The World Masters Read online

  CHAPTER XIV

  Sophie opened the door in answer to her father's murmured "entrez,"and closed it very gently behind her. She had not noticed Chrysie asshe slipped into her own room, for her back was towards her, and,happily, she had no suspicion whatever of the conclusions whichChrysie's love-sharpened eyes had enabled her to reach. If she had,some skilfully-devised accident would probably have happened. Forthough but two people among the guests at Orrel Court knew it, therewere spies both inside and around the great house, unscrupulous agentsof an unscrupulous government, who would have carried out their ordersat all hazards. In fact, they had been brought there by CountValdemar, at his daughter's suggestion, to assist in working out themost daring conspiracy that had ever been hatched at an Englishcountry house.

  "Well, papa," said Sophie, in her soft Russian, as she took acigarette, and dropped into an easy-chair with a motion that wasalmost voluptuous in its gracefulness, "now that these good peoplehave gone to bed, we shall be able to have a little quiet talk. Areyou still of opinion that the scheme that I sketched out is feasible?"

  "Everything is feasible, my dear Sophie," replied her father,"provided only you have people of sufficient genius and boldness tocarry it out. No doubt it would be possible with our own people, andthose of the English sailors whom we have been able to bribe, to carryout that brilliant plan of yours, especially as you appear to havewrought such a magical transformation in the allegiance of thisimpressionable young engineer of yours on the _Nadine_. Are youquite sure of him?"

  "Sure of him!" said Sophie, in a voice that was little above awhisper, and leaning forward and looking at her father with a smilewhich made even him think her beauty almost repulsive for the moment."Edward Williams is as much in love as Boris Bernovitch was, andis--although he is where he is. I have promised, as usual. He hasbelieved me, as usual, just like any other fool of his sex. Day afterday I have met him and talked with him in what he calls my adorableforeign English. I have given him rendezvous which would have startledmy Lord Orrel and all his belongings out of that abominable, habitualcalm of theirs, and perhaps procured me a request to leave the houseimmediately. I have fooled him out of his seven senses, and to-night Ihave performed the supreme sacrifice for Russia, and let him kiss me."

  The cruelly smiling lips changed into an expression of contemptuousdisgust as she said this, and the count replied, coldly:

  "Not a pleasant duty, Sophie; but for Holy Russia her servants must doeverything. That, as I have tried to teach you almost as soon as youcould speak, is our duty, almost our religion. Our fortune, our lives,our everything must be devoted to the emperor and to Holy Russia--soonnow, I hope, to be mistress of the world. You as a woman, and abeautiful woman, have your weapons; I as a man, and a diplomatist,have mine. It is your duty to use yours with as little scruple as Iuse mine.

  "And so you really think," he went on, after a little pause, "that itwill be possible to capture the _Nadine_, with all her noble andgallant company on board, and compel her to join our Russianexpedition to Boothia Land. Certainly, it would be a brillianttriumph if we could. We should have all the heads of the great Trustat our mercy--Lord Orrel, his son, and this most objectionablystraightforward Clifford Vandel, who, it would appear, has so vastlyimproved upon the original scheme. Then we should have the womankindtoo--Lady Olive, Miss Vandel, and the beautiful marquise herself,always dangerous power that might work against us. By the way,Sophie, has it struck you that the young viscount is wavering in hisallegiance to the fair American under the influence of the beautifuldaughter of the Condes?"

  "As well ask me whether I am a woman, father," she replied, with alow, wicked-sounding laugh. "Have I no eyes in my head? Did not thisfair American interfere with my plan for securing the noble Shafto toourselves by making him fall in love with her before I saw him, andhave I not done everything, all the thousand and one little thingsthat a woman can do, to help my dear friend the marquise to theattainment of her very evident desires? In other words, have Iforgotten the lessons that you have been teaching me since you beganto train me to think myself not a girl with a heart and a soul, andliving blood in her veins, but only a human machine, fair to lookupon, animated by a brain which knows no other duty than the serviceof our Holy Russia? You know that if I had loved this man myself itwould have been just the same. I should have done exactly as I havedone,--at least, I believe so."

  "Ah," laughed the count, softly, "that is the problem, my dear Sophie;and that, I tell you frankly, has always been my fear for you. You areyoung, brilliant, and beautiful; and I've always been a little afraidthat out of some of all your admirers whom your smiles have brought toyour feet there might be one whom you might love; and when a womanloves she pities, and pity and diplomacy have as much to do with eachother as charity and business. Still, I am not without hopes that someday you will meet some worthy son of Russia; and remember, my Sophie,that, if we succeed in this, if we place the control of the elixirvitae of the world in the hand of Russia, you might look even near thethrone itself."

