The Conquest of America Part 25

As we drove through East Franklin Street I was startled to see a German flag flying over the honoured home of Robert E. Lee and a German sentry on guard before the door. I was told that prominent citizens of Richmond were held here as hostages, among these being Governor Richard Evelyn Byrd, John K. Branch, Oliver J. Sands, William H. White, Bishop R. A.

Gibson, Bishop O'Connell, Samuel Cohen and Mayor Jacob Umlauf who, in spite of his German descent, had proved himself a loyal American.

I finished the afternoon at a Red Cross bazaar held in the large auditorium on Gary Street under the patronage of Mrs. Norman B. Randolph, Mrs. B. B. Valentine, Miss Jane Rutherford and other prominent Richmond ladies. I made several purchases, including a cane made from a plank of Libby prison and a stone paper weight from Edgar Allan Poe's boyhood home on Fifth Street.

Leaving the bazaar, I turned aimlessly into a quiet shaded avenue and was wondering what progress Ryerson might be making with his investigations, when I suddenly saw the man himself on the other side of the way, talking earnestly with a young woman of striking beauty and of foreign appearance. She might have been a Russian or an Austrian.

There was something in this unexpected meeting that filled me with a vague alarm. Who was this woman? Why was Ryerson spending time with her that was needed for our urgent business? I felt indignant at this lack of seriousness on his part and, un.o.bserved, I followed the couple as they climbed a hill leading to a little park overlooking the river, where they seated themselves on a bench and continued their conversation.

Presently I pa.s.sed so close to them that Ryerson could not fail to see me and, pausing at a short distance, I looked back at him. He immediately excused himself to his fair companion and joined me. He was evidently annoyed.

"Wait here," he whispered. "I'll be back."

With that he rejoined the lady and immediately escorted her down the hill. It was fully an hour before he returned and I saw he had regained his composure.

"I suppose you are wondering who that lady was?" he began lightly.

"Well, yes, just a little. Is she the woman you told me about--the countess?"

"No, no! But she's a very remarkable person," he explained. "She is known in every capital of Europe. They say the German government pays her fifty thousand dollars a year."

"She's quite a beauty," said I.

He looked at me sharply. "I suppose she is, but that's not the point.

She's at the head of the German secret service work in America. She knows all about Edison."

"Oh!"

"She has told me where he is. That's why we came up here. Do you see that building?"

I followed his gesture across the valley and on a hill opposite saw a ma.s.sive brick structure with many small windows, and around it a high white painted wall.

"Well?"

"That's the state penitentiary. Edison is there in the cell that was once occupied by Aaron Burr--you remember--when he was tried for treason?"

All this was said in so straightforward a manner that I felt ashamed of my doubts and congratulated my friend warmly on his zeal and success.

"Just the same, you didn't like it when you saw me with that woman--did you?" he laughed.

I acknowledged my uneasiness and, as we walked back to the hotel, spoke earnestly with Ryerson about the grave responsibility that rested upon us, upon me equally with him. I begged him to justify his sister's faith and love and to rise now with all his might to this supreme duty and opportunity.

He seemed moved by my words and a.s.sured me that he would do the right thing, but when I pressed him to outline our immediate course of action, he became evasive and irritable and declared that he was tired and needed a night's rest before going into these details.

As I left him at the door of his bedroom I noticed a bulky and strongly corded package on the table and asked what it was, whereupon, in a flash of anger, he burst into a tirade of reproach, saying that I did not trust him and was prying into his personal affairs, all of which increased my suspicions.

"I must insist on knowing what is in that package," I said quietly. "You needn't tell me now, because you're not yourself, but in the morning we will take up this whole affair. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," he answered sullenly.

Here was a bad situation, and for hours I did not sleep, asking myself if I had made a ghastly mistake in trusting Ryerson. Was his sister's sacrifice to be in vain? Was the man a traitor still, in spite of everything?

Towards three o'clock I fell into fear-haunted dreams, but was presently awakened by a quick knocking at my door and, opening, I came face to face with my companion, who stood there fully dressed.

"For G.o.d's sake let me come in." He looked about the room nervously.

"Have you anything to drink?"

I produced a flask of Scotch whiskey and he filled half a gla.s.s and gulped it down. Then he drew a ma.s.sive iron key from his pocket and threw it on the bed.

"Whatever happens, keep that. Don't let me have it."

I picked up the key and looked at it curiously. It was about four inches long and very heavy.

"Why don't you want me to let you have it?"

"Because it unlocks a door that would lead me to--h.e.l.l," he cried fiercely. Then he reached for the flask.

"No, no! You've had enough," I said, and drew the bottle out of his reach. "Randolph, you know I'm your friend, don't you? Look at me! Now what's the matter? What door are you talking about?"

"The door to a wing of the prison where Edison is."

"You said he was in Aaron Burr's cell."

"He's been moved to another part of the building. That woman arranged it."

"Why?"

He looked at me in a silence of shame, then he forced himself to speak.

"So I could carry out my orders"

"Orders? Not--not German orders?"

He nodded stolidly.

"I'm under her orders--it's the same thing. I can't help it. I can't stand against her."

"Then she _is_ the countess?"

He bowed his head slowly.

"Yes. I meant to play fair. I would have played fair, but--the Germans put this woman on our trail when we left Chicago--they mistrusted something and--" with a gesture of despair, "she found me in Pittsburg--she--she's got me. I don't care for anything in the world but that woman."

"Randolph!"

"It's true. I don't want to live--without her. You needn't c.o.c.k up your eyes like that. I'd go back to her now--yes, by G.o.d, I'd do this thing now, if I could."

He had worked himself into a frenzy of rage and pain, and I sat still until he grew calm again.