oh, bosh! my dear Heltzendorff. You are just +like a pastor—always preaching." And as he tossed +his crush hat upon the table and divested himself +of his evening overcoat he gave vent to a half-drunken +laugh, and then, just as he was, in his dress-coat +and crumpled shirt-front, with the stains of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +overnight wine upon it, he curled himself upon the +couch, saying:</p> + +<p>"Tell that idiot of a valet not to disturb me. I'm +tired."</p> + +<p>"But don't you think you ought to go to bed?" +I queried.</p> + +<p>"Too tired to undress, Heltzendorff—too tired," +he declared with an inane grin. "Oh, I've had a +time—phew! my head—such a time! Oh, old Lung +Ching is a real old sport!"</p> + +<p>And then he settled himself and closed his eyes—surely +a fine spectacle for the German nation if he +could then have been publicly exhibited.</p> + +<p>His mention of Lung Ching caused me to hold my +breath. That wily Chinaman kept an establishment +in the underworld of Limehouse, an opium den of +the worst description, frequented by yellow men and +white women of the most debased class.</p> + +<p>A year before one of the Crown-Prince's friends, +an attaché at the Embassy on Carlton House Terrace, +had introduced him to the place. The fascinations +of the opium pipe had attracted him, and he had been +there many times to smoke and to dream, but always +accompanied by others. The night before, however, +he had declared his intention to go out alone, as he +had been invited to dine by a great German financier +living in Park Lane. It was now evident, however, +that he had not been there, but had gone alone to +that terrible den kept by Lung Ching.</p> + +<p>There, in the grey light of dawn, I stood gazing +down upon the be-drugged son of the Emperor, +feeling relief that he was back again, and that no +trouble had resulted from his escapade.</p> + +<p>I called the valet, and, having handed his master +over to him, I went out, and, finding a taxi, drove +out to Lung Ching's place in Limehouse. I knew +the sign, and was soon admitted into the close, +sickly-smelling place, which reeked with opium. +The villainous Chinaman, with a face like parchment,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +came forward, and instantly recognized me as +the companion of the young German millionaire, +Herr Lehnhardt. Of him I inquired what my master +had been doing during the night.</p> + +<p>"Oh, 'e smoke—'e likee pipee!" was the evil, +yellow-faced ruffian's reply.</p> + +<p>"Was he alone?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no. 'E no alonee. 'E lil ladee," and he +grinned. "She likee pipee. Come, you see—eh?"</p> + +<p>The fellow took me into the long, low-ceilinged +room, fitted with bunks, in which were a dozen or so +sleeping Chinamen. Suddenly he indicated a bunk +wherein lay a girl huddled up—a well-dressed English +girl. Her hat and jacket had been removed, and +she lay, her face full in the light, her arm above her +head, her eyes closed in sound slumber, with the +deadly pipe beside her.</p> + +<p>I bent to examine her pale countenance more +closely. I started. Yes! I had not been mistaken. +She was the young daughter of one of the best-known +and most popular leaders of London society.</p> + +<p>I had no idea until that moment that she and the +Crown-Prince were such friends. A fortnight before +the Crown-Prince, as Herr Lehnhardt, had attended +a gay river party at Henley, and I had accompanied +him. At the party the pair had been introduced in +my presence. And now, within those few days, I +found her oblivious to the world in the worst opium +den in London!</p> + +<p>After considerable effort, I aroused her. But she +was still dazed from the effect of the drug, so dazed, +indeed, that she did not recognize me. However, +I got her into a taxi, and having ascertained her +mother's address from the "Royal Blue Book" in +the London club of which I was a member, and +where I arrived at an unearthly hour, I took her to +Upper Brocklion Street.</p> + +<p>Of the woman who opened the door I learned, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +my relief, that the family were at their place in Scotland, +and that the house, enshrouded in dust-sheets, +was in the hands of herself and her husband as +caretakers.</p> + +<p>When I half lifted the young lady—whom I will +here call Miss Violet Hewitt for the sake of the good +name of her family—out of the taxi the woman +became greatly alarmed. But I assured her there +was nothing wrong; her young mistress had been +taken ill, but was now much better. A doctor was +not needed.</p> + +<p>For half an hour I remained there with her, and +then, as she had recovered sufficiently, I rose to go, +intending to let her make her own explanations to +the caretaker.</p> + +<p>We were alone, and she was seated in a big arm-chair. +She saw my intention to leave, whereupon +she struggled to her feet, for she now realized to her +horror what had occurred.</p> + +<p>"You are Count von Heltzendorff!" she exclaimed, +passing her hand across her brow, as though suddenly +recollecting. "We met at Henley. Ah! I +know I—I can't help it. I have been very foolish—but +I can't help it. The craving grows upon +me."</p> + +<p>"You met my friend Lehnhardt last night, did +you not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I did. Quite accidentally. I was waiting +in the lounge of the 'Ritz' for a man-friend with +whom I had promised to dine when Mr. Lehnhardt +came in and recognized me. My friend had not +turned up, so I accepted his invitation to have +dinner at Claridge's. This we did, and during the +meal he spoke of opium, and I admitted that I was +fond of it, for I smoke it sometimes at a girl-friend's +at Hampstead. Therefore we agreed to go together +to Lung Ching's."</p> + +<p>"He left you there," I said.</p> + +<p>"I know. I certainly did not expect him to go<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +away and leave me in such a place," said the girl, +who was very pretty and not more than twenty, +even though addicted to the terrible opium habit. +"But," she added, "you will keep my secret—won't +you?"</p> + +<p>"Most certainly, Miss Hewitt," was my reply. +"This should serve as a severe lesson to you."</p> + +<p>Then I bade her farewell, and left her in the good +hands of the caretaker.</p> + +<p>On my return to Jermyn Street the Crown-Prince +was in bed, sleeping soundly.</p> + +<p>I remember standing at the window of that well-furnished +bachelor's sitting-room—for the place +was owned by an old German-American merchant, +who, I expect, had a shrewd suspicion of the identity +of the reckless young fellow named Lehnhardt who +sometimes, through a well-known firm of house-agents, +rented his quarters at a high figure. The +Crown-Prince used eight different names when abroad +incognito, Lehnhardt being one of them.</p> + +<p>"His Highness is very tired," the valet declared +to me, as he entered the room. "Before I got him +to bed he asked for you. I said you had gone +out."</p> + +<p>"And what did he say?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Count, all he said was, 'Ah, our dear Heltzendorff +is always an early riser. He gets up before +I go to bed!'" And the ever-faithful valet +laughed grimly. When the Crown-Prince went +upon those frequent debauches in the capitals of +Europe, his valet always carried with him a certain +drug, a secret known to the Chinese, an injection of +which at once sobered him, and put both sense and +dignity into him. I have seen him in the most +extreme state of helpless intoxication at five in the +morning, and yet at eight, he having received his +injection, I have watched him mount his horse and +ride at the head of his regiment to an inspection, as +bright and level-headed as any trooper following.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p> + +<p>The drug had a marvellous and almost instantaneous +effect. But it was used only in case of great +emergency, when, for instance, he was suddenly +summoned by the Emperor, or perchance he had +to accompany his wife to some public function.</p> + +<p>That the drug had bad effects I knew quite well. +I have often seen him pacing the room holding his +hands to his head, when, three hours later, the dope +was gradually losing its potency, leaving him inert +and ill.</p> + +<p>When the valet had retired, I stood gazing down +into the growing life of Jermyn Street, deploring the +state of society which had resulted in the pretty +Violet Hewitt becoming, at twenty, a victim to +opium.</p> + +<p>Truly in the world of London, as in Berlin, there +are many strange phases of life, and even I, familiar +as I was with the gaieties of the capitals, and the +night life of Berlin, the Montmartre in Paris, and +the West End in London, here confess that when I +discovered the pretty girl sleeping in that dirty bunk +in that fetid atmosphere I was staggered.</p> + +<p>Before three o'clock in the afternoon "Willie" reappeared, +well groomed and perfectly dressed. I had +been out lunching at the "Berkeley" with a friend, +and on re-entering the chambers, found him in the +sitting-room smoking a cigarette.</p> + +<p>The effects of his overnight dissipation had entirely +passed. He seated himself upon the arm of a chair +and asked:</p> + +<p>"Well, Heltzendorff, I suppose you've been out +to lunch—eh? Anything interesting in this town?"</p> + +<p>"The usual set at the 'Berkeley,'" I replied.</p> + +<p>"Oh! The 'Berkeley!' Very nice, but too +respectable. That is where one takes one's aunt, +is it not?" he laughed.</p> + +<p>I admitted that it was a most excellent restaurant.</p> + +<p>"Good food and good amusement, my dear Heltzendorff, +one can never find together. The worse<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +the food the better the entertainment. Do you +remember the 'Rat Mort'—eh?"</p> + +<p>"No," I said sharply. "That is a long-past and +unwelcome memory."</p> + +<p>The Imperial profligate laughed heartily.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear Heltzendorff, you are becoming +quite pharisaical. You! Oh! that is really +amusing!"</p> + +<p>"The 'Rat Mort' never amused me," I said, "a +café of the Montmartre where those who dined +were——"</p> + +<p>I did not finish my sentence.</p> + +<p>"Were very pretty and interesting women, Heltzendorff," +he declared. "Ah! don't you recollect +when you and I dined there not long ago, all +of us at a long table—so many charming ladies—oh!"</p> + +<p>"I have forgotten it, Prince," I said, rebuking +him. "It has passed from my memory. That place +is just as unfitted for you as is Lung Ching's."</p> + +<p>"Lung Ching's! Ah—yes, the old yellow fellow +is a good sort," he exclaimed, as though recollecting.</p> + +<p>"And the lady you took there—eh?"</p> + +<p>"The lady?" he echoed. "Why, <i>Gott!</i> I left +her there. I did not remember. <i>Gott!</i> I left little +Miss Violet in that place!" he gasped.</p> + +<p>"Well?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"Well, what can I do. I must go and see."</p> + +<p>I smiled, and then told him what I had done.</p> + +<p>"H'm," he exclaimed. "You are always a good +diplomat, Heltzendorff—always a good friend of +the erratic Hohenzollerns. What can I do to-night—eh? +Suggest something."</p> + +<p>"I would suggest that you dined <i>en famille</i> at the +Embassy," I replied.</p> + +<p>"The Embassy! Never. I'm sick and tired of +His Excellency and his hideous old wife. They bore +me to death. No, my dear Heltzendorff. I +wonder——"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p> + +<p>And he paused.</p> + +<p>"Well?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if Miss Hewitt would go to the theatre +to-night—eh?"</p> + +<p>"No," I snapped, for my long service gave me permission +to speak my mind pretty freely. "She is, +I admit, a very charming young lady, but remember +she does not know your identity, and if her parents +discover what happened last night there will be a +most infernal lot of trouble. Recollect that her +father, a financial magnate, is acquainted with the +Emperor. They have raced their yachts against +each other. Indeed, Henry Hewitt's won the Kiel +Cup last year. So, personally, I think the game +that your Imperial Highness is playing is a distinctly +dangerous one."</p> + +<p>"Bah! It is only amusement. She amuses me. +And she is so fond of the pipe. She has been a visitor +of Lung Ching's for over a year. She has a faithful +maid who goes with her, and I suppose she pays +the old Chinaman well."</p> + +<p>"I suppose so," I remarked, for I knew that if the +villainous old Ching were paid well he would +guarantee her safety in that den of his.</p> + +<p>I could see by the Crown-Prince's face that he +was unimpressed by my warning. Too well did I +know to what mad, impetuous lengths he would go +when of a sudden a pretty face attracted him. So +utterly devoid is he of self-control that a woman's +eyes could lead him anywhere. A glance at that +weak chin of his will at once substantiate my +statement.</p> + +<p>His visit to Lung Ching's had left him somewhat +muddled and limp, and the next few days passed +uneventfully. We went down into Surrey to stay +with a certain Baron von Rechberg, who had been a +fellow-student of His Highness's at Bonn. He was +now head of a German bank in London, and lived in +a beautiful house surrounded by a large park high<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +among the Surrey hills. Count von Hochberg, +"Willie's" bosom friend, whom he always addressed +as "Mickie," while the Count in turn called him +"Cæsar," being in London at the time, accompanied +us, and so merrily did the time pass that the incident +at Lung Ching's went out of my memory.</p> + +<p>One night when we had all three returned to +London "Willie" and Von Hochberg spent the evening +in the lounge of the Empire Theatre, and both +returned to the Prince's rooms about one o'clock in +the morning.</p> + +<p>"Heltzendorff, Mickie is going with me to Scotland +to-morrow morning," said His Highness, as he +tossed his overcoat upon the couch of that luxurious +little sitting-room within sight of the Maison Jules. +"You will stay here and attend to anything that may +come through from Potsdam. A courier should +arrive to-morrow night, or is it Knof who is coming? +I forget."</p> + +<p>"Your Highness sent Knof over to get the correspondence," +I reminded him, for it was necessary that +all pressing matters should be attended to, or the +Emperor's suspicions might be aroused that his son +was absent abroad.</p> + +<p>"Ah, the good Knof! Of course, he will be back +to-morrow night. He will have seen the Princess and +told her how ill I have been, and how I am gradually +growing better," he laughed. "Trust Knof to tell +a good, sound lie."</p> + +<p>"All chauffeurs can do that, my dear Cæsar," +exclaimed Von Hochberg, with a grin.</p> + +<p>Naturally I was filled with wonder regarding the +nature of the expedition which the pair were about +to undertake, but, though we all three smoked +together for an hour, "Willie" seemed unusually +sober, and did not let drop a single hint regarding +their mysterious destination.</p> + +<p>Von Hochberg was living at the Coburg Hotel, and +before he left "Willie" arranged to breakfast with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +him at eight o'clock next morning, so that they might +leave Euston together by the ten o'clock express.</p> + +<p>I roused the valet, who worked for an hour packing +His Highness's suit-case.</p> + +<p>"One case only," the Crown-Prince had ordered. +"I shall only be up there a couple or three days. +No evening clothes. I shall not want them."</p> + +<p>That remark told me that he did not intend to pay +any formal visit, as he had done on most of his +journeys to Scotland.</p> + +<p>"Your Imperial Highness will take guns, of +course," I remarked.</p> + +<p>"Guns!" he echoed. "No—no guns this time. +If I want to shoot rabbits I can borrow a farmer's +blunderbuss," he laughed.</p> + +<p>That "Mickie," the hare-brained seeker after +pleasure, was to be his companion caused me some +uneasiness. It was all very well for the Crown-Prince +to live in London as Herr Lehnhardt. London was +a big place, and those who catered for his Imperial +pleasures were paid well, and did not seek to inquire +into his antecedents or whether he was really what +he represented himself to be.</p> + +<p>Money talks in the underground London, just as it +does on the Stock Exchange. But it sometimes, I +assure you, took a long purse to keep the foreign +papers quiet regarding the wild escapades of the +Kaiser's heir.</p> + +<p>That night somehow I felt a good deal of apprehension +regarding this mysterious flying visit to +Scotland. That the pair had some deeply-laid +scheme on hand I knew from their evasiveness. But +what it was I failed to discover.</p> + +<p>Early that morning I put "Cæsar" into a taxi with +his suit-case. He wore a rough suit of tweeds, and +took with him his walking-stick and a khaki-coloured +waterproof coat, presenting the picture of a young +man going North to shoot.</p> + +<p>"I'll be back in a few days, Heltzendorff. Attend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +to the letters," he urged. "Throw away as many +as you can. If I want you I will telegraph."</p> + +<p>And with that he drove to the "Coburg" to meet +his old chum, "Mickie."</p> + +<p>About three o'clock that same afternoon, while +walking along Piccadilly, I was surprised to come +face to face with Von Hochberg.</p> + +<p>"Why! I thought you had gone North!" I +exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"No, Heltzendorff. Cæsar went alone," he replied, +somewhat confounded at our unexpected meeting. +"He wanted to be alone, I think."</p> + +<p>"Where has he gone?" I inquired. "He left me +no address."</p> + +<p>"No. And I have none either," the Count replied.</p> + +<p>This set me thinking. The situation was even +worse with the Crown-Prince wandering in Scotland +alone. His indiscretions were such that his identity +might very easily leak out, and the truth concerning +his absence would quickly reach the Emperor's +ears.</p> + +<p>As I stood chatting with His Highness's gay companion +I confess that I felt annoyed at the manner +in which I had been tricked. He was often afraid of +my caustic tongue when I spoke of his indiscretions, +and it was further quite plain to me that Von Hochberg +had simply pretended that he was accompanying +his friend North.</p> + +<p>That evening Knof arrived from Potsdam with a +satchelful of correspondence, and until a late hour I +was kept busy inventing replies which would eventually +be taken to Holzemme, in the Harz Mountains, +and posted from there. We always made arrangements +for such things when His Highness was secretly +out of Germany.</p> + +<p>I snatched a meal at Jules', close by, and +resumed my work till long after midnight, inventing +some picturesque fictions in reply to many official +documents.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> + +<p>One letter was from Her Imperial Highness. At +her husband's order I opened it, read it, and sealed it +up again. It contained reproaches, but nothing of +extreme urgency. There had been occasions when I +had read "Cilli's" letters in the absence of her +erratic husband, and sent to her little untruths by +wire, signed "Wilhelm, Kronprinz."</p> + +<p>Truly my position was one of curious intimacy. +Sometimes His Highness trusted me with his innermost +secrets, while at others he regarded me with +distinct suspicion. That the elegant Von Hochberg +knew of "Willie's" whereabouts I felt convinced, but +apparently His Highness had given him orders not +to divulge it to me.</p> + +<p>The next day and the next I waited in vain for +some word from His Highness. I had sent Knof +back to the Harz to post the replies I had written, +and with nothing to do I idled about London.</p> + +<p>On the third day, when I returned to Jermyn +Street after lunch, I found a stout German, named +Henkel, who carried on a hairdresser's business near +High Street, Kensington, but who was really a secret +agent. He was one of the few persons who knew of +the Crown-Prince's visit, for each time we came to +London we took this man into our confidence.</p> + +<p>"I have received a telegram from Holzemme, +Count," he said as I entered, and then he handed me +the message, which, after a few minutes' examination—for +though in plain language it was nevertheless +not what it purported to be—I saw to my dismay +was an important message to "Willie" from the +Emperor, who was at that moment in Corfu.</p> + +<p>The message had been received by Koch, my assistant, +whom I had left at Holzemme. He had disguised +it and re-transmitted it to Henkel to hand to +me. We always took this precaution, because when +abroad incognito, both the Crown-Prince and myself +frequently changed our names. So, by employing +Henkel in London and a man named Behm in Paris,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +we were always certain of receiving any important +message.</p> + +<p>When the spy Henkel had left I stood looking out +of the window down into Jermyn Street, quite at a +loss how to act. The message was one of the greatest +importance, and, if not replied to at once, the Emperor +would, I knew, institute inquiries, for he was well +aware of his son's wild escapades.</p> + +<p>My first impulse was to wire Koch a reply to be +dispatched to His Majesty, but on reflection I realized +that the question was one which I could not answer +with truth. No. I must find His Highness at all +hazards.</p> + +<p>At once I went to the Coburg Hotel, and fortunately +found Count von Hochberg, who at first refused to +reveal where his friend was hidden. But when I +showed him the telegram and explained the great +urgency of a reply, in order to prevent the Emperor +from inquiring and knowing the truth, he realized the +necessity.</p> + +<p>"Well, Heltzendorff," he said, somewhat reluctantly, +"Cæsar is at some little place they call +St. Fillans, in Scotland."</p> + +<p>"I know it," I cried eagerly. "A place at the end +of Loch Earn! We motored past it one day about +two years ago. I shall go North at once."</p> + +<p>"But you can telegraph to him," the Count +suggested.</p> + +<p>"To what address?"</p> + +<p>"Ah! Why, of course, I don't know his address—only +that he is at St. Fillans. I had a note +yesterday."</p> + +<p>Travelling by way of Perth and Gleneagles, I next +morning found myself strolling along the picturesque +village at the end of the beautiful loch, which presented +a truly delightful picture in the autumn sunlight. +At the hotel nothing was known of Mr. Lehnhardt, +and though I devoted the whole morning to +making inquiries I could find no trace of His Highness.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +The latter would certainly not betray himself as a +German, for, speaking English so well, he might very +easily adopt an English name. I ate my lunch at +the hotel which faces the loch, with Ben Voirlich +rising high beyond, and afterwards resumed my +wanderings. In many quarters I described my +"friend" of whom I was in search, but nobody +seemed to have seen him. The precious hours were +flying, and I knew that the Emperor at Corfu was +impatiently awaiting a reply.</p> + +<p>I hired a car and drove seven miles to the farther +end of the loch, to the village of Lochearnhead. +There I made inquiry at the hotel and elsewhere, +afterwards going on to Balquidder with similar +result. It was past six o'clock when I returned to +St. Fillans with the feeling that His Highness had +deceived even his friend "Mickie," and that I had +had my long journey and quest for nothing. Not a +soul seemed to have seen anybody answering to +"Willie's" description. I snatched another hasty +meal at the hotel, and then, in the dusk, set off in +the opposite direction along the pretty road which +led to Comrie. The light was fast fading, but I knew +that there would be a full moon, and the night was +perfect.</p> + +<p>I had walked about three miles, and had probably +lost my way, for I was off the main road, when, on +my left, saw the lighted windows of a comfortable-looking +cottage standing back from the road behind +a well-kept flower garden. There were woods on +each side of the road, and I concluded that it was +a keeper's house. As I passed I heard voices, and +saw two figures standing at the garden gate—a man +and a woman—chatting confidentially.</p> + +<p>In the next second I recognized the man's voice +as that of the Crown-Prince, and as quickly I stepped +upon the grass so that they might not be attracted +by my footsteps. Concealed by the shadow of the +hedge on the opposite side of the road, I stealthily<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +approached until I could distinguish, by the light +from the open door of the cottage, that the woman +was a stout, elderly person, probably the keeper's +wife.</p> + +<p>Both surprised and interested, I stood there watching. +It seemed as though they were awaiting someone, +for after a few moments, they both retired inside +the cottage.</p> + +<p>Presently, however, "Willie" emerged alone. He +had on his hat and carried a stick, and as he swung +through the gate and went forward he whistled softly +to himself the air of a gay waltz of which he was +particularly fond.</p> + +<p>Within myself I chuckled at being thus able to +watch his mysterious movements, for he seemed +entirely preoccupied and quite unconscious of being +followed, though I fear my footsteps fell heavily at +times.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, while passing along a part of the road +overshadowed by woods on either side, he halted in +the darkness. I heard him speak, and I also heard +the welcome he received in a girl's voice. It was as +I had surmised, and I drew a long breath.</p> + +<p>I heard the pair talking, but from where I stood I +could not overhear any of their conversation. I +heard His Highness laugh gaily, and though he lit a +cigarette his companion's face was turned from me +so that I could not catch a glimpse of it in the fitful +light.</p> + +<p>Presently, after he had held her in his arms and +kissed her, they turned back in my direction.</p> + +<p>As they passed I heard the girl say:</p> + +<p>"I've been waiting for quite a quarter of an +hour, Mr. Lehnhardt. I thought perhaps something +had prevented you from keeping the appointment."</p> + +<p>"All my mistake, dear," was his reply. "My +mistake. Forgive me."</p> + +<p>"Of course," she said, laughing, and I saw that she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +had her arm linked in his as they walked back in the +direction of the keeper's cottage.</p> + +<p>I followed in wonder, and not without anger. +For the Heir of the Hohenzollerns to ramble upon +such rural escapades was, I knew, distinctly dangerous. +Exposure might come at any moment.</p> + +<p>They had strolled together nearly half a mile +when of a sudden, as they again passed into the deep +shadows, the girl gave vent to a loud scream for help, +and at the same moment men's angry voices were +heard.</p> + +<p>The pair had been attacked by three men who had +apparently been lying hidden in the wood.</p> + +<p>I heard a man shout, and then a sharp crack like +that of a whip. The Kaiser's son was shouting, too, +while the girl was screaming and crying shame upon +those who had attacked the man with whom she had +been walking.</p> + +<p>"You infernal German!" I heard one of the men +shriek. "I'll teach you to come sneaking here and +take my sister out for midnight walks! Take that—you +cur—and that!—whoever you are!"</p> + +<p>Next second the startling truth was plain to me.</p> + +<p>His Imperial Highness the German Crown-Prince +was being ignominiously and soundly thrashed by an +irate brother!</p> + +<p>I saw that it was high time that I interfered. The +Crown-Prince had been flung upon the ground, and +the angry young man was lashing him as I dashed in +among them with my revolver drawn.</p> + +<p>"Come, cease that," I shouted. "Down with +that whip. You've attacked these people on the +high road, and if you strike again I'll fire."</p> + +<p>"Hulloa!" cried one man. "Why, here's another +German!"</p> + +<p>"German or not—enough!" I commanded, and +bending down, assisted the fallen Prince to rise.</p> + +<p>"You—you shall pay for this, I swear!" declared +"Willie," angrily facing the man who had struck him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +Then, turning to me, he apparently recognized my +voice, for he asked—"How in the name of Fate did +you come here, Heltzendorff?"</p> + +<p>"I will explain later," I replied in German. "Let +us get out of this."</p> + +<p>"But I cannot leave Violet. I—I——"</p> + +<p>He had replied in the same language, which the +men apparently did not understand.</p> + +<p>"Enough; come," I said. Then in English I +added, "We will wish these gentlemen good-night."</p> + +<p>I took his arm and led him away amid the derisive +laughter of the irate brother and his two friends, +leaving the girl with them.</p> + +<p>When we were out of earshot I told him of the +Emperor's telegram, and added:</p> + +<p>"That lady was Miss Hewitt, was she not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Her father's estate is a few miles from +here. She's a perfect little fiend for opium—got +bitten with the habit when she was travelling with her +married sister in China, and Maggie, her old nurse, +who lives in the cottage we shall pass in a minute, lets +her go there on the quiet and smoke. I have had +two or three pipes there lately," he added merrily.</p> + +<p>"<i>Himmel!</i>" I gasped. "How dangerous! She +has no idea of who you are, I hope?"</p> + +<p>"Not in the least."</p> + +<p>"Good. Let us attend to the Emperor's telegram +at once."</p> + +<p>And a quarter of an hour later we were discussing +the Kaiser's inquiry in a clean, comfortable, but out-of-the-way +cottage in which "Willie" had established +himself so as to be near the pretty girl for whom he +had conceived that passing fascination.</p> + +<p>Until to-day Violet Hewitt has been entirely ignorant +of the identity of the man who, like herself, was +so addicted to opium. These lines, if they meet +her eye, will reveal to her a curious and, no doubt, +startling truth.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="SECRET_NUMBER_TEN" id="SECRET_NUMBER_TEN"></a>SECRET NUMBER TEN</h2> +<h3>HOW THE KAISER ESCAPED ASSASSINATION</h3> + + +<p>"The Emperor commands you to audience at +once in the private dining-room," said one +of the Imperial servants, entering the Kaiser's study, +where I was awaiting him.</p> + +<p>It was seven o'clock on a cold, cheerless morning, +and I had just arrived at Potsdam from Altona, the +bearer of a message from the Crown-Prince to his +father.</p> + +<p>I knew that the Emperor always rose at five, and +that he was breakfasting, as was his habit, alone with +the Empress in that coquettish private dining-room +of the Sovereigns, a room into which no servant is +permitted, Augusta preparing and serving the coffee +with her own hands. It was the one hour which the +All-Highest before the war devoted to domesticity, +when husband and wife could gossip and discuss +matters alone and in secret.</p> + +<p>As I passed downstairs to the room, to which +entrance was forbidden even to the Crown-Prince +himself, I naturally wondered why I had been commanded +to audience there.</p> + +<p>On tapping upon the mahogany door of the little +private salon the Empress's hard voice gave permission +to enter, whereupon I bowed myself into the cosy little +place, hung with reseda silk and with pictures by +Loncret, Perne and Watteau. Upon one side of the +room was a beautiful buhl cabinet, and at the little +round table placed near the window sat the Imperial +pair.</p> + +<p>The Empress was reading a letter, but His Majesty +rose as I entered. He was wearing a grey tweed +suit, a well-worn and, no doubt, easy one, in which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +nobody ever saw him, for he always changed into +uniform before he went to his study.</p> + +<p>"Have you any knowledge of the contents of the +letter which you have brought from the Crown-Prince?" +he asked me bluntly, and I saw by his eyes +that he seemed somewhat mystified.</p> + +<p>I replied in the negative, explaining that I had +been with His Imperial Highness to Kiel, and +afterwards to Altona, where the Crown-Princess +had performed the opening ceremony of a new +dock.</p> + +<p>"Where are you going now?" he asked suddenly. +"There are other engagements, I believe?"</p> + +<p>"To Thorn. His Imperial Highness inspects the +garrison there on Thursday," I said.</p> + +<p>"Ah! of course. I intended to go, but it is +impossible."</p> + +<p>Then, after a pause, the Emperor looked me straight +in the face and suddenly said:</p> + +<p>"Heltzendorff, have you any knowledge of any +man called Minckwitz?"</p> + +<p>I reflected.</p> + +<p>"I know Count von Minckwitz, Grand-Master of +the Court of the Duke of Saxe-Altenbourg," was my +reply.</p> + +<p>"No. This is a man, Wilhelm Minckwitz, who +poses as a musician."</p> + +<p>I shook my head.</p> + +<p>"You are quite certain that you have never heard +the name? Try to recollect whether the Crown-Prince +has ever mentioned him in your presence."</p> + +<p>I endeavoured to recall the circumstance, for somehow +very gradually I felt a distinct recollection of +having once heard that name before.</p> + +<p>"At the moment I fail to recall anything, Your +Majesty," was my answer.</p> + +<p>The Emperor knit his brows as though annoyed at +my reply, and then grunted deeply in dissatisfaction.</p> + +<p>"Remain here in Potsdam," he said. "Telegraph<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +to the Crown-Prince recalling him at my orders, and I +will cancel the inspection at Thorn. Tell the Crown-Prince +that I wish to see him to-night immediately +upon his return."</p> + +<p>Then, noticing for the first time that the Emperor +held a paper in his hand, I realized that by its colour +it was one of those secret reports furnished for the +Kaiser's eye alone—a report of one of the thousands +of spies of Germany spread everywhere.</p> + +<p>Minckwitz! I impressed that name upon my +memory, and, being dismissed, bowed myself out of +the Imperial presence.</p> + +<p>Returning to the Marmor Palace I sent a long and +urgent message over the private wire to "Willie" at +Altona, repeating His Majesty's orders, and recalling +him at once. Quite well I knew that such an unusual +message would arouse His Highness's apprehension +that for some offence or other he was about to receive +a paternal castigation. But I could not be explicit, +because I had no knowledge of the reason the Emperor +was cancelling our engagement at Thorn.</p> + +<p>At nine o'clock that night the Crown-Prince, gay +in his Hussar uniform, burst into the room wherein I +was attending to the correspondence.</p> + +<p>"What in the name of Fate does all this mean, +Heltzendorff?" he demanded. "Why did the +Emperor fail to reply to my message?"</p> + +<p>"I delivered it," I said. And then I described what +took place in the Emperor's private dining-room. +When I mentioned the name of Minckwitz the Crown-Prince +started and his cheeks blanched.</p> + +<p>"Did he ask you that?" he gasped.</p> + +<p>"Yes. I told him the only person I knew of that +name was Count von Minckwitz."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that little fat, old Master of the Court. Oh! +The Emperor knows him well enough. It is somebody +else he is referring to."</p> + +<p>"Do you know him?" I asked eagerly.</p> + +<p>"Me? Why—why, of course not!" was "Willie's"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +quick reply, in a tone which showed me that he was +not telling the truth.</p> + +<p>"His Majesty wishes to see you at once," I urged, +full of wonder.</p> + +<p>I could plainly see that His Imperial Highness had +been much upset at mention of the mysterious person +called Minckwitz. What could the Emperor know of +him? Was there some scandal at the root of it all, +some facts which the Crown-Prince feared might be +revealed?</p> + +<p>Travel-stained, and without changing his tunic, +"Willie" went to the telephone and ordered Knof to +bring back the car. And in it he drove across to the +Neues Palais to see the Emperor.</p> + +<p>I had an important appointment in Berlin that +night, and waited until quite late for "Willie's" return. +As he did not come I left for the capital, and on arrival +at my rooms rang up Wolff's Agency, and gave out a +paragraph to the Press that His Imperial Highness +the Crown-Prince had been compelled to abandon +his journey to Thorn, owing to having contracted a +chill. His wife "Cilli"—the contraction for Cecilia—had, +however, gone to visit Princess Henry of +Rohnstock at Fürstenstein.</p> + +<p>Several weeks went by, and one day we were at the +ancient schloss at Oels, in far Silesia, the great estate +which the Crown-Prince inherited on coming of age. +The castle is a big, prison-like place, surrounded by +wide lands and dense forests, lying between the town +of Breslau and the Polish frontier, a remote, rural +place to which "Willie" loved sometimes to retire with +a few kindred spirits in order to look over the estate +and to shoot.</p> + +<p>The guests included old Count von Reisenach, +Court Chamberlain, of the Prince of Schombourg-Lippe, +who was a noted raconteur and bon-vivant, +with Major von Heidkämper, of the 4th Bavarian +Light Cavalry, a constant companion of "Willie's," +and Karl von Pappenheim, a captain of the Prussian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +Guard, who had been educated at Oxford, and who +was so English that it was often difficult for people +from London to believe that he was a Prussian.</p> + +<p>Von Pappenheim, a tall, good-looking, fair-moustached +man under thirty, was one of "Willie's" new +friends. He was the son of a great landowner of +Erfurt, and the pair had for the past month been +inseparable. He was a shrewd, keen-eyed man, who +seemed ever on the alert, but, of course, obsessed by +military dignity, and as full of swagger as any +Prussian officer could be. He had a sister, Margarete, +a pretty girl, a year or so his junior, who had been to +the Marmor Palace on one occasion. The Crown-Princess +had received her, but from the fact that she +was not invited a second time I concluded that the +inevitable jealousy had arisen, because in my presence +"Willie" had more than once referred to her +beauty.</p> + +<p>I sometimes suspected that "Willie's" sudden and +close friendship with Von Pappenheim had some +connection with his intense admiration of the latter's +sister. I, however, learnt the truth concerning +their intimacy in a curious way while at the Schloss +Oels.</p> + +<p>One day I had accompanied the party out after +stag, for, being a fair shot, I frequently snatched a +day's sport. Soon after luncheon, which we took at +a forester's house, we went forth again, and I concealed +myself at a point of vantage, lying behind a +screen of ferns and branches specially constructed +as cover.</p> + +<p>I was alone, at some considerable distance from the +others, and had been there waiting for nearly an hour +with my gun in readiness when suddenly I heard the +cracking of dried wood not far away.</p> + +<p>Something was moving. I raised my gun in +breathless eagerness.</p> + +<p>Next moment, however, I heard the voices of two +men.—"Willie" and his friend, Von Pappenheim.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +They were approaching me, speaking in low, confidential +tones.</p> + +<p>"You quite understand," "Willie" was saying. +"My position is a terrible one. I don't know how +to extricate myself. If I dare reveal the truth then +I know full well what their vengeance will be."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear Cæsar," was Karl von Pappenheim's +reply, for he was on such intimate terms that he called +His Highness by the name Von Hochberg had bestowed +upon him, "is it not your duty to risk all and +tell the truth?" he suggested seriously.</p> + +<p>The pair had halted only a few yards from me and +taken cover behind a dead bush which had been cut +down and placed conveniently at the spot, in case +the shooting party were a large one and the screen +behind which I had concealed myself was insufficient. +So near were they that I could hear all that was +said.</p> + +<p>"The Emperor would neither believe me nor +forgive me," "Willie" said. "Minckwitz is a clever +devil. He would bring manufactured evidence +which must implicate me."</p> + +<p>Minckwitz! That was the name which the +Emperor had uttered, asking me if I knew him! +That incident at the Neues Palais flashed across my +memory. I recollected, too, how, when I had +referred to the circumstance, His Highness had become +pale and agitated. Mention of the name had affected +him curiously.</p> + +<p>"But can he bring evidence?" asked his companion.</p> + +<p>"Yes, curse him!—he can!"</p> + +<p>"You can refute it, surely?"</p> + +<p>"No, I can't. If I could I should make a clean +breast of the whole matter," "Willie" declared. +From the tone of his voice I realized how utterly +bewildered he was.</p> + +<p>"But cannot I help you? Cannot I see Minckwitz +and bluff him?" his friend suggested.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You don't know him," was the reply. "He holds +me in the hollow of his hand."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Then you have been horribly indiscreet—eh?"</p> + +<p>"I have. I admit I have, Karl; and I do not see +any way out of it."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear Cæsar, think of the danger existing +day by day—hour by hour!" cried Von Pappenheim. +"Think what there is at stake! That letter you +showed me this morning reveals only too plainly +what is intended."</p> + +<p>"It is a letter of defiance, I admit."</p> + +<p>"And a catastrophe must inevitably occur if you +do not act."</p> + +<p>"But how can I act?" cried the Crown-Prince, in +despair. "Suggest something—I cannot. If I utter +a syllable Minckwitz will most certainly carry out +his threat against me."</p> + +<p>"Contrive to have him arrested upon some charge +or other," Karl suggested.</p> + +<p>"If I did he would produce the evidence against +me," declared the Crown-Prince.</p> + +<p>A silence then fell between the pair. Suddenly +Karl asked:</p> + +<p>"Does Von Heltzendorff know?"</p> + +<p>"He knows nothing," was "Willie's" answer. "The +Emperor questioned him, but he was in ignorance of +Minckwitz's existence. He was naturally surprised, +but I did not regard it as judicious to enlighten him."</p> + +<p>"He is your confidential adjutant. If I were you +I should tell him the truth. No time should be lost, +remember."</p> + +<p>Then, after a few seconds of silence. Von Pappenheim +went on:</p> + +<p>"Why, I never thought of it! My sister Margarete +knows Minckwitz. She might perhaps be +useful to us—eh?"</p> + +<p>"Why, yes!" cried "Willie," "a woman can frequently +accomplish a thing where a man would fail.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +A most excellent idea. Let us leave the others to +their sport and get back to the schloss and discuss +a line of action—eh?"</p> + +<p>And in agreement the pair emerged from their +ambush, and retraced their steps along the path they +had come.</p> + +<p>Still greatly puzzled at the nature of the secret +which the Crown-Prince was withholding from me, +I came out of my hiding-place and presently rejoined +the party.</p> + +<p>That night we all dined together, as was our habit +when at Oels, but I saw that "Willie" was upset and +nervous, and noticed that he drank his champagne +heavily. On the contrary, Von Pappenheim was +wary and watchful.</p> + +<p>Next evening Von Pappenheim's sister Margarete, +fair-haired, <i>petite</i> and rather doll-like, arrived at the +Castle.</p> + +<p>During dinner an Imperial courier arrived from +Berlin with a letter from the Emperor, and "Willie" +opened it, read it, and then, excusing himself, left +the table. I rose and followed him, as was my duty, +but when outside the room His Highness sent me +back, saying in a thick, husky voice:</p> + +<p>"I shall not want you. Von Heltzendorff; I will +write the reply myself."</p> + +<p>On my return the guests were discussing the effect +of the Emperor's message upon their host, Von Pappenheim +being particularly anxious. He said something +in a low voice to his sister, when the latter +became at once thoughtful. Indeed, the remainder +of the meal was a very dull affair, and it was with +relief that we rose and went out into the big ancient +hall, with its vaulted ceiling, where coffee was always +served.</p> + +<p>The courier had left on his return journey to the +capital, yet "Willie" did not again reappear. At +eleven o'clock I found him lying in a very advanced +state of intoxication upon the sofa in the room set<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +apart for me for my writing. Near him stood an +empty brandy bottle and an empty syphon of soda-water.</p> + +<p>I called his faithful valet, and together we half +carried him to his room, where he was undressed +and put to bed. Hardly had I returned to my room +when Von Pappenheim entered in search of his +host.</p> + +<p>"His Highness is not well, and has retired to his +room," I said. "He expressed a desire to see nobody +to-night."</p> + +<p>Von Pappenheim's face changed.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" he cried in despair. "Why did he not see +me and tell me the truth! Precious hours are flying, +and we must act if the situation is to be saved."</p> + +<p>"What situation?" I asked, in pretended +ignorance.</p> + +<p>"You know nothing, Von Heltzendorff, eh?" +he asked, looking me straight in the face.</p> + +<p>"Nothing," was my reply.</p> + +<p>"You have no knowledge of the trap into which +the Crown-Prince fell when he was in Paris with you +six months ago, and when he and I first met?"</p> + +<p>"A trap! What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Has he told you nothing?"</p> + +<p>"Not a syllable."</p> + +<p>"Ah! Then I cannot be frank with you until +I obtain His Highness's permission. He told me +that you knew nothing, but I did not believe it. +Knowing well what implicit confidence he places in +you, I believed that you knew the ghastly truth."</p> + +<p>"You alarm me," I said. "If the situation is +grave, then I may be able to be of some assistance, +more especially if time is pressing."</p> + +<p>He hesitated, but refused to reveal a single fact +before receiving the Crown-Prince's permission.</p> + +<p>Into what trap had "Willie" fallen during our last +visit to Paris I could not conceive. His wild orgies +in the Montmartre, his constant absences alone, his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +terrible craving for excitement, his wild and reckless +search for pleasure in the lowest haunts of vice, had +ever been a source of anxiety to me. Times without +number had I lifted a warning finger, only to be +derided and ridiculed by the son of the All-Highest +One.</p> + +<p>Next day, soon after His Highness was dressed, he +entered my room.</p> + +<p>"Heltzendorff," he said, "I have been chatting +with Von Pappenheim and his sister upon a little +matter of business which closely concerns myself. +I want you to leave in an hour's time and go to +Hanover. In the Kirchröder Strasse, No. 16, out +at Kleefeld there lives a certain man named Minckwitz—a +Pole by birth. He has two nieces—one +about twenty and the other two years older. With +them you have no concern. All I want is that you +engage a photographer, or, better, yourself take a +snapshot of this man Minckwitz, and bring it to me. +Be discreet and trust no one with the secret of your +journey."</p> + +<p>"Exactly. There is a doubt as to the man's +identity, eh?"</p> + +<p>"Willie" nodded in the affirmative.</p> + +<p>Satisfied that I should at last see the mysterious +person whose identity the Emperor had wished to +establish, I set out from Oels on my long journey +right across Germany.</p> + +<p>In due course I arrived in Hanover, and found +the house situate in the pleasant suburb. Here I +found that "Willie's" suspicions were correct, and the +man Minckwitz was living under the name of Sembach +and pretending to be a musician. I watched, and +very soon with my own camera took in secret a snapshot +of the mysterious individual as he walked in +the street. With this I left two days later on my +return to Oels.</p> + +<p>The photograph was that of a thin, narrow-faced, +deep-eyed man, with a scraggy, pointed beard—a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +typical Pole, and when I handed it to "Willie" he +held his breath.</p> + +<p>"Look!" he cried, turning to Von Pappenheim +and his sister, who were both present. "Look! +There is no mistake! That is the man. What +shall we do? No time must be lost. How can I +act?"