  "And I most certainly should," said Sophie, throwing her head back. "Itell you frankly, papa, I'm not doing all this for nothing. I am notforgetting that I am a woman, with all a woman's natural feelings andinspirations, all her possible loves and hopes and pities, only forthe sake of serving even Russia. If I succeed I shall have my reward,and it shall be a splendid one."

  "And you will have well deserved it," said the count, looking withsomething more than fatherly pride on the beautiful daughter who hadlearnt the lessons of what he was pleased to call diplomacy so well."Still, I cannot disguise from myself that this last scheme of yoursis, to say the least of it, a desperate one; for it amounts to nothingless than a kidnapping of one of the best-known noblemen and statesmenin England, his son and daughter, one of the wealthiest and best-knownAmerican financiers in the world and his daughter; to say nothing ofone of the Ministers of the Tsar and his daughter. I need hardlyremind you, of course, that the failure of such a venture would neverbe forgiven in Petersburg. I need not tell you that the Little Fathernever pardons mistakes, and, besides, my dear Sophie, have you quitesatisfied yourself that such a very extreme measure is absolutelynecessary?"

  "My dear papa," said Sophie, getting up from her chair, and raisingher voice ever so little, "in the first place, there will be--therecan be no mistake about it; and, in the second place, I assure youthat it is absolutely necessary if Russia is to have undisputedcontrol of the Storage Works. You see, the outside world knowsabsolutely nothing about these works. There have been all sorts ofstories circulated about them, but no one who has actually seen themhas said or written a word about them. In fact, as far as we know,only two men have been there and come back--Viscount Branston and MrVandel; Dr Lamson is there still. How do we know what means of defencethey've got? They might be able even now, from what Victor Fargeau andGeneral Ducros told us, to demagnetise our ships, stop our enginesfrom working and our guns from shooting; or, on the other hand, whatwould be almost as bad, this Lamson might blow up the works andshatter every plan we've got--perhaps ruin all prospects of theinvasion, too, unless we have some means of persuading him not to usehis power. What better means could we have than the possession of theheads of the concern?

  "I have heard hints, too, that he is not without hopes of winning thefair Lady Olive some day, when he becomes one of the masters of theworld. Granted now that it is within our power to do what we pleasewith all of them, or, if you like to put it diplomatically, with theheads of this gigantic conspiracy against the peace and security ofthe world, and plot to destroy the independence of the nations and thefreedom of humanity, for it is nothing else, should we not bejustified in using any and every means--yes," she went on, her voicehardening, "even to the very last means of all, to snatch thistremendous power out of the hands of these sordid English andAmericans and give it into those of Holy Russia. It is kidnapping,piracy, invasion of friendly territory--everything, I grant you, thatis criminal under the law of nations; but remember it is
also astruggle for the command of the life-force of the world--which meanspractically the control of the world itself and all that therein is."

  "And," said the count, smiling, "I suppose you would say that, asthese people are our natural enemies, with whom we shall very soon beat war--'a la guerre comme a la guerre'--I suppose you mean that whenwe have got the _Nadine_ and her noble company we shall use themas hostages to prevent any accidents happening to our little Polarexpedition. Really, my dear Sophie, your methods have suddenly becomealmost mediaeval; still, if they are only successful, they will be nonethe less effective for that. Let me see now," he went on, leaning backin his chair and putting the tips of his fingers together, "I wonderif I can find any flaw in the arrangements. You know, it is quiteessential, my dear Sophie, that there should not be any."

  "My dear papa," she replied, smiling, and leaning her back against theold carved mantelpiece, "try, by all means. If you cannot find one, Idon't think there can be much chance of its being anything butpractically perfect."

  "Very well," said the count, lighting a fresh cigarette. "In two orthree days' time, when the regattas are over, the house-party at OrrelCourt will break up, and a few days after that, say a week in all, LordOrrel, with his son and daughter, and the American and his daughter,and Ma'm'selle la Marquise as Lady Olive's guest, are taking a tripacross the Atlantic in the _Nadine_, partly in the course of businessand partly on pleasure bent; Madame de Bourbon and her maids return toParis; the _Vlodoya_ puts into Southampton the day the _Nadine_ sails,to take us on our trip to the Mediterranean. Your good friend thelieutenant has informed you that, although the _Nadine_ can make twentyknots on an emergency, she will only take a leisurely summer tripacross the Atlantic to Boston, at about twelve or fifteen. He has givenyou a chart of the course which she will take. He has also promised youthat at a certain spot in mid-Atlantic there shall be a little accidentto her engines which enable the _Vlodoya_ to overtake her. The_Vlodoya_, commanded and well manned by good servants of the empire,with a couple of three-pounders and a Maxim in case of accident, willoverhaul her and give her the alternative of surrender or sinking. Thatis where the piracy will begin, I suppose."

