The Coming Conquest of England Part 38

"Be a.s.sured that harmless private correspondence will not be abused. But I must claim the absolute right to convince myself of the correctness of your a.s.sertions by examining them."

The merchant could see that there was no chance of getting out of it, and, visibly excited, handed the little roll over to Heideck.

The Major took it, without examining the contents more closely at once.

"You definitely a.s.sure me, Herr Amelungen, that you have nothing else referring to this matter?"

"Nothing! I give you my word, Herr major."

Heideck got up.

"I charge you not to attempt to leave the town or in any other way evade the German authorities. You will guarantee this not only as regards yourself, but also as regards your wife; and you will further promise me to break off at once all relations with the persons involved in this espionage affair, unless at our order, or in agreement with us."

Eberhard Amelungen, whose powers of resistance seemed completely broken in this painful hour, nodded a.s.sent.

"I promise both, Herr major!"

Heideck, having left a criminal official with instructions to keep watch, repaired without delay to the office of Lieutenant-Colonel Nollenberg, head of the intelligence department for Antwerp. He informed him of the result of his conversation and examined the confiscated papers in his presence.

A large number were letters from the Countess Clementine a.r.s.elaarts to Frau Beatrix Amelungen, and their contents were harmless, with the exception of a few expressions advising watchfulness and despatch.

But in a special envelope, sealed several times, there was a sheet of paper, covered with close writing, which could not be read offhand, since the letters were apparently jumbled together quite arbitrarily and irregularly.

"A cipher!" said Heideck. "But we shall soon get to the bottom of it.

You have some capable interpreters at your disposal, and it might be a good thing if they set to work at once."

He continued his examination, and suddenly the blood rushed to his face, for in his hands he held a letter, the handwriting of which he recognised at the first glance as Edith's. Its contents were as follows:--

"DEAR BEATRICE,--As you see, I am again in England. You know that I have returned a widow, and you can believe that my experiences have been terrible. Your brother met an honourable death at Lah.o.r.e; with the utmost difficulty I myself succeeded in getting away from India under the protection of Attorney-General Kennedy and his family. I should have to fill a book if I were to tell you all the horrors of our journey.

But this is not the proper time to complain of the melancholy lot of an individual. We are all strangers and pilgrims on earth, and must bear the cross that is laid upon us.

"The immediate reason of my writing to-day is that I want your opinion on a certain matter. When I arrived at my parents' house, I heard that uncle G.o.dfrey had died on the 16th of April. I do not know whether you have already heard of this, as regular communication with the Continent is interrupted. My uncle G.o.dfrey has left a will, dividing his property equally between you as his niece and my deceased husband. His property was larger than my husband thought. After division, both you and my husband would have had a yearly income of 5,000 pounds. Now your brother has died without having disposed of his property. But my lawyer tells me that, as his sole heiress, I can claim his share of the inheritance. To arrange about this I have come here to Dover; for I found that I could only get the letter forwarded to Antwerp with the a.s.sistance of Admiral Hollway, who is charged with the protection of our coast. To my surprise the Admiral informed me that your name was known to him, and he willingly undertook to forward this letter to you. Now please consent to uncle G.o.dfrey's property being divided between you and me. I do not believe you will have any objection, but I consider it a duty to obtain your definite consent. I shall be glad to hear from you that you are well.

"Yours truly,

"EDITH IRWIN.

"P.S.--In India I made the acquaintance of a German officer who rendered me great service during the terrible times of the war and saved my life more than once. He travelled with the Kennedys and myself on the Caledonia to Naples. From there he went on to Berlin, while we continued our voyage on a man-of-war through the Straits of Gibraltar to Southampton. This officer is a Captain Heideck of the Prussian General Staff. I should be thankful to you if you would find out where he is at present. I am very anxious to know his address. For a time I am staying in Dover. Letters addressed to Mrs. Jones, 7, St. Paul's Street, will reach me."

The perusal of this letter revived a crowd of painful recollections in Heideck's mind. He never doubted for a moment that the postscript, in which his name occurred, explained Edith's real object in writing. All the rest was certainly a mere pretext; for he knew how indifferent Edith was in regard to money matters, and was convinced that she was in no such hurry about the settlement of the inheritance as might have been thought from her letter.

The Lieutenant-Colonel approached him at this moment.

"It has taken less time to decipher the doc.u.ment than I had ventured to hope," said he. "I have telegraphed at once to the police at Schleswig to arrest the writer, one Brodersen, without delay. Please convince yourself what sort of friends we have amongst the Danes."

Heideck read as follows:--

"In the harbour of Kiel, the larger warships are the battleships Oldenburg, Baden, Wurttemberg, Bayern, Sachsen; the large cruisers Kaiser, Deutschland, Konig Wilhelm; the small cruisers Gazelle, Prinzess Wilhelm, Irene, Komet, and Meteor, with the torpedo division boats D 5 and D 6 with their divisions. In addition, there are about 100 large and small steamers of the North-German Lloyd, the Hamburg-America Line, the Stettin Company, and others. All the large steamers are equipped with quick-firing cannon and machine-guns; the small, only with machine-guns.

