An Imperial Marriage.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 50, 27 February 1909, Page 17

An Imperial Marriage.

By Arthur W. Marchmont Author of "By Right of Sword," "When I -was Czar." etc.

CHAPTER XV. BARO* YON BINGHEIM. ■Baron Yon Bingheim had been sitting o id^H e lu a^y and *3l after, Mr Bastable," said Althea and a tthis he advanced toward thrall of astonJJ ent caused by my recognition, and Ir the expression of mingled pain, l Tin and surprise on Althea's face enablfid mc to take his hand and mumblo some formal reply. He did not appear to notice anything strange in my conduct, however. 'Tbave to return you many thanks, sir, . T the assistance which you have rendered to my daughter. She has told mc ion- you have helped her, and I beg you to believe that I am sincerely grateful." He said this with an air of great dignity of patronage, indeed; almost as U, in opinion, the opportunity of helpW a daughter of his was something upon which I might well congratulate myI murmured some sort of reply about having done very little. "I would not have you belittle your services, Herr Bastable," he continued in the same indulgent tone. "I and Althea —for she is entirely with mc in expressing this sentiment —are your debtors, distinctly your debtors. Our family is one of the oldest and highest in the Empire, and, although at the present time we are the subjects of cruel persecution, and have suffered egregious uTongs and abominable robbery, it shall never* be said that we are deficient in gratitude." This long and curious speech gave mc time to recover myself, while the look of growing embarrassment and concern with which Althea regarded him ■while he was making it recalled to my memory what she had said of him on a former occasion.

"I beg you to say no more," I replied. "That is the modesty of an English gentleman, and I appreciate it," he answered with another elaborate flourish and bow. "I have heard of you, Herr Bastable, and was assured that I ehoulil find a welcome here. For that also we thank votu"

"My father can remain to-night?" ask* ed Althea, as a sort of aside.

He heard this, however. "To be frank with you, (HerT Bastable, I am in a sligh' difficulty for the moment. It is some time since I was in Berlin; as a matter of fact I am not supposed to be allowed to come here at all, and if my presence were discovered it might lead to very serious embarrassment. I shall therefare appreciate it very highly if you wii' permit mc to ask your hospitality for a while."

"I shall esteem it an honour, Baron." "Again I beg to assure you that I am extremely grateful."

I Lad still great difficulty in suppressing the signs of infinite amazement that this could possibly be the same man ■whom I had seen in the company of the two rnfflans in the old Jew's house.

"You look very tired and worried, Mr BastaMe." said Althea. "Bessie haa very kindly geen to a room being prepared for ay father."

"I am -worn out, and shall ask the Btion to excuse mc"; and we bowed •gr&vely to one another. "But there is i question I should wish to put befor; nfciriag—who wae it who spoke so highly of mc as to induce you to put this confidence in mc to-night?" "I knew that my daughter was here, Herr Baetahle. The information came from a highly confidential source. But I tree absolutely sure of you." A glance of appeal from Althea accompanied this courteously worded roundabout refusal to tell mc anything more, k> I bade them good-night and went away.

I was indeed so fatigued that even this strange development, with all the awkward and indeed perilous complications it threatened, could not keep mc awake I slept soundly for many hours, and did not awake until late in the morning. Over my breakfast Bessie gave mc her Tiews of the Baron.

'Bβ is a very strange old gentleman, PauL His room is next to mine, you know; and I heard him moving about very early, hours before I got up. And when I saw him afterwards he had forgotten who I was, and spoke to mc as if I were a servant. What do you make of him!"

"I am probably more puzzled than yon ere, Bess."

"How did he come here? Did Althea t*il hi™ o f US 7"

I don t think so. Has she erer said anything to you about him?" Has she said anything to you? She M to mc, but I don't know whether she meant mc to tell you." "About the effect of his troubles upon ™n. you mean?"

"Yes," she nodded rather eaeerlv "I luppose he is harmless." "Oh, yes," I eaid, with a smile. "Hell to all right in that respect. You needn't Dβ scared.

