L.P.M. : The End of The Great War Part 13

For a moment or two they discussed it calmly enough; then as the proprietor began to gesticulate and wax vehement, Rebener spoke over his shoulder to his guest.

"Excuse me, Jack," he said, "but M. Bombiadi insists that I hold a council of war with him over the selection of the wines. He declines to accept the responsibility with such a distinguished personage as you seem to have become." Then lowering his voice, he added with a wink: "He is evidently impressed with that military escort of yours, for all that he pretended not to notice it. I won't be away a minute."

He was hurried by the proprietor through the office and into one of the small duplex apartments on the main floor. Pa.s.sing through the pantry and dining-room of the apartment out into the little private hall with its street door on Piccadilly, and up a short flight of marble steps with an iron railing, he was ushered into a handsomely furnished little parlour.

There, standing in front of the mantelpiece was a man who did not look like an Englishman, but more like a German Jew. He was perfectly bald and had a black beard which was rather long and trimmed to a point.

His nose was unmistakable, and taken with his thick, red lips showed pretty well what he was and whence he came. Talking to him very earnestly was another man, who was much smaller, and who was also German to the finger-tips.

Pausing on the threshold, M. Bombiadi with the servile and cringing tone always a.s.sumed by those frock-coated criminals, European hotel proprietors, asked humbly: "May we come in, Your Royal Highness?"

But Rebener, with the air of a man who was not accustomed to, or else declined to consider, such formalities, unhesitatingly brushed the proprietor aside, and walked up to the two men.

"I am sorry to be late," he said in a thoroughly businesslike manner, "but Bombiadi here has doubtless explained the reason for it." Then, as if he purposely refused to acknowledge the high rank of either of the two men by waiting for them to speak, he said brusquely, even with a slight touch of contempt: "Bombiadi tells me that you want to speak with me, before we meet at the table."

"Yes, Mr. Rebener," said the smaller man, bowing with exaggerated ceremony. "If it is not asking too much of you, I am sure that His Royal Highness will appreciate your kindness."

The silky smoothness of his manner seemed to disgust Rebener.

"Now, look here, Karlbeck, don't try to get friendly with me," he drew back as the other attempted to lay a hand upon his arm. "I am not in love with this business, anyhow. I am German, and I am proud of the Fatherland, as she stands with her back against the wall, fighting the entire civilized world--and some of the barbaric;--but you two fellows are Englishmen, and----"

"Pardon me, Mr. Rebener," the man with the beard broke in angrily.

"You seem to forget to whom you are speaking."

"No, that is just the trouble," cried Rebener with a loud laugh. "I can't seem to forget it. And if Your Royal Highness insists upon keeping on your crown, you had better let Mr. Edestone and myself dine alone."

"Please, Mr. Rebener. Please not so loud," cautioned the proprietor, pale with terror. "One never knows who may be listening."

"I have a word for you too." Rebener turned, and shook a threatening finger in his face. "If I find that you cut-throats have murdered Schmidt, I will turn you over to the London police, and let you be hanged as common murderers without having any of the glory of dying for your country. I distinctly told you, that I would not stand for that sort of thing. He was a miserable creature, but he was an American, and we Americans, even if we have got German blood, are not traitors to the country of our adoption." And he looked with a sneer at the two Englishmen. "Now, if any of you are planning to indulge in any of your pretty little tricks with Mr. Edestone tonight, I give you fair warning. I will call Captain Bright in, and turn the whole lot of you over to him. I think he would be rather surprised to find His Royal Highness in such company."

The man with the beard was literally white with rage. The thick veins swelled along his neck, and his lower lip was trembling. But he controlled himself with an effort, and endeavoured to speak calmly.

"Now, now, Mr. Rebener," he said, "you are unnecessarily excited, and I therefore overlook your disrespect toward me. There is no intention whatever of doing any violence to Mr. Edestone. We hope merely to prevail on him to talk."

"What good will his talking do?" cried the smaller man before his a.s.sociate could silence him. "We know all that he said today at Buckingham Palace. What we want is his instrument, and if we're not going after that, what use is this dinner, I would like to know?"

"I can't tell you," rejoined Rebener, "unless His Royal Highness would be willing to show his hand, and try to persuade Edestone to take our view of the matter."

A sharp retort trembled on the lips of the Jewish-looking man, but just then he caught sight of Bombiadi out of the corner of his eyes gesticulating and making signs to him from behind Rebener's back.

"I suppose that is the only chance left us," he pretended to consider.

"We can try it at any rate. I suppose, too, we had better come to your apartment immediately. Remember, though, we are to remain incognito until I give the word. In the meantime, we are simply 'Lord Denton'

and 'Mr. Karlbeck.'"

On that agreement, Rebener left; but the proprietor, after following him far enough to make sure that he was out of earshot, returned to the little parlour where the other men waited.

"We will have to leave him out of our calculations," he shook his head. "He is not heart and soul in the cause as is your Royal Highness. However, it can be managed without Rebener.

"Hottenroth has telephoned me that he thinks Edestone has the instrument on his person, but cannot make sure, as his rooms at Claridge's are too closely guarded to permit of a search. We must go upon the a.s.sumption that he has it with him, however, and get it away from him. That plan of Your Royal Highness's will work perfectly, I am sure. I will call Edestone to the telephone while you are at dinner, and since the rest of you will all remain at the table, how can Rebener suspect either of you gentlemen any more than he would suspect himself.

"Now, I will return in a few minutes, and take you up to Mr. Rebener's apartment. No one knows of your presence in the house so far, I can a.s.sure you, and the servants on that floor may be thoroughly depended upon."

