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The Lost Ambassador written by E. Phillips Oppenheim

E >> E. Phillips Oppenheim >> The Lost Ambassador




"Is that all?" he asked.

"That is all," I answered. "You will see that what makes your brother
anxious is that not only have you failed to keep your word so far as
regards communicating with him, but you have not made use of a certain
private code arranged between you."

"The business upon which I am engaged," Delora said calmly, "is of
great importance, but I do not care to be rushing all the time to the
telegraph office. Nicholas is a nervous person. In a case like this he
should be content to wait. However, since he has sought the
interference of outsiders, I will cable him to-morrow morning."

"Very well," I answered. "I can ask no more than that. I shall go
myself to the cable office and send my brother a message."

"What shall you tell him?" Delora asked.

"I shall tell him that I have seen you," I answered, "that you are
well, and that he will hear from you to-morrow morning."

"Why cable at all?" Delora asked. "Surely to-morrow morning will be
soon enough?"

"From your point of view, yes!" I said. "But there is one other thing
which I am going to do. I am going to say in my cable, that if the
news he receives from you to-morrow morning is not satisfactory, I
shall lay the matter before the Brazilian legation here, and I shall
explain why!"

Delora's eyes were like points of fire. Nevertheless, his
self-restraint was admirable. He contented himself, indeed, with a low
bow.

"You will tell our friends there," he said slowly, "that you have seen
me? That I am--you see I admit that--living practically in hiding,
apart from my niece? You will also, perhaps, inform them of various
other little episodes with which, owing to your unfortunate habit of
looking into other people's business, you have become acquainted?"

"Naturally," I answered.

"I think not!" Delora said.

There was an instant's silence. I looked at Delora and wondered what
he meant. He looked at me as a man looks at his enemy.

"May I ask how you intend to prevent me?" I inquired.

"Easily!" he answered, with a slight sneer. "There are four men in
this house who will obey my bidding. There are also five modes of
exit, two of which lead into the river."

"I congratulate you," I said, "upon the possession of such a unique
lodging-house."

Delora sighed.

"I can assure you," he said, "that it is more expensive than the
finest suite in the Milan. Still, what would you have? When one has
friends who are too curious, one must receive them in a fitting
lodging."

"You are a very brave man, Mr. Delora," I said.

"Indeed!" he answered dryly. "I should have thought that the bravery
had lain in another direction!"

I shook my head.

"I," I said, "am, I fear, a coward. Even when to-night I started out
to keep my appointment with you I had fears. I was so afraid," I
continued, "that I even went so far as to insure my safety."

"To insure your safety!" he repeated softly, like a man who repeats
words of whose significance he is not assured.

"I admit it," I answered. "It was cowardly, and, I am sure,
unnecessary. But I did it."

His face darkened with anger.

"You have brought an escort with you, perhaps?" he said. "You have the
police outside?"

I shook my head.

"Nothing so clumsy," I answered. "There is just my taxicab, which
won't go away unless it is I who says to go, and a little note I left
with the hall-porter of the Milan, to be opened in case I was not back
in an hour and a half. You see," I continued, apologetically, "my
nerve has been a little shaken lately, and I did not know the
neighborhood."

"You are discretion itself," Delora said. "Some day I will remember
this as a joke against you. Have you been reading Gaboriau, my young
friend, or his English disciples? This is your own city--London--the
most law-abiding place on God's earth."

"I know it," I answered, "and yet a place is so much what the people
who live in it may make it. I must confess that your five exits, two
on to the river, would have given me a little shiver if I had not
known for certain that I had made my visit to you safe."

Delora tried to smile. As a matter of fact, I could see that the man
was shaking with fury.

"You are a strange person, Captain Rotherby," he said. "If I had not
seen you bear yourself as a man of courage I should have been tempted
to congratulate your army upon its freedom from your active
services. You have no more to say to me?"

"Nothing more," I answered.

"To-morrow morning at eleven o'clock," Delora said, "you will be
arrested for the attempted murder of Stephen Tapilow."

"It is exceedingly kind of you," I answered, "to give me this
warning. I will make my arrangements accordingly."

"One thing," Delora said, "would change the course of Fate."

"That one thing," I remarked, "being that I should not send this
cablegram."

"Exactly!" Delora answered, "in which case you will find your banking
account the richer by ten thousand pounds."

I looked at him steadfastly.