He has a loaded revolver. He left it 2*£ 'I PUW - EIIe * ww nearly feghtened out of her life when ehe retched mc to see it." "Where is it?" Zt iitt?\ WaS r6ally ver 7 Heha <* «™ tle ba ß of hiß witt him and—" What little bag? Did he bring any Inggage with him then?" S J ■Nothing, except the little leather bag. one of t h aP ° logised t0 US ' takin *? ™ *«• one of the servants, as I told you and !3Si ?7 the thin * ™™t?°aS np a ste S SUre " wa *-*nd mad. hav Ul he was to s [ll T hlm just for P ractice . and to L we were not to say anything did y Ou do?" I asked with a

deeW n V allgh . ing mtter > PauL Ellen stepfhe^ ?> C " a * Stay » the house if he ?JL? iL But what did y° u d °?" I tnUv o, * we took his money tefrLvi? *? some thing. You need not ten e di nor Ellen either." So far 5 br tr See K, hiS brain haS been affecte[ L a 563S 63 and and is and bohS H?™ ? di gentleman ZZ somet hmg else; and I'll see that

when his is something else, he will not be able to do any harm." "Poor Althea is in an awful state about it all. She almost broke down this morning- when speaking- to mc about It, and you know what wonderful strength she has. She believes that he will be arrested here, that some one has betrayed us, and that he has been sent here merely to get us all into trouble. She intends to take him away somewhere today. I think."

"Well, it is a bit of a mix up, Bess, and that's the truth; but I'll find a way to straighten things out. You talk to Ellen and put her right, and If you can't, I'll see her. In the meantime, I'll go and talk things over with Althea and her father. I waa A oo tired last night." j "Althea wants to see you. She told mc

"All right. I'll go up to her room as soon as I have thought matters over." It was of course quite on the cards that Althea's guess at the reason for her father's coming to my house was the right one, and it was certainly a disquieting suggestion. I remembered Feldermann's hints about my connection with the Polish party and the questions put to mc on the previous night by the police. If we were found harbouring a man who was held to be so dangeroue as the Baron, the consequences to Althea and to us all might be really serious.

As to his object in Berlin at such a time, I myself could make a pretty fair guess. Ziegler had more than once sugguested that a stroke of some sort was to be attempted soon, and the mysterious hints dropped to mc that day in the club by the Polish journalist prompted the exceedingly disquieting thought that the attempt might take the form of some kind of violence.

That Baron yon Eingheim was in league with the more desperate section of the party was shown plainly by his being with two of them on the previous night at the Jew's house on a mission of violence. Yet be had obviously gone to the house to attempt to prevent violence.

His protests had proved as much.

So far as I could judge, he had gone there to investigate some charges of treachery which had been made against the murdered man; and that yon Felsen had intentionally started those suspicions and had in some way been instrumental in sending the men to the house. 1 was convinced. But why send such a man as the Baron? Did he know that he -Was actually in Berlin? —and then a light seemed to break in upon everything.

It must have been through yon Felsen that the news bf Althea's whereabouts had been conveyed to her father, and he had deliberately contrived that he should arrive at a moment when the murder had just been committed—apparently by Ziegler's associates. The moment of all others when the Baron would be in the greatest need of shelter.

But one of the most perplexing parts of the puzzle still remained to be solved. What was the precise character of the relationship between the Baron and the rest of this Polieh party? Althea had suggested that although formerly he had been a real power among them, in later years his authority and influence had ceased.

There had been ample ground in the conduct of the two men toward him on the preceding night to confirm this, but 1 must satisfy myself completely on the point. I was ready, for Althea's sake, to run the risk of harbouring him; but I was certainly not going to allow him to use the house for the furtherance of any schemes of his party, whether violent or not.

I went upstairs, resolved to find this out from himself. I was fortunate to find him alone in his room. I could talk more plainly to him alone than when Althea was present.

He had the little bag of which my sister had spoken, and he gave a little start of surprise and hurriedly shut and locked it. I think he was ratfier offended at the abrupt manner in which I entered the room, and with much the same outward show of old-fashioned courtesy which he had displayed on the previous night there was a nervous restlessness which was fresh.

