The Argosy, April 1916 — page 167: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

31754. contained no windows, that the only open- ing was the door by which she had entered. Her peril she believed to be imminent. She did not try to delude herself with false hope. As she recalled it, Apponnetti’s con- nection with this plot had been almost en- tirely through her. He had taken care not to join their party at Francois’s restaurant, and his only open activity was the night Lansing had been caught in the San Ma- rino apartment. And even then his open declaration had been that he was protect- ing her from evil advances by Lansing. There was not a single man of the whole crowd who could lay finger on the count and say definitely: ‘You have done thus and so.” But Helen could; Apponnetti had lured her into this enterprise originally, and on the other hand had dealt with some elusive person higher up who at no time had appeared on the scene, so far as the girl was aware. This person alone could place the defi- nite finger of guilt upon her mother’s cousin, this person and Helen herself. Well, what now? In an agony of dread she placed her ear against the wall and tried to reduce the murmur of voices to words. But she could distinguish nothing. None the less she crouched by the parti- tion, finding in the effort to hear some di- version from the dread thoughts that filled her mind. Had she been gifted with the power of looking through plastered walls she would have seen a sumptuous apartment, heavily decorated with hangings and armorial bear- ings, great plush chairs and a shining ma- hogany table filled with documents of va- rious sorts, all bearing the great seal of a foreign nation. At the head of the table sat a distin- guished looking man with a monocle, a heavy mustache, beetling brows, a -broad forehead and glittering blue eyes. He was dressed in white flannels. Opposite him sat Apponnetti, and near the door the man who had impersonated the detective when Nealis’s car was held up. “So,”’ said the ambassador—for the man in white was none other than a diplomatic representative—‘you mishandle every de- tail entrusted to you, Apponnetti, and then in the end you fly to me for safety not only, but drag into my house your pretty dupe and ask me to dispose of her for you. Believe me, my dear count, it will not be so easy as all that.” 157 Deliberately lighting a cigarette he waved his hand. ‘IT say nothing,” he went on, “as to the indelicacy of your proceeding. I speak merely from the standpoint of common sense. You bring me no results—” “Clarkin has the papers,” protested Ap- ponnetti. “Ant” The ambassadorial eyebrows lifted. “Clarkin has been captured. The fool! There was not a secret service man who did not know him.” ‘How do you know he has been arrest- ed?” interposed Apponnetti, plainly grow- ing more restive, while at the same time the suavity of his voice had given place to a sharp, irritable timbre which revealed the growing desperation of the man. The ambassador smiled. “How do I know! How do I know any- thing? Let it suffice that I do know. The point I make now is that, having bun- gled grotesquely, you dump your baggage in upon me with the tacit demand that I relieve you of further responsibility. Well, Apponnetti, I most respectfully decline.” ‘T think not,” Apponnetti snapped. “If I mistake not, you have a rare facility for dealing with cases of this sort—when the destiny of your country- demands it, of course, and I do now affirm, your excel- lency, that this is a case where your country’s destiny is very much at stake. I do not mean the plans—pouf! What are they in the light of your exposure?”’ The Ambassador smiled. “Threats!” he sneered. “Very well, let it be so. My word, I imagine, will be weightier than yours in certain events— especially so when, at present, it would be very much to the interest of Washington to believe me, or pretend to believe me, rather than you. So you bring your girl to me and say, deal with her, as you know how, and save me. Good! I say to you, to the devil with your girl and with you. I have had no stomach for bunglers—never!”’ “You mean—?”’ Apponnetti arose, trem- bling with anger. ‘“T mean,” the ambassador replied calm- ly, “that as you brought this creature into my house so now I demand that you take her out again, and at once.’ Apponnetti folded his arms, glaring at the diplomat, trembling with a ‘mingling of rage and fear. ‘She is here, where she shall Mah til—” The count shrugged. 1OOOLK C©