whether i should have yielded to nessa and allowed myself to be persuaded not to tell rosa the truth, i can't say—she always had great influence with me—but after we had been surprised in this fashion it was no longer possible to hesitate. nessa would have been compromised and i suspected.
i acted promptly, therefore. i crossed the room, and shut the door carefully, both girls watching me with expectant curiosity.
"please come into the conservatory, miss von rebling," i said quietly in english, which she spoke quite fluently. "i have something of the utmost importance to say to you. and we had better speak in english and not too loudly, please."
she stared at me, desperately perplexed by my words and manner; but after a moment's hesitation went into the conservatory, to where nessa stood in trembling agitation by the plants, and linked her arm in hers and kissed her.
"i am going to put my life in your hands. i am not johann lassen. i am an englishman and my name is jack lancaster. nessa and i are old friends, and we were discussing the question of telling you when you came in," i said in a slow deliberate tone.
she was literally astounded and could not at once grasp all that my words meant. she turned to nessa as if appealing for confirmation. "nessa!" she exclaimed, much too loudly to be safe.
"let me tell you why it is necessary not to speak loudly. you have a spy in the house: the servant i have heard you call gretchen;" and i described what i had witnessed. "it will no doubt explain why nessa's letters have never reached england and other things probably."
rosa's face being incapable of expressing more astonishment than she had already shown, she just tossed up her hands feebly, suggesting that the whole affair was beyond her understanding. but she was a practical, level-headed girl, and soon recovered her self-control.
"do you mean that you have recovered your memory?" she asked.
i shook my head. "i have never lost it."
she frowned ominously at this and her expression signalled suspicion. "then why are you in berlin?"
clearly she regarded me as an english spy, and there was nothing for it but to tell her the full reason for my presence, although i had not wished to let nessa know it. "i will tell you everything, but you'd better sit down as it will take some time."
she sat down and drew nessa to her side, taking her hand and holding it all the time i spoke. "i am an officer in the english army, and was home on leave when i heard for the first time about nessa;" and i told them all that mrs. caldicott said, and described the two peculiar communications which had reached england. then the whole story: my first plan; jimmy's intervention; how i had taken his place at the last moment; the blowing up of the burgen; my being mistaken for lassen; my feigned loss of memory; how i had been unable to get away from hoffnung, and how his suspicions had forced me to continue the impersonation.
nessa was terribly distressed to hear of her mother's anxiety and grief; rosa wept in sympathy, and they both listened to the whole story with rapt attention.
"you will see now," i concluded, "what i meant by saying i am putting my life in your hands. if i am known to be an english officer, there will be only one construction put upon my presence here—that i am a spy, and i shall of course be shot. we should do the same on our side if one of your officers was found in england in similar circumstances. i give you my word, however, that my sole object is to get nessa away home."
rosa looked very grave and rather frightened. "you know the consequences to me if i attempt to shield you?"
i nodded. "i can understand they would be very serious, if it was discovered."
then we all sat silent for a long time, several minutes, and nessa was trembling like an aspen leaf. rosa broke the silence at last.
"where is my cousin?"
"he went down in the burgen. there is no doubt that i am the only survivor. he was below at the time of the explosion, and not even any of the men on deck were saved."
"but if he should not have been drowned and should come here?"
"your mother and hans, every one believes i am your cousin, and not so much as a breath of suspicion that you know the truth could ever be roused, unless of course you admitted it."
this had all the effect i had hoped, and she nodded understandingly. "and what do you wish me to do?" she asked after another pause.
"to allow matters to remain as they are until we can get nessa away; but it is entirely for you to decide."
she shook her head. "i—i can't decide now. i must have time to think. i was never so perplexed or astounded in my life."
"rosa dear!" appealed nessa.
"it is not for us to settle, nessa," i put in; and then another long silence followed.
"if i wait till to-morrow, say, will you use the time to escape, mr. lancaster?" asked rosa then.