</p> + +<p>Brother and sister exchanged glances blankly. +From inquiries I had made in Hanover, it seemed +that the man was a stranger, a music-master, who +had arrived there about a month ago. I feared to +make inquiry through the police, because my official +capacity as personal-adjutant to the Crown-Prince +was too well known, and suspicion might have thus +been aroused.</p> + +<p>The trio again held secret counsel, but I was not +told the nature of their deliberations. All I knew +was that the Crown-Prince was in some terrible and +most dangerous difficulty.</p> + +<p>That afternoon I met the girl Margarete walking +alone in the grounds near the Schloss. The autumn +sun was pleasant, though there was a sharp nip in +the air, which told of the coming of the early Silesian +winter. Most of the trees were already bare, and +the ground was carpeted with the gold-brown leaves +of the great beeches.</p> + +<p>We had walked together for some distance, when +I suddenly halted and asked her point-blank why +they were all in such great fear of Herr Minckwitz.</p> + +<p>She started, staring at me with her big blue eyes.</p> + +<p>"His Highness has not told you, Count. Therefore, +it would ill become me to reveal his secret," +was her cold rebuke.</p> + +<p>"But if the situation is so grave, and if I have +been entrusted with the secret mission to Hanover, +I may, perhaps, be of service in the matter. I understand +that you are acquainted with Herr Minckwitz, +<i>alias</i> Sembach—eh?"</p> + +<p>"Who told you that?"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nobody. I learnt it myself," I answered, with a +smile.</p> + +<p>For a second she reflected, then, with a woman's +cleverness, she said:</p> + +<p>"I can tell you nothing. Ask the Crown-Prince +himself." And she refused to discuss the matter +further. Indeed, she left the Castle two hours later.</p> + +<p>That night I went boldly to "Willie," finding him +alone in a little circular room in one of the towers +of the Castle, to which he often retired to smoke +and snooze.</p> + +<p>I stood before him, and without mincing matters +told him what I had overheard and all I knew.</p> + +<p>The effect of my words was almost electrical. He +sat up, staring at me almost dazed at my statement.</p> + +<p>"It is true, Heltzendorff. Alas! True!" he +replied. But he would even then give me no inkling +of the reason of his fear.</p> + +<p>"If this Herr Minckwitz means mischief, then +surely it would be easy to secure his arrest for some +offence or other, and you need not appear in it," +I suggested.</p> + +<p>"I've thought of all that. But if the police lay +hands upon him, then he will revenge himself on me. +He will carry out his threat—and—and, Heltzendorff, +I could never hold up my head again."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"I can't be more explicit. I'm in a hole, and I +cannot extricate myself."</p> + +<p>I reflected for a moment. Then I said:</p> + +<p>"You appear to fear some action of Minckwitz's. +If that is so, I will return to Hanover and watch. +If there is any hostile intent, I will endeavour to +prevent it. Fortunately, he does not know me."</p> + +<p>Next night I was back again in Hanover, having +stopped in Berlin to pick up a friend of mine upon +whose discretion I could rely implicitly—a retired +member of the detective force named Hartwieg. +Together we started to watch the movements of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +mysterious Polish musician, and to our surprise we +found that he had three friends, one of them a +furrier living in the Burgstrasse, who visited him +regularly each evening. They always arrived at the +same hour, and generally left about eleven o'clock. +Through five days we kept watch, alternately closely +shadowing the man who called himself Sembach, +and becoming acquainted with his friends, most of +whom seemed of a very queer set.</p> + +<p>There was no doubt that Minckwitz and the two +young women were associates of some criminal gang, +and, further, I was staggered one evening to watch +the arrival at the house of a young man whom I +recognized as Brosch, an under-valet of the Emperor's +at the Neues Palais.</p> + +<p>For what reason had he come from Potsdam?</p> + +<p>He remained there till noon on the following day. +When he emerged, accompanied by Minckwitz, the +pair went into the city, and we followed, when, +curiously enough, I came face to face with Von +Pappenheim's sister, who was apparently there for +the same purpose as myself! Happily she was too +intent in her conversation with Minckwitz, whom +she met as though accidentally, to notice my +presence.</p> + +<p>Then, at last, the musician raised his hat and left +her, rejoining the young man Brosch.</p> + +<p>The pair went to a bookshop in the Herschelstrasse, +and presently, when they came forth again, +Brosch was carrying a good-sized volume wrapped +in brown paper.</p> + +<p>My curiosity was aroused, therefore I went into +the shop, made a purchase, and learned from the +shopman that the younger of the pair had purchased +a well-known German reference-book, Professor +Nebendahl's "Dictionary of Classical Quotations."</p> + +<p>Strange that such a book should be purchased by +an under-valet!</p> + +<p>Leaving the detective Hartwieg to watch, I took<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +the next train back to Potsdam, where I was fortunate +enough to find the Emperor giving audience +to the Imperial Chancellor. At the conclusion of the +audience I sought, and was accorded, a private interview, +at which I recalled His Majesty's anxiety to +ascertain something regarding the man Minckwitz.</p> + +<p>"Well—and have you found him?" asked the +Emperor very eagerly.</p> + +<p>I replied in the affirmative. Then he told me +something which held me breathless, for, unlocking +a drawer, he showed me an anonymous letter of +warning he had received, a letter which, posted in +Paris, stated that an attempt was to be made upon +his life, and hinting that the Crown-Prince might be +aware of it.</p> + +<p>"Of course," he laughed, "I do not regard it +seriously, but I thought we ought to know the whereabouts +of this man Minckwitz, who is probably an +anarchist."</p> + +<p>"Will Your Majesty leave the matter entirely in +my hands?" I suggested. "The police must not +be informed."</p> + +<p>"It shall be as you wish. I give you authority +to act just as you deem best if you really anticipate +danger."</p> + +<p>"I do anticipate it," I replied, and a few moments +later bowed myself out of the Imperial presence.</p> + +<p>During that day I idled about the Palace, gossiping +with the officials and <i>dames du palais</i>, awaiting the +return of the young man Brosch. That night he did +not come back, but he arrived at the Palace about +seven o'clock on the following morning. The head +valet was furious at his absence, but the young man +made a very plausible excuse that his sister out at +Lichtenberg was very dangerously ill.</p> + +<p>I had had no sleep that night, but as soon as I +was informed of the under-valet's return, I repaired +to the Emperor's study and secreted myself beneath +a great damask-covered settee which runs along the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +wall opposite the door. For nearly an hour I remained +there, when the door was opened stealthily +and there entered the young man whom I had seen +in Hanover on the previous day. He carried a book +in his hand. This he swiftly exchanged for another +similar book of the same appearance, and a moment +later crept out again, closing the door noiselessly.</p> + +<p>Quickly I came forth and took up the classical +dictionary, a copy of which was usually upon the +Emperor's table. It presented just the same appearance +as the book that Brosch had taken away, only +it was considerably heavier.</p> + +<p>Without delay I dashed out, sought the Emperor's +valet, and was admitted to His Majesty's presence.</p> + +<p>Three minutes later we were both in the study. +I took up the book and held it to his ear. Just as +I had heard, he could detect the faint ticking of a +watch within.</p> + +<p>The book had been hollowed out and a time bomb +inserted! It was, no doubt, set to explode between +eight and nine o'clock, when the Emperor would +be at his desk.</p> + +<p>"Take it out quickly!" shrieked the Kaiser in +terror, when he realized the true import of the plot.</p> + +<p>In obedience, handling the book very carefully, +I rushed with it downstairs out into the open. I +placed it on the grass some distance away, while +the Emperor followed me, utterly astounded at the +discovery.</p> + +<p>Having deposited it, I dashed back to where the +Emperor was standing upon the steps, greatly to +the surprise of the sentries, when hardly had I +reached him than there showed a blood-red flash, +followed by a terrific report and concussion—an +explosion which, had it occurred in the upstairs +study, must have blown the Emperor's head off as +he sat.</p> + +<p>His Majesty stood white and rigid, instantly +realizing what a narrow escape he had had, while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +the noise caused the greatest alarm, and people began +rushing hither and thither to ascertain the cause.</p> + +<p>In a few seconds His Majesty was calm again.</p> + +<p>"Say nothing of this, Heltzendorff," he said. +"Let it remain a mystery. Come upstairs and I +will speak on the telephone to the police."</p> + +<p>"Your Majesty gave the matter unreservedly into +my hands," I reminded him.</p> + +<p>"Ah! that is so. I forgot," he exclaimed, and +after thanking me he added: "Take what steps you +like, but have the offenders punished, and also try +to discover who sent me that anonymous warning."</p> + +<p>The young valet, who had been, no doubt, heavily +bribed by Minckwitz to substitute the book, had +already disappeared, and, as a matter of fact, has +never been seen in Germany since.</p> + +<p>The man Minckwitz had also, it seemed, suddenly +left Hanover on the night of my departure, for Hartwieg, +following him, reported to me by wire that he +was in Paris.</p> + +<p>Without delay I travelled to the French capital, +saw my old friend Pinaud of the Sûreté, and told +him the whole story, explaining in confidence that +for some mysterious reason the Crown-Prince feared +that if the man were arrested he might reveal something +unpleasant.</p> + +<p>"I quite understand," replied the French detective, +with a smile. "I know that, six months ago, while +the Crown-Prince was in Paris, he was one night +enticed by a girl into the gaming-house kept by the +notorious Minckwitz. There a quarrel ensued, and +the Crown-Prince, fearing attack, drew his revolver, +which went off and shot one of Minckwitz's confederates +stone dead. The Crown-Prince has ever +since been paying big sums to hush up the affair. +Until recently Minckwitz conceived the idea that if +the Emperor died and the Crown-Prince came to +the Throne it would mean to him considerably more +money each year. Therefore he conceived that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +diabolical plot. I warned the Crown-Prince of it, +and he threatened to expose Minckwitz and have +him arrested. Minckwitz, in turn, threatened that +if His Highness made the slightest movement to +thwart his plans he would expose to the world that +the German Crown-Prince, during his latest escapade +in the Montmartre, had killed a man. Finding this +to be the case, I myself wrote that anonymous letter +of warning, which I addressed to the Emperor."</p> + +<p>"And which has had the effect of saving His +Majesty's life," I remarked.</p> + +<p>That night Minckwitz found himself arrested upon +a charge of blackmailing a Portugese nobleman, +and was later on sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment.</p> + +<p>In his solitary hours in prison he often wonders, +I expect, why his dastardly plot failed. Had it been +successful, however, it certainly would have had a +great effect upon the future history of the world.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +THE END +<br /> +<br /> +<i>Printed at The Chapel River Press, Kingston, Surrey.</i> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="NOTE_ADDED_BY_COUNT_ERNST_VON" id="NOTE_ADDED_BY_COUNT_ERNST_VON"></a>NOTE ADDED BY COUNT ERNST VON +HELTZENDORFF:</h2> + +<p><i>I propose, with the assistance +of my friend the Commendatore +William Le Queux, to issue in +Great Britain a further instalment +of my revelations of "The Secrets +of Potsdam" at an early date.</i> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='center'> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +<span class='u'><i>In the Press.</i></span> +<span class='u'><i>Uniform with this volume.</i></span> +<h1>FOR THE QUEEN</h1> +By +<h2>E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM</h2> +Author of<br /> +"Those Other Days," "Mr. Wingrave, Millionaire." etc., etc.<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +LONDON:<br /> +LONDON MAIL LTD.<br /> +39, KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C.<br /> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3> +<p>A list of chapter links was added at the beginning of the book.</p> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p> +<p>Both Hotel and Hôtel appear and were not changed.</p> +<p>Page 28: Umlaut added to three occurrences of "Fürstenberg".</p> +<p>Page 103: Hyphen removed from "ear[-]rings".</p> +<p>Page 106: "Leichtenstein" changed to "Liechtenstein" (Liechtenstein Bridge).</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Secrets of Potsdam, by William Le Queux + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRETS OF POTSDAM *** + +***** This file should be named 34278-h.htm or 34278-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/2/7/34278/ + +Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Secrets of Potsdam + +Author: William Le Queux + +Release Date: November 11, 2010 [EBook #34278] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRETS OF POTSDAM *** + + + + +Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + +THE SECRETS OF POTSDAM + + + + +_First impression, March, 1917. +Second impression, March, 1917._ + + + + +THE +Secrets of Potsdam + +_A STARTLING EXPOSURE OF THE INNER LIFE +OF THE COURTS OF THE KAISER +AND CROWN-PRINCE_ + +REVEALED FOR THE FIRST TIME +by +COUNT ERNST VON HELTZENDORFF + +_Commander of the Order of the Black Eagle, &c. +Late Personal-Adjutant to the German Crown-Prince_ + + +CHRONICLED BY +WILLIAM LE QUEUX + +LONDON: +LONDON MAIL LTD. +39, KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN. W.C. + + + + +_Copyright in the United States of America by +William Le Queux, 1917 +Translation and Cinema Rights reserved_ + + + + +_"Veneux Nadon, +"par Moret-sur-Loing +"(Seine-et-Marne). +"February 10th, 1917._ + + +"MY DEAR LE QUEUX, + +"_I have just finished reading the proofs of your book describing my +life as an official at the Imperial Court at Potsdam, and the two or +three small errors you made I have duly corrected._ + +"_The gross scandals and wily intrigues which I have related to you +were, many of them, known to yourself, for, as the intimate friend of +Luisa, the Ex-Crown-Princess of Saxony, you were, before the war, +closely associated with many of those at Court whose names appear in the +pages of this book._ + +"_The revelations which I have made, and which you have recorded here, +are but a tithe of the disclosures which I could make, and if your +British public desire more, I shall be pleased to furnish you with other +and even more startling details which you may also put into print._ + +"_My service as personal-adjutant to the German Crown-Prince is, +happily, at an end, and now, with the treachery of Germany against +civilization glaringly revealed, I feel, in my retirement, no +compunction in exposing all I know concerning the secrets of the Kaiser +and his profligate son._ + +"_With most cordial greetings from_ +"_Your sincere friend_, +"ERNST VON HELTZENDORFF." + + + + +The Secrets of Potsdam + +SECRET NUMBER ONE + +THE TRAGEDY OF THE LEUTENBERGS + + +You will recollect our first meeting on that sunny afternoon when, in +the stuffy, nauseating atmosphere of perspiration and a hundred Parisian +perfumes, we sat next each other at the first roulette table on the +right as you enter the rooms at Monte Carlo? + +Ah! how vivid it is still before my eyes, the jingle of gold and the +monotonous cries of the croupiers. + +Ah! my dear friend! In those pre-war days the Riviera--that sea-lapped +Paradise, with its clear, open sky and sapphire Mediterranean, +grey-green olives and tall flowering aloes, its gorgeous blossoms, and +its merry, dark-eyed populace who lived with no thought of the +morrow--was, indeed, the playground of Europe. + +And, let me whisper it, I think I may venture to declare that few of its +annual habitues enjoyed the life more than your dear old ink-stained +self. + +What brought us together, you, an English novelist, and I a--well, how +shall I describe myself? One of your enemies--eh? No, dear old fellow. +Let us sink all our international differences. May I say that I, Count +Ernst von Heltzendorff, of Schloss Heltzendorff, on the Mosel, late +personal-adjutant to His Imperial Highness the Crown-Prince, an official +attached to that precious young scoundrel's immediate person, call you +my dear friend? + +True, our nations are, alas! at war--the war which the Kaiser and his +son long sought, but which, as you well know, I have long ago detested. + +I have repudiated that set of pirates and assassins of whom I was, alas! +born, and among whom I moved until I learned of the vile plot afoot +against the peace of Europe and the chastity of its female inhabitants. + +On August 5th, 1914, I shook the dust of Berlin from my feet, crossed +the French frontier, and have since resided in the comfortable +old-fashioned country house which you assisted me to purchase on the +border of the lovely forest of Fontainebleau. + +And now, you have asked me to reveal to you some of the secrets of +Potsdam--secrets known to me by reason of my official position before +the war. + +You are persuading me to disclose some facts concerning the public and +private life of the Emperor, of my Imperial master the Crown-Prince, +known in his intimate circle as "Willie," and of the handsome but +long-suffering Cecil Duchess of Mecklenbourg, who married him ten years +ago and became known as "Cilli." Phew! Poor woman! she has experienced +ten years of misery, domestic unhappiness, by which she has become +prematurely aged, deep-eyed, her countenance at times when we talked +wearing an almost tragic look. + +No wonder, indeed, that there is a heavy and, alas! broken heart within +the beautiful Marble Palace at Potsdam, that splendid residence where +you once visited me and were afterwards commanded to a reception held by +His Imperial Highness. + +I risk much, I know, in taking up my pen to tell the truth and to make +these exposures to you, but I do so because I think it only just that +your British nation should know the true character of the Emperor and +of the unscrupulous and ubiquitous "Willie," the defiant young +Blackguard of Europe, who is the idol of the swaggering German Army, and +upon whom they pin their hopes. + +It is true that the Commander of the Death's Head Hussars--the +"Commander" who has since the war sanctioned the cold-blooded murder of +women and children, the shooting of prisoners, rapine, incendiarism, and +every other devil's work that his horde of assassins could commit--once +declared that "the day will come when Social Democrats will come to +Court." + +True, he has been known to be present at the golden wedding festivities +of a poor cobbler in Potsdam; that he has picked up in his yellow +ninety-horse-power car--with its black imp as a mascot--a poor tramp and +taken him to the hospital; and that he possesses the charming manner of +his much-worshipped grandfather, the Emperor Frederick. But he is as +clever and cunning as his criminal father, Wilhehm-der-Ploetzliche +(William the Sudden) or Der Einzige (The Only), as the Kaiser is called +by the people of the Palace. He shows with double cunning but one side +of his character to the misguided German people, the Prussian Junker +party, and the Tom-Dick-and-Harry of the Empire who have been made +cannon-fodder and whose bones lie rotting in Flanders and on the Aisne. + +Ah, my dear friend, what a strange life was that of the German Court +before the war--a life of mummery, of gay uniforms, tinsel, gilded +decorations, black hearts posing as virtuous, and loose people of both +sexes evilly scandalizing their neighbours and pulling strings which +caused their puppets to dance to the War-Lord's tune. + +I once lifted the veil slightly to you when you stayed at the Palast +Hotel in Potsdam and came to us at the Marble Palace, and I suppose it +is for that reason that you ask me to jot down, for the benefit of your +readers in Great Britain and her Dominions, a few facts concerning the +plots of the Kaiser and his son--the idol of Germany, the Kronprinz +"Willie." + +What did you think of him when I presented you? + +I know how, later on that same night, you remarked upon his height, his +narrow chest, and his corset-waist, and how strangely his animal eyes +set slant-wise in his thin, aquiline face, goggle eyes, which dilate so +strangely when speaking with you, and which yet seem to penetrate your +innermost thoughts. + +I agreed with you when you declared that there was nothing outwardly of +the typical Hohenzollern in the Imperial Rake. True, one seeks in vain +for traces of martial virility. Though his face is so often wreathed in +boyish smiles, yet his heart is as hard as that of the true +Hohenzollern, while his pretended love of sport is only a clever ruse in +order to retain the popularity which, by dint of artful pretence, he has +undoubtedly secured. Indeed, it was because of the All-Highest One's +jealousy of his reckless yet crafty son's growing popularity that we +were one day all suddenly packed off to Danzig to be immured for two +long years in that most dreary and provincial of all garrisons. + +Of the peccadilloes of the elegant young blackguard of Europe--who +became a fully-fledged colonel in the German Army at the age of +thirty-one--I need say but little. His life has been crammed with +disgraceful incidents, most of them hushed up at the Kaiser's command, +though several of them--especially certain occurrences in the Engadine +in the winter of 1912--reached the ears of the Crown-Princess, who, one +memorable day, unable to stand her husband's callous treatment, +threatened seriously to leave him. + +Indeed, it was only by the Kaiser's autocratic order that "Cilli" +remained at the Marmor Palace. She had actually made every preparation +to leave, a fact which I, having learned it, was compelled to report to +the Crown-Prince. We were at the Palace in the Zeughaus-Platz, in +Berlin, at the time, and an hour after I had returned from Potsdam I +chanced to enter the Crown-Prince's study. The door was a self-locking +one, and I had a key. On turning my key I drew back, for His Majesty the +Emperor, a fine figure in the picturesque cavalry uniform of the +Koenigsjaeger--who had just come from a review, and had no doubt heard of +the threatened Royal scandal--was standing astride in the room. + +"I compel it!" cried the Emperor, pale with rage, his eyes flashing as +he spoke. "She shall remain! Go to her at once--make your peace with her +in any way you can--and appear to-night with her at the theatre." + +"But I fear it is impossible. I----" + +"Have you not heard me?" interrupted the Emperor, disregarding his son's +protests. And as I discreetly withdrew I heard the Kaiser add: "Cannot +you, of our House of Hohenzollern, see that we cannot afford to allow +Cilli to leave us? The present state of the public mind is not +encouraging, much as I regret it. Remember Frederick August's position +when that madcap Luisa of Tuscany ran away with the French tutor Giron. +Now return to Marmor without delay and do as I bid." + +"I know Cilli. She will not be appeased. Of that I am convinced," +declared the young man. + +"It is my will--the will of the Emperor," were the last words I heard, +spoken in that hard, intense voice I knew so well. "Tell your wife so. +And do not see that black-haired Englishwoman again. I had a full report +from the Engadine a fortnight ago, and this _contretemps_ is only what I +have expected. It is disgraceful! When will you learn reason?" + +Ten minutes later I was seated beside the Crown-Prince in the car on our +way to Potsdam. + +On the road, driving recklessly as I sat by his side, he laughed lightly +as he turned to me, saying: + +"What an infernal worry women really are--aren't they, +Heltzendorff--more especially if one is an Imperial Prince! Even though +one is a Hohenzollern one cannot escape trouble!" + +How the conjugal relations were resumed I know not. All I know is that I +attended their Imperial Highnesses to the Lessing Theatre, where, in the +Royal box, the Kaiser--ever eager to stifle the shortcomings of the +Hohenzollerns--sat with us, though according to his engagements he +should have been on his way to Duesseldorf for a great review on the +morrow. But such public display allayed all rumour of his son's domestic +infelicity, and both Emperor and Kronprinz smiled benignly upon the +people. + +Early next day the Crown-Prince summoned me, in confidence, and an hour +later I left on a secret mission to a certain lady whom I may call Miss +Lilian Greyford--as it is not fair in certain cases in these exposures +to mention actual names--daughter of an English county gentleman, who +was staying at the "Kulm" at St. Moritz. + +Twenty-four hours afterwards I managed to see the winter-sports young +lady alone in the hotel, and gave her a verbal message, together with a +little package from His Imperial Highness, which, when she opened it, I +found contained a souvenir in the shape of an artistic emerald pendant. +With it were some scribbled lines. The girl--she was not much more than +twenty--read them eagerly, and burst into a torrent of tears. + +Ah! my dear Le Queux, as you yourself know from your own observations, +there are as many broken hearts beating beneath the corsets of +ladies-in-waiting and maids-of-honour, as there are among that frantic +feminine crowd striving to enter the magic circle of the Royal +entourage or the women of the workaday world who pass up +Unter-den-Linden on a Sunday. + +Phew! What a world of fevered artificiality revolves around a throne! + +Very soon after this incident--namely, in the early days of 1912--I +found myself, as the personal-adjutant of His Imperial Highness the +Crown-Prince, involved in a very strange, even inexplicable, affair. + +How shall I explain it? Well, the drama opened in the Emperor's Palace +in Berlin on New Year's night, 1912, when, as usual, a Grand Court +reception was held. + +The scene was one which we who revolve around the throne know so well. +Court gowns, nodding plumes, gay uniforms, and glittering decorations--a +vicious, tinselled, gossip-loving little world which with devilish +intent sows seeds of dark suspicion or struggles for the Kaiser's +favour. + +In the famous White Salon, with its ceiling gaudily emblazoned with the +arms of the Hohenzollerns as Burgraves, Electors, Kings, Emperors, and +what-not, its walls of coloured marble and gilded bronze, and its fine +statues of the Prussian rulers, we had all assembled and were waiting +the entrance of the Emperor. + +Kiderlen-Waechter--the Foreign Secretary--was standing near me, chatting +with Von Jagow, slim, dark-haired and spruce. The latter, who was +serving as German Ambassador in Rome, happened to be in Berlin on leave, +and the pair were laughing merrily with a handsome black-haired woman +whom I recognized as the Baroness Bertieri, wife of the Italian +Ambassador. + +Philip Eulenburg, one of the Emperor's personal friends (by the way, +author, with Von Moltke, of the Kaiser's much-advertised "Song to +AEgir"--a fact not generally known), approached me and began to chat, +recalling a side-splitting incident that had occurred a few days before +at Kiel, whither I had been with the Crown-Prince to open a new bridge. +Oh, those infernal statues and bridges! + +Of a sudden the tap of the Chamberlain's stick was heard thrice, the +gold-and-white doors instantly fell open, and the Emperor, his +decorations gleaming beneath the myriad lights, smilingly entered with +his waddling consort, the Crown-Prince, and their brilliant suite. + +All of us bowed low in homage, but as we did so I saw the shrewd eyes of +the All-Highest One, which nothing escapes, fixed upon a woman who stood +close to my elbow. As he fixed his fierce gaze upon her I saw, knowing +that glance as I did, that it spoke volumes. Hitherto I had not noticed +the lady, for she was probably one of those unimportant persons who are +commanded to a Grand Court, wives and daughters of military nobodies, of +whom we at the Palace never took the trouble to inquire so long as their +gilt command-cards, issued by the Grand Chamberlain, were in proper +order. + +That slight contraction of the Emperor's eyebrows caused me to ponder +deeply, for, knowing him so intimately, I saw that he was intensely +annoyed. + +For what reason? I was much mystified. + +Naturally I turned to glance at the woman whose presence had so +irritated him. She was fair-haired, blue-eyed, _petite_ and pretty. Her +age was about twenty-five, and she was extremely good-looking. Beside +her stood a big, fair-haired giant in the uniform of a captain of the +First Regiment of the Hussars of the Guard, of which the Crown-Prince +was Colonel-in-Chief. + +Within a quarter of an hour I discovered that the officer was Count +Georg von Leutenberg, and that his pretty wife, whom he had married two +years before, was the eldest daughter of an English financier who had +been created a Baron by your rule-of-thumb politicians. + +"Pretty woman, eh?" lisped Eulenburg in my ear, for he had noticed her, +and he was assuredly the best judge of a pretty face in all Berlin. + +Next day, just before noon, on entering the Crown-Prince's private +cabinet, I found "Willie" in the uniform of the 2nd Grenadiers, +apparently awaiting me in that cosy apartment, which is crammed with +effigies, statuettes, and relics of the great Napoleon, whom he worships +just as the War Lord reveres his famous ancestor Frederick the Great. + +"Sit down, Heltzendorff," said his Elegant Highness, waving his white, +well-manicured hand to a chair near by, and puffing at his cigarette. +"It is really pleasant to have an hour's rest!" he laughed, for he +seemed in merry mood that day. "Look here! As you know, after the little +affair with the Crown-Princess I trust to your absolute discretion. Do +you happen to know Count Georg von Leutenberg, of the Hussars of the +Guard?" + +"By sight only," was my reply. Mention of that name caused me to wonder. + +"He is a very good fellow, I understand. Do you know his wife--a pretty +little Englishwoman?" + +"Unfortunately, I have not that pleasure." + +"Neither have I, Heltzendorff," laughed the Prince, with a queer look in +those slant-set eyes which appear so strangely goggly sometimes. "But I +soon shall know her, I expect. In that direction I want your +assistance." + +"I am yours for your Highness to command," I replied, puzzled to know +what was in progress. After a few seconds of silence the Crown-Prince +suddenly exclaimed: + +"So good is the report of Von Leutenberg that has reached the Emperor +that--though he is as yet in ignorance of the fact--he has been promoted +to the rank of major, and ordered upon a foreign mission--as military +attache in London. He will leave Berlin to-night to take up his new +post." + +"And the Countess?" + +"By a secret report I happen to have here it is shown that they are a +most devoted pair," he said, glancing at a sheet of buff paper upon +which was typed a report, one which I recognized as emanating from the +secret bureau at the Polizei-Prasidium, in Alexander Platz. "They live +in the Lennestrasse, No. 44, facing the Tiergarten. Note the address." + +Then his Highness paused, and, rising, crossed to the big writing-table +set in the window, and there examined another report. Afterwards, +glancing at the pretty buhl clock opposite, he suddenly said: + +"The Count should call here now. I have sent informing him of the +Emperor's goodwill, and ordering him to report here to take leave of me +as his Colonel-in-Chief." + +Scarcely had he spoken when Count von Leutenberg was announced by a +flunkey in pink silk stockings, and a moment later the tall officer +clicked his heels together and saluted smartly on the threshold. + +"I thought you would be pleased at your well-merited promotion," said +his Highness in quite a genial tone. "The Emperor wishes you to leave +for London by the ten o'clock express for Flushing to-night, so as to +report to his Excellency the Ambassador before he departs on leave. +Hence the urgency. The Countess, of course, will remain in Berlin. You +will, naturally, wish for time to make your arrangements in London and +dispose of your house here." + +"I think she will wish to accompany me, your Imperial Highness," replied +the fond husband. "London is her home." + +"Ah! That is absurd!" laughed "Willie." "Why, you who have been married +two whole years are surely not still upon your honeymoon?" and his +close-set eyes glinted strangely. "You will be far too busy on taking up +your new appointment to see much of her. No. Let her remain comfortably +at home in Berlin until you are quite settled. Then I will see that +Kiderlen grants you leave to return to put your house in order." + +From the Count's manner I could see that he was very much puzzled at his +sudden promotion. + +Indeed, on entering he had stammered out his surprise at being singled +out for such high distinction. + +Von Leutenberg's hesitation was the Crown-Prince's opportunity. + +"Good!" went on his Highness in his imperious, impetuous way. "You will +leave for London to-night, and the Countess will remain until you have +settled. I congratulate you most heartily upon your well-deserved +advancement, which I consider is an honour conferred by the Emperor upon +my regiment. I know, too, that you will act to the honour of the +Fatherland abroad." + +And with those words the major was dismissed. + +"A charming man!" remarked the Prince, after the door had closed. "He +has only been brought to my notice quite recently. An enthusiastic +officer, he will be of great use to us at Carlton House Terrace. There +is much yet to be done there, my dear Heltzendorff. Fortunately we have +put our friends the English comfortably to sleep. It has cost us money, +but money talks in London, just as it does in Berlin." + +And he drew a long, ecstatic breath at the mere thought of the great +international plot in progress--of the staggering blow to be struck +against France, and the march upon Paris with those men who were his +boon companions--Von Kluck, Von Hindenburg and Von der Goltz. + +"Heltzendorff," he exclaimed a few moments later, after he had reflected +deeply between the whiffs of his cigarette. "Heltzendorff, I wish you to +become acquainted with the Countess von Leutenberg, and you must +afterwards introduce me. I have a fixed and distinct reason. I could +obtain the assistance of others, but I trust you only." + +"But I do not know the lady," I protested, for I had no desire +whatsoever to become implicated in any double-dealing. + +"Hohenstein knows her well. I will see that he introduces you," replied +the Kaiser's son, with that strange look again in his eyes. "She's +uncommonly pretty, so mind you don't fall in love with her!" he laughed, +holding up his finger reprovingly. "I've heard, too, that Count Georg is +a highly jealous person, but, fortunately, he will be very busy writing +secret reports at Carlton House Terrace. So go and see Hohenstein at +once, and get him to introduce you to the pretty little Englishwoman. +But, remember, not a word of this conversation is to be breathed to a +single soul." + +What did it all mean? Why had the Emperor singled out for advancement +the husband of that woman, the sight of whom had so greatly annoyed him? +I confess that I became more than ever puzzled over the curious affair. + +Within a week, however, thanks to the introduction of that old roue, +Hohenstein, I had dined at Count von Leutenberg's pretty house in the +Lennestrasse in a fine room, the long windows of which commanded a +delightful view over the Tiergarten and the Siegesallee. + +The Countess, extremely charming and refined, having the misfortune of +being English, had not been taken up warmly by Berlin society. She was, +I found, a most delightful hostess. The party included Laroque, the +elegant First Secretary of the French Embassy, and his Parisian wife, +together with Baron Hoffmann, the burly, round-faced Minister of the +Interior, and Doctor Paulssen, Under-Secretary at the Colonial Office, +against whom you will remember there were allegations of atrocities +committed upon the natives in German East Africa. Hohenstein was, +however, not there, as he had been suddenly dispatched by the Emperor +upon a mission to Corfu. + +At table the talk ran upon Leutenberg's sudden promotion, whereupon the +Minister Hoffmann declared: + +"His Majesty only gives reward when it is due. When he discerns talent +he is never mistaken." + +A week later the Crown-Prince had returned from a surprise visit the +Kaiser had made to Stettin. The Emperor had played his old game of +rousing the garrison in the middle of the night, and then laughing at +the ludicrous figures cut by his pompous Generals and Colonels rushing +about in their night attire eager to greet their Sovereign. + +I was in the Prince's private room arranging the details of a military +programme at Potsdam on the following day when he suddenly entered and +exclaimed: + +"Well, Heltzendorff, and how are you proceeding in the Lennestrasse, +eh?" and he looked at me with those crafty eyes of his. "I hear you were +at the house last night." + +I started. Was I being watched? It was quite true that I had called on +the previous evening, and, finding the Countess alone, had sat in her +pretty drawing-room enjoying a long and delightful chat with her. + +"Yes. I called there," I admitted. "The Count is returning from London +next week to take his wife back with him." + +The Crown-Prince smiled mysteriously, and critically examined the +curious snake ring which he always wears upon the little finger of his +left hand. + +"We need not anticipate that, I think. Kiderlen will not grant him +leave. He is far better in Carlton House Terrace than in the +Lennestrasse." + +"I hardly follow your Highness," I remarked, much mystified at his +words. + +"H'm. Probably not, my dear Count," he laughed. "I do not intend that +you should." + +And with that mysterious remark he turned to meet Count von Zeppelin, +the round-faced, snow-haired, somewhat florid inventor, who was one of +his Highness's most intimate friends, and who had at that moment entered +unannounced. Zeppelin was a character in Berlin. He sought no friends, +no advertisement, and shunned notoriety. + +"Ha, my dear Ferdinand!" cried the Prince, shaking the hand of the man +who so suddenly became world-famous at the age of seventy. "You have +travelled from Stuttgart to see me--unwell as you are! It is an honour. +But the matter is one of greatest urgency, as I have already written to +you. I want to show you the correspondence and seek your advice," and +the Prince invited his white-haired friend to the big, carved arm-chair +beside his writing-table. Then, turning to me, he said: "Will you see +Von Glasenapp for me, and hand him those orders for Posen? He must leave +to-night. The General Court-Martial at Stendal I have fixed for the +25th. I shall be with the Emperor this afternoon. Report here at seven +to-night--understand?" + +Thus was I dismissed, while His Imperial Highness and Count Zeppelin sat +together in secret counsel. + +At ten minutes to seven that evening I unlocked the Crown-Prince's room +with the key I carried, the other two keys being in the hands of the +Crown-Princess and her husband. I had placed upon the table a bundle of +reports which had just been brought round from the Ministry of War, and +required that scribbly signature, "Wilhelm Kronprinz," when I noticed +three private letters that had evidently been placed aside. The +envelopes were addressed in a thin, angular, female hand, and bore an +English address. I noted it. The name on each was that of a lady +residing in Aylesbury Avenue, Hampstead, London. The letters bore German +stamps. In keen curiosity, I took one and examined it, wondering whether +it could be the correspondence which the Crown-Prince had been so eager +to show Count von Zeppelin in secret. + +I drew the letter from the envelope and scanned it rapidly. + +What I read caused me to hold my breath. The signature to the letters +was "Enid von Leutenberg." + +Those letters of hers had, it was plain, been seized in the post on +their way to London. The Countess either had a traitor in her household +or secret watch was being kept by the Secret Service upon her +correspondence. + +All three of those letters I read--letters which opened my eyes and +broadened my mind. Then, taking up my bundle of reports, I crept away +from the room, carefully re-latching the door. I intended that his +Highness should return, discover the letters left there inadvertently, +and put them away ere my arrival, in which case he would never suspect +that I had any knowledge of their contents. + +With the papers in my hand I passed along the many carpeted corridors to +the south wing of the Palace, where I found Tresternitz, Marshal of the +Prince's Court, in his room. + +The Crown-Prince imitated his father's sharp punctuality, therefore I +knew that he would be there at seven or soon afterwards. + +Tresternitz was always full of scandal concerning those who lived in the +higher circles of Berlin, and it was to one of these stories of Court +scandal concerning one of the ladies-in-waiting which I listened while I +smoked one of his excellent Russian cigarettes. + +Then, glancing at the clock, I rose suddenly and left him, returning +again to the private room. + +I found his Highness there, and as I entered I noticed that he had +hidden those remarkable letters which he had in secret shown to Count +Zeppelin. + +A fortnight went past. The Kaiser, with his mad love of constant travel, +had been rushing up and down the Empire--to Krupp's at Essen, to the +trials of a newly-invented howitzer, thence to an inspection at Kassel, +and afterwards to unveil monuments at Cologne and at Erfurt. The +Crown-Prince and Princess had accompanied him, the Kaiserin being +indisposed, and I, of course, had been included in "Willie's" suite. + +The week had been a strenuous one of train-travel, luncheons, tiring +dinners, receptions, dancing, and general junketings, and I was glad +enough to get back to my bachelor rooms--those rooms in the +Krausenstrasse that you knew so well before the bursting of the +war-cloud. To dance attendance upon an Imperial Crown-Prince, as well as +upon an autocratic Emperor, becomes after a time a wearisome business, +however gay and cosmopolitan a man may be. + +I had only been at home a few hours when a telephone message summoned me +at five o'clock to the Crown-Prince's Palace. + +His Imperial Highness, who had, I knew, been lunching with the Emperor +at the Koenigliches Schloss across the bridge, seemed unusually serious +and thoughtful. Perhaps the Emperor had again shown his anger at his +peccadilloes, as he did so frequently. + +"Count," he said, after a few seconds of silence, during which I noted +that upon his table lay a private letter from the German Ambassador in +London. "You will recall my conversation regarding the Countess von +Leutenberg--eh?" + +"Perfectly," was my reply. + +"I told you that I should require you to introduce me," he said. "Well, +I want you to do so this evening. She has taken a box at the Koenigliche +Opera to-night, where they are to play _Falstaff_. I shall be there, and +you will be with me. Then you will introduce me to your pretty friend. +Understand?" And he grinned. + +That night, in accordance with my instructions, I sat in the Emperor's +box with the Crown-Prince, Tresternitz, and two personal-adjutants, and, +recognizing the Countess von Leutenberg in a box opposite, accompanied +by an elderly lady, I took the Crown-Prince round, and there presented +her to him, greatly to her surprise and undisguised delight. + +The Prince and the Countess chatted together, while I sat with her +elderly companion. Then, when we had withdrawn, my Imperial Master +exclaimed: + +"Ah! my dear Heltzendorff. Why, she is one of the prettiest women in all +Berlin! Surely it is unfortunate--most unfortunate." + +What was unfortunate? I was further puzzled by that last sentence, yet I +dare not ask any explanation, and we went back to our own box. + +After our return to the Palace the Crown-Prince, who was standing in one +of the corridors talking with the slim, fair-haired Baroness von Wedel, +one of his wife's ladies-in-waiting, left her and beckoned me into an +adjoining room. + +"I wish you, Heltzendorff, to call upon the Countess von Leutenberg at +nine o'clock to-morrow evening. She will expect you." + +I looked at his Highness, much puzzled. How did he know that the pretty +Countess would expect me? + +But he gave me no time to reply, merely turning upon his heel, and +striding down the corridor to the private apartments. + +Punctually at nine o'clock that wintry evening I called at the +Lennestrasse, but Josef, the elderly manservant, informed me that his +mistress was engaged, adding that His Imperial Highness the Crown-Prince +had paid a surprise call. + +"The Crown-Prince here!" I gasped, astounded. + +"Yes, Count. And, further, my mistress is in high glee, for my master +returned this morning quite unexpectedly from London. He has been out at +the Ministry for Foreign Affairs all the evening, and I expect him home +at any moment. The Crown-Prince ordered me to ask you to await him +here." + +Count von Leutenberg in Berlin! What did it mean? He was absurdly +jealous, I recollected. He might return at any moment and find the +Crown-Prince alone in the Countess's drawing-room. If so, the situation +might certainly be a most unpleasant one. + +Hardly had the thought crossed my mind when I heard the Count enter, his +spurs clinking and his sabre rattling as he strode up the stairs. + +I crept forth, listening breathlessly. + +A few seconds later I heard the Count's voice raised in anger and high, +bitter words. Next moment I sprang up the stairs and, dashing into the +room, found the pretty Countess standing near the window, white and +rigid as a statue, while the two men in uniform faced each other. Von +Leutenberg's countenance was distorted with rage as he abused the +Crown-Prince, and openly charged him with having brought about his exile +to London. + +His Highness made no reply, but only smiled sarcastically and shrugged +his narrow shoulders. + +So enraged the other became at this latter gesture that, with a sudden +movement, he drew his sword. + +The Countess shrieked and swooned as I sprang forward and stayed her +husband's hand. + +It was a dramatic moment. The Count instantly realized the enormity of +his crime, and his hand dropped. + +"Enough!" cried the Crown-Prince, waving his adversary aside. Then, +turning to me, he said in a calm, hard voice: + +"Heltzendorff, you are witness that this man has drawn his sword upon +the heir to the Throne." + +And with those haughty words he bowed stiffly and strode out of the +room. + +Two hours later I was commanded to the Kaiser's presence, and found him +in counsel with his son. + +The Emperor, who wore the uniform of the Guards, looked pale and +troubled, yet in his eyes there was a keen, determined look. As I +passed the sentries and entered the lofty study, with its upholstery and +walls of pale green damask--that room from which the Empire and the +whole world have so often been addressed--the Kaiser broke off short in +his conversation. + +Turning to me as he still sat at his littered table, he said in that +quick, impetuous way of his: + +"Count Heltzendorff, the Crown-Prince has informed me of what has +occurred this evening in the Lennestrasse. I wish you to convey this at +once to Count von Leutenberg and to give it into his own hand. There is +no reply." + +And His Majesty handed me a rather bulky envelope addressed in his own +bold handwriting, and bearing his own private cipher impressed in black +wax. + +Thus commanded, I bowed, withdrew, and took a taxicab straight to the +Lennestrasse, being ushered by Josef into the presence of husband and +wife in that same room I had quitted a couple of hours before. + +I handed the Count the packet the Emperor had given me, and with +trembling fingers he tore it open. + +From within he drew three letters, those same letters which his wife had +written to London, and which had been intercepted by the Secret +Service--the letters which I had read in his Highness's room. + +As he scanned the lines which the Emperor had penned his face blanched. +A loud cry of dismay escaped his wife as she recognized her own letters, +and she snatched the note from her husband's hand and also read it. + +The light died instantly from her beautiful countenance. Then, turning +to me, she said in a hoarse, hopeless tone: + +"Thank you, Count von Heltzendorff. Tell His Majesty the Emperor that +his command shall be--yes, it shall be obeyed." + +Those last words she spoke in a deep, hoarse whisper, a strange, wild +look of desperation in her blue eyes. + +An hour later I reported again at the Imperial Palace, was granted +audience of the Emperor, and gave him the verbal reply. + +His Majesty uttered no word, merely nodding his head slowly in approval. + +Next afternoon a painful sensation was caused throughout Berlin when the +_Abendpost_ published the news that Count von Leutenberg, the man so +recently promoted by the Emperor, and his pretty wife had both been +found dead in their room. During the night they had evidently burned +some papers, for the tinder was found in the stove, and having agreed to +die together, they being so much attached during life, they had both +taken prussic acid in some wine, the bottle and half-emptied glasses +being still upon the table. + +The romantic affair, the truth of which I here reveal for the first +time, was regarded by all Berlin as an inexplicable tragedy. The public +are still unaware of how those intercepted letters contained serious +warnings to the British Government of the Emperor's hostile intentions +towards Britain, and the probable date of the outbreak of war. Indeed, +they recounted a private conversation which the Countess had overheard +between the Kaiser and Count Zeppelin, repeating certain opprobrious +epithets which the All-Highest had bestowed upon one or two British +statesmen, and she also pointed out the great danger of a pending +rupture between the two Powers, as well as explaining some details +regarding the improved Zeppelins in course of construction secretly on +Lake Constance, and certain scandals regarding the private life of the +Crown-Prince. + +It was for the latter reason that the heir, aided by the War-Lord, took +his revenge in a manner so crafty, so subtle, and so typical of the +innate cunning of the Hohenzollerns. + +Thus the well-meant warnings of one of your good, honest Englishwomen +never reached the unsuspicious address to which they were sent, and thus +did "Willie"--who, as I afterwards discovered, devised that subtle +vengeance--act as the Emperor's catspaw. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER TWO + +THE CROWN-PRINCE'S REVENGE + + +The Trautmann affair was one which caused a wild sensation at Potsdam in +the autumn of 1912. + +In the Emperor's immediate entourage there was a great deal of gossip, +most of it ill-natured and cruel, for most ladies-in-waiting possess +serpents' tongues. Their tongues are as sharp as their features, and +though there may be a few pretty maids-of-honour, yet the majority of +women at Court are, as you know, my dear Le Queux, mostly plain and +uninteresting. + +I became implicated in the unsavoury Trautmann affair, in a somewhat +curious manner. + +A few months after the Leutenberg tragedy I chanced to be lunching at +the "Esplanade" in Berlin, chatting with Laroque, of the French Embassy. +Our hostess was Frau Breitenbach, a wealthy Jewess--a woman who came +from Dortmund--and who was spending money like water in order to wriggle +into Berlin society. As personal-adjutant of the Crown-Prince I was, of +course, one of the principal guests, and I suspected that she was +angling for a card of invitation to the next ball at the Marmor Palace. + +Who introduced me to the portly, black-haired, rather handsome woman I +quite forget. Probably it was some nobody who received a commission upon +the introduction--for at the Berlin Court introductions are bought and +sold just as the succulent sausage is sold over the counter. + +In the big white-and-gold _salle-a-manger_ of the "Esplanade," which, as +you know, is one of the finest in Europe, Frau Breitenbach was lunching +with sixteen guests at one big round table, her daughter Elise, a very +smartly dressed girl of nineteen, seated opposite to her. It was a merry +party, including as it did some of the most renowned persons in the +Empire, among them being the Imperial Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, of +the long, grave face and pointed beard, and that grand seigneur who was +a favourite at Court, the multi-millionaire Serene Highness Prince +Maximilian Egon zu Fuerstenberg. Of the latter it may be said that no man +rivalled his influence with the Emperor. What he said was law in +Germany. + +Fuerstenberg was head of the famous "Prince's Trust," now dissolved, but +at that time, with its capital of a hundred million pounds, it was a +great force in the German commercial world. Indeed, such a boon +companion was he of the Kaiser's that an august but purely decorative +and ceremonial place was actually invented for him as Colonel-Marshal of +the Prussian Court, an excuse to wear a gay uniform and gorgeous +decorations as befitted a man who, possessing twenty millions sterling, +was an important asset to the Emperor in his deep-laid scheme for +world-power. + +Another Prince of the "Trust" was fat old Kraft zu Hohenlohe Oehringen, +but as he had only a paltry ten millions he did not rank so high in the +War-Lord's favour. + +Fuerstenberg, seated next to the estimable Jewess, was chatting affably +with her. Her husband was in America upon some big steel transaction, +but her pretty daughter Elise sat laughing merrily with a young, +square-headed lieutenant of the Death's Head Hussars. + +That merry luncheon party was the prologue of a very curious drama. + +I was discussing the occult with a middle-aged lady on my right, a +sister of Herr Alfred Ballin, the shipping king. In society discussions +upon the occult are always illuminating, and as we chatted I noticed +that far across the crowded room, at a table set in a window, there sat +alone a dark-haired, sallow, good-looking young civilian, who, +immaculate in a grey suit, was eating his lunch in a rather bored +manner, yet his eyes were fixed straight upon the handsome, dark-haired +young girl, Elise Breitenbach, as though she exercised over him some +strange fascination. + +Half a dozen times I glanced across, and on each occasion saw that the +young man had no eyes for the notables around the table, his gaze being +fixed upon the daughter of the great financier, whose interests, +especially in America, were so widespread and profitable. + +Somehow--why I cannot even now decide--I felt a distinct belief that the +young civilian's face was familiar to me. It was not the first time I +had seen him, yet I could not recall the circumstances in which we had +met. I examined my memory, but could not recollect where I had before +seen him, yet I felt convinced that it was in circumstances of a +somewhat mysterious kind. + +Two nights later I had dined with the Breitenbachs at their fine house +in the Alsenstrasse. The only guest beside myself was the thin-faced, +loud-speaking old Countess von Bassewitz, and after dinner, served in a +gorgeous dining-room which everywhere betrayed the florid taste of the +parvenu, Frau Breitenbach took the Countess aside to talk, while I +wandered with her daughter into the winter garden, with its high palms +and gorgeous exotics, that overlooked the gardens of the Austrian +Embassy. + +When we were seated in cane chairs, and the man had brought us coffee, +the pretty Elise commenced to question me about life at the +Crown-Prince's Court, expressing much curiosity concerning the private +life of His Imperial Highness. + +Such questions came often from the lips of young girls in society, and I +knew how to answer them with both humour and politeness. + +"How intensely interesting it must be to be personal-adjutant to the +Crown-Prince! Mother is dying to get a command to one of the receptions +at Potsdam," the girl said. "Only to-day she was wondering--well, +whether you could possibly use your influence in that direction?" + +In an instant I saw why I had been invited to dinners and luncheons so +often, and why I had been left alone with the sweet-faced, dark-eyed +girl. + +I reflected a moment. Then I said: + +"I do not think that will be very difficult. I will see what can be +done. But I hope that if I am successful you will accompany your +mother," I added courteously, as I lit a cigarette. + +"It is really most kind of you," the girl declared, springing up with +delight, for the mere thought of going to Court seemed to give her +intense pleasure. Yet all women, young and old, are alike in that +respect. The struggle to set foot near the throne is, as you yourself +have seen, always an unseemly one, and, alas! the cause of many +heart-burnings. + +When I looked in at Tresternitz's room in the Palace next morning, I +scribbled down the name of mother and daughter for cards. + +"Who are they?" grunted the old marshal, removing a big cigar from his +puffy lips. + +"People I know--they're all right, and the girl is very good-looking." + +"Good. We can do with a little beauty here nowadays. We've had an +infernally ugly lot at the balls lately," declared the man, who was the +greatest gossip at Court, and who thereupon commenced to tell me a +scandalous story regarding one of the ladies-in-waiting to the Kaiserin +who had disappeared from the New Palace, and was believed to be living +in Scotland. + +"The Emperor is furious," he added. "But he doesn't know the real truth, +and never will, I expect." + +A week later the Crown-Prince and Princess gave a grand ball at the +Marmor Palace at Potsdam, and the Emperor himself attended. + +Frau Breitenbach, gorgeously attired, made her bow before the +All-Highest, and her daughter did the same. + +That night I saw that the Kaiser was in no good mood. He seldom was at +the Court functions. Indeed, half an hour before his arrival the +Crown-Prince had told me, in confidence, of his father's annoyance at +the failure of some diplomatic negotiations with Britain. + +The Emperor, in his brilliant uniform, with the Order of the Black +Eagle, of which he was _chef-souverain_, and the diamond stars of many +foreign Orders, presented a truly Imperial figure, his shrewd, +unrelenting gaze everywhere, his upturned moustache accentuated, his +voice unusually sharp and commanding. + +I spoke with Elise, and afterwards, when I danced with her I saw how +impressed she was by the glitter and glamour of the Potsdam Court +circle, and by the fact that she was in the presence of the All-Highest +One, without whose gracious nod nothing could hope to prosper in the +Fatherland, and without whose approval no public work could be +undertaken in Berlin. Those statesmen, admirals and generals present +might plan, but he alone willed. His approval or his frown was as a +decree of Providence, and his autocratic will greater than that of his +"brother," Nicholas of Russia. + +I remember how, one day in the Militaer-Kabinett, an old buffer at Court +whom we called "Hans" Hohenlohe--he was one of the hundred and sixty odd +members of the aristocratic family of Hohenlohe which swarm the +Fatherland, mostly penurious, by-the-way, salary-grabbers, all elbowing +each other to secure the Kaiser's favour--made a very true remark which +has ever remained in my memory. It was very soon after Herr von Libenau, +the Imperial Master of Ceremony, had been arrested owing to a scandal at +Court, though perfectly innocent. My friend "Hans" Hohenlohe said in a +low, confidential whisper at a shooting party, after the French +Ambassador had wished us a merry _bon jour_ and passed out: + +"My dear friend Heltzendorff, you, like myself, know that war is +inevitable. It must come soon! The reason is to be found in the madness +of the Emperor, which has spread among our military party and among the +people, till most of them are no more sane than himself. Hypnotized by +good fortune, we have become demented with an overweening vanity and a +philosophy which must end in our undoing. The Emperor's incessant +drum-beating, sabre-rattling, and blasphemous appeals to the Almighty +have brought our German nation to that state which, since the world +began, has ever gone before destruction." + +No truer words were ever spoken of modern Germany. + +They recurred to me as, while waltzing with the pretty daughter of the +Dortmund parvenu, I noticed the Emperor standing aside, chatting with +old Von Zeppelin, who every now and then patted his silvery hair, a +habit of his when in conversation. With the pair stood Ernst Auguste, +the young Duke of Brunswick, who in the following year married the +Emperor's daughter, the rather petulant and go-ahead Victoria Louise. +The Prince, who wore the uniform of the Prussian Guard, was laughing +heartily over some remark of old Zeppelin's as, with my partner, I +passed quite close to them. + +The dainty Elise was, I found, quite an entertaining little person. Old +Tresternitz had already whispered his opinion of her. + +"Undoubtedly the prettiest girl at Court," he had declared, with a +twinkle in his grey eyes. + +From words the pretty Elise let drop that night as she hung upon my arm +I wondered whether she was really as ingenuous as she pretended. And yet +Frau Breitenbach was one of dozens of others who strove to enter the +Court circle, flapping their wings vainly to try and cross the wide gulf +which separated the "high life" in Berlin from "Court life." + +The rooms were stifling, therefore I took my pretty dancing partner +along a corridor and through several deserted apartments into the east +wing of the Palace, showing her some of the Crown-Princess's private +rooms, until at length we stepped through a French window on to the long +terrace before the lake, the Heilige-See. + +There we were alone. The white moon was reflected upon the waters, and +after the heat of the ball-room the balmy air was delightful. + +Against the marble balustrade beside the water I stood chatting with +her. All was silent save for the tramp of soldiers passing near, for the +guard was at that hour changing. As became a courtier, I chaffed and +laughed with her, my intention being to learn more concerning her. + +But she was, I found, an extremely discreet and clever little person, a +fact which further increased the mystery. + +One night about two months later I had an appointment with Max Reinhardt +at the Deutsches Theater, in Berlin, to arrange a Royal visit there, and +after the performance I went back to the Palace, prior to retiring to my +rooms in the Krausenstrasse. The guards saluted as I crossed the dark +courtyard, and having passed through the corridors to the private +apartments I entered with my key the Crown-Prince's locked study. + +To my surprise, I found "Willie" seated there with the Emperor in +earnest discussion. + +With apology, I bowed instantly and withdrew, whereupon the Kaiser +exclaimed: + +"Come in, Heltzendorff. I want you." + +Then he cast a quick, mysterious glance at the young man, who had thrown +himself in lazy attitude into a long cane lounge chair. It was as though +His Majesty was hesitating to speak with me, or asking his son's +permission to do so. + +"Tell me, Heltzendorff," exclaimed His Majesty suddenly, "do you know +this person?" and he placed before my astonished gaze a very artistic +cabinet photograph of the pretty Elise. + +"Yes," I answered frankly, quite taken aback. "It is Fraeulein +Breitenbach." + +"And what do you know of her?" inquired His Majesty sharply. "You +introduced her and her mother to Court, I believe." + +I saw that the Emperor had discovered something which annoyed him. What +could it be? + +At once I was compelled to admit that I had set down their names for +invitation, and, further, I explained all that I knew about them. + +"You are certain you know nothing more?" asked the Emperor, his brows +contracted and his eyes fixed steadily upon mine. "Understand that no +blame attaches to you." + +I assured him that I had revealed all that I knew concerning them. + +"Hold no further communication with either mother or daughter," His +Majesty said. "Leave for Paris by the eight o'clock train to-morrow +morning, and go to Baron von Steinmetz, the chief of our confidential +service in France." + +Then, turning to the Crown-Prince, he said: "You have his address." + +"Yes," said the younger man. "He is passing as Monsieur Felix Reumont, +and is living at 114 bis, Avenue de Neuilly, close to the Pont." + +I scribbled the name and address upon the back of an envelope, whereupon +His Majesty said: + +"Carry my verbal orders to Steinmetz, and tell him to act upon the +orders I sent him by courier yesterday. And you will assist him. He will +explain matters fully when you arrive." + +Then, crossing to the Crown-Prince's writing-table, His Majesty took a +large envelope, into which, with the same hand, he dexterously placed +the photograph with several papers, and sealed them with the +Crown-Prince's seal. At the moment the Crown-Princess entered, said some +words to her husband in a low voice, and went out again. + +"Give this to Von Steinmetz from me," His Majesty said after she had +gone. + +I bowed as I took it from His Majesty's hand, my curiosity now greatly +excited regarding Frau Breitenbach and her pretty daughter. What, I +wondered, was in the wind? + +"And, Heltzendorff, please report to me," remarked the Heir, still +lounging lazily in the chair, his white, well-manicured hands clasped +behind his head. "Where shall you stay?" + +"At the Hotel Chatham. I always stay there in preference to the larger +hotels." + +"And not a bad judge," laughed His Majesty merrily. "I remember when I +used to go to Paris incognito one could dine at the 'Chatham' most +excellently--old-fashioned, but very good. Vian's, across the road, is +also good." + +The Kaiser knows Paris well, though he has never visited the French +capital openly. + +Bowing, I took leave of my Imperial master, and next morning at eight +o'clock, set out upon my mysterious mission. + +I found the Baron von Steinmetz living in a good-sized house in the +leafy Avenue de Neuilly, not far from the bridge. One of the cleverest +and most astute officials that Germany possessed, and a man high in the +Kaiser's favour, he had, in the name of Felix Reumont, purchased, with +Government funds of course, a cinema theatre in the Rue Lafayette, and +ostensibly upon the proceeds of that establishment lived comfortably out +at Neuilly. + +At eleven o'clock in the morning his valet, evidently a German, showed +me in. + +"I quite understand, my dear Heltzendorff," he said, as in his cosy +little den he took from the Emperor's packet the picture of Fraeulein +Elise and stood gazing at it thoughtfully. "It is quite plain why you +should have been sent by His Majesty." + +"Why. I don't understand. But His Majesty told me that you would +explain. The young lady and her mother are friends of mine." + +"Exactly. That's just it!" exclaimed the round-faced, rather florid man +whom I had once met before. "You apparently know but little of +them--eh?--or you would not call them your friends!" + +Those mysterious words surprised me, but I was the more astounded when +he continued: + +"You of course know of those disgraceful anonymous letters which have +been continually arriving at Court--of the Emperor's fury concerning +them." + +I replied in the affirmative, for, as a matter of fact, for the past +three months the whole Court had been flooded with most abusive and +disgraceful correspondence concerning the camarilla that had again +sprung up around the Kaiser. The Emperor, the Empress, the Crown-Prince +and Princess, Prince Eitel, Sophie Caroline, Prince Henry of Prussia and +others had received letters, most of them in typewriting, containing the +most intimate details of scandals concerning men and women around the +Emperor. + +Fully a dozen of these letters addressed to the Crown-Prince he had +handed to me--letters denouncing in some cases perfectly innocent +people, destroying the reputations of honest men and women, and abusing +the Heir to the Throne in an outrageous manner. + +On at least three occasions "Willie" had shown me letters addressed to +the Kaiser himself, and intercepted by the Kaiserin, who, in consequence +of this flood of anonymous epistles that had produced such a terrible +sensation at Potsdam, had ordered that all such letters found in the +Imperial post-bag should be handed at once to her. + +The great War-Lord's feelings had been sorely wounded by the vitriolic +shafts, and his vanity much injured by the boldness of the unknown +letter-writer who had dared to speak his mind concerning the Eulenburg +scandals, which Maximilian Harden had some time before exposed in the +_Zukunft_. + +All Berlin was gossiping about the scandal of the letters and the +horrible innuendoes contained in them. The _Allerhoechste Person_, though +boiling over with anger, blissfully believed that outside the Palaces +nothing was known of the contents of the correspondence. But the +Emperor, in his vanity, never accurately gauges the mind of his people. + +"The identity of the writer is the point that is engaging my attention," +the Baron said, as, seating himself at his big, carved-oak +writing-table, he opened a drawer and drew forth a bundle of quite a +hundred letters, adding: "All these that you see here have been +addressed either to the Emperor or the Empress," and he handed me one or +two, which on scanning I saw contained some outrageous statements, +allegations which would make the hair of the All-Highest One bristle +with rage. + +"Well!" I exclaimed, aghast, looking up at the Baron after I had read +an abusive letter, which in cold, even lines of typewriting commenced +with the words: "You, a withered crook in spectacular uniform better +fitted for the stage of the Metropol Theatre, should, instead of +invoking the aid of Providence, clear out your own Augean stable. Its +smell is nauseous to the nostrils of decent people. Surely you should +blush to have feasted in the castle of Liebenberg with the poet, Prince +Philip, and your degenerate companions, Hohenau, Johannes Lynar, and +your dearly beloved Kuno!" + +And the abusive missive proceeded to denounce two of my friends, +ladies-in-waiting at the Neues Palais, and to make some blackguardly +allegations concerning the idol. Von Hindenburg. + +"Well," I exclaimed, "that certainly is a very interesting specimen of +anonymous correspondence." + +"Yes, it is!" exclaimed the Baron. "In Berlin every inquiry has been +made to trace its author. Schunke, head of the detective police, was +charged by the Emperor to investigate. He did so, and both he and +Klewitz failed utterly. Now it has been given into my hands." + +"Have you discovered any clue to the writer?" I asked anxiously, knowing +full well what a storm of indignation those letters had produced in our +own circle. + +Presently, when I sat with the Baron at his table, he switched on an +intense electric light, even though it was day-time, and then spread out +some of the letters above a small, square mirror. + +"You see they are on various kinds of note-paper, bearing all kinds of +watermarks, of French, English, and German manufacture. Some we have +here are upon English paper, because it is heavy and thick. Again, three +different makes of typewriter have been used--one a newly-invented +importation from America. The written letters are, you will see, mostly +in a man's hand." + +"Yes, I see all that," I said. "But what have you discovered concerning +their author? The letter I received bore a French stamp and the postmark +of Angers." + +He placed before me quite a dozen envelopes addressed to the Emperor and +Empress, all bearing the postmark of that town in the Maine-et-Loire. +Others had been posted in Leipzig, Wilhelmshaven, Tours, Antwerp, +Berlin-Wilmersdorf, and other places. + +"The investigation is exceedingly difficult, I can assure you," he said. +"I have had the assistance of some of the best scientific brains of our +Empire in making comparisons and analyses. Indeed, Professor Harbge is +with me from Berlin." + +As he uttered those words the Professor himself, an elderly, spectacled +man in grey tweeds, entered the room. I knew him and greeted him. + +"We have been studying the writing-papers," the Professor said +presently, as he turned over the letters, some of which were upon +commercial typewriting paper, some on cheap thin paper from fashionable +"blocks," and others upon various tinted paper of certain mills, as +their watermarks showed. The papers were various, but the scurrilous +hand was the clever and evasive one of some person who certainly knew +the innermost secrets of the German Court. + +"Sixteen different varieties of paper have been received at the Neues +and Marmor Palaces," the Baron remarked. "Well, I have worked for two +months, night and day, upon the inquiry, for, as you know, the tentacles +of our Teuton octopus are everywhere. I have discovered that eleven of +these varieties of paper can be purchased at a certain small stationer's +shop, Lancry's, in the Boulevard Haussmann, close to the 'Printemps.' +One paper especially is sold nowhere else in Paris. It is this." + +And he held over a mirror a letter upon a small sheet of note-paper +bearing the watermark of a bull's head. + +"That paper was made at a mill in the south of Devonshire, in England, +destroyed by fire five years ago. Paper of that make cannot be obtained +anywhere else in France," he declared. + +I at once realized how much patience must have been expended upon the +inquiry, and said: + +"Then you have actually fixed the shop where the writer purchased his +paper?" + +"Yes," he replied. "And we know that the newly-invented typewriter, a +specimen one, was sold by the Maison Audibert, in Marseilles. The +purchaser of the typewriter in Marseilles purchases his paper and +envelopes at Lancry's, in the Boulevard Haussmann." + +"Splendid!" I said enthusiastically, for it was clear that the Baron, +with the thousand-and-one secret agents at his beck and call, had been +able, with the Professor's aid, to fix the source of the stationery. +"But," I added, "what is wanted from me?" Why, I wondered, had His +Majesty sent the Baron that photograph of Elise Breitenbach? + +"I want you to go with me to the central door of the 'Printemps' at four +o'clock this afternoon, and we will watch Lancry's shop across the way," +the Baron replied. + +This we did, and from four till six o'clock we stood, amid the bustle of +foot passengers, watching the small stationer's on the opposite side of +the boulevard, yet without result. + +Next day and the next I accompanied the prosperous cinema proprietor +upon his daily vigil, but in vain, until his reluctance to tell me the +reason why I had been sent to Paris annoyed me considerably. + +On the fifth afternoon, just before five o'clock, while we were +strolling together, smoking and chatting, the Baron's eyes being fixed +upon the door of the small single-fronted shop, I saw him suddenly +start, and then make pretence of utter indifference. + +"Look!" he whispered beneath his breath. + +I glanced across and saw a young man just about to enter the shop. + +The figure was unfamiliar, but, catching sight of his face, I held my +breath. I had seen that sallow, deep-eyed countenance before. + +It was the young man who, two months previously, had sat eating his +luncheon alone at the "Esplanade," apparently fascinated by the beauty +of little Elise Breitenbach! + +"Well," exclaimed the Baron. "I see you recognize him--eh? He is +probably going to buy more paper for his scurrilous screeds." + +"Yes. But who is he? What is his name?" I asked anxiously. "I have seen +him before, but have no exact knowledge of him." + +The Baron did not reply until we were back again in the cosy room in +Neuilly. Then, opening his cigar-box, he said: + +"That young man, the author of the outrageous insults to His Majesty, is +known as Franz Seeliger, but he is the disgraced, ne'er-do-well son of +General von Trautmann, Captain-General of the Palace Guard." + +"The son of old Von Trautmann!" I gasped in utter amazement. "Does the +father know?" + +The Baron grinned and shrugged his shoulders. + +Then after I had related to him the incident at the "Esplanade," he +said: + +"That is of greatest interest. Will you return to Berlin and report to +the Emperor what you have seen here? His Majesty has given me that +instruction." + +Much mystified, I was also highly excited that the actual writer of +those abominable letters had been traced and identified. The Baron told +me of the long weeks of patient inquiry and careful watching; of how the +young fellow had been followed to Angers and other towns in France where +the letters were posted, and of his frequent visits to Berlin. He had +entered a crack regiment, but had been dismissed the Army for forgery +and undergone two years' imprisonment. Afterwards he had fallen in with +a gang of clever international hotel thieves, and become what is known +as a _rat d'hotel_. Now, because of a personal grievance against the +Emperor, who had ordered his prosecution, he seemed to have by some +secret means ferreted out every bit of scandal at Potsdam, exaggerated +it, invented amazing additions, and in secret sown it broadcast. + +His hand would have left no trace if he had not been so indiscreet as to +buy his paper from that one shop close to the Rue de Provence, where he +had rooms. + +On the third night following I stood in the Emperor's private room at +Potsdam and made my report, explaining all that I knew and what I had +witnessed in Paris. + +"That man knows a very great deal--but how does he know?" snapped the +Emperor, who had just returned from Berlin, and was in civilian attire, +a garb quite unusual to him. He had no doubt been somewhere +incognito--visiting a friend perhaps. "See Schunke early to-morrow," he +ordered, "and tell him to discover the link between this young +blackguard and your friends the Breitenbachs, and report to me." + +I was about to protest that the Breitenbachs were not my friends, but +next instant drew my breath, for I saw that the great War-Lord, even +though he wore a blue serge suit, was filled with suppressed anger. + +"This mystery must be cleared up!" he declared in a hard voice, +reflecting no doubt upon the terrible abuse which the writer had heaped +upon him, all the allegations, by-the-way, having contained a certain +substratum of truth. + +Next morning I sat with the bald-headed and astute Schunke at the +headquarters of the detective police in Berlin, and there discussed the +affair fully, explaining the result of my journey to Paris and what I +had seen, and giving him the order from the Kaiser. + +"But, Count, if this woman Breitenbach and her pretty daughter are your +friends you will be able to visit them and glean something," he said. + +"I have distinct orders from the Emperor not to visit them while the +inquiry is in process," I replied. + +Schunke grunted in dissatisfaction, stroked his iron-grey beard, but +made no further comment. + +We walked out together, and I left him at the door of the Etat-major of +the Army in the Koenigsplatz. + +Later that same morning I returned to the Marmor Palace to report to the +Crown-Prince, but found that His Highness was absent upon an official +visit of inspection at Stuttgart. The Marshal of the Court, Tresternitz, +having given me the information, laughed, and added: + +"Officially, according to to-day's newspapers, His Highness is in +Stuttgart, but unofficially I know that he is at the Palace Hotel, in +Brussels, where there is a short-skirted variety attraction singing at +the Eden Theatre. So, my dear Heltzendorff, you can return to the +Krausenstrasse for a day or two." + +I went back to Berlin, the Crown-Princess being away at Wiesbaden, and +from day to day awaited "Willie's" return. + +In the meantime I several times saw the great detective, Schunke, and +found that he was in constant communication with Baron Steinmetz in +Paris. The pair were evidently leaving no stone unturned to elucidate +the mystery of those annoying letters, which were still falling as so +many bombs into the centre of the Kaiser's Court. + +Suddenly, one Sunday night, all Berlin was electrified at the news that +General von Trautmann, Captain-General of the Palace Guard--whom, truth +to tell, the Crown-Prince had long secretly hated because he had once +dared to utter some word of reproach--had been arrested, and sent to a +fortress at the Emperor's order. + +An hour after the arrest His Majesty's personal-adjutant commanded me by +telephone to attend at the Berlin Schloss. When we were alone the Kaiser +turned to me suddenly, and said: + +"Count von Heltzendorff, you will say nothing of your recent visit to +Paris, or of the authorship of those anonymous letters--you understand? +You know absolutely nothing." + +Then, being summarily dismissed by a wave of the Imperial hand, I +retired, more mystified than ever. Why should my mouth be thus closed? I +dared not call at the Alsenstrasse to make my own inquiries, yet I knew +that the police had made theirs. + +When I returned to my rooms that evening Schunke rang me up on the +telephone with the news that my friends the Breitenbachs had closed +their house and left early that morning for Brussels. + +"Where is Seeliger?" I inquired in great surprise. + +"In Brussels. The Breitenbachs have gone there to join him, now that the +truth is out and his father is under arrest." + +The Emperor's fury was that of a lunatic. It knew no bounds. His mind, +poisoned against the poor old General, he had fixed upon him as the +person responsible for that disgraceful correspondence which for so many +weeks had kept the Court in constant turmoil and anxiety. Though His +Majesty was aware of the actual writer of the letters, he would not +listen to reason, and openly declared that he would make an example of +the silver-haired old Captain-General of the Guard, who, after all, was +perfectly innocent of the deeds committed by his vagabond son. + +A prosecution was ordered, and three weeks later it took place _in +camera_, the Baron, Schunke and a number of detectives being ordered to +give evidence. So damning, indeed, was their testimony that the Judge +passed the extreme sentence of twenty years' imprisonment. + +And I, who knew and held proofs of the truth, dared not protest! + +Where was the General's son--the real culprit and author of the letters? +I made inquiry of Schunke, of the Baron, and of others who had, at the +order of the All-Highest, conspired to ruin poor Von Trautmann. All, +however, declared ignorance, and yet, curiously enough, the fine house +in the Alsenstrasse still remained empty. + +Later, I discovered that the Crown-Prince had been the prime mover in +the vile conspiracy to send the elderly Captain-General to prison and to +the grave, for of this his words to me one day--a year afterwards--were +sufficient proof: + +"It is a good job, Heltzendorff, that the Emperor rid himself at last of +that canting old pest, Von Trautmann. He is now in a living tomb, and +should have been there four years ago!" and he laughed. + +I made no response. Instead, I thought of the quiet, innocent old +courtier languishing in prison because he had somehow incurred the +ill-will of the Emperor's son, and I confess that I ground my teeth at +my own inability to expose the disgraceful truth. + +About six months after the secret trial of the unfortunate General I had +accompanied the Crown-Prince on a visit to the Quirinal, and one +afternoon while strolling along the Corso, in Rome, suddenly came face +to face with the dainty little figure of Fraeulein Elise Breitenbach. + +In delight I took her into Ronzi's, the noted confectioner's at the +corner of the Piazza Colonna, and there, at one of the little tables, +she explained to me how she and her mother, having become acquainted +with Franz Seeliger--not knowing him to be the General's son--they +suddenly fell under the suspicion of the Berlin Secret Police, and, +though much puzzled, did not again come to Court. + +Some weeks later mother and daughter chanced to be in Paris, and one day +called at Seeliger's rooms in the Rue de Provence, but he was out. They, +however, were shown into his room to wait, and there saw upon his table +an abusive and scurrilous typewritten letter in German addressed to the +Emperor. Then it suddenly dawned upon them that the affable young man +might be the actual author of those infamous letters. It was this visit +which, no doubt, revealed to the Baron the young man's hiding-place. +Both mother and daughter, however, kept their own counsel, met Seeliger +next day, and watched, subsequently learning, to their surprise, that he +was the son of General von Trautmann, and, further, that he had as a +friend one of the personal valets of the Emperor, from whom, no doubt, +he obtained his inside information about persons at Court. + +"When his poor father was sentenced we knew that the young man was +living in Brussels, and at once went there in order to induce him to +come forward, make confession, and so save the General from disgrace," +said the pretty girl seated before me. "On arrival we saw him alone, and +told him what we had discovered in the Rue de Provence, whereupon he +admitted to us that he had written all the letters, and announced that +he intended to return to Berlin next day and give himself up to the +police in order to secure his father's release." + +"And why did he not do so?" I asked eagerly. + +"Because next morning he was found dead in his bed in the hotel." + +"Ah, suicide." + +"No," was her half-whispered reply. "He had been strangled by an unknown +hand--deliberately murdered, as the Brussels police declared. They were, +of course, much mystified, for they did not know, as we know, that +neither the young man's presence nor his confession were desired in +Berlin." + +Fearing the Emperor's wrath, the Breitenbachs, like myself, dare not +reveal what they knew--the truth, which is here set down for the first +time--and, alas! poor General von Trautmann died in prison at Mulheim +last year. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER THREE + +HOW THE KAISER PERSECUTED A PRINCESS + + +The truth of the dastardly plot which caused the downfall of the +unfortunate and much-maligned Imperial Princess Luisa Antoinette Marie, +Archduchess of Austria, and wife of Friedrich-August, now the reigning +King of Saxony, has never yet been revealed. + +I know, my dear Le Queux, that you had a good deal to do with the +"skittish Princess," as she was called, and her affairs after she had +left the Court of Saxony and went to live near you in the Via Benedetto +da Foiano, in Florence. You were her friend, and you were afterwards +present at her secret marriage in London. Therefore, what I here reveal +concerning a disgraceful conspiracy by which a clever, accomplished, and +generous Princess of the blood Royal was hounded out of Germany will, I +think, be of peculiar interest to yourself and to those readers for whom +you are setting down my reminiscences. + +As you know, before being appointed to my recent position in the +Crown-Prince "Willie's" household, I was personal-adjutant to His +Majesty the Emperor, and in that capacity accompanied Der Einzige (the +One) on his constant travels. Always hungry for popular applause, the +Emperor was ever on the move with that morbid restlessness of which he +is possessed, and which drove him from city to city, hunting, yachting, +unveiling statues, opening public buildings, paying ceremonial visits, +or, when all excuses for travel became exhausted, he presented new +colours to some regiment in some far-off garrison. + +Indeed, within that one year, 1902, I accompanied "William-the-Sudden" +and his host of adjutants, military and civil secretaries, valets, +chasseurs and flunkeys, to twenty-eight different cities in Germany and +Scandinavia, where he stopped and held Court. Some cities we visited +several times, being unwelcome always because of the endless trouble, +anxiety and expense caused to the municipal authorities and military +casinos. + +I, of course, knew the charming Imperial Highness the Crown-Princess +Luisa of Saxony, as she often came on visits to the Kaiserin, but I had +never spoken much with her until at Easter the Emperor went to visit +Dresden. He took with him, among other people, one of his untitled boon +companions, Judicial Councillor Loehlein, a stout, flabby-faced +hanger-on, who at the time possessed great influence over him. Indeed, +he was really the Emperor's financial agent. This man had, some time +ago, very fortunately for the Emperor, opened his eyes to the way in +which Kunze had manipulated the amazing Schloss Freiheit Lottery, and +had been able to point out to the All-Highest One what a storm of +ridicule, indignation and defiance must arise in Berlin if he attempted +to carry out his huge reconstruction and building scheme. + +I was present in the Emperor's room at Potsdam when old Loehlein, with +whom sat Herr von Wedell, openly declared to the Emperor that if he +prosecuted his pet building scheme great indignation must arise, not +only in the capital, but in Hanover, Wiesbaden, and Kassel. + +The Kaiser knitted his brows and listened attentively to both of his +advisers. I well remember how, next day, the Press, in order to allay +the public dissatisfaction, declared that the huge building projects of +the Emperor never existed. They had been purely imaginary ideas put +forward by a syndicate of speculative builders and taken up by the +newspapers. + +Without doubt the podgy, fair-haired man in gold-rimmed spectacles, the +Judicial Councillor Loehlein, by crushing the Kaiser's mad scheme gained +considerable popularity in a certain circle. He was, however, a man of +exceptional craft and cunning, and during the eight years or so he +remained the intimate friend of the Emperor he must have, by advising +and looking after the Imperial investments, especially in America, +amassed a great fortune. + +On the occasion of our Easter visit to the Saxon Court--a Court which, +to say the least, was a most dull and uninteresting one--we all went, as +is the custom there, to the shoot at the Vogelschiessen, a large wooden +bird made up of pieces which fall out when hit in a vital part. The bird +target is set up at the Easter fair held close to Dresden, and on that +afternoon the whole Court annually go to try their skill at +marksmanship. We were a merry party. The Emperor went with the old King +and Queen of Saxony, being accompanied by the Crown-Prince +Friedrich-August and the Crown-Princess Luisa, merry, laughing, full of +spirits, and unusually good-looking for a Royalty. + +The Saxon Royal Family all shot, and, thanks to her father's tuition, +the Crown-Princess knocked a piece out of the bird at the first shot, +which sent the public wild with enthusiasm. + +Luisa was the most popular woman in Saxony, and deservedly so, for hers +had been a love match. Her father, Ferdinand IV., Grand Duke of Tuscany, +had, at the suggestion of the Emperor Francis Joseph, endeavoured to +arrange a match between the Princess and the man now known as "foxy" +Ferdinand of Bulgaria. With that object a grand _diner de ceremonie_ was +held one night at the Imperial Castle of Salzburg, and at that dinner +Luisa, suspecting the conspiracy, publicly insulted the Ruler of +Bulgaria, which for ever put an end to the paternal plans. + +After her marriage to the Saxon Crown-Prince the Kaiser, in one of his +whimsical moods, became greatly attached to her because of her +frankness, her love of outdoor life, and her high educational +attainments, hence we often had her visiting at Potsdam or at the Berlin +Schloss. She was known to be one of the few feminine Royalties in whom +the Kaiser took the slightest interest. + +After our return from the public shooting to the Royal Palace in +Dresden, a banquet was, of course, held in honour of the Emperor in that +great hall where, on the walls, the four estates are represented by +scenes from the history of the Emperor Henry I. + +At the grand ball afterwards I found myself chatting with Luisa, who, I +recollect, wore a most charming and artistic gown of sea-green chiffon, +_decollete_, of course, with pink carnations in her hair and a few +diamonds upon her corsage, as well as the Order of St. Elizabeth and her +magnificent rope of matched pearls, which went twice round her neck and +reached to her knees--a historic set which had once belonged to Marie +Antoinette. She looked very charming, and, in her frank way, asked me: + +"How do you like my dress, Count? I designed it myself," she added. + +I complimented her upon it, but I afterwards heard that the old King of +Saxony had been horrified at the lowness to which the bodice had been +cut, and, further, that every yard of green chiffon in Dresden had been +sold out before noon next day and the dress copied everywhere. + +As we stood chatting in a corner of the room, watching the scene of +unusual brilliancy because of the Kaiser's presence, the Princess, +turning to me, said suddenly: + +"Do you believe in omens, Count von Heltzendorff?" + +"Omens!" I exclaimed, rather surprised at her question. "Really, I'm +afraid I am a little too matter-of-fact to take such things seriously, +your Highness." + +"Well, a curious thing happened here about a month ago," she said. "I +was----" At that instant the Emperor, in the uniform of the 2nd Regiment +of Saxon Grenadiers, of which he was chief, and wearing the Order of +Crancelin of the House of Saxony, strode up, and, standing before us +exclaimed: + +"Well, Luisa? What is the very interesting topic of conversation, eh?" +He had evidently overheard her words about some curious thing happening, +for, laughing gaily, he asked; "Now, what did happen a month ago?" + +Her Imperial Highness hesitated, as though endeavouring to avoid an +explanation, but next second she waved her lace fan quickly and said: + +"Well, something remarkable. I will tell your Majesty if you really wish +to hear it." + +"By all means, Luisa, by all means," replied His Majesty, placing his +sound hand behind his back and drawing himself up very erect--a habit of +his after asking a question. + +"Well, recently Friedrich-August and myself have moved into rooms in the +older wing of the Palace--rooms that have not been occupied for nearly +forty years. They are old-world, charming, and remind me constantly of +Augustus the Strong and the times in which he lived. Just about a month +ago the King and Queen of Roumania were paying us a visit. We were at +dinner, and while we were all laughing and talking, for 'Carmen Sylva' +had been telling us one of her stories, we heard a great clatter of +horses' hoofs and the heavy rumble of wheels, just as though a stage +coach was crossing the Small Courtyard. All of us listened, and in the +silence we heard it receding quite distinctly. I at once sent my +lady-in-waiting to ascertain who had arrived or departed, four-wheeled +coaches being quite unusual nowadays. It seemed just as though the coach +had driven out of the Palace gate. The message brought back from the +guardroom was that no carriage had entered or left. I told this to +those around the table, and the Queen of Roumania, who had taken much +interest in omens and folk-lore, seated opposite me, seemed much +impressed, and even perturbed." + +"Then the noise you heard must have been quite an uncanny one, eh?" +asked the Emperor, deeply interested. + +"Quite. Two of the women at the table declared that it must have been +thunder, and then the conversation proceeded. I, however, confess to +your Majesty that I was very much puzzled, and the more so because only +two nights ago, while we sat at dinner Friedrich-August and myself _en +famille_, we heard exactly the same sounds again!" + +"Really!" laughed the Emperor. "Quite uncanny. I hope, here in Dresden, +you are not believing in spooks, as London society believes in them." + +"Not at all," said the Princess earnestly. "I don't believe in omens. +But, curiously enough, the King told me yesterday that his two old +aunts, who formerly lived in our wing of the Palace, had sometimes heard +the clatter of horses' hoofs, the jingle of harness, the grinding of the +brakes, and the rumbling of heavy carriage wheels." + +"H'm!" grunted the Emperor. "I've heard that same story before, Luisa. +The departing coach means trouble to the reigning family." + +"That is exactly what the King said to me only last evening," answered +Luisa frankly. "Does it mean trouble to me, I wonder?" + +"Certainly