CHAPTER TEN
_THE GREATER GAME_
Trent was annoyed next morning to learn from Hentzi that he was toaccompany Pauline and the count to the links. The only redeeming thingabout the expedition was that he himself could get a few strokes in thedemonstration.
The count was in high good spirits and gracious to them all.
"Ah, Arlfrit," he cried, "this is my last game for two weeks. Yes, Ishall be too busy playing another and a greater game. And you, too, willbe busy. Tell me you know the roads to Fiume, Zengg and Agram well?"
"I could set them to music," Trent said forgetting that it was AlfredAnthony who was answering his august employer. He waited until the countdrove. He saw that the autocrat broke every rule of the many which go tomake a perfect drive yet sent his ball every inch of two hundred yards.Never had Count Michael done such a thing before.
"Let us see you beat that," he said dramatically.
Trent pressed. He wanted to outdrive the other by fifty yards andordinarily would have done so. He took too much earth and sent arocketting ball skyward which dropped full fifty yards behind theother.
"That was very tactful of you," Pauline whispered. "His Excellency willbe in a good temper the whole day."
"Do you think I tried to do that?" he asked.
"Why not?" she asked, "I only know you are of a timid disposition. Ihate timid men."
"I can't help being timid," he said grinning genially, "it's my nature."
So gratified was the count by his unusual showing at the game that hedid not notice how close Pauline kept to Alfred Anthony. It was nervouswork for Anthony and he answered the girl abruptly trying to keep herattention on the game.
"You are two men," she said presently when Hentzi and his employer werea little ahead of them. For a moment Trent was thoroughly alarmed. Whatdid she know?
He had always known that it was a fallacy to assume because he had seennone on his midnight wanderings that he had been unobserved. In a vasthouse such as Castle Radna there were nooks and crannies wherefrightened servants or timid guests might hide from him momentarily onlyto denounce him later.
"What do you mean?" he asked teeing up her ball. He had not answered herimmediately.
"That you are two men. There may be three of you but I have seen twoalready. There is the timid, servile creature accepting a coin or a blowand eating with the servants as among his equals. I hate that man. Theother is a creature that every now and then looks out of your eyes likea bird of prey. It is the man who drives the great car over the mountainpasses as though it were on a smooth boulevard. It is the man who beatbig Peter Sissek to the earth with tight lips and eyes that flashed.That is a man I could love."
He could feel her arm brush against his own. There was a caressingtenderness in her voice.
"Tell me, which is the real you?"
Anthony Trent looked straight ahead of him.
"If you slice your ball," he said, "you'll get into the rough. Golf,like other things is largely a matter of self control."
"I could kill you," she said, her eyes blazing.
"Think of my wife and children," he answered with a grin.
"That is why," she retorted. "The count is right. One should have onlycontempt for lackeys. I honor you too much as it is."
"Fine!" Trent observed, "suits me all right. How many quarterings ofnobility have you Mademoiselle Pauline?"
"I at least am an _artiste_," she flung back at him. "To be the mostgraceful skater in the world and to have earned more in a week than youin a year is something which puts me as far above you as Count MichaelTemesvar."
"Absolutely," Trent agreed, "take your mashie here and go back slowlyand don't look up for three seconds after hitting the ball."
Pauline was certainly a splendidly athletic woman. She held herselfmagnificently and was at her best this morning but merely to be with herbored the pseudo-chauffeur who had thoughts only for Daphne. Daphnecould have given her two strokes a hole and a beating, he reflected.Gloom seized on him as he wondered if ever again he would see her. Hewas in peril in Castle Radna even as an honest worker. Peter Sissek hadsworn to pay him for the beating. Half of Trent's energies were consumedin going over his car to make sure the bolts and nuts were tight and hadnot been loosened maliciously.
And in his position as an emissary of the Earl of Rosecarrel he was indanger of the most vivid kind. He was a spy in a house which sheltered aprinceling who might yet force Europe into war. If it were discovered hepossessed this secret nothing could save him. It was a sinister, dourpile of stone, this Castle Radna utterly unlike the Cornish castle withits rose gardens, its fountains and the charm of country life. He couldwell believe that in his present dwelling tragedies has been enacted ofwhich no knowledge had filtered through to the larger world. Oddlyenough it was during the day when he was peacefully employed as AlfredAnthony that he was most obsessed by despondency. When the servants werelong abed and asleep and the silences of the early hours hung about thegreat corridors and halls Anthony Trent came into his own. Hisrubbershod feet were noiseless in the stone passages and his two passkeys opened every locked door. He was possessed of all secrets it seemedto him. Here he was free to wander like a ghost in banquet hall andcorridor. None walked so silently as he.
