“THE DAY; OR, The Passing of a Throne.”

Otago Witness, Issue 3201, 21 July 1915, Page 67

“THE DAY; OR, The Passing of a Throne.”

THE NOVELIST.

(PonLiauKD by Special Arrangement.!

By FRED M. WHITE

(Copyright.) n.

CHAPTER XLI.—A NATION’S *rm. NERy£S - seem ®4 to V era as if her .turn Jl . ad come at last. All this time she had been longing to do something to show her . gratitude towards the country IwTfesiw of her adoption. It was not that she loved Germany less — fi hc was patriotic to the ‘ h -- core,—but her way had not been along the path of blood and iron, but towards a different goal altogether. She had been -trained to think of Germany free from the hand of the sword ever since she was capable of comprehending what was meant by the destinies' of Europe. She was not blind to the trivialities as she found them, but she knew that everyone could help a little, and here was her chance. She pulled back the blind and looked out into the dark and gloomy street. There was just a flicker of contempt on her lips as she tried to penetrate the murky darkness. From the very first this policy of keeping London under a blanket or fog and smoke had tilled her with the greatest contempt. What on earth was London afraid of? What could she gain by this frank admission that she had been scared by the German bogey? It needed only the upturned flash of a motor headlight here and there to show the f oe overhead unerringly where the right spots lay. Given London its usual lightness and brightness, and stabbing points of vivid flame, it would be impossible for any foreign airman to select one particular object for attack. More than one expert had already told the Government this; but the lesson had pased unheeded. The present condition of things was an absolute premium on destruction. A child with a lantern, or a woman with a bicycle lamp could have indicated St. Paul’s or Westminster Abbey, and none any the wiser for the information other than the brood ing terror hovering overhead in the darkness. The terror had apparently been manufactured ; it was playing right into the hands of the Potsdam bully, who, no doubt, chuckled to himself as he read what had happened. And yet all this time, if oil that was said about the boasted Zeppelins was true, then he might have had Paris at his mercy. Paris, Boulogne, Dieppe, all the fairest towns in Northern France, might have lain open to destruction, and yet there was not a Frenchman in every million who had even so much as seen a Zeppelin. These clumsy monsters, at the mercV of every wind, and helpless before the attack of a couple of biplanes, were almost as grotesque as a candle in a hollow turnip, and yet thev had sufficed to plunge London into darkness and give her the semblance of a city of the dead. If the six millions of Londoners did not fear the darkness, then it was no fault of the authorities. Vera was turning away with a bitter feeling in her heart when it seemed to her that one of the windows overhead had suddenly blazed out into light. That window, she knew, was in Lady Loxton’s flat, and therefore somebody must be using it. Perhaps Lady Loxton had come back No doubt she 'had another latch-key ; if not, then burglars were at work. The darkening of London was a rare opportunity for the prowling nightbirds, and here was a practical instance to prove the fact. Very quietly Vera crept up the stairs and tried the door of,.the flat. The latch was down, and there was no light in the hall ; but she could see a glimmer through the keyhole, which seemed to come from the dining room. She did not hesitate a moment. She took the Yale key from her pocket and noiselessly turned it- in the lock. A. moment later she was inside, creeping along the darkened hail in the direction of the dining room. _ The door was open, and she peeped inside. Sitting in an armchair, with an ugly frown upon her face, was Lady L-oxtbn.