not," I declared. "Your Imperial Highness need not worry for +one moment over such things. Nobody nowadays regards such phenomena as +presage of evil. There is no doubt some perfectly natural explanation of +the sounds. Every old palace, castle, and even private house, has its +traditions." + +"Quite right, Heltzendorff," laughed the Emperor, "especially in England +and Scotland. There they have white ladies, grey ladies, men with heads +like stags, lights in windows, the sound of mysterious bells ringing, +and all sorts of evil omens. Oh, those dear, superstitious English! How +ready they are to take up anything unpractical that may be a pleasant +change to the senses." + +"Your Majesty does not believe in omens?" I ventured to remark. + +"Omens!" he exclaimed, fixing his gaze upon me. "No; none but cowards +and old women believe in them." Then, turning to the Princess, he +smiled, saying: "If I were you, Luisa, I would give your chief of police +orders to question all the servants. Somebody rattled some dishes, +perhaps. You say it was during dinner." + +But the pretty Crown-Princess was serious, for she said: + +"Well, all I can say is that not only did I myself hear, but a dozen +others at table also heard the noise of horses, not dishes." + +"Ah, Luisa! I see you are a trifle nervous," laughed the Emperor. "Well, +as you know, your Royal House of Saxony has lasted from the days of +Albert the Courageous in the early fifteenth century, and the Dynasty of +the Ravensteins has been prosperous from then until to-day, so don't +trouble yourself further. Why, you are really quite pale and unnerved, I +see," His Majesty added, for nothing escapes those shrewd, wide-open +eyes of his. + +Then the Emperor, after acknowledging the salute of Baron Georg von +Metzsch, Controller of the Royal Household--a tall, thin, crafty-eyed +man, with hair tinged with grey, and wearing a dark blue uniform and +many decorations--changed the topic of conversation, and referred to the +Saxon Easter custom which that morning had been carried out. + +The Kaiser was in particularly merry mood that night. He had gone to +Dresden against his inclination, for he had long ago arranged an Easter +review on the Tempelhofer Feld, but the visit was, I knew, for the +purpose of a consultation in secret with the King of Saxony. A week +before, in the Berlin Schloss, I had been sent by the Emperor to obtain +a paper from his table in the upstairs study, and in looking for the +document in question--one that he had signed and wished to send over to +the Reichsamt des Innern (Office of the Interior)--I came across a +letter from King George of Saxony, begging the Emperor to visit him, in +order to discuss "that matter which is so seriously threatening the +honour of our House." + +Several times I wondered to what His Majesty of Saxony had referred. +That morning Emperor and King had been closeted alone together for fully +three hours, and the outcome of the secret conference seemed to have put +the All-Highest into a most excellent mood. + +He left us, accompanied by Baron von Metzsch and Judicial Councillor +Loehlein, and I noticed how both men were talking with the Emperor in an +undertone. To my surprise also I saw how Loehlein cast furtive glances +towards where I still stood with the Crown-Princess. + +A few moments later, however, a smart officer of the Prussian Guard, +whom I recognized as Count von Castell Rudenhausen, a well-known figure +in the gay life of Berlin, came forward, and, bowing, invited the +Princess to waltz. + +And a moment later Luisa was smiling at me across the shoulder of her +good-looking cavalier. + +Suddenly, while waltzing, her magnificent rope of historic matched +pearls accidentally caught in the button of a passing officer, the +string snapped, and many of the pearls fell rattling upon the polished +floor. + +In a moment a dozen officers in tight uniforms were groping about to +recover them from the feet of the dancers when, during the commotion, I +heard the voice of Judicial Councillor Loehlein remark quite loudly: + +"Ah! now we can all see who are the Crown-Princess' admirers!" + +Luisa flushed instantly in anger and annoyance, but said nothing, whilst +her lady-in-waiting in silence took the broken rope of pearls, together +with those recovered from the floor, and a few moments later the +significant incident ended. + +The Saxon Crown-Prince and his wife were at that time a most devoted +couple, though all of us knew that the modern ideas Luisa had brought to +Dresden from the Hapsburg Court had much shocked old King George and his +consort. The Saxon Court was unused to a pretty woman with buoyant +spirits rejoicing in life with a capital "L." According to the Court +whisperings, trouble had started a few days after marriage, when the +King, having given his daughter-in-law a tiara of diamonds, a Royal +heirloom, with strict injunctions to wear them just as they were--a +style of the seventeenth century--he one evening at the opera saw her +wearing the stones re-set in that style known as _art nouveau_. The King +became furious, and ordered them to be set again in their original +settings, whereupon Luisa coolly returned the present. + +Such was the commencement of the old King's ill-feeling towards her. + +The State ball that night was certainly a brilliant one for such a small +Court, and next day we all returned to Potsdam, for the Emperor had +suddenly cancelled a number of engagements and arranged to pay a visit +to Wilhelmshaven, where the Kaiserliche Werft (Imperial Dockyard) +contained certain naval secrets he wished to see. + +Before we left Dresden, however, I met the Crown-Princess in one of the +corridors. It was nine o'clock in the morning. She wore her +riding-habit, for, being a splendid horsewoman, she had just come in +from her morning canter. + +"Well, Count!" she laughed. "So you are leaving us unexpectedly! I +shall be coming to pay another visit to Potsdam soon. The Emperor +invited me last night. Au revoir!" And after I had bent over her small +white hand she waved it merrily and passed the sentry towards her +private apartments, wherein she had heard the ghostly coach and four. + +Her Imperial Highness paid her promised visit to the Empress at the +Neues Palais in July. + +At the time of her arrival the Emperor had left suddenly and gone away +to Hubertusstock. When anything unusual upset him he always went there. +I overheard him the day before his departure shouting to Loehlein as I +passed along one of the corridors. The Judicial Councillor seemed to be +trying to pacify him, but apparently entirely without avail, for the +Emperor is a man not easily convinced. + +"You are as sly as all the rest!" I heard the Emperor declare in that +shrill, high-pitched tone which always denotes his anger. "I'll hear +none of it--no excuses. I want no fawning, no Jew-juggling." + +Then, fearing to be discovered, I slipped on past the door. + +The next I heard was that the Kaiser had left for that lonely retreat to +which he went when he wished to be alone in those periods of crazy +impetuosity which periodically seized the Mad Dog of Europe; and, +further, that he had taken with him his crafty crony, Loehlein. + +During that mysterious absence--when the tinselled world of Potsdam +seemed at peace--the good-looking Saxon Crown-Princess arrived. + +I was on duty on the railway platform to bow over her hand and to +welcome her. + +"Ah! Count von Heltzendorff! Well, did I not say that I should not be +very long before I returned to Potsdam, eh?" she exclaimed. Then, in a +whisper, she said with a merry laugh: "Do you remember those clattering +hoofs and my broken rope of pearls? Nothing has happened yet." + +"And nothing will," I assured her as, with a courtier's obeisance, I +conducted Her Imperial Highness to the Royal carriage, where the +Crown-Prince "Willie" was awaiting her, chatting with two officers of +the Guard to while away the time. + +Three days later an incident occurred which caused me a good deal of +thought, and, truth to tell, mystified me considerably. + +That somewhat indiscreet journal, the _Militaer Wochenblatt_, had +published a statement to the effect that Friedrich-August of Saxony and +the handsome Luisa had had a violent quarrel, a fact which caused a +great deal of gossip throughout Court circles. + +Old Von Donaustauf, who at that time was master of the ceremonies at the +Emperor's Court, busied himself by spreading strange scandals regarding +the Crown-Princess Luisa. Therefore, in the circumstances, it struck me +as strange that Her Highness should have been invited to the puritanical +and hypocritical circle at Potsdam. + +That afternoon, soon after the guard had been changed, I chanced to be +writing in my room, which overlooked the big central courtyard, when I +heard the guard suddenly turn out in great commotion, by which I knew +that His Majesty had suddenly returned from Hubertusstock. + +Ten minutes later my telephone rang, and, passing the sentries, I went +by order to His Majesty's study, that chamber of plots and secrets, hung +with its faded pale green silk damask, its furniture covered with the +same material, and its net curtains at the windows threaded with ribbons +of the same shade. + +The moment I entered the Emperor's countenance showed me that he was +very angry. His low-bowing crony, Loehlein, always a subtle adviser, had +returned with him, and stood watching the Emperor as the latter +impatiently paced the room. + +I saluted, awaiting orders in silence, as was my habit, but so +preoccupied was His Majesty that he did not notice my presence, but +continued his outburst of furious wrath. "Only see what Von Hoensbroech +has reported!" he cried, suddenly halting against one of those big buhl +chests of drawers with grey marble tops--heavy pieces of furniture +veneered with tortoise-shell in which the Emperor keeps his official +papers. "I am being made a laughing-stock--and you know it, Loehlein! It +has been said of us that a woman, a whim, or a word will to-day raise +any person to high rank in our Empire! That blackguard, Harden, has +actually dared to write it in his journal. Well, we shall see. That +woman--she shall----" + +As the Kaiser uttered those words he suddenly realized that I was +present, and hesitated. Next second both his tone and his manner +changed. + +"Heltzendorff--I--I--wish you to go to Dresden and take a private +letter. It will be ready in half an hour. Say nothing to anyone +concerning your departure, but report to me here at"--and he glanced at +the small bronze clock on the overmantel between two elegant +candelabra--"at four o'clock." + +As commanded, I reported, but the Kaiser was with the Empress, who, in +one of her private apartments, was holding _petit cercle_, the Princess +Luisa being present. Indeed, as I entered that semi-circular salon the +Kaiser was standing astride before Luisa's chair laughing gaily with +her. Surely none who saw him at that moment would ever have believed +that not half an hour before his face had been blanched by anger. He +could alter his moods just as he changed his three hundred odd uniforms. + +There was something mysterious in the wind--of that I felt absolutely +convinced. The atmosphere of that faded green upstairs room was always +one of confidential conversations, intimate conferences and secret +plots--plots despicable and vile, as has since been proved--against the +peace of the world. + +The Emperor, noticing that I had entered the Imperial presence, came +forward, and I followed him back into the softly-carpeted corridor. Then +his action further aroused my curiosity, for he took from the inner +pocket of his tunic an envelope of what you in England call "court" +size--linen-lined, as are all envelopes used by the Emperor for his +private correspondence. I saw it had been sealed in black by his own +hand. Then, as he handed it to me, he said: + +"Go to Dresden as quickly as possible and obtain a reply to this." + +I clicked my heels together, and, saluting, left upon my secret mission +to the Saxon Court. + +The letter was addressed to Baron Georg von Metzsch at Dresden. + +Next day, when I presented it to the tall, thin Controller of the +Household, who sat in his small but cosy room in the Royal Palace, I saw +that its contents greatly puzzled him. + +He wrote a reply, and as Imperial messenger I returned at once to +Potsdam, handing it to the Emperor as he strode alone from the Shell +Saloon, through which he was passing after dinner. + +He took it from my hand without a word. The All-Highest never bestows +thanks upon those who obey his orders. It is, indeed, said to-day that +Hindenburg has never once, during his whole official career, been +verbally thanked by his Imperial Master. + +The Emperor, with impatient fingers, tore open the envelope, read its +contents, and then smiled contentedly, after which I went to old Von +Donaustauf's room, and, tired out by the long journey, smoked a good +cigar in his company. + +Next day we were all back at the Berlin Schloss--for we never knew from +day to day where we might be--Hamburg, Stuttgart, Duesseldorf or Danzig. + +During the morning His Majesty inspected the Berlin garrison in the +Tempelhofer Feld, and the Princess Luisa rode with him. That same +afternoon, while I was busy writing in the long room allotted to me in +the Berlin Schloss, Her Imperial Highness, to my surprise, entered, +closing the door quietly after her. + +"Count von Heltzendorff, you have been on a secret mission to that spy, +Von Metzsch, in Dresden, have you not?" + +I rose, bowed, and without replying courteously offered her a chair. + +"Why do you not admit it?" she asked quickly. + +"Princess, if the Emperor gives me orders to preserve secrecy, then it +is my duty to obey," I said. + +"I know," she answered, and then I realized how upset and nervous she +seemed. "But Von Metzsch hates me, and has put about all sorts of +scandalous reports concerning me. Ah! Count," she sighed, "you do not +know how very unhappy I am--how I am surrounded by enemies!" + +These words caused me much surprise, though I had, of course, heard many +unsavoury rumours regarding her unhappy position at the Saxon Court. + +"I much regret to hear that," I said. "But Your Imperial Highness has +also many friends, of whom I hope I may be permitted to number myself." + +"Ah! it is extremely good of you to say that--very good. If +you are really my friend, then you can help me. You are in a +position to watch and discover what is in progress--the reason +the Emperor exchanges those constant confidences with Von Metszch, +the man who has twisted my husband around his little finger, +and who has, with my Lady-of-the-Bedchamber, Frau von Fritsch, +already poisoned his mind against me. Ah!" she sighed again, +"you have no idea how much I have suffered!" + +She seemed on the verge of a nervous crisis, for I saw that in her fine +eyes stood the light of unshed tears, and I confess I was much puzzled, +for I had certainly believed, up to that moment, that she was on +excellent terms with her husband. + +"But surely His Highness the Crown-Prince of Saxony does not believe +any of those wicked reports?" I said. + +"Ah! Then you have heard. Of course, you have. Von Metzsch has taken +good care to let the whole world know the lies that he and the Countess +Paule Starhemberg have concocted between them. It is cruel!" she +declared in a paroxysm of grief. "It is wicked!" + +"No, no. Calm yourself, Princess!" I urged sympathetically. "I am at +least your friend, and will act as such should occasion arise." + +"I thank you," she sighed in relief, and she put out her hand, over +which I bent as I took it in friendship. + +"Ah!" she exclaimed in a low voice. "I fear I shall require the +assistance of a friend very soon. Do you recollect my broken pearls?" + +And a few moments later she left my room. + +Through all that day and the next I wondered what sly, underhand work +could be in progress. I pitied the good-looking, unconventional Imperial +Princess who, because of her somewhat hoydenish high spirits, had +aroused the storm of anger and jealousy in the Saxon Court. But the +Hapsburgs had ever been unfortunate in their loves. + +On the day before the Crown-Princess's visit to the Berlin Court was due +to end, at about six o'clock in the evening, I passed the sentries and +ascended to the Emperor's study with some papers I had been going +through regarding the reorganization of the Stettin garrison. I was one +of the very few persons ever admitted to that wing of the Palace. + +As I approached the door, treading noiselessly upon the soft carpet, I +heard voices raised excitedly, the door being slightly ajar. + +Naturally I halted. In my position I was able to hear a great deal of +Palace intrigue, but never had I listened to a conversation that held me +more breathless than at that moment. + +"Woman," cried the Emperor, "do you, then, openly defy my authority?" + +"What that crafty sycophant, Von Metzsch, has told you is, I repeat, a +foul and abominable lie," was the reply. + +And I knew that the unfortunate Princess was defending her reputation, +which her enemies at the Court of Saxony had torn to shreds. + +"No woman ever admits the truth, of course," sneered the Emperor. "I +consider you a disgrace to the Dresden Court." + +"So this is the manner in which you openly insult your guests!" was the +Princess's bitter retort. "You, who believe yourself the idol of your +people, now exhibit yourself in your true light as the traducer of a +defenceless woman!" + +"How dare you utter those words to me!" cried the All-Highest One, in +fury. + +"I dare defend myself--even though you may be Emperor," replied Luisa, +in a cold, hard tone of defiance. "I repeat that your allegations are +untrue, and that you have no right to make them. Surely you can see that +my enemies, headed by the King of Saxony, are all conspiring to effect +my downfall. I know it! I have written proof of it!" + +"Bosh! You say that because you know that the statements are true!" + +"You lie!" she cried fiercely. "They are not true. You cannot prove +them." + +"Very well," answered the Emperor in that tone of cold determination +that I knew too well. "I will prove the charges to my entire +satisfaction." + +I was startled at the manner in which the Princess had dared to call the +Emperor a liar. Surely nobody had ever done so before. + +I drew a long breath, for as I crept away unseen I recollected the +Kaiser's unrelenting vindictiveness. + +Poor Princess! I knew that the red talons of the Hohenzollern eagle +would sooner or later be laid heavily upon her. + +She left Berlin two hours later, but half an hour before her departure I +found a hurriedly-scribbled note upon my table explaining that she had +had "a few unpleasant words with the Emperor," and that she was leaving +for Dresden a day earlier than had been arranged. + +A fortnight passed. Twice Baron von Metzsch came to Potsdam, and was on +each occasion closely closeted with the Emperor, as well as having +frequent consultations with Judicial Councillor Loehlein. I had strong +suspicion that the vile conspiracy against the lively daughter of the +Hapsburgs was still in progress, for I felt assured that the Kaiser +would never forgive those words of defiance from a woman's lips, and +that his vengeance, slow and subtle, would assuredly fall upon her. + +I did not know at the time--not, indeed, until fully three years +later--how the blackguardly actions of Von Metzsch, who was a creature +of the Kaiser, had from the first been instigated by the All-Highest, +who, from the very day of the Prince's marriage, had, notwithstanding +his apparent graciousness towards her, determined that a Hapsburg should +never become Queen of Saxony. + +For that reason, namely, because the Emperor in his overweening vanity +believes himself to be the Heaven-sent ruler of the destinies of the +German Empire, was much opposed to an Austrian princess as a potential +queen at Dresden, he set himself the task to ruin the poor woman's life +and love and to arouse such a terrible scandal concerning her that she +could not remain in Saxony with every finger pointing at her in +opprobrium and scorn. + +A fresh light, however, was thrown upon what I afterwards realized to be +a dastardly conspiracy by the receipt of a cipher message late one +November night at Potsdam. I was at work alone with the Emperor in the +pale green upstairs room, reading and placing before him a number of +State documents to which he scrawled his scribbly signature, when the +telegram was brought. + +"Decipher that, Heltzendorff," he commanded, and went on with the work +of reading and signing the documents, while I sat down with the red +leather-covered personal code book which bore the Imperial coronet and +cipher, and presently found that the message, which was from Dresden, +read: + + "Frau von Fritsch to-day had an interview with Giron, the French + tutor to the Crown-Princess's children, but unfortunately the + latter refuses to admit any affection for Luisa. Giron angrily + declared his intention to leave Dresden, because of Von Fritsch's + suggestion. This course, I saw, would be unfortunate for our plans, + therefore I urged the King to induce Luisa to request him to + remain. She has done so, but to no avail, and Giron left for + Brussels to-night. May I be permitted to come to discuss with your + Majesty a further elaboration of the plan?--VON METZSCH." + +The Emperor read the secret message twice. Then he paused, with knit +brows, and brushed his moustache with his hand, a habit of his when +perplexed. + +"We go to Erfurt to-morrow, do we not?" he said. "Telegraph in cipher to +Von Metzsch to meet us there to-morrow evening at seven. And destroy +that message," he added. + +I obeyed his orders, and afterwards continued to deal with the State +papers, much enlightened by the news transmitted by the Emperor's +creature. + +The Imperial hand was slowly destroying the conjugal happiness of a pair +who really loved each other, even though they were of the blood royal. +The long arm of the Emperor was outstretched to crush and pulverize the +soul of the woman who had dared to defend herself--who had defied the +imperious will of that man whose hand he had, with awful blasphemy in +addressing his Brandenburgers, declared to be the hand of God. + +I confess that I felt the deepest sympathy for the helpless victim. At +the Schloss, high above the old-world town of Erfurt, the sneaking +sycophant Von Metzsch had a long conference with the Emperor but I was +unable to overhear any word of it. All I know is that the Controller of +the Saxon Household left Erfurt for Dresden by special train at +midnight. + +A quarter of an hour after the Saxon functionary had departed I was with +the Emperor receiving orders for the following day, and found him in +high spirits, by which, knowing him so intimately, I knew that he was +confident in his ultimate triumph. + +Poor, defenceless Luisa! You, my dear Le Queux, to whom the Princess a +few months afterwards flew for advice, know well how sterling, how +womanly and honest she was; how she was one victim of many of the +unholy, unscrupulous intrigues by which the arrogant War-Lord of +Germany, aided by his devil's spawn, has until the present managed to +retain his now tottering throne. + +Well, I watched the course of events; watched eagerly and daily. Twice I +had received letters from Her Imperial Highness, short notes in her +firm, bold handwriting. + +From Von Metzsch came several cipher messages to the Emperor after we +had returned to Potsdam, but Zorn von Bulach, my colleague, deciphered +all of them, and, as he was not my friend, I did not inquire as to their +purport. I knew, however, that matters in Dresden were fast approaching +a crisis, and that the unfortunate Hapsburg Princess could no longer +sustain the cruel and unjust pressure being put upon her for her +undoing. That a hundred of Germany's spies and _agents-provocateurs_ +were busy I realized from the many messages by telephone and telegraph +passing between Berlin and Dresden, and I felt certain that the ruin of +poor Princess Luisa was nigh. + +A significant message came to Potsdam late one December night--a message +which, when I deciphered it and handed it to the Emperor, caused him to +smile in triumph. + +I bit my lip. The Princess had left Dresden! + +Three days later, on December 9th, a further cipher telegram came from +Von Metzsch, the Emperor's sycophant in Dresden, which read: "Luisa has +learnt of the Sonnenstein project, and has left Salsburg for Zurich, her +brother accompanying.--VON METZSCH." + +Sonnenstein! That was a private lunatic asylum! I held my breath at the +awful fate which the Emperor had decided should be hers. + +In a few moments the Kaiser had summoned, by his private telephone, +Koehler, then chief of the Berlin secret police, and given orders that +the Princess was to be watched in Switzerland. Half an hour later three +police agents were on their way to Zurich to follow and persecute the +poor, distracted woman, even beyond the confines of the Empire. + +She was, no doubt, in deadly fear of being sent to a living tomb, so +that her mouth should be closed for ever. + +The Emperor, not content with casting her out of Germany, intended to +wreak a terrible and fiendish revenge upon her by closing her lips and +confining her in an asylum. She knew that, and seeing herself surrounded +by enemies and spies on every hand--for even her brother Leopold, with +whom she had travelled to Switzerland, now refused to assist her--she +adopted the only method of further escape that at the moment presented +itself. + +Alone and without anyone to advise her, she, as you know, took a +desperate resolve, one, alas! fraught with disastrous consequences. + +The iron had indeed entered the poor Princess's soul. + + +NOTE BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX + +_The denouement of this base intrigue of the Emperor's will be best +related in Her Imperial Highness's own words. In one of her letters, +which I have on my table as I write, she says:_ + +_"I saw before me in those never-to-be-forgotten days all the horrors of +a 'Maison de Sante.' What could I do? I was friendless in a strange +hotel. Even Leopold seemed disinclined to be further troubled by a +runaway sister. I knew Frau von Fritsch, that unscrupulous liar, had +accused me falsely of having secret love affairs, and that the Emperor +had directed the whole plot which was to culminate in my confinement in +an asylum. Suddenly a solution occurred to me. I remembered that +Monsieur Giron, who had already suffered greatly through his friendship +with me. If he joined me, then my flight from Dresden would be +considered as an elopement, and I should escape a living death in a +madhouse! Monsieur Giron was at that moment my only friend, and it was +for that reason that I telegraphed to him at Brussels. Well, he joined +me, and by doing so completed the Emperor's triumph."_ + +_The subtle, ever-scheming Madman of Europe, warped as he is in soul as +in body, had, with his true Hun craftiness and unscrupulousness, aided +by Judicial Councillor Loehlein and the spy Von Metzsch, succeeded in +hounding down an honest, defenceless woman as high born as his own +diseased self, and casting her in ignominy and shame out of his now +doomed Empire._ + + + + +SECRET NUMBER FOUR + +THE MYSTERIOUS FRAU KLEIST + + +The clever intrigues of Frau Kleist were unknown to any outside the +Court circle at Potsdam. + +She was indeed a queer personage, "only less of a personality than His +Majesty," as that shiftiest of German statesmen, Prince Buelow, declared +to me one day as we sat together in my room in the Berlin Schloss. + +Frau Kleist was the Court dancing-mistress, whose fastidious judgment +had to be satisfied by any young debutante or officer before they +presumed to dance before Royalty at the State balls. Before every ball +Frau Kleist held several dance rehearsals in the Weisser-Saal (White +Salon) at the Berlin Schloss, and she was more exacting than any pompous +General on parade. Perhaps she was seventy. Her real age I never knew. +But, friends that we were, she often chatted with me and deplored the +flat-footedness of the coming generation of Teutons, and more than once +I have seen her lift her skirts and, displaying neat silk-stockinged +ankles on the polished floor of the Weisser-Saal, make, for the benefit +of the would-be debutantes, graceful tiptoe turns with a marvellous +grace of movement. + +Truly Frau Kleist, with her neat waist and thin, refined face, was a +very striking figure at the Berlin Court. The intricacies of the minuet +and gavotte, as well as those of the old-world dances in which she +delighted, were taught by the old lady to Prince Joachim and Princess +Victoria Luise, both of whom always went in deadly fear of her caustic +tongue and overbearing manner. + +The Emperor never permitted any dancing at Court which was not up to a +high standard of excellence, and all who sought to dance were compelled +to pass before the critical eye of the sharp-tongued old lady in her +stiff silken gown. + +Once, I remember, certain young people of the smart set of Berlin sought +to introduce irregularities in the Lancers, but they soon discovered +that their cards were cancelled. + +Whence she had come or who had been responsible for her appointment +nobody knew. One thing was quite certain, that though at an age when +usually rheumatism prevents agility, yet she was an expert dancer. +Another thing was also certain, that, if a debutante or a young military +elegant were awkward or flat-footed, she would train them privately in +the Terpsichorean art, especially in the old-world dances which are so +popular at Court, and, accepting a little palm-oil, would then pass +them--after squeezing them sufficiently--as fit to receive the Imperial +command to the Court balls. + +The old woman, sharp-featured and angular as became her age, with her +complexion powdered and rouged, lived in considerable style in a fine +house close to the Glienicke Bridge at Potsdam, beneath the Babelsberg, +a power to be reckoned with by all who desired to enter the Court +circle. + +Regarding her, many strange stories were afloat. One was that she was an +ex-dancer, the mother of the famous Mademoiselle "Clo-Clo" Durand, +_premiere danseuse_ of the Paris Opera, and another was that she had +been mistress of the ballet at the Imperial Opera in Petrograd in the +days of the Emperor Alexander. But so great a mystery were her +antecedents that nobody knew anything for certain, save that, at the age +of nearly seventy, she had access at any hour to the Kaiser's private +cabinet. I have often seen her whisper to His Majesty strange secrets +which she had picked up here and there--secrets that were often +transferred to certain confidential quarters which control the great +Teuton octopus. + +Those at Court who secured the benignant smiles of Frau Kleist knew that +their future path in life would be full of sunshine, but woe betide +those upon whom she knit her brows in disapproval. It was all a question +of bribery. Frau Kleist kept her pretty house and her big Mercedes car +upon the secret money payments she received from those who "for value" +begged her favours. With many young officers the payment to Frau Kleist +was to open the back door to the Emperor's favour. + +We in the Neues Palais (New Palace) knew it. But surely it did not +concern us, for all of us looked askance at those who strove so +strenuously and eagerly for "commands" to Court functions, and really we +were secretly glad if the parvenus of both sexes were well bled before +they were permitted by Frau Erna to make their obeisance before Royalty. + +The palace world at every European Court is a narrow little world of its +own, unknown and unsuspected by the man in the street. There one sees +the worst side of human nature without any leaven of the best or even +nobler side. The salary-grabber, the military adventurer, the pinchbeck +diplomat, the commercial parvenu, and the scientist, together with their +heavy-jowled, jewel-bedecked women-folk, elbow each other in order to +secure the notice of the All-Highest One, who, in that green-upholstered +private room wherein I worked with him, often smiled at the unseemly +bustle while he calmly discriminated among men and women according to +their merits. + +It is in that calm discretion that the Emperor excels, possessing almost +uncanny foresight, combined with a most unscrupulous conscience. + +"I know! Frau Kleist has told me!" were the words His Majesty used on +many occasions when I had ventured perhaps to express doubt regarding +some scandalous story or serious allegation. Therefore I was confident, +even though a large section of the entourage doubted it, that the +seventy-year-old dancing-mistress, whose past was a complete mystery, +was an important secret agent of the Emperor's. + +And what more likely? The Kaiser, as ruler of that complex empire, would +naturally seek to know the truth concerning those who sought his favour +before they were permitted to click their heels or wag their fans and +bow the knee in his Imperial presence. And he had, no doubt, with that +innate cunning, appointed his creature to the position of Court +dancing-mistress. + +The most elegant, corsetted Prussian officer, even though he could dance +divinely, was good-looking and perfectly-groomed, would never be +permitted to enter the Court circle unless a substantial number of marks +were placed within the old woman's palm. It was her perquisite, and many +in that ill-paid entourage envied her her means of increasing her +income. + +In no Court in Europe are the purse-strings held so tightly as in that +of Potsdam. The Emperor and Empress, though immensely wealthy, practise +the economy of London suburbia. But at every Court bribery is rife in +order to obtain Royal warrants and dozens of other small favours of that +kind, just as open payment is necessary to-day to obtain titles of +nobility. The colour of gold has a fascination which few can resist. If +it were not so there would be no war in progress to-day. + +On October 17th, 1908, I had returned with the Emperor and his suite +from Hamburg, where His Majesty had been present at the launching of one +of Herr Ballin's monster American liners, and at three o'clock, after +the Kaiser had eaten a hurried luncheon, I was seated at the side table +in his private room in the Berlin Schloss, taking down certain +confidential instructions which he wished to be sent at once by one of +the Imperial couriers to the commandant of Posen. + +Suddenly Von Kahlberg, my colleague, entered with a message that had +been taken by the telegraphist attached to the Palace, and handed it to +His Majesty. + +Having read it, the Kaiser at once grew excited, and, turning to me, +said: + +"The Crown-Prince sends word from Potsdam that the American, Orville +Wright, is flying on the Bornstedter Feld. We must go at once. Order the +cars. And, Von Kahlberg, inform Her Majesty at once. She will accompany +us, no doubt." + +Quickly I placed before His Majesty one of his photographs--knowing that +it would be wanted for presentation to the daring American--and he took +up his pen and scrawled his signature across it. Afterwards I placed it +in the small, green-painted dispatch-box of steel which I always carried +when in attendance upon His Imperial Majesty. + +Within a quarter of an hour three of the powerful cars were on their way +to Potsdam, the Emperor with Herr Anton Reitschel--a high German +official at Constantinople--and Professor Vambery, who happened to be at +the Palace at the time, in the first car; the Kaiserin with her +daughter, Victoria Luise, and the latter's _ober-gouvernante_ +(governess), with one of the Court ladies, in the next; while in the +third I rode with Major von Scholl, one of the equerries. + +Cheers rose from the crowds as we passed through the Berlin streets, and +the Emperor, full of suppressed excitement at the thought of seeing an +aeroplane flight, constantly saluted as we flew along. + +On arrival at the Bornstedter Feld it was already growing dusk, and a +great disappointment awaited us. The Crown-Prince rode up to inform us +gravely that the flying was over for the day. At this the Kaiser grew +angry, for he had been out once before upon a wild-goose chase, only to +find that Orville Wright had gone home, declaring the wind to be too +strong. + +At his father's anger, however, "Willie" burst out laughing, declaring +that he was only joking, and that all was in readiness. Indeed, as he +spoke the aviator, in his leather jacket, came up, and I presented him +to His Majesty, while from everywhere soldiers and police appeared, in +order to keep back the crowd to the road. + +Then, while we stood alone in the centre of the great, sandy plain, Mr. +Orville Wright clambered into his machine and, rising, made many +circuits high above us. + +The Emperor stood with Herr Reitschel and the shaggy old Professor, +straining his eyes with keenest interest. It was the first time His +Majesty had seen an aeroplane in flight. Much had been promised of old +Von Zeppelin's invention, yet the German public had, until those +demonstrations by the American aviator, taken but little heed of the +heavier-than-air machine. At that time, indeed, the Emperor had not +taken up Von Zeppelin, and it was only after seeing Orville Wright's +demonstrations that he entered with any enthusiasm into aeronautical +problems. + +High above us against the clear evening sky, wherein the stars had +already begun to twinkle, the daring American rose, dipped, and banked, +his machine droning like a huge gad-fly, much to the interest and +astonishment of the Emperor. + +"Marvellous!" he exclaimed, as I stood beside him, with the Empress on +his right. "How is it done?" + +The crowds went wild with enthusiasm. The sight of a man flying in the +air, manoeuvring his machine at will, rising swiftly, and then planing +down with the engine cut off, was one of the most amazing spectacles the +loyal Potsdamers had ever seen. Even the Emperor, with all his wild +dreams of world-power, could never for a moment have foreseen what a +great factor aeroplanes would be in the war which he was so carefully +plotting. + +At last Wright came down in a spiral, banked slightly, steadied himself, +and then came lightly to earth within a few yards of where we stood, +having been the first to exhibit to the great War-Lord how completely +the air had been conquered. + +Then, quiet, rather unassuming man that he was, he advanced to receive +the Imperial congratulations, and to be handed the signed photograph +which, at the proper moment, I produced like a conjurer from my +dispatch-box. Afterwards, though it had now grown dark, the Emperor, by +the powerful headlamps of the three cars, thoroughly examined the +American's aeroplane, the aviator explaining every detail. + +From that moment for months afterwards the Kaiser was constantly talking +of aviation. He commanded photographs of various types of aeroplanes, +together with all literature on the subject, to be placed before him. +Indeed, he sent over to Britain, in secret, two officers to attend the +aeroplane meetings held at Doncaster and Blackpool, where a large number +of photographs were secretly taken, and duly found their way to his +table. + +Indeed, it would greatly surprise your English friends, my dear Le +Queux, if they had only seen the many secret reports and secret +photographs of all kinds regarding Britain's military, naval, and social +life, which I have found upon the Emperor's table. + +During my appointment I had through my hands many amazing reports +concerning the financial and social position of well-known English +politicians and officials, reports made with one ulterior motive--that +of attempted bribery. The Emperor meant war, and he knew that before he +could hope for success he must thoroughly "Germanize" Great +Britain--with what result we all now know. + +I have recalled the Emperor's first sight of an aeroplane in flight, in +company with Herr Anton Reitschel and Professor Vambery, because of an +incident which occurred that same day. Just before midnight the Emperor, +seated in his room in the Berlin Schloss, was giving me certain +instructions to be sent to Carlton House Terrace, when the door opened +without any knock of permission, and upon the threshold there stood +that arch-intriguer, Frau Kleist, in her stiff black silk gown, and +wearing a gleaming diamond brooch, the glitter of which was cold as her +own steely eyes. + +"Have I Your Majesty's permission to enter?" she asked, in her +high-pitched voice. + +"Of course, of course," replied the Emperor, turning in his chair. "Come +in and close the door. It has turned quite cold to-night. Well?" he +asked, looking at her inquiringly. + +The Emperor is a man of very few words, except when he tells a story. + +The Court dancing-mistress hesitated for a second. Their eyes met, and +in that glance I saw complete understanding. + +"May I speak in confidence with Your Majesty?" she asked, advancing into +the room, her stiff, wide skirts rustling. Except the Court ladies she +was the only female at Court whom the sentries stationed at the end of +the corridor allowed to pass to His Majesty's private cabinet. + +But Frau Kleist had access everywhere. Her eyes were the eyes of the +Emperor. Many a diplomat, financier, military or naval commander has +been raised to position of favourite because he first secured--by +payment, of course, according to his means--the good graces of the +_ex-ballerina_. And, alas! many a good, honest man has been cast out of +the Potsdam circle into oblivion, and even to death, because of the +poisonous declaration of that smiling, bejewelled old hag. + +"Of what do you wish to speak?" inquired the Emperor, who, truth to +tell, was very busy upon a most important matter concerning the building +of new submarines, and was perhaps a little annoyed by the intrusion, +though he did not betray it, so clever was he. + +"Of the Reitschel affair," was the old woman's low reply. + +At her words the Kaiser frowned slightly, and dismissed me. I bowed +myself out, and closed the door upon the Emperor and his clever female +spy. + +That she should have at that late hour come from Potsdam--for, looking +down into the courtyard, I saw the lights of her big Mercedes--showed +that some underhand work was in progress. + +Only a week before I had been discussing Anton Reitschel and his +position with my intimate friend, old Von Donaustauf, Master of +Ceremonies, who was supposed to control the ex-dancer, but who in +reality was in a subordinate position to her, because she had the ear of +the Emperor at any hour. Petty jealousies, dastardly plots, and constant +intrigues make up the daily life around the Throne. Half the orders +given in the Emperor's name are issued without his knowledge, and many +an order transmitted to the provinces without his authority. + +By handling, as I did, hundreds of those secret reports which reached +the Emperor I had learned much concerning Herr Anton Reitschel, and from +old Von Donaustauf I had also been able to obtain certain missing links +concerning the intrigue. + +Reitschel, a burly, round-faced, fair-haired Prussian of quite superior +type, held the position of Chief Director of the German-Ottoman Bank in +Constantinople. His duty for the past three years had been to conciliate +the Sultan and to lend German money to any industrial enterprise in +which any grain of merit could possibly be discovered. He had been +singled out, taken from the Dresdner Bank, and sent to Constantinople by +the Kaiser in order to play Germany's secret game in Turkey--especially +that of the Bagdad Railway--and to combat with German gold Great +Britain's diplomacy with Tewfik Pasha and old Abdul Hamid, in view of +"The Day," which the Emperor had long ago determined should soon dawn. +Was he not the War-Lord? And must not a War-Lord make war? + +As old Von Donaustauf had put it, between the whiffs of one of those +exquisite cigarettes, a consignment of the Sultan's own which came from +the Yildiz Kiosk to Potsdam weekly: + +"Our Emperor intends that, notwithstanding Britain's policy in the Near +East, Germany shall soon rule from Berlin to Bagdad. Herr Reitschel is +in reality charged with the work of "Germanizing" the Ottoman Empire." + +That I already knew by the many secret reports of his which arrived so +constantly from Constantinople, reports which showed quite plainly that +though the great German Embassy, with its huge eagles of stone set at +each end, might have been built for the purpose of impressing the Turks, +yet the shrewd, farseeing Herr Anton, as head of that big financial +corporation, held greater sway at that rickety set of offices known to +us as the Sublime Porte than did his Excellency the Ambassador, with all +his beribboned crowd of underlings. + +Truly the game which the Emperor was playing in secret against the other +Powers of Europe was a crooked and desperate one. On the one hand the +Kaiser was making pretence of fair dealing with Great Britain and +France, yet on the other his agent, Herr Reitschel, was ever busy +lending money in all directions, and bribing Turkish officials in order +to secure their favour in Germany's interest. + +Yet a further game was being played--one that, in addition to the +Imperial Chancellor, I alone knew--namely, that while the Kaiser was +making pretence of being the best friend of the Sultan Abdul Hamid, +visiting Constantinople and Palestine, building fountains, endowing +institutes, and bestowing his Imperial grace in so many ways, yet he was +also secretly supporting the Young Turk party so as to effect the +Sultan's downfall as part of his sly, Machiavellian policy--a plot +which, as you know, ultimately succeeded, for poor old Abdul the Damned +and his harem were eventually packed off, bag and baggage, to Salonika, +notwithstanding His Majesty's wild entreaty to Berlin for protection. + +I happened to be with the Emperor on the Imperial yacht at Tromsoe when +he received by telegram the personal appeal addressed to him from his +miserable dupe, and I well recollect how grimly he smiled as he remarked +to me that it needed no response. + +Well, at the period of which I am making the present disclosure, Herr +Anton had been paying a number of flying visits to Berlin, and had had +many private audiences of both Kaiser and Sultan, and had on several +occasions been invited informally to the Imperial luncheon table, a mark +of esteem bestowed by the Kaiser upon those who may at the moment be +serving his interests particularly well. + +Suddenly all of us were surprised by the announcement that the Kaiser's +favoured civilian in Turkey had married Mademoiselle Julie de Lagarenne, +daughter of Paul de Lagarenne, son of the great French sugar refiner, +and secretary of the French Embassy at Rome. We heard also that, having +married in Italy, he was bringing his wife to Berlin. Indeed, a week +after that news was spread I met them both in Kranzler's in Unter den +Linden, and there he introduced me to a pretty, dark-haired, vivacious +young Frenchwoman, who spoke German well, and who told me that her +husband had already given in her name for presentation at the next +Court. + +That was about a month prior to Orville Wright's flight and the midnight +visit of Frau Kleist to the Emperor. + +Truth to tell, the old woman's mention of Herr Reitschel's name caused +me considerable misgivings, because three weeks before I had gathered +certain strange facts from a secret report of a spy who in +Constantinople had been set to watch Herr Reitschel's doings. That spy +was Frau Kleist's son. + +The Kaiser trusts nobody. Even his favourites and most intimate cronies +are spied upon, and reports upon those familiar blue papers are +furnished regularly. In view of what I had read in that report from Karl +Kleist, I stood amazed when, at the grand Court a week later, I had +witnessed Herr Reitschel's French wife bow before the Emperor and +Empress and noticed how graciously the Kaiser had smiled upon her. Truly +the Emperor is sphinx-like and imperturbable. Outside the privacy of his +own room, that chamber of cunning plots and fierce revenge, he never +allows his sardonic countenance to betray his inner thoughts, and will +grasp the hand of his most hated enemy with the hearty warmth of +friendship, a Satanic _volte-face_ in which danger and evil lurk always, +a trait inherited to its full degree by the Crown-Prince. + +The days that followed Frau Kleist's midnight visit were indeed busy, +eventful days. Certain diplomatic negotiations with Washington had been +unsuccessful; Von Holleben, the Ambassador, had been recalled, and given +an extremely bad half-hour by both Kaiser and Chancellor. In addition, +some wily American journalist had fathomed the amazing duplicity of +Prince Henry's visit to the States and Germany's Press Bureau in +America, while the Yellow Press of New York had