"that is impossible, miss von rebling," i replied uncompromisingly. "i have come to get nessa away, and that cannot be done in the time."
that drew a smile: the first since she had arrived. she guessed how the land lay with me, and glanced round at nessa, who coloured slightly. i believe that that little blush had more effect than anything else. she had the usual streak of german romance in her disposition, and the situation appealed to it strongly.
"i wish i dared," she murmured; and i began to hope.
i gave the new idea a minute to germinate, and then began to nurture it by suggesting how her risk would be minimized. "let me tell you just what is in my mind. i will not remain in the house, and the first thing to-morrow will go to rooms or an hotel."
"but mother?" she protested nervously.
"i shall tell her of my discovery about gretchen, and that in view of my connection with the secret service, it is essential for me to be absolutely secure against anything of the sort." she nodded approval.
"i shall then be too busy officially to come here much, and this will relieve you from all the unpleasantness of open deception with her and others." again she nodded.
"the next thing will be to obtain the necessary papers for nessa and me to leave. have you any friends in holland?"
she started rather nervously. "yes, several old school friends; but——" she paused and gestured.
"my idea is that you should invent a sudden desire to go to them; say that one of them is dying or very ill, or something. you could not very well travel alone at such a time, and thus hans would naturally go with you. it would be simple enough for you two to obtain permits to travel and passports and so on, and——"
"but i should be instantly questioned and—— oh, that would never do," she interrupted, with a vigorous shake of the head.
i smiled reassuringly. "i have thought of that, believe me. on the morning you were to start, after you had obtained your tickets, something would occur to make it impossible for you to go. nessa or i would then get the tickets and things, and she and i would use them. you would not discover the loss until we had had time to cross the frontier, and could then give information of their loss; and as soon as we were safely in holland, i would write to you a letter explaining everything."
this lessened her uneasiness considerably. "it is possible," she admitted.
"such a letter from me, confessing my imposture and everything, would free you from the slightest taint of suspicion that you had been in any way a party to the scheme, and, of course, as nessa and i should be in safety, i could make the confession with absolute impunity."
she sat with her dark brows drawn together, considering the scheme very carefully, and after a long silence asked: "how long do you think it would take?"
"only so long as is needed to get the passports, etc."
but she shook her head. "there is a difficulty—hans. he could not possibly get away, even if he were willing to go; which i doubt."
"can you think of any one else?"
she hesitated, glancing first at me and then at nessa. "do you remember the two apeldoorn sisters, nessa?"
"yes, quite well, dear."
"they are herr feldmann's cousins," said rosa: and then i knew what was coming. "one of them is going to be married and wants me to go to the wedding. i should have gone if it hadn't been that we heard just then about my cousin johann. herr feldmann and his sister are going, and i should have gone with them; but his sister is ill," she added, looking to see how i took this.
"it would certainly open the way to the necessary credentials, but how could i get hold of his permit?"
"i can't think of anything else," said rosa as i did not answer. "but i think herr feldmann would help if i asked him," she added.
"do you mean you would tell him everything?" i asked, not at all relishing the suggestion.
"it would be necessary, wouldn't it?"
"i'd rather try to think of some other plan," i replied, and sat racking my wits for some alternative; without avail, however, and presently she got up and walked about the drawing-room.
when she had left us, nessa stirred uneasily, glanced once or twice at me, and then held out her hand. "i'm—i'm sorry, jack," she whispered.
"all right; don't worry;" and i just pressed her trembling fingers.
"but to talk to you as i did—all the brutal things i said. i'm so—so ashamed."
"no need. not the faintest. you couldn't know; and you caught me in the very act of prying into that place there. if you hadn't fired up a bit, it wouldn't have been natural."
"but after you'd run all this risk simply for me, you must have thought me a regular beast, jack."
"the fact is your mother's worry got on my nerves, and as i knew i could come into this beastly country without any risk to speak of, of course i came. that's all about it."
she didn't quite like this, but i meant her to believe it had been more for her mother's sake than hers.
"poor mother!" she murmured, and was silent for a while. "you've joined the army then?" was her next question.
"i'm in the flying corps, and your mater didn't tell me anything about you for fear it would get on my nerves."
"then i had something to do with your coming?" she asked, with a flicker of a flash in her bonny eyes.