"What manner of a swindle is this," I asked, "In which you, Louis,
poor Bartot, the Chinese ambassador, and Heaven knows how many more,
are concerned?"

"You are an ignorant person to use such words!" Delora replied.

"Tell me, at least," I begged, "whether your niece is implicated in
this?"

"Why do you ask?" Delora exclaimed.

"Because I want to marry her," I answered.

"Do nothing until the day after to-morrow, Captain Rotherby, and you
shall marry her and have a dowry of fifty thousand pounds, besides
what her Uncle Nicholas will leave her."

"You overwhelm me!" I answered, turning toward the door.

He made no movement to arrest my departure. Suddenly I turned towards
him. Why should I not give him the benefit of this one chance!

"Delora," I said, "from the moment when you disappeared from Charing
Cross I have had but one idea concerning you, and that is that you are
engaged in some nefarious if not criminal undertaking. I believe so at
this minute. On the other hand, there is, of course, the chance that
you may be, as you say, engaged in carrying out some enterprise,
political or otherwise, which necessitates these mysterious doings on
your part. I have no wish to be your enemy, or to interfere in any
legitimate operation. If you care to take me into your confidence you
will not find me unreasonable."

Delora bowed. I caught the gleam of his white teeth underneath his
black moustache. I knew that he had made up his mind to fight.

"Captain Rotherby," he said, "I am much obliged for your offer, but I
am not in need of allies. Send your cable as soon as you will. You
will only make a little mischief of which you will afterwards be
ashamed."

I shrugged my shoulders and turned away. No one came to let me out,
but I undid the bolts myself, and stepped into my taxicab with a
little breath of relief. Somehow or other I felt as though I had
escaped from a danger which I could not define, and yet which I had
felt with every breath I had drawn in that damp, unwholesome-looking
house!




CHAPTER XXXVI

AN ABORTIVE ATTEMPT


Immediately I arrived at my brother's hotel I rang up the hall-porter
of the Milan and informed him of my whereabouts. Afterwards Ralph and
I between us concocted a cable to Dicky, for which I was thankful that
I had not to pay. I had now taken Ralph into my entire confidence, and
I found that he took very much the same view of Delora's behavior as I
did. This is what we said,--

Have seen Delora. Behavior very mysterious. Is living apart from
niece in secrecy. Seen several times with Chinese ambassador.
Offered me large bribe refrain cabling you till Thursday. Fear
something wrong.

"Do you think that you could give me a bed here to-night, Ralph?" I
asked.

"By all means, old fellow," my brother answered. "To tell you the
truth, I think you are better here than at the Milan. You can have the
rooms you had the other night."

I had had a tiring day, and I dropped off to sleep almost as soon as
my head touched the pillow. I was awakened by the sound of the
telephone bell close to my head. I had no idea as to the time, but
from the silence everywhere I judged that I had been asleep for
several hours. I took up the receiver and held it to my ear.

"Hullo!" I exclaimed.

"Is that Captain Rotherby?" a familiar voice asked.

"Yes!" I said. "That's Ashley, isn't it?"

"Yes, sir!" the man answered. "I am on night duty here. Will you
excuse my asking you, sir, if you have lent your room to any one?"

"Certainly not!" I replied. "Why?"

"It's a very odd thing, sir," he continued. "A person arrived here
with a small bag a little time ago and presented your card,--said that
you had given him permission to sleep in your room. I let him go up,
but I didn't feel altogether comfortable about it, so I took the
liberty of ringing up Claridge's to see if you were there. I thought
that as you were here this evening, you would have told us if you had
proposed lending it."

"You are quite right, Ashley," I declared. "I have lent the room to no
one. You had better go and see who it is at once. Shall I come round?"

"I will ring you up again, sir," the man answered, "as soon as I have
been upstairs."

"By the bye," I asked, "he didn't look like a Frenchman, did he?"

"I could not say so," Ashley replied. "I will ring you up in a few
minutes. I shall go up and inquire into this myself."

I sat on the edge of the bed, waiting. In less than ten minutes the
telephone bell rang again. Once more I heard Ashley's voice.

"I am ringing up from your sitting-room, sir," he said. "There is no
one here at all, but the room has been opened. So far as I can see,
nothing has been taken, but a bottle of chloroform has been dropped
and broken upon the floor in your bedroom, and I have a strong idea
that some one left the room by the other door as I entered the
sitting-room."

"I'll come along at once, Ashley," I said,--"that is, as soon as I can
get dressed."

