A Maker of History

A Maker of History, by E. Phillips Oppenheim

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Title: A Maker of History
Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim

Release Date: September 20, 2006 [eBook #19341]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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A MAKER OF HISTORY
by
E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM
Author of "The Kingdom of the Blind," "The Hillman," "The Double Traitor," Etc.
With Frontispiece

[Illustration: "'Guard this for me,' she whispered." (page 148) Frontispiece]
[Illustration]

A. L. Burt Company Publishers New York Published by arrangement with Little, Brown & Company Copyright, 1905, 1906, by Little, Brown, and Company. All rights reserved

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
BOOK I
I. AN ACCIDENTAL SPY 1
II. AT THE CAF�� MONTMARTRE 11
III. A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE 18
IV. THE FALLING OF THE HANDKERCHIEF 26
V. LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT 33
VI. THE VANISHING LADY 40
VII. THE DECOY-HOUSE OF EUROPE 48
VIII. "DUNCOMBE'S HOLD-UP" 55
IX. THE STORY OF A CALL 64
X. SPENCER'S SURPRISE 72
XI. A WORD OF WARNING 80
XII. THE SHADOWING OF DUNCOMBE 87
XIII. "HER VOICE" 93
XIV. LAUGHTER OF WOMEN 101
XV. MISS FIELDING FROM AMERICA 107
XVI. MISS FIELDING ASKS A QUESTION 115
XVII. GEORGE DUNCOMBE'S LIE 121
XVIII. "WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?" 129
XIX. A HILLSIDE ENCOUNTER 137
XX. MR. FIELDING IN A NEW R?LE 143
XXI. A WOMAN'S CRY 151
XXII. LORD RUNTON IS SUSPICIOUS 160
XXIII. HER FIRST KISS 171
XXIV. THE EMPTY ROOM 179
BOOK II
I. GUY POYNTON AGAIN 185
II. AN OLD STORY 192
III. A BODY FROM THE SEINE 200
IV. THE INSOLENCE OF MADAME LA MARQUISE 208
V. THE INTERVIEWING OF PHYLLIS 217
VI. THE BLUNDERING OF ANDREW 225
VII. SPENCER GETS HIS CHANCE 234
VIII. A POLITICAL INTERLUDE 243
IX. ARRESTED! 251
X. THE CHECKMATING OF MONSIEUR LOUIS 259
XI. THE MAKING OF HISTORY 267
XII. AN OLD FRIEND 276
XIII. A NEWSPAPER SENSATION 285
XIV. THE MAN WHO SAVED HIS COUNTRY 294
XV. A MERRY MEETING 301

A MAKER OF HISTORY
BOOK I
CHAPTER I
AN ACCIDENTAL SPY
The boy sat up and rubbed his eyes. He was stiff, footsore, and a little chilly. There was no man-servant arranging his bath and clothes, no pleasant smell of coffee--none of the small luxuries to which he was accustomed. On the contrary, he had slept all night upon a bed of bracken, with no other covering than the stiff pine needles from the tall black trees, whose rustling music had lulled him to sleep.
He sat up, and remembered suddenly where he was and how he had come there. He yawned, and was on the point of struggling to his feet when he became aware of certain changed conditions in his surroundings. Some instinct, of simple curiosity perhaps, but of far-reaching effect, led him to crawl back into his hiding-place and watch.
Last night, after many hours of painful walking, two things alone had impressed themselves upon his consciousness: the dark illimitable forest and the double line of rails, which with the absolute straightness of exact science had stretched behind and in front till the tree-tops in the far distance seemed to touch, and the rails themselves to vanish into the black heart of the close-growing pines. For miles he had limped along the painfully rough track without seeing the slightest sign of any break in the woods, or any human being. At last the desire for sleep had overtaken him. He was a hardy young Englishman, and a night out of doors in the middle of June under these odorous pines presented itself merely as a not disagreeable adventure. Five minutes after the idea had occurred to him he was asleep.
And now in the gray morning he looked out upon a different scene. Scarcely a dozen yards from him stood a single travelling-coach of dark green, drawn by a heavy engine. At intervals of scarcely twenty paces up and down the line, as far as he could see, soldiers were stationed like sentries. They were looking sharply about in all directions, and he could even hear the footsteps of others crashing through the wood. From the train three or four men in long cloaks had already descended. They were standing in the track talking together.
The young man behind the bracken felt himself in somewhat of a dilemma. There was a delightful smell of fresh coffee from the waiting coach, and there seemed to be not the slightest reason why he should not emerge from his hiding-place and claim the hospitality of these people. He was a quite harmless person, with proper credentials, and an adequate explanation of his presence there. On the