Pauline did not talk to him any more that morning but the count wasaffable.
"Ah, Arlfrit," he cried, "tomorrow your work commences. Yes. You leavefor Fiume at daybreak and meet the Ungarisch-Kroatische boat. This timeyou will go alone as you will have a passenger beside you as you return.You will wait at the _Hotel de l'Europe_. The boat gets to her dock ateleven and my guests will drive immediately to the motor. Make speedback for you must go to Agram and back before dinner."
"That will be going some!" Trent commented.
"For what reason do you suppose I buy a Lion car and a chauffeur if notto do what my other automobiles and chauffeurs cannot do? Why do youimagine I introduce a Londoner into my servants hall, a brawling man whoassaults good Peter Sissek if not because he must travel fast andsafely?"
But the count was not angry. He was in that good humor which comes toall men who having been in the habit of taking seven for a last holemake it in four. Pauline had taken six and he had not permitted hisrecord to be clouded by allowing Trent (as Pauline suggested) to seewhat he could do it in.
Anthony Trent started on his trip when it was as yet hardly light. Hewas singularly carefree. The repulsive Sissek was not at his side andhe was free to wander about the seaport town, locate the cable officesand make certain arrangements that might contribute to future safety.That he was invariably able to make such good time was due mainly to theabsence of traffic along the Maria Louisa road. Not yet had the oldprosperity come back to Europe and there were more automobiles inAllenhurst, New Jersey, than all Croatia.
He was bound to admit that the group of people he took from the _Hotelde l'Europe_ lived up to all the traditions of mysterious fiction. Therewere two men, middle aged and plainly used to power, and a very prettyvivacious dark woman of five and thirty to whom her escorts paidprofound attention. The seat beside Trent was occupied by the lady'smaid. The black morocco dressing case she held inexorably upon her kneeswas marked with a coronet. The woman was hard-faced, elderly anduncommunicative. Trent noticed that her mistress was in that deepmourning which European women affect.
Trent tried the maid in English but she made no answer at all. Hestrained his ears to catch what language was being talked behind him butthe Lion was a car of tremendous wheel base and the passengers wereremoved too far from him.
Once or twice in the old days, particularly in the case of the Sinn Feinplot Anthony Trent had found his lack of knowledge of German a handicap.This linguistic failing was now remedied. He had studied the tonguecarefully; and as languages were easily acquired by him had some fairproficiency in it.
He was not certain whether it was a trap or a genuine desire to knowthat made the woman after a whispered talk with the lady in black say tohim sudden
ly, "_Wenn wir nur nicht unwerfen; die Strassen sind nichtbesonders hier zu Lande._"
It was his first impulse to tell her that she would not be upset andthat they would soon get on to the better roads. Then he rememberedAlfred Anthony knew but little of any tongue but his own. He smiled ather and shrugged his shoulders.
"Try it in English," he commanded smiling. "No speak Dutch."
She did not take the trouble to answer. It was, he decided, a trap tofind if he understood. Perhaps it was counted in his favor, thisignorance of continental tongues.
At Agram he fetched six other people. He found that Sissek and anotherchauffeur had been busy also. Hentzi, always desirous of impressingthose beneath him in rank, told Trent he was to be guest tonight at atable which would hold some of the great ones of the country.
"Will Pauline be among those present?" Trent asked.
"Pauline!" Hentzi sneered, "there will be gracious, high-born ladies atthe table and among these our Pauline has no part. She knows that."
"What time do you dine?" Trent asked. It was now seven o'clock andHentzi was not in evening dress.
"At half past eight. There is one among us who likes the late dinners ofthe English and his likings must be obeyed even by Count Michael."
"An Englishman?" Trent queried.
"My friend," Hentzi said impressively, "if he could take all the Britishand all the Americans and sink them in mid-ocean he would be entirelyhappy. I do not think you understand world politics, eh?"
"I follow the racing and footer news," Trent confessed. "I'm not so muchon politics. A set of grafters if you ask me."
Trent spent an hour on his car. He filled the tanks with gasoline andsaw that his spare tires were ready and made the little adjustments thatonly sensitive fingers may perform. As a rule he drove the car straightinto the garage and backed out. Tonight he backed into it. There mightbe the sudden need to utilize every moment.
Hentzi's news was good. A dinner of state commencing at half past eightwould be continued long after dark. Of necessity the count would bethere and undoubtedly the officer and his royal master would grace theboard. Entrance could easily be made through their room and over thecourtyard to the Count Michael's apartment. There would be time for athorough search.
