CHAPTER XXIX
For a few brief seconds no one seemed inclined to take upon themselvesthe onus of speech. Richard's amazement seemed to increase uponreflection.
"Maderstrom!" he exclaimed. "Bertram! What in the name of all that'sdiabolical are you doing here?"
"I am just a derelict," Lessingham explained, with a faint smile. "Gladto see you, Richard. You are a day earlier than I expected."
"You knew that I was coming, then?" Richard demanded.
"Naturally," Lessingham replied. "I had the great pleasure of arrangingfor your release."
"Look here," Richard went on, "I'm groping about a bit. I don'tunderstand. Forgive me if I run off the track. I'm not forgetting ourfriendship, Maderstrom, or what I owe to you since you came and found meat Wittenburg. But for all that, you have served in the German Army andare an enemy, and I want to know what you are doing here, in England, inmy brother-in-law's house."
"No particular harm, Richard, I promise you," Lessingham replied mildly.
"You are here under a false name!"
"Hamar Lessingham, if you do not mind," the other assented. "I prefer myown name, but I do not fancy that the use of it would ensure me a verywarm welcome over here just now. Besides," he added, with a glanceat Philippa, "I have to consider the friends whose hospitality I haveenjoyed."
In a shadowy sort of way the truth began to dawn upon Richard. His tonebecame grimmer and his manner more menacing.
"Maderstrom," he said, "we met last under different circumstances. Iwill admit that I cut a poor figure, but mine was at least an honourableimprisonment. I am not so sure that yours is an honourable freedom."
Philippa laid her hand upon her brother's arm.
"Dick, dear, do remember that they were starving you to death!" shebegged.
"You would never have lived through it," Helen echoed.
"You are talking to Mr. Lessingham," Philippa protested, "as though hewere an enemy, instead of the best friend you ever had in your life."
Richard waved them away.
"You must leave this to us," he insisted. "Maderstrom and I will beable to understand one another, at any rate. What are you doing in thishouse--in England? What is your mission here?"
"Whatever it may have been, it is accomplished," Lessingham saidgravely. "At the present moment, my plans are to leave your countryto-night."
"Accomplished?" Richard repeated. "What the devil do you mean?Accomplished? Are you playing the spy in this country?"
"You would probably consider my mission espionage," Lessingham admitted.
"And you have brought it to a successful conclusion?"
"I have."
Philippa threw her arms around her brother's neck. "Dick," she pleaded,"please listen. Mr. Lessingham has been here, in this district, eversince he landed in England. What possible harm could he do? We haven'ta single secret to be learned. Everybody knows where our few guns are.Everybody knows where our soldiers are quartered. We haven't a harbouror any secret fortifications. We haven't any shipping information whichit would be of the least use signalling anywhere. Mr. Lessingham hasspent his time amongst trifles here. Take Helen away somewhere andforget that you have seen him in the house. Remember that he has savedHenry's life as well as yours."
"I invite no consideration upon that account," Lessingham declared. "Allthat I did for you in Germany, I did, or should have attempted to do,for my old friend. Your release was different. I am forced to admitthat it was the price paid for my sojourn here. I will only ask you toremember that the bargain was made without your knowledge, and that youare in no way responsible for it."
"A price," Richard pronounced fiercely, "which I refuse to pay!"
Lessingham shrugged his shoulders.
"The alternative," he confessed, "is in your hands."
Richard moved towards the telephone.
"I am sorry, Maderstrom," he said, "but my duty is clear. Who isCommandant here, Philippa?"
Philippa stood between her brother and the telephone. There was a queer,angry patch of colour in her cheeks. Her eyes were on fire.
"Richard," she exclaimed, "you shall not do this from my house! I forbidyou!"
"Do what?"
"Give information. Do you know what it would mean if they believed you?"
"Death," he answered. "Maderstrom knew the risk he ran when he came tothis country under a false name."
"Perfectly," Lessingham admitted.
"But I won't have it!" Philippa protested. "He has become our friend.Day by day we have grown to like him better and better. He has savedyour life, Dick. He has brought you back to us. Think what it is thatyou purpose!"
"It is what every soldier has to face," Richard declared.