"I was wondering, sir," was the quiet reply, "whether I would advise
you to do so. I did not like the look of the man who came, and I am
afraid he was not up to any good here. He is somewhere in the hotel
now."

"You say that nothing has been disturbed?" I asked.

"Nothing at all, sir. It wasn't for robbery he came!"

"I think I can guess what he wanted, Ashley," said I. "Perhaps you are
right. I won't come round till the morning."

"If anything fresh happens, sir, I will let you know," the man
said. "Good night, sir!"

"Good night, Ashley!" I answered.

I got back into bed, but I did not immediately fall off to sleep
again. There was no doubt at all that my visitor had come at the
instigation of Delora, and that his object had been to prevent my
sending that cable, which was already on its way. I got up and saw
that my door was securely fastened. I am ashamed to confess that at
that moment I felt a tremor of fear! I no longer had the slightest
doubt that Delora, if not an impostor, was engaged in some great
criminal operation. And Felicia! I thought of the matter in every
way. It was impossible that Delora could be an impostor pure and
simple. Felicia was content to travel with him. She knew him for her
uncle. He must be her uncle, unless she herself had deceived me! I
felt my blood run cold at the thought. I flung it from me. I would
have no more of it. Felicia, at least, was above suspicion! Delora
had, perhaps, been led into this enterprise, whatever it might be, by
Louis and his friends. At any rate, the morrow was likely to clear
things up. I was the more convinced of that when I remembered that it
was one day's grace only that Delora had begged of me. I went off to
sleep again soon, and only woke when my brother's servant called me
for my bath. At half-past ten, after a consultation with my brother, I
drove to the Brazilian Embassy. I sent in my card, and asked to see
Mr. Lamartine. He came to me in a few minutes.

"Captain Rotherby!" he exclaimed, holding out his hand. "You have some
news?"

"I am not sure whether you will call it news," I answered. "I came to
see you about this man Delora."

"Sit down," Lamartine said. "I only wish that you had given me all
your confidence the other day."

"To tell you the truth, I am not sure whether I have any to give now,"
I answered. "There are just one or two facts which seem to me so
peculiar that I decided to look you up."

"I am very glad indeed to see you, Captain Rotherby," Lamartine
said. "Something is happening in connection with this person which I
am afraid may lead to very serious trouble. I know now more than I did
when I hung around you and Miss Delora at Charing Cross Station, and
in the course of the day I hope to know more."

"I should have washed my hands of the whole affair," I told him,
"before now, but from the fact that I have received a cable from my
brother, who is in Rio, concerning these very people. He had first of
all, in a letter, asked me to be civil and to look them up. His cable
begged me, on behalf of an elder brother out there, to look after
Delora, find out what he was doing, and report. I gathered that he was
over here on some special mission as to the progress of which he
should have made reports to his brother in Brazil. He has not done so,
nor has he used the private code agreed upon between those two."

"This is very interesting," Lamartine said,--"very interesting
indeed!"

"I came to you," I said, "because, since the receipt of this cable, I
have convinced myself that Delora is engaged in some sort of
underground work the crisis of which must be very close at hand. I
found him last night in a miserable, deserted sort of building down
near the river in Bermondsey. He offered me ten thousand pounds not to
reply to his brother's cable, I think that he would have done his best
to have detained me there but for the fact that I had taken
precautions before I started."

"Have you any idea," Lamartine asked, "what the nature of this
underground business is?"

"I cannot imagine," I answered. "In some way it seems to me that it is
connected with the Chinese ambassador, because I have seen them
several times together. That, however, is only surmise. I can give
you one more piece of information," I added, "and that is that the
Chinese ambassador and Delora have recently visited Newcastle."

Lamartine smiled.

"I know everything except one thing," he said, "and that we shall both
of us know before the day is out. Our friend Delora has played a great
game. Even now I cannot tell you whether he has played to win or to
lose. Since you have been so kind as to look me up, Captain
Rotherby," he went on, "let us spend a little time together. Do me,
for instance, the honor to lunch with me at the Milan at one o'clock."

"With Louis?" I asked grimly.

"I do not think that Louis will hurt us," Lamartine answered. "There
is just a chance, even, that we may not find him on duty to-day."

"I will lunch with you with pleasure," I said, "but there is one thing
which I must do first."

Lamartine looked at me narrowly.

"You want to see Miss Delora?" he asked.

