WHOSO FINDETH A WIFE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10404, 31 March 1897, Page 3

WHOSO FINDETH A WIFE.

BY WILLIAM LE QUEUX, Author of "The Great War in England in 1897," "Zoraicla," "Stolen Souls," " Guilty Bonds," " A Secret •Service," etc., etc.

[COPYRIGHT,

I SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. CHAPTER I to 111.-Deedes, aconnd'rntial clerk in a Government office, receives a despatch from Berlin, ami his chief, ilin Karl of Warnham, Her Majesty's Principal Foreign Secretary, directs him to seal it up. lie (joes so. ami places it in his pocket. He lunches with Dudley Ogle-, an old college chum, and afterwards delivers the despatch to the carl. In the evening they iline at the Nook with Mrs. I-aing, to whose daughter Deciles is engaged. He is somewhat jealous of the attentions of an old man named Andrew Beck. A telegram in cipher alarms Deedei, and he fa about to leave for London when he stumbles over the dead body of his friend, Dudley Ogle, lying in the path.

CHAPTER IV. THE CLICK OF THE TELEGRAPH. When at noon, in accordance with the urgent and strangely-worded telegram I had received from the Earl of Warnham, I alighted at Horsham Station, in Sussex, I found one of the carriages from the Hall awaiting me. As I entered it, I was followed by a man I knew slightly, Superintendent Frayliug, chief of the Criminal Investigation Department at Scotland Yard, who had apparently travelled down by the same train from Victoria.

Greeting me, he took the place beside me, and a moment later the footman sprang upon tho box, and we sped away towards the open country. To my question ae to his business with the ear I, he made an evaeive reply, merely stating that he had received a telogram requesting an immediate interview.

"This summons is rather unuaual," he idded, smiling. " Has anything serious )ccurred, do you know ?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Perhaps there's been a burglary at the Hall?" I suggested.

" Hatdly that, I think," ho replied with a knowing look, stroking his pointed brown beard. "If burglars had visited the place he would have asked for a clever officer or two, not for a personal interview with me."

With this view I was compelled to agree, then lighting cigarettes we sat back calmly contemplating the beautiful fertile country through which we were driving. The toad, leaving the quaint old town, descended sharply for a short distance, then wound up-hill through cornfields lined by high hedges of hawthorn and holly. Past a quaint old watermill we skirted Warnham Pond, whereon Shelley in hie youthful days sailed paper boats, then half a mile further entered the handsome lodge gates of Warnham Park. Through a fine avenue, with a broad sweep of park on either side well stocked with deer, emus, and many zoological specimens, we ascended, until at last, after negotiating the long winding drive in front of tho Hall, the carriago pulled up with a sudden jerk before its handsome portico.

As I alighted, old Stanford, the whitehaired butler, came forward hurriedly, saying: " His lordship is in the library awaiting you, sir. He told me to bring you to him the moment you arrived."

"Very well," I said; and the aged retainer, leading the way along a spacious but rather cheerless corridor, stopped before tho door of the and, throwing it suddenly open, announced me. "At last, Deedes,' 1 I heard the earl exclaim in a tone that showed him to be in no amiable mood; and as I entered the long handsome chamber, lined from floor to ceiling with books, I did not at first notice him until he rose slowly from a large writing-table, behind which ho had been hidden. His face, usually wizened and pale, was absolutely bloodless. Its appearance startled me.

" 1 wired last night, and expected you by the 9.18 this morning. Why did you notcomo?" was his first question, uttered in a sharp tone of annoyance. "The sudden death*of a friend caused me to lose the train 1 intended to catch," 1

explained. "Death!" he snapped, in the manner habitual to him when impatient. "Is the dentin of a friend any account when the interests of our country are at stake ? On the night my wife was dying I was compelled to leave her bedside to travel to Balmoral to have audience of Her Majesty regardin" a document I had sent for the Royal assent. When I returned Lady Warnham had been dead fourteen hours. In the successful diplomat there must be no sentiment—none."

"The five minutes I lost when I diecovered my friend dead caused me to miss my train from Staine3 to London," I explained. " But you received my telegram, and should have strictly regarded its urgency," he answered, with an air of extreme dissatisfaction. " The fact of its _ being in cipher was sufficient to show its importance." "I was out dining, and my man brought it along to ins," I said. "Why did he do 80?" ho inquired, quickly. "Because he thought it might be urgent." "Did he open it?" " No. Even if he had it was in cipher." " Is your man absolutely trustworthy ?" he asked.

