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which had won him such respect months
earlier on the shambles of Moret railway
station.
"I have to go to my tailor: service of the
minister," he remarked with a cynical smile;
and was dismissed with the profoundest
respect.
"After all, it was no business of mine," he
muttered as he wriggled into his new tunic,
to the immense admiration of the tailor, a
class whose appreciation of manly beauty
depends so largely upon the price of the
suit. "'Tis better to have loved and lost than
never to have loved at all. The trouble
comes when you can't lose `em. Poor old
Lisa! Poor old Abdul! Well, as I said, it's
none of my business. My business is to divine
the thoughts of the enemy, and -- oh Lord!
how long? -- to get the powers that be to
understand that I am right. Considering that
they needed eight million marching men to
persuade them that Bloody Bill meant war, I
fear that my task may be no sinecure."
He went to the barracks, where a
military automobile was waiting for him,
and told the chauffeur, with bitter wit, to
go out to meet General Cripps. [317] As to
Lisa and the Turk, it was twenty-four hours
before they were set at liberty. The sight of
Cyril, his prompt intervention in her
defence, relit the flames of her half crazy
passion. She rushed over to the studio to
see him; it was shut up, and the concierge
could give her no news. She drove wildly to
the Profess-House in Montmartre. There
they told her that he had gone to join the
British army. Various excited enquiries in
official quarters led her at last to Lord
Antony Bowling. He was genuinely
sympathetic: he had liked the girl at first
sight; but he could hold out no hopes of
arranging for her to see him.
"There's only one way for you to get to
the front," said he. "Join the Red Cross. My
sister's here forming a section. I'll give you a
note to her, if you like."
Lisa jumped at the suggestion. She saw,
more vividly than if it were actual, the
obvious result. Cyril would be desperately
wounded, leading the last victorious charge
of the dragoons against the walls of Berlin;
she would interestingly nurse him back to
life, probably by means of transfusion of
blood; then, raised to the peerage, Marshal
Earl Grey of Cologne (where he had swum
the Rhine, and, tearing the keys of the city
from the trembling hands of the astonished
burgomaster, had flung them back across
the river to his hesitating comrades) would
lead her, with the Victoria Cross in gold and
diamonds on his manly bosom, to the altar
at St. Margaret's, Westminster.
It was worth while learning magick to
become clairvoyant like this! She dashed
off, still at top speed, to enroll herself with
Lady Marcia Bowling.
She gave no further thought to Abdul. He
would never have attracted her, had she not
perceived a difficulty in getting him.
As to that gentleman himself, if grief
tore at his [318] heart strings, he showed it
that night in an unusual way. It may have
been but simulation of philosophical
fortitude; there is no need to enquire. His
actions are of more interest: they consisted
of picking up a cocotte on the Boulevard des
Italiens, and taking her to dinner at the
Cafe de Paris. At the conclusion of a meal
which would have certainly been prescribed
as a grief-cure to any but a dyspeptic, the
maitre d'hotel approached their table, and
tendered, with a bow, an envelope. Abdul
opened it -- it was a summons from Douglas
to appear immediately in his presence at
the apartment in the Faubourg St. Germain.
The Turk had no choice but to comply.
He excused himself to his fair guest, at the
cost of a hundred-franc note, and drove
immediately to the rendezvous.
Douglas received him with extreme
heartiness.
"A thousand congratulations, dear young
man, upon your brilliant victory! You have
succeeded where older and more learned
men failed badly. I called you here to-night
to tell you that you are now eligible for a
place in the Fourteen, the Ghaagaael, for a
seat is vacant since this morning."
"They executed Balloch?"
Douglas nodded with a gloating smile.
"But why did you not save him, master?"
"Save him! It was I that destroyed him
when he tried to betray me. Candidates
take notice!"
Abdul protested his loyalty and devotion.
"The supreme test," continued Douglas,
"cannot conveniently be imposed in time of
war. There is too much to do just now. But --
as a preliminary -- ?" how do you stand with
Germany?"
Abdul shrank back, startled out of his
presence of mind.
"Germany!" he stammered at last. "Why,
[319] Colonel," (he emphasized the title) "I
know nothing. I have no instructions from
my Government."He met the eye of his
master, and read its chill contempt. "I--er--
er--"
"Dare you play with me?"
The young man protested that no such
thought had crossed his mind.
"In that case," pursued the sorcerer, "you
won't know what that means?"
Douglas took from his pocket a fifty-
franc note. The Turk caught it up, his eyes
grown momentarily wider with surprise.
"Examine it!" said Douglas, coldly.
The Turkish agent held it to the light. In
the figures numbering the note were two
small pinpricks.
"Allah!" he cried. "Then you are ---"
"I am. You may as well know that my
colleague in the Lodge, 'A.B.', is going to stir
up trouble for the British in India. Her
influence with certain classes of Hindus is
very great. For your part, you may try
discreetly to tamper with the Mussulman
section of the French troops, the Africans.
But be careful -- there is more important
work to your hand, no less than the
destruction of the French armies in the
field. Now let us see what you can do. I am
going to send you to my little garden
hermitage, where I occasionally appear in
the character of a great ascetic; there is an
old lady there, devoted to me. Have your
best man there to play Yogi. In the garden --
here's the plan -- is the terminal of a wire.
There's another in that house where you got
baptized and married -- remember? Thence
there's a cable up Seine to another cottage
where that old Belgian mystic lives -- the
friend of Maeterlinck! ha! ha! He's really von
Walder, a Dresdener. And he is in charge of
another cable -- underground three hundred
[320] miles, thanks to Becasseux, who
helped us with the road squads, to a place
which by now is firmly in the hands of the
Crown Prince. So all you have to do is to tell
your man to sit and pretend to meditate --
and tap. I shall send you plenty of
information from the front. You will know
my agents by a nick filed in a trouser-
button. Each message will have a number,
so that you will know if any go astray. All
clear?"
"Admirable. I need not say how proud I
am to find that we are on the same side. I
was very frightened of that uniform!"
"L'habit ne fait pas le moine," replied
Douglas gaily. "And now, sir, let us spend
the night discussing our plans in detail --
and some very excellent whisky which I
happen to have by me."
The spies pursued their double task, with
pitiless energy, till morning was well
broken. Later in the day Douglas left for
Soissons. He was attached to the French
army as chief of a corps of signallers --
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