In the neighbourhood of Kiel there are 50,000 infantry and artillery from Hanover, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and the province of Saxony, with only two regiments of hussars. My friends' opinions differ as to the plans of the German Government. Possibly ships of the line will proceed through the Kaiser Wilhelm Ca.n.a.l and make a combined attack with the Russian fleet on the British near Copenhagen.

"It is most probable that the fleet of transports will take on board the army collected at Kiel and convey it through the Kaiser Wilhelm Ca.n.a.l into the North Sea, where the German battleships now at Antwerp will join the French squadrons from Cherbourg. An attempt would then be made, under cover of the warships, to land the German army and the French troops from Boulogne at Dover, or some place near on the English coast.

"I acknowledge the receipt of 10,000 francs from Mynheer van Spranekhuizen, but must ask you to send a further sum twice that amount.

My agents are risking their lives, and will not work for less."

"You, too, my dear Brodersen, have risked your life," said the Lieutenant-Colonel seriously. "I should not like to give much for it at the present moment."

"These notes are very instructive," observed Heideck. "If we strengthen Admiral Hollway in the belief that we intend to land the German troops in England from Antwerp and not from Kiel, our fleet of transports at Kiel will be able to cross the North Sea all the more safely and effect the landing in Scotland."

XXVIII

THE FATE OF A SPY

Colonel Mercier-Milon reported from Brussels that he had arrested Countess a.r.s.elaarts and thought he had made a valuable capture. The Countess was deeply in debt and lived very extravagantly. A little time ago she had been a.s.sisted financially by an exalted personage, who had left the country. Since then her resources had become exhausted, and it was supposed that she had acted as a spy for the English at a high salary. He added that he was on the point of discovering a widespread network of espionage in France and Belgium.

Herr van Spranekhuizen and Hinnerk Brodersen of Schleswig had also been arrested the same morning.

"I wish we had trustworthy information as to the strength of the British fleet," said the Lieutenant-Colonel, who had communicated the above report to Heideck. "Sometimes I am really inclined to believe that this fleet is not so effective as all the world has. .h.i.therto a.s.sumed. It is almost impossible for outsiders to get a clear insight into the condition of the English navy. So far as I can remember, false reports are systematically published about the fleet--officially, semi-officially, and privately. From time to time a speaker is put up in Parliament by the Government to deliver a violent attack on the naval administration. He is contradicted by a representative of the Admiralty, and dust is again thrown in the eyes of the world. On one of Queen Victoria's last birthdays a powerful squadron, as it was called, was a.s.sembled for review off Spithead. But no foreigner was allowed a close inspection of these imposing fleets, and I am greatly inclined to think that it was another case of the famous movable villages, which Potemkin showed the Russian Empress on her journey to the Crimea. Official statements give the number of English warships as more than four hundred, not including torpedo-boats, but amongst them is a large number of obsolete and inefficient vessels."

Heideck nodded.

"If the English fleet were really so efficient as is believed, it would be difficult to understand why it has not attempted any decisive action up till now."

"That is also my view. The Copenhagen fleet would have attacked Kiel harbour long ago. It was said that it was to hold the Russian fleet in check. But that would be superfluous to start with, as long as the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland were blocked with ice and the Russian squadrons were unable to move. This way of making war reminds me forcibly of the state of things in the Crimean War, when a powerful English fleet set out with a great flourish of trumpets against Cronstadt and St.

Petersburg, but did nothing except bombard Bomarsund, a place n.o.body cared about. The English Press had great difficulty in excusing the fiasco of its world-renowned fleet."

Returning to the previous subject of conversation, Heideck said to the Lieutenant-Colonel: "I don't think we need trouble ourselves any more about the communications of Countess a.r.s.elaarts and Messrs. Amelungen and Co. The court-martial may settle with them. I attach incomparably greater importance to skipper Brandelaar, whom I hold in my hand, and through whom--perhaps with the help of Camille Penurot--I hope to obtain information about the British fleet and its proposed employment.

Brandelaar's vessel should now be off Ternenzen. I will ask you, Herr Lieutenant-Colonel, to have the man and his crew arrested to-day."

"But how does that agree with your intention of using him as a spy in our interest?"

"I forgot to tell you that it is an agreement between Brandelaar and myself. He himself thought it necessary for his own safety; he was afraid of the crew. Of course it will only be a sham examination, and the man must be released as soon as possible, on the ground of insufficient evidence, so that he can return to England to-morrow."

The Lieutenant-Colonel promised to do as the Major desired.

The same evening Heideck met Penurot by arrangement at a tavern.

"Our business is somewhat complicated," said Heideck. "There must be some more people working for your father, hitherto unknown to us."

"Why do you think that, Herr major?"

"Your father had some letters from Admiral Hollway, which were not brought by Brandelaar."