published a ghastly +array of facts and figures concerning the latter, together with +facsimile documents, all of which had sent His Majesty half-crazy with +anger. + +Nearly three months passed. + +Herr Reitschel often came from Constantinople, and frequently brought +his handsome young wife with him, for he was _persona grata_ at Court. +To me this was indeed strange in view of the reports of the ex-opera +dancer's son--who, by the way, lived in Constantinople in the +unsuspicious guise of a carpet-dealer, and unknown to the bank director. + +The latter had, assisted by his wife's fortune, inherited from her +grandmother, purchased the Schloss Langenberg, the splendid ancestral +castle and estates of the Princes of Langenberg, situate on a rock +between Ilmenau and Zella, in the beautiful Thuringian Forest, and +acknowledged to be one of the most famous shooting estates in the +Empire. It was not, therefore, surprising that the Emperor, to mark his +favour, should express a desire to shoot capercailzie there--a desire +which, of course, delighted Herr Reitschel, who had only a few days +before been decorated with the Order of the Black Eagle. + +One afternoon in mid-autumn the Emperor, accompanied by the Crown-Prince +and myself, together with the suite, arrived by the Imperial train at +the little station of Ilmenau, where, of course, Reitschel and his +pretty wife, with the land-rats, head and under foresters, and all sorts +of civil officials in black coats and white ties bowed low as the +All-Highest stepped from his saloon. The Kaiser was most gracious to his +host and hostess, while the schloss, we found, was almost equal in +beauty and extent to that of Prince Max Egon zu Fuerstenberg at +Donau-Eschingen, which place we always visited once, if not twice, each +year. + +The Emperor had complained of a slight cold, and in consequence, just +before we left Berlin, I had been instructed to summon by telegraph a +certain Dr. Vollerthun from Augsburg, who was a perfect stranger to us +all, but who had, I supposed, been recommended to the Emperor by +somebody who, for some consideration, wished to advance him in his +profession. + +While the Emperor and his host were out shooting, the Crown-Prince and +several of the suite being of the party, I remained alone in a big, +circular, old-world room in one of the towers of the Castle, where the +long, narrow windows overlooked the forest, dealing with a flood of +important State papers which a courier had brought from Berlin two hours +before. Papers followed us daily wherever we might be, even when +yachting at Cowes or in the Norwegian fjords. + +About midday Dr. Vollerthun was ushered in to me--a short, stout, +guttural-speaking man of about sixty, rather bald, and wearing big, +round, gold-rimmed spectacles. I quickly handed him over to the +major-domo. He was a stranger, and no doubt one who sought the Emperor's +favour, therefore as such I took but little interest in him. + +About three o'clock that same afternoon, however, a light tap came at +the door, and on looking round, I saw my hostess standing upon the +threshold. + +She was quietly but elegantly dressed, presenting the true type of the +smart Parisienne, but in an instant I realized that she was very pale +and agitated. Indeed her voice trembled when she asked permission to +enter. + +Since her marriage I had many times chatted with her, for she often came +to the Palace when her husband visited Berlin, as he did so frequently. +I had danced with her; I had taken her in to dinner at various houses +where we met, always finding her a bright and very intellectual +companion. + +She quietly closed the door, and, crossing the room with uneven steps, +advanced to the table from which I had risen. + +"Count von Heltzendorff!" she exclaimed in a low, strained voice. "I--I +have come to seek your aid because--well, because I'm distracted, and I +know that you are my husband's friend," she exclaimed in French. + +"And yours also, Madame," I said earnestly, bowing and pulling forward a +chair for her. + +"My husband is out with the Emperor!" she gasped in a curious, unnerved +tone. "And I fear; oh, I fear that we are in great peril--deadly peril +every hour--every moment!" + +"Really, Madame, I hardly follow you," I said, standing before the +dark-haired, handsome French girl--for she was little more than a +girl--who had inherited the whole fortune of the biggest sugar refinery +in Europe, the great factory out at St. Denis which supplied nearly +one-sixth of the refined sugar of the world. + +"My husband, whom I love devotedly, has done his best in the interests +of his Emperor. You, Count, know--for you are in a position to know--the +real aims of the Kaiser in Turkey. These last six months I have watched, +and have learned the truth! I know how, when the Emperor went to +Constantinople five months ago in pretence of friendship towards the +Sultan, with Professor Vambery as interpreter, he practically compelled +Abdul Hamid to give him, in return for certain financial advances, those +wonderful jewels which the Empress Catherine, wife of Peter the Great, +gave in secret to the Grand Vizier to secure the escape of the Russian +Army across the Pruth. I know how the Emperor seized those wonderful +emeralds, and, carrying them back to Potsdam, has given them to the +Empress. I know, too, how he laughed with my husband at the cleverness +by which he is fooling the too trustful Turks. I----" + +"Pardon, Madame," I said, interrupting her, and speaking in French, "but +is it really wise to speak thus of the Emperor's secrets? Your husband +is, I fear, guilty of great indiscretion in mentioning such matters." + +"I am his wife, Count, and he conceals little, if anything, from me." + +I looked the pretty young woman straight in the face in fear and regret. + +Possession of those ancient jewels which, with reluctance, Abdul Hamid +had brought out from his treasury, was one of the Kaiser's greatest +secrets, a secret of Potsdam known to no more than three people, +including myself. The Emperor had specially imposed silence upon me, +because he did not wish the Powers to suspect his true Eastern policy of +bribery and double-dealing, blackmail and plunder. + +And yet she, the daughter of a French diplomat, knew the truth! + +Instantly I realized the serious danger of the secret being betrayed to +France. + +"Madame," I said, leaning against the writing-table as I spoke in +deepest earnestness. "If I may be permitted, I would urge that the +Emperor's diplomacy neither concerns your husband, as an official, nor +yourself. It is his own private affair, and should neither be discussed +nor betrayed." + +"I know," she said. "That is just why I have ventured to come here to +consult you, M'sieur! You have been my good friend as well as my +husband's, and here to-day, while the Emperor is our guest beneath our +roof, I feel that I am in greatest peril!" + +"Why?" I asked with considerable surprise. + +"The Emperor has already learnt that I know the truth regarding his +secret," was her slow reply. "By what means His Majesty has discovered +it, I, alas! know not. But I do know from a confidential quarter that I +have incurred the Emperor's gravest displeasure and hatred." + +"Who is your informant?" I inquired sternly, eager to further +investigate the great intrigue. + +"A certain person who must be nameless." + +"Have you spoken to anybody of the Emperor's secret plans in Turkey, or +of his possession of the Empress Catherine's jewels?" + +"I have not uttered a word to a single soul except my husband. I swear +it." + +"Your husband was extremely indiscreet in revealing anything," I +declared again quite frankly. + +"I fully admit that. But what can I do? How shall I act?" she asked in a +low, tense voice. "Advise me, do." + +For some moments I remained silent. The situation, with a pretty woman +seeking my aid in such circumstances, was difficult. + +"Well, Madame," I replied after reflection, "if you are really ready to +promise the strictest secrecy and leave the matter to me, I will +endeavour to find a way out of the difficulty--providing you--good +German that you are by marriage--will take, before the Emperor himself, +an oath of complete secrecy?" + +"I am ready to do anything--anything for my dear husband's sake," the +handsome young woman assured me, tears welling in her fine dark eyes. + +"In that case, then, please leave the matter entirely in my hands," I +said. And later on she left. + +That same night, about ten o'clock, the Emperor, in the dark-green +uniform which he always wears at dinner after hunting or shooting, +entered the room to which I had just returned to work. + +"Send Frau Kleist to me," he snapped. "And I will summon you later when +I want you, Heltzendorff." + +Frau Kleist! I had no idea the woman had arrived at the castle. But I +dispatched one of the servants to search for her, and afterwards heard +her high-pitched voice as she ascended the stairs to hold secret and, no +doubt, evil counsel with His Majesty. + +Below I found the fat, fair-haired little doctor from Augsburg, who was +still an enigma, but eager to see his Imperial patient, and with him I +smoked a cigarette to while away the time. I was anxious to return to +His Majesty, and, as became my duty as his adjutant, to explain what I +had learnt from the lips of our French hostess. + +Suddenly one of the Imperial flunkeys bowed at the door, commanding the +doctor to the Royal presence, and he left me, hot and flurried, as all +become who are unused to the Court atmosphere, its rigid etiquette, and +its constant bows. + +Had the Emperor called the unknown doctor into consultation with Frau +Kleist? + +Inquiries I had made concerning the doctor from Augsburg showed that he +was quite a well-known specialist on mental diseases, and he had also +written a text-book upon bacteriology and the brain. Why had the Kaiser +summoned him? He required no brain specialist. + +"We leave to-morrow at noon," the Emperor exclaimed brusquely when, an +hour later, I was summoned to his room. This amazed me, for our +arrangements were to remain three days longer. I recollected Madame +Reitschel's words. + +"I do not feel at all well," His Majesty added, "and this Dr. Vollerthun +orders me rest at Potsdam." + +In silence I bowed, and then ventured to refer to what was uppermost in +my mind. + +"May I be permitted to speak to your Majesty upon a certain confidential +subject?" I begged, standing against the table whereat I had been +writing the greater part of that day. + +"What subject?" snapped the All-Highest. + +"Your Majesty's negotiations with the Sultan of Turkey. Frau Reitschel +has learnt of them, but she is eager to come before you and take oath of +entire secrecy." + +The Kaiser's eyes narrowed and glowed in sudden anger. + +"A woman's oath!" he cried. "Bah! Never have I believed in silence +imposed upon any woman's tongue--more especially that of a born enemy! I +appreciate your loyalty and acumen, Von Heltzendorff, but I have, +fortunately, known this for some little time, and in strictest secrecy +have taken certain measures to combat it. Remember that these words have +never been uttered to you! Remember that! You are adjutant, and I am +Emperor. Understand! I fully appreciate and note your loyal report, but +it is not woman's sphere to enter our diplomacy, except as a secret +agent of our Fatherland. Let us say no more." + +Ten minutes later, being dismissed, I wandered back through the great, +silent, echoing corridors of the ancient castle to my own room. A great +human drama, greater than any ever placed upon the stage, was now being +enacted. Throwing his loaded dice, the Emperor, with all his craft, +cunning, and criminal unscrupulousness behind his mask of Christianity, +and aided by his unprincipled son, the Crown-Prince, was actually +plotting the downfall of the Turkish Empire and the overthrow of Islam +in Europe. Between the All-Highest One and the realization of those +dastardly plans for world-power so carefully and cleverly thought out in +every detail night after night in the silence of that dull, faded green +room upstairs at Potsdam, stood one frail little Parisienne, the +vivacious, well-meaning Madame Reitschel! + +Next day we left the Schloss Langenberg, but before doing so we heard +with regret that our charming little hostess had been suddenly taken ill +during the night, and the Kaiser, as a mark of favour, had ordered his +doctor, Vollerthun, to remain behind to attend her. That Herr Reitschel +was in great distress I saw from his face as he stood taking leave of +his Imperial guest on the little platform at Ilmenau. + +Back in Berlin, I wondered what was in progress in that far-off Schloss +in Thuringia, but a week later the truth became vividly apparent when I +read in the _Staats-Anzeiger_ an announcement which disclosed to me the +terrible truth. + +I held my breath as my eyes followed the printed lines. + +Frau Reitschel, the young wife of the famous Anton Reitschel of +Constantinople, had, the journal reported, been seized by a sudden and +somewhat mysterious illness on the night prior to the Emperor's +departure from the Schloss Langenberg, and though His Majesty had +graciously left his own physician behind to attend her, the unfortunate +lady had developed insanity to such a hopeless degree that it had been +necessary to confine her in the Rosenau private asylum at Coburg. + +In a second I realized how the dancing-mistress and the mental +specialist from Augsburg had been the tools of the Emperor. That +"mysterious illness," developing into madness, was surely not the result +of any natural cause, but had been deliberately planned and executed by +means of a hypodermic syringe, in order that the woman who had learnt +the secret of the Emperor's double cunning in the Near East should be +for ever immured in a madhouse. + +Outside the trio responsible for the cruel and dastardly act, I alone +knew the truth how, by the Emperor's drastic action, he had prevented +the secret of his chicanery leaking out to the Powers. + +Poor Madame Reitschel! She died early in 1913, a raving lunatic. Her +devoted husband, having served the Emperor's purpose, had been recalled +to Berlin, where, bereft of the Kaiser's favour, he predeceased her by +about six months, broken-hearted, but in utter ignorance of that foul +plot carried out under his very nose and in his own castle. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER FIVE + +THE GIRL WHO KNEW THE CROWN-PRINCE'S SECRET + + +Late on the night of November 18th, 1912, I was busily at work in the +Crown-Prince's room--that cosy apartment of which I possessed the +key--at the Marble Palace at Potsdam. + +I, as His Imperial Highness's personal-adjutant, had been travelling all +day with him from Cologne to Berlin. We had done a tour of military +inspections in Westphalia, and, as usual, "Willie's" conduct, as became +the heir-apparent of the psalm-singing All-Highest One, had not been +exactly exemplary. + +With his slant eyes and sarcastic grin he openly defied the Emperor, and +frequently referred to him to his intimates as "a hoary old +hypocrite"--the truth of which recent events have surely proved. + +On the night in question, however, much had happened. The Emperor had, a +month before, returned from a visit to England, where he had been +engaged by speeches and hand-shakes, public and private, blowing a +narcotic dust into the nostrils of your dear but, alas! too confiding +nation. + +You British were all dazzled--you dear English drank the Imperial +sleeping-draught, prepared so cunningly for you and your Cabinet +Ministers in what we in Berlin sometimes called "the Downing-Strasse." +You lapped up the cream of German good-fellowship as a cat laps milk, +even while agents of our Imperial War Staff had held Staff-rides in +various parts of your island. All of you were blind, save those whom +your own people denounced as scaremongers when they lifted their voices +in warning. + +We at Potsdam smiled daily at what seemed to us to be the slow but sure +decline of your great nation from its military, naval, and commercial +supremacy. The Kaiser had plotted for fourteen years, and now he was +being actively aided by his eldest son, that shrewd, active agnostic +with a criminal kink. + +"Heltzendorff!" exclaimed the Crown-Prince, as he suddenly entered the +room where I was busy attending to a pile of papers which had +accumulated during our absence in Westphalia, and which had been sorted +into three heaps by my assistant during our absence. "Do get through all +those letters and things. Burn them all if you can. What do they +matter?" + +"Many of them are matters of grave importance. Here, for instance, is a +report from the Chief of Military Intelligence in Washington." + +"Oh, old Friesch! Tear it up! He is but an old fossil at best. And yet, +Heltzendorff, he is designed to be of considerable use," he added. "His +Majesty told me to-night that after his visit to England he has +conceived the idea to establish an official movement for the improvement +of better relations between Britain and Germany. The dear British are +always ready to receive such movements with open arms. At Carlton House +Terrace they strongly endorse the Emperor's ideas, and he tells me that +the movement should first arise in commercial and shipping circles. Herr +Ballin will generate the idea in his offices in London and the various +British ports, while His Majesty has Von Gessler, the ex-Ambassador at +Washington, in view as the man to bring forth the suggestion publicly. +Indeed, to-night from the Wilhelmstrasse there has been sent a message +to his schloss on the Mosel commanding him to consult with His Majesty. +Von Bernstorff took his place at Washington a few months ago." + +"But Von Gessler is an inveterate enemy of Britain," I exclaimed in +surprise, still seated at my table. + +"The world does not know that. The whole scheme is based upon Britain's +ignorance of our intentions. We bring Von Gessler forward as the dear, +good, Anglophile friend with his hand outstretched from the +Wilhelmstrasse. Oh, Heltzendorff!" he laughed. "It is really intensely +amusing, is it not?" + +I was silent. I knew that the deeply-laid plot against Great Britain was +proceeding apace, for had I not seen those many secret reports, and did +I not possess inside knowledge of the evil intentions of the Emperor and +his son. + +"Get through all that--to-night if you can, Heltzendorff," the +Crown-Prince urged. "The Crown-Princess leaves for Treseburg, in the +Harz, to-morrow, and in the evening we go to Nice." + +"To Nice!" I exclaimed, though not at all disinclined to spend a week or +so on the Riviera. + +"Yes," he said. "I have a friend there. The Riviera is only pleasant +before the season, or after. One cannot go with the crowd in January or +February. I have already given orders for the saloon to leave at eleven +to-morrow night. That will give us ample time." + +A friend there! I reflected. I, knowing his partiality to the eternal +petticoat, could only suppose that the attraction in Nice was of the +feminine gender. + +"Then the lady is in Nice!" I remarked, for sometimes I was permitted, +on account of my long service with the Emperor, to speak familiarly. + +"Lady, no!" he retorted. "It is a man. And I want to get to Nice at the +earliest moment. So get through those infernal documents. Burn them all. +They are better out of the way," he laughed. + +And, taking a cigarette from the golden box--a present to him from +"Tino" of Greece--he lit it, and wishing me good night, strode out. + +Just before eleven o'clock on the following night we left the Marmor +Palace. His Imperial Highness travelled incognito as he always did when +visiting France, assuming the name of Count von Gruenau. With us was his +personal valet, Schuler, the military secretary, Major Lentze, and +Eckardt, the Commissioner of Secret Police for His Highness's personal +protection, who travelled with us wherever we went. In addition, there +was an under-valet, and Knof, the Crown-Prince's favourite chauffeur. +When abroad cars were either bought and afterwards re-sold, or else +hired, but Knof, who was a celebrated racing motorist and had driven in +Prince Henry's tour of exploration through England, and who had gained +many prizes on the various circuits, was always taken as "driver." + +After a restless night--for there were many stoppages--I spent next day +with the Crown-Prince in long and tiring discussions on military affairs +as we travelled due south in the beautifully-fitted Imperial car, +replete with its smoking saloon with wicker chairs, its four bathrooms, +and other luxuries. I endeavoured to obtain from him some reason why we +were proceeding to Nice, but to all my inquiries he was smilingly dumb. +He noticed my eagerness, and I saw that he was amused by it. + +Yet somehow, as we travelled towards the Italian frontier--for our road +lay through Austria down to Milan, and thence by way of Genoa--he seemed +to become unduly thoughtful and anxious. + +Only a fortnight before he had had one of those ever-recurring and +unseemly quarrels with his long-suffering wife. + +"Cilli is a fool!" he had declared openly to me, after she had left the +room in anger. + +We had been busy arranging a programme of official visits in Eastern +Germany, when suddenly the Crown-Princess entered, pale with anger, and +disregarding my presence--for I suppose I was regarded as one who knew +all the happenings of the palace, and whose discretion could be relied +upon--began to demand fiercely an explanation of a certain anonymous +letter which she held in her hand. + +"Kindly read that!" she said haughtily, "and explain what it means!" + +The Crown-Prince grinned idiotically, that cold, sinister expression +overspreading his countenance, a look which is such a marked +characteristic of his. + +Then, almost snatching the letter from his young wife's fingers, he read +it through, and with a sudden movement tore it up and flung it upon the +carpet, saying: + +"I refuse to discuss any unsigned letter! Really, if we were to notice +every letter written by the common scum we should, indeed, have +sufficient to do." + +His wife's arched brows narrowed. Her pale, delicate face, in which the +lines of care had appeared too prematurely, already betrayed fiercest +anger. + +"I happen to have inquired, and I now know that those allegations are +correct!" she cried. "This dark-haired singer-woman, Irene Speroni, has +attained great success on the variety stage in Italy. She is the star of +the Sala Margherita in Rome." + +"Well?" he asked in defiance. "And what of it, pray?" + +"That letter you have destroyed tells me the truth. I received it a few +days ago, and sent an agent to Italy in order to learn the truth. He has +returned to-night. See!" And suddenly she produced a crannied snapshot +photograph, of postcard size, of the Crown-Prince in his polo-playing +garb, and with him a smartly-dressed young woman, whose features were in +the shadow. I caught sight of that picture, because when he tossed it +from him angrily without glancing at it, I picked it up and handed it +back to the Crown-Princess. + +"Yes," she cried bitterly, "You refuse, of course, to look upon this +piece of evidence! I now know why you went to Wiesbaden. The woman was +singing there, and you gave her a pair of emerald and diamond earrings +which you purchased from Vollgold in Unter den Linden. See! Here is the +bill for them!" + +And again she produced a slip of paper. + +At this the Crown-Prince grew instantly furious, and, pale to the lips, +he roundly abused his long-suffering wife, telling her quite frankly +that, notwithstanding the fact that she might spy upon his movements, he +should act exactly as his impulses dictated. + +That scene was, indeed, a disgraceful one, ending in the poor woman, in +a frantic paroxysm of despair, tearing off the splendid necklet of +diamonds at her throat--his present to her on their marriage--and +casting it full into his face. + +Then, realizing that the scene had become too tragic, I took her small +hand, and, with a word of sympathy, led her out of the room and along +the corridor. + +As I left her she burst into a sudden torrent of tears; yet when I +returned again to the Crown-Prince I found his manner had entirely +changed. He treated his wife's natural resentment and indignation as a +huge joke, and it was then that His Imperial Highness declared to me: + +"Cilli is a fool!" + +That sunny afternoon the Crown-Prince had sprawled himself on the plush +lounge of the smoking car as the train travelled upon that picturesque +line between Genoa and the French frontier at Ventimiglia, the line +which follows the coast for six hours. With the tideless sapphire +Mediterranean lapping the yellow beach on the one side and high brown +rocks upon the other, we went through Savona, Albenga, the old-world +Porto Maurizio to the glaring modern town of San Remo and palm-embowered +Bordighera, that beautiful Italian Riviera that you and I know so well. + +"Listen, Heltzendorff," his Highness exclaimed suddenly between the +whiffs of his cigarette. "In Nice I may disappear for a day or two. I +may be missing. But if I am, please don't raise a fuss about it. I'm +incognito, and nobody will know. I may be absent for seven days. If I am +not back by that time then you may make inquiry." + +"But the Commissary of Police Eckardt! He will surely know?" I remarked +in surprise. + +"No. He won't know. I shall evade him as I've so often done before," +replied His Imperial Highness. "I tell you of my intentions so that you +may curb the activities of our most estimable friend. Tell him not to +worry, and he will be paid a thousand marks on the day Count von Gruenau +reappears." + +I smiled, for I saw the influence of the eternal feminine. + +"No, Heltzendorff. You are quite mistaken," he said, reading my +thoughts, and putting down his cigarette end. "There is no lady in this +case. I am out here for secret purposes of my own. For that reason I +take you into my confidence rather than that unnecessary inquiry should +be made and some of those infernal journalists get hold of the fact that +the Count von Gruenau and the Crown-Prince are one and the same person. I +was a fool to take this saloon. I ought to have travelled as an ordinary +passenger, I know, but," he laughed, "this is really comfortable and, +after all, what do we care what the world thinks--eh? Surely we can +afford to laugh at it when all the honours of the game are already in +our hands." + +And at that moment we ran into the pretty, flower-decked station of San +Remo, the place freshly painted for the attraction of the winter +visitors who annually went south for sunshine. + +His words mystified me, but I became even more mystified by his actions +a few days later. + +I was in ignorance that a fortnight before Hermann Hardt, one of His +Highness's couriers, had left Potsdam and on arrival at Nice had rented +for three months the fine Villa Lilas--the winter residence of the +American millionaire leather merchant, James G. Jamieson, of Boston, who +had gone yachting to Japan. + +You know Nice, my dear Le Queux--you know it as well as I do, therefore +you know the Villa Lilas, that big white mansion which faces the sea on +Montboron, the hill road between the port of Nice and Villefranche. Half +hidden among the mimosa, the palms, and grey-green olives, it is after +the style of Mr. Gordon Bennett's villa at Beaulieu, with a big glass +front and pretty verandas, with climbing geraniums flowering upon the +terraces. + +We soon settled there, for the household staff had arrived three days +before, and on the evening of our arrival I accompanied the Crown-Prince +down into the town to the Jetee promenade, the pier-pavilion where the +gay cosmopolitan world disports itself to chatter, drink and gamble. + +It was a glorious moonlit night, and "Willie," after strolling through +the great gilded saloons, in one of which was a second-rate variety +entertainment--the season not having yet commenced--went outside. We sat +at the end of the pier smoking. + +"Nice is dull as yet, is it not?" he remarked, for each year he always +spent a month there incognito, the German newspapers announcing that he +was away shooting. But "Willie," leading the gay life of the Imperial +butterfly, much preferred the lively existence of the Cote d'Azur to the +remote schloss in Thuringia or elsewhere. + +I agreed with him that Nice had not yet put on the tinsel and pasteboard +of her Carnival attractions. As you know, Carnival in Nice is gay +enough, but, after all, it is a forced gaiety got up for the profit of +the shops and hotels, combined with the "Cercle des Bains" of +Monaco--the polite title of the Prince's gilded gambling hell. + +We smoked together and chatted, as we often did when His Imperial +Highness became bored. I was still mystified why we had come to the +Riviera so early in the season, because the white and pale green paint +of the hotels was not yet dry, and half of them not yet open. + +Yet our coming had, no doubt, been privately signalled, because within +half an hour of our arrival at the Villa Lilas a short, stout old +Frenchman, with white, bristly hair--whom I afterwards found out was +Monsieur Paul Bavouzet, the newly-appointed Prefect of the Department of +Alpes-Maritimes--called to leave his card upon the Count von Gruenau. + +The Imperial incognito only means that the public are to be deluded. +Officialdom never is. They know the ruse, and support it all the world +over. His Highness the Crown-Prince was paying his annual visit to Nice, +and the President had sent his compliments through his representative, +the bristly-haired little Prefect. + +Soon after eleven that night the Crown-Prince, after chatting affably +with me, strolled back to the Promenade des Anglais, where Knof, the +chauffeur, awaited us with a big open car, in which we were whizzed +around the port and up to Montboron in a few minutes. + +As I parted from the Crown-Prince, who yawned and declared that he was +tired, he said: + +"Ah! Heltzendorff. How good it is to get a breath of soft air from the +Mediterranean! We shall have a port on this pleasant sea one day--if we +live as long--eh?" + +That remark showed the trend of events. It showed how, hand in hand with +the Emperor, he was urging preparations for war--a war that had for its +primary object the destruction of the Powers which, when the volcano +erupted, united as allies. + +The bright autumn days passed quite uneventfully, and frequently I went +pleasant motor runs into the mountains with His Highness, up to the +frontier at the Col di Tenda, to La Vesubie, Puget-Theniers, and other +places. Yet I was still mystified at the reason of our sojourn there. + +After we had been at the Villa Lilas about ten days I was one afternoon +seated outside the popular Cafe de l'Opera, in the Place Massena, when a +lady, dressed in deep mourning and wearing the heavy veil in French +style, passed along the pavement, glanced at me, and then, hesitating, +she turned, and, coming back, advanced to the little table in the corner +whereat I was sitting. + +"May I be permitted to have a word with you, Monsieur?" she asked in +French, in a low, refined voice. + +"Certainly," was my reply, and, not without some surprise, I rose and +drew a chair for her. + +She glanced round quickly, as though to satisfy herself that she would +not be overheard, but, as a matter of fact, at that hour the chairs on +the terraces of the cafe were practically deserted. At the same moment, +viewing her closely, I saw that she was about twenty-four, handsome, +dark-haired, with well-cut features. + +"I know, Monsieur, that I am a complete stranger to you," she exclaimed +with a smile, "but to me you are quite familiar by sight. I have passed +you many times in Berlin and in Potsdam, and I know that you are Count +von Heltzendorff, personal-adjutant to His Highness the +Crown-Prince--or Count von Gruenau, as he is known here in France." + +"You know that!" I exclaimed. + +She smiled mysteriously, replying: + +"Yes. I--well, I happen to be a friend of His Highness." + +I held my breath. So this pretty young Frenchwoman was one of my young +Imperial master's friends! + +"The fact is, Count," she went on, "I have travelled a considerable +distance to see you. I said that I was one of the Crown-Prince's +friends. Please do not misunderstand me. I know that he has a good many +lady friends, but, as far as I am concerned, I have never been +introduced to him, and he does not know me. I am his friend because of a +certain friendliness towards him." + +"Really, Madame, I don't quite understand," I said. + +"Of course not," she answered, and then, glancing round, she added: +"This place is a little too public. Cannot we go across to the garden +yonder?" + +At her suggestion I rose and walked with her to a quiet spot in the +gardens, where we sat down, and I listened with interest to her. + +She told me that her name was Julie de Rouville, but she would give no +account of where she lived, though I took it that she was a young widow. + +"I have ventured to approach you, Count, because I cannot approach the +Crown-Prince," she said presently. "You probably do not know the true +reason of his visit here to Nice?" + +"No," I said. "I admit that I do not. Why is he here?" + +"It is a secret of his own. But, curiously enough, I am aware of the +reason, and that is why I have sought you. Would it surprise you if I +told you that in a certain quarter in France it will, in a few days, be +known that the German Emperor is establishing a movement for an +_entente_ between Germany and Britain, and that the whole affair is +based upon a fraud? The Emperor wants no _entente_, but only war with +France and with Britain. The whole plot will be exposed in a few days!" + +"From what source have you derived this knowledge?" I asked, looking at +her in amazement that she should know one of the greatest State secrets +of Germany. + +But she again smiled mysteriously, and said: + +"I merely tell you this in order to prove to you that I am in possession +of certain facts known to but few people." + +"You evidently are," I said. "But who intends to betray the truth to +France?" + +"I regret, Count, that I cannot answer your question." + +"If you are, as you say, the Crown-Prince's friend, it would surely be a +friendly act to let us know the truth, so that steps may be taken, +perhaps, to avoid the secret of Germany's diplomacy from leaking out to +her enemies." + +"All I can tell you, Count, is that the matter is one of gravest +importance." + +"But will you not speak openly, and give us the actual facts?" + +"I will--but to His Imperial Highness alone," was her answer. + +"You wish to meet him, then?" I asked, rather suspicious that it might +after all be only a woman's ruse. And yet what she had said showed that +she knew the Emperor's secret, for she had actually mentioned Von +Gessler's name in connection with the pretended Anglo-German _entente_. + +"If His Highness will honour me with an interview, then I will reveal +all I know, and, further, will suggest a means of preventing the truth +from leaking out." + +"But you are French," I said. + +"I have told you so," she laughed. "But probably His Highness will +refuse to see Julie de Rouville, therefore I think it best if you show +him this." + +From her little gold chain-purse she produced a small, unmounted +photograph of herself, and handed it to me. + +"When he recognizes who wishes to see him he will fully understand," she +said, in a quiet, refined voice. "A letter addressed to Julie de +Rouville at the Post Restante at Marseilles will quickly find me." + +"At Marseilles?" I echoed. + +"Yes. I do not wish the letter to be sent to me here. From Marseilles I +shall duly receive it." + +I was silent for a few moments. + +"I confess," I exclaimed at last. "I confess I do not exactly see the +necessity for an interview with His Highness, when whatever you tell +me--as his personal-adjutant--will be regarded as strictly in +confidence." + +Truth to tell, I was extremely suspicious of her. She might be desirous +of meeting the Prince with some evil intent. + +"I have already said, Count Heltzendorff, that I am His Highness's +friend, and wish to approach him with motives of friendship." + +"You wish for no payment for this information, eh?" I asked +suspiciously, half believing that she might be a secret agent of France. + +"Payment--of course not!" she answered, half indignantly. "Show that +photograph to the Crown-Prince, and tell him that I apply for an +interview." + +Then, rather abruptly, she rose, and, thanking me, wished me good +afternoon, and walked away, leaving me with her photograph in my hand. + +The Crown-Prince was out motoring, and did not get back to the Villa +until after seven o'clock. + +As soon as I heard of his return I went to his room, and recounted my +strange adventure with the dark-haired young woman in black. He became +keenly interested, and the more so when I told him of her secret +knowledge of the Kaiser's intended establishment of a bogus _entente_ +with Great Britain. + +"She wishes to see you," I said. "And she told me to give you her +photograph." + +I handed it to him. + +At sight of it his face instantly changed. He held his breath, and then +examined the photograph beneath the light. Afterwards I noticed a +strange, hard look at the corners of his mouth, while his teeth set +themselves firmly. + +Next second, however, he had recovered his self-possession, and with a +low laugh said: + +"Yes. Of course, I know her. She wants me to write to Julie de Rouville +at the Post Restante at Marseilles, eh? H'm--I'll think it over." + +And I could see that sight of the photograph had not only displeased +him, but it also caused him very considerable uneasiness. + +Late in the afternoon, two days later, His Highness, who had been +walking alone, and who had apparently evaded the vigilance of the +ever-watchful Eckardt, returned to the Villa with a stranger, a tall, +rather thin, fair-haired man, undoubtedly a German, and the pair were +closeted together, holding counsel evidently for a considerable time. +Where His Highness met him I knew not, but when later on I entered the +room I saw that the pair were on quite friendly terms. + +His Highness addressed him as Herr Schaefer, and when he had left he told +me that he was from the Wilhelmstrasse, and had been attached to the +Embassy at Washington, and afterwards in London, "for affairs of the +Press"--which meant that he was conductor of the German Press +propaganda. + +It seemed curious that the young man Schaefer should be in such high +favour with the Crown-Prince. + +I watched closely. Whatever was in progress was a strict secret between +the pair. The more I saw of Hans Schaefer the more I disliked him. He +had cruel eyes and heavy, sensuous lips--a coarse countenance which was +the reverse of prepossessing, though I could see that he was a very +clever and cunning person. + +For a full fortnight the Crown-Prince and the man Schaefer were almost +inseparable. Was it for the purpose of meeting Schaefer that we had gone +to Nice? The man had been back from London about two months, and had, I +learnt, been lately living in Paris. + +One evening while strolling in the sunset by the sea along the +tree-lined Promenade des Anglais, I suddenly encountered Julie de +Rouville, dressed in mourning, a quiet, pathetic figure, just as we had +last met. + +I instantly recollected that since the evening when I had given her +photograph to the Crown-Prince he had never mentioned her, and I could +only believe that for some mysterious reason sight of the picture had +recalled some distasteful memory. + +"Ah, Count!" she cried, as I halted and raised my hat. "This is, indeed, +a welcome meeting! I have been looking out for you for the past two +days." + +"I've been staying over at Cannes," was my reply. "Well?" + +She indicated a seat, and upon it we sat together. + +"I have to thank you for giving my photograph and message to His +Highness," she said in that sweet, refined voice that I so well +remembered. + +"I trust that the Crown-Prince has written to you--eh?" + +She smiled, a trifle sadly I thought. + +"Well, no----" was her rather vague reply. + +"Then how are you aware that I gave your message?" + +She shook her head and again smiled. + +"I had my own means of discovery. By certain signs I knew that you had +carried out your promise," she said. "But as I have heard nothing, I +wish you, if you will, to deliver another message--a very urgent one. +Tell him I must see him, for I dread daily lest the truth of the +Kaiser's real intentions be known at the Quai d'Orsay." + +"Certainly," was my polite reply. "I will deliver your message this +evening." + +"Tell him that my sole desire is to act in the interests of the Emperor +and himself," she urged. + +"But, forgive me," I said, "I cannot see why you should interest +yourself in the Crown-Prince if he declines to communicate with you." + +"I have my reasons, Count von Heltzendorff," was her rather haughty +reply. "Please tell him that the matter will not brook further delay." + +I had seen in the London newspapers during the past week how eagerly the +English journalists, with the dust cast into their eyes, were blindly +advocating that the British public should welcome the great German +national movement, headed by Baron von Gessler, supported by Ballin, +Delbrueck, and Von Wedel, with the hearty co-operation of the Emperor and +the Imperial Chancellor--the movement to establish better relations with +Great Britain. + +I knew that the secret should at all hazards be kept, and that night I +told the Crown-Prince of my second meeting with the pretty woman in +black and her urgent request. + +He laughed, but made no remark. Yet I knew by his tone that he was not +so easy in his mind as he desired me to believe. + +It also seemed strange why, if the young Frenchwoman was so desirous of +meeting him, she did not call at the Villa. + +About a week later it suddenly occurred to me to endeavour to discover +the real identity of the lady in black, but as I was not certain whether +she actually lived in Nice it was rather difficult. Nevertheless, by +invoking the aid of my friend Belabre, inspector of the Surete of Nice, +and after waiting a few days I made an astounding discovery, namely, +that the lady who called herself De Rouville was an Italian cafe concert +singer named Irene Speroni--the woman who had aroused the jealousy of +the Crown-Princess! And she knew that important State secret of Germany! + +The situation was, I saw, a most serious one. Indeed, I felt it my duty +to mention my discovery to His Highness, when, to my surprise, he was +not in the least angry. He merely said: + +"It is true, Heltzendorff--true what the Crown-Princess declared--that I +went to Wiesbaden and that I gave the woman a pair of emerald earrings +which I ordered from old Vollgold. But there was no reason for jealousy. +I saw the woman, and gave her the present in the hope of closing her +lips." + +In a moment I understood. The pretty variety artiste was endeavouring to +levy blackmail. But how could she, in her position, have learnt the +secret of the Emperor's intentions? + +She was, I found, living as Signorina Speroni, with her maid, at the +Hotel Bristol over at Beaulieu, just across the blue bay of +Villefranche, and as the days went on I realized the imminent danger of +exposure, and wondered if the Kaiser knew of it. + +I made a remark to that effect to His Highness one morning, whereupon he +replied: + +"Don't disturb yourself, my dear Heltzendorff! I have not overlooked the +matter, for it is one that closely concerns both the Emperor and myself. +The woman obtained the secret by opening the dispatch-box of one who +believed her to be his friend, and then she attempted to use her +knowledge in order to drag me into her net. But I do not think I am very +likely to be caught--eh?" + +At that moment Herr Schaefer entered the room, therefore further +discussion was out of the question. + +From inquiries I made later on I found that the concert singer had +suddenly left the hotel, therefore I went over to Beaulieu and had an +instructive chat with the hall porter, a German of course. From him I +learnt that the Signorina had been staying there ever since the date +when we had arrived at Nice, and, further, that two gentleman had been +frequently in the habit of calling upon her. One was a smart young +Frenchman who came in a motor-car, and the other was a German. From the +description of the latter I at once came to the conclusion that it was +none other than Herr Schaefer! + +"The one gentleman did not know of the other's visits," said the bearded +porter, with a laugh. "The Signorina always impressed silence upon me, +because she thought one would be jealous of the other. The German +gentleman seemed very deeply in love with her, and she called him Hans. +He accompanied her when she left here for San Remo." + +I reported this to His Highness, but he made no remark. That some +devilish plot was being carried out I suspected. The Hohenzollerns are +ready to go to any length to prevent their black secrets from leaking +out. + +My surmise proved correct, for, a week later, some fishermen found upon +the brown rocks near Capo Verde, beyond San Remo, the body of a woman, +fully dressed, afterwards identified as that of Irene Speroni, the +singer so popular in Rome. + +It was proved that on the previous night she had been seen by two +peasants walking along the sea road near San Lorenzo, accompanied by a +tall, thin man, who seemed greatly excited, and was talking in German. +It was believed by the Italian police that the unknown German, in a fit +of jealousy, threw her into the sea. + +From facts I gathered some months later I realized that the whole plot +had been most cunningly conceived by the Crown-Prince. Schaefer, after +his return from America, had met the woman Speroni, who was performing +in London, and she had, unknown to him, opened his dispatch-box, and +from some secret correspondence had learned the real truth regarding the +proposed _entente_ which the Emperor contemplated. + +Schaefer, alarmed at the woman's knowledge, and yet fascinated by her +charms, had gone to the Crown-Prince, and he, in turn, had seen the +woman in Wiesbaden. Finding her so dangerous to the Emperor's plans, His +Highness then conceived a fiendish plot. He first introduced her to a +young French Marquis, de Vienne by name, who pestered her with his +attentions, and followed her to Beaulieu. Having so far succeeded, the +Crown-Prince went to Nice, and cleverly played upon Schaefer's love for +the woman, pointing out that she was playing a double game, and urging +him to watch. + +He did so, and discovered the truth. Then there occurred the tragedy of +jealousy, exactly as the police believed. + +Herr Schaefer, the tool of His Imperial Highness, had, however, escaped +to Germany, and the police of San Remo are still in ignorance of his +identity. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER SIX + +THE AFFAIR OF THE HUNCHBACKED COUNTESS + + +I suppose that none of your British friends have ever heard the name of +Thyra Adelheid von Kienitz. + +She was a funny little deformed person, aged, perhaps, seventy, widow of +the great General von Kienitz, who had served in the Franco-German +campaign, and who, before his death, had been acknowledged to be as +great a strategist as your own Lord Roberts, whom every good German--I +did not write Prussian--salutes in reverence. + +Countess von Kienitz was the daughter of a certain Countess von Borcke, +and after living for many years in retirement in her picturesque old +schloss perched on a rock not far from the famous wine district of +Berncastel, on the winding Mosel river, became suddenly seized with an +idea to re-enter Berlin society. + +With this view she rented a fine house not far from the Liechtenstein +Bridge, and early in 1911 commenced a series of wildly-extravagant +entertainments--luncheons, dinners, and supper concerts, at which were +artistes to whom three-thousand-mark fees were often paid--with a view, +as it seemed to me, to attract the more modern and go-ahead section of +Berlin society. + +At first the smarter set looked askance at the ugly, deformed, +painted-up old woman with the squeaky voice, and they strenuously +declined invitations to her splendid, newly-furnished mansion in the +Stulerstrasse. Indeed, the name of the Countess von Kienitz became +synonymous for all that was grotesque, and her painted, doll-like +countenance and yellow wig were the laughing-stock of both the upper and +middle classes. + +Nevertheless she strenuously endeavoured to surround herself with young +society of both sexes, and many smart dances were given at the +Stulerstrasse during the season--dances at which the swaggering Prussian +officer was seen at his gorgeous best. + +One afternoon, seated by the Crown-Prince as he drove recklessly his +great Mercedes car along the Bismarckallee in the direction of Potsdam, +we passed an overdressed old woman, very artificial, with yellow hair, +and short of stature. + +"Look, Heltzendorff! Is she not like that old crow, Von Kienitz?" + +"Yes, her figure is very similar," I admitted. + +"Ah! The old woman was introduced to me the other night at +Bismarck-Bohlen's house. _Himmel!