The kitchens were full of bustling maids assisting the cooks. There wasso much confusion that Trent helped himself amply to what food hedesired and strolled out to the garage to eat it. More than half wasstowed away in his car. If he were able to get away that night, as hehoped, it might come in handily for breakfast.
His plan was to place the treaty draft in an envelope already addressedand stamped and mail it at Fiume. After that he would take the car intoItaly if possible and make for Venice whence he could come easily toEngland.
The servants saw him take a candle and walk wearily to his room. Theyremembered he had been up before dawn broke. Not one of them had anysuspicions that he was aught but what he represented himself to be.
At half past ten Anthony Trent, looking through the carved oakenmusicians gallery twenty feet above the floor of the banqueting hall,beheld a notable company assembled. When he saw that the prince had athis side the vivacious dark lady, he remembered that the weeklypictorial papers had often presented her to their readers. She was thedaughter of a royal house lately at war with his country. To herdiplomatic skill and love of intrigue was due many checks to alliedplans. It was said she ruled her husband absolutely and loved himlittle.
Trent recognized the two men he had brought with him. They were inevening dress as was Count Michael and decorated with many orders, of St.Stephen of Hungary among others. The military attache bristled withmedals and there were others in brilliant uniforms.
No other woman was present but the princess. Her jewels made Trent'smouth water. No doubt the maid had carried them at his side for severalhours and would, for all he had to do with it, carry them back. Not fora moment dare he think of taking them. It was obvious that the countwould make no outcry about the loss of the draft if that alone weretaken. He would piece things together and understand the riddle ofAlfred Anthony. But were the valuables of his guests taken it might be apolice matter.
So great was the buzz of conversation that Trent could catch nomemorable phrase. Here and there was a name he had heard of but that wasall. He noticed that Hentzi was not a guest despite his boasting. Thisin itself was awkward for the secretary might be even now in the bigroom to which the master criminal was bound. He was relieved presentlyto observe Hentzi hovering on the outskirts of the room directing theservants, a sort of super-major-domo.
It was exactly eleven when he crossed the dark courtyard and opened oneof the long French windows of Count Michael's room. It was in darkness. Alittle water driven power plant supplied some of the chief rooms ofCastle Radna with electric light and he was able, after screening thewindows to flood the room with light. It was an apartment thecounterpart in size and decoration of the one occupied by the prince,across the courtyard.
Almost the first thing Anthony Trent saw was the safe. And as he lookedon it he knew his hopes were in vain and the draft of the treaty couldremain there indefinitely for all his skill availed or all the knowledgeof the greatest "petemen" would aid, had he possessed it.
Count Michael Temesvar was not one of those who entrusted precious thingsto insecure keeping. It was a Chubbwood burglar proof safe of a typeTrent had heard of but never before seen. The double-dialled cannon ballsafe of the American maker was the nearest approach to this gleamingmocking thing which faced him. There was no chance that any forcingscrew or wedge could damage the bolts. The locks were so protected thatdrilling was impossible and no nitro-glycerine could be used. Theoxy-acetylene blowpipe, high explosives or electric arc were uselesshere. It was the last word of a safemaking firm which had been in thebusiness for more than a century. Trent did not doubt, as he gazed atit, that there would be developed by the need of it craftsmen who couldopen even this. But the time was not yet.
Count Michael Temesvar had been wise in buying the only safe in the worldwhose patent had been extended by the Privy Council of Great Britain.With his gloved hands Trent touched the thing lightly. The millionthchance that it might not be locked was against him. He was wasting histime. Quickly he made a methodical search of the room but found nothingthat interested him.
On his own bed he sat for an hour wondering what to do. He had been socertain when speaking to Lord Rosecarrel that his professional skillwould accomplish what others had failed to do that this disappointmentwas bitter indeed.
He had wondered why the count had taken so little caution in permittinga foreigner of the same supposed nationality as Lord Rosecarrel to livein Castle Radna. It was, plainly, because the count knew perfectly wellthat the Chubbwood safe preserved his treasures inviolate.
Probably no living crook could break into it even though he had a yearin which to work. It was undrillable, unscathed by fire and could reposeat the bottom of the sea without its contents becoming damaged.
Trent's first thought of compelling the count to give up the combinationby force promised an unhappy ending. Surrounded by servants and friendshe would assuredly be interrupted before he could be forced to give uphis secret.
Hentzi would never be entrusted with the combination. None would know itbut Count Michael. For a moment he wondered if Pauline might be draggedinto it to exercise her Delilah arts on her protector.
"There must be some way out of it," Trent murmured a hundred times as hesat on his bed's edge.
Dawn was breaking as he closed his eyes. His expression was calm anduntroubled. He had found his solution.
The Secret of the Silver Car Page 10