"You men drive me crazy with your foolish ideas!" Philippa crieddesperately. "The war is in your brains, I think. You would carry itfrom the battlefields into your daily life. Because two great countriesare at war, is everything to go by--chivalry?--all the finer, sweeterfeelings of life? If you two met on the battlefield, it would bedifferent. Here in my drawing-room, I will not have this black demon ofthe war dragged in as an excuse for murder! Take Dick away, Helen!" shebegged. "Mr. Lessingham is leaving to-night. I will pledge my word thatuntil then he remains a harmless citizen."
"Women don't understand these things, Philippa--" Richard began.
"Thank heavens we understand them better than you men!" Philippainterrupted fiercely. "You have but one idea--to strike--the narrowidea of men that breeds warfare. I tell you that if ever universal peacecomes, if ever the nations are taught the horror of this lust for blood,this criminal outrage against civilisation, it is the women who willbecome the teachers, because amongst your instincts the brutish ones offorce are the first to leap to the surface at the slightest provocation.We women see further, we know more. I swear to you, Richard, that if youinterfere I will never forgive you as long as I live!"
Richard stared at his sister in amazement. There seemed to be some newspirit born within her. Throughout all their days he had never known herso much in earnest, so passionately insistent. He looked from her to theman whom she sought to protect, and who answered, unasked, the thoughtsthat were in his mind.
"Whatever harm I may have been able to do," Lessingham announced, "isfinished. I leave this place to-night, probably for ever. As for theCommandant," he went on with a faint smile, "he is already upon mytrack. There is nothing you can tell him about me which he does notknow. It is just a matter of hours, the toss of a coin, whether I getaway or not."
"They've found you out, then?" Richard exclaimed.
"Only a miracle saved me from arrest a week ago," Lessinghamacknowledged. "Your Commandant here is at the present moment in Londonfor the sole purpose of denouncing me."
"And yet you remain here, paying afternoon calls?" Richard observedincredulously. "I'm hanged if I can see through this!"
"You see," Lessingham explained gently. "I am a fatalist!"
It was Helen who finally led her lover from the room. He looked backfrom the door.
"Maderstrom," he said, "you know quite well how personally I feeltowards you. I am grateful for what you have done for me, even though Iam beginning to understand your motives. But as regards the other thingswe are both soldiers. I am going to talk to Helen for a time. I want tounderstand a little more than I do at present."
Lessingham nodded.
"Let me help you," he begged. "Here is the issue in plain words. Allthat I did for you at Wittenberg, I should have done in any case forthe sake of our friendship. Your freedom would probably never have beengranted to me but for my mission, although even that I might have triedto arrange. I brought your letters here, and I traded them with yoursister and Miss Fairclough for the shelter of their hospitality andtheir guarantees. Now you know just where friendship ended and the otherthings began. Do what you believe to be your duty."
Richard followed Helen out, closing the door after him. Lessinghamlooked down into Philippa's face.
"You are
more wonderful even than I thought," he continued softly. "Yousay so little and you live so near the truth. It is those of us who feelas you do--who understand--to whom this war is so terrible."
"I want to ask you one question before I send you away," she told him."This journey to America?"
"It is a mission on behalf of Germany," he explained, "but it is, afterall, an open one. I have friends--highly placed friends--in my owncountry, who in their hearts feel as I do about the war. It is throughthem that I am able to turn my back upon Europe. I have done my shareof fighting," he went on sadly, "and the horror of it will never quiteleave me. I think that no one has ever charged me with shirking my duty,and yet the sheer, black ugliness of this ghastly struggle, its criminalinutility, have got into my blood so that I think I would rather passout of the world in some simple way than find myself back again in thatdebauch of blood. Is this cowardice, Philippa?"
She looked at him with shining eyes.
"There isn't any one in the world," she said, "who could call you acoward. Whatever I may decide, whatever I may feel towards you, that atleast I know."
He kissed her fingers.
"At ten o'clock," he began--
"But listen," she interrupted. "Apart from anything which Dick mightdo, you are in terrible danger here, all the more if you really haveaccomplished something. Why not go now, at this moment? Why wait? Thesefew hours may make all the difference."
He smiled.
"They may, indeed, make all the difference to my life," he answered."That is for you."
He followed Mills, who had obeyed her summons, out of the room. Philippamoved to the window and watched him until he had disappeared. Then veryslowly she left the room, walked up the stairs, made her way to her ownlittle suite of apartments, and locked the door.