CHAPTER XVI

A DINNER AT THE BRITZ

When Rebener got back to the entrance hall he found Edestone standing talking with an American newspaper correspondent, and as he came up heard the inventor say: "Well you can say that if I sell my discovery to anyone it will be to the United States, and that rather than sell to any other nation I would hand it over to my own country as a free gift."

"Here, here," Rebener joined in laughingly as he came up, "don't you offer to give away anything. Just because your father left you comfortably well off is no reason that you shouldn't sell things if people want to buy. Sell and sell while you've got the market, and sell to the highest bidder. Look at me, I am selling to both sides; that is my way of stopping this war." He turned to the young newspaper man. "Is there anything new, Ralph?"

"Nothing, Mr. Rebener, except that there is a story out in New York that Mr. Edestone here has been sent over to act as a sort of unofficial go-between to bring England and Germany to terms; but he denies this. Then there is another story that he is trying to sell this new invention of his to England and that the German agents are trying to get it away from him before he does. You've just heard what he has to say on that subject, so I seem to have landed on a 'Flivver'

all around.

"Say, Mr. Edestone, you'll give me the dope on this lay-out won't you, before the other boys get to it?" he wheedled. "We all know that something is going on, and she's going to be a big story when she breaks, and it would be the making of me with the 'old man' if I could put it over first.

"I saw you, sir, this afternoon coming home from the Palace," he chuckled, "and the President, going out to the first ball game of the season, surrounded by the Was.h.i.+ngton Blues, to toss the pill into the diamond, certainly had nothing on you."

"You've struck it," said Edestone, with a good-humoured laugh at himself. "I have been trying all day to think what I looked like, and that's it."

Rebener laid his hand upon his arm. "Well, Jack," he said, "hadn't we better be getting up to my place? I don't want to keep the other gentlemen waiting, and these Europeans have an awful habit of coming at the hour they are invited, and do not, as we do in America, in imitation of the 'Snark,' 'dine on the following day.'

"Good-night, Ralph," he waved his hand to the correspondent. "Drop around tomorrow; I may have something for you."

Then as they were going up in the elevator he confided to Edestone: "I am not so crazy about these two chaps that are coming to dinner tonight, but you know most of the good sort are at the front, or, if they happen to be in London, are too busy to waste their time on us Americans. Do you know, Jack, there is at this time quite a bit of feeling against us in England? Exactly what it is they resent it is hard to say. I certainly do not understand how they can expect us to take any part in this war with our population composed of people from every one of the countries that are engaged."

They had scarcely had time to take off their coats when Lord Denton and Mr. Karlbeck came in through the private entrance. Edestone was introduced, and after the two Americans had had their c.o.c.ktails, both Englishmen having declined to indulge in this distinctly American custom, the four sat down to dinner. Rebener put "Lord Denton" on his right, Edestone on his left, while "Mr. Karlbeck" took the only remaining seat. The conversation was general, and Edestone found that both the Englishmen were evidently making an effort to be agreeable.

"You are quite like an Englishman," said "Lord Denton" addressing him.

"I have known so few really nice Americans that I must say it is a most delightful surprise. When I was told that you were a great American inventor, I was prepared to see a fellow with the back of his neck shaved, who, while chewing gum, would seize my lapel and hold on to it while he insisted on explaining how I could save time and money by using his electrical self-starting dishwasher or some such beastly machine. When I visited New York two years ago, a committee had me in charge for three days. Their one idea seemed to be to force large cigars and mixed drinks on me at all hours of the day and night. One of these charming gentlemen, a particularly objectionable fellow, although he seemed to be very rich, was covered with diamonds and wore the most ridiculous evening clothes topped off with a yachting cap fronted with the insignia of some rowing club of which he had been admiral. He always referred to his one-thousand-ton yacht as his 'little canoe,' and took delight in telling exactly what it cost him by the hour to run, invariably adding that this amount did not include his own food, wines, liquors, and cigars. 'We always charge that up to profit-and-loss account,' he would say with a roar of laughter, in which he was joined by a group of his satellites."

"I'll bet I can call the turn, eh, Jack?" Rebener glanced across the table to Edestone, with a twinkle in his eye. "Didn't the chap also tell you with great seriousness, 'Lord Denton,' that he had pulled off more good deals in his 'little canoe' than in all the hotel corridors put together?"

"Well, I sincerely hope it's the same," said 'Lord Denton'. "You can't have two such creatures in your country?"

"Was that the chap, 'Denton,'" broke in "Karlbeck," "who said to you, the day that he slapped you on the back, that he was not so strong for making all this fuss over Princes and things, as in his opinion it wasn't democratic?"

"Yes, that was when I was on board his yacht, but he said I was all right and he didn't mind spending money on me. 'This is my pleasure today,' he said, 'although the Boss did say he wanted you treated right, and his word goes both ways with me. See!'"

"Tell them about your experience with the New York newspaper men,"

suggested "Karlbeck."

"Oh, that was very amusing! The whole committee would stand around and laugh while the 'boys,' as they called them, had a chance, which consisted in my being asked the most impertinent questions by a lot of objectionable little bounders whom they constantly referred to as 'the greatest inst.i.tution of our glorious country,' at times allowing also that the country was 'G.o.d's own.'

"When I objected, some of your most powerful men would say: 'You had better tell the reporters something or they'll get sore on you and print a lot of lies about your women-folk.'

"The particularly offensive gentleman of whom I have spoken, after telling me what he thought of the British aristocracy, which was not always flattering, though I seemed to be exempt, said as he bade me good-bye: 'By the way, don't forget that my wife and two daughters will be stopping in London next spring.'"