Opposite her was Alonzo, apparently angry and annoyed. “ I tell you I won’t do anything of the kind,” La3y Loxton was saying. ‘‘Why should 1? I have got more money than I want, and I mean to enjoy myself. Fancy bringing me up from Bn’ghton to a dismal hole like this. The streets are so dismal that the mere sight of them moves me to tears.” “It amuses me,” Alonzo said cynically. “ Oh, well, it is funny,” Lady Loxton admitted. “These dear English—they have no sense of humour, how, what do they suppose those Zeppelins were built for? .Berlin boasts that each of them is capable of wiping out an army corps. They could destroy a city or fort in five minutes. But they don't do it, my friend; they don’t even frighten small flies from a rotten apple. Oh no, the Zeppelin is dead. It was slain by the brothers Wright when they invented the first real aeroplane. It is as a hornet to a pouter pigeon. And yet London shakes her head and forgets that she is taking the bread out of the mouths of the halfmillion people who live by her amusements. Suppose some adventurous Zeppelin did chip a few corners from St. Paul’s. What is that in comparison with half a million people without employment? I say that the boasters of Berlin have struck a shrewd blow at London with their mouths alone. No wonder ’ “ Don’t you think you might make a leading article of it?” Alonzo sneered. “ My clear Marie, I know all this as well as you do. But that is not the point. My instructions aie to seek your assistance in that business on the south coast, and the sooner we are off the better. If you refuse to come ” “ What, are you going to threaten me?” “Is there any occasion? You know perfectly well what will happen if you turn your back on this business. Headquarters at Berlin will say that you have got too big for your work. They will lay a little trap for you, and before you know where you are you will be in the hands of Scotland Yard. The case will be overwhelming, and the dainty Lady Loxton will find herself scrubbing floors in Portland for the next live years. Ah ! the German Intelligence Department knows how to deal with its servants who kick over the traces. It is all part of the game, and nobody knows it better than the people of Scotland Yard.” “ But tliey made me a solemn promise, Lady Loxton protested. “ I was told when I reported the success of our attack on London’s water supply that I could regard myself in future as my own mistress.” Alonzo shrugged his shoulders indifferently. “Oh, very well,” he said. “Please yourself. Only don’t say I have not warned you. You know perfectly well that it is a favourite dodge on the part of our masters in Berlin to betray people like ourselves when they happen to know too much. So, therefore, I propose i-o go down to Brighton alone.” Lady Loxton sighed impatiently. ’’ Perhaps you are ngnt,” she said. “ On the whole, I think i had better go with you. Tell me precisely what this latest absurdity is. li it is destined to be a fortune, so much tne better for us. lb will be one way out.” “Don’t you know what the scheme is?” Alonzo asked. r “ Oh, I’ve got some vague idea. I suppose it is the invasion bogey over again. 1 saw something to the effect that the egregious General von Ardenne had been at it again. According to the Saxon State Gazette, the invasion of England is practically an accomplished fact. All sorts of calamities must first happen to the English navy; but that is a detail. Assuming that the English fleet is manned by idiots and imbeciles. Yon Ardennes plan is a brilliant one. But then any rubbish is good enough to tell the peopie in Berlin just now apparently. Ah ! I should not like to be in Berlin in an official capacity when the people there learn how they have oeen tricked and fooled and deceived.” Vera smiled as she listened. She miglu have enlightened the conspirators in that respect had she pleased. “You are right there,” Alonzo muttered. “As a matter of fact you are not far from the truth. It is a cheap affair, and will probably end in failure; but it will create a sensation and cause something like a panic. No doubt it will please the little mind of the Imperial Barnum who has engineered the whole German circus and very likely cause more unemployment. Now, are you coming or not? It will be rough work, but I understand that those keys were sent to you and they were personally delivered in Brighton this afternoon.” “Quite right,” Lady Loxton said. “I wanted to refuse them, but the messenger was so insistent that I kept them. That is why I telegraphed to you to meet me here this evening. “You wasted two or three hours,” Alonzo grumbled. “Well, it’s no use grumbling about that now. We have still got a margin to spare, time enough for you to dress for the part and for us to get some supper. I brought in a sort of picnic basket, and I have relied upon you to provide the drinks. Only we must bo off smart when the car comes. I don’t know what’s going on, but I have not scon so many people at night in the London streets for I don’t know how long. There was a disturbance going on in Haymarket when I came through, but I don’t know what it was about; that is why I wanted to bs ready to start at 12 to the tick.” Vera, waited to hear no more. She had just over an hour to spare and lime was too precious to be wasted. Very quietly she- crept away and closed the outer door of the flat behind her. Five minutes later she was hurrying down the street. CHAPTER XLIL—“LIGHT, LIGHT. MORE LIGHT !” Vera had no settled plan in her mind.

