Part 35

“That’s all right then, otherwise you would never leave this place alive. But if you are lying, and I had told it you, I tell you now, he has no name. He is a thousand men, a whole nation, a part of the universe!”

“Just like the man I have been thinking of,” reflected the Countess, but an instant later she did not know whether she had not spoken her thought aloud.

“When are you going away again?”

“When you want me to.”

“Then go at once, and tell everything I have told you!”

“No,” answered the Countess resolutely.

“Why don’t you, when that is what you came here for?”

“Things are different now.”

“Nothing is different,” asserted the dancer vehemently. “Everything is as it was and will ever be. He is out there, free as the air; I am here like a carcass rotting on the ground. Tell everything you know.”

“I shall say nothing!”

“Why not, you--you cursed hussy!” she shrieked.

“Because you love him so!”

Then the dancer grew calm again, but a few moments later she burst into tears and sobbed wildly and unrestrainedly.

The Countess lay still on her pallet. She felt as if a naked soul with claws, whence the skin and tissues had been withdrawn, were clutching at her heart and holding it within its grasp. She felt her own blood shudder and leap up beneath the claws and mingle with that of the other. This naked soul that clutched at her was her sister. She was akin in blood to the criminal yonder, but neither of the women knew that he who had thus caused their hearts to beat in unison during this night in prison was one and the same mysterious being.

The news Wenk received of Karstens’ state was very unsatisfactory. Since he had, apparently, offered strong resistance to his attackers, a second man seemed to have struck him violently on the head with a crowbar, and the blow had resulted in concussion of the brain. At intervals he became conscious, but for short periods only, and at present it was impossible to say what the outcome would be. His state was so critical, the doctor declared, that any sustained conversation with him could not be thought of for at least two or three weeks.

As for the dancer, about whose participation in the affair he would have something to say, as his shout to the constables to take her into custody proved, Wenk had for the present to content himself with any evidence the Countess might obtain. To-day was Monday, and at four o’clock in any case he would hear whether any explanation might be looked for from Cara Carozza.

He did not leave the house that day. The two main centres of his activity could not be reached by him in person; one was the women’s prison, the other, and far more important, was the town of Constance. He was frequently called up by telephone from the latter place, for this Poldringer had to be kept constantly under surveillance.

While spending the waiting hours at home impatiently, he frequently walked backwards and forwards to the window. On one of these occasions he noticed a man whom he had first seen as early as eight o’clock, and again half an hour later, and then not again for some time. The man always happened to be passing the house rapidly, or else standing at a turning some distance off. Could it be that he was there to spy upon his movements? Wenk resolved to put the matter to the test.

He ordered one of the members of the Secret Police to disguise himself so that anyone at a hasty glance might mistake him for the State Attorney. Then Wenk’s chauffeur brought round the car to the door where the masquerader was waiting, and at a moment when the stranger was again visible at a corner this man got in quickly, settled himself down inside, and was rapidly driven away. “I shall be able to see how this simple trick succeeds,” said Wenk to himself.

At this moment there was an urgent call from Constance. “The man under observation brought the young fellows in his company to the station at 3.16 p.m. The Offenburg express is due to leave at 3.36. It is uncertain which of the party will travel by it; some have hand luggage, and the others none, and it is not yet ascertainable whether the suspected man will accompany them. One of them bought seven tickets for Offenburg, but the party consists of eight, and one among them looks different and has never been seen here before. It is possible that he may be the leader of the expedition, and in the service of the French. How are we to proceed?”

“Have three plain-clothes police ready. If the eight go by train, let these three go too. If one or more stay behind, let one of the men be left too, so that those remaining are not allowed out of sight. They may be travelling by separate routes.”

The telephone official repeated the order given. “Good. Arrange to speak to me immediately after the departure of the express. Ring off.”

Wenk asked to be connected with Offenburg, and in five minutes he was able to get on to the police there.

“Seven, or possibly eight, men are arriving by the express from Constance. Plain-clothes men are in the same train. See that sixteen armed police are in readiness at the station. It is probable that the travellers will have passes to Alsace. They are forged.... When you arrest the men, be careful to avoid observation, and the only information to be given to the Press is that it was a case of Germans having been enticed into the Foreign Legion; and mind you state expressly that they will be at once set free and returned to their homes. You will know nothing about the forged passports. In case there is a man of the name of Poldringer or Hinrichsen among them, let him be separated from the rest and kept in close custody.”

Shortly after Constance telephoned again: “Seven men have left. It is Poldringer who stayed behind; he went to the ‘Black Bull,’ and is under observation there.”

“Good. Thank you. Please ring up here again at seven o’clock, and should anything important occur in the meantime, notify the Criminal Investigation Department.”

Then Wenk had to hurry, so that he might call for the Countess at the prison at four o’clock. It was then half-past three, and he was alone in the house. He telephoned for his car, and just as he was going downstairs he heard a knock at the front door. He opened it.

An elderly man was standing there. His figure was bent, and he had a bushy snow-white beard, red cheeks and blue eyes.