_ What a freak! Have you seen her +wig?" + +I replied that I had visited once or twice at the Stulerstrasse, and +that the company I had met there were certainly amusing. I mentioned +some of their names, among them that of young Von Ratibor, Major +Gersdorff, of the Death's Head Hussars, Von Heynitz, of the Koenigsjaeger, +a well-known man about town, his friend Winterfeld, together with a +number of ladies of the very ultra go-ahead set. At this His Highness +seemed highly interested. + +"She certainly seems a very curious old person," he laughed. "Fancies +that she's but twenty-five, and actually had the audacity to dance at +Bismarck-Bohlen's. Somebody was cruel enough to ask her to sing a French +_chansonnette_!" + +"Did she?" I inquired. + +"Of course. She put herself into a martial attitude, and sang something +about 'Le drapeau' of 'Jacques Bonhomme,' as though we wished to know +anything about it. The man who suggested the song was sorry." + +I laughed heartily. Sometimes the Crown-Prince could be humorous, and it +certainly must have been distinctly quaint when, as a result of the joke +played upon the old Countess, she so completely turned the tables upon +the party by singing a song full of French sentiment. + +That circumstance told me that she must be a very clever old lady, even +though she wore that tow-coloured wig which sometimes on nights of +merriment got a trifle askew. + +Judge my great surprise, however, when, about six weeks later, Frau von +Alvensleben, the pretty _Grande Maitresse_ of the Court of the +Crown-Princess, stopped me in one of the corridors of the Marmor Palace +and, drawing me aside, whispered: + +"I have news for you, my dear Count. We have a new arrival at +Court--Frau Yellow-Wig." + +I looked at her, for the moment puzzled. She saw that I did not follow +her. + +"Countess von Kienitz--a friend of yours, I believe." + +"Friend of mine!" I echoed. "I've only been to her house three or four +times, just in a crowd, and out of curiosity." + +"_Oh, la la!_ Well, she has told the Crown-Princess that you are her +friend, and, in brief, has entirely fascinated Her Imperial Highness." + +I gasped. At what a pass we had arrived when the Crown-Princess was +receiving that old woman whose reputation was of the gayest and most +scandalous! + +What the _Grande Maitresse_ had told me was perfectly correct, for +three days later a dance was held, and as I entered the room I saw +amid that gay assemblage the yellow-haired old widow of the +long-forgotten military hero wagging her lace fan and talking quite +familiarly with Her Imperial Highness. To my utter amazement also, +His Majesty the Emperor, in the gay uniform of the 3rd Regiment of +Uhlans of Saxony--of whom he was chief, among a hundred-and-one other +high military distinctions--advanced and smiled graciously upon her as +she bowed as low as rheumatism and old age allowed. + +The fascination which the ugly, shrill-voiced old woman exercised over +"Cilli" was quickly remarked, and, of course, gossip became more rife +than ever, especially when, a week later, it was announced that she had +actually been appointed a lady-in-waiting. + +The Crown-Prince, too, soon became on friendly terms with her, and many +times I saw them chatting together as though exchanging confidences. +Why? + +His Highness, usually so utterly piggish towards ladies, given to +snubbing even the highest-born in the Empire, was always smiling and +gracious towards her. + +"I can't make it out," declared Von Behr, the Chamberlain _du service_, +to me one day two months later, while I was smoking with him in his +room. "The old woman has the most complete control over Her Highness. +Because she was averse to the journey, we are not going to Norway this +year. Besides, since her appointment she has succeeded in plotting the +dismissal of both Countess von Scheet-Plessen and Countess von +Brockdorff." + +"I know," I replied. I had been discussing it only a few hours before +with Major von Amsberg, aide-de-camp of the Prince Eitel Frederic, and +he, too, had expressed himself both mystified and disgusted with the +mysterious power exercised by the old woman in the yellow wig. "It seems +so extraordinary," I went on, "that the Court should so utterly +disregard the woman's reputation." + +"Bah, my dear Heltzendorff!" laughed the Chamberlain. "When a woman +arrives at seventy she has outlived all the peccadilloes of youth. And, +after all, the reputations of most of us here are tarnished--more or +less--eh?" + +His remarks were indeed true. Nevertheless, it did not lessen the +mystery of the appointment of the little old Countess as a +lady-in-waiting, nor did it account for the strange influence which she +held over the Imperial pair. + +One evening I went to the Countess's house in the Stulerstrasse to a +dinner-party, at which there were present the Crown-Prince, Admiral von +Spee from Kiel, and Von Ilberg, the Emperor's doctor, together with the +old Duke von Trachenberg, who held the honorary and out-of-date office +of grand cupbearer to the Emperor, and the eternal "Uncle" Zeppelin. +With us were a number of ladies, including their Serene Highnesses the +Princess von Radolin and the Duchess von Ratibor, both ladies of the +Court of the Kaiserin, and several others of the ultra-smart set. + +After the meal there was a small dance, and about midnight, after +waltzing with a pretty girl, the daughter of the Baron von +Heintze-Weissenrode, we strolled together into the fine winter garden +with its high palms, its plashing fountains, and its cunningly-secreted +electric lights. + +I was seated with her, chatting gaily, for we had met in July at +Stubbenkammer, on the island of Ruegen. She had been staying with her +father at Eichstadt's, in Nipmerow, and we had all three been on some +pleasant excursions along the Baltic coast, with its picturesque beech +woods, white cliffs, and blue bays. + +We were recalling a delightful excursion up to the Herthaburg, on the +road to Sassnitz, that "altar of sacrifice" which tradition connects +with the mysterious rites of the beautiful goddess Hertha, mentioned by +Tacitus, when suddenly we overheard voices. + +Two persons were approaching somewhere behind us, conversing in +Italian--a man and a woman. + +"Hush!" I whispered mischievously. "Listen! Do you know Italian?" + +"Alas! no," was her reply. "Do you?" + +I did not answer, for I had already recognized the voices as those of +our hostess and the Crown-Prince. + +Next moment, however, my companion's quick ears caught that unmistakable +squeaky voice. + +"Why, it's the Countess!" she exclaimed. + +I made no reply, but continued to recall that glorious summer's day +beside the blue Baltic, while His Highness and the little old +lady-in-waiting seated themselves out of sight a short distance away, +and continued a very confidential discussion in an undertone in the +language in which, after German, I happened perhaps to be most +proficient. + +The pair were discussing somebody named Karl Krahl, and the curious +discussion was undoubtedly regarding some evil intent. + +"I saw the Emperor to-day," declared the old woman in her sibilant +Italian, so that no one should understand, for Italian is seldom spoken +in Germany. "His Majesty shares my views now, though he did not do so +at first. Indeed, I was very near being dismissed in disgrace when I +first broached the affair. But, fortunately, he now knows the truth and +sees the advantage of--well, you know, eh?" + +"_Certo, Contessa_," replied the Crown-Prince, who speaks Italian +extremely well, though not with half the fluency of his hostess. "I +quite foresee the peril and the force of your argument." + +"How shall we act?" asked the old woman. "It remains for you to devise a +plan. At any moment matters may approach a crisis. One can never account +for the confidences exchanged by those who love each other. And, +remember, Krahl is in love." + +The Crown-Prince grunted, but as several couples entered at that moment +the pair suddenly broke off their confidential chat, and, rising, went +out together. + +Who was this Karl Krahl against whom some deep-laid plot was levelled? + +I searched various directories, lists of persons engaged in the +Government offices in the Wilhelmstrasse, the Leipzigerstrasse, and +Unter den Linden; I consulted the Director of Berlin Police, Von Jagow; +the well-known Detective Schunke, and Heinrich Wesener, +Assistant-Director of the Secret Service of the General Staff; but +nobody knew Karl Krahl. There seemed to be no record of him anywhere. + +In October I went with the Crown-Prince and the Emperor upon a round of +ceremonial military inspections to the garrisons in Silesia--namely, +Breslau, Leignitz, and Oppeln--and afterwards to Luebeck, where we +presented new colours to two regiments. Thence, while the Emperor and +his Staff returned direct to Berlin, I accompanied His Imperial Highness +to Ballenstedt, the beautiful schloss in the Harz Mountains. Here once +or twice each season the Crown-Prince's habit was to invite a few of his +most intimate chums to shoot in the forests of Stecklenberg and the +Lauenberg, and along that curious sandstone ridge known as the +Teufelsmauer, or "Devil's Wall." + +The sport was always excellent, especially about the romantic district +of Neue Schenke, near Suderode. + +The guns consisted of five well-known officers from Berlin, together +with Dr. Zeising, the Master-General of Forests, and Lieut.-General von +Oertzen, the fat old Inspector-General of Cavalry. As usual, we all had +a most enjoyable time. + +On the third day, after a champagne luncheon taken at the forester's +little house at Neue Schenke, we were about to resume our sport. Indeed, +all the guests had gone outside, preparing to go to their allotted +stations, when the head forester, a stalwart man in green livery, +entered, and, addressing the Crown-Prince, said: + +"There is a man to see Your Imperial Highness, and refuses to leave. He +gives his name as Karl Krahl." + +In an instant I pricked up my ears. + +His Highness's brows narrowed for a second, which showed his annoyance, +then, smiling affably, so clever was he, like his Imperial father, in +the concealment of his real feelings--he replied: + +"Oh, yes--Krahl! I recollect. Yes, I will see him here." + +Next moment the person whom I had heard discussed so strangely in the +little old woman's beautiful winter garden was ushered in. + +He was dark-haired, aged about twenty-eight, I judged, with small, +shrewd black eyes, dressed in a well-cut suit of grey country tweeds, +and but for his German name I should have taken him for an English +tourist, one of those familiar objects of the Harz in peace time. His +appearance instantly interested me, the more so owing to the fact that +he had come to that remote spot and at that hour to pay a visit to the +Emperor's son. + +"Come in, Karl!" exclaimed the Crown-Prince affably, as he grasped his +visitor's hand. His Highness did not often offer his manicured hand to +others, and at this I was, I admit, greatly surprised. "The forester did +not know you, of course. Well, I am very pleased to see you. Have you +come straight here?" + +"Yes, your Highness. I went first to Berlin, and learning that you were +here I thought I had better lose no time." + +"Quite right," laughed his Highness who, turning to me, said: +"Heltzendorff, will you tell the others to go on--that I am detained for +an hour on State business, and--and that I will join them as soon as +possible. I will find you in the woods, on the left of the Quedlinburg +Road, before one comes to the Wurmtal. Apologize for me, but the delay +is inevitable. I have a conference with Herr Krahl." + +While His Highness remained behind at the forester's house to chat alone +with the mysterious Karl Krahl, we went out among the birds and had some +excellent sport. Yet the sight of that ferret-eyed young man, whom I had +long endeavoured in vain to trace, caused me considerable wonderment. +Who was that young fellow in whom the little old Countess seemed to take +such deep and peculiar interest? What was his offence that she, with the +Crown-Prince, should concoct, as it seemed to me, such a plot as that I +had partly overheard? + +That there was a woman in the case I felt assured, but her name had not +been mentioned, and I had no suspicion of whom it could be. I realized, +however, that something important must be in progress, otherwise His +Highness, devoted to sport as he was, would never have given up the best +afternoon to consult with that stranger in grey tweeds. + +The forester and beaters had come with us, as the Crown-Prince had, at +his own request, been left alone with his mysterious visitor. + +After a couple of short beats we arrived at the spot on the forest road +to Quedlinburg, a most romantic and picturesque gorge, where His +Highness had arranged to meet us, and there we sat down and waited. Both +Von Oertzen and Dr. Zeising, being unduly stout, had been puffed in +coming up the steep mountain side, and as we sat we gossiped, though +impatient to set forth again. + +A full half-hour had passed, yet the head forester, who was keeping a +look-out along the road, did not signal His Highness's approach. + +"I wonder what can have detained him?" remarked the Inspector-General of +Cavalry. + +I explained that a strange young man had come to the forester's house. + +"Well," laughed a smart young lieutenant of Uhlans, "I could have +understood the delay if it had been a lady!" + +An hour went past. The light would soon fade, and we, knowing "Willie's" +utter disregard for his appointments, at last decided to continue the +shoot, leaving one of the foresters to tell His Highness the direction +we had taken. + +The Crown-Prince did not, however, join us, and darkness had fallen ere +we returned to the forester's house. Of His Highness there was no sign, +a fact which much surprised us. In the room wherein I had left him his +gun and green Tyrolese hat were lying upon a chair, and the fact that +all the cars were still ranged outside showed that he had not driven +back to the castle. + +The Crown-Prince had disappeared! + +Knof, His Highness's chauffeur, who had been walking with us, was sent +back post-haste to the schloss to ascertain whether he had been seen +there, for His Highness's movements were often most erratic. We knew +that if the whim took him he would perhaps go off in an opposite +direction, or trudge back to the castle with utter disregard of our +natural anxiety. + +Lights were lit, and we enjoyed cigars awaiting Knof's return. In an +hour he was back with the news that nothing had been heard of His +Highness. Soon after we had left that morning, however, a young man in a +grey suit had called and seen the major-domo, who had directed him where +His Highness might be found. + +Upon Eckardt--the commissary of police responsible for His Highness's +safety--the onus rested. Yet, had he not been sent out with the party, +as His Highness had expressed to me a wish to be left alone with the +stranger, whose name I alone knew. + +While we were discussing the most judicious mode of action--for I +scented much mystery in this visit of Karl Krahl--one of the party +suddenly discovered, lying upon the ledge of the window, a lady's small +and rather elegant handbag of black _moire_ silk. + +"Hulloa!" I cried when he held it up for inspection. "This reveals to us +one fact--a woman has been here!" + +I opened the bag, and within found a small lawn handkerchief with a +coronet embroidered in its corner, a tiny tortoise-shell mirror, and +four one-hundred-mark notes, but no clue whatever as to its owner. + +The mystery was increasing hourly, but the gay party, knowing "Willie's" +susceptibility where the fair sex were concerned, only laughed and +declared that His Highness would assuredly turn up before the evening +was over. + +Truth to tell, I did not like the situation. His Highness's +disappearance was now known to fifty or so persons, beaters, and others, +and I feared lest it might get into the Berlin papers. With that object +I called them together and impressed upon them that most complete +silence must be maintained regarding the affair. + +Then Knof drove me alone back to the schloss. I wondered if His +Highness, wishing to get away unobserved, returning in secret there, +had left me a written message in his room. He had done that on one +occasion before. + +I dashed up to the small, old-world room which by day overlooked the +romantic and picturesque valley, but upon the table whereat I had been +writing early that morning there was nothing. + +As I turned to leave I heard a footstep, and next instant saw the little +deformed old Countess facing me. + +Her appearance quite startled me. Apparently she had just arrived, for +she was in a dark blue bonnet and warm travelling coat. + +"Ah! Count von Heltzendorff!" she cried in that squeaky, high-pitched +voice of hers. "Is His Imperial Highness here? I must see him +immediately." + +"No, Countess. His Imperial Highness is not here," was my reply. "This +afternoon he mysteriously disappeared from the forester's lodge at Neue +Schenke, and we are unable to trace him." + +"Disappeared!" gasped the old lady, instantly pale and agitated. + +"Yes," I said, looking her straight in the face. + +"Do you know whether he had a visitor to-day--a young, dark-haired man?" + +"He had, Countess. A man called, and saw him. At His Highness's request +I left him alone with his visitor at the forester's house. The man's +name was Karl Krahl." + +"How did you know his name?" she asked, staring at me with an expression +of distinct suspicion. + +"Because--well, because I happen to have learnt it some time ago," I +said. "And, further, on returning to the house we found this little bag +in the room wherein I had left the Crown-Prince." + +"Why!--a lady's bag!" she exclaimed as I held it out for inspection. + +"Yes," I said in a somewhat hard tone. "Do you happen to recognize it?" + +"Me? Why?" asked the old woman. + +"Well, because I think it is your own property," I said with a sarcastic +smile. "I have some recollection of having seen it in your hand!" + +She took it, examined it well, and then, with a hollow, artificial +laugh, declared: + +"It certainly is not mine. I once had a bag very similar, but mine was +not of such good quality." + +"Are you really quite certain, Countess?" I demanded in a low, +persuasive voice. + +"Quite," she declared, though I knew that she was lying to me. "But why +trouble about that bag while there is a point much more important--the +safety and whereabouts of His Imperial Highness?" she went on in a great +state of agitation. "Tell me, Count, exactly what occurred--as far as +you know." + +I recounted to her the facts just as you have already written them down, +and as I did so I watched her thin, crafty old face, noticing upon it an +expression full of suspicion of myself. She was, I now realized, +undecided as to the exact extent of my knowledge. + +"How did you know that the young man's name was Krahl?" she asked +eagerly. "You had perhaps met him before--eh?" + +But to this leading question I maintained a sphinx-like silence. That +the little old woman who had so unexpectedly become a lady-in-waiting +was playing some desperate double game I felt sure, but its exact import +was still an enigma. + +"In any case," she said, "would it not be as well to return to the Neue +Schenke and make search?" + +I smiled. Then, in order to let her know that I was acquainted with +Italian, the language she had spoken on that well-remembered night in +her own conservatory, I exclaimed: + +"Ahe! alle volte con gli occhi aperti si far dei sogni." (Sometimes one +can dream with one's eyes open.) + +Her thin eyebrows narrowed, and with a shrug of her shoulders the clever +old woman replied: + +"Dal false bene viene il vero male." (From an affected good feeling +comes a real evil.) + +I realized at that moment that there was more mystery in the affair than +I had yet conceived. His Imperial Highness was certainly missing, though +the female element of the affair had become eliminated by my recognition +of her own handbag. She, too, had been in secret to the forester's +house--but with what object? + +Half an hour later we were back at the little house in the forest. + +The guests had all returned to the castle, and only Eckardt, the police +commissary, remained, with the forester and his underlings. Already +search had been made in the surrounding woods, but without result. Of +his Imperial Highness there was no trace. + +In the long room, with its pitch-pine walls, and lit by oil lamps, the +crafty old Countess closely questioned Eckardt as to the result of his +inquiries. But the police official, who had become full of nervous fear, +declared that he had been sent off by His Highness, and had not since +found any trace of him. He spoke of the little black silk bag, of +course, and attached great importance to it. + +Within half an hour we had reorganized the beaters from the +neighbourhood and, with lanterns, set out again to examine some woods to +the east which had not been searched. About ten o'clock we set forth, +the Countess accompanying us and walking well, notwithstanding her age, +though I could see that it was a fearful anxiety that kept her active. +To the men with us every inch of the mountain side was familiar, and for +hours we searched. + +Suddenly, not far away, a horn was blown, followed by loud shouts. +Quickly we approached the spot, and Eckardt and myself, as we came up, +looked upon a strange scene. Close to the trunk of a great beech tree +lay the form of the Crown-Prince, hatless, outstretched upon his face. + +Instantly I bent, tore open his shooting jacket, and to my great relief +found that his heart was still beating. He was, however, quite +unconscious, though there seemed no sign of a struggle. As he had left +his hat and gun in the house, it seemed that he had gone forth only for +a moment. And yet we were quite a mile from the forester's house! + +The Countess had thrown herself upon her knees and stroked his brow +tenderly when I announced that he was still living. By her actions I saw +that she was filled by some bitter self-reproach. + +With the lanterns shining around him--surely a weird and remarkable +scene which would, if described by the journalists, have caused a great +sensation in Europe--the Crown-Prince was brought slowly back to +consciousness, until at last he sat up, dazed and wondering. + +His first words to me were: + +"That fellow! Where is he? That--that glass globe!" + +Glass globe! Surely His Highness's mind was wandering. + +An hour later he was comfortably in bed in the great old-world room in +the castle, attended by a local doctor--upon whom I set the seal of +official silence--and before dawn he had completely recovered. + +Yet, even to me, he declared that he retained absolutely no knowledge of +what had occurred. + +"I went out quickly, and I--well, I don't know what happened," he told +me soon after dawn, as he lay in bed. Strangely enough, he made no +mention of the man, Karl Krahl. + +Later on he summoned the Countess von Kienitz, and for twenty minutes or +so he had an animated discussion with her. Being outside the room, +however, I was unable to hear distinctly. + +Well, I succeeded, by bribes and threats, in hushing up the whole affair +and keeping it out of the papers, while by those who knew of the +incident it was soon forgotten. + +I suppose it must have been fully three months later when one evening, +having taken some documents over to the Emperor for signature at the +Berlin Schloss, I returned to the Prince's private room in the Palace, +when, to my great surprise, I found the man Karl Krahl seated there. He +looked very pale and worn, quite unlike the rather athletic figure he +presented at the forester's house. + +"If you still refuse to tell me the truth, then I shall take my own +measures to find out--severe measures! So I give you full warning," the +Crown-Prince was declaring angrily, as I entered so unexpectedly. + +I did not withdraw, pretending not to notice the presence of a visitor, +therefore His Highness himself beckoned the young man, who followed him +down the corridor to another room. + +The whole affair was most puzzling. What had happened on that afternoon +in the Harz Mountains I could not at all imagine. By what means had His +Highness been rendered unconscious, and what part could the little old +Countess have played in the curious affair? + +In about half an hour the Crown-Prince returned in a palpably bad +humour, and, flinging himself into his chair, wrote a long letter, which +he addressed to Countess von Kienitz. This he sealed carefully, and +ordered me to take it at once to the Stulerstrasse and deliver it to her +personally. + +"The Countess left for Stockholm this morning," I was informed by the +bearded manservant. "She left by the eight o'clock train, and has +already left Sassnitz by now." + +"When do you expect her to return?" + +The man did not know. + +On going back to His Highness and telling him of the Countess's +departure, he bit his lip and then smiled grimly. + +"That infernal old woman has left Germany, and will never again put her +foot upon our soil, Heltzendorff," he said. "You may open that letter. +It will explain something which I know must have mystified you." + +I did so. And as I read what he had written I held my breath. Truly, it +did explain much. + +Imposing the strictest silence upon me, the Crown-Prince then revealed +how utterly he and the Crown-Princess had been misled, and how very +narrowly he had escaped being the victim of a cunning plot to effect his +death. + +The little old Countess von Kienitz had, it seemed, sworn to avenge the +degradation and dismissal of her son, who had been in the famous Death's +Head Hussars. She had secretly traced the Crown-Prince as author of a +subtle conspiracy against him, the underlying motive being jealousy. +With that end in view she had slowly wormed her way into His Highness's +confidence, and introduced to him Karl Krahl, a neurotic young Saxon who +lived in London, and who pretended he had unearthed a plot against the +Kaiser himself. + +"It was to tell me the truth concerning the conspiracy that Krahl came +to me in secret at Ballenstedt. He remained with me for half an hour, +when, to my great surprise, we were joined by the Countess. The story +they told me of the plot against the Emperor was a very alarming one, +and I intended to return at once to Berlin. The Countess had left to +walk back to the schloss, when presently we heard a woman's scream--her +voice--and we both went forth to discover what was in progress. As I ran +along a little distance behind Krahl, suddenly what seemed like a thin +glass globe struck me in the chest and burst before my face. It had +been thrown by an unknown hand, and, on breaking, must have emitted some +poisonous gas which was intended to kill me, but which happily failed. +Until yesterday the whole affair was a complete mystery, but Krahl has +now confessed that the Countess conceived the plot, and that the hand +that had thrown the glass bomb was that of her son, who had concealed +himself in the bushes for that purpose." + +Though, of course, I hastened to congratulate His Highness upon his +fortunate escape, yet I now often wonder whether, if the plot had +succeeded, the present world-conflict would ever have occurred. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER SEVEN + +THE BRITISH GIRL WHO BAULKED THE KAISER + + +"How completely we have put to sleep these very dear cousins of ours, +the British!" His Imperial Highness the Crown-Prince made this remark to +me as he sat in the corner of a first-class compartment of an express +that had ten minutes before left Paddington Station for the West of +England--that much-advertised train known as the Cornish-Riviera +Express. + +The Crown-Prince, though not generally known, frequently visited England +and Scotland incognito, usually travelling as Count von Gruenau, and we +were upon one of these flying visits on that bright summer's morning as +the express tore through your delightful English scenery of the Thames +Valley, with the first stopping-place at Plymouth, our destination. + +The real reason for the visit of my young hotheaded Imperial Master was +concealed from me. + +Four days before he had dashed into my room at the Marmor Palace at +Potsdam greatly excited. He had been with the Emperor in Berlin all the +morning, and had motored back with all speed. Something had occurred, +but what it was I failed to discern. He carried some papers in the +pocket of his military tunic. From their colour I saw that they were +secret reports--those documents prepared solely for the eyes of the +Kaiser and those of his precious son. + +He took a big linen-lined envelope and, placing the papers in it, +carefully sealed it with wax. + +"We are going to London, Heltzendorff. Put that in your dispatch-box. I +may want it when we are in England." + +"To London--when?" I asked, much surprised at the suddenness of our +journey, because I knew that we were due at Weimar in two days' time. + +"We leave at six o'clock this evening," was the Crown-Prince's reply. +"Koehler has ordered the saloon to be attached to the Hook of Holland +train. Hardt has already left Berlin to engage rooms for us at the +'Ritz,' in London." + +"And the suite?" I asked, for it was one of my duties to arrange who +travelled with His Imperial Highness. + +"Oh! we'll leave Eckardt at home," he said, for he always hated the +surveillance of the Commissioner of Secret Police. "We shall only want +Schuler, my valet, and Knof." + +We never travelled anywhere without Knof, the chauffeur, who was an +impudent, arrogant young man, intensely disliked by everyone. + +And so it was that the four of us duly landed at Harwich and travelled +to London, our identity unknown to the jostling crowd of Cook's tourists +returning from their annual holiday on the Continent. + +At the "Ritz," too, though we took our meals in the restaurant, that +great square white room overlooking the Park, "Willie" was not +recognized, because all photographs of him show him in elegant uniform. +In a tweed suit, or in evening clothes, he presents an unhealthy, weedy +and somewhat insignificant figure, save for those slant animal eyes of +his which are always so striking in his every mood. + +His Imperial Highness had been on the previous day to Carlton House +Terrace to a luncheon given by the Ambassador's wife, but to which +nobody was invited but the Embassy staff. + +And that afternoon in the great dining-room, in full view of +St. James's Park and Whitehall, the toast of "The Day" was drunk +enthusiastically--the day of Great Britain's intended downfall. + +That same evening an Imperial courier arrived from Berlin and called at +the "Ritz," where, on being shown into the Crown-Prince's sitting-room, +he handed His Highness a sealed letter from his wife. + +"Willie," on reading it, became very grave. Then, striking a match, he +lit it, and held it until it was consumed. There was a second +letter--which I saw was from the Emperor. This he also read, and then +gave vent to an expression of impatience. For a few minutes he +reflected, and it was then he announced that we must go to Plymouth next +day. + +On arrival there we went to the Royal Hotel, where the Crown-Prince +registered as Mr. Richter, engaging a private suite of rooms for himself +and his secretary, myself. For three days we remained there, taking +motor runs to Dartmoor, and also down into Cornwall, until on the +morning of the fourth day the Crown-Prince suddenly said: + +"I shall probably have a visitor this morning about eleven o'clock--a +young lady named King. Tell them at the bureau to send her up to my +sitting-room." + +At the time appointed the lady came. I received her in the lobby of the +self-contained flat, and found her to be about twenty-four, +well-dressed, fair-haired and extremely good-looking. Knowing the +Crown-Prince's _penchant_ for the petticoat, I saw at once the reason of +our journey down to Plymouth. + +Miss King, I learned, was an English girl who some years previously had +gone to America with her people, and by the heavy travelling coat and +close-fitting hat she wore I concluded that she had just come off one of +the incoming American liners. + +One thing which struck me as I looked at her was the brooch she wore. It +was a natural butterfly of a rare tropical variety, with bright golden +wings, the delicate sheen of which was protected by small plates of +crystal--one of the most charming ornaments I had ever seen. + +As I ushered her in she greeted the Crown-Prince as "Mr. Richter," being +apparently entirely unaware of his real identity. I concluded that she +was somebody whom His Highness had met in Germany, and to whom he had +been introduced under his assumed name. + +"Ah! Miss King!" he exclaimed pleasantly in his excellent English, +shaking hands with her. "Your boat should have been in yesterday. I fear +you encountered bad weather--eh?" + +"Yes, rather," replied the girl. "But it did not trouble me much. We had +almost constant gales ever since we left New York," she laughed +brightly. She appeared to be quite a charming little person. But his +fast-living Highness was perhaps one of the best judges of a pretty face +in all Europe, and I now realized why we had travelled all the way from +Potsdam to Plymouth. + +"Heltzendorff, would you please bring me that sealed packet from your +dispatch-box?" he asked, suddenly turning to me. + +The sealed packet! I had forgotten all about it ever since he had handed +it me at the door of the Marmor Palace. I knew that it contained some +secret reports prepared for the eye of the Emperor. The latter had no +doubt seen them, for the Crown-Prince had brought them with him from +Berlin. + +As ordered, I took the packet into the room where His Highness sat with +his fair visitor, and then I retired and closed the door. + +Hotel doors are never very heavy, as a rule, therefore I was able to +hear conversation, but unfortunately few words were distinct. The +interview had lasted nearly half an hour. Finding that I could hear +nothing, I contented myself in reading the paper and holding myself in +readiness should "Mr. Richter" want me. + +Of a sudden I heard His Highness's voice raised in anger, that shrill, +high-pitched note which is peculiar both to the Emperor and to his son +when they are unusually annoyed. + +"But I tell you, Miss King, there is no other way," I heard him shout. +"It can be done quite easily, and nobody can possibly know." + +"Never!" cried the girl. "What would people think of me?" + +"You wish to save your brother," he said. "Very well, I have shown you +how you can effect this. And I will help you if you agree to the +terms--if you will find out what I want to know." + +"I can't!" cried the girl, in evident distress. "I really can't! It +would be dishonest--criminal!" + +"Bah! my dear girl, you are looking at the affair from far too high a +standpoint," replied the man she knew as Richter. "It is a mere matter +of business. You ask me to assist you to save your brother, and I have +simply stated my terms. Surely you would not think that I should travel +from Berlin here to Plymouth in order to meet you if I were not ready +and eager to help you?" + +"I must ask my father. I can speak to him in confidence." + +"Your father!" shrieked Mr. Richter in alarm. "By no means. Why, you +must not breathe a single word to him. This affair is a strict secret +between us. Please understand that." Then, after a pause, he asked in a +lower and more serious voice: + +"Your brother is, I quite admit, in direst peril, and you alone can save +him. Now, what is your decision?" + +The girl's reply was in a tone too low for me to overhear. Its tenor, +however, was quickly apparent from the Crown-Prince's words: + +"You refuse! Very well, then, I cannot assist you. I regret, Miss King, +that you have had your journey to England for nothing." + +"But won't you help me, Mr. Richter?" cried the girl appealingly. "Do, +do, Mr. Richter!" + +"No," was his cold answer. "I will, however, give you opportunity to +reconsider your decision. You are, no doubt, going to London. So am I. +You will meet me in the hall of the Carlton Hotel at seven o'clock on +Thursday evening, and we will dine together." + +"But I can't--I really can't do as you wish. You surely will not compel +me to--to commit a crime!" + +"Hush!" he cried. "I have shown you these papers, and you know my +instructions. Remember that your father must know nothing. Nobody must +suspect, or you will find yourself in equal peril with your brother." + +"You--you are cruel!" sobbed the girl. "Horribly cruel!" + +"No, no," he said cheerfully. "Don't cry, please. Think it all over, +Miss King, and meet me in London on Thursday night." + +After listening to the appointment I discreetly withdrew into the +corridor on pretence of summoning a waiter, and when I returned the +pretty English girl was taking leave of "Mr. Richter." + +Her blue eyes betrayed traces of emotion, and she was, I saw, very pale, +her bearing quite unlike her attitude when she had entered there. + +"Well, good-bye, Miss King," said His Highness, grasping her hand. "It +was really awfully good of you to call. We shall meet again very +soon--eh? Good-bye." + +Then, turning to me, he asked me to conduct her out. + +I walked by her side along the corridor and down the stairs, but as we +went along she suddenly turned to me, remarking: + +"I wonder if all men are alike?" + +"Alike, why?" I asked, surprised. + +"Mr. Richter--ah! he has a heart of stone," she declared. "My poor +brother!" she added, in a voice broken in emotion. "I have travelled +from America in order to try and save him ere it is too late." + +"Mr. Richter is your friend--eh?" I asked as we descended. + +"Yes. I met him at Frankenhausen two years ago. I had gone there with my +father to visit the Barbarossa Cavern." + +"Then you have lived in Germany?" + +"Yes, for several years." + +By this time we were at the door of the hotel, and I bowed to her as she +smiled sadly and, wishing me adieu, passed out into the street. + +On returning to the Crown-Prince, I found him in a decidedly savage +mood. He was pacing the floor impatiently, muttering angrily to himself, +for it was apparent that some deeply-laid plan of his was being thwarted +by the girl's refusal to conform to his wishes and obtain certain +information he was seeking. + +The Crown-Prince, when in a foreign country, was never idle. His energy +was such that he was ever on the move, with eyes and ears always open to +learn whatever he could. Hence it was at two o'clock that afternoon Knof +brought round a big grey open car, and in it I sat beside the Emperor's +son while we were driven around the defences of Plymouth, just as on +previous occasions we had inspected those of Portsmouth and of Dover. + +On the following Thursday evening we had returned to London, and the +Crown-Prince, without telling me where he was going, left the Ritz +Hotel, merely explaining that he might not be back till midnight. It was +on that occasion, my dear Le Queux, you will remember, that I dined with +you at the Devonshire Club, and we afterwards spent a pleasant evening +together at the "Empire." + +I merely told you that His Highness was out at dinner with a friend. You +were, naturally, inquisitive, but I did not satisfy your curiosity. +Secrecy was my duty. + +On returning to the hotel I found the Crown-Prince arranging with Knof a +motor run along the Surrey hills on the following day. He had a large +map spread before him--a German military map, the curious marks upon +which would have no doubt astonished any of your War Office officials. +The map indicated certain spots which had been secretly prepared by +Germany in view of the projected invasion. + +To those spots we motored on the following day. His Imperial Highness, +at the instigation of the Emperor, actually made a tour of inspection of +those cunningly-concealed points of vantage which the Imperial General +Staff had, with their marvellous forethought and bold enterprise, +already prepared right beneath the very nose of the sleeping British +lion. + +From the Crown-Prince's jaunty manner and good spirits I felt assured +that by the subtle persuasive powers he possessed towards women--nearly +all of whom admired his corseted figure and his gay nonchalance--he had +brought the mysterious Miss King into line with his own +cunningly-conceived plans--whatever they might be. + +We lunched at the Burford Bridge Hotel, that pretty old-fashioned house +beneath Box Hill, not far from Dorking. + +After our meal in the long public room, newly built as an annexe, we +strolled into the grounds for a smoke. + +"Well, Heltzendorff," he said presently, as we strolled together along +the gravelled walks, "we will return to the Continent to-morrow. Our +visit has not been altogether abortive. We will remain a few days in +Ostend, before we return to Potsdam." + +Next afternoon we had taken up our quarters at a small but very select +hotel on the Digue at Ostend, a place called the "Beau Sejour." It was +patronized by old-fashioned folk, and "Herr Richter" was well known +there. There may have been some who suspected that Richter was not the +visitor's real name, but they were few, and it always surprised me how +well the Crown-Prince succeeded in preserving his incognito--though, of +course, the authorities knew of the Imperial visit. + +Whenever "Willie" went to Ostend his conduct became anything but that of +the exemplary husband. Ostend in the season was assuredly a gay place, +and the Crown-Prince had a small and select coterie of friends there who +drank, gambled and enjoyed themselves even more than they did at Nice in +winter. + +But his mind was always obsessed by the coming war. Indeed, on that very +evening of our arrival, as we strolled along the gaily-illuminated Digue +towards the big, bright Kursaal, he turned to me suddenly and said: + +"When the hour comes, and Prussia in her greatness strikes them, this +place will soon become German territory. I shall make that building +yonder my headquarters," and he jerked his thumb in the direction of the +summer palace of the King of the Belgians. + +The following day, about three o'clock, while the Crown-Prince was +carelessly going through some letters brought by courier from Potsdam, a +waiter came to me with a message that a Miss King desired to see Mr. +Richter. + +In surprise I received her, welcoming her to Ostend. From the neat dress +of the pretty English girl I concluded that she had just crossed from +Dover, and she seemed most anxious to see His Highness. I noted, too, +that she still wore the beautiful golden butterfly. + +When I entered his room to announce her his slant brows knit, and his +thin lips compressed. + +"H'm! More trouble for us, Heltzendorff, I suppose!" he whispered +beneath his breath. "Very well, show her in." + +The fair visitor was in the room for a long time--indeed, for over an +hour. Their voices were raised, and now and then, curiously enough, I +received the impression that, whatever might have been the argument, the +pretty girl had gained her own point, for when she came out she smiled +at me in triumph, and walked straight forth and down the stairs. + +The Crown-Prince threw himself into a big arm-chair in undisguised +dissatisfaction. Towards me he never wore a mask, though, like his +father, he invariably did so in the presence of strangers. + +"Those accursed women!" he cried. "Ah! Heltzendorff, when a woman is in +love she will defy even Satan himself! And yet they are fools, these +women, for they are in ignorance of the irresistible power of our +Imperial house. The enemies of the Hohenzollerns are as a cloud of gnats +on a summer's night. The dew comes, and they are no more. It is a pity," +he added, with a sigh of regret. "But those who are either conscientious +or defiant must suffer. Has not one of our greatest German philosophers +written: 'It is no use breathing against the wind'?" + +"True," I said. Then, hoping to learn something further, I added: +"Surely it is a nuisance to be followed and worried by that little +English girl!" + +"Worried! Yes. You are quite right, my dear Heltzendorff," he said. "But +I do not mind worry, if it is in the interests of Prussia, and of our +House of Hohenzollern. I admit the girl, though distinctly pretty, is a +most irritating person. She does not appeal to me, but I am compelled to +humour her, because I have a certain object in view." + +I could not go further, or I might have betrayed the knowledge I had +gained by eavesdropping. + +"I was surprised that she should turn up here, in Ostend," I said. + +"I had written to her. I expected her." + +"She does not know your real rank or station?" + +"No. To her I am merely Herr Emil Richter, whom she first met away in +the country. She was a tourist, and I was Captain Emil Richter, of the +Prussian Guards. We met while you were away on holiday at Vienna." + +I was anxious to learn something about Miss King's brother, but "Willie" +was generally discreet, and at that moment unusually so. One fact was +plain, however, that some secret report presented to the Emperor had +been shown to her. Why? I wondered if His Highness had been successful +in coercing her into acting as he desired. + +Certainly the girl's attitude as she had left the hotel went to show +that, in the contest, she had won by her woman's keen wit and foresight. +I recollected, too, that she was British. + +A fortnight afterwards we were back again at Potsdam. + +About three months passed. The Crown-Prince had accompanied the Emperor +to shoot on the Glatzer Gebirge, that wild mountainous district beyond +Breslau. For a week we had been staying at a great, high-up, prison-like +schloss, the ancestral home of Prince Ludwig Lichtenau, in the +Woelfelsgrund. + +The Emperor and his suite had left, and our host had been suddenly +called to Berlin by telegram, his daughter having been taken ill. +Therefore, the Crown-Prince and we of the suite had remained for some +further sport. + +On the day after the Emperor's departure I spent the afternoon in a +small panelled room which overlooked a deep mountain gorge, and which +had been given up to me for work. I was busy with correspondence when +the courier from Potsdam entered and gave me the battered leather pouch +containing the Crown-Prince's letters. Having unlocked it with my key, I +found among the correspondence a small square packet addressed to His +Imperial Highness, and marked "Private." + +Now, fearing bombs or attempts by other means upon his son's precious +life, the Emperor had commanded me always to open packets addressed to +him. This one, however, being marked "Private," and, moreover, the +inscription being in a feminine hand, I decided to await His Highness's +return. + +When at last he came in, wet and very muddy after a long day's sport, I +showed him the packet. With a careless air he said: + +"Oh, open it, Heltzendorff. Open all packets, whether marked private or +not." + +I obeyed, and to my surprise found within the paper a small +leather-covered jewel-case, in which, reposing upon a bed of dark blue +velvet, was the beautiful ornament which I had admired at the throat of +the fair-haired British girl--the golden butterfly. + +I handed it to His Highness just as he was taking a cigarette from the +box on a side table. + +The sight of it electrified him! He held his breath, standing for a few +seconds staring wildly at it as though he were gazing upon some hideous +spectre, sight of which had frozen his senses. + +He stood rigid, his thin countenance as white as paper. + +"When did that arrive?" he managed to ask, though in a hoarse voice, +which showed how completely sight of it had upset him. + +"This afternoon. It was in the courier's pouch from Potsdam." + +He had grasped the back of a chair as though to steady himself, and for +a few seconds stood there, with his left hand clapped over his eyes, +endeavouring to collect his thoughts. + +He seemed highly nervous, and at the same time extremely puzzled. +Receipt of that unique and beautiful brooch was, I saw, some sign, but +of its real significance I remained in entire ignorance. + +That it had a serious meaning I quickly realized, for within half an +hour the Crown-Prince and myself were in the train on our +two-hundred-mile journey back to Berlin. + +On arrival His Imperial Highness drove straight to the Berlin Schloss, +and there had a long interview with the Emperor. At last I was called +into the familiar pale-green room, the Kaiser's private cabinet, and at +once saw that something untoward had occurred. + +The Emperor's face was dark and thoughtful. Yet another of the black +plots of the Hohenzollerns was in process of being carried out! Of that +I felt only too confident. The Crown-Prince, in his badly-creased +uniform, betraying a long journey--so unlike his usual spick-and-span +appearance--stood nervously by as the Kaiser threw himself into his +writing-chair with a deep grunt and distinctly evil grace. + +"I suppose it must be done," he growled viciously to his son. "Did I not +foresee that the girl would constitute a serious menace? When she was in +Germany she might easily have been arrested upon some charge and her +mouth closed. Bah! our political police service grows worse and worse. +We will have it entirely reorganized. The Director, Laubach, is far too +sentimental, far too chicken-hearted." + +As he spoke he took up his pen and commenced to write rapidly, drawing a +deep breath as his quill scratched upon the paper. + +"You realize," he exclaimed angrily to his son, taking no notice of my +presence there, because I was part and parcel of the great machinery of +the Court, "you realize what this order means?" he added, as he appended +his signature. "It is a blow struck against our cause--struck by a mere +slip of a girl. Think, if the truth came out! Why, all our propaganda in +the United States and Britain would be nullified in a single day, and +the 'good relations' we are now extending on every hand throughout the +world in order to mislead our enemies would be exposed in all their true +meaning. We cannot afford that. It would be far cheaper to pay twenty +million marks--the annual cost of the whole propaganda in America--than +to allow the truth to be known." + +Suddenly the Crown-Prince's face brightened, as though he had had some +sudden inspiration. + +"The truth will not be known, I promise you," he said, with a strange, +evil grin. I knew that expression. It meant that he had devised some +fresh and devilish plan. "The girl is defiant to-day, but she will not +remain so long. I will take your order, but I may not have occasion to +put it in force." + +"Ah! You have perhaps devised something--eh? I hope so," said the +Emperor. "You are usually ingenious in a crisis. Good! Here is the +order; act just as you think fit." + +"I was summoned, Your Majesty," I said, in order to remind him of my +presence there. + +"Ah! Yes. You know this Miss King, do you not?" + +"I received her in Plymouth," was my reply. + +"Ah! then you will again recognize her. Probably your services may be +very urgently required within the next few hours. You may go," and His +Majesty curtly dismissed me. + +I waited in the corridor until His Imperial Highness came forth. When he +did so he looked flushed and seemed agitated. + +There had, I knew, occurred a violent scene between father and son, for +to me it seemed as though "Willie" had again fallen beneath the +influence of a pretty face. + +He drove me in the big Mercedes over to Potsdam, where I had a quantity +of military documents awaiting attention, and, after a change of +clothes, I tackled them. + +Yet my mind kept constantly reverting to the mystery surrounding the +golden butterfly. + +After dinner that night I returned again to my workroom, when, upon my +blotting-pad, I found a note addressed to me in the Crown-Prince's +sprawling hand. + +Opening it, I found that he had scribbled this message: + + "_I have left. Tell Eckardt not to trouble. Come alone, and meet me + to-morrow night at the Palast Hotel, in Hamburg. I shall call at + seven o'clock and ask for Herr Richter. I shall also use that name. + Tell nobody of my journey, not even the Crown-Princess. Explain + that I have gone to Berlin._--WILHELM, KRONPRINZ." + +I read the note through a second time, and then burned it. + +Next day I arrived at the Palast Hotel, facing the Binnenalster, in +Hamburg, giving my name as Herr Richter. + +At seven o'clock I awaited His Highness. Eight o'clock +came--nine--ten--even eleven--midnight, but, though I sat in the private +room I had engaged, no visitor arrived. + +Just after twelve, however, a waiter brought up a note addressed to Herr +Richter. + +Believing it to be meant for me, I opened it. To my great surprise, I +found that it was from the mysterious Miss King, and evidently intended +for the Crown-Prince. It said: + + "_My brother was released from the Altona Prison this evening--I + presume, owing to your intervention--and we are now both safely on + our way across to Harwich. You have evidently discovered at last + that I am not the helpless girl you believed me to be. When your + German police arrested my brother Walter in Bremen as a spy of + Britain I think you will admit that they acted very injudiciously, + in face of all that my brother and myself know to-day. At Plymouth + you demanded, as the price of Walter's liberty, that I should + become attached to your secret service in America and betray the + man who adopted me and brought me up as his own daughter. But you + never dreamed the extent of my knowledge of your country's vile + intrigues; you did not know that, through my brother and the man + who adopted me as his daughter, I know the full extent of your + subtle propaganda. You were, I admit, extremely clever, Herr + Richter, and I confess that I was quite charmed when you sent me, + as souvenir, that golden butterfly to the hotel in + Frankenhausen--that pretty ornament which I returned to you as a + mark of my refusal and defiance of the conditions you imposed upon + me for the release of my brother from the sentence of fifteen years + in a fortress. This time, Herr Richter, a woman wins! Further, I + warn you that if you attempt any reprisal my brother will at once + expose Germany's machinations abroad. He has, I assure you, many + good friends, both in Britain and America. Therefore if you desire + silence you will make no effort to trace me further. At + Frankenhausen you called me 'the golden-haired butterfly,' but you + regarded me merely as a moth! Adieu!