An Imperial Marriage Part 58

"Murder. I want you here at once."

"Are you out of your mind? There's no such charge----"

I heard no more, for the door was flung open, and two men in police uniform rushed in and dragged me violently away from the telephone, as Hagar followed.

"That is the man. I charge him with the murder of my father," she cried.

Too late I saw the trap into which I had walked. "These are not the police," I protested to her. "I have telephoned to Herr Feldermann.

This is a trap. They are von Felsen's----"

"We'll show you if we're not the police," cried one of them as he slipped a pair of handcuffs on my wrists. "No more talking here"; and he whipped out a revolver and ordered me to hold my tongue and go with them. "Bring her on to the station to make the charge there," he added to a third man who had entered.

I shouted a last protest to Hagar, but a hand was clapped over my mouth and I was hurried out of the house toward a carriage which was waiting at a few yards' distance.

At that moment a motor car came slowly along the street and pa.s.sed me as I walked between the two men in uniform.

I called out and this drew the eyes of the occupants upon me.

One was von Felsen, who leered at me in triumph; and by his side sat Althea, pale and distressed at seeing me thus handcuffed in the hands of the police.

As she fell back, burying her face in her hands, the chauffeur quickened the speed of the car and it whisked round a corner just as I was bundled into the carriage.

CHAPTER XXVIII

DRAGEN AGAIN

I had made a pretty mess of things, and now that it was too late I began to appreciate what a fool I had been.

Von Felsen had outplayed me at every point, and chance and my own folly had helped him to score a complete victory.

The charge of murder was the merest bluff, and he had imposed upon Hagar for the purpose very cleverly. He had probably found Althea unexpectedly resolute not to yield to his wishes without some actual proof of my arrest, and had then vamped the charge, through Hagar, and planned that Althea should see me in the hands of men in police uniform.

He had calculated that, relying upon my ability to clear myself of the charge in Hagar's eyes, I should go at once to her to get her a.s.sistance in tracking Althea; and I had walked straight into the trap.

I had of course been closely shadowed, and as soon as I had reached Hagar's house, he had been informed, and had brought Althea in the car to be a witness of the arrest.

With one cunning stroke he had thus got rid of me, had convinced Althea of my arrest, and probably freed himself from the embarra.s.sment of Hagar at the same time. I did not doubt that the men he had taken to her house would see that she gave no sort of trouble.

These thoughts flashed through my mind in the few seconds after I was in the carriage, together with some exceedingly disquieting speculations on my own plight. It was about as bad as it could be, but I was not going to give up all hope without an effort.

The men thrust me into a corner of the back seat, and one of them held a revolver close to my head, threatening to fire if I made any trouble.

But this did not scare me as badly as they thought. I knew they would not dare to shoot me in the street. Their own safety would be endangered, and the risk was too great for them to run it except in the last resort.

I affected to be very frightened, however, and waited for a chance to try and attract attention and bring help. The opportunity came as the carriage had to stop when crossing one of the main streets.

With a sudden kick I broke the gla.s.s of the window near me and gave a yell for help. The fellow opposite seized my legs while his companion thrust his hand over my mouth. But I wrestled violently, and in the midst of the struggle a policeman's head appeared at the window of the carriage.

"What's the matter there?" he asked.

"I think you'd better get in and give us a hand," answered one of my guards very coolly. "He's a lunatic; just cut his wife's throat."

The man's coolness and his uniform had the effect of quieting all suspicion. "All right. Strap his legs and gag him, why don't you?

Don't let him make that racket."

I got my head free then. "I am an Englishman, these are not----" I began when I was silenced again.

"He's been yelling that all the time," was the reply, with an oath and a laugh. "I wish you'd lend a hand. We don't want to hurt him."

"I can't come. Drive on there," he told the coachman; and on we went.

As soon as the policeman's face disappeared from the window, the fellow at my side flung me heavily back into the corner of the carriage, and together they fastened a large handkerchief over my mouth, one of them twisting his fingers into it so tightly behind my head that I was powerless to open my lips. And he held me in this fashion for nearly all the rest of the drive.

Further resistance was now out of the question. I had made my effort and it had failed, and all I could do was to keep still and wait with such resignation as I could summon for what was to come to me.

If I escaped with my life, I should have reason to be thankful. I had already had ample proof that the men whom von Felsen employed were quite capable of going to any extreme. My life had been attempted more than once; and at the time of the previous abduction, when I had not been nearly so dangerous to him as now, I had only escaped death by the narrowest of margins.

Yet it was not for myself that I was mainly afraid now. Von Felsen had so planned things that Althea had been persuaded of my arrest; and I could not doubt for an instant that she would at once agree to do anything he demanded. That night she would certainly consent to the marriage; and the thought was like the sear of a hot iron on a nerve.

Compared with the agony of that dread, nothing else seemed to matter. I would cheerfully have given my life to have saved her from such a fate; but even if I lost my life now, I should be powerless to help her.

Maddened by this reflection, I made another and desperate struggle with my captors. Wrenching myself free from the gag which held me like a vice, I fought and kicked and writhed, yelling for help at the top of my lungs all the while in a furious effort to escape.

But it was useless. Both were strong men, and they overpowered me and forced me down, this time on to the floor of the carriage, and held me there until we stopped. One point only did I gain by the effort. One of the handcuffs came unfastened and could not be relocked on my wrist.

But this did not help me much. One of the brutes seized my arms and held them behind my back, and twisted them till I thought the very sinews would break.

I did not give in until my strength was utterly exhausted and my head reeled dizzily; and in this condition, with no power left for resistance, I was hauled out and carried rapidly into a house.

There I was gagged again, my arms and legs were tied, and I was flung down on the floor of an empty room, the door of which was locked upon me.

Bruised and sore from head to foot although I was, and aching in every muscle of my body, I thought nothing of my hurts. I was on fire with impotent rage and belated repentance for my stupidity. Only an hour or two before I had had the upper hand. There was apparently nothing to prevent my gaining a complete victory. If I had only gone straight to Feldermann or Herr Borsen, von Felsen would now have been grovelling at my feet begging for mercy.

What a credulous fool I had been to believe for an instant that that ridiculous charge of murder had really been made! What would I not have given to have been able to set the clock back for those few hours!

Gnashing my teeth at my idiotic blundering, I pa.s.sed hours of torture.

I was left alone, except that now and again the door was opened and some one came in with a lantern to see that I was still securely fastened.

I abandoned all hope, and each time I heard the key turned in the lock, I made up my mind that some one was coming to take my life. I grew utterly reckless also, and slowly a fresh thought began to take shape in my mind.

Save my life I could not, but if a chance came I would at least send one of the scoundrels who had taken a hand in the business to his last account. It was just a wild impulse to have revenge; but I hugged it close to my heart until it became my one cherished object, the one thing I could do before they took my life.

That thirst for revenge, that l.u.s.t for blood, if you like, put strength into me, gave tone to my nerves and purpose to my thoughts when all else in that hour of black despair had failed.