" He has been in the service of my family for fifteen years. He was my father's valet at the Hague." " Is hie name Juckes?" he inquired, "Yes.'

" Ah! I know him. Ha is absolutely trustworthy; a moefc excellent man."

The earl's manner surprised me. His face, usually calm, sphinx-like, and expressionless, betrayed the most intense anxiety and suspicion. Thab my delay had caused him great annoyance was apparent; but the anxious expression upon his ashen, almost haggard, face, was such that, even in moments of extreme perplexity, when dealing with one or other of the many complex questions of foreign policy, it had never been so intense.

Standing with his back to one of the great bay windows that commanded extensive views of the picturesque park, he was silent fpr a moment, then, turning his keen, grey eyes upon me, he suddenly exclaimed in a tone of extreme gravity:

"Since yesterday, Deedes, a cataitrophe has occurred."

" You briefly hinted at it in your telegram," I answered. " What is its nature ?" "The most serious that has happened during the whole of my administration," he said in a voice that plainly betrayed his agitation. "The clauses of the secreb defensive alliancewhich Hammerton broughb from Berlin yesterday are known in St. Petersburg." " What!" I cried in alarm, remembering the earl's words, and his elaborate precautions to preserve its secrecy. "Surely they cannot be already knownj" "We have boun tricked by spies, Deedes," he answered eternly. "Read this," and he handed me a telegram in the private cipher known only to the Minister himself. Its transcript was written beneath, and at a glance I saw it was from a Russian official in the Foreign Office at Sb. Petersburg, who acted as our secreb agent there and received a large sum yearly for his services. The deipatch, which showed that it had been handed in at Hamburg at six o'clock on the previous evening-all

secret messages being sent in the first instance to thab city, and re-transmitted— read as follows :—

"Greatest excitement caused here by receipt by taiegraph an hour ago_ of verbatim copy of secret defensive alliance between England and Germany. Have seen telegram, which was handed in at 369, Strand, London, at 3.30. Just called at Embassy and informed Lord Strathavon. Council of Ministers has been summoned." "It is amazing," I gasped, when I had read the despatch. "How could our enemies have learned the truth ?" Without replying he took from his writing-table another message, which read :—

" From Strathavon, St. Petersburg. To the Earl of Warnham, London.—Defensive alliance known here. Hostilities feared. French ambassador has had audience at Winter Palace, and telegraphed to Paris for instructions. Shall wire hourly." One by one he took up the telegraphic despatches that, during the night, had been re-transmitted from the Foreign Office over the private wire to the instrument that stood upon a small table opposite us. As I read each of them eagerly, I saw plainly that Russia and France were in complete accord, and that we were on the verge of a national disaster, sudden and terrible. With such secrecy and rapidity were negotiations being carried on between Paris and St. Petersburg that in Berlin, a city always well-informed in all matters of diplomacy, nothing unusual was suspected. A telegram from our secret agenb in the Russian Foreign Office, received an hour before my arrival at Warnham, read : — "Tho secret is gradually leaking out. The Novosti has just issued a special edition hinting at the possibility of war with England, and this has caueed the most intense eititemenb everywhere. The journal, evidently inspired, gives no authority for its statement, nor does it give any reason for the startling rumour," I laid down the despatch in silence, and as I raised ray head the Minister's keen, penetrating eyes mot mine. " Well," he exclaimed, in a dry, harsh tone. " What is your explanation, sir?" "My explanation?" I cried, in amazement, noticing his determined demeanour. " I know nothing of the affair except the telegrams you have shown mo," " Upon you alone the responsibility of this catastrophe rests," he said, angrily. "It is useless to deny all knowledge of it and only aggravate your offence. Because you come of a diplomatic family I have trusted you implicitly, but it is evident that my confidence has been utterly misplaced." "I deny that I have ever, for a single instant, betrayed the trust you have placed in me," I replied, hotly. " I know nothing of the means by which the Czar's army of spies have obtained knowledge of our secret." He snapped his bony fingers, saying: "It is not to be expected that you will acknowledge yourself a traitor to your country, sir; therefore we must prove your guilt." " You are at liberty, of course, to act in what manner you please," I answered. "I toll you frankly, however, that this terrible charge you bring against me is as startling as the information that I have just road. I can only say I am entirely innocent." " Bah!" he cried, turning on his heel with a gesture of disgust. Then, facing me again, his eyes flashing with anger, he added: "If you are innocent tell me why you were so long absent yesterday when registering tho despatch; tell mo why, when such an important document was in your possession you did not remain in the office instead of being absent over an hour." "I went out to lunch," I said. " With the document in your pocket?" " Yes. But surely you do not suspect me of being a spy," I cried, "I do not suspect you, sir. I have positive proof of it." " Proof I" I gasped. " Show it to me." "It is here," he answered, his thin, nervous hands turning over t.he mass of papers littering his writing - table, .and taking from among them an official envelope, lu.an instant I recognised it as the one containing the treaty. " This remains exactly as I took it from the safe with my own hands and cut it open.' With trembling fingers I drew the document from its envelope and opened it. The paper was blank ! I glanced at him in abject dismay, unable to utter a word.

