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Page 74
"You and I know now that the Kaiser wrote that letter ... we also know
that it was addressed to an influential English friend of William II.
You have seen the date ... Berlin, July 31st, 1914 ... the eve of the
outbreak of the world war. Even from this half in my pocket ... and you
who have seen both halves of the letter will confirm what I say ... I
can imagine what an effect on the international situation this letter
would have had if it had reached the man for whom it was destined. But
it did not ... why, we don't know. We do know, however, that the Emperor
is keenly anxious to regain possession of his letter ... you yourself
were a witness of his anxiety and you know that he put the matter into
the hands of the man Clubfoot."
"Well," I observed thoughtfully, "Clubfoot, whoever he is, seems to have
made every effort to keep my escapades dark...."
"Precisely," said Francis, "and lucky for you too. Otherwise Clubfoot
would have had you stopped at the frontier. But obviously secrecy is an
essential part of his instructions, and he has shown himself willing to
risk almost anything rather than call in the aid of the regular police."
"But they can always hush these things up!" I objected.
"From the public, yes, but not from the Court. This letter looks
uncommonly like one of William's sudden impulses ... and I fancy
anything of the kind would get very little tolerance in Germany in
war-time."
"But who is Clubfoot?" I questioned.
My brother furrowed his brows anxiously.
"Des," he said, "I don't know. He is certainly not a regular official of
the German Intelligence like Steinhauer and the others. But I _have_
heard of a clubfooted German on two occasions ... both were dark and
mysterious affairs, in both he played a leading role and both ended in
the violent death of one of our men."
"Then Tracy and the others...?" I asked.
"Victims of this man, Des, without any doubt," my brother answered. He
paused a moment reflectively.
"There is a code of honour in our game, old man," he said, "and there
are lots of men in the German secret service who live up to it. We give
and take plenty of hard knocks in the rough-and-tumble of the chase, but
ambush and assassination are barred."
He took a deep breath and added:
"But the man Clubfoot doesn't play the game!"
"Francis," I said, "I wish I'd known something of this that night I had
him at my mercy at the Esplanade. He would not have got off with a
cracked skull ... with one blow. There would have been another blow for
Tracy, one for Arbuthnot, one for the other man ... until the account
was settled and I'd beaten his brains out on the carpet. But if we meet
him again, Francis, ... as, please God, we shall! ... there will be no
code of honour for _him_ ... we'll finish him in cold blood as we'd kill
a rat!"
My brother thrust out his hand at me and we clasped hands on it.
Evening was falling and lights were beginning to twinkle from the
further bank of the river.
We stood for a moment in silence with the river rushing at our feet.
Then we turned and started to tramp back towards the city. Francis
linked his arm in mine.
"And now, Des," he said in his old affectionate way, "tell me some more
about Monica!"
Out of that talk germinated in my head the only plan that seemed to
offer us a chance of escape. I was quite prepared to believe Francis
when he declared that the frontier was at present impassable: if the
vigilance had been increased before it would be redoubled now that I had
again eluded Clubfoot. We should, therefore, have to find some cover
where we could lie doggo until the excitement passed.
You remember that Monica told me, the last time I had seen her, that she
was shortly going to Schloss Bellevue, a shooting-box belonging to her
husband, to arrange some shoots in connection with the Governmental
scheme for putting game on the market. Monica, you will recollect, had
offered to take me with her, and I had fully meant to accompany her but
for Gerry's unfortunate persistence in the matter of my passport.
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