It was foolish to be offended. I admitted the fact.

"Well," he said, "it is natural. Miss Delora is a very charming young
lady, and, so far as I know, she believes in her uncle. At the same
time, I am not sure, Captain Rotherby, that the neighborhood of the
Milan is very safe for you just now."

"At this hour of the morning," I said, "one should be able to protect
one's self."

"It is true," Lamartine answered. "Tell me, Captain Rotherby, at what
hour did you send that cable last night?"

"At midnight," I answered.

Lamartine glanced at the clock.

"Soon," he said, "we shall have an official cable here, and then
things will be interesting. Shall we meet, then, at the Milan?"

"Precisely," I answered. "You don't feel inclined," I added, "to be a
little more candid with me? My head has ached for a good many days
over this business."

"A few hours longer won't hurt you," Lamartine answered, laughing. "I
can promise you that it will be worth waiting for."




CHAPTER XXXVII

DELORA RETURNS


At a few minutes before twelve I entered the Milan by the Court
entrance, and received at once some astonishing news. Ashley, who came
out to meet me, drew me at once upon one side with a little gesture of
apology.

"Mr. Delora has returned, sir," he said.

For the moment I had forgotten the sensation which Delora's
non-arrival on that first evening had made, and which had always left
behind it a flavor of mystery. I could see from Ashley's face that he
was puzzled.

"Is Mr. Delora with his niece?" I asked.

"They have moved into Number 35, sir," Ashley told me. "Mr. Delora
complained very much of his rooms, said they were too small, and
threatened to move to Claridge's. Number 35 is the best suite we
have."

I stood, for a moment, thinking. Ashley, meanwhile, had retreated to
his place behind the counter. I approached him slowly.

"Ashley," I said, "ring up and tell Mr. Delora that I have called."

Ashley went at once to the telephone.

"Don't be surprised," I said, "if his reply isn't exactly polite. I
don't think he is very well pleased with me just now."

I strolled away for a few minutes to look into the cafe, where the
waiters were preparing for luncheon. There was no sign of Louis. When
I returned, Ashley leaned forward to me from the other side of the
desk.

"Mr. Delora wishes you to step up, sir," he said.

I was a little surprised, but I moved promptly to the lift.

"On the third floor, isn't it?" I asked.

"Exactly, sir," Ashley answered. "Shall I send a page with you?"

I shook my head.

"I can find it all right," I said.

My knock at the door was answered by a dark-faced valet. He ushered me
into a large and very handsome sitting-room. Felicia and Delora were
standing talking together near the mantelpiece. They both ceased at my
entrance, but I had an instinctive feeling that I had been the subject
of their conversation. Felicia greeted me timidly. There were signs of
tears in her face, and I felt that by some means or other this man had
been able to reassert his influence over her. Delora himself was a
changed being. He was dressed with the almost painful exactness of the
French man of fashion. His slight black imperial was trimmed to a
point, his moustache upturned with a distinctly foreign air. He wore a
wonderful pin in his carefully arranged tie, and a tiny piece of red
ribbon in his button-hole. The manicurist whom I had met in the
passage had evidently just left him, for as I entered he was regarding
his nails thoughtfully. He did not offer me his hand. He stared at me
instead with a certain restrained insolence.

"I should be glad to know, Captain Rotherby," he said calmly, "to what
I owe this intrusion?"

"I am sorry that you look upon it in that light, sir," I answered. "My
visit, as a matter of fact, was intended for your niece."

She took a step towards me, but Delora's outstretched arm barred her
progress.

"My niece is very much honored," he answered, "but her friends and her
acquaintances are mine. You were so good as to render me some service
on our arrival at Charing Cross a few days ago, but you have since
then presumed upon that service to an unwarrantable extent."

"I am sorry that you should think so," I answered.

"I did not know," Delora continued, "that the young men of your
country had time enough to spare to devote themselves to other
people's business in the way that you have done. I came to this
country upon a peculiar and complicated mission, intrusted to me by my
own government. The chief condition of success was that it should be
performed in secrecy. You were only a chance acquaintance, and how on
earth you should have had the impertinence to associate yourself with
my doings I cannot imagine! But the fact remains that you made my task
more difficult, and, in fact, at one time seriously endangered its
success. Not only that," Delora continued, "but you have chosen to
ally yourself with those whose object it has been to wreck my
undertaking. Yet, with the full knowledge of these things, you have
had the supreme impudence to force your company upon my niece,--even,
I understand, to pay her your addresses!"

