In the Fog
Page 7
CHAPTER II
"The necklace was a present from the Queen of England to the Czarina ofRussia," began the Queen's Messenger. "It was to celebrate the occasionof the Czar's coronation. Our Foreign Office knew that the RussianAmbassador in Paris was to proceed to Moscow for that ceremony, and Iwas directed to go to Paris and turn over the necklace to him. But whenI reached Paris I found he had not expected me for a week later and wastaking a few days' vacation at Nice. His people asked me to leave thenecklace with them at the Embassy, but I had been charged to get areceipt for it from the Ambassador himself, so I started at once forNice The fact that Monte Carlo is not two thousand miles from Nice mayhave had something to do with making me carry out my instructions socarefully. Now, how the Princess Zichy came to find out about thenecklace I don't know, but I can guess. As you have just heard, she wasat one time a spy in the service of the Russian government. And afterthey dismissed her she kept up her acquaintance with many of the Russianagents in London. It is probable that through one of them she learnedthat the necklace was to be sent to Moscow, and which one of the Queen'sMessengers had been detailed to take it there. Still, I doubt if eventhat knowledge would have helped her if she had not also known somethingwhich I supposed no one else in the world knew but myself and one otherman. And, curiously enough, the other man was a Queen's Messenger too,and a friend of mine. You must know that up to the time of this robberyI had always concealed my despatches in a manner peculiarly my own. Igot the idea from that play called 'A Scrap of Paper.' In it a man wantsto hide a certain compromising document. He knows that all his roomswill be secretly searched for it, so he puts it in a torn envelope andsticks it up where any one can see it on his mantel shelf. The result isthat the woman who is ransacking the house to find it looks in all theunlikely places, but passes over the scrap of paper that is just underher nose. Sometimes the papers and packages they give us to carry aboutEurope are of very great value, and sometimes they are special makes ofcigarettes, and orders to court dressmakers. Sometimes we know what weare carrying and sometimes we do not. If it is a large sum of money or atreaty, they generally tell us. But, as a rule, we have no knowledge ofwhat the package contains; so, to be on the safe side, we naturallytake just as great care of it as though we knew it held the terms ofan ultimatum or the crown jewels. As a rule, my confreres carry theofficial packages in a despatch-box, which is just as obvious as alady's jewel bag in the hands of her maid. Every one knows they arecarrying something of value. They put a premium on dishonesty.Well, after I saw the 'Scrap of Paper' play, I determined to put thegovernment valuables in the most unlikely place that any one wouldlook for them. So I used to hide the documents they gave me inside myriding-boots, and small articles, such as money or jewels, I carriedin an old cigar-case. After I took to using my case for that purpose Ibought a new one, exactly like it, for my cigars. But to avoid mistakes,I had my initials placed on both sides of the new one, and the momentI touched the case, even in the dark, I could tell which it was by theraised initials.
"No one knew of this except the Queen's Messenger of whom I spoke.We once left Paris together on the Orient Express. I was going toConstantinople and he was to stop off at Vienna. On the journey I toldhim of my peculiar way of hiding things and showed him my cigar-case. IfI recollect rightly, on that trip it held the grand cross of St. Michaeland St. George, which the Queen was sending to our Ambassador. TheMessenger was very much entertained at my scheme, and some months laterwhen he met the Princess he told her about it as an amusing story. Ofcourse, he had no idea she was a Russian spy. He didn't know anything atall about her, except that she was a very attractive woman.
"It was indiscreet, but he could not possibly have guessed that shecould ever make any use of what he told her.
"Later, after the robbery, I remembered that I had informed this youngchap of my secret hiding-place, and when I saw him again I questionedhim about it. He was greatly distressed, and said he had never seen theimportance of the secret. He remembered he had told several people ofit, and among others the Princess Zichy. In that way I found out that itwas she who had robbed me, and I know that from the moment I left Londonshe was following me and that she knew then that the diamonds wereconcealed in my cigar-case.
