She must know nothing of this coup nor of the real de Nevers, or the whole scheme may fall through.It would have fallen through before, Louise, if you had failed us and had let any of de Nevers's letters slip through to Miss Lovelace.She richly deserved her fate for that act of treachery.The affair would have been so simple, otherwise.Luck was with us until her insane jealousy led her to visit Miss Lovelace.It was fortunate the young lady was out when Madame called on her or all would have been lost.Ah, we owe you a great deal, Louise, and we shall not forget it, never.You will be very careful while I am gone?""Absolutely.When will you return to me, Henri?""To-morrow morning at the latest.This afternoon the false coaling station plans are to be turned over to our accomplice in the War Department and in exchange he is to give us something else - the secret of which I spoke.You see the trail leads up into high circles.It is very much more important than you suppose and discovery might lead to a dangerous international complication just now.""Then you are to meet your friend in Washington to-night? When do you start, Henri? Don't let the time slip by.There must be no mistake this time as there was when we were working for Japan and almost had the blue prints of Corregidor at Manila only to lose them on the streets of Calcutta.""Trust me.We are to meet about nine o'clock and therefore I leave on the limited at three-thirty, in about an hour.From the station I am going straight to the house on Z Street - let me see, the cipher says the number is 101 - and ask for a man named Gonzales.
I shall use the name Montez.He is to appear, hand over the package - that thing I have told you about - then I am to return here by one of the midnight trains.At any cost we must allow nothing to happen which will reach the ears of Miss Lovelace.I'll see you early to-morrow morning, ma cherie, and remember, be ready, for the Aquitania sails at ten.The division of the money is to be made in Paris.Then we shall all go our separate ways."Kennedy was telephoning frantically through the regular hotel service to find out how the trains ran for Washington.The only one that would get there before nine was the three-thirty; the next, leaving an hour later, did not arrive until nearly eleven.He had evidently had some idea of causing some delay that would result in our friend down the hall missing the limited, but abandoned it.Any such scheme would simply result in a message to the gang in Washington putting them on their guard and defeating his purpose.
"At all costs we must beat this fellow to it," exclaimed Craig, waiting to hear no more over his improvised dictograph."Come, Walter, we must catch the limited for Washington immediately.
McBride, I leave you and the regular house man to shadow this woman.Don't let her get out of your sight for a moment."As we rode across the city to the new railroad terminus Craig hastily informed me of what he had overheard.We took up our post so that we could see the outgoing travellers, and a few minutes later Craig spotted our man from McBride's description, and succeeded in securing chairs in the same car in which he was to ride.
Taken altogether it was an uneventful journey.For five mortal hours we sat in the Pullman or toyed with food in the dining-car, never letting the man escape our sight, yet never letting him know that we were watching him.Nevertheless I could not help asking myself what good it did.Why did not Kennedy hire a special if the affair was so important as it appeared? How were we to get ahead of him in Washington better than in New York? I knew that some plan lurked behind the calm and inscrutable face of Kennedy as I tried to read and could not.
The train had come to a stop in the Union Station.Our man was walking rapidly up the platform in the direction of the cab stand.
Suddenly Kennedy darted ahead and for a moment we were walking abreast of him.
"I beg your pardon," began Craig as we came to a turn in the shadow of the arc lights, "but have you a match?"The man halted and fumbled for his match-box.Instantly Kennedy's pocket handkerchief was at his nose.
"Some of the medicine of your own gang of endormeurs," ground out Kennedy, crushing several of the little glass globes under his handkerchief to make doubly sure of their effect.
The man reeled and would have fallen if we had not caught him between us.Up the platform we led him in a daze.
"Here," shouted Craig to a cabman, "my friend is ill.Drive us around a bit.It will sober him up.Come on, Walter, jump in, the air will do us all good."Those who were in Washington during that summer will remember the suppressed activity in the State, War, and Navy Departments on a certain very humid night.Nothing leaked out at the time as to the cause, but it was understood later that a crisis was narrowly averted at a very inopportune season, for the heads of the departments were all away, the President was at his summer home in the North, and even some of the under-secretaries were out of town.
Hasty messages had been sizzling over the wires in cipher and code for hours.
I recall that as we rode a little out of our way past the Army Building, merely to see if there was any excitement, we found it a blaze of lights.Something was plainly afoot even at this usually dull period of the year.There=20was treachery of some kind and some trusted employee was involved, I felt instinctively.
As for Craig he merely glanced at the insensible figure between us and remarked sententiously that to his knowledge there was only one nation that made a practice of carrying out its diplomatic and other coups in the hot weather, a remark which I understood to mean that our mission was more than commonly important.
The man had not recovered when we arrived within several blocks of our destination, nor did he show signs of recovery from his profound stupor.Kennedy stopped the cab in a side street, pressed a bill into the cabman's hand, and bade him wait until we returned.