"The dowry of fifty thousand pounds," I began,--

He stretched out his hand with a commanding air.

"We will not allude to that, sir," he declared. "I was forced to make
an attempt to bribe you, I admit, but it was under very difficult
circumstances. As it is, I am only thankful that you declined my
offer. I have arranged matters so that your cable shall do me no
harm. It has precipitated matters by twenty-four hours, but that is no
one's loss and my gain. When I heard your name sent up I could
scarcely believe my ears, but since you are here, since you have
ventured to pay this call, I wish to inform you, on behalf of my niece
and myself, that we consider your further acquaintance undesirable in
the extreme."

The man's deportment was magnificent. But for the fact that I had long
ago lost all faith in him I should have felt, without the shadow of a
doubt, that I had made a supreme fool of myself. But as it was, my
faith was only shaken. The hideous possibility that I had made a
mistake was there like a shadow, but I could not accept it as a
certainty.

"Mr. Delora," I said, "from one point of view I am very glad to hear
you speak like this. If I have been mistaken in supposing that your
extraordinary behavior in London--"

"But what the devil has my extraordinary behavior got to do with you?"
Delora demanded, with the first note of anger in his tone which he had
shown.

"My interest was for your niece, sir," I answered.

"My niece does not require your protection or your interest," Delora
answered. "It seems to me that you have chosen a queer way to return
the hospitality which it was our pleasure to extend to your brother in
Brazil. I have still a busy morning, sir, and I have seen you for
this one reason only: to have you clearly understand that we--my niece
and I--do not find your further acquaintance desirable."

She made another little movement towards me, and by doing so came into
the light. I saw that her eyes were red with weeping, and
notwithstanding an angry exclamation from Delora she held out her
hands to me.

"Capitaine Rotherby," she said, "I believe, I do, indeed, that you
have acted out of kindness to me. My uncle, as you see, is very angry.
What he has said has not been from my heart, but from his. Yet, as you
know, I must obey!"

I raised her fingers to my lips, and I smiled into her face.

"Felicia," I said, "do not be afraid. This is not the end!"

Delora turned to the servant whom he had summoned.

"Show this gentleman out, Francois," he said coldly.

* * * * *

Lamartine was a few minutes late. He drove up in a large motor-car
with an elderly gentleman, who remained inside, and with whom he
talked for a few minutes earnestly before he joined me.

"You forgive me?" he asked, as he handed his hat and stick to an
attendant. "The chief kept me talking. He brought me down here
himself."

I nodded.

"It is of no consequence," I said. "I have some news for you."

"Nothing," Lamartine declared, passing his arm through mine, "will
surprise me."

"Delora is here," I said, "with his niece!"

Lamartine stopped short.

"Under his own name?" he asked. "Do you mean that he has thrown off
all disguise? That he is here as Maurice Delora?"

"I never knew his Christian name," I answered, "but he is here as
Delora, right enough. He has taken the largest suite in the Court, and
for the last quarter of an hour he has been dressing me down in great
shape."

"He is magnificent!" Lamartine said softly, "If he can keep it up for
twenty-four hours longer, he who has been a beggar practically for ten
years will be worth a great fortune!"

"So that," I remarked, "was the stake!"

"A worthy one, is it not so, my friend?" Lamartine declared.

"Does he win?" I asked.

"Heaven knows!" Lamartine answered. "Even now I cannot tell
you. Unless something turns up, I should say that it was very likely."

We entered the cafe. When Louis saw us arrive together he stood for a
moment motionless upon the floor. His eyes seemed to question us with
swift and fierce curiosity. Had we arrived together? Was this a chance
meeting? How much was either in the other's confidence? These things
and many others he seemed to ask. Then he came slowly towards us. A
ray of sunshine, streaming through the glass roof of the courtyard and
reflected through the window, lay across the floor of the cafe. As
Louis passed over it I saw a change in the man. Always colorless, his
white cheeks were graven now with deep, cob-webbed lines. His eyes
seemed to have receded into his head. His manner lacked that touch of
graceful and not unbecoming confidence which one had grown to admire.

"What can I do for you, messieurs?" he asked, with a little bow. "A
table for two--yes? This way."

We followed him to a small table in the best part of the room.

"Monsieur had good sport in the country?" he asked me.

"Excellent, Louis!" I answered. "How are things in town?"