Havoc | Page 9

he asked quickly. "I tell you I'm off out of the country to-night," Dorward declared. "I shall head for England. Pearce is there himself, and I tell you it will be just the greatest day of my life when I put this packet in his hand. We'll make New York hum, I can promise you, and Europe too."
Bellamy's manner was perfectly quiet - too quiet to be altogether natural. His hand was straying towards his pocket.
"Dorward," he said, speaking rapidly, and keeping his back to the door, "you don't realize what you're up against. This sort of thing is new to you. You haven't a dog's chance of leaving Vienna alive with that in your pocket. If you trust yourself in the Orient Express to-night, you'll never be allowed to cross the frontier. By this time they know that the packet is missing; they know, too, that you are the only man who could have it, whether the Chancellor has told them the truth or not. Open it at once so that we get some good out of it. Then we'll go round to the Embassy. We can slip out by the back way, perhaps. Remember I have spent my life in the service, and I tell you that there's no other place in the city where your life is worth a snap of the fingers but at your Embassy or mine. Open the packet, man."
"I think not," Dorward answered firmly. "I am an American citizen. I have broken no laws and done no one any harm. If there's any slaughtering about, I guess they'll hesitate before they begin with Arthur Dorward. . . . Don't be a fool, man!"
He took a quick step backward, - he was looking into the muzzle of Bellamy's revolver.
"Dorward," the latter exclaimed, "I can't help it! Yours is only a personal ambition - I stand for my country. Share the knowledge of that packet with me or I shall shoot."
"Then shoot and be d--d to you!" Dorward declared fiercely. "This s my show, not yours. You and your country can go to - "
He broke off without finishing his sentence. There was a thunderous knocking at the door. The two men looked at one another for a moment, speechless. Then Bellamy, with a smothered oath, replaced the revolver in his pocket.
"You've thrown away our chance," he said bitterly.
The knocking was repeated. When Bellamy with a shrug of the shoulders answered the summons, three men in plain clothes entered. They saluted Bellamy, but their eyes were traveling around the room.
"We are seeking Herr Dorward, the American journalist!" one exclaimed. "He was here but a moment ago."
Bellamy pointed to the inner door. He had had too much experience in such matters to attempt any prevarication. The three men crossed the room quickly and Bellamy followed in the rear. He heard a cry of disappointment from the foremost as he opened the door. The inner room was empty!

CHAPTER III
"OURS IS A STRANGE COURTSHIP"
Louise looked up eagerly as he entered.
"There is news!" she exclaimed. "I can see it in your face."
"Yes," Bellamy answered, "there is news! That is why I have come. Where can we talk?"
She rose to her feet. Before them the open French windows led on to a smooth green lawn. She took his arm.
"Come outside with me," she said. "I am shut up here because I will not see the doctors whom they send, or any one from the Opera House. An envoy from the Palace has been and I have sent him away."
"You mean to keep your word, then?"
"Have I ever broken it? Never again will I sing in this City. It is so."
Bellamy looked around. The garden of the villa was enclosed by high gray stone walls. They were secure here, at least, from eavesdroppers. She rested her fingers lightly upon his arm, holding up the skirts of her loose gown with her other hand.
"I have spoken to you," he said, "of Dorward, the American journalist."
She nodded.
"Of course," she assented. "You told me that the Chancellor had promised him an interview for to-day."
"Well, he went to the Palace and the Chancellor saw him.".
She looked at him with upraised eyebrows.
"The newspapers are full of lies as usual, then, I suppose. The latest telegrams say that the Chancellor is dangerously ill."
"It is quite true," Bellamy declared. "What I am going to tell you is surprising, but I had it from Dorward himself. When he reached the Palace, the Chancellor was practically insane. His doctors were trying to persuade him to go to his room and lie down, but he heard Dorward's voice and insisted upon seeing him. The man was mad - on the verge of a collapse - and he handed over to Dorward his notes, and a verbatim report of all that passed