encouragingreport.
There was great dissatisfaction amongst the masses, a growing hatred ofthe class that neither toils nor spins. Many of the most influentialleaders were in secret sympathy with their doctrines, and only waitedfor a favourable moment to come out into the open.
The fanatical Contraras rubbed his hands; his brow cleared. He hadforgotten Valerie Delmonte, that too responsive instrument upon whosewarped feelings he had so skilfully played. She was only a martyr in arighteous cause.
He listened eagerly to the details with which Lucue supplied him. Hecould see already the dawn of that universal revolution which, if itcame to pass, would claim him for one of the earliest victims.
And then, when Lucue had finished, the elder man spoke a littleimpatiently.
"But why did we fail in Madrid? Have you suspicions of anybody? Afterall, the secret was very carefully guarded. How many of us knew?"Lucue shrugged his shoulders. "Is it much use going into that? Wemight all suspect each other. Moreno was over here a short time ago.We conversed together on the subject."
"Ah, Moreno was over here, was he?" The Chief's brows knitted; he spokein a suspicious voice. "Do you know on what business?"
"Purely private affairs, I understand. Something connected with hisjournalistic profession. But we were discussing the matter, and hesuggested a very reasonable theory."
"And what was that?" interrupted Contraras. "His opinion was, to startwith, that women should never be employed in enterprises of thischaracter, because they had not sufficient nerve. His theory is thatthere was no treachery from our side, because if there had been theywould never have allowed her to get inside the Palace, they would havearrested her at the entrance."
"It seems feasible," interrupted the Chief. "He thinks that Valerie gotnervous and overstrung, that she detached herself too early from herchaperon, that the numerous spies who were watching got suspicious ofher movements, and arrested her on the off-chance."
Contraras nodded his head, as he added, "It might be so, and it is quitetrue that women lose their heads more quickly than men, when things arenot running exactly in the beaten track."
"Of course, as you may or may not know, our friend Moreno, although avery excellent fellow, is one of the vainest of men. He boasted that ifyou had given him the job he would have done it successfully. And Ihave sufficient faith in him to believe he would."
Lucue spoke quite warmly. It was not a little to the journalist'scredit that he had succeeded in persuading this rather suspicious manboth of his ability and his _bona fides_.
Contraras reflected for a few moments. "I have great confidence in yourjudgment, Lucue. You have known this man for a long time, eh?"
"For six or seven years, I should say."
It was perfectly true. Moreno had been coquetting with Lucue and thebrotherhood, and half a dozen other things, for quite a period.
"And you trust him implicitly? He is making much money?"
"A little more than he used. But he tells me he is miserably paid, thatthe capitalists he works for suck his brains to swell their own enormousprofits."
Contraras smiled. "He has brains, and he is poorly paid--in a word, heenriches the drones. He seems just our man, Lucue."
"I am sure of it," answered the other warmly.
"Good! I shall be seeing him in Madrid very shortly. We will try hismettle. He shall have the management of the next _coup_."
"And that, I take it, is the removal of that busy marplot, Guy Rossett?"
"Yes," said Contraras shortly. "But keep it to yourself and Maceda asmuch as possible. I won't have too many people in the know this time."
Lucue and Maceda promised to observe silence. The other members of thefraternity had drawn respectfully aside while the three chiefs conversedtogether. Jaques, otherwise Mr Jackson, arrived presently, and wasinformed of the conversation. He was always to be trusted. He was asgreat an enthusiast as Contraras himself.
"How is my little Violet getting on?" he asked.
"So far she has done good quiet work," was the chief's answer. "Ofcourse, she never had the grit of poor Valerie, nor, I think, theenthusiasm."
"Possibly, possibly," agreed Jaques, who was very fond of his prettyprotegee. "But still, if she is a bit slow, she is certainly very sure.And, although we must all make sacrifices in the great cause when weare called upon, I am glad to think she is not in the position of poorValerie. Ah, what a fate!"