He greeted mc with a bow and words of thanks, and for a moment we played at just being guest and host- But 1 kept my eyes fixed steadily on him all the time, and lie began to grow exceedingly uncomfortable under the scrutiny, and at length found himself quite unable to meet my eyes. " You must excuse mc now, Heir Bastable," he said at length; and hugging his bag as if it contained all he had in the ■world, he made as if to leave the room. For a second or two I did not reply, but just etared hard at him and then very pointedly at the bag. " I must first ask you one or two questions, Baron yon Ringheim." I dropjjjed the courteous tone, and put a spice of sharpness into my tone. He noticed it at once, and drew himself up, but could not meet my eyes. "1 dont understand by what right you adopt that tone, sir." "And you will please to answer mc quite frankly. Nothing else will satisfy mc, or meet the needs of the case." " This is quite extraordinary." I pointed out the bag. "You have a revolver there. Why?" " I decline to be questioned in this tone by you ox any one, sir. I am under an obligation to you for what you have done for my daughter and now for myself, but this gives you no right " " I take the right, Baron. In the first place, believe that I am wishful to be your friend in every sense of the term, and you may safely give mc your fullest confidence. Your daughter will have told you that, I am sure." " My private affairs " " Are precisely those which I am determined to know, Baron," I broke in pretty I felt that I must dominate him. " This is as much for your own sake as for your daughters. Now, please, an answer." But he would not answer, and made an attempt to avoid doing so by a show of anger. " Tell mc, then, the object of your presence in Berlin?" I said next. " This is insufferable conduct, sir. Insufferable," he cried. I should have hit him harder if 1 was to do anything with him. " Tell mc then what you were doing at the house of Herr Ziegler just after he had been assassinated last night?" The effect was instantaneous. He turaed very white, stared at mc for a second, and began to tremble violently. "What do you mean?" he faltered after a pause. "I war. there and saw you, Baron." He clasped his hands to lis face aud fell back into a chair.

please, thai . l speak only as a friend. I declare to you on my honour that I have no motive but to Help you. But I must be told everything. Put yourself unreservedly into ' my haends, and. I can and "will ea.ve you; 4mfc there must be no half measures. I repeat, you must tell mc everything." ~Fot a long time Bie was unable to speak a word, and I made no attempt to iorce matters. I wished Mm to recover some measure of self-control. "I had nothing to do with that—that deed," he said presently, speaking in a &low, broken tone. "I know that. I know that the man was dead before you arrived; but your cwnpanians came prepared to do it, and but for my presence there would have been a, second murder." "So, no, no," ihe protested. I "I know what I say to be true, Baron; just as I am convinced that you wont there to protest against any violence at all." "Ah, you know that. Yes, that ds true. I swear that," he cried eagerly. "I should have prevented it. My authority as ]ea3er would have prevented it. Would to Heaven I had be«n in time!" "You ihave great influence with youx associates, fchen?" "I am the leader of the whole movement. 3»ly word is absolute." The declaration was made with a singular mixture of pride and eimplaness. It was obvious that he believed it. "You think those men last night would have obeyed youf" "They would not (have dared to dieobey," foe replied in the Bame tone. "1 went there to inquire into a cha-rge of treachery against Ziegler —that he had betrayed some of our plane to an Englishman- Why, it was to you, oi course." (He eaid this -with a. lnue start as if ihe had just recalled it. "I was called to Berlin on that very matter." r began to see -light now. Althea was right in one re&pect—his mind was 60 affected, and his memory so clouded that consecutive reasoning was impossible. He was not responsible for either words or deeds. But fchere was more behind. Some one was using him as a stalking horse for very sinister purposes. "You arrived dn the capital yesterday, and were to come to tzhe house of a man believed to be about to betray your schemes?" "Yes," he said simply, almost pathetically. "Can you think of any reason, for that?" "No. I didn't understand it. I forgot until this moment, indeed, that you were the suspected Englishman." It was obviously useless to question him any more about 'that, "'Now, aa to this other purpose —the bigger plan of your associates?" / "You know that too?" "Have I not proved to you that I know things? But I am not a traitor, Baron." He smiled childishly. He had become almost like a. child indeed, now. "It win be a grand stroke against the Government. We shall destroy the vessel, of course; but there will be no loss of life. I will not sanction the taking of live 3, Herr Bastable." So this was the scheme. To blow up one of the Kaiser's warships. I repressed all signs of astonishment, and tried to look as if I had expected the reply. ""But you cannot avoid loss of life, Barocn." H proved a very fortunate remark. With a very cunning smile he looked up and nodded his head knowingly. "I s>haJl not allow it to be done until I am sure of that. I keep the bomb in my own possession till then"; and he hugged tie little bag closer than ever to his side. Here was a complication indeed. A lunatic in the house with a bomb in his possession capable of blowing a warship to fragments. And thi3 was the man I had described to Bessie as harmless! (To be continued nest Wednesday.)