ihe little adventine had conic noon her too suddenly to give her much time to think. 'What these conspirators were about she had not the least idea, except that it was some dark and black mischief under coyer ot the night. it she could prevent it she would, out she naturally shrank from taking her story direct to ►Scotland Yard. At any questions would be asked there, she might have to prove her nationality, a step which would probably lead to serious consequences for her father and the rest of the friends of the new German Republic. Pierre Leroax, the respectable French merchant and his innocent daughter were one thing, but a foreigner in touch with the big international spy system spelt danger. Therefore would be impossible to go to Scotland Yard. Rosslyn was away from London, and therefore Vera wandered on more or less aimlessly, trying to think of the name of a friend to whom she could turn in the hour of her need. Perhaps she was making much of little after all. The German invasion business sounded to her like the story cf a comic opera. For nearly forty years Germany had planned and schemed and spent, countless millions on the army which was to fall upon hapless France and crush her while she slept. And now the great adventure had failed, and Germany was the laughing stock of the civilised world. In the face of a mi arable disaster and fiasco like this it was characteristic that the foaming braggarts at Potsdam should roar and swagger and prolaim their intention of turning the impossible into the commonplace. The threat carried its repudiation on the face of it. The Kaiser had been beaten at his own game by the noisy von, Ardenne, who had spoilt his whole sombre prophecy by. communicating even the most minute details of the scheme to the German press. And yet there was a certain ■ method in his madness, for if the people of England’s capital could.be scared into darkness by the threat of a peril that had hitherto only brought disaster to its own creator, then even the smallest attempt at invasion might send the panic spreading wider still. Vera went on and on. conscious cf Tie fact that the streets were crowded with people despite the gloom. They seemed to be restless and discontented, nodding to one another and disposed to resent the attempts of the police to move them on. The police were but a shade of their former selves, for many of them were doing a great work elsewhere, and the special constables could do no more than their best. As Vera neared Oxford street she saw _ a big arc light fash out vividly, then there came a rousing cheer followed by an ugly rush as the. police were swept backwards by the crowd. “Lot it blaze,” someone cried. “Tha police can t stop us. Let’s have some- / thing to see what we are doing by.” The cheers rose again, cheers mingled with ironic laughter which might easily have been changed to real wrath. Up and down the great thoroughfare more and more of the big lights appeared. The faces of the mob were plain enough to Vera now; it was a typical London crowd, from the better classes in their evening dress down to the skulkers and prowlers, the hungry social jackals ever on the look-out for prey. Up one of tha lamp posts swarmed a slight figure ot a man with clean-shaven face and hawk-like features. “Keep it going,” he cried. “Turn tha lights up al! over London. Flood tha theatres and the restaurants with it. I dare say there are a few of you sown below who know me.” “It’s Franklancl,” someone whispered, close to Vera. Roland Frn.nkland, - tha actor. They say he, is as good in a biplane as he is in a comedy. He is going to make a speech.” The speaker was quite right. ' “Now, listen to me,” the man on tha lamp-post cried. “Six months ago was happy and comfortable atici enviea no man For three months now I have not earned a penny. If it had not been for my friends my wife and family would ba starving. It was bad enough to play on li a lf salaries. But when this terror came it practically closed the theatres altogether. Oh, I dare my you have a a got vour troubles, but I want you to Rsien to ours for a few minutes. Think gj. tn-3 hundreds of theatres and music -halls and the like in London. Think of the hundreds employed -there, from the star down to the poor "devil who carries a sandwichboard in the street. 1 challenge anybody to contradict me when I say that this no-lio-ht order is affecting the bread of bait a °million. And London is not the only place on the map cf England. Look nerc, wouldn’t the Kaiser be pleased to Know that his troops had done something that means the starvation of a million cr two of ns here? Would not the Berlin press 0-loat over it? And yet, by heaven, he, Las done it without striking a blow loring a single man. It- has been done for him," done by our authorities here who have shown us that they are in deadly fear of those Zeppelins. What else is the darkening of London but a confession of fear? Why should our public buildings be protected when no special precautions have been taken to guard the average citizen from harm? I tell you that Westminster Abbey is nothing in comparison with one innocent life. Besides, _ the whole thing is so futile. London is a. huge mark, and if it were even as dark as pitch no Zeppelin could possibly miss some vital spot. Where, oh, where, are our umbrellas?” The listening mob roared with laughter. Then the speaker held up ids hand, and went on again. “ I am speaking about what I know,” he said. “I have ben over London many a time and oft in an aeroplane. _ I have sailed over London in the evening thousands of’feet in the air when the town lights have flared flauntingly, and I tell yon it is mere difficult to pick out any building from the hazy glare than it is to-night. You could not do it three months ago. But now, if yon will give me a confederate below on a motor cycle with a strong headlight, I will lay any building you like to name in ruins in half