  Sophie nodded, and, laughing, replied in English: "Yes, right there--asour American beauty, as Lord Hardress thinks her, would say. The_Nadine_ is unarmed, and, of course, resistance will be useless; infact, it would simply be the merest folly. His lordship will accept usand a portion of the _Vlodoya's_ crew as self-invited guests; we shallthen steam away together, not to Boston, but to the rendezvous with ourlittle expedition, and once we join forces--well, the thing ispractically done."

  "I agree so far," said her father; "still, there are one or twoaccidents that we have not yet taken into account. Suppose, forinstance, one of these detestable British cruisers, which seem to beeverywhere, should happen to be there just then; or that even one ofthe big liners should come in sight at the critical moment. It seemsto me that, for the present at least, secrecy is above all thingsessential, for if the news of--well, such an outrage, did get back toEurope, you know perfectly well that Russia would of necessity disownus, and that we and all on board the _Vlodoya_ would simply betreated as common pirates."

  "So I suppose," said Sophie, coolly; "but I have provided for that,because the day and place of rendezvous have been arranged so as toavoid the possibility of meeting any of the regular liners, and I havebeen careful to ascertain that no British warship will just then beunder orders to cross the Atlantic, either from the North Americanstation or from England. As for the piracy, I don't think we needtrouble ourselves about that. Before many weeks France must forestallGermany's attack; Russia will, as we say, maintain the attitude ofbenevolent neutrality until she hears that we have got the works, thenshe will demand the surrender of the British concessions in Chinawhich conflict with her interests, and there will be war, and ouractions, however drastic, will become legal under the law of war. Infact, my dear papa, as far as I can see, there is really only onepossibility that I have not reckoned with, and that, as far as I cansee, is an impossibility."

  "And what is that? It is just as well we should see them all."

  "It is the possibility that these English or Americans--you know howquick they are at all practical methods, pig-headed and all as they areat diplomacy--have, by some means or other, guessed that the French andRussian Polar expeditions have started at rather a suspicious time; Imean just when the Storage Works--these wonderful works, which are tolight the world by electricity for a few pence an hour, and give usdisplays of the _Aurora borealis_, just as we have fireworks at publicfetes, and all the rest of it--have been completed. Now that, if youlike, would be dangerous; for in such delicate work as ours successdepends on surprise. Still, as I say, it is hardly possible."

  "Practically impossible, I should agree with you, my dear Sophie,"said the count, making the greatest mistake of his diplomatic career;"practically impossible. What do they know? What can they suspect?"

  "Unless--unless," said Sophie, suddenly, clenching her hands, "ourgood friend Adelaide de Conde, who, I tell you, papa, is in love withShafto Hardress, if woman ever was in love with man, unless she hashinted at the real meaning of these expeditions. Yes; that is a dangerwhich, I admit, I have not counted."

  "Yes, yes; I think I see what you mean," replied the count; "she is aFrenchwoman, but her only interest in the destiny of France consistsin the restoration of the House of Bourbon to power; still, being aFrenchwoman, and in love, as you believe, she would also do anythingfor the sake of the man she loves, even to the ruin of her own hopes.Finally, being on this supposition the rival of Miss Vandel, she wouldstop at nothing to prove her devotion to him; and, if she did as yousuggest, Sophie, it would be a very formidable condition of affairsindeed."

  "Then, papa," she replied, coming and laying her hand on his shoulder,"do you not see that that is all the greater reason why this scheme ofours must be carried through? You see that Adelaide de Conde mayherself become a source of the greatest danger; but when we have notonly her, but Miss Vandel and the man they are both in love with, aswell as the two papas and Lady Olive, completely in our power, when,for example, we could land them all on one of those driftingice-floes, to float away to somewhere where no one but the seals andbears would know what had become of them, the game would be in ourhands to play as we please."

  "My dear Sophie," said the count, laying his hand upon hers, "I amdelighted to see that you have the courage of your convictions. Andnow, it is very late, or, rather, early, and I think you may as wellgo to bed and dream of success, for you have convinced me that failureis, to all intents and purposes, impossible."

  As Sophie Valdemar stole quietly away to bed Clifford Vandel wasfinishing a long cable dispatch in cipher to Doctor Lamson, giving hima complete account, so far as he knew, of all that had been takingplace in Europe during the last few weeks, and concluding with thewords: "I have good reason to believe that the supposed French andRussian Polar expeditions, which will be in your latitude in a fewweeks, are really intended for the capture or destruction of theStorage Works; so take every possible precaution against attack orsurprise."