_" + +Twelve hours later I handed that letter to the Crown-Prince in Potsdam. +Where he had been in the meantime I did not know. He read it through; +then, with a fierce curse upon his thin, curled lips, he crushed it in +his hand and tossed it into the fire. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER EIGHT + +HOW THE CROWN-PRINCE WAS BLACKMAILED + + +The Crown-Prince had accompanied the Emperor on board the _Hohenzollern_ +on his annual cruise up the Norwegian fjords, and the Kaiserin and the +Crown-Princess were of the party. + +I had been left at home because I had not been feeling well, and with +relief had gone south to the Lake of Garda, taking up my quarters in +that long, white hotel which faces the blue lake at Gardone-Riviera. A +truly beautiful spot, where the gardens of the hotel run down to the +lake's edge, with a long veranda covered with trailing roses and +geraniums, peaceful indeed after the turmoil and glitter of our Court +life in Germany. + +One morning at luncheon, however, just as I had seated myself at my +table set in the window overlooking the sunlit waters, a tall, rather +thin-faced, bald-headed man entered, accompanied by an extremely pretty +girl, with very fair hair and eyes of an unusual, child-like blue. The +man I judged to be about fifty-five, whose blotchy face marked him as +one addicted to strong liquors, and whose dress and bearing proclaimed +him to be something of a roue. He walked jauntily to the empty table +next mine, while his companion stared vacantly about her as she followed +him to the place which the obsequious _maitre d'hotel_ had indicated. + +The stranger's eyes were dark, penetrating, and shifty, while there was +something about the young girl's demeanour that aroused my interest. +Her face, undeniably beautiful, was marred by a stare of complete +vacancy. She glanced at me, but I saw that she did not see. It was as +though her thoughts were far away, or else that she was under the spell +of some weird fascination. + +That strange, blank expression in her countenance caused me to watch +her. On the one hand, the man had all the appearance of a person who had +run the whole gamut of the vices; while the fair-haired, blue-eyed girl +was the very incarnation of maiden innocence. + +Perhaps it was because I kept my eyes upon her that the dark-eyed man +knit his brows and stared at me in defiance. Instinctively I did not +like the fellow, for as they started their meal I saw plainly the rough, +almost uncouth, manner in which he treated her. + +At first I believed that they might be father and daughter, but this +suggestion was negatived when, on inquiry at the bureau, I was told that +the man was Martinez Aranda, of Seville, and that his companion was his +niece, Lola Serrano. + +The latter always appeared exquisitely dressed, and the gay young men, +Italian officers and others, were all eager to make her acquaintance. +Yet it seemed to me that the man Aranda forbade her to speak to anyone. +Indeed, I watched the pair closely during the days following, and could +plainly discern that the girl went in mortal fear of him. + +On the third day, while walking along the terrace facing the lake, I +came across the Spaniard, who, in affable mood, started a conversation, +and as we leaned upon the stone balustrade, smoking and gossiping, the +pretty girl with hair so fair even though she were a Southerner came up, +and I was introduced. + +She wore a cool white linen gown, a big sun-hat, and carried a pale blue +sunshade. But my eye, expert where a woman's gown is concerned, told me +that that linen frock was the creation of one of the Paris +men-dressmakers, whose lowest charge for such a garment is one thousand +francs. Aranda and his pretty niece were certainly persons of +considerable means. + +"How very beautiful the lake always appears at any hour!" the girl +exclaimed in French after her uncle had exchanged cards with me. "Truly +Italy is delightful." + +"Ah, Mademoiselle," I replied. "But your brilliant Spain is ever +attractive." + +"You know Spain?" inquired the bald-headed man at once. + +"Yes, I know Spain, but only as a spring visitor," was my reply. + +And from that conversation there grew in a few days quite an affable +friendship. We went together on excursions, all three of us, once by the +steamer up to Riva, where on landing and passing through the Customs we +sat at the cafe and sipped that delicious coffee topped by a foam of +cream, the same as one got at the "Bristol" in Vienna, or the "Hungaria" +in Budapest. Then at evening, while the pretty Lola gossiped with a +weedy old Italian Marchioness, whose acquaintance she had made, her +uncle played billiards with me, and he was no bad player either! + +As soon as the Spaniard learnt of my position as personal-adjutant of +His Imperial Highness the Crown-Prince he became immediately interested, +as most people were, and plied me with all sorts of questions regarding +the truth of certain scandals that were at the moment afloat concerning +"Willie." As you know, I am usually pretty discreet. Therefore, I do not +think that he learned very much from me. + +We were alone in the billiard-room, having a game after luncheon one +day, when a curious conversation took place. + +"Ah, Count! You must have a very intimate knowledge of life at the +Berlin Court," he remarked quite suddenly, in French. + +"Yes. But it is a strenuous life, I assure you," I declared, laughing. + +"The Crown-Prince sometimes goes abroad incognito," he said, pausing and +looking me straight in the face. + +"Yes--sometimes," I admitted. + +"He was in Rome in the first week of last December. He disappeared from +Potsdam, and the Emperor and yourself were extremely anxious as to what +had become of him. He had gone to Berlin alone, without any attendant, +and completely disappeared. Yet, while you were all making secret +inquiries, and fearing lest the truth should leak out to the Press, His +Imperial Highness was living as plain Herr Wilhelm Nebelthau in an +apartment at Number Seventeen, Lungtevere Mellini. Isn't that so?" + +I stared agape at the Spaniard. + +I thought myself the only person who knew that fact--a fact which the +Crown-Prince had revealed to me in the strictest secrecy. + +Could this man Martinez Aranda be an agent of police? Yet that seemed +quite impossible. + +"You appear to have a more intimate knowledge of His Highness's +movements than I have myself," I replied, utterly amazed at the extent +of the man's information. + +His dark, sallow face relaxed into a mysterious smile, and he bent to +make another stroke without replying. + +"His Highness should be very careful in the concealment of his movements +when he is incognito," he remarked presently. + +"You met him there, eh?" I asked, eager to ascertain the truth, for that +secret visit to Rome had been a most mysterious one, even to me. + +"I do not think I need reply to that question," he said. "All I can say +is that the Crown-Prince kept rather queer company on that occasion." + +Those words only served to confirm my suspicions. Whenever "Willie" +disappeared alone from Potsdam I could afterwards always trace the +disappearance to his _penchant_ for the eternal feminine. How often, +indeed, had I been present at scenes between the Crown-Princess and her +husband, and how often I had heard the Emperor storm at his son in that +high-pitched voice so peculiar to the Hohenzollerns when unduly excited. + +The subject soon dropped, but his statements filled me with +apprehension. It was quite plain that this well-dressed, bald-headed +Spaniard was in possession of some secret of the Crown-Prince's, a +secret which had not been revealed to me. + +More than once in the course of the next few days, when we were alone +together, I endeavoured to learn something of the nature of the secret +which took his Highness to the Eternal City, but Aranda was very clever +and discreet. In addition, the attitude of the girl Lola became more +than ever strange. There was a blank look in those big, beautiful eyes +of hers that betrayed something abnormal. But what it was I failed to +decide. + +One evening after dinner I saw her walking alone in the moonlight along +the terrace by the lake, and joined her. So preoccupied she seemed that +she scarcely replied to my remarks. Then suddenly she halted, and as +though unable to restrain her feelings longer I heard a low sob escape +her. + +"Mademoiselle, what is the matter?" I asked in French. "Tell me." + +"Oh, nothing, Monsieur, nothing," she declared in a low, broken voice. +"I--I know I am very foolish, only----" + +"Only what? Tell me. That you are in distress I know. Let me assist +you." + +She shook her handsome head mournfully. + +"No, you cannot assist me," she declared in a tone that told me how +desperate she had now become. "My uncle," she exclaimed, staring +straight before her across the moonlit waters, whence the dark mountains +rose from the opposite bank. "Count, be careful! Do--my--my uncle." + +"I don't understand," I said, standing at her side and gazing at her +pale countenance beneath the full light of the moon. + +"My uncle--he knows something--be careful--warn the Crown-Prince." + +"What does he know?" + +"He has never told me." + +"Are you in entire ignorance of the reason of the visit of His Highness +to Rome? Try and remember all you know," I urged. + +The girl put both her palms to her brow, and, shaking her head, said: + +"I can remember nothing--nothing--oh! my poor head! Only warn the man +who in Rome called himself Herr Nebelthau!" + +She spoke in a low, nervous tone, and I could see that she was decidedly +hysterical and much unstrung. + +"Did you meet Herr Nebelthau?" I asked eagerly. + +"Me? Ah, no. But I saw him, though he never saw me." + +"But what is the secret that your uncle knows?" I demanded. "If I know, +then I can warn the Crown-Prince." + +"I do not know," she replied, again shaking her head. "Only--only--well, +by some means my uncle knew that you had left Potsdam, and we travelled +here on purpose to meet you to obtain from you some facts concerning the +Crown-Prince's movements." + +"To meet me?" I echoed in surprise. In a moment I saw that Aranda's +intentions were evidently evil ones. But just at that juncture the +Spaniard came forth in search of his niece. + +"Why are you out here?" he asked her gruffly. "Go in. It is too cold for +you." + +"I came out with the Count to see the glorious panorama of the lake," +explained the girl in strange humbleness, and then, turning reluctantly, +she obeyed him. + +"Come and have a hand at bridge," her uncle urged cheerfully. "The +Signora Montalto and young Boileau are ready to make up the four." + +To this I agreed, and we followed the girl into the big, white-panelled +lounge of the hotel. + +Two days later, about four o'clock in the afternoon, Aranda received a +telegram, and an hour later left with his niece, who, as she parted from +me, whispered: + +"Warn the Crown-Prince, won't you?" + +I promised, and as they drove off to the station I stood waving my hand +to the departing visitors. + +A week later I had word from Cuxhaven of the arrival of the +_Hohenzollern_ from Trondhjem, and at once returned to the Marmor +Palace, where on the night of my arrival the Crown-Prince, wearing his +Saxon Uhlan uniform, entered my room, gaily exclaiming: + +"Well, Heltzendorff, how are things on the Lake of Garda, eh?" + +I briefly explained where I had been, and then, as he lit a cigarette, +standing astride near the fireplace, I asked permission to speak upon a +confidential matter. + +"More trouble, eh?" he asked, with a grin and a shrug of the shoulders. + +"I do not know," I said seriously, and then, in brief, I related how the +man Aranda had arrived with the girl Lola at the hotel, and what had +followed. + +As soon as I mentioned the Lungtevere Mellini, that rather aristocratic +street, which runs parallel with the Tiber on the outskirts of Rome, His +Highness started, his face blanched instantly, and he bit his thin lip. + +"_Himmel!_" he gasped. "The fellow knows that I took the name of +Nebelthau! Impossible!" + +"But he does," I said quietly. "He is undoubtedly in possession of some +secret concerning your visit to Rome last December." + +In His Highness's eyes I noticed a keen, desperate expression which I +had scarcely ever seen there before. + +"You are quite certain of this, Heltzendorff, eh?" he asked. "The man's +name is Martinez Aranda?" + +"Yes. He says he is from Seville. His niece, Lola Serrano, told me to +warn you that he means mischief." + +"Who is the girl? Do I know her?" + +"No." + +"Why does she warn me?" + +"I cannot say," was my reply. "As you are aware, I have no knowledge of +the nature of Your Highness's visit to Rome. I merely report all that I +could gather from the pair, who evidently went to Gardone to meet me." + +"Where are they now?" + +"In Paris--at the Hotel Terminus, Gare St. Lazare. I found out that they +had taken tickets to Verona and thence to Paris, therefore I telegraphed +to my friend Pinaud, of the Surete, who quickly found them and reported +to me by wire within twenty-four hours." + +"H'm! This is serious, Heltzendorff--infernally serious," declared the +Crown-Prince, with knit brows, as he commenced to pace the room with his +hands clasped behind his back. + +Suddenly he halted in front of me and smoothed his hair--a habit of his +when perplexed. + +"First, the Emperor must know nothing, and the Crown-Princess must be +kept in entire ignorance at all costs," he declared. "I can now foresee +a great amount of trouble. Curse the women! I trusted one, and she--ah! +I can see it all now." + +"Is it very serious?" I asked, still anxious to glean the truth. + +"Serious!" he cried, staring at me wildly. "Serious! Why, Heltzendorff, +it means everything to me--everything!" + +The Crown-Prince was not the kind of man to exhibit fear. Though +degenerate in every sense of the word, and without the slightest idea of +moral obligations, yet he was, nevertheless, utterly oblivious to danger +of any sort, being wildly reckless, with an entire disregard of +consequences. Here, however, he saw that the secret, which he had fondly +believed to be his alone, was known to this mysterious Spaniard. + +"I cannot understand why this girl, Lola--or whatever she calls +herself--should warn me. I wonder who she is. What is she like?" + +I described her as minutely as I could, more especially the unusual +fairness of her hair, and the large, wide-open, blue eyes. She had a +tiny mole upon her chin, a little to the left. + +The description seemed to recall some memory, for suddenly he exclaimed: + +"Really, the girl you describe is very like one that I met about a year +ago--a thief-girl in the Montmartre, in Paris, called Lizette Sabin. I +came across her one night in one of the cabarets." + +As he spoke he went across to a big antique chest of drawers, one of +which he unlocked with his key, and after a long search he drew out a +cabinet photograph and handed it to me. + +I started. It was a picture of the pretty Lola! + +He watched my face, and saw that I recognized it. + +Then he drew a long sigh, tossed his cigarette away savagely, and +throwing back the photograph into the drawer, relocked it. + +"Yes," he declared, turning to me again. "The situation is most +abnormally disturbing, Heltzendorff. A storm is brewing, without a +doubt. But the Emperor must know nothing, remember--not the slightest +suspicion. Ah! What an infernal fool I was to believe in that woman. +Bah! They are all alike. And yet----" and he paused--"and yet if it were +not for the petticoat Germany's secret diplomacy--the preparation for +the great 'Day' when we shall stagger the world--could not proceed. +This, my dear Heltzendorff, has shown me that you may with advantage use +a woman of whatever age as your catspaw, your secret agent, your bait +when angling for important information, or your go-between in secret +transactions; but never trust one with knowledge of your own personal +affairs." + +"Then I take it that this girl-thief of the Montmartre whom you met when +out for an evening's amusement is the cause of all this trouble? And yet +she said that she did not know you!" + +"Because it was to her advantage to disclaim knowledge of me. Personally +I do not think that the pretty Lizette is my enemy or she would not warn +me against this infernal Spaniard, whoever he may be." + +"If the matter is so serious, had I not better go to Paris to-morrow and +see Pinaud?" I suggested. + +"Excellent!" he exclaimed. "Watch must be kept upon them. The one thing +to bear in mind, however, is that neither the Emperor nor my wife learn +anything. Go to Paris to-morrow, and tell Pinaud from me to do his best +on my behalf." + +Next morning I left for Paris, and on arrival spent half an hour with +Georges Pinaud in his room at the Surete. + +"So His Imperial Highness does not wish the arrest of the girl Lizette +Sabin?" he exclaimed presently. "I have her _dossier_ here," and he +indicated a cardboard portfolio before him. "It is a pretty bad one. Her +last sentence was one of twelve months for robbing an English baronet at +a dancing-hall in the Rue du Bac." + +"His Highness does not wish for her arrest. He only desires the pair to +be kept under close observation." + +"The man Aranda is, I have discovered, a dangerous person," said the +famous detective, leaning back in his chair. "He has served a sentence +at Cayenne for the attempted murder of a woman in Lyons. He is, of +course, an adventurer of the most expert type." + +I longed to reveal to my friend Pinaud the whole facts, but this was +against my instructions. I merely asked him as a favour to institute a +strict vigilance upon the pair, and to report to me by telegraph if +either of them left Paris. + +Aranda was still living at the Hotel Terminus, but the pretty Lizette +had gone to stay with two girl friends, professional dancers, who lived +on the third floor of a house half-way up the Rue Blanche. So having +discharged my mission, I returned on the following day to Potsdam, +where, on meeting me, the Crown-Prince seemed much relieved. + +His only fear--and it was a very serious one--was that to the Emperor +there might be revealed the reason of that secret visit of his to Italy. +I confess that I myself began to regard that visit with considerable +suspicion. Its nature must have been, to say the least, unusual if he +had been so aghast at the real truth being discovered. + +In the strenuous days that followed, weeks, indeed, I frequently +reflected, and found myself much mystified. More than once His Highness +had asked me: "Any news from Pinaud?" And when I replied in the negative +"Willie's" relief was at once apparent. + +One day I had been lunching in Berlin at the "Bristol," in Unter den +Linden, at a big party given by the Baroness von Buelow. Among the dozen +or so present were Von Ruxeben, the Grand Marshal of the Court of +Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; Gertrud, Baroness von Wangenheim, Grand Mistress of +the Court of the Duchess; the Minister Dr. Rasch; and, of course, old +"Uncle" Zeppelin, full of plans, as always, of new airships and of the +destruction of London. Indeed, he sat next me, and bored me to death +with his assurances that on "The Day" he would in twenty-four hours lay +London in ruins. + +The guests around the table, a gay and clever circle, saw that "Uncle" +had button-holed me, and knew from my face how utterly bored I was. +Truth to tell, I was much relieved when suddenly, when the meal was +nearly over, a waiter whispered that somebody wished to see me out in +the lounge. + +It was a messenger from Potsdam with a telegram that had come over the +private wire. It read: "Aranda left Paris two days ago. Destination +unknown.--PINAUD." + +The information showed that the fellow had cleverly evaded the agents of +the Surete, a very difficult feat in such circumstances. That very fact +went to prove that he was a cunning and elusive person. + +Half an hour later I was sitting with Heinrich Wesener, +Assistant-Director of the Secret Service of the General Staff. I sought +him in preference to the famous detective, Schunke, because, while +matters passing through the Secret Service Bureau were always regarded +as confidential, those submitted to the Berlin police were known to many +subordinates who had access to the _dossiers_ and informations. + +I told Wesener but little--merely that His Imperial Highness the +Crown-Prince was desirous of knowing at the earliest moment if a +Spaniard named Martinez Aranda should arrive in Berlin. + +The curiosity of the Assistant-Director was immediately aroused. So many +scandals were rife regarding "Willie" that the stout, fair-haired +official was hoping to obtain some further details. + +"Excuse me for a moment," he said, and, after ringing his bell, a clerk +appeared. To the man he gave orders to go across and inspect the police +register of strangers, and ascertain if the man Aranda had arrived in +the capital. + +Ten minutes later the clerk returned, saying that a Spaniard named +Aranda had arrived from Paris early that morning with a young lady named +Sabin, and that they were staying at the Central Hotel, opposite the +Friedrich-Strasse Station. + +Upon this information I went to the "Central," and from the hall-porter +discovered that Aranda had left the hotel an hour before, but that his +supposed niece was upstairs in her room. + +Afterwards I hurried back to Potsdam as quickly as possible, only to +find that the Crown-Prince was out with Knof motoring somewhere. Of the +Crown-Princess I inquired whither he had gone, but, as usual, she had no +idea. "Willie" was ever erratic, and ever on the move. + +Six o'clock had already struck when he returned, and the sentry informed +him that I was extremely anxious to see him. Therefore, without removing +his coat, he ascended to my room, where he burst in breezily. + +When I told him what I had discovered in Berlin the light died instantly +out of his face. + +"Is the fellow really here, Heltzendorff?" he gasped. "I had a letter +from him a week ago declaring his intention to come here." + +"You did not reply, I hope?" + +"No. The letter I found upon my dressing-table, but I have not +discovered who placed it there," he said. "The fellow evidently intends +to carry out his threat and expose me to the Emperor." + +"What can he expose?" I queried. + +But "Willie" was not to be caught like that. He merely replied: + +"Well--something which must at all hazards be concealed. How this +Spaniard can know I cannot in the least imagine--unless that woman gave +me away!" + +For the next two days I was mostly out with his Highness in the car, and +in addition the Kaiser reviewed the Prussian Guard, a ceremony which +always gave me much extra work. + +On the third day I had in the morning been out to the Wildpark Station, +and, passing the sentries, had re-entered the Palace, when one of the +footmen approached me, saying: + +"Pardon, Count, but there is a gentleman to see his Imperial Highness. +He will give no name, and refuses to leave. I called the captain of the +guard, who has interrogated him, and he has been put into the blue +ante-room until your return." + +At that moment I saw the captain of the guard striding down the corridor +towards me. + +"A bald-headed man is here to see His Highness, and will give no name," +he told me. "He is waiting now. Will you see him?" + +"No," I said, my suspicions aroused. "I will first see the +Crown-Prince." + +After some search I found the latter lolling at his ease in his own +smoking-room in the private apartments, reading a French novel and +consuming cigarettes. + +"Hulloa, Heltzendorff! Well, what's the trouble?" he asked. "I see +something is wrong from your face." + +"The man Aranda is here," I replied. + +"Here!" he gasped, starting up and flinging the book aside. "Who let him +in?" + +"I don't know, but he is below demanding to see you." + +"Has he made any statement? Has he told anybody what he knows?" demanded +the Crown-Prince, who at that moment presented what might be termed a +white-livered appearance, cowed, and even trembling. In his slant eyes +showed a look of undisguised terror, and I realized that the truth, +whatever it might be, was a damning and most disgraceful one. + +"I can't see him, Heltzendorff," he whined to me. "See him; hear what +he has to say--and--and you will keep my secret? Promise me." + +I promised. And I should have kept that promise were it not for his +brutal and blackguardly acts after the outbreak of war--acts which +placed him, with his Imperial father, beyond the pale of respectable +society. + +I was turning to leave the room, when he sprang towards me with that +quick agility of his, and, placing his white, manicured hand upon my +arm, said: + +"Whatever he may say you will not believe--will you?" + +"And if he wants money?" I asked. + +"Ascertain the amount, and come here to me." + +A quarter of an hour later Martinez Aranda sat in my room opposite my +table. I had told him that unfortunately His Imperial Highness was +engaged, for the Emperor had come over from the Neues Palace for +luncheon. Then I inquired the nature of his business. + +"Well, Count, you and I are not altogether strangers, are we?" was his +reply, as he sat back calmly and crossed his legs, perfectly at his +ease. "But my business is only with His Highness, and with nobody else." + +"His Highness sees nobody upon business. I am appointed to deal with all +his business affairs, and anything told to me is the same as though +spoken into his ear." + +The Spaniard from Montmartre was silent for a moment. + +"If that is the case, then I would be glad if you will obtain his +permission for me to speak. He will remember my name." + +"I already received orders before I invited you up," I said. "His +Highness wishes you to deal with me. He knows that you are here to +settle some delicate little piece of business concerning that secret +visit of his to Rome--eh?" + +"Yes," he answered, after a few seconds' pause. "I am well aware, Count, +that for mention of the reason I am here you might call the guard to +arrest me for blackmail. But first let me assure His Highness that such +action would not be advisable in the interests of either himself or of +the Emperor. I have already made arrangements for exposure in case His +Highness endeavours to close my mouth by such means." + +"Good. We understand each other. What is your complaint?" I inquired. + +"I know the truth concerning the mysterious death of the woman, Claudia +Ferrona, in Rome last December," he said briefly. + +"Oh!" I exclaimed. "Perhaps you will tell me next that the Crown-Prince +is an assassin? Come, that will be really interesting," I laughed. +"Perhaps you will tell me how it all happened--the extent of your +knowledge." + +"Why should I do that? Go to the Crown-Prince and tell him what I +allege--tell him that the girl, Lizette Sabin, whom he knows, was a +witness." + +"Well, let us come to business," I said. "How much do you want for your +silence?" + +"I want nothing--not a sou!" was the hard reply. "All I want is to +reveal to the Emperor that his son is responsible for a woman's death. +And that is what I intend doing. You hear that! Well, Count von +Heltzendorff, please go and tell him so." + +Quickly realizing the extreme gravity of the situation, I returned to +the Crown-Prince and told him the startling allegation made against him. + +His face went as white as paper. + +"We must pay the fellow off. Close his mouth somehow. Help me, +Heltzendorff," he implored. "What can I do? He must not reveal the truth +to the Emperor!" + +"Then it really is the truth!" I exclaimed, astounded. + +The Crown-Prince hung his head, and in a low, hoarse voice replied: + +"It is my accursed luck! The woman must have told the truth to this +scoundrel of a Spaniard before--before she died!" + +"And Lizette?" I asked. "She is a witness, the fellow says." + +"No, no!" cried His Highness wildly, covering his white face with his +hands as though to hide the guilt written upon his countenance. "Say no +more! Ask the fellow's price, and pay him. We must not allow him to go +to the Emperor." + +Three minutes later I went back to my room, but it was empty. The +Spaniard had walked out, and would, no doubt, be wandering somewhere in +the private apartments. + +At that instant the telephone rang, and, answering it, I heard that His +Majesty had just arrived by car, and was on his way up to the room +wherein I stood--the room in which he generally met his son. + +For a moment I was perplexed, but a few seconds later I held my breath +when I saw coming down the corridor the Emperor, and walking with him +the adventurer, who had apparently met him on his way downstairs. + +I confess that at that most dramatic moment I was entirely nonplussed. I +saw how cleverly Aranda had timed his visit, and how, by some means, he +knew of the internal arrangements of the Marmor Palace. + +"Yes," the Emperor exclaimed to the Spaniard. "You wish to have +audience. Well?" + +In a second I broke in. + +"May I be permitted to say a word, Your Majesty?" I said. "There is a +little business matter pending between this gentleman and His Imperial +Highness the Crown-Prince--a little dispute over money. I regret that +Your Majesty should be disturbed by it. The matter is in course of +settlement." + +"Oh, money matters!" exclaimed the Emperor, who always hated mention of +them, believing himself to be far too important a person to trouble +about them. "Of course, you will see to a settlement, Count." And the +Emperor turned his back deliberately upon the man who accosted him. + +"It is not money that I want," shouted the adventurer from Paris, "but +I----" + +I did not allow him to conclude his sentence, but hustled him into an +adjoining room, closing the door after him. + +"Now, Monsieur Aranda, you want money, I know. How much?" I asked +determinedly. + +"Two hundred thousand marks," was his prompt reply, "and also fifty +thousand for Lola." + +I pretended to reflect. He saw my hesitation, and then added: + +"For that sum, and not a sou less, I am prepared to sign a statement +that I have lied, and that there is no truth in the allegation." + +"Of what? Tell me the facts, as you know them, and I will then repeat +them to His Imperial Highness." + +For a few seconds he was silent, then in a cold, hard voice he revealed +to me what was evidently the truth of the Crown-Prince's secret visit to +Rome. I listened to his statement utterly dumbfounded. + +The allegations were terrible. It seemed that a popular Spanish variety +actress, whom the populace of Rome knew as "La Bella," but whose real +name was Claudia Ferrona, lived in a pretty apartment on the Lungtevere +Mellini, facing the Tiber. His Highness had met her in Coblenz, where +she had been singing. "La Bella" had as her particular friend a certain +high official in the Italian Ministry of War, and through him she was +enabled to furnish the Crown-Prince with certain important information. +The General Staff in the Wilhelmstrasse were eager to obtain some very +definite facts regarding Italy's new armaments, and His Highness had +taken upon himself the task of obtaining it. + +As Herr Nebelthau he went in secret to Rome as guest of the vivacious +Claudia, whose maid was none other than the thief-girl of the +Montmartre, Lizette Sabin. This girl, whose intellect had become +weakened, was entirely under the influence of the clever adventurer +Aranda. On the second night after the arrival of the Crown-Prince in +Rome, he and the actress had taken supper together in her apartment, +after which a fierce quarrel had arisen between them. + +Seized by a fit of remorse, the variety singer blankly refused to +further betray the man to whom her advancement in her profession was +due, whereupon His Highness grew furious at being thwarted at the last +moment. After listening to his insults, "La Bella" openly declared that +she intended to reveal the whole truth to the Italian official in +question. Then the Crown-Prince became seized by one of those mad, +frenzied fits of uncontrollable anger to which he is at times, like all +the Hohenzollerns, subject, and with his innate brutality he took up a +bottle from the table and struck the poor girl heavily upon the skull, +felling her like a log. Afterwards with an imprecation on his lips, he +walked out. So terribly injured was the girl that she expired just +before noon next day. Not, however, before she had related the whole +circumstances to the maid, Lizette, and to the man Aranda, who, truth to +tell, had placed the maid in the actress's service with a view of +robbing her of her jewels. He saw, however, that, with the death of +Claudia Ferrona, blackmail would be much more profitable. + +Having heard this amazing story, I was careful to lock the Spaniard in +the room, and then returned to where the Crown-Prince was so anxiously +awaiting me. + +Half an hour later the adventurer left the Palace, bearing in his pocket +a draft upon the private banking house of Mendelsohn, in the +Jaegerstrasse in Berlin, for two hundred and fifty thousand marks. + +In return for that draft the wily Spaniard signed a declaration that he +had invented the whole story, and that there was not a word of truth in +it. + +It was only, however, when I placed that document into the hands of the +Crown-Prince that His Imperial Highness breathed freely again. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER NINE + +THE CROWN-PRINCE'S ESCAPADE IN LONDON + + +It was five o'clock on a bright September morning when His Imperial +Highness climbed with unsteady gait the three flights of stairs leading +to the handsome flat which he sometimes rented in a big block of +buildings half-way along Jermyn Street when he made secret visits to +London. + +As his personal-adjutant and keeper of his secrets I had been awaiting +him for hours. + +I heard him fumbling with the latch-key, and, rising, went along the +hall and opened the door. + +"Hulloa, Heltzendorff!" he exclaimed in a thick, husky voice. "_Himmel!_ +I'm very glad to be back." + +"And I am glad to see Your Highness back," I said. "I was beginning to +fear that something unpleasant had happened. I tell you frankly, I do +not like you going out like this alone in London. Somebody is certain to +discover you one day." + +"Oh, bosh! my dear Heltzendorff. You are just like a pastor--always +preaching." And as he tossed his crush hat upon the table and divested +himself of his evening overcoat he gave vent to a half-drunken laugh, +and then, just as he was, in his dress-coat and crumpled shirt-front, +with the stains of overnight wine upon it, he curled himself upon the +couch, saying: + +"Tell that idiot of a valet not to disturb me. I'm tired." + +"But don't you think you ought to go to bed?" I queried. + +"Too tired to undress, Heltzendorff--too tired," he declared with an +inane grin. "Oh, I've had a time--phew! my head--such a time! Oh, old +Lung Ching is a real old sport!" + +And then he settled himself and closed his eyes--surely a fine spectacle +for the German nation if he could then have been publicly exhibited. + +His mention of Lung Ching caused me to hold my breath. That wily +Chinaman kept an establishment in the underworld of Limehouse, an opium +den of the worst description, frequented by yellow men and white women +of the most debased class. + +A year before one of the Crown-Prince's friends, an attache at the +Embassy on Carlton House Terrace, had introduced him to the place. The +fascinations of the opium pipe had attracted him, and he had been there +many times to smoke and to dream, but always accompanied by others. The +night before, however, he had declared his intention to go out alone, as +he had been invited to dine by a great German financier living in Park +Lane. It was now evident, however, that he had not been there, but had +gone alone to that terrible den kept by Lung Ching. + +There, in the grey light of dawn, I stood gazing down upon the +be-drugged son of the Emperor, feeling relief that he was back again, +and that no trouble had resulted from his escapade. + +I called the valet, and, having handed his master over to him, I went +out, and, finding a taxi, drove out to Lung Ching's place in Limehouse. +I knew the sign, and was soon admitted into the close, sickly-smelling +place, which reeked with opium. The villainous Chinaman, with a face +like parchment, came forward, and instantly recognized me as the +companion of the young German millionaire, Herr Lehnhardt. Of him I +inquired what my master had been doing during the night. + +"Oh, 'e smoke--'e likee pipee!" was the evil, yellow-faced ruffian's +reply. + +"Was he alone?" + +"Oh, no. 'E no alonee. 'E lil ladee," and he grinned. "She likee pipee. +Come, you see--eh?" + +The fellow took me into the long, low-ceilinged room, fitted with bunks, +in which were a dozen or so sleeping Chinamen. Suddenly he indicated a +bunk wherein lay a girl huddled up--a well-dressed English girl. Her hat +and jacket had been removed, and she lay, her face full in the light, +her arm above her head, her eyes closed in sound slumber, with the +deadly pipe beside her. + +I bent to examine her pale countenance more closely. I started. Yes! I +had not been mistaken. She was the young daughter of one of the +best-known and most popular leaders of London society. + +I had no idea until that moment that she and the Crown-Prince were such +friends. A fortnight before the Crown-Prince, as Herr Lehnhardt, had +attended a gay river party at Henley, and I had accompanied him. At the +party the pair had been introduced in my presence. And now, within those +few days, I found her oblivious to the world in the worst opium den in +London! + +After considerable effort, I aroused her. But she was still dazed from +the effect of the drug, so dazed, indeed, that she did not recognize me. +However, I got her into a taxi, and having ascertained her mother's +address from the "Royal Blue Book" in the London club of which I was a +member, and where I arrived at an unearthly hour, I took her to Upper +Brocklion Street. + +Of the woman who opened the door I learned, to my relief, that the +family were at their place in Scotland, and that the house, enshrouded +in dust-sheets, was in the hands of herself and her husband as +caretakers. + +When I half lifted the young lady--whom I will here call Miss Violet +Hewitt for the sake of the good name of her family--out of the taxi the +woman became greatly alarmed. But I assured her there was nothing wrong; +her young mistress had been taken ill, but was now much better. A doctor +was not needed. + +For half an hour I remained there with her, and then, as she had +recovered sufficiently, I rose to go, intending to let her make her own +explanations to the caretaker. + +We were alone, and she was seated in a big arm-chair. She saw my +intention to leave, whereupon she struggled to her feet, for she now +realized to her horror what had occurred. + +"You are Count von Heltzendorff!" she exclaimed, passing her hand across +her brow, as though suddenly recollecting. "We met at Henley. Ah! I know +I--I can't help it. I have been very foolish--but I can't help it. The +craving grows upon me." + +"You met my friend Lehnhardt last night, did you not?" + +"Yes, I did. Quite accidentally. I was waiting in the lounge of the +'Ritz' for a man-friend with whom I had promised to dine when Mr. +Lehnhardt came in and recognized me. My friend had not turned up, so I +accepted his invitation to have dinner at Claridge's. This we did, and +during the meal he spoke of opium, and I admitted that I was fond of it, +for I smoke it sometimes at a girl-friend's at Hampstead. Therefore we +agreed to go together to Lung Ching's." + +"He left you there," I said. + +"I know. I certainly did not expect him to go away and leave me in such +a place," said the girl, who was very pretty and not more than twenty, +even though addicted to the terrible opium habit. "But," she added, "you +will keep my secret--won't you?" + +"Most certainly, Miss Hewitt," was my reply. "This should serve as a +severe lesson to you." + +Then I bade her farewell, and left her in the good hands of the +caretaker. + +On my return to Jermyn Street the Crown-Prince was in bed, sleeping +soundly. + +I remember standing at the window of that well-furnished bachelor's +sitting-room--for the place was owned by an old German-American +merchant, who, I expect, had a shrewd suspicion of the identity of the +reckless young fellow named Lehnhardt who sometimes, through a +well-known firm of house-agents, rented his quarters at a high figure. +The Crown-Prince used eight different names when abroad incognito, +Lehnhardt being one of them. + +"His Highness is very tired," the valet declared to me, as he entered +the room. "Before I got him to bed he asked for you. I said you had gone +out." + +"And what did he say?" + +"Well, Count, all he said was, 'Ah, our dear Heltzendorff is always an +early riser. He gets up before I go to bed!'" And the ever-faithful +valet laughed grimly. When the Crown-Prince went upon those frequent +debauches in the capitals of Europe, his valet always carried with him a +certain drug, a secret known to the Chinese, an injection of which at +once sobered him, and put both sense and dignity into him. I have seen +him in the most extreme state of helpless intoxication at five in the +morning, and yet at eight, he having received his injection, I have +watched him mount his horse and ride at the head of his regiment to an +inspection, as bright and level-headed as any trooper following. + +The drug had a marvellous and almost instantaneous effect. But it was +used only in case of great emergency, when, for instance, he was +suddenly summoned by the Emperor, or perchance he had to accompany his +wife to some public function. + +That the drug had bad effects I knew quite well. I have often seen him +pacing the room holding his hands to his head, when, three hours later, +the dope was gradually losing its potency, leaving him inert and ill. + +When the valet had retired, I stood gazing down into the growing life of +Jermyn Street, deploring the state of society which had resulted in the +pretty Violet Hewitt becoming, at twenty, a victim to opium. + +Truly in the world of London, as in Berlin, there are many strange +phases of life, and even I, familiar as I was with the gaieties of the +capitals, and the night life of Berlin, the Montmartre in Paris, and the +West End in London, here confess that when I discovered the pretty girl +sleeping in that dirty bunk in that fetid atmosphere I was staggered. + +Before three o'clock in the afternoon "Willie" reappeared, well groomed +and perfectly dressed. I had been out lunching at the "Berkeley" with a +friend, and on re-entering the chambers, found him in the sitting-room +smoking a cigarette. + +The effects of his overnight dissipation had entirely passed. He seated +himself upon the arm of a chair and asked: + +"Well, Heltzendorff, I suppose you've been out to lunch--eh? Anything +interesting in this town?" + +"The usual set at the 'Berkeley,'" I replied. + +"Oh! The 'Berkeley!' Very nice, but too respectable. That is where one +takes one's aunt, is it not?" he laughed. + +I admitted that it was a most excellent restaurant. + +"Good food and good amusement, my dear Heltzendorff, one can never find +together. The worse the food the better the entertainment. Do you +remember the 'Rat Mort'--eh?" + +"No," I said sharply. "That is a long-past and unwelcome memory." + +The Imperial profligate laughed heartily. + +"Oh, my dear Heltzendorff, you are becoming quite pharisaical. You! Oh! +that is really amusing!" + +"The 'Rat Mort' never amused me," I said, "a cafe of the Montmartre +where those who dined were----" + +I did not finish my sentence. + +"Were very pretty and interesting women, Heltzendorff," he declared. +"Ah! don't you recollect when you and I dined there not long ago, all of +us at a long table--so many charming ladies--oh!" + +"I have forgotten it, Prince," I said, rebuking him. "It has passed from +my memory. That place is just as unfitted for you as is Lung Ching's." + +"Lung Ching's! Ah--yes, the old yellow fellow is a good sort," he +exclaimed, as though recollecting. + +"And the lady you took there--eh?" + +"The lady?" he echoed. "Why, _Gott!