The Maids of Paradise Part 27

"All I have to report, sir."

"Permit me to be the judge of how much you have to report," said Mornac. "Continue."

I was silent.

"Do you prefer that I draw out information by questions?" asked Mornac, looking up at me.

I was already in his net; I ought not to have placed myself in the position of concealing anything, yet I distrusted him and wished to avoid giving him a chance to misunderstand me. But now it was too late; if the error could be wiped out at all, the only way to erase it was by telling him everything and giving him his chance to misinterpret me if he desired it.

He listened very quietly while I told of my encounter with Buckhurst in Morsbronn, of our journey to Saverne, to Strasbourg, and finally my own arrival in Paris.

"Where is Buckhurst?" he asked.

"I do not know," I replied, doggedly.

"That is to say that you had him in your power within the French lines yet did not secure him?"

"Yes."

"Your orders were to arrest him?"

"Yes."

"And shoot him if he resisted?"

"Yes."

"But you let him go?"

"There was something more important to do than to arrest Buckhurst. I meant to find out what he had on hand in Paradise."

"So you disobeyed orders?"

"If you care to so interpret my action."

"Why did you not arrest the Countess de Va.s.sart?"

"I did; the Uhlans made me prisoner as I reported to you."

"I mean, why did you not arrest her after you left Morsbronn?"

"That would have prevented Buckhurst from going to Paradise."

"Your orders were to arrest the Countess?"

"Yes."

"Did you obey those orders?"

"No," I said, between my teeth.

"Why?"

"I had every reason to believe that an important conspiracy was being ripened somewhere near Paradise. I had every reason to believe that the robbery of the crown jewels might furnish funds for the plotters.

"The arrest of one man could not break up the conspiracy; I desired to trap the leaders; and to that end I deliberately liberated this man Buckhurst as a stool-pigeon. If my judgment has been at fault, I accept the blame."

Mornac's silver penknife closed. Presently he opened the blade again and tested the edge on his plump forefinger.

"I beg to call your attention to the fact," I continued, "that a word from Buckhurst to the provost at Morsbronn would have sent me before the squad of execution. In a way, I bought my freedom. But," I added, slowly, "I should never have bought it if the bargain by which I saved my own skin had been a betrayal of France. n.o.body wants to die; but in my profession we discount that. No man in my division is a physical coward. I purchased my freedom not only without detriment to France, but, on the contrary, to the advantage of France."

"At the expense of your honor," observed Mornac.

My ears were burning; I advanced a pace and looked Mornac straight between the eyes; but his eyes did not meet mine--they were fixed on his silver penknife.

"I did the best I could do in the line of duty," I said. "You ask me why I did not break my word and arrest Buckhurst after we left the German lines. And I answer you that I had given my word not to arrest him, in pursuance of my plan to use him further."

Mornac examined his carefully kept finger-tips in detail.

"You say he bribed you?"

"I said that he attempted to do so," I replied, sharply.

"With the diamonds?"

"Yes."

"You have them?"

"I deposited them as usual."

"Bring them."

Angry as I was, I saluted, wheeled, and hastened off to the safe deposit. The jewel-bag was delivered when I presented my printed slip; I picked it up and marched back, savagely biting my mustache and striving to control my increasing exasperation. Never before had I endured insolence from a superior officer.

Mornac was questioning Speed as I entered, and that young man, who has much self-control to learn, was already beginning to answer with disrespectful impatience, but my advent suspended matters, and Mornac took the bag of jewels from my hands and examined it. He seemed to be in no hurry to empty it; he lolled in his chair with an absent-minded expression like the expression of a cat who pretends to forget the mouse between her paws. Danger was written all over him; I squared my shoulders and studied him, braced for a shock.

The shock came almost immediately, for, without a word, he suddenly emptied the jewel-bag on the desk before him. The bag contained little pebbles wrapped in tissue-paper.

I heard Speed catch his breath sharply; I stared stupidly at the pebbles. Mornac made a careless, sweeping gesture, spreading the pebbles out before us with his restless, ringed fingers.

"Suppose you explain this farce?" he suggested, unmoved.

"Suppose _you_ explain it!" I stammered.

He raised his delicately arched eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that an hour ago that bag contained the diamonds from the crucifix of Louis XI! I mean that I handed them over to you on my arrival at this bureau!"