The cunning old rogue, who was making money hand over fist, sighed inreal or pretended sorrow for the unhappy young Frenchwoman whose ardentsympathies had landed her in such a plight. Jaques had given plenty ofmoney to the cause, but, like Contraras, he had never greatly risked hisprecious skin.
The next day Contraras returned to Madrid. He could safely leave Jaquesand Lucue to look after affairs in England.
After the failure of the great _coup_, there had been a littlere-shuffling. Somoza, the educated young fisherman, a burning and ashining light in the brotherhood, and Alvedero were stationed atFonterrabia. Zorrilta was superintending affairs at Barcelona.
Contraras, the wealthy and magnificent, still maintained his quarters inthe palatial hotel in the Plaza de Canovas. Moreno and Violet Hargravewere in Madrid also, but they had lodgings in a humbler quarter of thecity.
Moreno often smiled when he thought what humbug it all was, thisprofession of democracy and equality. Because they were, comparativelyspeaking, humble members of the brotherhood, they were stowed away inpoky lodgings. Contraras had a suite of rooms at the best hotel in thecity, and went occasionally to Court.
"What a gigantic farce," he thought. "As if you could alter theprimeval instincts of human nature by a carefully adjusted system oflabels. And, as for tyranny and oppression, if I were a Spanishcitizen, I would rather live under the rule of Alfonso than that ofContraras. If the old man got into the saddle, there would be plenty ofshooting. He would make short work of those who didn't agree with him,without the formality of a trial."
Contraras was a wary old schemer. He had many visitors at his hotel--men of light and leading in the city, the aristocratic connections ofhis wife. But he never allowed his anarchist subordinates to come nearhim. He was much too clever for that. He went to them.
On the evening of the day on which he returned to Madrid, he met Morenoand Violet Hargrave at the journalist's modest lodgings, by appointment.
Moreno, who was always fond of indulging in humorous jokes, would haveliked to apologise to the wealthy Contraras for receiving him in suchhumble surroundings, with some caustic allusion to the time when all menwould be equal.
But he forbore. Contraras was too serious a person to indulge in humourhimself, or tolerate it in others. Besides, Moreno had special reasonsfor ingratiating himself with his Chief, whom he privately stigmatisedas a "silly old visionary," and whose chances against the organisedforces of law and order he was not prepared to back.
Contraras was very gracious to his two subordinates. Whatever hisdefects, he had the true note of Spanish courtesy.
He turned first to Violet Hargrave. "I have just come from London,where I met our dear friend Jaques. He inquired most tenderly afteryou, and sent through me his kindest remembrances."
Violet looked very pleased. If there was a tender spot in her heart, itwas for the old moneylender, who had been a father to her. She flusheda little; quite a soft light came into her eyes.
"That was very sweet of him. He really has a heart of gold, dear oldJuan," she said softly.
Moreno looked at her curiously. He had not got to the bottom of heryet. A hardened adventuress, pure and simple--that was how he had firstjudged her. But her kindly mention of Jaques, "an old shark of thefirst water," as the young journalist classed him in his own mind,revealed something that he had not credited her with. Had she, afterall, a capacity for emotion, did she possess any real womanly instincts?
Contraras next addressed himself to Moreno.
"I also met in L
ondon our comrade Lucue, the man who introduced you tothe brotherhood."
"Ah, what a great man!" cried Moreno, with the fervour of a new andenthusiastic recruit. "The only man, in my opinion, who would ever beworthy to wear your mantle, if ever it should drop from your shoulders.May that day be far distant!" he added piously.
Contraras, ever pleased with a little judicious flattery, became moreamiable than ever. The glance he bent upon the young journalist wasalmost a benevolent one.
"Lucue speaks very highly of you, and I have always had the greatestconfidence in his judgment. He tells me, and, as he did not say it inconfidence, I can repeat it, you expressed your opinion that we made amistake in allowing Valerie to undertake the great _coup_. You addedthat if you had been entrusted with it, you would have brought it