"My train for Nice left Paris at ten in the morning. When I travel atnight I generally tell the _chef de gare_ that I am a Queen's Messenger,and he gives me a compartment to myself, but in the daytime I takewhatever offers. On this morning I had found an empty compartment, andI had tipped the guard to keep every one else out, not from any fear oflosing the diamonds, but because I wanted to smoke. He had locked thedoor, and as the last bell had rung I supposed I was to travel alone, soI began to arrange my traps and make myself comfortable. The diamondsin the cigar-case were in the inside pocket of my waistcoat, and as theymade a bulky package, I took them out, intending to put them in my handbag. It is a small satchel like a bookmaker's, or those hand bags thatcouriers carry. I wear it slung from a strap across my shoulder, and, nomatter whether I am sitting or walking, it never leaves me.
"I took the cigar-case which held the necklace from my inside pocketand the case which held the cigars out of the satchel, and while I wassearching through it for a box of matches I laid the two cases beside meon the seat.
"At that moment the train started, but at the same instant there was arattle at the lock of the compartment, and a couple of porters liftedand shoved a woman through the door, and hurled her rugs and umbrellasin after her.
"Instinctively I reached for the diamonds. I shoved them quickly intothe satchel and, pushing them far down to the bottom of the bag, snappedthe spring lock. Then I put the cigars in the pocket of my coat, butwith the thought that now that I had a woman as a travelling companion Iwould probably not be allowed to enjoy them.
"One of her pieces of luggage had fallen at my feet, and a roll of rugshad landed at my side. I thought if I hid the fact that the lady wasnot welcome, and at once endeavored to be civil, she might permit meto smoke. So I picked her hand bag off the floor and asked her where Imight place it.
"As I spoke I looked at her for the first time, and saw that she was amost remarkably handsome woman.
"She smiled charmingly and begged me not to disturb myself. Then shearranged her own things about her, and, opening her dressing-bag, tookout a gold cigarette case.
"'Do you object to smoke?' she asked.
"I laughed and assured her I had been in great terror lest she mightobject to it herself.
"'If you like cigarettes,' she said, 'will you try some of these? Theyare rolled especially for my husband in Russia, and they are supposed tobe very good.'
"I thanked her, and took one from her case, and I found it so muchbetter than my own that I continued to smoke her cigarettes throughoutthe rest of the journey. I must say that we got on very well. I judgedfrom the coronet on her cigarette-case, and from her manner, which wasquite as well bred as that of any woman I ever met, that she was someone of importance, and though she seemed almost too good looking to berespectable, I determined that she was some _grande dame_ who was soassured of her position that she could afford to be unconventional. Atfirst she read her novel, and then she made some comment on the scenery,and finally we began to discuss the current politics of the Continent.She talked of all the cities in Europe, and seemed to know every oneworth knowing. But she volunteered nothing about herself except that shefrequently made use of the expression, 'When my husband was stationed atVienna,' or 'When my husband was promoted to Rome.' Once she said to me,'I have often seen you at Monte Carlo. I saw you when you won the pigeonchampionship.' I told her that I was not a pigeon shot, and she gave alittle start of surprise. 'Oh, I beg your pardon,' she said; 'I thoughtyou were Morton Hamilton, the English champion.' As a matter of fact,I do look like Hamilton, but I know now that her object was to makeme think that she had no idea as to who I really was. She needn't haveacted at all, for I certainly had no suspicions of her, and was only toopleased to have so charming a companion
.
"The one thing that should have made me suspicious was the fact thatat every station she made some trivial excuse to get me out of thecompartment. She pretended that her maid was travelling back of us inone of the second-class carriages, and kept saying she could not imaginewhy the woman did not come to look after her, and if the maid did notturn up at the next stop, would I be so very kind as to get out andbring her whatever it was she pretended she wanted.
"I had taken my dressing-case from the rack to get out a novel, and hadleft it on the seat opposite to mine, and at the end of the compartmentfarthest from her. And once when I came back from buying her a cup ofchocolate, or from some other fool errand, I found her standing at myend of the compartment with both hands on the dressing-bag. She lookedat me