"i couldn't very well ease your mother's mind in london, could i? she was against the thing, but i explained there was really no risk. of course there would not have been any if the steamer hadn't blown up and this lassen business turned out as it has."
"but it was i who made you tell rosa?"
"and probably the best thing we could have done if——" and i gestured toward rosa, who was still pacing the room in troubled perplexity.
i did my utmost to lead nessa to think i took the position lightly; but i was in reality almost desperately anxious, and every moment of rosa's indecision added to the disquieting tension of suspense. if she went against us, i could see nothing but a mess of trouble ahead; and i was only too conscious of how big the danger to her would loom in her german-disciplined mind. they all go in deadly fear of the authorities; and it was impossible to deny that, if she were discovered, it might mean the prospect of a spell in prison.
"you haven't said yet that you forgive me, jack," said nessa presently.
"simply because there's nothing to forgive. i should probably have done just what you did," i replied with a smile.
"do you mean that anything i could have done would have made you take me for a spy, then? i took you for one," she said ruefully.
"the only difference is that i might not have been quite so impatient, and have been ready to listen to your explanation. but don't let us worry over that. let us think how we're going to get out of it all."
"i think rosa will help us."
"but this fellow, feldmann?"
"you needn't trouble about him. he worships her, and the instant he knows her cousin is drowned and the way is clear for him, he'll be ready to—well, to do anything she wishes."
"that's good hearing, anyhow, but i wish she'd look sharp and make her mind up."
nessa laughed gently. "you don't understand girls, jack. her mind was made up before she left us two together. she's one of the kindest-hearted souls in the world."
but rosa seemed in no hurry to come back to us, and before she could tell us her decision, the opportunity passed, for hans came in with a man whom nessa whispered to me was feldmann himself.
rosa introduced me to him as her cousin. this set me speculating whether it was an indication of her intention or merely a sign that she had not yet decided what to do, and i was worrying over it as i returned his stiff and rather discourteous greeting, when hoffnung followed.
after a few words of general conversation hoffnung drew me aside, and i had a significant proof of von erstein's intimate acquaintance with official matters. he had puzzled me earlier in the day by saying that i had to interview a baron von gratzen the next morning, and hoffnung now brought me the note making the appointment for eleven o'clock.
"how's the memory, lassen?"
"pretty much the same," said i, shrugging. he had evidently abandoned all his former suspicions, i was glad to see.
"you'll find old gratz, as we call him, a decent sort; but i'm afraid he may have to tell you what you won't like much."
"meaning?"
"well, a man without a memory isn't much use to the secret service, although he may be in other ways."
i didn't like his tone. "but i can remember all that's passed since the burgen."
it did not draw him, however. he just laughed. "i mustn't anticipate him, of course; but i'll give you a tip. be at his office on the stroke; he hates nothing so much as unpunctuality."
with that we rejoined the rest, and again the conversation was about matters in which i had no interest. i studied feldmann carefully. he was a handsome fellow; fair, blue-eyed, rather round-faced and weak; but he had a very pleasant smile which i saw often, for he smiled every time he looked at rosa. but not once did he address me; and his dislike and hostility were plain each time he glanced in my direction.
he certainly wasn't the man i would have chosen to trust; but beggars can't be choosers, and i had to be satisfied with the fact that both rosa and nessa herself were ready to vouch for him.
hoffnung did not stay long, and when he had gone rosa reminded me about going to the tailor's, and as i was leaving the room, she said to nessa: "you might show it to johann now, dear."
"rosa has asked me to show you the portrait of your mother, herr lassen, as she hopes it may perhaps help you to remember things."
"please do," i answered eagerly, her look telling me this was merely an excuse; and we went to the library together.
"it's all right with rosa," she whispered then; "but only if herr feldmann is told and agrees. i am to go back and tell her what you say."
"are you quite sure of him?"
"yes, quite, in the altered circumstances. so is rosa."
"carry on, then; and if there's anything wrong, let me know the moment i get back;" and off i went, not letting nessa see how it worried me to have this infernal suspense kept hanging round my neck like a millstone.