an hour. The authorities have created this danger, not averted Zeppelins! A fig for your Zeppelins! Ten years ago they were a danger. Ten years ago the Germans honestly thought that they had found a weapon capable of paralysing out navv. Yes, we thought go, too. And then there came Wilbur Wright, the man wno invented the first real aeroplane. That killed the Zeppelin, and no one knew the fact better than the German General Staff It is not part of their policy of brag an 1 bluster to tell the German nation so. They have spent millions on their Zeppelins, and they have kept the bogey alive till to-day. 1 But the aeroplane is the mastrr of the Zeppelin, and well the Kaiser knows it. We could have built these airships, too. And why didn’t we do so! Because every military man in England worthy of the name believes them to be useless. When I see a Zeppelin doing real damage on the west of the German frontier, then I will eat my words, but not till then. Therefore ” The speech was cut short by an angrv roar as the reinforced police pushed back the crowd. Vera was caught up in the ewaving mob, and before she uas firmly on her feet again had been carried some way down Regerent street. She caught hold of a pillar projecting in front of a shop and swung herself into a doorway. Tneie were half a dozen other women there watching the swirling tide of humanity tossiim down the street and here and there holding the police, whilst more and more lamps were being lighted. One of the women there turned to V era. Her face was white and her eyes glittering strangely. . . . “A funny sight, isn't it. she whispered hoarsely. “ I don’t wish the police any harm, nor yet those, special constables ; for, after all, they are only doing their duty. But I pray God that London gets its own way over this business. _ I sat ®n this very doorstep last night in the darkness and. wished that I was dead. “Does it make all that difference to you?” Vera asked. “ All the difference in the world; my dear. I am in the profession, I am. Nothing big, you understand; not on the bills, but just in the chorus with two quid a week for me and the kiddy, and my Sam at the front doing his duty by his country. And then comes this order and down go those lights and its three matinees a week that nobody conies to, and the notices up last Friday night. It took all I had got to find a home for my boy. The only good the darkness did me was to find me a corner wdrere I could sleep cut without being moved by the police. And it isn’t as if London was afraid. It’s only those who ought to know better who are afraid. Well, perhaps things will take a turn now the people have taken them in their own hands. Good luck to them, I say. Vera yvas hardly listening. She was watching all that was going on around her with rapt attention. Then suddenly above the din she heard a clock striking somewhere, and she saw that it w r anted but a quarter of an hour till She struggled on into the comparative quietude of Waterloo place, and hurried homeward. There was no time to be lost, for Alonzo’s car was already at the door of the flats. (To be continued.)