In the Fog Read online

at once to his Chief. The Chief, he said, was very busy, andcould not see me. So I showed him my silver greyhound. In eleven years Ihad never used it but once before. I stated in pretty vigorous languagethat I was a Queen's Messenger, and that if the Chief of Police did notsee me instantly he would lose his official head. At that the fellowjumped off his high horse and ran with me to his Chief,--a smart youngchap, a colonel in the army, and a very intelligent man.

  "I explained that I had been robbed in a French railway carriage of adiamond necklace belonging to the Queen of England, which her Majestywas sending as a present to the Czarina of Russia. I pointed out to himthat if he succeeded in capturing the thief he would be made for life,and would receive the gratitude of three great powers.

  12 Threw everything in the dressing-case out on the floor]

  "He wasn't the sort that thinks second thoughts are best. He saw Russianand French decorations sprouting all over his chest, and he hit a bell,and pressed buttons, and yelled out orders like the captain of a pennysteamer in a fog. He sent her description to all the city gates, andordered all cabmen and railway porters to search all trains leavingMarseilles. He ordered all passengers on outgoing vessels to beexamined, and telegraphed the proprietors of every hotel and pension tosend him a complete list of their guests within the hour. While I wasstanding there he must have given at least a hundred orders, and sentout enough commissaires, sergeants de ville, gendarmes, bicycle police,and plain-clothes Johnnies to have captured the entire German army.When they had gone he assured me that the woman was as good as arrestedalready. Indeed, officially, she was arrested; for she had no morechance of escape from Marseilles than from the Chateau D'If.

  "He told me to return to my hotel and possess my soul in peace. Withinan hour he assured me he would acquaint me with her arrest.

  "I thanked him, and complimented him on his energy, and left him. But Ididn't share in his confidence. I felt that she was a very clever woman,and a match for any and all of us. It was all very well for him to bejubilant. He had not lost the diamonds, and had everything to gain if hefound them; while I, even if he did recover the necklace, would onlybe where I was before I lost them, and if he did not recover it I was aruined man. It was an awful facer for me. I had always prided myself onmy record. In eleven years I had never mislaid an envelope, nor missedtaking the first train. And now I had failed in the most importantmission that had ever been intrusted to me. And it wasn't a thing thatcould be hushed up, either. It was too conspicuous, too spectacular. Itwas sure to invite the widest notoriety. I saw myself ridiculed all overthe Continent, and perhaps dismissed, even suspected of having taken thething myself.

  "I was walking in front of a lighted cafe, and I felt so sick andmiserable that I stopped for a pick-me-up. Then I considered that if Itook one drink I would probably, in my present state of mind, not wantto stop under twenty, and I decided I had better leave it alone. Butmy nerves were jumping like a frightened rabbit, and I felt I musthave something to quiet them, or I would go crazy. I reached for mycigarette-case, but a cigarette seemed hardly adequate, so I put it backagain and took out this cigar-case, in which I keep only the strongestand blackest cigars. I opened it and stuck in my fingers, but insteadof a cigar they touched on a thin leather envelope. My heart stoodperfectly still. I did not dare to look, but I dug my finger nails intothe leather and I felt layers of thin paper, then a layer of cotton, andthen they scratched on the facets of the Czarina's diamonds!

  "I stumbled as though I had been hit in the face, and fell back into oneof the chairs on the sidewalk. I tore off the wrappings and spread outthe diamonds on the cafe table; I could not believe they were real. Itwisted the necklace between my fingers and crushed it between my palmsand tossed it up in the air. I believe I almost kissed it. The womenin the cafe stood tip on the chairs to see better, and laughed andscreamed, and the people crowded so close around me that the waitershad to form a bodyguard. The proprietor thought there was a fight, andcalled for the police. I was so happy I didn't care. I laughed, too, andgave the proprietor a five-pound note, and told him to stand every onea drink. Then I tumbled into a fiacre and galloped off to my friend theChief of Police. I felt very sorry for him. He had been so happy at thechance I gave him, and he was sure to be disappointed when he learned Ihad sent him off on a false alarm.

  "But now that I had found the necklace, I did not want him to find thewoman. Indeed, I was most anxious that she should get clear away, forif she were caught the truth would come out, and I was likely to get asharp reprimand, and sure to be laughed at.

  "I could see now how it had happened. In my haste to hide the diamondswhen the woman was hustled into the carriage, I had shoved the cigarsinto the satchel, and the diamonds into the pocket of my coat. Now thatI had the diamonds safe again, it seemed a very natural mistake. But Idoubted if the Foreign Office would think so. I was afraid it might notappreciate the beautiful simplicity of my secret hiding-place. So, whenI reached the police station, and found that the woman was still atlarge, I was more than relieved.

  "As I expected, the Chief was extremely chagrined when he learned of mymistake, and that there was nothing for him to do. But I was feeling sohappy myself that I hated to have any one else miserable, so I suggestedthat this attempt to steal the Czarina's necklace might be only thefirst of a series of such attempts by an unscrupulous gang, and that Imight still be in danger.

  "I winked at the Chief and the Chief smiled at me, and we went to Nicetogether in a saloon car with a guard of twelve carabineers and twelveplain-clothes men, and the Chief and I drank champagne all the way.We marched together up to the hotel where the Russian Ambassador wasstopping, closely surrounded by our escort of carabineers, and deliveredthe necklace with the most profound ceremony. The old Ambassador wasimmensely impressed, and when we hinted that already I had been made theobject of an attack by robbers, he assured us that his Imperial Majestywould not prove ungrateful.

  "I wrote a swinging personal letter about the invaluable services ofthe Chief to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, and they gave himenough Russian and French medals to satisfy even a French soldier. So,though he never caught the woman, he received his just reward."

  The Queen's Messenger paused and surveyed the faces of those about himin some embarrassment.

  "But the worst of it is," he added, "that the story must have got about;for, while the Princess obtained nothing from me but a cigar-case andfive excellent cigars, a few weeks after the coronation the Czar sentme a gold cigar-case with his monogram in diamonds. And I don't know yetwhether that was a coincidence, or whether the Czar wanted me to knowthat he knew that I had been carrying the Czarina's diamonds in mypigskin cigar-case. What do you fellows think?"