_ I left her there. I did not +remember. _Gott!_ I left little Miss Violet in that place!" he gasped. + +"Well?" I asked. + +"Well, what can I do. I must go and see." + +I smiled, and then told him what I had done. + +"H'm," he exclaimed. "You are always a good diplomat, +Heltzendorff--always a good friend of the erratic Hohenzollerns. What +can I do to-night--eh? Suggest something." + +"I would suggest that you dined _en famille_ at the Embassy," I replied. + +"The Embassy! Never. I'm sick and tired of His Excellency and his +hideous old wife. They bore me to death. No, my dear Heltzendorff. I +wonder----" + +And he paused. + +"Well?" I asked. + +"I wonder if Miss Hewitt would go to the theatre to-night--eh?" + +"No," I snapped, for my long service gave me permission to speak my mind +pretty freely. "She is, I admit, a very charming young lady, but +remember she does not know your identity, and if her parents discover +what happened last night there will be a most infernal lot of trouble. +Recollect that her father, a financial magnate, is acquainted with the +Emperor. They have raced their yachts against each other. Indeed, Henry +Hewitt's won the Kiel Cup last year. So, personally, I think the game +that your Imperial Highness is playing is a distinctly dangerous one." + +"Bah! It is only amusement. She amuses me. And she is so fond of the +pipe. She has been a visitor of Lung Ching's for over a year. She has a +faithful maid who goes with her, and I suppose she pays the old Chinaman +well." + +"I suppose so," I remarked, for I knew that if the villainous old Ching +were paid well he would guarantee her safety in that den of his. + +I could see by the Crown-Prince's face that he was unimpressed by my +warning. Too well did I know to what mad, impetuous lengths he would go +when of a sudden a pretty face attracted him. So utterly devoid is he of +self-control that a woman's eyes could lead him anywhere. A glance at +that weak chin of his will at once substantiate my statement. + +His visit to Lung Ching's had left him somewhat muddled and limp, and +the next few days passed uneventfully. We went down into Surrey to stay +with a certain Baron von Rechberg, who had been a fellow-student of His +Highness's at Bonn. He was now head of a German bank in London, and +lived in a beautiful house surrounded by a large park high among the +Surrey hills. Count von Hochberg, "Willie's" bosom friend, whom he +always addressed as "Mickie," while the Count in turn called him +"Caesar," being in London at the time, accompanied us, and so merrily did +the time pass that the incident at Lung Ching's went out of my memory. + +One night when we had all three returned to London "Willie" and Von +Hochberg spent the evening in the lounge of the Empire Theatre, and both +returned to the Prince's rooms about one o'clock in the morning. + +"Heltzendorff, Mickie is going with me to Scotland to-morrow morning," +said His Highness, as he tossed his overcoat upon the couch of that +luxurious little sitting-room within sight of the Maison Jules. "You +will stay here and attend to anything that may come through from +Potsdam. A courier should arrive to-morrow night, or is it Knof who is +coming? I forget." + +"Your Highness sent Knof over to get the correspondence," I reminded +him, for it was necessary that all pressing matters should be attended +to, or the Emperor's suspicions might be aroused that his son was absent +abroad. + +"Ah, the good Knof! Of course, he will be back to-morrow night. He will +have seen the Princess and told her how ill I have been, and how I am +gradually growing better," he laughed. "Trust Knof to tell a good, sound +lie." + +"All chauffeurs can do that, my dear Caesar," exclaimed Von Hochberg, +with a grin. + +Naturally I was filled with wonder regarding the nature of the +expedition which the pair were about to undertake, but, though we all +three smoked together for an hour, "Willie" seemed unusually sober, and +did not let drop a single hint regarding their mysterious destination. + +Von Hochberg was living at the Coburg Hotel, and before he left "Willie" +arranged to breakfast with him at eight o'clock next morning, so that +they might leave Euston together by the ten o'clock express. + +I roused the valet, who worked for an hour packing His Highness's +suit-case. + +"One case only," the Crown-Prince had ordered. "I shall only be up there +a couple or three days. No evening clothes. I shall not want them." + +That remark told me that he did not intend to pay any formal visit, as +he had done on most of his journeys to Scotland. + +"Your Imperial Highness will take guns, of course," I remarked. + +"Guns!" he echoed. "No--no guns this time. If I want to shoot rabbits I +can borrow a farmer's blunderbuss," he laughed. + +That "Mickie," the hare-brained seeker after pleasure, was to be his +companion caused me some uneasiness. It was all very well for the +Crown-Prince to live in London as Herr Lehnhardt. London was a big +place, and those who catered for his Imperial pleasures were paid well, +and did not seek to inquire into his antecedents or whether he was +really what he represented himself to be. + +Money talks in the underground London, just as it does on the Stock +Exchange. But it sometimes, I assure you, took a long purse to keep the +foreign papers quiet regarding the wild escapades of the Kaiser's heir. + +That night somehow I felt a good deal of apprehension regarding this +mysterious flying visit to Scotland. That the pair had some deeply-laid +scheme on hand I knew from their evasiveness. But what it was I failed +to discover. + +Early that morning I put "Caesar" into a taxi with his suit-case. He wore +a rough suit of tweeds, and took with him his walking-stick and a +khaki-coloured waterproof coat, presenting the picture of a young man +going North to shoot. + +"I'll be back in a few days, Heltzendorff. Attend to the letters," he +urged. "Throw away as many as you can. If I want you I will telegraph." + +And with that he drove to the "Coburg" to meet his old chum, "Mickie." + +About three o'clock that same afternoon, while walking along Piccadilly, +I was surprised to come face to face with Von Hochberg. + +"Why! I thought you had gone North!" I exclaimed. + +"No, Heltzendorff. Caesar went alone," he replied, somewhat confounded at +our unexpected meeting. "He wanted to be alone, I think." + +"Where has he gone?" I inquired. "He left me no address." + +"No. And I have none either," the Count replied. + +This set me thinking. The situation was even worse with the Crown-Prince +wandering in Scotland alone. His indiscretions were such that his +identity might very easily leak out, and the truth concerning his +absence would quickly reach the Emperor's ears. + +As I stood chatting with His Highness's gay companion I confess that I +felt annoyed at the manner in which I had been tricked. He was often +afraid of my caustic tongue when I spoke of his indiscretions, and it +was further quite plain to me that Von Hochberg had simply pretended +that he was accompanying his friend North. + +That evening Knof arrived from Potsdam with a satchelful of +correspondence, and until a late hour I was kept busy inventing replies +which would eventually be taken to Holzemme, in the Harz Mountains, and +posted from there. We always made arrangements for such things when His +Highness was secretly out of Germany. + +I snatched a meal at Jules', close by, and resumed my work till long +after midnight, inventing some picturesque fictions in reply to many +official documents. + +One letter was from Her Imperial Highness. At her husband's order I +opened it, read it, and sealed it up again. It contained reproaches, but +nothing of extreme urgency. There had been occasions when I had read +"Cilli's" letters in the absence of her erratic husband, and sent to her +little untruths by wire, signed "Wilhelm, Kronprinz." + +Truly my position was one of curious intimacy. Sometimes His Highness +trusted me with his innermost secrets, while at others he regarded me +with distinct suspicion. That the elegant Von Hochberg knew of +"Willie's" whereabouts I felt convinced, but apparently His Highness had +given him orders not to divulge it to me. + +The next day and the next I waited in vain for some word from His +Highness. I had sent Knof back to the Harz to post the replies I had +written, and with nothing to do I idled about London. + +On the third day, when I returned to Jermyn Street after lunch, I found +a stout German, named Henkel, who carried on a hairdresser's business +near High Street, Kensington, but who was really a secret agent. He was +one of the few persons who knew of the Crown-Prince's visit, for each +time we came to London we took this man into our confidence. + +"I have received a telegram from Holzemme, Count," he said as I entered, +and then he handed me the message, which, after a few minutes' +examination--for though in plain language it was nevertheless not what +it purported to be--I saw to my dismay was an important message to +"Willie" from the Emperor, who was at that moment in Corfu. + +The message had been received by Koch, my assistant, whom I had left at +Holzemme. He had disguised it and re-transmitted it to Henkel to hand to +me. We always took this precaution, because when abroad incognito, both +the Crown-Prince and myself frequently changed our names. So, by +employing Henkel in London and a man named Behm in Paris, we were +always certain of receiving any important message. + +When the spy Henkel had left I stood looking out of the window down into +Jermyn Street, quite at a loss how to act. The message was one of the +greatest importance, and, if not replied to at once, the Emperor would, +I knew, institute inquiries, for he was well aware of his son's wild +escapades. + +My first impulse was to wire Koch a reply to be dispatched to His +Majesty, but on reflection I realized that the question was one which I +could not answer with truth. No. I must find His Highness at all +hazards. + +At once I went to the Coburg Hotel, and fortunately found Count von +Hochberg, who at first refused to reveal where his friend was hidden. +But when I showed him the telegram and explained the great urgency of a +reply, in order to prevent the Emperor from inquiring and knowing the +truth, he realized the necessity. + +"Well, Heltzendorff," he said, somewhat reluctantly, "Caesar is at some +little place they call St. Fillans, in Scotland." + +"I know it," I cried eagerly. "A place at the end of Loch Earn! We +motored past it one day about two years ago. I shall go North at once." + +"But you can telegraph to him," the Count suggested. + +"To what address?" + +"Ah! Why, of course, I don't know his address--only that he is at St. +Fillans. I had a note yesterday." + +Travelling by way of Perth and Gleneagles, I next morning found myself +strolling along the picturesque village at the end of the beautiful +loch, which presented a truly delightful picture in the autumn sunlight. +At the hotel nothing was known of Mr. Lehnhardt, and though I devoted +the whole morning to making inquiries I could find no trace of His +Highness. The latter would certainly not betray himself as a German, +for, speaking English so well, he might very easily adopt an English +name. I ate my lunch at the hotel which faces the loch, with Ben +Voirlich rising high beyond, and afterwards resumed my wanderings. In +many quarters I described my "friend" of whom I was in search, but +nobody seemed to have seen him. The precious hours were flying, and I +knew that the Emperor at Corfu was impatiently awaiting a reply. + +I hired a car and drove seven miles to the farther end of the loch, to +the village of Lochearnhead. There I made inquiry at the hotel and +elsewhere, afterwards going on to Balquidder with similar result. It was +past six o'clock when I returned to St. Fillans with the feeling that +His Highness had deceived even his friend "Mickie," and that I had had +my long journey and quest for nothing. Not a soul seemed to have seen +anybody answering to "Willie's" description. I snatched another hasty +meal at the hotel, and then, in the dusk, set off in the opposite +direction along the pretty road which led to Comrie. The light was fast +fading, but I knew that there would be a full moon, and the night was +perfect. + +I had walked about three miles, and had probably lost my way, for I was +off the main road, when, on my left, saw the lighted windows of a +comfortable-looking cottage standing back from the road behind a +well-kept flower garden. There were woods on each side of the road, and +I concluded that it was a keeper's house. As I passed I heard voices, +and saw two figures standing at the garden gate--a man and a +woman--chatting confidentially. + +In the next second I recognized the man's voice as that of the +Crown-Prince, and as quickly I stepped upon the grass so that they might +not be attracted by my footsteps. Concealed by the shadow of the hedge +on the opposite side of the road, I stealthily approached until I could +distinguish, by the light from the open door of the cottage, that the +woman was a stout, elderly person, probably the keeper's wife. + +Both surprised and interested, I stood there watching. It seemed as +though they were awaiting someone, for after a few moments, they both +retired inside the cottage. + +Presently, however, "Willie" emerged alone. He had on his hat and +carried a stick, and as he swung through the gate and went forward he +whistled softly to himself the air of a gay waltz of which he was +particularly fond. + +Within myself I chuckled at being thus able to watch his mysterious +movements, for he seemed entirely preoccupied and quite unconscious of +being followed, though I fear my footsteps fell heavily at times. + +Suddenly, while passing along a part of the road overshadowed by woods +on either side, he halted in the darkness. I heard him speak, and I also +heard the welcome he received in a girl's voice. It was as I had +surmised, and I drew a long breath. + +I heard the pair talking, but from where I stood I could not overhear +any of their conversation. I heard His Highness laugh gaily, and though +he lit a cigarette his companion's face was turned from me so that I +could not catch a glimpse of it in the fitful light. + +Presently, after he had held her in his arms and kissed her, they turned +back in my direction. + +As they passed I heard the girl say: + +"I've been waiting for quite a quarter of an hour, Mr. Lehnhardt. I +thought perhaps something had prevented you from keeping the +appointment." + +"All my mistake, dear," was his reply. "My mistake. Forgive me." + +"Of course," she said, laughing, and I saw that she had her arm linked +in his as they walked back in the direction of the keeper's cottage. + +I followed in wonder, and not without anger. For the Heir of the +Hohenzollerns to ramble upon such rural escapades was, I knew, +distinctly dangerous. Exposure might come at any moment. + +They had strolled together nearly half a mile when of a sudden, as they +again passed into the deep shadows, the girl gave vent to a loud scream +for help, and at the same moment men's angry voices were heard. + +The pair had been attacked by three men who had apparently been lying +hidden in the wood. + +I heard a man shout, and then a sharp crack like that of a whip. The +Kaiser's son was shouting, too, while the girl was screaming and crying +shame upon those who had attacked the man with whom she had been +walking. + +"You infernal German!" I heard one of the men shriek. "I'll teach you to +come sneaking here and take my sister out for midnight walks! Take +that--you cur--and that!--whoever you are!" + +Next second the startling truth was plain to me. + +His Imperial Highness the German Crown-Prince was being ignominiously +and soundly thrashed by an irate brother! + +I saw that it was high time that I interfered. The Crown-Prince had been +flung upon the ground, and the angry young man was lashing him as I +dashed in among them with my revolver drawn. + +"Come, cease that," I shouted. "Down with that whip. You've attacked +these people on the high road, and if you strike again I'll fire." + +"Hulloa!" cried one man. "Why, here's another German!" + +"German or not--enough!" I commanded, and bending down, assisted the +fallen Prince to rise. + +"You--you shall pay for this, I swear!" declared "Willie," angrily +facing the man who had struck him. Then, turning to me, he apparently +recognized my voice, for he asked--"How in the name of Fate did you come +here, Heltzendorff?" + +"I will explain later," I replied in German. "Let us get out of this." + +"But I cannot leave Violet. I--I----" + +He had replied in the same language, which the men apparently did not +understand. + +"Enough; come," I said. Then in English I added, "We will wish these +gentlemen good-night." + +I took his arm and led him away amid the derisive laughter of the irate +brother and his two friends, leaving the girl with them. + +When we were out of earshot I told him of the Emperor's telegram, and +added: + +"That lady was Miss Hewitt, was she not?" + +"Yes. Her father's estate is a few miles from here. She's a perfect +little fiend for opium--got bitten with the habit when she was +travelling with her married sister in China, and Maggie, her old nurse, +who lives in the cottage we shall pass in a minute, lets her go there on +the quiet and smoke. I have had two or three pipes there lately," he +added merrily. + +"_Himmel!_" I gasped. "How dangerous! She has no idea of who you are, I +hope?" + +"Not in the least." + +"Good. Let us attend to the Emperor's telegram at once." + +And a quarter of an hour later we were discussing the Kaiser's inquiry +in a clean, comfortable, but out-of-the-way cottage in which "Willie" +had established himself so as to be near the pretty girl for whom he had +conceived that passing fascination. + +Until to-day Violet Hewitt has been entirely ignorant of the identity of +the man who, like herself, was so addicted to opium. These lines, if +they meet her eye, will reveal to her a curious and, no doubt, startling +truth. + + + + +SECRET NUMBER TEN + +HOW THE KAISER ESCAPED ASSASSINATION + + +"The Emperor commands you to audience at once in the private +dining-room," said one of the Imperial servants, entering the Kaiser's +study, where I was awaiting him. + +It was seven o'clock on a cold, cheerless morning, and I had just +arrived at Potsdam from Altona, the bearer of a message from the +Crown-Prince to his father. + +I knew that the Emperor always rose at five, and that he was +breakfasting, as was his habit, alone with the Empress in that +coquettish private dining-room of the Sovereigns, a room into which no +servant is permitted, Augusta preparing and serving the coffee with her +own hands. It was the one hour which the All-Highest before the war +devoted to domesticity, when husband and wife could gossip and discuss +matters alone and in secret. + +As I passed downstairs to the room, to which entrance was forbidden even +to the Crown-Prince himself, I naturally wondered why I had been +commanded to audience there. + +On tapping upon the mahogany door of the little private salon the +Empress's hard voice gave permission to enter, whereupon I bowed myself +into the cosy little place, hung with reseda silk and with pictures by +Loncret, Perne and Watteau. Upon one side of the room was a beautiful +buhl cabinet, and at the little round table placed near the window sat +the Imperial pair. + +The Empress was reading a letter, but His Majesty rose as I entered. He +was wearing a grey tweed suit, a well-worn and, no doubt, easy one, in +which nobody ever saw him, for he always changed into uniform before he +went to his study. + +"Have you any knowledge of the contents of the letter which you have +brought from the Crown-Prince?" he asked me bluntly, and I saw by his +eyes that he seemed somewhat mystified. + +I replied in the negative, explaining that I had been with His Imperial +Highness to Kiel, and afterwards to Altona, where the Crown-Princess had +performed the opening ceremony of a new dock. + +"Where are you going now?" he asked suddenly. "There are other +engagements, I believe?" + +"To Thorn. His Imperial Highness inspects the garrison there on +Thursday," I said. + +"Ah! of course. I intended to go, but it is impossible." + +Then, after a pause, the Emperor looked me straight in the face and +suddenly said: + +"Heltzendorff, have you any knowledge of any man called Minckwitz?" + +I reflected. + +"I know Count von Minckwitz, Grand-Master of the Court of the Duke of +Saxe-Altenbourg," was my reply. + +"No. This is a man, Wilhelm Minckwitz, who poses as a musician." + +I shook my head. + +"You are quite certain that you have never heard the name? Try to +recollect whether the Crown-Prince has ever mentioned him in your +presence." + +I endeavoured to recall the circumstance, for somehow very gradually I +felt a distinct recollection of having once heard that name before. + +"At the moment I fail to recall anything, Your Majesty," was my answer. + +The Emperor knit his brows as though annoyed at my reply, and then +grunted deeply in dissatisfaction. + +"Remain here in Potsdam," he said. "Telegraph to the Crown-Prince +recalling him at my orders, and I will cancel the inspection at Thorn. +Tell the Crown-Prince that I wish to see him to-night immediately upon +his return." + +Then, noticing for the first time that the Emperor held a paper in his +hand, I realized that by its colour it was one of those secret reports +furnished for the Kaiser's eye alone--a report of one of the thousands +of spies of Germany spread everywhere. + +Minckwitz! I impressed that name upon my memory, and, being dismissed, +bowed myself out of the Imperial presence. + +Returning to the Marmor Palace I sent a long and urgent message over the +private wire to "Willie" at Altona, repeating His Majesty's orders, and +recalling him at once. Quite well I knew that such an unusual message +would arouse His Highness's apprehension that for some offence or other +he was about to receive a paternal castigation. But I could not be +explicit, because I had no knowledge of the reason the Emperor was +cancelling our engagement at Thorn. + +At nine o'clock that night the Crown-Prince, gay in his Hussar uniform, +burst into the room wherein I was attending to the correspondence. + +"What in the name of Fate does all this mean, Heltzendorff?" he +demanded. "Why did the Emperor fail to reply to my message?" + +"I delivered it," I said. And then I described what took place in the +Emperor's private dining-room. When I mentioned the name of Minckwitz +the Crown-Prince started and his cheeks blanched. + +"Did he ask you that?" he gasped. + +"Yes. I told him the only person I knew of that name was Count von +Minckwitz." + +"Ah, that little fat, old Master of the Court. Oh! The Emperor knows him +well enough. It is somebody else he is referring to." + +"Do you know him?" I asked eagerly. + +"Me? Why--why, of course not!" was "Willie's" quick reply, in a tone +which showed me that he was not telling the truth. + +"His Majesty wishes to see you at once," I urged, full of wonder. + +I could plainly see that His Imperial Highness had been much upset at +mention of the mysterious person called Minckwitz. What could the +Emperor know of him? Was there some scandal at the root of it all, some +facts which the Crown-Prince feared might be revealed? + +Travel-stained, and without changing his tunic, "Willie" went to the +telephone and ordered Knof to bring back the car. And in it he drove +across to the Neues Palais to see the Emperor. + +I had an important appointment in Berlin that night, and waited until +quite late for "Willie's" return. As he did not come I left for the +capital, and on arrival at my rooms rang up Wolff's Agency, and gave out +a paragraph to the Press that His Imperial Highness the Crown-Prince had +been compelled to abandon his journey to Thorn, owing to having +contracted a chill. His wife "Cilli"--the contraction for Cecilia--had, +however, gone to visit Princess Henry of Rohnstock at Fuerstenstein. + +Several weeks went by, and one day we were at the ancient schloss at +Oels, in far Silesia, the great estate which the Crown-Prince inherited +on coming of age. The castle is a big, prison-like place, surrounded by +wide lands and dense forests, lying between the town of Breslau and the +Polish frontier, a remote, rural place to which "Willie" loved sometimes +to retire with a few kindred spirits in order to look over the estate +and to shoot. + +The guests included old Count von Reisenach, Court Chamberlain, of the +Prince of Schombourg-Lippe, who was a noted raconteur and bon-vivant, +with Major von Heidkaemper, of the 4th Bavarian Light Cavalry, a constant +companion of "Willie's," and Karl von Pappenheim, a captain of the +Prussian Guard, who had been educated at Oxford, and who was so English +that it was often difficult for people from London to believe that he +was a Prussian. + +Von Pappenheim, a tall, good-looking, fair-moustached man under thirty, +was one of "Willie's" new friends. He was the son of a great landowner +of Erfurt, and the pair had for the past month been inseparable. He was +a shrewd, keen-eyed man, who seemed ever on the alert, but, of course, +obsessed by military dignity, and as full of swagger as any Prussian +officer could be. He had a sister, Margarete, a pretty girl, a year or +so his junior, who had been to the Marmor Palace on one occasion. The +Crown-Princess had received her, but from the fact that she was not +invited a second time I concluded that the inevitable jealousy had +arisen, because in my presence "Willie" had more than once referred to +her beauty. + +I sometimes suspected that "Willie's" sudden and close friendship with +Von Pappenheim had some connection with his intense admiration of the +latter's sister. I, however, learnt the truth concerning their intimacy +in a curious way while at the Schloss Oels. + +One day I had accompanied the party out after stag, for, being a fair +shot, I frequently snatched a day's sport. Soon after luncheon, which we +took at a forester's house, we went forth again, and I concealed myself +at a point of vantage, lying behind a screen of ferns and branches +specially constructed as cover. + +I was alone, at some considerable distance from the others, and had been +there waiting for nearly an hour with my gun in readiness when suddenly +I heard the cracking of dried wood not far away. + +Something was moving. I raised my gun in breathless eagerness. + +Next moment, however, I heard the voices of two men.--"Willie" and his +friend, Von Pappenheim. They were approaching me, speaking in low, +confidential tones. + +"You quite understand," "Willie" was saying. "My position is a terrible +one. I don't know how to extricate myself. If I dare reveal the truth +then I know full well what their vengeance will be." + +"But, my dear Caesar," was Karl von Pappenheim's reply, for he was on +such intimate terms that he called His Highness by the name Von Hochberg +had bestowed upon him, "is it not your duty to risk all and tell the +truth?" he suggested seriously. + +The pair had halted only a few yards from me and taken cover behind a +dead bush which had been cut down and placed conveniently at the spot, +in case the shooting party were a large one and the screen behind which +I had concealed myself was insufficient. So near were they that I could +hear all that was said. + +"The Emperor would neither believe me nor forgive me," "Willie" said. +"Minckwitz is a clever devil. He would bring manufactured evidence which +must implicate me." + +Minckwitz! That was the name which the Emperor had uttered, asking me if +I knew him! That incident at the Neues Palais flashed across my memory. +I recollected, too, how, when I had referred to the circumstance, His +Highness had become pale and agitated. Mention of the name had affected +him curiously. + +"But can he bring evidence?" asked his companion. + +"Yes, curse him!--he can!" + +"You can refute it, surely?" + +"No, I can't. If I could I should make a clean breast of the whole +matter," "Willie" declared. From the tone of his voice I realized how +utterly bewildered he was. + +"But cannot I help you? Cannot I see Minckwitz and bluff him?" his +friend suggested. + +"You don't know him," was the reply. "He holds me in the hollow of his +hand." + +"Ah! Then you have been horribly indiscreet--eh?" + +"I have. I admit I have, Karl; and I do not see any way out of it." + +"But, my dear Caesar, think of the danger existing day by day--hour by +hour!" cried Von Pappenheim. "Think what there is at stake! That letter +you showed me this morning reveals only too plainly what is intended." + +"It is a letter of defiance, I admit." + +"And a catastrophe must inevitably occur if you do not act." + +"But how can I act?" cried the Crown-Prince, in despair. "Suggest +something--I cannot. If I utter a syllable Minckwitz will most certainly +carry out his threat against me." + +"Contrive to have him arrested upon some charge or other," Karl +suggested. + +"If I did he would produce the evidence against me," declared the +Crown-Prince. + +A silence then fell between the pair. Suddenly Karl asked: + +"Does Von Heltzendorff know?" + +"He knows nothing," was "Willie's" answer. "The Emperor questioned him, +but he was in ignorance of Minckwitz's existence. He was naturally +surprised, but I did not regard it as judicious to enlighten him." + +"He is your confidential adjutant. If I were you I should tell him the +truth. No time should be lost, remember." + +Then, after a few seconds of silence. Von Pappenheim went on: + +"Why, I never thought of it! My sister Margarete knows Minckwitz. She +might perhaps be useful to us--eh?" + +"Why, yes!" cried "Willie," "a woman can frequently accomplish a thing +where a man would fail. A most excellent idea. Let us leave the others +to their sport and get back to the schloss and discuss a line of +action--eh?" + +And in agreement the pair emerged from their ambush, and retraced their +steps along the path they had come. + +Still greatly puzzled at the nature of the secret which the Crown-Prince +was withholding from me, I came out of my hiding-place and presently +rejoined the party. + +That night we all dined together, as was our habit when at Oels, but I +saw that "Willie" was upset and nervous, and noticed that he drank his +champagne heavily. On the contrary, Von Pappenheim was wary and +watchful. + +Next evening Von Pappenheim's sister Margarete, fair-haired, _petite_ +and rather doll-like, arrived at the Castle. + +During dinner an Imperial courier arrived from Berlin with a letter from +the Emperor, and "Willie" opened it, read it, and then, excusing +himself, left the table. I rose and followed him, as was my duty, but +when outside the room His Highness sent me back, saying in a thick, +husky voice: + +"I shall not want you. Von Heltzendorff; I will write the reply myself." + +On my return the guests were discussing the effect of the Emperor's +message upon their host, Von Pappenheim being particularly anxious. He +said something in a low voice to his sister, when the latter became at +once thoughtful. Indeed, the remainder of the meal was a very dull +affair, and it was with relief that we rose and went out into the big +ancient hall, with its vaulted ceiling, where coffee was always served. + +The courier had left on his return journey to the capital, yet "Willie" +did not again reappear. At eleven o'clock I found him lying in a very +advanced state of intoxication upon the sofa in the room set apart for +me for my writing. Near him stood an empty brandy bottle and an empty +syphon of soda-water. + +I called his faithful valet, and together we half carried him to his +room, where he was undressed and put to bed. Hardly had I returned to my +room when Von Pappenheim entered in search of his host. + +"His Highness is not well, and has retired to his room," I said. "He +expressed a desire to see nobody to-night." + +Von Pappenheim's face changed. + +"Oh!" he cried in despair. "Why did he not see me and tell me the truth! +Precious hours are flying, and we must act if the situation is to be +saved." + +"What situation?" I asked, in pretended ignorance. + +"You know nothing, Von Heltzendorff, eh?" he asked, looking me straight +in the face. + +"Nothing," was my reply. + +"You have no knowledge of the trap into which the Crown-Prince fell when +he was in Paris with you six months ago, and when he and I first met?" + +"A trap! What do you mean?" + +"Has he told you nothing?" + +"Not a syllable." + +"Ah! Then I cannot be frank with you until I obtain His Highness's +permission. He told me that you knew nothing, but I did not believe it. +Knowing well what implicit confidence he places in you, I believed that +you knew the ghastly truth." + +"You alarm me," I said. "If the situation is grave, then I may be able +to be of some assistance, more especially if time is pressing." + +He hesitated, but refused to reveal a single fact before receiving the +Crown-Prince's permission. + +Into what trap had "Willie" fallen during our last visit to Paris I +could not conceive. His wild orgies in the Montmartre, his constant +absences alone, his terrible craving for excitement, his wild and +reckless search for pleasure in the lowest haunts of vice, had ever been +a source of anxiety to me. Times without number had I lifted a warning +finger, only to be derided and ridiculed by the son of the All-Highest +One. + +Next day, soon after His Highness was dressed, he entered my room. + +"Heltzendorff," he said, "I have been chatting with Von Pappenheim and +his sister upon a little matter of business which closely concerns +myself. I want you to leave in an hour's time and go to Hanover. In the +Kirchroeder Strasse, No. 16, out at Kleefeld there lives a certain man +named Minckwitz--a Pole by birth. He has two nieces--one about twenty +and the other two years older. With them you have no concern. All I want +is that you engage a photographer, or, better, yourself take a snapshot +of this man Minckwitz, and bring it to me. Be discreet and trust no one +with the secret of your journey." + +"Exactly. There is a doubt as to the man's identity, eh?" + +"Willie" nodded in the affirmative. + +Satisfied that I should at last see the mysterious person whose identity +the Emperor had wished to establish, I set out from Oels on my long +journey right across Germany. + +In due course I arrived in Hanover, and found the house situate in the +pleasant suburb. Here I found that "Willie's" suspicions were correct, +and the man Minckwitz was living under the name of Sembach and +pretending to be a musician. I watched, and very soon with my own camera +took in secret a snapshot of the mysterious individual as he walked in +the street. With this I left two days later on my return to Oels. + +The photograph was that of a thin, narrow-faced, deep-eyed man, with a +scraggy, pointed beard--a typical Pole, and when I handed it to +"Willie" he held his breath. + +"Look!" he cried, turning to Von Pappenheim and his sister, who were +both present. "Look! There is no mistake! That is the man. What shall we +do? No time must be lost. How can I act?" + +Brother and sister exchanged glances blankly. From inquiries I had made +in Hanover, it seemed that the man was a stranger, a music-master, who +had arrived there about a month ago. I feared to make inquiry through +the police, because my official capacity as personal-adjutant to the +Crown-Prince was too well known, and suspicion might have thus been +aroused. + +The trio again held secret counsel, but I was not told the nature of +their deliberations. All I knew was that the Crown-Prince was in some +terrible and most dangerous difficulty. + +That afternoon I met the girl Margarete walking alone in the grounds +near the Schloss. The autumn sun was pleasant, though there was a sharp +nip in the air, which told of the coming of the early Silesian winter. +Most of the trees were already bare, and the ground was carpeted with +the gold-brown leaves of the great beeches. + +We had walked together for some distance, when I suddenly halted and +asked her point-blank why they were all in such great fear of Herr +Minckwitz. + +She started, staring at me with her big blue eyes. + +"His Highness has not told you, Count. Therefore, it would ill become me +to reveal his secret," was her cold rebuke. + +"But if the situation is so grave, and if I have been entrusted with the +secret mission to Hanover, I may, perhaps, be of service in the matter. +I understand that you are acquainted with Herr Minckwitz, _alias_ +Sembach--eh?" + +"Who told you that?" + +"Nobody. I learnt it myself," I answered, with a smile. + +For a second she reflected, then, with a woman's cleverness, she said: + +"I can tell you nothing. Ask the Crown-Prince himself." And she refused +to discuss the matter further. Indeed, she left the Castle two hours +later. + +That night I went boldly to "Willie," finding him alone in a little +circular room in one of the towers of the Castle, to which he often +retired to smoke and snooze. + +I stood before him, and without mincing matters told him what I had +overheard and all I knew. + +The effect of my words was almost electrical. He sat up, staring at me +almost dazed at my statement. + +"It is true, Heltzendorff. Alas! True!" he replied. But he would even +then give me no inkling of the reason of his fear. + +"If this Herr Minckwitz means mischief, then surely it would be easy to +secure his arrest for some offence or other, and you need not appear in +it," I suggested. + +"I've thought of all that. But if the police lay hands upon him, then he +will revenge himself on me. He will carry out his threat--and--and, +Heltzendorff, I could never hold up my head again." + +"Why?" + +"I can't be more explicit. I'm in a hole, and I cannot extricate +myself." + +I reflected for a moment. Then I said: + +"You appear to fear some action of Minckwitz's. If that is so, I will +return to Hanover and watch. If there is any hostile intent, I will +endeavour to prevent it. Fortunately, he does not know me." + +Next night I was back again in Hanover, having stopped in Berlin to pick +up a friend of mine upon whose discretion I could rely implicitly--a +retired member of the detective force named Hartwieg. Together we +started to watch the movements of the mysterious Polish musician, and +to our surprise we found that he had three friends, one of them a +furrier living in the Burgstrasse, who visited him regularly each +evening. They always arrived at the same hour, and generally left about +eleven o'clock. Through five days we kept watch, alternately closely +shadowing the man who called himself Sembach, and becoming acquainted +with his friends, most of whom seemed of a very queer set. + +There was no doubt that Minckwitz and the two young women were +associates of some criminal gang, and, further, I was staggered one +evening to watch the arrival at the house of a young man whom I +recognized as Brosch, an under-valet of the Emperor's at the Neues +Palais. + +For what reason had he come from Potsdam? + +He remained there till noon on the following day. When he emerged, +accompanied by Minckwitz, the pair went into the city, and we followed, +when, curiously enough, I came face to face with Von Pappenheim's +sister, who was apparently there for the same purpose as myself! Happily +she was too intent in her conversation with Minckwitz, whom she met as +though accidentally, to notice my presence. + +Then, at last, the musician raised his hat and left her, rejoining the +young man Brosch. + +The pair went to a bookshop in the Herschelstrasse, and presently, when +they came forth again, Brosch was carrying a good-sized volume wrapped +in brown paper. + +My curiosity was aroused, therefore I went into the shop, made a +purchase, and learned from the shopman that the younger of the pair had +purchased a well-known German reference-book, Professor Nebendahl's +"Dictionary of Classical Quotations." + +Strange that such a book should be purchased by an under-valet! + +Leaving the detective Hartwieg to watch, I took the next train back to +Potsdam, where I was fortunate enough to find the Emperor giving +audience to the Imperial Chancellor. At the conclusion of the audience I +sought, and was accorded, a private interview, at which I recalled His +Majesty's anxiety to ascertain something regarding the man Minckwitz. + +"Well--and have you found him?" asked the Emperor very eagerly. + +I replied in the affirmative. Then he told me something which held me +breathless, for, unlocking a drawer, he showed me an anonymous letter of +warning he had received, a letter which, posted in Paris, stated that an +attempt was to be made upon his life, and hinting that the Crown-Prince +might be aware of it. + +"Of course," he laughed, "I do not regard it seriously, but I thought we +ought to know the whereabouts of this man Minckwitz, who is probably an +anarchist." + +"Will Your Majesty leave the matter entirely in my hands?" I suggested. +"The police must not be informed." + +"It shall be as you wish. I give you authority to act just as you deem +best if you really anticipate danger." + +"I do anticipate it," I replied, and a few moments later bowed myself +out of the Imperial presence. + +During that day I idled about the Palace, gossiping with the officials +and _dames du palais_, awaiting the return of the young man Brosch. That +night he did not come back, but he arrived at the Palace about seven +o'clock on the following morning. The head valet was furious at his +absence, but the young man made a very plausible excuse that his sister +out at Lichtenberg was very dangerously ill. + +I had had no sleep that night, but as soon as I was informed of the +under-valet's return, I repaired to the Emperor's study and secreted +myself beneath a great damask-covered settee which runs along the wall +opposite the door. For nearly an hour I remained there, when the door +was opened stealthily and there entered the young man whom I had seen in +Hanover on the previous day. He carried a book in his hand. This he +swiftly exchanged for another similar book of the same appearance, and a +moment later crept out again, closing the door noiselessly. + +Quickly I came forth and took up the classical dictionary, a copy of +which was usually upon the Emperor's table. It presented just the same +appearance as the book that Brosch had taken away, only it was +considerably heavier. + +Without delay I dashed out, sought the Emperor's valet, and was admitted +to His Majesty's presence. + +Three minutes later we were both in the study. I took up the book and +held it to his ear. Just as I had heard, he could detect the faint +ticking of a watch within. + +The book had been hollowed out and a time bomb inserted! It was, no +doubt, set to explode between eight and nine o'clock, when the Emperor +would be at his desk. + +"Take it out quickly!" shrieked the Kaiser in terror, when he realized +the true import of the plot. + +In obedience, handling the book very carefully, I rushed with it +downstairs out into the open. I placed it on the grass some distance +away, while the Emperor followed me, utterly astounded at the discovery. + +Having deposited it, I dashed back to where the Emperor was standing +upon the steps, greatly to the surprise of the sentries, when hardly had +I reached him than there showed a blood-red flash, followed by a +terrific report and concussion--an explosion which, had it occurred in +the upstairs study, must have blown the Emperor's head off as he sat. + +His Majesty stood white and rigid, instantly realizing what a narrow +escape he had had, while the noise caused the greatest alarm, and +people began rushing hither and thither to ascertain the cause. + +In a few seconds His Majesty was calm again. + +"Say nothing of this, Heltzendorff," he said. "Let it remain a mystery. +Come upstairs and I will speak on the telephone to the police." + +"Your Majesty gave the matter unreservedly into my hands," I reminded +him. + +"Ah! that is so. I forgot," he exclaimed, and after thanking me he +added: "Take what steps you like, but have the offenders punished, and +also try to discover who sent me that anonymous warning." + +The young valet, who had been, no doubt, heavily bribed by Minckwitz to +substitute the book, had already disappeared, and, as a matter of fact, +has never been seen in Germany since. + +The man Minckwitz had also, it seemed, suddenly left Hanover on the +night of my departure, for Hartwieg, following him, reported to me by +wire that he was in Paris. + +Without delay I travelled to the French capital, saw my old friend +Pinaud of the Surete, and told him the whole story, explaining in +confidence that for some mysterious reason the Crown-Prince feared that +if the man were arrested he might reveal something unpleasant. + +"I quite understand," replied the French detective, with a smile. "I +know that, six months ago, while the Crown-Prince was in Paris, he was +one night enticed by a girl into the gaming-house kept by the notorious +Minckwitz. There a quarrel ensued, and the Crown-Prince, fearing attack, +drew his revolver, which went off and shot one of Minckwitz's +confederates stone dead. The Crown-Prince has ever since been paying big +sums to hush up the affair. Until recently Minckwitz conceived the idea +that if the Emperor died and the Crown-Prince came to the Throne it +would mean to him considerably more money each year. Therefore he +conceived that diabolical plot. I warned the Crown-Prince of it, and he +threatened to expose Minckwitz and have him arrested. Minckwitz, in +turn, threatened that if His Highness made the slightest movement to +thwart his plans he would expose to the world that the German +Crown-Prince, during his latest escapade in the Montmartre, had killed a +man. Finding this to be the case, I myself wrote that anonymous letter +of warning, which I addressed to the Emperor." + +"And which has had the effect of saving His Majesty's life," I remarked. + +That night Minckwitz found himself arrested upon a charge of +blackmailing a Portugese nobleman, and was later on sentenced to fifteen +years' imprisonment. + +In his solitary hours in prison he often wonders, I expect, why his +dastardly plot failed. Had it been successful, however, it certainly +would have had a great effect upon the future history of the world. + + + + +THE END + + +_Printed at The Chapel River Press, Kingston, Surrey._ + + + + +NOTE ADDED BY COUNT ERNST VON HELTZENDORFF: + +_I propose, with the assistance of my friend the Commendatore William Le +Queux, to issue in Great Britain a further instalment of my revelations +of "The Secrets of Potsdam" at an early date._ + + + + +_In the Press. Uniform with this volume._ + +FOR THE QUEEN + +By +E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM +Author of +"Those Other Days," "Mr. Wingrave, Millionaire." etc., etc. + +LONDON: +LONDON MAIL LTD. +39, KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C. + + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + +Both Hotel and Hotel appear and were not changed. + +Page 28: Umlaut added to three occurrences of "Fuerstenberg". + +Page 103: hyphen removed from "ear[-]rings". + +Page 106: "Leichtenstein" changed to "Liechtenstein" (Liechtenstein +Bridge). + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Secrets of Potsdam, by William Le Queux + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SECRETS OF POTSDAM *** + +***** This file should be named 34278.txt or 34278.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/2/7/34278/ + +Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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