"That is what you handed me on ray return from the Cabinet Council," he said, with knit brows. "Now, what explanation have you to offer ?" "Whab can I offer?" I cried. "The envelope I gave you was the same that you handed to me. I could swear to it."

" Xo, it was not," he replied, quickly, "Glance at tho seal."

Taking it to the light, I oxamined the seal carefully, but failed to detect anything unusual. It bore in black wax the Warnham ooat-of-arms impressed by the large beautifully cut amethyst that the earl wore attached to the piece of rusty silk ribbon that served him as watch-chain.

"I can see nothing wrong with this," I said, glancing up at him. " I admit that the imitation is so carefully executed that it is calculated to deceive any eye except my own." Then, putting on his pincenez, he made an impression in wax with hie own seal and pointed out a 3light flaw which in the impression upon the envelope did not exist. "And your endorsement? Is it not in your own hand ?" he inquired. I turned over the envelope and looked. It boro the designation " B 27, 893," just as I had written it, and the writing was either my own or such a marvellously accurate imitation that I was compelled to confess my inability to point out any discrepancy. "Then the writing is yours, eh?" the earl asked, abruptly. "If it is, you must be aware who forged the eeal." "The writing certainly contains all the characteristics of mine, but I am not absolutely sure it is not a forgery, In any case I am confident that the document you gave me I handed Jjack to you.' Then I explained carefully, and in detail, the events which occurred from the time he gave the treaty into my possession up to the moment I handed it back to him. " Bub how can yon account) for giving back to me a blank' sheet of paper in an envelope secured by a forged seal?" he asked, regarding me with undisguised suspicion. " You do not admit even taking it from your pocket, neither have you any suspicion of the friend with whom you lunched. I should like to hear his independent version."

" That is imposeibla," I answered. " Why ?" he asked, pricking up hie ears and scenting a mystery. " Becauee he is dead."

At that moment) our conversation was interrupted by the sharp ringing of the bell of the telegraph instrument near ua, and an instant) later the telegraphist) in charge entered, and seated himself at the table. Click—click, click, click, click began bhe needle, and next moment the clerk, turning to the earl, exclaimed : " An important message from St. Petersburg, your lordship." " Read it ae it comes through," the earl replied, breathlessly, walking towards the instrument and bending eagerly over it, Then, as the rapid metallic click again broke the silence, the clerk, in monotonous tones, exclaimed: "From Lobetski, St. Petersburg, via Hamburg, To Earl of Warnham.— A proclamation signed by the Czar declaring war asainsbEneland hasjustboen received abthe Foreign Office, but it is as yeb kept secret. It will probably be posted in the streets this evening. Greatest activity prevails at the War Office and Admiralty, Regiments in the military districts of Charkoff, Odessa, Warsaw, and Kieff have received orders to complete their cadres of officers to war strength, recalling to the colours all officers on the retired list and on leave. This is a preliminary step to the complete mobilisation of the Russian forces. All cipher messages now refused." The earl with frantic effort prasped at the edge of the table, then staggered unevenly, and eank back into a chair rigid iiul speechless. (To be continued on Saturday next).

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