The Traitors Part 7

"I have found your father," he said, "and your carriage is waiting. I thought that if Reist would excuse me for half-an-hour----"

Reist interrupted him at once.

"You must not go away," he declared, earnestly. "Not for five minutes.

Believe me it is necessary."

"My dear fellow----" Ughtred protested.

"Is it possible," Reist exclaimed, with some impatience, "that you do not recognize the great misfortune of this evening? I was wrong to allow you to come--to be seen in London with you. Prince Alexis is more than an ordinary amba.s.sador. He is a born diplomatist, a true Russian--he is one of the clique who to-day rule the country. With Ha.s.sen's aid he has, without a doubt, surmised the purport of my visit to you. By this time he is hard at work. Let me tell you that if he can prevent it you will never set foot in Theos. There must be no more delay. Come!"

Sarah held out her hand. Her eyes met his frankly.

"The Duke of Reist must be obeyed," she said. "I am sure that he is right. Good-bye, Prince Ughtred! You are very fortunate, for you have a great and n.o.ble work before you. May you succeed in it. I shall hope and pray for your success."

A little abruptly she turned away and took her father's arm. The two men watched them disappear--the little grey-headed man with his ill-cut clothes, and hard, shrewd face, and the tall, graceful girl, whose toilette was irreproachable, and whose carriage and bearing moved even Reist to admiration. They pa.s.sed down the carpeted way and through the swing-doors. Then Reist touched his companion on the arm.

"It is half-past eleven," he said. "We are going to catch the twelve o'clock train from Charing Cross."

CHAPTER VIII

The whistle sounded at last, the train began to glide slowly away from the almost deserted platform. But at the last moment a man came running through the booking-office, and made for one of the compartments. He tugged at the handle, wrenched it open, and was preparing for a flying leap when an inspector seized him. There was an altercation, a violent struggle--the man was left upon the platform.

Reist drew a long breath of relief as he settled down in his corner.

"The way these things are managed in England," he said, "it is excellent."

Ughtred shrugged his shoulders. Reist had been dumb for the last half-hour, and he was puzzled.

"Will you tell me now," he asked, "the meaning of it all?"

"The meaning of it all is--Ha.s.sen!" Reist answered. "How long have you known him?"

"We fought together in Abyssinia," Ughtred answered, "and I found him always a capital soldier and a pleasant companion."

"Did you ever ask him where he learnt his soldiering?"

"Once--yes!"

"Did he tell you?"

"I do not think that he did. He told me frankly enough that he had no past--that it was not to be referred to. There were others like that in the campaign, men who had secrets to bury, men who sought forgetfulness, even that forgetfulness which a bullet brings. We were a strange company enough. But the fighting was good."

"And since then you have met him again in England?"

"I met him at a little fencing-academy six months ago, and since then we have fenced together continually. But for your recognition of him I should have written him down as harmless."

A spot of colour burned in Reist's cheek. He ground his heel into the mat.

"Harmless! He! A Turk! A Russian spy! A double-dealing rogue. Sword in hand I have chased him through the Kurdistan valley all one night, and if I had caught him then Russia would have lost a tool and the Sultan a traitorous soldier. He holds still, although an absentee, a high command in the Turkish army, and all the while he is in the pay of Russia. Prince Alexis knows of my mission to you by now, and if we reach Theos we are lucky, for I do not think that a Tyrnaus upon the throne of Theos would suit Russia at all."

"I may seem stupid," Ughtred said, seriously, "but it is necessary that I should understand these things. Why should Russia object so much to my reinstatement upon the throne of my fathers? Surely of all the nations of Europe one would expect from her the least sympathy with a democratic form of government."

"Russia is above all sympathies or antipathies," Reist answered, bitterly. "She is the most self-centred, the most absolutely selfish nation on earth. The present state of turmoil in Theos is owing largely to the efforts of Muscovite secret agents. Russia desires a weak Theos. She wants to stand behind the government and pull the strings. It is she whom we have most to fear now."

Ughtred lit a cigar and leaned back in his corner. He was still in his evening clothes, and he looked doubtfully at the window-panes streaming with rain.

"Neither Russia nor her agents can interfere with us on neutral soil,"

he remarked. "I wish, Reist, that you had let me send for my bag. I shall be a very dilapidated object by the time we reach the frontier."

"My wardrobe," Reist answered, "is at your service immediately we are upon the boat. I am smaller than you, but I have some things which may be useful. Now I will tell you something which will help to explain my haste. When first I saw Ha.s.sen and Prince Alexis together I understood that we must change our plans, and I sent for your bag. Your rooms were then being watched front and back. My servant bribed a postman to go to your door and ask for you. He discovered that a gentleman was already in your rooms waiting for you. They are very much in earnest, these people, my Prince. It will need all our wit to reach Theos."

"We will reach it, though," Ughtred said, softly. "We are on our guard, and there can be no means of forcibly detaining us. In a quarter of an hour we shall be at Dover."

Reist nodded. He was examining the chambers of a revolver which he had drawn from the pocket of a loose ulster.

"Let us remember," he said, "to avoid all strangers and to speak to no one unless compelled. We know nothing of Theos. We are returning to Budapesth, and, Prince Ughtred, there is a revolver in the pocket of your coat also, not for use but for show. We must not be led into a disturbance with any one. Mind, it is the policy of every one to detain us if once the object of our journey is known. In Germany we shall not be safe, in Austria every moment will be perilous. But once across the frontier nothing will avail. I had news from Theos this morning. The people are on fire for your coming."

The train slackened speed. The lights of Dover flashed out on either side. They drew up at the town station and waited there for some minutes. Reist let down the window and addressed a porter.

"Why do we not go on to the harbour?" he asked. "We are already late."

"There is a special coming in just behind you, sir," the man answered.

"We shall send you both along together."

Reist thanked him and turned to Ughtred with a little laugh.

"So we are to have a travelling companion," he remarked, dryly. "Our friends are not to be caught asleep. We must watch for the occupant of this special train. We shall know then against whom we have to be upon our guard."

They moved slowly on again. Behind them was an engine and a single carriage. Reist let down both windows, and a fresh salt wind blew in upon their faces. In a few moments they were at the landing-stage.

Reist leaped lightly out, and Ughtred followed him. Opposite was the gangway leading to the steamer, through which a little crowd of pa.s.sengers were already elbowing their way. They lingered on its outskirts and watched the single carriage drawn by the second engine.

It drew up within a few feet of them, and a tall, fair young man handed out his portmanteau to one of the porters and leisurely descended on to the platform. Ughtred recognized him with a little exclamation of surprise.

"Why, it's Brand!"

He would have moved forward but for Reist's restraining arm.

"Wait! Who is he?"

"A newspaper man," Ughtred answered. "An honest fellow and a friend. I will answer for him."

"He was at your rooms with Ha.s.sen," Reist said, quickly. "I would trust no one whom I had seen with that man. Let him pa.s.s. We will follow him on board."

But it was too late. Brand possessed the quick, searching gaze of a journalist, and already, with a little start of surprise, he had recognized them.